The 20 Best Ritual Spells in D&D 5e [Ranked]

Ritual spells make up a tiny number of spells available in 5e D&D, allowing the caster to choose between casting the spell as normal or casting it as a ritual.

Casting a spell as a ritual always takes 10 minutes longer but won’t expend a spell slot, which means the spell can’t be upcast.

The Ritual spells below are some of the best you can get your hands on and are intended to help you choose which Ritual spells will work best in your upcoming or present campaign!

Best Ritual Spells

20. Contact Other Plane

5th-level Divination

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: Self

Components: V

Duration: 1 minute

Kicking off this list, we have Contact Other Plane, a high-level Divination spell that allows a player character to mentally contact a demigod.

You will get to ask up to 5 questions to this demigod, and getting those answers might change your perspective around some aspects of your Campaign.

However, the negative conditions of Contact Other Plane are horrible to have. There are also better, more precise Divination spells like Commune that don’t have any negative aspects.

19. Purify Food and Drink

1st-level Transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 10 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: Instantaneous

Purify Food and Drink is quite a niche spell to have, as not all Campaigns include food or drink, but if you’re DM has mentioned them, this spell could come in handy.

You never know when a random enemy, tavern keeper, or harlot will try to poison one of your party members or, better yet, drug your Bard!

With Purify Food and Drink, you’ll easily be able to make sure anything your party puts in their mouths won’t accidentally (or intentionally) kill them or give them some sort of ancient disease.

18. Speak with Animals

1st-level Divination

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self

Components: V, S

Duration: 10 minutes

Speak with Animals is another niche spell that isn’t often used unless your party has a player character focusing a lot on nature or you need to ask an animal a favor.

The spell itself is quite self-explanatory, but it can be put to good use by asking an animal to go scout for your party, send you to the nearest dungeon, or help take care of some pesky goblins.

17. Beast Sense

2nd-level Divination

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Components: S

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

Beast Sense is the perfect spell if one of your player characters has a pet or is able to persuade animals to perform tasks for them.

Not only will you be able to see through the beast’s eyes upon touching it, but you’ll also be able to scout the surrounding area and stay inconspicuous while doing so.

Rangers and Druids will love this spell, and it can pair quite well with a Speak with Animals spell or high Animal Handling skill.

16. Forbiddance

6th-level Abjuration

Casting Time: 10 minutes

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (a single sprinkle of holy water, powdered ruby worth at least 1000 GP, and rare incense)

Duration: 1 day

Are you sick of random planar infiltrating your base or a group of undead turning your living room into a nest while you and your party are out dungeon crawling?

Well, with Forbiddence, you’ll be able to make your base Celestial, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, and Undead proof.

Just note that you’ll spend quite a bit of GP turning your base into this impregnable fortress, so don’t go spending your party’s savings!

15. Commune with Nature

5th-level divination

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: Self

Components: V S

Duration: Instantaneous

If you love the Speak with Animals and Beast Sense spells but want something that’s clearly taking more drugs than the doctor prescribed, then Commune with Nature is perfect for you!

It gives you a 300-foot-radius sweep of the area, gaining knowledge of certain facts you choose, including powerful entities, bodies of water, influence from other planes of existence, buildings, and much more.

14. Unseen Servant

1st-level Conjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Components: V, S, M (a bit of wood and a piece of string)

Duration: 1 hour

Setting up camp is one thing, but after a long day of adventuring, everyone is a little more tired than usual, and having a servant to do everything for you would make this time much more enjoyable.

With Unseen Servant, you gain the help of a force that easily takes care of menial tasks around your campsite or your base.

13. Comprehend Languages

1st-level Divination

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self

Components: V, S, M (a single pinch of salt and soot)

Duration: 1 hour

The world of D&D is filled with various creatures who all speak different languages.

With Comprehend Languages, you’ll be able to understand any spoken language (you hear) or written language (you must be touching the surface it’s written on).

Not only does this open up new possibilities to roleplay, but it also allows you to spy on targets who don’t speak your language or understand important figures that might not speak common (for flavor, of course).

12. Rary’s Telepathic Bond

5th-level Divination

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (some pieces of eggshell from two different types of creatures)

Duration: 1 hour

Rary’s Telepathic Bond is a great spell to take as a large party or when you split up.

Being able to talk to your party members while scouting an area before an attack or while conducting a mission is not only awesome roleplay-wise but convenient as well.

11. Water Breathing

3rd-level Transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (a piece of straw or a short reed)

Duration: 24 hours

Water Breathing is one of those situational spells that aren’t too good most of the time, but when it’s required, it’s fantastic.

In aquatic campaigns or more water-based areas, Water Breathing really shines.

Note: Water Walk is also a nice spell to have, but it has less application than Water Breathing and is a worse spell overall.

10. Phantom Steed

3rd-level Illusion

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: 1 hour

Phantom Steed is an awesome spell to have if you need a player character to quickly get to a certain area.

It might not be that durable of an option, but if your objective is to move fast, then Phantom Steed is your best bet. Except for teleportation, of course!

