Magic permeates the worlds of D&D and most often appears in the form of a spell. This chapter provides the rules for casting spells. Clerics and wizards have distinctive ways of learning and preparing their spells, and monsters use spells in unique ways. Regardless of its source, a spell follows the rules here.
What Is a Spell?
A spell is a discrete magical effect, a single shaping of the magical energies that suffuse the multiverse into a specific, limited expression. In casting a spell, a character carefully plucks at the invisible strands of raw magic suffusing the world, pins them in place in a particular pattern, sets them vibrating in a specific way, and then releases them to unleash the desired effect—in most cases, all in the span of seconds.
Spells can be versatile tools, weapons, or protective wards. They can deal damage or undo it, impose or remove conditions (see 4), drain life energy away, and restore life to the dead.
Spell Level
Every spell in this set has a level from 0 to 3. A spell's level is a general indicator of how powerful it is, with the lowly (but still impressive) magic missile at 1st level and the devastating fireball at 3rd. (Spells of higher levels, up to 9th, exist in the world but aren't included in this set.) Cantrips—simple but powerful spells that characters can cast almost by rote—are level 0. The higher a spell's level, the higher level a spellcaster must be to use that spell.
Spell level and character level don't correspond directly. Typically, a character has to be at least 5th level, not 3rd level, to cast a 3rd-level spell.
Known and Prepared Spells
Before a spellcaster can use a spell, he or she must have the spell firmly fixed in mind. Clerics and wizards undergo a process of preparing spells. The number of spells a caster can have fixed in mind at any given time is shown on the character sheets.
A character can change this list of prepared spells upon finishing a long rest (see 2). Preparing a new list of spells requires time spent in meditation or study: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on the list.
Spell Slots
Regardless of how many spells a caster knows or prepares, he or she can cast only a limited number of spells before resting. Manipulating the fabric of magic and channeling its energy into even a simple spell is physically and mentally taxing, and higher-level spells are even more so. Thus, the character sheet for a spellcaster includes how many spell slots of each level the character can use at each character level. For example, at 3rd level, the wizard has four 1st-level slots and two 2nd-level slots.
When a character casts a spell, he or she expends a slot of that spell's level or higher, effectively "filling" a slot with the spell. You can think of a spell slot as a groove of a certain size—small for a 1st-level slot, larger for a spell of higher level. A 1st-level spell fits into a slot of any size, but a 3rd-level spell fits only in a slot that is at least 3rd level. So when the wizard casts magic missile, a 1st-level spell, he or she spends a 1st-level slot and has three remaining.
Finishing a long rest restores any expended spell slots.
Some monsters have special abilities that let them cast spells without using spell slots.
Casting a Spell at a Higher Level
When a spellcaster casts a spell using a slot that is a higher level than the spell, the spell assumes the higher level for that casting. For instance, if a wizard casts magic missile using a 2nd-level slot, that magic missile is 2nd level. The spell effectively expands to fill the slot.
Some spells, such as magic missile and cure wounds, have more powerful effects when cast at a higher level, as detailed in the spell's description.
Cantrips
A cantrip is a spell that can be cast at will, without using a spell slot and without being prepared in advance. Repeated practice has fixed the spell in the caster's mind and infused the caster with the magic needed to produce the effect over and over. A cantrip's spell level is 0.
Rituals
Certain spells have a special tag: ritual. Such a spell can be cast following the normal rules for spellcasting, or the spell can be cast as a ritual. The ritual version of a spell takes 10 minutes longer to cast than normal, and it doesn't expend a spell slot.
A cleric or a wizard can cast a spell as a ritual if the spell has the ritual tag. The cleric must also have the spell prepared, while the wizard need only have the spell in his or her spellbook.
Casting a Spell
When a character casts any spell, the rules here apply, regardless of the character's class or the spell's effects.
Each spell description in this chapter begins with a block of information, including the spell's name, level, school of magic, casting time, range, components, and duration. The rest of a spell entry describes the spell's effect.
Casting Time
Most spells require a single action to cast, but some spells require a bonus action, a reaction, or much more time.
Bonus Action
A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. You can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.
