Modify Memory
At a Glance
| 2024 | Bard 5, Wizard 5; event up to 10 minutes long from the last 24 hours |
|---|---|
| 2014 | Bard 5, Wizard 5; same core event limit |
| Pathfinder 1e | Bard 4; alter up to 5 minutes of memory; permanent |
| D&D 3.5e | Bard 4; alter up to 5 minutes of memory; permanent |
Modify Memory rewrites a short remembered event. Fifth edition uses the Charmed and Incapacitated conditions during a one-minute working; PF1e and D&D 3.5e use the older permanent Bard-only memory-editing spell.
Choose Your Edition
Modify Memory — 5.5e / 2024
| Level | 5th |
|---|---|
| School | Enchantment |
| Casting Time | Action |
| Range | 30 feet |
| Components | V, S |
| Duration | Concentration, up to 1 minute |
| Classes | Bard, Wizard |
One creature you can see within range makes a Wisdom saving throw, with Advantage if you are fighting it. On a failure, it has the Charmed condition for the duration and is also Incapacitated and unaware of its surroundings, though it can still hear you.
If the target takes damage or another spell targets it before the memory alteration is complete, Modify Memory ends and no memory is changed.
You can affect the target’s memory of one event from the previous 24 hours that lasted no more than 10 minutes. You can erase it, make it perfectly clear, alter its details, or replace it with a different remembered event.
You must describe the altered memory aloud in a language the target understands. If you finish before the spell ends, the new memory takes hold when the spell ends.
Remove Curse or Greater Restoration restores the true memory.
Higher-level slots: 6th = 7 days, 7th = 30 days, 8th = 365 days, 9th = any time in the creature’s past.
Modify Memory — 5e / 2014
| Level | 5th |
|---|---|
| School | Enchantment |
| Casting Time | 1 action |
| Range | 30 feet |
| Components | V, S |
| Duration | Concentration, up to 1 minute |
| Classes | Bard, Wizard |
The 2014 spell uses the same central procedure: Wisdom save, Charmed and Incapacitated target, no successful alteration if damage or another spell interrupts the process, and one event up to 10 minutes long from the previous 24 hours.
The four permitted changes are the same: erase the event, clarify it, alter details, or replace it with another remembered event.
Remove Curse or Greater Restoration restores the target’s true memory.
Higher-level slots: 6th = 7 days, 7th = 30 days, 8th = 1 year, 9th = any time in the target’s past.
Modify Memory — Pathfinder 1e
| School | Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting] |
|---|---|
| Level | Bard 4 |
| Casting Time | 1 round; see text |
| Components | V, S |
| Range | Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) |
| Target | One living creature |
| Duration | Permanent |
| Saving Throw | Will negates |
| Spell Resistance | Yes |
You can alter up to 5 minutes of memory. After the target fails its save, you spend as much as 5 minutes visualising the replacement memory—one minute of work for each minute of memory being modified.
If your concentration is interrupted, or the subject leaves the spell’s range during that visualisation, the spell is lost.
You can erase an event, sharpen a real memory, change its details, or implant a memory of something that never happened.
An implausible alteration may be dismissed by the subject as a dream, confusion or some other error rather than reshaping later behaviour.
Modify Memory — D&D 3.5e
| School | Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting] |
|---|---|
| Level | Bard 4 |
| Casting Time | 1 round; see text |
| Components | V, S |
| Range | Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) |
| Target | One living creature |
| Duration | Permanent |
| Saving Throw | Will negates |
| Spell Resistance | Yes |
The 3.5e spell follows the same classic procedure as PF1e: up to 5 minutes of memory, a 1-round casting followed by up to 5 minutes of visualisation, and a permanent result if the process is completed.
It cannot negate Charm, Geas/Quest, Suggestion or similar spells merely by editing the subject’s recollection of them.
What Changed?
- 2024 versus 2014: the core spell remains very similar; the clearest wording change in the slot table is 8th level reaching exactly 365 days rather than “1 year.”
- Fifth edition: edits one remembered event up to 10 minutes long and uses Charmed/Incapacitated during the working.
- PF1e / 3.5e: Bard-only, permanent, and limited to up to 5 minutes of memory with a longer visualisation process after the failed save.
Using Modify Memory
Change the witness, not the evidence. A false memory does not rewrite letters, ledgers, footprints, wounds, seals or the memories of other witnesses.
Belief is not obedience. The spell can make a false recollection feel real, but a memory that contradicts the target’s nature or understanding may have little effect on later decisions.
Perfect recall is also useful. The spell can sharpen a real memory rather than falsify it, recovering a face, phrase, symbol or other fleeting detail the subject genuinely experienced.
Related Magic
- Remove Curse — modern restoration of the true memory.
- Greater Restoration — another modern cure for the alteration.
- Detect Thoughts — can reveal what the target currently believes, not necessarily what historically happened.
- Zone of Truth — prevents deliberate lies but does not make a false memory true.
- Programmed Amnesia — a broader legacy memory-alteration spell.
Sources and Licensing
- D&D 2024 Basic Rules — Modify Memory. SRD 5.2 material is available under CC BY 4.0.
- D&D 2014 Basic Rules — Modify Memory. SRD 5.1 material is available under CC BY 4.0.
- Pathfinder 1e Core Rulebook — Modify Memory. Open Game Content under OGL v1.0a.
- D&D 3.5 SRD — Modify Memory. Open Game Content under OGL v1.0a.
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