Summon Greater Demon
2014 Rules
- Level & School
- 4th-level conjuration
- Casting Time
- Action
- Range
- 60 feet
- Components
- V, S, M (a vial of blood from a humanoid killed within the past 24 hours)
- Duration
- Concentration, 1 hour
- Classes
- Warlock, Wizard
- Source
- Xanathar's Guide to Everything
You utter foul words, summoning one demon from the chaos of the Abyss. You choose the demon's type, which must be one of challenge rating 5 or lower, such as a shadow demon or a barlgura. The demon appears in an unoccupied space you can see within range, and the demon disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when the spell ends.
Roll initiative for the demon, which has its own turns. When you summon it and on each of your turns thereafter, you can issue a verbal command to it (requiring no action on your part), telling it what it must do on its next turn. If you issue no command, it spends its turn attacking any creature within reach that has attacked it.
At the end of each of the demon's turns, it makes a Charisma saving throw. The demon has disadvantage on this saving throw if you say its true name. On a failed save, the demon continues to obey you. On a successful save, your control of the demon ends for the rest of the duration, and the demon spends its turns pursuing and attacking the nearest non-demons to the best of its ability. If you stop concentrating on the spell before it reaches its full duration, an uncontrolled demon doesn't disappear for 1d6 rounds if it still has hit points.
As part of casting the spell, you can form a circle on the ground with the blood used as a material component. The circle is large enough to encompass your space. While the spell lasts, the summoned demon can't cross the circle or harm it, and it can't target anyone within it. Using the material component in this manner consumes it when the spell ends.
Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the challenge rating increases by 1 for each slot level above 4th.
Summon Greater Demon 5.5e 2024 vs. 5e 2014 edition differences
Summon Greater Demon is currently only available in the 2014 edition.
Summon Greater Demon popularity
How popular is Summon Greater Demon? It is a seldom seen spell in the game, and is chosen less than other options when available. This spell may fill a specific niche for a spellbook.
- Bottom 25% picked level 4 Warlock spell
- Bottom 25% of all 5e spells
- Bottom 25% picked level 4 Wizard spell
- Bottom 25% of all level 4 spells
Read about how this popularity data is calculated.
Spells similar to Summon Greater Demon
Summon Fiend 6th-level conjuration
It’s the closest match: both call an extraplanar ally for an hour and use your commands each turn.
Players prefer Summon Fiend over Summon Greater Demon
Summon Aberration 4th-level conjuration
Both are 4th-level conjurations that create a single combat ally with a similar command-and-concentration feel.
Players prefer Summon Aberration over Summon Greater Demon
Infernal Calling 5th-level conjuration
Like the target, it bargains for an outsider to fight for you and fits the same warlock-and-wizard summoning niche.
Players prefer Infernal Calling over Summon Greater Demon
Summon Shadowspawn 3rd-level conjuration
It follows the same modern summon template, giving you a controlled creature that acts on your turns over a long concentration spell.
Players prefer Summon Shadowspawn over Summon Greater Demon
Summon Lesser Demons 3rd-level conjuration
This also brings hostile demon creatures onto the battlefield and asks you to manage them while they last.