Speak with Dead 5e spell

3rd-level necromancy · 2024 version below

Casting time: 1 action
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (Burning incense)
Duration: 10 minutes
School: Necromancy
Level: 3

You grant the semblance of life and intelligence to a corpse of your choice within range, allowing it to answer the questions you pose. The corpse must still have a mouth and can't be undead. The spell fails if the corpse was the target of this spell within the last 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 hostile to 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.

How Speak with Dead plays

You bring a corpse within 10 feet briefly back to a semblance of life and ask it up to five questions over the next 10 minutes. It answers with what it knew while alive, in the languages it spoke, and it doesn’t learn anything new: it can’t tell you what happened after it died or guess at the future.

It’s one of the best investigation spells in the game because it turns every body into a witness. The murdered courier can tell you who met him on the road, the dead cultist can name the high priest, and the adventurer found in the dungeon can tell you which corridor killed her. The limits are the interesting part: the answers are short and often cryptic, and a corpse that sees you as an enemy doesn’t have to tell the truth.

When to pick Speak with Dead

Investigation and intrigue campaigns get the most from it. Clerics can prepare it on the days it’s needed; bards should consider it if their table loves mysteries.
Ask questions the corpse wants to answer. Someone you killed is hostile and can lie. Their victims, rivals and betrayed allies are much more helpful.
Plan your five questions before you cast it. Short, specific questions (“Who hired you?”, “Where is the ledger?”) get better answers than open-ended ones.

Common questions

Does the corpse have to tell the truth?

Not if you’re hostile to it or it recognizes you as an enemy. Otherwise it answers as it would have in life, which still means brief, cryptic or repetitive answers. A corpse you killed yourself is the least reliable witness.

What if the corpse doesn’t speak my language?

It only knows the languages it knew in life, so you need a shared language. Comprehend Languages lets you understand its answers; Tongues lets you both understand each other.

How long can a creature have been dead?

The spell sets no limit. The corpse must still have a mouth, it can’t be undead, and it can’t have been the target of Speak with Dead in the last 10 days.

Can I cast it on a skull or a skeleton?

The rules only say it needs a mouth. Most DMs accept a skull with a jaw; a pile of loose bones is a harder sell.

Does Speak with Dead bring back the soul?

No. It animates the spirit that knew the corpse’s memories, not the soul, which is why the body can’t learn anything new. It doesn’t count as raising the dead.

Can I cast it again for five more questions?

Not on the same corpse for 10 days. Find another body, or preserve this one with Gentle Repose until you can ask again.

Speak with Dead compared with other divination

Spell	How it compares
Augury	2nd level, ritual: weal, woe, both or neither for a plan in the next 30 minutes. It judges the future; Speak with Dead only knows the past.
Divination	4th level: one question about a goal or event within 7 days, answered truthfully by a god’s servant.
Commune	5th level: three yes-or-no questions to your deity, answered correctly if the deity knows.
Legend Lore	5th level: the significant lore about a named person, place or object. For history rather than witnesses.
Detect Thoughts	2nd level: read the surface thoughts of a living creature. The version for suspects who are still breathing.
Gentle Repose	2nd level: stops a corpse decaying or becoming undead for 10 days. Keeps a body fresh for questions or for raising.

Classes that can cast Speak with Dead

Class	First available	Spellcasting ability
Bard spells	5th character level	Charisma
Cleric spells	5th character level	Wisdom

Speak with Dead in the 2024 rules

The 2024 Player’s Handbook revised many spells, and the SRD 5.2 carries the new text. What changed from the 2014 version above:

Added to the Wizard spell list.

Casting time: Action
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (burning incense)
Duration: 10 minutes
School: Necromancy
Level: 3
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.

2024 version from the SRD 5.2. Most tables settle on one edition, so check which one yours uses.

Other 3rd-level necromancy spells

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