Speak with Animals
2024 Rules
- Level & School
- 1st-level divination
- Casting Time
- Action or Ritual
- Range
- Self
- Components
- V, S
- Duration
- 10 minutes
- Classes
- Bard, Druid, Ranger, Warlock
For the duration, you can comprehend and verbally communicate with Beasts, and you can use any of the Influence action's skill options with them.
Most Beasts have little to say about topics that don't pertain to survival or companionship, but at minimum, a Beast can give you information about nearby locations and monsters, including whatever it has perceived within the past day.
2014 Rules
- Level & School
- 1st-level divination
- Casting Time
- Action
- Range
- Self
- Components
- V, S
- Duration
- 10 minutes
- Classes
- Bard, Druid, Ranger
You gain the ability to comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts for the duration. The knowledge and awareness of many beasts is limited by their intelligence, but at minimum, beasts can give you information about nearby locations and monsters, including whatever they can perceive or have perceived within the past day. You might be able to persuade a beast to perform a small favor for you, at the GM's discretion.
Speak with Animals 5.5e 2024 vs. 5e 2014 edition differences
Speak with Animals popularity
How popular is Speak with Animals? It is one of the most popular spells in the game, but is chosen less than other options when available. This spell may not be the most inspiring but may still be useful.
- Top 10% of all 5e spells
- Top 25% of all level 1 spells
- Top 50% picked level 1 Druid spell
- Top 50% picked level 1 Bard spell
- Top 50% picked level 1 Warlock spell
- Bottom 50% picked level 1 Ranger spell
Spells similar to Speak with Animals
Animal Messenger 2nd-level enchantment
It uses a beast as the medium for communication and provides both information and social utility through animals.
Players prefer Speak with Animals over Animal Messenger
Animal Friendship 1st-level enchantment
Both spells enable social interaction with beasts and are chosen when a caster wants to influence or learn from animals.
Players prefer Speak with Animals over Animal Friendship
Tongues 3rd-level divination
This spell provides broad language comprehension and speaking ability, matching the core communication function of the target spell.
Players prefer Speak with Animals over Tongues
Speak with Plants 3rd-level transmutation
It parallels the structure and purpose of communicating with a nonhuman lifeform to glean local information and interact socially.
Players prefer Speak with Animals over Speak with Plants
Beast Sense 2nd-level divination
This spell directly links you to an animal's perceptions, offering a very similar way to get information from beasts.
Players prefer Speak with Animals over Beast Sense