D&D Spell Focus: The Words of POWER!

Ok that’s enough chortling around with cantrips and common contrivances. It is time to peer at the pointy end of the spell spectrum. These are the Words of Power.

What was the fatal flaw with the Power Word spells that invoked so much rage?!

So what makes these Spells so powerful and links them together? Well, they are all high-level enchantments and have a range of 60ft, with their only spell components being Verbal. (Exclusions, Terms and Conditions Apply). There are currently 5 Power Words in 5th Edition: Stun, Kill, and Heal from the 2014 PHB, which have been joined by Fortify in 2024 PHB, and the mildly exception inducing Power Word Pain from Xanathar's Guide which if I were a Divination Wizard would say will see significant changes if and when it sees a 5.5 update. But what make these spells unique, and frightening, is that they all do something most other spells can't… they ignore saving throws. They. Just. Work. No hit rolls, no saves, no immunities and NO legendary resistances. You heard me, Power Words ignore Legendary resistance. There is no saving throw, therefore Mr Dragon can’t choose to succeed, and THAT is a BBEG game changer, if you get your timing right.

What I mean by that is in 2014, these spells had a fatal and frustrating flaw. Instead of a Saving Throw trigger, they go off the current HP of the target… something the players can only guess at. Generally, if they guessed wrong, the spell simply fizzles, burns the high-level spell slot, and wastes a turn, leaving the spellcaster raging harder than a Path of the Berserker Barbarian.  Luckily, changes in 2024 have gone a long way to pacifying these pain points and making the Words of Power, truly, syllables your enemies never want to hear.  Let’s tackle them one by one, starting with…

Don't you hate it when a Level 9 spell does NOTHING?!

Power Word Stun – Bards, Sorcerers, Wizards and Warlocks in 2014 would likely think twice before taking this spell due to its unpredictable nature. At Level 8, it is a very valuable spell slot, and the risk was that if your opponent had 151HP or more, it simply did nothing. In a rank that includes Mind Blanks, Animal Shapes, Holy Auras, Earthquakes and Clones… simply enforcing the Stunned condition, possibly for only one turn, seems well underpowered.

Now don’t get me wrong, Stun is a very heinous condition (and even more so in 2024 with the boosts to Incapacitated rule that auto-breaks concentration). On a success, your opponent is guaranteed to miss one round, with a CON save to avoid a similar fate each turn. But a lot of high-powered enemies you’d use an 8th-level spell on do quite well at CON saves soooo… yeah. The we are back to the fact that the main advantage of this spell over all the other Level 8 options is that it negates the save… which in 2024 now feels a little better, with the addition of a secondary effect if the target is above the magical 150HP. For that situation, the Big Bads' speed now becomes zero for a turn. It’s not much, but it’s something. If your opponent hits like a truck but is melee only, it gives you a round of free hits and repositions. If you have an airborne opponent, however, things get a lot more interesting as “…flying creatures and those under the effects of a fly spell can fall if they are knocked prone, incapacitated, or have their speed reduced to 0. They can remain aloft if they have the ability to hover or are being held aloft by magic…” and “a falling creature drops up to 500ft per turn, taking 1d6 bludgeoning per 10ft up to a max of 20d6 when it hits the ground”. So while situational, Power Word Stun is a viable choice against aerial foes like dragons cruising at 60ft or lower before you wear down the Legendary Resistance uses or if your party is hand-to-hand focused and the damn lizard wont come into range. The worst-case scenario is the beast plummets, takes some fall damage, lands prone giving the rest of your party gets opportunity to melee hit with advantage, and the best case is all of that AND the creature is stunned for a turn or two… then maybe, just maybe it can justify it’s Level 8 ranking… but yeah, it’s a long bow to draw.

I was flying just a second ago...

Luckily for Power Word Fortify, a new level 7 addition to the family in 2024, things are much simpler and somewhat better value. The spell allows your Bard, Cleric or Divine Soul Sorcerer to infer 120 Temporary HP on up to 6 targets within 60ft. If you do the maths on a Level 7 Cure wounds spell, which would roll 14d8’s, you’ll find the average roll is only 63, so you are getting nearly twice the magical healing mojo for your money, which proves the old adage that a Power Word Prevention is better than a Cure… Wounds.

