Speak with Dead

3rd-level Necromancy

System Reference Document 5.2 (D&D 2024) · Content reviewed 2026-07-11

Speak with Dead is a 3rd-level necromancy spell in D&D 5e (2024). You grant the semblance of life to a corpse of your choice within range, allowing it to answer questions you pose. The corpse must have a mouth, and this spell fails if the deceased creature was Undead when it died. The spell also fails if the corpse…

Casting Time
1 action
Range
10 feet
Components
V, S, M (burning incense)
Duration
10 minutes
Classes
Bard, Cleric, Wizard

You grant the semblance of life to a corpse of your choice within range, allowing it to answer questions you pose. The corpse must have a mouth, and this spell fails if the deceased creature was Undead when it died. The spell also fails if the corpse was the target of this spell within the past 10 days. Until the spell ends, you can ask the corpse up to five questions. The corpse knows only what it knew in life, including the languages it knew. Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive, and the corpse is under no compulsion to offer a truthful answer if you are antagonistic toward it or it recognizes you as an enemy. This spell doesn't return the creature's soul to its body, only its animating spirit. Thus, the corpse can't learn new information, doesn't comprehend anything that has happened since it died, and can't speculate about future events.

Common questions

What level is Speak with Dead?

Speak with Dead is a 3rd-level necromancy spell in the 2024 D&D rules.

What is the casting time of Speak with Dead?

Speak with Dead has a casting time of 1 action, with a range of 10 feet.

Does Speak with Dead require concentration?

No. Speak with Dead does not require concentration.

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Portions of this product include material from the Systems Reference Document 5.2 and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0).