These spells scare me to death! Phantasmal force and phantasmal killer have scared plenty of my NPCs to death, anyway. These two spells are some of the more unusual illusion spells in the game, since they directly and aggressively assault the minds of other creatures, rather than creating a harmless, illusory sensation. These spells are a must-have for any illusionist wizard, but are also broadly available to many different classes and subclasses. They may seem sadistic, but characters who believe that evildoers deserve their comeuppance, or that the ends justify the means, will find a bevy of delightfully terrifying uses for these phantasmagorical spells.
What do the Phantasmal Spells Do?
There are two “phantasmal” spells in D&D: phantasmal force and phantasmal killer. In past editions of D&D, there were many other phantasmal spells too, such as phantasmal thief, phantasmal injury, and phantasmal strangler. While these other spells haven’t been updated to D&D’s current edition, all phantasmal spells have something in common: they create an illusion so realistic and frightful that the target believes it is capable of being harmed by it.
Phantasmal force is the weaker of the two spells; a 2nd-level illusion spell available to bards, sorcerers, wizards, Arcane Trickster rogues, and warlocks of the Archfey and the Great Old One. Simply, this spell allows you to craft an illusory object perceivable only by the target of the spell. As long as the spell lasts, the target interacts with the object as if it were real, and justifies away any event that would suggest it isn’t real. If the illusory object is harmful, it can harm the target—dealing psychic damage, of course.
Phantasmal killer is a deadly spell that not only debuffs a creature with the potent frightened condition, but also deals psychic damage each turn until the target makes a successful saving throw and ends the spell. If your party is able to impose disadvantage on that creature’s Wisdom saving throws, it might never be able to escape the nightmare you’ve woven for it!
Note that phantasmal killer has some slightly confusing wording. In the past, some people have posited that the ongoing damage occurs even if the target succeeds on the first saving throw and resists becoming frightened. To clear up any confusion, the spell ends if a creature succeeds on any of its saving throws, including the initial save. Jeremy Crawford has confirmed that this was how the spell functions by rules-as-written. If you’re willing to introduce a house-rule to your game, however, I would recommend removing the initial saving throw. This guarantees that the spell deals at least 4d10 damage and frightens the target for one turn. Otherwise, in my opinion, this spell is a bit too weak compared to other 4th-level spells.
Using Phantasmal Killer
Another major difference between phantasmal killer and other illusion spells is who decides what the illusion looks like. While phantasmal force and most other illusion spells allow you to craft a specific object, phantasmal killer allows you to “tap into the nightmares of a creature…and create an illusory manifestation of its deepest fears.”
Whenever I’ve played with this spell, this has meant that the exact form of the phantasm is either glossed over entirely, or determined by the Dungeon Master on the fly. That makes sense; the DM shouldn’t be expected to simply tell the caster the creature’s greatest fear, since that’s beyond the purview of the spell. And besides, it’s easier and quicker for the DM to simply come up with a scary thing like a dragon or a clown with a knife than for the DM to tell the caster the creature’s deepest fear, then wait for the caster to come up with something suitably scary.
That said, if you’re the DM and you do want to tell the caster the creature’s deepest fear and allow them to come up with a cool phantasm, you probably haven’t though too much about what any random hobgoblin’s greatest phobia is. If you can’t think of anything off the top of your head, here’s a random table of common phobias you can roll on to determine that creature’s fear.
