Power Word Kill
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 popularity
How popular is Power Word Kill? It is a seldom seen spell in the game, but is often chosen over other options when available. This spell could be a valuable addition for spellbooks.
Spells similar to Power Word Kill
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.
Players prefer Finger of Death over Power Word Kill
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.
Players prefer Disintegrate over Power Word Kill
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.
Players prefer Divine Word over 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.
Players prefer Power Word Kill over Power Word Stun
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.
Players prefer Power Word Kill over Imprisonment