The land serpent’s lightning breath arcs through the adventurers, burning away at their skin and leaving their hair standing up on end. “There’s nowhere left to run!” the creature exclaims in Draconic, its belly groaning with hunger. The behir lurches toward them, looking to swallow the party members whole. However, as its mouth snaps shut over the weakling adventurers, it closes on nothing but thin air. Confused, the creature circles the area, but there is no trace left of its easy meal.

In Dungeons & Dragons, a means of escape is one of the most important things for any player character to carry if they plan on surviving the length of a campaign. No matter how powerful a character or their party, there will always be enemies capable of dealing a soul-crushing defeat (not to mention the statistical inevitability of a string of bad dice rolls). Thankfully, death-defying magic is available in more forms than just plain old resurrection. Today, we’ll take a look at the best spells to save any daring adventurer from an early grave. 

10 Expeditious Retreat

Expeditious Retreat is rather plain for a spell, but its effect is noteworthy nonetheless. It’s a first-level transmutation spell that requires concentration and has a casting time on a bonus action.

The caster is allowed to dash upon the initial casting. Then, the caster may dash as a bonus action on each subsequent turn that the spell remains in effect. Sometimes, the answer really is as simple as running away. It’s also worth noting that a ranged character with this spell in effect is incredibly hard for melee opponents to pin down.

9 Feather Fall

This first-level transmutation spell is a favorite of many veteran players, thanks to its casting speed of one reaction. Whenever the caster or a creature within sixty feet of the caster falls, Feather Fall reduces their falling speed to a harmless amount.

Between scaling tall heights, battling near deep crevices, and good old pit traps, characters are provided with abundant opportunities to crack their heads open on a hard surface below. As an added bonus, Feather Fall can catch up to six targets, making it the perfect spell to save your party’s collective hit point pool when the fighter inevitably triggers a pitfall trap.

8 Web

Web is a second-level conjuration spell that is an early game favorite of any battlefield controller. It requires concentration and fills a space the size of a 20-foot cube within sixty feet of the caster with sticky spider webs, restraining all creatures inside the area that fail a DEX save against your spellcaster DC at the beginning of their turn.

Furthermore, the area is considered difficult terrain, costing creatures inside of it double movement to get out. The best thing about Web is that, even if an enemy succeeds on its saving throw, it still has to deal with getting out of the difficult terrain, or else it will be tested against the saving throw again at the beginning of its next turn.

7 Darkness

Darkness is a second-level evocation spell that also requires concentration. However, instead of shooting thick webs, it creates a 15-foot radius sphere of inky blackness around the point it is cast upon. Creatures with Darkvision are unable to see through this magical darkness, which makes it a great spell for providing a party cover or confusing one’s enemies.

While it is possible to cast Darkness on an object one’s character is holding, we don’t advise this unless the character in question has magical Darkvision. Otherwise, creatures inside and outside can’t see one another, making them both suffer the blinded condition and causing attacks to be made as normal. In simpler terms, the spell provides no mechanical benefits when used in this manner.

6 Spider Climb

Spider climb is a second-level transmutation spell that requires concentration and is criminally underused. The spell functions exactly how it sounds, giving one willing creature the caster touches the ability to walk on any surface as if they are a spider.

The spell is criminally underused because it has a duration of one hour, allowing for players to use it to scout ahead in interesting ways as well as avoid obstacles in the terrain they encounter. For anyone who doubts the power of Spider Climb, hand out some boots of spider-climbing to your players and you’ll soon discover just how powerful this spell can be.

5 Fly

All that being said, climbing on walls is inarguably inferior to straight-up flight. Fly is a third-level transmutation spell that requires concentration and gives one creature you touch a flying speed of 60 feet for up to 10 minutes.

What makes Fly such a good escape spell is not only the flight, but also an effective doubling of most creature’s movement speed. Using Fly, a character can take the utmost advantage of nearby terrain, turning previously-unreachable areas into secure sources of cover. Furthermore, Fly coupled with the dash action allows a character to move at a neck-breaking pace of 120 feet per round.

4 Hypnotic Pattern

This third-level illusion spell will quickly see your resident DM checking the spell description. Hypnotic Pattern is an incredibly powerful concentration spell that is capable of disabling large groups of enemies for multiple turns on a single failed wisdom saving throw. All creatures inside of a 30-foot cube are mesmerized by swirling colors for the duration of one minute, becoming incapacitated.

There are no further saves against the effects of the spell, but any damage taken by the target or an action by an ally to shake a target free of the spell’s grasp will end its effects. It’s the classic “Hey, look over there!” trope that provides a party with just enough time to run away.

3 Misty Step

Arguably one of the best spells in the entirety of the game, Misty Step is a second-level conjuration spell that instantly teleports the user up to 30 feet away to a point they can see. Grappled? Misty Step. Stuck in an enemy spellcast? Misty Step. Need to cross a short distance of impassable terrain? Misty Step.

This spell is applicable in countless common situations player characters will encounter. At a cost of only a second-level spell slot, it’s a bargain deal for any spellcaster. Plus, it requires only verbal components, unlike most spells that also require somatic.

2 Dimension Door

Dimension door is Misty Step’s big sibling. It costs twice the level of spell slots, teleports twice as many creatures, and can send them up to 500 feet to a location that the caster does not have to have in sight.

This is quite possibly the best emergency button in the game, considering that most campaigns never gain access to spells sixth-level and higher. That being said, it does have its drawbacks — the most notable being that it only teleports the caster and one other willing creature. There aren’t many D&D parties that consist of only two players, so whoever is left behind better have an escape plan of their own. Good luck, friend!

1 Teleport

This is the de facto best spell for a party to escape nearly any situation barring the effects of an anti-magic field or similar magic. It’s a seventh-level conjuration spell that instantly transports up to eight willing creatures within 10 feet to a destination the caster selects. The only caveat is that teleportation magic of this level is sometimes unreliable, and even more so if the caster is not very familiar with the destination to which they are traveling.

In rare cases, the difficulties of warping multiple bodies through space can even damage travelers. This is the spell that makes travel in high-level campaigns nearly inconsequential, and with good reason.

After all, a wizard is never late, nor is he early — a wizard arrives precisely when he means to.

NEXT: Dungeons & Dragons: 10 Best Control Spells, Ranked