Lay on Hands 5e

Healing fingers from on high

The Paladin had a glow about her, an aura of hidden angels. She laid her hands on my sick boy’s forehead, and gazed at him with a deep, powerful kindness. I do not know if it was her touch or the shimmer in her eyes that healed my boy, but that day I became a believer.

– A Villager’s testimony 

What is Lay on Hands 5e?

Lay on Hands 5e is a Level 1 class feature for Paladins that allows healing by touch with an Action. The HP that Lay on Hands draws from is the Paladin’s level multiplied by 5 (1×5 HP for level 1, 2×5 HP for level 2, etc.). Paladins can divide up the HP how they wish per healing event. 

You can also cure diseases or neutralize poisons with Lay on Hands, for a cost of 5 HP for each disease or poison. Lay on Hands’ HP pool is completely separate from the Paladin’s HP. When a Paladin takes a Long Rest, their “Lay on Hands” healing pool replenishes.

Here’s how Lay on Hands is described in the Player’s Handbook:

• Your blessed touch can heal wounds. You have a pool of healing power that replenishes when you take a long rest. With that pool, you can restore a total number of hit points equal to your paladin level x 5.

• As an action, you can touch a creature and draw power from the pool to restore a number of hit points to that creature, up to the maximum amount remaining in your pool.

• Alternatively, you can expend 5 hit points from your pool of healing to cure the target of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it. You can cure multiple diseases and neutralize multiple poisons with a single use of Lay on Hands, expending hit points separately for each one.

• This feature has no effect on undead and constructs.

How does Lay on Hands work in 5e?

When you want to use Lay on Hands 5e, you use an Action. You then touch a target, including yourself, and heal the target by subtracting an amount you choose from Lay on Hands’ healing pool. You can also cure multiple diseases or poisons in a single use of Lay of Hands by spending 5 HP per disease or poison.

You don’t need to use your hands with Lay on Hands. You can touch a target with any body part. You can use Lay on Hands through gloves or other armor as well. You can also use Lay on Hands out of combat which, along with healing convenience, is amazing for character development and immersion. Your Paladin has the healing touch, use it!

To use Lay on Hands you must:

• Touch your target
• Have HP in your healing pool
• Have an action, unless you are out of combat

Lay on Hands does NOT work:

• In dead magic zones
• In antimagic zones
• In antimagic field spells
• In the Beholder antimagic cone
• On undead and constructs
• On curses 

Here is the full list of diseases that Lay on Hands 5e can cure:

Aboleth	Arcane Blight	Blinding Sickness
Blue Lung	Blue Mist Fever	Bluerot
Blue Slaad	Bulezau	Cackle Fever
Contagion	Death Dog	Diseased Giant Rat
Filth Fever	Flesh Rot	Frigid Woe
Gas Spore	Ghoul Gut	Harm
Leeches	Mad Monkey Fever	Mindfire
Ogrorlo’s Coffin	Otyugh	Redface
Red Slaad	Rutterkin	Saprophytic Plague
Seizure	Sewer Plague	Shivering Sickness
Sight Rot	Slimy Doom	Spider Eggs
Super-Tetanus	Swarm of Maggots	Variant Sewer Plague
Talona’s Blessing	The Diseased Pool	The Gnawing Plague
Throat Leeches	Zuggtmoy

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GameCows Tip: Try setting up a healing tent, a clinic for sick villagers, or a traveling sideshow. Show the unfortunate the light of your mercy, whether for good or for profit.

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Why is Lay on Hands 5e good?

Lay on Hands is the only DnD 5e ability allowing a choice of exactly how much HP you restore. You can bring your allies back to consciousness when they drop to 0 HP by giving them 1 HP from your healing pool. Bringing fallen comrades back to consciousness stabilizes them, and saves them from having to make death saving throws.

This tactic is perfectly fine in DnD 5e’s Rules as Written, but may be subject to your DM or fellow players’ wishes. Some people think bringing back allies from the brink of death with 1 HP cheapens the event falling to 0 HP, which is a dramatic DnD moment. This tactic is also risky, as it leaves your ally in a vulnerable state. 

Some other reasons Lay on Hands 5e is good are:

Self Healing Tanking. Run in, bash some heads. If you get in trouble, heal. Not having to be dependent on healers is great for lone wolf characters.

Cleric support. If your Cleric goes down, your crew might be cooked. Lay on Hands can get them back in the game.

Unconventional healing. Not all parties have Clerics and other healers saving their bacon all the time. If you don’t have a dedicated party nurse, Lay on Hands is a lifesaver.

Efficiency. You can give any party member just the exact amount of HP they need, and not a drop more. You can also save your HP for a big wound, or just clean up scrapes here and there.

Can’t be silenced or counterspelled. Lay on Hands is a magical ability, not a spell. So, if you are silenced or under counterspell, you can still heal your allies.

Saves a slot. Lay on Hands doesn’t take a spell slot, so you get “free healing” without hogging up space.

Out of combat flavor. Lay on Hands can be used contextually in many story encounters, and in many creative ways with all the NPCs you meet on your journey. Get creative!

Lay on Hands 5e FAQs