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“Where there is no imagination, there is no horror.”
Arthur Conan Doyle
D&D is full of unsettling magic. More than likely, you’re already thinking of spells that you believe are creepy and well-suited to a Halloween or Gothic adventure. But I’ve identified eleven spells that can be incredibly creepy when described and used for that purpose. Allow my list to enrich your Halloween D&D game!
My list is based on several spell qualities, thus the following qualities are what I referenced to build the list:
- Surprising (not an obvious standout)
- Far-reaching (effects beyond merely instantaneous effects)
- Impactful (effects are impressive, irresistible, and potentially game changing)
- Appealing (my personal taste 😉 of course)
Check out my list and let me know if I surprised you, and definitely tell me if you’re going to use these spells on your players for an upcoming adventure that needs an unsettling element. I’ll also include categories of spells that can be used for different horror flavors.
Here are the elevated eleven spells in order (because “top eleven” doesn’t sound spicy)!
#11 – Tenser’s Transformation (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
I like to imagine an item that casts this spell on its user, giving them unholy strength and stamina. Even the weakest of political villains can suddenly become a rampaging monster. It’s not an inherently wicked spell, but a DM can yeet players’ expectations by casting this spell on an opponent. The players assumed the rich tyrant wouldn’t be a threat since she always has others do his dirty work, but when she picks up an ancient amulet from a tribe of berserkers, she becomes a force of unrelenting rage and reckless violence.
#10 – Tree Stride
This spell doesn’t last long, but in a forest full of trees it can make a skulker seem omnipresent. I usually think of this spell as something to be used by friendly forest fey creatures, but I can also picture sinister shadows that giggle as they jump from tree to gnarled tree and rain attacks on a party of heroes. If the forest is dark and dank, full of dead trees that seem to scratch at passersby, the scarier Tree Stride becomes. Anytime a monster seems omnipresent, a situation becomes unnerving for players to deal with.
#9 – Danse Macabre (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
Probably the most predictable inclusion from this list, spells like Danse Macabre that wake the dead are classically terrorizing. The reason I chose this spell over other spells like Animate Dead is that Danse Macabre can take effect quickly with surprising timing to turn the tides of battle in a necromancer’s favor. I visualize this spell as a necromancer acting as a puppeteer pulling arcane strings for up to one hour after merely one action investment. No hero likes to see fallen foes rise to take up arms again, but if the risen bodies are those of loved ones and allies, all the better for a necromancer’s terrible trap.
#8 – Telekinesis
This spell is wonderful in the hands of a skilled horror-loving DM. When an enemy can drop a boulder on your head, or lift you so high into the air that you’ll die when you fall, it can create a sense of dread. It’s especially unsettling to feel powerless against Telekinesis. If the players don’t realize the telekinetic effects are the results of a spell, they won’t try to break a caster’s concentration. I particularly enjoy this spell as a tool of a ghost that possesses a character. After possessed, the ghost lifts the victim’s body into the air with what is technically Telekinesis, but the players will merely perceive it as an effect of the possession. The party can’t fight their own ally, and they can’t banish the spirit without causing their friend to drop from far above. Alternatively, a home haunted by a spirit can just toss players and old furniture around, creating a whirlwind of junk and people being thrown around by unseen forces.
#7 – Enervation (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
Horror is often accompanied by nihilism and a sense of despair. If a PC becomes the target of Enervation, it may horrify them that the enemy spellcaster is healing himself faster than the PC can deal damage. The despair is compounded if a player has nowhere to run due to a confined environment, or if the Enervation caster has wings to fly above until all life has been drained, leaving the character as a husk on the ground while the life draining caster is invigorated.
#6 – Modify Memory
When you can’t trust your own mind, you’ll be plagued by confusion and suspicion. Many mind-control spells will end and allow the controlled person to know they were controlled, but Modify Memory can create a false memory in your mind. When your family is dead, and you are made to believe that you are their accidental slayer instead of the demon that actually killed them, it will shake you forever as the demon observes you laughing from afar. There’s just something truly vile about someone who would violate sacred memories. At higher levels, this spell is truly terrifying since it allows a spellcaster to literally pluck and alter any memory from your life. Let that sink in… There is a saving throw though, so hopefully you roll high!
#5 – Soul Cage (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
Now we enter the upper echelon of this list, which mostly includes spells that don’t give targets a change to roll a saving throw. That’s right; these spells will nearly always succeed. Soul Cage is a troublesome spell for any party that often counts on a cleric to raise a fallen ally from well-earned death. If an ally’s soul is not available, the resurrection will fail. Sure, you can destroy the material component cage that is used to cast Soul Cage, but what if an enemy flees after securing an ally’s soul? The soul thief can squeeze your ally’s soul for information, but not enough to set the soul free. This could turn into a quest line for your players as they dread the fate of their friend’s soul.
#4 – Reverse Gravity
This spell is like Telekinesis on steroids. Though this spell will end after one minute, it is guaranteed to mess with a party of adventurers. This spell allows a Dexterity saving throw, but I treat it as if there is no saving throw because victims will still have gravity reversed even if they’re able to grab onto something to prevent falling. They’ll still be dangling from whatever they grab, which is enough to take most characters out of a fight since they can’t use their hands effectively. If a player falls, they will end up floating high in the air as sitting ducks/fish in a barrel, or they will land on some kind of ceiling that causes falling damage. If the spellcaster is not in Reverse Gravity’s area, they can remain safe while players spend ages trying to navigate the upside down terrain. This spell also comes with a sense of mild omnipotence that can scare off many players.
