Greater Restoration

Choose Your Edition

What Changed?

• 2024: the modern base class list expands to include Paladin and Ranger.
• 2014 and 2024: both use a 5th-level Abjuration with consumed diamond dust and a focused list of removable effects.
• Pathfinder 1e: a 7th-level Cleric spell with 5,000 gp of diamond dust and a 3-round casting time.
• D&D 3.5e: also Cleric 7, but uses a 10-minute casting time and a 500 XP cost instead of the PF1e diamond-dust cost.

Using Greater Restoration in Play

When an ally emerges from a cursed tomb, a basilisk’s gaze, an exhausting march or a monster’s draining touch, first identify what the effect actually did. A missing Hit Point maximum, a condition, an ability penalty and an old-edition negative level are not interchangeable. Choose the edition tab and treat its text as authoritative.

What It Can and Cannot Cure

• Exhaustion: in both fifth-edition versions, one casting removes one exhaustion level, not every level at once. Several exhausted party members require separate castings.
• Petrification or charm: in 2024 the spell can end the named condition; in 2014 it ends one effect imposing the named condition. A single casting does not remove every other affliction on the creature.
• Curses: fifth edition can remove one curse, including attunement to a cursed magic item. The spell does not destroy the item, reveal its history or automatically solve a separate curse.
• Reduced ability scores or Hit Point maximum: in fifth edition, choose the appropriate listed reduction. The spell restores the reduced statistic but does not separately restore spent current Hit Points.
• Negative levels and ability drain: these are central to Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e, not fifth-edition conditions. Pathfinder removes all temporary and permanent negative levels; the 3.5e version has a one-week-per-caster-level time limit when reversing drained experience levels.
• Death: this is not a resurrection spell in any of the four editions. In D&D 3.5e, levels and Constitution lost due to death remain outside its scope.

At the Table — Three Examples

A petrified scout (5e / 2024). A caster expends one 5th-level spell slot and the consumed diamond dust, touches the scout and ends the Petrified condition. No extra cure for exhaustion or Hit Point damage is included in that casting.

A cursed heirloom (5e / 2014). An adventurer cannot willingly end attunement to an enchanted, cursed ring. One casting of Greater Restoration can end the curse or the cursed attunement as described by the spell. The ring itself remains and can still endanger another wearer.

A level-drained companion (D&D 3.5e). After a night among undead, a cleric spends ten minutes casting and pays the 500 XP cost. Negative levels are removed. Restoration of experience levels lost to level drain is limited by the spell’s one-week-per-caster-level window, and the spell cannot reverse losses caused by death.

Costs and Casting Risks

2024 and 2014: 100 gp of diamond dust is consumed by each casting, and the caster must reach the target to touch it. Pathfinder 1e: the three-round casting time and 5,000 gp diamond dust make this deliberate recovery magic, not a casual battlefield cure. D&D 3.5e: ten minutes and 500 XP make the procedure costly even when no material component is required. Do not substitute these costs across editions.

Greater Restoration — Frequently Asked Questions

Does Greater Restoration restore Hit Points?

Not directly. Fifth edition can reverse a reduction to the maximum Hit Points, but current Hit Points are a separate quantity. Use appropriate healing magic if the creature remains wounded.

Can one casting remove several different afflictions?

In 2024 and 2014, the spell removes one effect from its list per casting. Pathfinder and D&D 3.5e use their own broader ability-restoration and negative-level rules. Do not import the older multi-effect procedure into fifth edition.

Is Greater Restoration the same as Remove Curse?

No. Remove Curse is more narrowly focused and may be a less costly way to address a curse. Greater Restoration also addresses other debilitating effects identified in its edition’s rules.

Can it bring someone back from death?

No. A dead creature needs the appropriate revival or resurrection magic for the edition being played.

Related Spells and Class Lists

• Lesser Restoration — the second-level spell for common conditions or minor ability damage, depending on edition.
• Restoration — the distinct fourth-level restoration procedure used in Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e.
• Remove Curse — compare its limits and casting cost with Greater Restoration.
• Cleric Spells — the principal restoration spell list across editions.
• Bard Spells — fifth-edition Bard access.
• Druid Spells — fifth-edition Druid access.

When a creature is afflicted by multiple effects, compare Lesser Restoration, Remove Curse and Greater Restoration before spending expensive components. The cheapest suitable spell is not always the highest-level one.

Sources and Licensing

• D&D 2024 Basic Rules — Greater Restoration. SRD 5.2 material is available under CC BY 4.0.
• D&D 2014 SRD 5.1. Material is available under CC BY 4.0.
• Pathfinder 1e Core Rulebook — Greater Restoration. Open Game Content under OGL v1.0a.
• D&D 3.5 SRD — Greater Restoration. Open Game Content under OGL v1.0a.