Back with the originals, and next we have the menacing and scarily simple spell “Power Word Kill”. If your target has fewer than 100HP… they die. Period. No effect saves, no death saving throws, and I would argue no triggers for “Drop to 0HP” abilities. Just dead. Unless, they had 101HP or more which case this LEVEL 9 spell would leave your bard, sorcerer, warlock or wizard FUMING that their most powerful and rarest resource had less influence on the bad guy than a gentle spring breeze. So, thank Tyr that justice has finally come to this iconic casting option, as in the 2024 version, there is now a fallback effect in the shape of 12d12 Psychic damage as the target's rapidly impending mortality flashes across their neural cortex. That averages out to 78 damage and goes a long way to putting to bed and tucking in any reluctance on busting out the cheesiest of cheese ways to MVP the campaign and put down the final boss for good. 

Staying with the classics and perhaps winning the “Most Improved but still Terrible” award is the opposite end of the tactical spectrum, for if you can’t Kill 'em, Heal 'em. Power Word Heal brings any creature back to full HP and removes Charm, Fear, Paralyzed, Stun and in 2024 also Poisoned conditions… but not Blind, Deaf, Incapacitated or Petrified… like why!? This is the pinnacle of healing, a 9th-level investment on a single creature and ‘sorry’ I can return all your lost lifeblood and organ damage, but that tinnitus is gonna have to stay and you are still a statue. It will ‘cure’ “Prone” but the target has to burn their reaction to do so.

In 2014, it was also BARD only unless you used the optional rules from Tasha’s, and I know Power Words are usually associated with the Bardic Class, but if a Wizard can unlock most of the others, surely the Cleric class gets this one every tenday of the year. Fortunately, in 2024, they do, along with the Divine Soul Sorcerer. Most importantly, however, is the reason that this Power WORD (which for some reason is the exception requiring a somatic component), copped the most flak in the original 5e rules was that its range was “Touch”. So for your BARD to be its most effective, they would have to charge up to the downed barbarian in the front row of combat vs something powerful enough to fell over 200HP of raging damage resistant muscle, and give them a little love tap… then get 1 shotted the next round cause they are squishy and standing in front of a freaking ancient dragon having just robbed them of a tasty bloody treat. Now the spell has a 60ft range, which is a MASSIVE improvement… but still sadly less than half as effective as another Level 9 healing spell, Mass Heal, which can deal out 700HP of life force across multiple targets at the same range. So while better now, and will finally work on undead and constructs, PWH is still a big yeah, nah, from me… as a player. As a DM however….. muhahaha!

I'm coming Smacky! Not sure why, but I am!

Lastly is the slightly odd Xanathar’s Guide Level 7 spell, Power Word Pain – It breaks a lot of the rules of the family and has not yet seen a 2024 update. It does have the familiar 100HP or Nothing cutoff and no possible save, which identifies it as a Power Word spell. But creatures immune to Charm can’t be affected, and the list of effects is a lot more complex.  First it slows the opponent to 10ft, then gives it Disadvantage on all D20 tests… except CON saves as it uses that to see if it ends each turn, and then also imposes a Concentration (CON)  check each time the target tries to cast a spell or the spell fails and is lost. It’s all just a bit messy. The new rules have actively tried to remove ambiguity and speed up spells and combat by making them use standard conditions where possible. If we do see Power Word Pain return in the new rules, I would predict it is simplified to inflict the Incapacitated condition, perhaps with the Poisoned as a fallback… but either of those would be pretty weak on their own, even with the save negation.

As some of the oldest spells in the game, I think the Power Word family as a whole just haven’t kept up with the power creep from edition to edition, with newer, more interesting options relegating them low on the wish list of most casters, even with the improvements that have been made in 5E24.

Now as always if you’d like some printable power-word cards that come with the relevant condition markers for each spell, I have some good news. You can find these aids for your game table so you can always remember the right words for your next condition-imbibing rampage through the weave right here at the ZG Store.