1d12 |
Fear |
Illusory Image |
1 |
Arachnophobia; the fear of spiders |
A monstrous spider near the target |
2 |
Hemophobia; the fear of blood |
The target bleeding uncontrollably |
3 |
Lepidopterophobia; the fear of butterflies |
A swarm of countless butterflies flying at the target |
4 |
Pyrophobia; the fear of fire |
A ring of fire, slowly constricting around the target |
5 |
Thalassophobia; the fear of the sea |
A giant wave, engulfing the target |
6 |
Dracophobia; the fear of dragons |
A dragon flying high in the sky, shrieking and threatening to descend |
7 |
Claustrophobia; the fear of enclosed spaces |
A dome of transparent glass, slowly constricting around the target |
8 |
Cynophobia; the fear of dogs |
A massive black dog looms on the horizon, gazing ominously at the target |
9 |
Necrophobia; the fear of death |
The flesh of the target and all creatures it can see, rotting away |
10 |
Astraphobia; the fear of thunder and lightning |
A rumbling storm gathering and flashing in the distance |
11 |
Ornithophobia; the fear of birds |
An unusually large flock of birds alighting upon nearby trees and buildings |
12 |
Selenophobia; the fear of the moon |
The moon appearing bright and large in the sky, regardless of time of day |
Phantasmal Spells in Your Game
How do you use these aggressive illusions in your game? Do you have any great stories of terrifying a creature with phantasmal killer or tricking someone with phantasmal force? Tell your stories in the comments!
James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and the Critical Role Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, the DM of Worlds Apart, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and Kobold Press. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his partner Hannah and their sweet kitties Mei and Marzipan. You can usually find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.
Really though, is it such a stretch to believe?
I got guff for using illusions to slow down a dangerous foe and successfully elude pursuit. If I'd been a druid instead and cast Entangle to do *the exact same thing*, neither the DM nor any other player would've batted an eye. Illusion magic has a bad rap for "ruining" games, but honestly it's no more ruinous than any other spell effect properly utilized.
As a DM, if your illusionist is constantly breaking your encounters in similar ways, or finding holes to poke through with clever spell usage, you can treat it as your player being a jerk - or you can treat it as being offered the challenge of designing better encounters. That hoblin warleader could've come back later with mages of his own, furious at being fooled and ready to give the table a taste of my own medicine. There's little that gets the Arcane Trickster at your table going more than a battle of magical wit.
Phantasmal Force is AMAZING. My go-to use is a pot of burning oil on the enemy's head. Now they're blinded AND taking 1d6 psychic damage/round. Honestly, I love the spell
One of my friends used his illusionist to have a swarm of wasps cloud around his victims head distracting them and causing damage from stinging wasps. Great spell!
I think it'd be especially cruel to use Phantasmal Force to secretly swap out an enemy's weapon with an illusionary replica. It wouldn't be that effective on enemies that don't solely rely on weapons (or enemies that completely lack weapons) but it'd still be hilarious to watch.
Thanks! Very Helpfull
They didn't mention phantasmal killer being able to upcast and Weird which is a 30 ft radius sphere phantasmal killer.
I think it's more fun to use this spell against the players! Especially with the optional rule of making the first attack hit, you can make some dramatic moments. A characters long lost brother suddenly appears out of the fog, says "You're the reason I died", and then stabs the character. A character has been wondering about a poison/disease they may have contracted, and suddenly they start coughing up blood. The Paladin has been worried whether or not they're really championing their God's ideals to the best of their ability. Suddenly a blaring light burns them from behind, as they turn to see a solar, who tells them that they are not worthy. It can make a mundane encounter suddenly personal for a PC.
I have used Phantasmal Force to weave the Illussion of an Iron Maiden enclosing on the target.
Depending on the DM's interpretation there are a number of ways this affects the target creature.
I have used it in a number of different ways, but this has always been my favorite.
In Tomb of Annihilation, my 5th level wizard was able to neutralize Tzindelor (the red dragon) for a few rounds by casting a phantasmal force of a rival green dragon (young green dragon fits the size limitations of the spell). Tinder shrugged off the minimal damage the "dragon" was doing as testament to her own awesomeness. It was only after the "rival dragon's minions" (i.e., us PC's) did considerable damage that Tinder turned her attention to us.
