Take a Big Bite of Heroes' Feast

Tags Spell Spotlights author-riley-silverman

As the holiday season hits into full swing, what better time to sit down and raise a glass with one of the most flavorful spells in D&D? As the yule log burns and the threat of a big evil monster or perhaps the parking lot of your local shopping mall looms in the distance, let's dig our forks into preparing a hearty and mechanically nourishing meal for your party with heroes' feast! 

What Does Heroes' Feast Do?

A half orc holding a pie and a rolling pin

This powerful 6th-level conjuration spell allows you to create a spread of food that would make the Mad Hatter blush. Over the course of an hour, the feast can feed up to 12 creatures. Once the meal has been consumed, all creatures who indulged are cured of all poisons and diseases, as well as becoming immune to poisons and being frightened. The spell also increases your hit point maximum by 2d10 and grants you those new hit points as well. Finally, the spell gives you advantage on all Wisdom saving throws. All of these benefits last for a full 24 hours. 

Paying the Tab

Clearly, heroes' feast is a very powerful spell. Without spoiling anything for new fans, viewers of Critical Role's Vox Machina campaign and even some of the Mighty Nein adventures will recognize how clutch this spell became in preparation for some story-defining battles. It has the potential to sway the outcome of a high-stakes encounter and could even be the deciding factor between a total party kill and a critical victory.

As such, this spell is costly, both in resources and time. It takes a full ten minutes just to cast the spell, plus a full hour for the consumption of the food and drinks created, so it is not a spell that can be cast quickly while on the run. The material component of the spell, a jewel-encrusted bowl worth 1,000 gp, is the biggest hindrance to the spell being used regularly. Not only must the party track down this component, but the spell consumes it. Once the spell has been cast, another such bowl must be obtained to do so again. So despite the spell being so useful, these limitations help keep it balanced and preserve the feel of it being a special indulgence in the face of a great need. 

When to Use Heroes' Feast?

An adventuring party resting in an inn before a day of adventure

With such a high price tag and time-consuming casting, what situations make heroes' feast worth the cost and effort? Here are a few examples:

  • Dragons: The famous creatures of "Dungeons &" fame. As Fizban himself would tell you, many of these creatures possess the frightful presence ability that can potentially cause any creature within 120 feet of them to become frightened. The immunity to that effect granted by heroes' feast could completely change the dynamic of a dragon battle.
  • Green Dragons: These dragons would especially be frustrated by a magically well-fed party of adventurers who would now be immune to their poison breath. 
  • Mind-control: Many of D&D's toughest monsters, such as vampires or aboleths, have abilities like Charm or Enslave that require a Wisdom saving throw. During long combats, you'll be glad to have advantage on all of those rolls.
  • The Underdark: Journeys into the land below are almost like a tour of potential poison, frighten, and mind-control effects. If you're taking a day trip into the Underdark, a heroes' feast before you delve is a great call.
  • Hit points: Sometimes you just need all the extra hit points you can get. You may have a BBEG fight coming up or a veritable gauntlet of foes. Either way, making sure every member of your party can take a few more hits is vital to avoiding that dreaded TPK. Combining the maximum HP increase from heroes' feast with some temporary hit points from a spell such as heroism or false life could just be the thing that keeps you on your toes and out of death saves.

Who Can Cast Heroes' Feast?

Heroes’ feast can be cast by clerics and druids. A bard could also add it to their spell list via the Magical Secrets class feature or the optional additional spells for bards in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.

Why We Love This Spell

While heroes' feast has some very beneficial mechanical elements, what really makes it special to us is the way it heavily leans into the found family vibes of a typical D&D adventuring party. It's an excellent opportunity to roleplay your characters sitting down to enjoy the feast together and how they would approach the food. Remember, you're not just sitting down for a meal around a campfire or a tavern. It's a feast! This is an extravagant, gluttonous… dare we say decadent undertaking. It's a key moment to dig your forks into what your characters would consider their perfect, most indulgent meal. 

If your adventurers are from a rich, prosperous port city, their heroes' feast might look like a royal banquet, complete with sugary treats, complicated sauces from trained chefs, and the finest vintage wines. On the other hand, if they're from a more isolated, rustic locale, their heroes' feast might resemble the revelry following a great hunt, with roast beasts, crusty bread, and mugs overflowing with mead or ale. The official Heroes' Feast cookbook can provide some inspirations for the types of dishes your characters might conjure up, plus the truly immersive among you might even be able to prepare a meal for your group ahead of the game session.

FAQ: Heroes' Feast

A pot of soup and some bread

Does heroes feast grant temporary hit points?

The hit points gained from heroes' feast are actually added to your maximum hit points for the duration of the spell's effects. This is a pretty useful benefit to the spell because it can be less taxing on the party's healing resources, be they spells or potions. 

Does heroes' feast grant immunity to poison damage?

Yes, the poison immunity is for both the condition and the damage type.

Can heroes' feast be dispelled with dispel magic?

The rules of dispel magic would allow the effects of heroes' feast to be dispelled. However, as a 6th-level spell, this would mean the spellcaster would have to beat a DC of 16 to dispel it or spend a valuable high-level spell slot to do so automatically. 

Can heroes' feast stack?

Abilites with the same name can't be stacked, so you cannot hoard gem-crusted bowls to make a heroes' feast second breakfast or even a heroes' feast elevensies.

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Riley Silverman (@rileyjsilverman) is a contributing writer to D&D Beyond, Nerdist, and SYFY Wire. She DMs the Theros-setDice Ex Machinafor the Saving Throw Show, and has been a player on the Wizards of the Coast-sponsoredThe Broken Pact. Riley also played as Braga in the official tabletop adaptation of theRat Queenscomic for HyperRPG, and currently plays as The Doctor on the Doctor Who RPG podcastThe Game of Rassilon. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

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