What is the Healing Spirit spell?
Healing Spirit is a 2nd-level conjuration spell with healing properties. It was introduced in 2017 with Xanathar’s Guide to Everything as a spell capable of summoning a friendly nature spirit that healed creatures. However, the spell was altered in 2020 to be more balanced. Even after the changes, Healing Spirit remains a handy low-level healing spell unique to druids and rangers. Casting time: 1 bonus action Range: 60 feet Components: Verbal and somatic Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute Available for: Druids and rangers only
How does Healing Spirit work?
The spell conjures a nature spirit that appears within 60 feet of the caster. The spirit is intangible and occupies a 5-foot cube of space, appearing like some sort of transparent beast or fey creature. For the spell’s duration, when a creature (or your character) moves into the spirit’s space or starts a turn there, you can have the spirit restore 1d6 hit points to that creature without using an action. You can also use a bonus action on your turn to move the spirit up to 30 feet—but you can only move it to a space your PC (player character) can see. Remember: Healing Spirit won’t work on constructs (like Warforged and golems) or undead creatures. Although the rules state that the spirit looks like an animal or fey, you can choose your nature spirit’s exact appearance.
The spirit can heal a limited number of times before the spell ends. You can trigger your nature spirit’s healing ability a number of times equal to 1 + your PC’s spellcasting ability modifier, with a minimum of 2 heals per casting of the spell. After healing that many times, the spell ends, and the nature spirit vanishes. Healing Spirit is also a concentration spell, which means your PC will have to maintain concentration while casting it—and taking damage might end the spell early.
Healing Spirit restores more hit points when cast at higher levels. Though it’s a 2nd-level spell, you can choose to upcast Healing Spirit if you have a higher-level spell slot. When cast using a spell slot of 3rd-level or higher, Healing Spirit restores an extra 1d6 hit points for each slot level above 2nd. For example, Healing Spirit restores 2d6 hit points at level 3, 3d6 hit points at level 4, 4d6 at level 5, and so on.
How to Use Healing Spirit
Cast Healing Spirit to restore allies’ health in and out of combat. Healing Spirit really shines if there’s no cleric around to cast Mass Healing Word (or a similar healing spell not available to druids and rangers). Consider using it to restore allies’ health (or your own PC’s health) during emergencies, when multiple characters desperately need healing, or the entire party needs to recover after a fight. For example: If an ally (or multiple allies) falls unconscious, use Healing Spirit to revive them. Follow party members around the battlefield by moving your Healing Spirit as a bonus action. Use it to restore the party’s health before they take a short rest. Cast Healing Spirit at higher levels when you want multiple creatures to receive substantial healing.
Healing Spirit vs. Other Healing Spells
Healing Spirit is surprisingly efficient compared to other spells. There are many healing spells available to players in D&D 5e—and while Healing Spirit might not be the strongest, it has its uses. It’s especially efficient considering it only costs a level 2 spell slot to cast but can heal multiple creatures. It also heals creatures at the start of their turns, which gives revived allies a chance to act before potentially taking damage again. Healing Spirit has a decent average healing rate next to other spells. For example: Cure Wounds heals a number of hit points equal to 2d8 + your PC’s spellcasting modifier at level 2 (for an average of 12 hit points). Healing Word heals a number of hit points equal to 2d4 + your PC’s spellcasting modifier at level 2 (for an average of 8) Mass Healing Word heals a number of hit points equal to 1d4 + your PC’s spellcasting modifier (for an average of 6) to 6 different targets at level 3. Healing Spirit heals 1d6 hit points per target at level 2—which isn’t much, but if you heal 4 different creatures, that’s still healing roughly as many hit points cumulatively as other spells give to a single creature.
Healing Spirit Controversy & Evolution
The Healing Spirit spell was modified in April 2020. Originally, the spell didn’t have a restriction on the number of times a caster could heal targets. The rule limiting heals to 1 + a PC’s spellcasting ability modifier was added in 2020, giving most spellcasters an average of 3 to 5 heals with Healing Spirit. This was implemented because some felt the spell’s unlimited healing was too overpowered. As mentioned above, some players felt this change was unnecessary, excessively restricting the spell. However, 5e’s designers felt unlimited healing shouldn’t be an option. Part of D&D’s challenge is dealing with your PC losing power and energy as battles take their toll, and unlimited healing can interfere with that element of the game.
