Hex 5e: Extra Damage, Ability Checks, and Duration

I like Hex because it turns repeated attack rolls into steady pressure while adding a small but flexible debuff. Its wording is easy to overextend, though: the chosen ability affects ability checks, not every d20 roll that happens to use that ability.

The main guidance below uses the 2014 spell. The SRD 5.2.1 reference table presents the revised version, whose changed slot-duration progression is explained separately.

Hex 5e — Quick Spell Reference

SRD note: Hex is not included in SRD 5.1, so this table uses SRD 5.2.1. The main guide identifies where the 2014 spell differs.

How Hex Works in the 2014 Rules

As a Bonus Action, choose a creature you can see within 90 feet and select one ability: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. While you maintain concentration, two effects apply to that target:

• each time you hit it with an attack, the hit deals an extra 1d6 Necrotic damage; and
• the target has disadvantage on ability checks using the chosen ability.

Hex has no saving throw. The target does not roll to resist either effect, although immunity to Necrotic damage can prevent the extra damage and losing concentration ends the spell.

Hex Affects Ability Checks, Not Saving Throws

The chosen ability applies only to ability checks. Choosing Constitution does not hinder the target’s Constitution saving throws or concentration saves. Choosing Wisdom does not impose disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws, and choosing Strength does not penalize Strength-based attack rolls.

Useful choices depend on what the party plans to do:

• Strength can hinder Strength checks used for grappling or escaping a grapple.
• Dexterity can hinder Dexterity (Stealth) checks and other Dexterity checks.
• Wisdom can hinder Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Insight) checks.
• Charisma can hinder social ability checks when the situation actually calls for one.

Initiative is a Dexterity check, but Hex cannot retroactively alter an initiative roll that has already been made.

Which Attacks Trigger the Extra 1d6?

Any qualifying attack that hits the cursed target can trigger the extra 1d6, including melee attacks, ranged attacks, and spell attacks. A Warlock’s Eldritch Blast can therefore trigger Hex on each beam that hits because each beam makes its own attack roll.

An effect that uses a saving throw without an attack roll does not trigger Hex’s damage. Magic Missile also does not make an attack roll, so it does not receive the extra die.

On a critical hit, Hex’s 1d6 is part of that attack’s damage dice and is rolled twice. Only the hit that became critical doubles its Hex die; later hits resolve separately.

Moving Hex After a Target Drops to 0 HP

When the cursed target drops to 0 hit points before the spell ends, you can use a Bonus Action on a later turn to curse a new creature. Moving the curse does not spend another spell slot, but it still requires concentration on the original casting.

The curse cannot be moved merely because you want a different target. The current target must first drop to 0 hit points. If concentration ends before you transfer it, the spell is over.

The spell’s transfer sentence does not restate all of the original casting requirements. For unusual questions about distance, sight, or transferring the curse long after combat, the DM should establish how the table applies the original targeting limits.

Concentration and Long Durations

Hex competes with every other concentration spell. Taking damage can force a Constitution saving throw to maintain it, and casting another concentration spell ends Hex immediately.

In the 2014 rules, a 1st- or 2nd-level slot lasts up to 1 hour, a 3rd- or 4th-level slot lasts up to 8 hours, and a slot of 5th level or higher lasts up to 24 hours. A longer maximum duration does not remove concentration and does not guarantee that a target will remain available for the entire period.

Hex: 2014 vs. 2024 Rules

The revised spell adds a new duration breakpoint for a level 2 slot: concentration can last up to 4 hours. Level 3–4 slots last up to 8 hours, and level 5+ slots last up to 24 hours.

The 2024 wording also says the extra damage occurs when you hit with an attack roll, making explicit the attack-roll requirement already applied to the 2014 phrase “hit it with an attack.” The damage die, ability-check disadvantage, concentration requirement, and Bonus Action transfer remain substantially the same.

Hex FAQ

Does Hex impose disadvantage on concentration saves?

No. A concentration roll is a Constitution saving throw, not a Constitution ability check.

Does Hex work with Eldritch Blast?

Yes. Each beam that hits the cursed target triggers its own 1d6 Necrotic damage.

Can you move Hex before the target reaches 0 HP?

No. The transfer option appears only after the cursed target drops to 0 hit points.

Does Hex reveal itself to the target?

The spell has verbal, somatic, and material components, but it does not state that the target automatically knows it has been cursed. What a creature notices beyond the casting components depends on the situation and the DM’s adjudication.

Rules sources: Player’s Handbook (2014), p. 251; Hex in the revised rules; SRD 5.2.1; and the official Sage Advice Compendium clarification on ability checks. Tactical recommendations are original advice.