You wanna know how to make Holy Wanter in DnD 5e? Well, you take regular water and boil the hell out of it…
Sorry, I had to make that joke to get it out of my system. But let’s talk about holy water in DnD 5e and its uses. And most important, how to make it.
Holy water has historically and throughout media been used in various sacraments. And the claims about its capabilities range. But, one thing remains the same throughout every depiction – Its ability to cleanse the evil and the filth from this world. The same can be attributed to holy water in Dungeons and Dragons.
But how do you make water from one state of conditions into another state of conditions in which it becomes holy water?
Let’s find out.
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How to Make Holy Water in DnD 5e
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything gives the Paladin and Cleric a level one spell called Ceremony. The rules around this spell are quite straightforward. Take any ceremony that is typically associated with a ceremony: weddings, coronations, blessings, funerals, etc…
The specific ceremony we are gonna be looking at today is the third one. Let’s talk about blessings.
Both Paladins and Clerics have the ability to bless water that is kept in any non-metal container and make it holy water. The only requirements are that the ritual needs an hour of incantations and prayers along with an additional cost of silver dust worth 25gp. You also sadly use up a spell slot, so; consider carefully if the situation is worth a spell slot.
After all, spell slots are quite precious. But then again, if you’re asking how to make holy water – then you probably have a really good reason to use up that spell slot.
So let’s talk about its uses next shall we?
The Uses of Holy Water
Holy water can be mainly used in two ways. The combat aspect, i.e the mechanics behind the holy water item. And the lore uses. We’ll discuss both.
Starting off with the item itself.
Using Holy Water as an item
Holy Water is actually considered an improvised consumable weapon by the rulebooks. Its exact specifics are the following.
Holy Water can be splashed on an undead or fiend enemy up to a range of 5 feet – or it can be thrown up to a range of 20 feet, upon which it will shatter and splash the target.
Upon contact, it deals radiant damage to these kinds of creatures. Any other creatures just get a nice little refreshment. And the specific amount of damage they receive is 2d6 dice rolls.
Is this really worth an hour of your time and 25gp worth of silver is up to you.
Let’s talk about the lore uses for this item.
The lore uses of Holy Water
Now we’re getting into the fun situations.
We’ve all seen the Exorcist. It’s a classic movie and a staple in the horror genre. And we all remember the exorcism scene. The priest doing his hardest to exorcise the demon from the girl, splashing the demon with holy water as to get it out of her.
Of course, holy water isn’t used just for exorcisms. It’s often used to cleanse a place of demonic corruption.
If you’re running a Warhammer-themed campaign, if you’re a priest of Sigmar you can use holy water to cleanse a location of chaos corruption. Get creative
Holy water can also be used to protect an area. Say you’re party is being chased by a bunch of fiends in a dungeon. You can’t outrun them, but you can buy yourselves some time. You decide to hide yourselves in a room and the cleric splashes the door with holy water – thus granting you all protection from their assault for at least a short while.
The point I am trying to make with all these examples is the following.
Holy Water as an item by itself is rather unremarkable – some might even go as far as to call it useless. But it doesn’t have to be so. Get creative with how you use it. Dungeons and Dragons is a game all about your creativity, nurture it by using each and every tool at your disposal.