My party that i DM'd for used phantasmal force to get out of fighting a flail snail and the goblins that were on top of it feeding it gems periodically as a way to direct it towards certain places in the underdark and eat their clans foes. My party while exploring the underdark looking for a band of kuotoa that were witnessed kidnapping a dwarven princess or something like that stumbled upon the snails gem like residue it leaves behind and decided to follow it. Upon reaching a large cavern one of players nailed a perception check to see the snail that was slowly licking up gems off the floor that landed in front of it. Seeing as the snail was large and nasty looking the player reported back to the party and the warlock in my party asked me if she thinks this snail is eating gems for magic reasons or for food reasons, a successful nature check later she cracked her knuckles and said "i got this". Proceeds to cast phantasmal force on the snail that it sees a large pile of irresistible gems on the side of the cave opposite where the party wants to go, then successfully mind intimidate the goblins into running away as they can no longer control their snail and the party goes on consequence free to continue their quest. *queue angry DM noises for player ingenuity* that is when i truly learned nothing survives contact with the party.
I have a question. If I were to cast phantasmal force to create a fiery pit beneath a guard's feet, would the guard:
a) fall to the ground believing he's fallen into a fiery pit, frantically try to climb out while his fellow guards try to tell him there's nothing there, all while taking 1d6 damage per round?
b) look down on his turn and think "oh crap a fiery pit!" then move out of it, firmly believing that he was just quick enough to avoid falling into it?
This is a great article, and the table of phobias is a great reference tool. Thanks for this! 👏🏿👏🏾👏🏽👏👏🏼👏🏻🌺
Regarding the caged or chained question, even if the target believes he is chained or caged, his actions would not be inhibited. He would be able to move normally, and he would illogically rationalize his ability to move despite being chained or caged.
The fire pit beneath a target's feet would be the same. The target might believe he's in a pit of fire, but he would be able to climb out if it, rationalizing the action somehow.
A Warlock’s “Hex” would also work, and only takes up a first-level slot.
Like I said, Hex is a good option, with no save, and it only takes a bonus action.
Edit: @Dausaal
Hex does not affect saving throws. It only affects ability checks.
Hex would not work, because Hex gives disadvantage on ability checks. That means that while Hex could be a good combo with Phantasmal Force, it doesn't work with Phantasmal Killer.
Heightened Spell does not work for this. It only affects the first saving throw; ongoing saves suffer no penalty.
Sickening radiance is a concentration spell, and so is phantasmal killer. You would need two casters to accomplish this. Besides, if you've managed to land 3 hits of sickening radiance on the target, it's already out of the fight for all practical purposes: Disadvantage on checks, attacks, and saves, half speed, and it's taken 12d10 damage. If you insist on throwing another debuff at it, use Evard's black tentacles so it can't escape the kill zone.
(Come to think of it, that is a really vicious combo. Trap a squad of enemies with the tentacles, have your buddy drop sickening radiance, then stand back and watch them die of high-speed radiation sickness. Next time I'm a player, I may have to try and convince one of my fellow players to make a second caster so we can set it up...)
Bestow curse is a good one, though. I hadn't thought of that. Upcast it to 5th level and you don't have to concentrate.
We used Phantasmal force to actual punish a player character for attacking a Banshee without planning with the party. We made it seem like the Banshee was coming back for him and he kept getting Psychic Damage until he apologized and my Warlock character dispelled it. Great RP moment and really shows the utility of the spell, do not limit it just to combat.
I like having some of the higher level spells to actually have origin stories. This gave me an idea for a spin on the classic whodunnit for a mid-level party.
The party is contacted to solve a series of strange deaths. The victims have all died from no apparent reason, most of them in perfect health. Examination of the bodies determines that they died from fright.
Upon investigation, the party discovers that the victims all knew the same person, a reclusive and odd wizard who has been either bullied, mocked or shunned by the victims at some point in his/her life.
The kicker is that the wizard was cast out of the Mages Guild/University of Magic/Royal Court for experimenting with dark magic. The killer wizard is the one who has created the Phantasmal Killer spell as the perfect murder weapon.
A bit tropey for sure, but a fun one-shot, say for Halloween weekend?