Reactions
Some spells can be cast as reactions. These spells take a fraction of a second to bring about and are cast in response to some event. If a spell can be cast as a reaction, the spell description tells you exactly when you can do so.
Longer Casting Times
Certain spells (including spells cast as rituals) require more time to cast: minutes or even hours. When you cast a spell with a casting time longer than a single action or reaction, you must spend your action each turn casting the spell, and you must maintain your concentration while you do so (see "3" later in this chapter). If your concentration is broken, the spell fails, but you don't expend a spell slot. If you want to try casting the spell again, you must start over.
Range
The target of a spell must be within the spell's range. For a spell like magic missile, the target is a creature. For a spell like fireball, the target is the point in space where the ball of fire erupts.
Most spells have ranges expressed in feet. Some spells can target only a creature (including you) that you touch.
Other spells, such as the shield spell, affect only you. These spells have a range of self.
Spells that create cones or lines of effect that originate from you also have a range of self, indicating that the origin point of the spell's effect must be you (see "3" later in the this chapter).
Once a spell is cast, its effects aren't limited by its range, unless the spell's description says otherwise.
Components
A spell's components are the physical requirements you must meet in order to cast it. Each spell's description indicates whether it requires verbal (V), somatic (S), or material (M) components. If you can't provide one or more of a spell's components, you are unable to cast the spell.
Verbal (V)
Most spells require the chanting of mystic words. The words themselves aren't the source of the spell's power; rather, the particular combination of sounds, with specific pitch and resonance, sets the threads of magic in motion. Thus, a character who is gagged or in an area of silence, such as one created by the silence spell, can't cast a spell with a verbal component.
Somatic (S)
Spellcasting gestures might include a forceful gesticulation or an intricate set of gestures. If a spell requires a somatic component, the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures.
Material (M)
Casting some spells requires particular objects, specified in parentheses in the component entry. A component pouch includes all the needed material components to cast spells, except those that have a gold piece cost shown in the spell. A cleric's holy symbol replaces material components, again excepting those with a gold piece cost. If a cost is indicated, a character must purchase that specific component before casting the spell in question.
If a spell specifies that the material component is consumed by the spell, the caster must provide this component for each casting of the spell.
A spellcaster must have a hand free to access these components, but it can be the same hand that he or she uses to perform somatic components.
Duration
A spell's duration is the length of time the spell persists. A duration can be expressed in rounds, minutes, hours, or even years. A spell might specify that its effects last until the spell is dispelled or the effects are destroyed.
Instantaneous
Many spells are instantaneous. The spell harms, heals, creates, or alters a creature or an object in a way that can't be dispelled, because its magic exists only for an instant.
Concentration
Some spells require you to maintain concentration in order to keep their magic active. If you lose concentration, such a spell ends.
If a spell must be maintained with concentration, that fact appears in its Duration entry, and the spell specifies how long you can concentrate on it. You can end concentration at any time (no action required).
Normal activity, such as moving and attacking, doesn't interfere with concentration. The following factors can break concentration:
- Casting another spell that requires concentration. You lose concentration on a spell if you cast another spell that requires concentration. You can't concentrate on two spells at once.
- Taking damage. Whenever you take damage while you are concentrating on a spell, you must make a Constitution saving throw to maintain your concentration. The DC equals 10 or half the damage you take, whichever number is higher. If you take damage from multiple sources, such as an arrow and a dragon's breath, you make a separate saving throw for each source of damage.
- Being incapacitated or killed. You lose concentration on a spell if you are incapacitated (as explained in 4) or if you die.
Targets
A typical spell requires you to pick one or more targets to be affected by the spell's magic. A spell's description tells you whether the spell targets creatures, objects, or a point of origin for an area of effect (described below).
A Clear Path to the Target
To target something, you must have a clear path to it, so it can't be behind 3.
If you place an area of effect at a point that you can't see and an obstruction, such as a wall, is between you and that point, the point of origin comes into being on the near side of that obstruction.
Targeting Yourself
If a spell targets a creature of your choice, you can choose yourself, unless the creature must be hostile or specifically a creature other than you. If you are in the area of effect of a spell you cast, you can target yourself.