#3 – Maze
With no saving throw, the dumb Barbarian is effectively banished to a maddening maze for what will probably be the spell’s full duration of ten minutes. While this bumbling fool stumbles around the maze, she knows her friends are being slain. She screams into the vast dimension as none hear her cries for help. Returning to the battle, she finds all her friends have fallen, and the villain and her minions are waiting full of laughter. The Barbarian never had a chance…
#2 – Dream
Even if you don’t use this spell’s offensive feature to deal psychic damage and deny rest, you get to shape a person’s dream for up to eight hours. I wrote an entire article about this spell because it is so cool. One of the scariest abilities in the game is that of the Night Hag that can kill someone with dreams alone, and this spell gives a spellcaster similar power. If you can torment a person’s mind and deny them rest, they’ll eventually go mad or die. Reality begins to seem like the dream, while the dreams begin to seem real. This spell can affect you at anytime if you’ve met a twisted fey creature that likes to make you relive your worst memories and greatest failures. Oh, and once again, no saving throw is available unless the caster chooses to actually harm you. Good luck to you when an enemy chooses to appear to you as your abusive mother who repeatedly screams about how you’re an accident. You wake up and know that your deceased mother was loving and caring to you, but the dream will nevertheless begin to affect you once you’ve relived it every night for weeks unending.
#1 – Magic Jar
Does this one surprise you? Even if this list was not about “unexpected” spells, Magic Jar would remain #1 on my list of creepy spells. If a villain can use this spell, you must pray that you and your allies are never taken captive. Villains that aren’t afraid to die may steal an ally’s body and hide the magic jar so you can never safely rescue your friend. Body swapping just seems like the ultimate taboo to me. It’s even worse if you don’t know what has been done to your ally. You’ll engineer a daring escape mission, but days after liberating your ally, you’ll notice something is off… It’s a shame that you didn’t realize your ally was your enemy until you were poisoned at supper. This is no mere mind control, and the duration is not limited by time or concentration. I guarantee any DM that reads this will get a bit excited to weave a most-evil scheme against their players. In my opinion, this spell is an easy first choice for the most unexpectedly creepy spell.
And that’s it for this list! For those that want to brainstorm more scenarios to utilize creepy spells, here is a handful of spell categories to demonstrate the cornucopia of terrorizing spells that are available for creative dungeon masters:
More Spooky Spell Resources
Your Soul Is Mine: Magic Jar | Soul Cage
Stormy Night: Gust of Wind | Windwall | Control Winds | Whirlwind | Control Weather
Spooky Scary Skeletons: Animate Dead | Create Undead | Finger of Death | Danse Macabre | Speak with Dead | Negative Energy Flood
Mind Control: Dominate Person | Compulsion | Hold Person | Tasha’s Hideous Laughter | Otto’s Irresistible Dance | Dissonant Whispers | Modify Memory | Geas | Suggestion | Mass Suggestion
Terror: Fear | Cause Fear | Enemies Abound | Mental Prison | Eyebite | Weird
Inhuman: Alter Self | Polymorph | True Polymorph | Shapechange | Spider Climb | Foresight | Enlarge/Reduce | Clone
Poltergeist: Telekinesis | Catapult | Shatter | Levitate | Heat Metal | Reverse Gravity | Immolation | Force Cage | Cloud of Daggers | Blade Barrier
Hallucination: Phantasmal Force | Programmed Illusion | Illusory Dragon | Illusory Script | Dream | Blur | Mirror Image | Mirage Arcane | Hallucinatory Terrain
Unseen: Phantasmal Killer | See Invisibility | True Seeing | Invisibility | Greater Invisibility
Aberrant: Evard’s Black Tentacles | Arms of Hadar
Umbral: Maddening Darkness | Hunger of Hadar | Darkness | Shadow Blade | Shadow of Moil
Mistified: Fog Cloud | Stinking Cloud | Cloudkill | Guards and Wards
Minions: Unseen Servant | Tiny Servant | Animate Objects | Create Homunculus | Arcane Eye | Find Familiar | Magic Mouth | Summon Lesser Demon | Summon Greater Demon | Gate | Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound
Unholy Strength: False Life | Regenerate | Invulnerability | Tenser’s Transformation
Inescapable: Misty Step | Far Step | Tree Stride | Scatter | Haste | Blink | Gaseous Form
Grim Aesthetic: Skywrite | Web | Meld into Stone | Mold Earth | Shape Water | Pyrotechnics | Control Flame | Create Bonfire | Druidcraft | Toll the Dead | Thaumaturgy | Prestidigitation | Guardian of Faith
Rot: Infestation | Giant Insect | Insect Plague | Ray of Sickness | Bestow Curse | Contagion | Ray of Enfeeblement | Harm | Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting | Eyebite
Hills Are Alive: Guardian of Nature | Wrath of Nature | Druid Grove | Awaken
Disorientation: Slow | Confusion | Synaptic Static | Feeblemind | Sleep | Hypnotic Pattern | Silence | Blindness/Deafness | Eyebite
Wither: Life Transference | Enervation | Vampiric Touch | Blight | Disintegrate | Flesh to Stone
Hearing Voices: Psychic Scream | Sending | Augury | Power Word Kill | Power Word Stun | Power Word Pain | Zone of Truth | Rary’s Telepathic Bond | Telepathy
Isolation: Maze | Banishment | Imprisonment
Ghostly: Etherealness | Astral Projection
And that does it for this spooktacular summary of scary spells! Please let me know if my list surprised you and what you would change. And check out our other articles about spells here, such as our analysis of continuous action spells or our effort to improve unpopular spells through homebrewing variant spells. Happy Halloween!
More Spooky Articles:
- Learn how we use Polymorph to make enemies susceptible to Power Word Kill.
- See our Necromancer builds using RAW canonical classes.
- Read also our Guide to Playing a Witch.
- Learn how to utilize Lycanthropes and Werebeasts in your campaign.
