Chill Touch 5e - D&D 5th Edition Spell Book

Call Lightning 5e
Chill Touch 5e Image

Chill Touch 5e Spell Effects

Necromancy cantrip


Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 120 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: 1 round


You create a ghostly, skeletal hand in the space of a creature within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the creature to assail it with the chill of the grave. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 necrotic damage, and it can't regain hit points until the start of your next turn. Until then, the hand clings to the target.


If you hit an undead target, it also has disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn.


This spell's damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).


All information on Chill Touch 5e comes from the DnD Player's Handbook.

Acid Splash 5e

Classes That Can Cast Chill Touch 5e

The following classes from the player's handbook can cast chill touch 5e:

  • Sorcerer
  • Warlock
  • Wizard


Since chill touch is a cantrip and doesn't have a spell level, it isn't available to any of the cleric domains.


Also, I know what you're thinking: "I thought this spell was called 'chill touch'?" So, why's it deal necrotic damage? Good question. Like you, I also feel that this spell should be called "Grave Touch," or "Skeletal Hand," or something. But, whatever, I guess we can't always get what we want. Chill Touch deals necrotic damage, not cold damage, for some reason. Who knows why.


Chill Touch Spell Effectiveness

Damage 1st Level 5th Level 11th Level 17th Level
Damage Dice 1d8 2d8 3d8 4d8
Average Damage 4.5 9 13.5 18
Average Fighter DPR 11 19 30.5 41

Spell Damage

Only roughly half of the value from chill touch comes from its damage - the other half comes from preventing healing, and in some cases, giving disadvantage on attack rolls (to undead). The numbers presented on this table are compared to a fighter's average damage per round, which is calculated before factoring in hit chance. These numbers are rough estimations, intended to provide only an idea of chill touch's overall value as compared to the damage from another class.


Chill Touch 5e Usefulness

Chill Touch, like many spells in DnD, can be amazing when cast in the right situation. Or, it can be highly mediocre when cast in a suboptimal situation. To get the most from this interesting cantrip, try using chill touch 5e in the following circumstances.

  • If you're facing an enemy who is getting a lot of healing sent their way, be sure to utilize Chill Touch 5e. Since Chill Touch prevents healing on the target for 1-round, it should absolutely be spammed on enemies who rely on incoming heals.
  • Cast Chill Touch 5e when you're out of spell slots. This advice is probably obvious, as the damage/ utility from chill touch is certainly less than even 1st-level spells, but it is an important way to optimize its usage.
  • Use Chill Touch on enemies with low AC. Since a "ranged spell attack" goes against the target's AC to hit, in place of a saving throw, targets like other spell casters are actually relatively easy targets to hit, with chill touch 5e.
  • Finally, chill touch should certainly be prioritized against enemy undead who deal physical damage (not spell casters). Though the disadvantage to undead hit chance from a successful chill touch only applies to attacks they make against you - and not your allies - it's still a useful part of the spell to keep in mind.


Necrotic Damage Resistances, Immunities, and Vulnerabilities

When using Chill Touch 5e, it's worth knowing ahead of time that in the DnD Monster Manual, there are 11 monsters with necrotic damage resistance, 11 monsters with necrotic damage immunity, and 0 monsters with necrotic damage vulnerability.


Dungeon masters may always decide to give enemies you face off against necrotic damage vulnerabilities, but in my experience, most DMs aren't so generous. There are certainly other spell damage types that have more monsters with resistance and immunities (acid, fire, and lightning for example - consider spells like acid splash, burning hands, and call lightning), though the 22 monsters that reduce necrotic damage are worth looking out for.



Combine Chill Touch with the Following Spells

Chill touch is really not an amazing spell in the early game, but it's one of those spells that grows in value the further you get into your RPG campaign. In my experience, the further you go into a campaign, some of the more difficult fights you'll face often come from battling enemy healers. Since chill touch prevents healing for 1-round entirely - and there is no limit to how much healing it prevents - it can be truly amazing past 11th-level or so, when healing spells get really powerful.


Try combining chill touch 5e with the following spells to get the most out of this cantrip, especially in later levels.

  • Bless: normally, bless doesn't benefit spell casters very much, since hit chance is usually determined by enemy saving throws. However, since chill touch is a ranged spell attack, it technically counts as an "attack roll," meaning the +1d4 bonus from bless actually does apply.
  • Haste: characters affected by haste gain an extra action every round, meaning that haste pretty much meshes well with every spell in the game. Though Chill Touch 5e doesn't exactly do a ton of damage, if you're facing one or more enemy healers, you could cast chill touch on multiple enemies per round, effectively preventing multiple targets from being healed. Though chill touch is a mere cantrip, this simple combination could really make life difficult for an enemy healer.
  • Hellish Rebuke: this spell doesn't exactly multiply the effects from chill touch or anything. Instead, it's really just here to remind you that if your target's resistant or immune to necrotic damage, to - for the love of god - cast a spell with a different type of damage.