Areas of Effect
Spells such as burning hands and fireball cover an area, allowing them to affect multiple creatures at once.
A spell's description specifies its area of effect, which typically has one of four different shapes: cone, cube, line, or sphere (each illustrated on the DM screen). Every area of effect has a point of origin, a location from which the spell's energy erupts. The rules for each shape specify how you position its point of origin. Typically, a point of origin is a point in space, but some spells have an area whose origin is a creature or an object.
A spell's effect expands in straight lines from the point of origin. If no unblocked straight line extends from the point of origin to a location within the area of effect, that location isn't included in the spell's area. To block one of these imaginary lines, an obstruction must provide 3, as explained in 1.
The point of origin of an area of effect isn't included in the area, unless the area is a sphere.
Cone
A cone extends in a direction you choose from its point of origin. A cone's width at a given point along its length is equal to that point's distance from the point of origin. A cone's area of effect specifies its maximum length.
Cube
You select a cube's point of origin, which lies anywhere on a face of the cubic effect. The cube's size is expressed as the length of each side.
Line
A line extends from its point of origin in a straight path up to its length and covers an area defined by its width.
Sphere
You select a sphere's point of origin, and the sphere extends outward from that point. The sphere's size is expressed as a radius in feet that extends from the point.
Saving Throws
Many spells specify that a target can make a saving throw to avoid some or all of a spell's effects. The spell specifies the ability that the target uses for the save and what happens on a success or failure.
The DC to resist one of your spells equals 8 + your spellcasting ability modifier + your proficiency bonus. This number is on the character sheets for the cleric and the wizard, and in the statistics for a monster that casts spells.
Attack Rolls
Some spells require the caster to make an attack roll to determine whether the spell effect hits the intended target. Your attack bonus with a spell attack equals your spellcasting ability modifier + your proficiency bonus.
Most spells that require attack rolls involve ranged attacks. Remember that you have disadvantage on a ranged attack roll if you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature that can see you and that isn't incapacitated (see 1).
Combining Magical Effects
The effects of different spells add together while the durations of those spells overlap. The effects of the same spell cast multiple times don't combine, however. Instead, the most potent effect—such as the highest bonus—from those castings applies while their durations overlap.
For example, if two clerics cast bless on the same target, that character gains the spell's benefit only once; he or she doesn't get to roll two bonus dice.
Spell Lists
Cleric Spells
- Guidance MEH
- Light Ok
- Resistance Ok
- Sacred Flame Yes, Burn
- Thaumaturgy ok
- Bless OK
- Command MEH
- Cure Wounds YES
- Detect Magic OK
- Guiding Bolt YES, BURN
- Healing Word YES
- Inflict Wounds YES, HURT
- Sanctuary JERRY SPELL
- Shield of Faith OK
- Aid JERRY SPELL
- Augury JERRY SPELL
- Hold Person OK
- Lesser Restoration OK
- Prayer of Healing YES
- Silence OK
- Spiritual Weapon YES, HURT
- Warding Bond JERRY SPELL
- Beacon of Hope JERRY SPELL
- Dispel Magic JERRY SPELL
- Mass Healing Word YES
- Protection from Energy JERRY SPELL
- Revivify OK
- Spirit Guardians OK
Wizard Spells
- Dancing Lights JERRY SPELL
- Light OK
- Mage Hand YES
- Prestidigitation YES
- Ray of Frost YES, CHILL
- Shocking Grasp YES, ZAP
- Burning Hands YES, BURN
- Charm Person JERRY SPELL
- Comprehend Languages JERRY SPELL
- Detect Magic OK
- Feather Fall Yes
- Identify OK
- Mage Armor YES
- Magic Missile YES, Poke
- Shield OK
- Sleep Meh
- Thunderwave Yes, Rumble
- Blur MEH
- Darkness OK
- Flaming Sphere Yes, Burn
- Hold Person OK
- Invisibility YES
- Misty Step OK
- Spider Climb OK
- Suggestion JERRY SPELL
- Web OK
- Dispel Magic JERRY SPELL
- Fireball Oh Hell YES
- Fly YES
- Lightning Bolt YES, Big Zap
- Protection from Energy JERRY SPELL
Spells
Presented in alphabetical order, these spells are used by characters and monsters in this set.
