The Sleep Spell - Never leave home without it
Art Credit - Brilights
There are several good spells available at 1st level. The spell most commonly taken is probably magic missile, and for a good reason. You automatically get to hit things, and while it’s not a lot of damage, hitting things feels good. Everyone likes to think they are contributing somehow, and for a lowly 1st level wizard, this is the easiest way.
The sleep spell is the other spell you should always take when starting out. It’s available to the bard, sorcerer, and wizard, but also the twilight domain cleric, oath of redemption paladin, and those warlocks whose patron is the archfey. It’s always going to be tempting to grab another offensive spell. If you’re a twilight cleric, you may want to prioritize healing, especially if you know the barbarian will scream for heals after losing two hit points. But don’t sleep on this spell (pun intended) since, in my humble opinion, it is in the top three of the most potent low-level spells in the game.
The Sleep Spell Described
Per the Player’s Handbook, the sleep spell reads as follows:
Sleep
1st-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 90 feet
Components: V, S, M (a pinch of fine sand, rose petals, or a cricket)
Duration: 1 minuteThis spell sends creatures into a magical slumber. Roll 5d8; the total is how many hit points of creatures this spell can affect. Creatures within 20 feet of a point you choose within range are affected in ascending order of their current hit points (ignoring unconscious creatures).
Starting with the creature that has the lowest current hit points, each creature affected by this spell falls unconscious until the spell ends, the sleeper takes damage, or someone uses an action to shake or slap the sleeper awake. Subtract each creature’s hit points from the total before moving on to the creature with the next lowest hit points. A creature’s hit points must be equal to or less than the remaining total for that creature to be affected.
Undead and creatures immune to being charmed aren’t affected by this spell.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, roll an additional 2d8 for each slot level above 1st.
Simply put, you put other creatures into dreamland.
What Makes It so Good?
The sleep spell is among the best battlefield control spells. First, there is no save against being put to sleep. I cannot emphasize enough how great this is for a first-level spell. As long as you don’t roll minimum damage, you know you can sleep at least one of your foes. Even at lower levels, you can plan on putting a decent number of those annoying kobolds to sleep and watch the others cower as your fighter advances. With a maximum of 40 hit points to put foes asleep, a kobold with five hit points doesn’t stand a chance.
The range is an insane 90 feet. The area of effect is a 20-foot radius and lasts for a minute. Again, it doesn’t get any better from a battlefield control perspective. Sleep is not listed as a control spell but as an enchantment spell. It may not alter terrain, magically move you or an enemy around the battlefield, or do any damage. Still, it does clear out a location of potential threats. Positioning can be critical in combat, and when all you have to do is avoid a prone and unconscious creature, you’ve gained control of that location.
Speaking of being unconscious, once your enemy falls asleep, they fall prone and drop anything in their hands. You have an advantage on attack rolls, and when you hit within 5 feet, it’s an automatic crit. The creature will wake up after you hit it, but that’s only if you haven’t killed it. Depending on the circumstances, you can commit murder as they sleep or focus on the awake creatures. Now your enemies have a choice. Move to within 5 feet of the affected creature and use their action to wake them up. That’s a tall order, especially with you and your party breathing down their necks.
A sneaky part of the spell is that it’s a beautiful way to estimate how many hit points your enemies have. You’ll know in descending order which creatures are ripe for a quick death, allowing you to let them sleep while you kill the remaining bad guys or stand over them and slaughter them before they can react.
Using at Higher levels
The sleep spell is most effective between the 1st and 5th levels, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be helpful beyond that. Even at higher levels, you can put the spell to good use. It may seem foolish to use a 5th-level slot when you can cast another fireball, but hear me out. Using a 5th-level slot, you can send a maximum of 104 hit points, or an average of 58, into a deep slumber. Let’s look at an example of how the spell can be effective. You’re in a medium encounter for your 9th-level party of a mind flayer and four grimlock under its control. With only 11 hit points, you can take out all four of the mind flayer’s minions with no problem. Sure, if they are clumped together, a fireball will eliminate the threat with extreme prejudice. Instead, you can wait until the mind flayer takes a hit or two, reducing its paltry 79 hit points low enough that you can put it to sleep. The creature’s natural magic resistance is rendered useless since no saving throw exists. I understand it’s not a sexy way to handle your problem, but you cannot say it isn’t effective.
Comparison
Let’s compare the sleep spell to the closest spell in spirit, the color spray spell. It, too, has no saving throw, doesn’t do damage, but instead puts a negative condition on your enemies.
Range: sleep - 90 feet/color spray - self
Winner - Sleep. Those pesky ranged enemies can be neutralized.
Area of effect: sleep 20-foot radius / 15-foot cone
Winner - Sleep. A larger area, allowing you to affect more bad guys
Effects: Unconscious / Blinded
Winner - Sleep. Blinded means that attacks are made at disadvantage. Sleep means you can’t attack at all.
Duration: 1 minute / 1 round
Winner: Sleep by a mile.
It goes without saying you should ignore color spray and take the sleep spell if given the choice.
Conclusion
So there it is the sleep spell in all its glory. It’s an under-utilized spell that’s very good, even though it doesn’t do any damage. Try to move on from that mindset. Casting magic missile for a may take out one of your foes, but with a large HP pool to work with, you can neutralize a fair number of them with one spell. Then when you’re ready, you can embrace your inner murder hobo and be a melee hero for a hot minute as you and your friend stab the poor defenseless kobold to death.
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