Chill Touch 5e Counters

If I was a healer, facing an enemy with chill touch, I would certainly make the time to silence them, use charm person, or cast cause fear on them. Really, anything to interrupt them from continually preventing my allies from receiving healing effects would be worthwhile effort.


Additionally though, since chill touch 5e uses AC to hit, it's also worth casting some of the following spells to lower chill touch's hit chance:

  • Bane: as the opposite of bless, you can use bane to lower a target's (3-targets', in fact) ranged spell attack by 1d4. Though bane doesn't outright prevent a spell caster from using chill touch 5e, it does make hitting with the spell more difficult.
  • Mage Armor: similarly, mage armor effectively raises AC of the target (in some cases), making it harder for them to be hit with spells like chill touch.


Chill Touch-Type Spells in Eternity TTRPG

There are so many TTRPGs out there that many players just go with D&D. 5e is the most well-known tabletop RPG in the world, it's a great system, and finding a group to game with is a piece of cake.


If you've ever wondered about finding a game that might better suit your gaming tastes though, let me shamelessly self-promote Eternity TTRPG for a second. In Eternity TTRPG, players can share the game master role, everyone gets to play a character (including GMs), and the game features really awesome tactical combat.


Below, I've included an example spell from Eternity TTRPG that's similar to Chill Touch 5e as a very short example you can use to compare how each game works.

Revenant Class Icon

Revenant/ Witch - Core Class Spell

Hex (Magic): weapon Range, -3Strike Bonus vs. Dodge or 4Range, -3Faith vs. Will. If this spell hits, you prevent the next 2HP of healing that the target would otherwise have received (can stack without limit). The target still receives any applicable Fatigue that they would otherwise have received from the prevented healing effect.

(Double-Hit): also deals 1damage.

  • (Grimly Fated) Not only is the next 2HP of healing prevented, but it instead causes the target to instead take equivalent damage.
  • (Of the Dread Vale) If this spell hits, the target also has -3Resilience, -3Dodge, and -3Will.
  • (Witch's Coven) Up to 3 enemies. *Double-Hit with this critical only allows one of the attacks to also deal 1damage.


Similar to chill touch 5e, Hex prevents healing on affected targets. Though there is a cap to how much healing can be prevented, and hex does not deal damage (unless the attack roll is very high), it's probably the closest example of a comparable spell within Eternity TTRPG. Revenant/ witch happens to be one of my favorite classes in the game (though revenant is an expansion class) as it has many unique debuff-like effects available in its spell/ ability kit.


Curious to learn more about the Eternity TTRPG Game System? Check out the Eternity TTRPG Core Game PDF!

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Jacob Tegtman Eternity TTRPG Creator

Author - Jacob Tegtman

Dear reader, I hope you enjoyed this article. Tabletop gaming has been a passion of mine since I was 6 years old. I've played just about every game from Dungeons and Dragons to video games like Final Fantasy. These games have inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, and brought me endless hours of enjoyment.


I started Eternity TTRPG - and the indie tabletop game that goes along with it (Eternity Shop) - to share my love of gaming with others. I believe that in our technology-driven age, tabletop games help bring a sense of magic and community back into our world.


If you love the site, please share it with others! I have lots of gaming-related material for you to peruse and use in your own gaming sessions. If you have any questions about the site or want to contribute, just send me a message using the "Contact" page, which you can find in the site's footer.

