Power Word Kill

A
Damage

Power Word Kill is a Damage spell. Damage spells focus on dealing harm to enemies.

See all Damage spells →
 spell that instantly kills a weakened foe or unleashes brutal psychic damage when raw force isn't enough.

2024 Rules
Level & School
9th-level enchantment
Casting Time
Action
Range
60 feet
Components
V
Duration
Instantaneous
Classes
Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

You compel one creature you can see within range to die. If the target has 100 Hit Points or fewer, it dies. Otherwise, it takes 12d12 Psychic damage.

2014 Rules
Level & School
9th-level enchantment
Casting Time
Action
Range
60 feet
Components
V
Duration
Instantaneous
Classes
Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

You utter a word of power that can compel one creature you can see within range to die instantly. If the creature you choose has 100 hit points or fewer, it dies. Otherwise, the spell has no effect.

Power Word Kill 5.5e 2024 vs. 5e 2014 edition differences

Power Word Kill now deals 12d12 psychic damage if the target has more than 100 HP instead of having no effect. The instant-death threshold is unchanged.

Spells similar to Power Word Kill

  • Power Word Stun 8th-level enchantment

    Also a single-word, high-level enchantment that instantly incapacitates a single target at range with no attack roll involved, making it the closest mechanical sibling.

  • Divine Word 7th-level evocation

    A short-range high-level 'word' spell that imposes extreme effects tied to a target's remaining vitality, so it functions similarly as an immediate, threshold-based outcome.

  • Finger of Death 7th-level necromancy

    A high-level single-target necromancy blast that deals huge instant damage and has lethal consequences when it reduces a creature to zero, echoing the kill-by-damage aspect.

  • Disintegrate 6th-level transmutation

    A powerful, single-target spell that deals massive instant damage and has a dramatic finishing effect if it drops the target to zero, making it tactically comparable.

  • Imprisonment 9th-level abjuration

    A 9th-level spell that produces an immediate, one-target, uncounterable consequence of enormous scope, so it parallels Power Word Kill as an ultimate single-target option.