Benefits of Healing Spirit
Healing Spirit only costs a bonus action and heals multiple targets. Many spells cost an action to cast, so having a quick bonus action spell option can be super helpful for players. Healing Spirit takes less time to cast and doesn’t consume a whole action! Plus, other spells that heal multiple targets (like Mass Cure Wounds) don’t come in until level 3, so Healing Spirit’s early availability can be a lifesaver. Because it lasts for a full minute (if concentration is maintained), Healing Spirit can also be used for recovery in and out of combat in a single casting. In an emergency, when multiple PCs are unconscious, or you need to heal multiple targets after a fight quickly, Healing Spirit can save the day!
The spell gives druids and rangers a chance to be party healers. Druids and rangers both have access to a few other healing spells, but if you’re playing one of those classes and want to make a PC who specializes in healing (especially if there’s no cleric in the group), Healing Spirit can be a great spell to have in your characters arsenal, especially at early levels. Even if your PC isn’t the only healer in the party, having them learn Healing Spirit can create a more even distribution of healing spells across the party and enable them to share healing duties with a cleric PC. Sometimes, healing as a druid or ranger can ruffle feathers if a cleric who specializes in healing is present as well. However, in most cases, there’s nothing wrong with having an emergency healing spell handy, even if another PC is the party’s designated healer.
Druids can make this spell especially potent by upcasting it. They can first cast Healing Spirit when they reach level 3 (while rangers won’t get it until level 5), and because they have more high-level spell slots than rangers, upcasting at higher levels is less of a problem for them. And, as druids cast Healing Spirit at higher levels, it becomes more and more powerful. For example, if a druid casts Healing Spirit at level 3, they can heal 2d6 hit points per creature. If the druid's spellcasting modifier is a +4 or +5, that means they can heal 5 or 6 different creatures for up to 2d6 hit points each! Plus, if druids want to replace this spell with something else when they reach higher levels, they can choose to do so easily.
Issues with Healing Spirit
Some players feel that Healing Spirit is too limited. For some, a limited number of heals per casting of this spell isn’t worth a level 2 spell slot. However, this often depends on your specific PC’s capabilities; if you can get 5 heals per casting as opposed to 2, Healing Spirit might be more appealing to you. Before its modification, PCs could cast this spell after a battle and continually heal themselves and their allies for a minute, resulting in huge amounts of healing. Certain players think that kind of unlimited healing is acceptable outside of combat and argue that there’s no reason to take away a valid (and unique) healing strategy.
Other concentration spells can be more appealing than Healing Spirit. The fact that Healing Spirit is a concentration spell is likely one of its biggest drawbacks for players because a PC can only focus on one concentration spell at a time. Since so many druid and ranger spells require concentration, Healing Spirit might not be a player’s first choice when deciding what to use in a battle. Out of all the level 2 spells available to druids, only a handful don’t require concentration (like animal messenger, darkvision, find traps, lesser restoration, locate animals or plants, and protection from poison). Similarly, rangers have a tendency to cast concentration spells like Hunter’s Mark in battle, so a ranger PC might not prioritize Healing Spirit as a spell option.
Optional House Rules for Healing Spirit
Consider adjusting Healing Spirit if you feel like it’s too limited. Before it was modified, when Healing Spirit was considered overpowered, Jeremy Crawford (the lead rules designer of D&D 5e) suggested allowing the spell to heal a number of times equal to twice your PC’s spellcasting ability modifier. If that feels fairer than 1 + their spellcasting ability modifier, consider using Crawford’s adjustment instead. You could also tweak the Healing Spirit spell in other ways to make it more appealing or worth using in battle. For example, you might remove Healing Spirit’s concentration element (meaning your PC could cast a different concentration spell with Healing Spirit still active). To balance out Healing Spirit after removing concentration, you could implement a house rule requiring casters to use a reaction (or bonus action) to heal with the spell—rather than triggering its healing without an action required. Ultimately, D&D is a very customizable game, so don’t be afraid to implement house rules here and there if it’ll make the experience more fun!
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