9. Augury

2nd-level Divination

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: Self

Components: V, S, M (specially marked bones, sticks, or similar tokens that are worth at least 25 GP)

Duration: Instantaneous

Sometimes, it’s nice to reassure before embarking on a journey or facing a tough enemy, which is what Augury might give you when cast.

You will employ certain methods to receive an omen from an otherworldly entity. It will answer you with a good, a bad, both, or no omen.

The power of this spell is that you will be able to plan for certain events before they happen or wait for something good to happen after 30 minutes have passed.

However, this spell is heavily DM-reliant, and any small change you make might alter the omen completely, so watch your step!

8. Divination

4th-level Divination

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self

Components: V, S, M (a sacrificial offering appropriate to your religion and incense, worth at least 25 GP altogether, which will be consumed by the spell)

Duration: Instantaneous

Divination might not have as much application as Commune does, but it still allows you to come in contact with a god.

It’s quite precise, as the question you ask will materialize within a week, much different from Augury or Commune, where you don’t know when something will happen or how.

I would like to add that Divination does rely heavily on what the DM wants, as he might’ve not intended for certain questions to be asked and answered!

7. Commune

5th-level Divination

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: Self

Components: V, S, M (a vial of holy or unholy water and incense)

Duration: 1 minute

Commune is often regarded as one of the better Divination spells, being able to ask a deity or proxy three questions.

The answers might not be very specific, but if you phrase the questions carefully, you’ll get most of the information you’re looking for.

However, the main issue with Commune is that it’s very DM-dependent. Some DMs might trick you, give you the wrong answer, or just don’t allow you to take Commune.

It’s understandable since the questions you ask can have a large impact on the entire campaign, so I recommend using Commune only when you know your DM won’t screw with you too much!

6. Tenser’s Floating Disk

1st-level Conjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (a single drop of mercury)

Duration: 1 hour

Have you ever left behind loot because it would’ve encumbered you? Well, I’m sure you have, and it doesn’t feel good, does it?

Luckily, with Tenser’s Floating Disk, you can pile on tons of items that you otherwise wouldn’t have been able to carry. It’s capable of carrying up to 500 lbs and is easily transportable as the disk follows the caster. 

You don’t even have to worry about the terrain, as it moves over almost anything, but care that it doesn’t get stuck, as the spell will end if you move more than 100 feet away from it.

5. Leomund’s Tiny Hut

3rd-level Evocation

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: Self (10-foot-radius hemisphere)

Components: V, S, M (a single small crystal bead)

Duration: 8 hours

Setting up camp in the wild is an easy way to get surrounded and murdered by multiple enemies while you sleep, while Leomund’s Tiny Hut allows you and your party to enjoy your rest without getting wet or worrying about monsters.

While enemies can still surround the hut, if you add items like the Weapon of Warning or the Alarm spell in the area, you’ll be alerted by any enemy movement anyway.

However, even if you are awoken, you won’t have to worry about the enemies slitting your throats, as you can calmly prepare for the encounter you’re about to have while staying in your tiny hut!

4. Detect Magic

1st-level Divination

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self

Components: V, S

Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes

If you want to know if anything or anyone bears any magic whatsoever, you’ll need Detect Magic.

Not only will it save your life in certain situations, but it can also help you discover some truly powerful magical items.

Its detection area isn’t small either, reaching 30 feet and giving you its location by the faint aura it emits.

3. Identify

1st-level Divination

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (an owl feather and a pearl with at least 100 GP)

Duration: Instantaneous

After casting Detect Magic or seeing a suspicious item, you’ll obviously have to cast Identify to understand what it is you detected.

A magic item isn’t easily discernable by most adventures. Even veterans might struggle with lesser-known ones, so having Identify helps you understand just what the item does and what you can do with it!

2. Alarm

1st-level Abjuration

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (a piece of fine silver wire and a tiny bell)

Duration: 8 hours

As I’ve briefly touched on earlier, Alarm is one of the most important spells to have when camping or resting.

It might not seem so at first, but when you realize just how much you’ll be camping outside or resting in D&D, it becomes apparent just how powerful Alarm is.

Casting this spell and expending 10 more minutes to cast a spell is better than possibly being injured or, worse yet, ending up dead.

1. Find Familiar

1st-level Conjuration

Casting Time: 1 hour

Range: 10 feet

Components: V, S, M (10 GP worth of herbs, charcoal, and incense that must be consumed by a fire in a brass brazier)

Duration: Instantaneous

Find Familiar is one of the best spells when it’s not a ritual spell, and it remains that way as a ritual spell.

Summoning a companion spirit without expending a spell slot that can use the Help action means your Rogue and anyone else who needs an advantage will be very happy!

The adaptability and value you get from Find Familiar are just so good that it can’t compare to other spells. It’s just that good!

Final Thoughts

Ritual spells might not consist of many flashy offensive or powerful defensive spells, but what it does add is flavor and lots of it.

You also get a chance to cast spells without having to constantly worry about whether this spell was a good choice for one of your limited spell slots.

Learning about Ritual spells and understanding just how efficient they can be in certain situations not only helps you build your character but adds to your pool of knowledge your store for 5e D&D.