Box art and game components for
By Jacob Tegtman September 12, 2025
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N4UZQypmuo&ab_channel=EternityTTRPG Transcription What if you combined the card drafting of a deckbuilder, the equipment-sets of a loot quest, and the hidden personal goals of a role-playing adventure—wrapped up in a compact competitive board game? That’s “Journey Adventure Quest” – or JAQ, for short. This is a game my wife and I picked up at GenCon, and I’ve really enjoyed. In our first playthrough at the convention, it felt like there was a lot to wrap my head around. But we just played the game again for the first time since GenCon, and it made perfect sense – after a thorough read through the rulebook. In today’s video, I’ll break down what I like about Journey Adventure Quest, whether you as a D&D fan may like it, and some basic info on how the game is played in case you want to pick it up. JAQ is a competitive (or semi-cooperative / even solo) tabletop/ card game about fantasy heroes growing in power, fighting monsters, building gear and spell combinations, and completing quests. I’ll get into the game in more detail shortly, but for the bulk of this video I actually want to just share what I like best about the game – which are some very specific things. Whenever you get a new piece of equipment for your hero, you can “stack” it on gear of the same type. The way that you do this is to actually leave the card top and left side uncovered, which actually empowers your equipment. This style of gameplay reminds me a lot of early gaming experiences I had with D&D and other RPGs where you finally get your first +1 Longsword. Sort of, before the days of World of Warcraft style play, where you’re just getting the newer, badder glowing sword that adds 1,000 more DPS than you had before. I like that in Journey Adventure Quest, every upgrade adds to the stats of the equipment you had before, and also gives you a unique name. This style of equipment upgrade works for all the gear you’d normally have in a D&D campaign, or other RPG – chest armor, helmet, gloves, belt, weapon, and even your spells! And there’s no limit to how much you can “stack” on one equipment piece. We’ve had some games where one of us had like 8 weapons on top of each other, and was just the most insane gear you could imagine. This stacking and naming effect makes the equipment begin to feel legendary, and incredibly powerful, even though you’ve had the basis for it from the very beginning of the game. This “feel” of equipment upgrading actually isn’t all that important to the gameplay at all, to be honest haha. You’d probably think from me going on about it that it is, but to me the feel is valuable enough for why I like it so much, and it’s a great idea for even your next D&D campaign – emulating something like this. Similar to stacking equipment, you actually do the same thing with monsters. Basically, to defeat it you need both strength, and knowledge for how to bring it down. Your goal (in my cases) is to gather enough strength and knowledge through your gear to overcome the monster. But, when the monster levels up, you do the same thing with stacking the cards so they still show the top and left-hand side. The final thing I want to point out that I really like about the game is that your character actually can’t “die.” Instead of taking “damage” that get removed from your total HP – like you’d see in most games or RPGs – you instead take 1 “blood” marker for each damage you’ve taken. At the end of the game, all of your “blood” markers reduce your overall score, so you can still basically “lose” the game (kind of) from taking too much damage. But it’s really fun – and pretty funny also – that the game has these awesome equipment and monster mechanics, but you actually have no risk of character death. For a low-key, fantasy-adventure, fun/ party kind of game, I really like the low stakes nature of the game. In one game, I think my wife had like 18-blood on her character – which is a ton, by the way. She basically had 0 armor all game, didn’t even try to reduce the damage she was taking – and ended up still winning because she completed all of her character’s quests, in other ways. Super fun. So, here’s roughly how the game is played, overall. Heroes get an initial hand of 7 cards to draft equipment, spells, or other items. Equipment has a cost to it (either in coins, or blood), and you basically just choose what you want for your character. After every two rounds of drafting cards for your hero to power them up, you face monsters. Everyone who can defeat the monster – by overcoming their knowledge and HP – gets rewards, like you can see here. And then, each monster also comes with specific loot drops, which only one player may acquire, based on specific requirements for each loot card. After a monster is defeated, players returning to drafting more equipment and cards to boost their heroes. There are three total “rounds” of fighting monsters. While all of this is happening, there are personal secret adventures : each hero has some hidden goals that often require high-level spells, powerful equipment of a certain type, or certain “colors” that go into their equipment – these are known as guilds. I think of them basically just as being elemental types. Finally, there are quests , which are basically adventures that everyone’s on, to either compete for end-game prizing, or to at least hit certain thresholds where bonuses are given. At game end, the hero with the most points – which you get from a combination of equipment / monster fights / secret adventure completions/ quest/comparisons and) – actually wins the game. To summarize it, the game utilizes a very fun drafting mechanic for gear where you’re building combos, guild-sets, spells and equipment that synergize. You have progressive escalation of your very cool equipment, and monsters you battle. Players have hidden goals that add a roleplay-like flavor, and gives each player a sort of personal story they’re pursuing. And then you have multiple paths to victory: through direct confrontation/quests, through your hero’s power, through completing your secret adventures, and more. All of this a adds replayability, strategic variation, and a sense that you’re sort of roleplaying a character through this board, card game. M any D&D fans enjoy storytelling, character growth, equipment/spells, quests, sometimes hidden motivations, and fighting monster. I would say that journey adventure quest delivers on all of these. What JAQ might not deliver (for D&D fans) would be: Narrative depth, Roleplay flexibility, and stuff like Dungeon exploration and world building. So, it isn’t a replacement, obviously, but if you like D&D and want a light version of a D&D-feeling game, I think you’d have a lot of fun playing JAQ for an hour or two on some afternoon you have free. So there you have Journey Adventure Quest — a game that blends drafting, hero building, secret goals, and monster combat into something strategic, replayable – and most importantly, fun. For many D&D fans, especially those who love loot, spells, and character growth, this is worth a look. If you’ve played the game (or get a chance to), let me know your impressions. Thanks for watching—don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit that bell so you see when we cover more hybrid adventure/ strategy games amidst our journey into D&D!
Woman in dark dress with knives, ram skull, candles, text reads
By Jacob Tegtman September 10, 2025
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FWHvMzf_nI&ab_channel=EternityTTRPG Transcription We’ve reached the grand finale of our journey through Crooked Moon. If you thought alchemical barbarians and plague monks were wild—wait until you see sorcerers turning into pools of blood, warlocks who serve a cosmic jester, and wizards who poke holes in reality itself. This is where things get truly unhinged. Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG—your go-to source for all things D&D. This is Part 3 of our dive into the Crooked Moon subclasses, and the final five might just be the most dramatic of them all. We’ve got blood magic, chaotic laughter, witchcraft bargains, and two wizard paths that pull on the strings of reality. 1. Sorcerer: Crimson Sorcery Crimson Sorcerers channel raw lifeblood as their source of magic. Their powers revolve around something called the Blood Well—a reserve of vital energy they can spend to boost damage, enhance healing, or fuel their abilities. They can even dissolve into a literal pool of blood, slipping through cracks and resisting damage like some vampiric horror. As they grow stronger, they siphon life from their own body to supercharge spells, and eventually unleash Sanguine Feast—tendrils of blood draining everyone around them while restoring their own vitality. It’s absolute blood magic—a perfect subclass for anyone who wants their sorcerer to feel dangerous and unsettling. 2. Warlock: Great Fool Patron Not all horror is blood and gloom—sometimes it’s laughter. The Great Fool is a cosmic jester patron, and its warlocks wield humor as a weapon. They lash out with Vicious Mockery as a reaction, slap curses on enemies that leave them blinded by flowers, clumsy with clown shoes, or honking uncontrollably every time they move. At higher levels, their banter deals psychic damage, and eventually they can Send in the Clowns—summoning ghostly jesters that strike fear and knock enemies prone. It’s creepy circus energy meets eldritch pact, perfect for players who like their dark fantasy with a side of twisted comedy. Real quick to interrupt, we now have free downloadable D&D cards at the Eternity TTRPG website that you can use at your table. Everything from combat actions to status effects – no more flipping through your book to see exactly what being “Petrified” does to your character. You can just take our graphics, print them out at home, and slap them on your table for fun and easy reference. Grab yours today using the link, below! Now, back to the video. 3. Warlock: Horned King Patron The Horned King reminds me, of course, of the Black Cauldron! ...So I already have nostalgia for it. This class is the darker side of warlock pacts—witchcraft, maledictions, and the like. These warlocks curse enemies with agony, rot, or madness, and later channel the Horned King’s majesty by sprouting antlers and radiating an aura that charms, terrifies, or weakens foes. At their peak, they can even form a coven—bonding allies to share curses, teleport across the battlefield to each other’s sides, and spread extra necrotic damage. Thematically, this one screams ‘folk horror witchcraft’—rituals in the woods, blood pacts, and the slow transformation into something more than human. 4. Wizard: Occultist Occultists are the wizards who say, ‘knowledge at any cost.’ They reach beyond the stars, tearing open the veil of reality for forbidden secrets. Their unique mechanic is the Intrusion Die—every time they push their magic, reality might fight back, causing strange intrusions from alien realms. In exchange, they get immense power: removing concentration requirements, teleporting through scrying spells, and even flying or resisting madness. It’s the perfect subclass for players who want their wizard to feel like they’re constantly balancing brilliance with cosmic horror. 5. Wizard: Philosopher  Where the Occultist seeks forbidden knowledge, the Philosopher seeks ultimate truth. These wizards distill existence into Quintessence—a crystalline powder created from dissolving creatures or objects with their magic. That quintessence can then be spent to boost spell levels, craft magic items, or even alter the damage type of spells. Eventually, they craft a philosopher’s stone, granting them immortality, the ability to supercharge spells, and even cheat death itself. It’s the alchemical dream realized—equal parts academic and arcane. And that’s it—the full lineup of Crooked Moon’s subclasses. Fifteen in total, ranging from blood-soaked sorcerers to those we covered in previous videos, like the plague monk, and alchemical barbarian. This supplement doesn’t just remix the classic D&D classes—it drenches them in gothic horror, folk myth, and cosmic strangeness. If you’ve stuck with us through all three parts, thank you. Now I want to know—which of the fifteen subclasses across this series is your absolute favorite? Drop it in the comments, and let’s see which one takes the crown. And if you enjoyed this series, be sure to like, subscribe, and share it with your table—because who knows, maybe your next campaign could use a paladin bent on the inquisition, or a spectral ranger.
Soldier aims weapon in war-torn city street. Buildings burning, smoke rising; other soldiers advance in rubble-filled road.
By Jacob Tegtman September 9, 2025
Battlefield 6 beta test left players absolutely delighted due to the classic action, unique destruction system, and career ranks.
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