Some of the spells cause conditions, including charmed, deafened, frightened, invisible, paralyzed, prone, restrained, and unconscious. Consult 4 to learn a condition's effects in the game.
Pure Jerry spell! Why help other people when you could jack yourself up with magic and kick more ass?!
This is for theater majors and Jerrys. Don't worry about divining the future when you play D&D, Morty. The story will find you when you start killing.
Jerry spell in full effect! Don't waste your spell slots helping other people! You know what'll help them even more? If you kill the creatures attacking everyone!
Almost a Jerry spell, but at least you can pump up a bunch of people so they can kill s*** better.
If I wanna see blurry, shifting, wavering people in front of me, I'll just keep drinking.
Jerry needs this spell just to make friends.
If you really wanna charm someone, do what everyone else does—get rich and buy their loyalty.
As much as forcing people to grovel amuses me, it's easier to make 'em fear you by lighting all their s*** on fire.
Save your spell slots, Morty.
The only language you need to know in D&D is the language of violence, Morty.
Everyone speaks it and translations are crystal clear. Jerrys want to talk through a battle or "parlay" their asses out of conflict. Never do that.
It's a necessary evil. When you get hurt, you gotta get healed. I recommend not getting hurt.
Pure Jerry. This is life or death combat, not a f***ing rave.
Not as good as blasting monsters, but it has its place. Getting the drop on some sucker and gutting 'em is pretty sweet.
Anything that helps you find more magic loot is fine by me.
Wanna freak people out? Jump off an airship, and while everyone's screaming, "He's gonna die!", cast this little number after you pass through a cloud.
You'll float safely to the ground, while those suckers are tearily planning your funeral.
If you're a wizard and don't take this when it comes available, then just eat your own character sheet.
This is the classic pyro-bomb and it's beautiful, Morty. Chuck this into a room of monsters and get out the marshmallows.
This is fireball's slightly stunted younger brother, Morty. That said, there is something viscerally satisfying about rolling a ball of fire around over a bunch of a-holes.
If you need this spell to make your ability check, maybe you just shouldn't do that thing you're doing? Stay in your lane, Jerry.
Awwww yeah, God Bolt. Give 'em that radiant damage where the sun don't shine.
You can just utter a word to yourself and you feel quantifiably better, Morty! Your life's essence goes back up! Who needs a long rest!
Stopping some dingus in their tracks is aight. Not as cool as lighting them on fire, but maybe that's step two.
Learning what magic loot you just pulled off the corpses of your vanquished foes is a worthwhile investment.
"Necrotic damage" is a classy way of saying "your taint just rotted off."
Drop eldritch vengeance on your enemies and then VORP right outta sight. Classic.
When you're going down in a dirty hole to kill monsters, it's kinda useful to be able to see where the f*** they are.
If you're stupid and didn't pick up fireball, then you better grab this. Zap, Crackle, Pop, b*****s!
Push stuff around.
Trigger a trap from a safe distance.
Mess with your friends.
Pick your horse's nose while riding said horse.
I-I can keep going.
Notice this spell's most important feature, Morty: NO ATTACK ROLL.
It hits and hurts. Simple-dimple. Little glowing arrows of death at your command, and nobody can do s*** about it.
Smart clerics hold this spell in reserve until their party members pay up. These heals don't come cheap.
That 10-minute casting time is a buzzkill, but when your crew's doing the downtime thing, it gives you something to occupy yourself with so you don't have to participate in their campfire bonding rituals.
I bet at first glance you figured I'd call this as a Jerry spell, but it's not, Morty. Prestidigitation is awesome! It doesn't take up any spell slots because it's a cantrip. That means you can use it constantly... and you should.
Everywhere your wizard goes, they'll have glittering teeth, musky magic cologne, a warming glow, and their own personal soundtrack. Clean clothes, too. The other members of your party are gonna shamble into town smelling like ass while you get to be Slick McDick, Wizard Supreme.
Don't waste third level spell slots on protecto-trash. Kill your enemies fast and you won't even need defense.
This is it, Morty, the third of the holy triumvirate of low-level wizard DPS. It's a song of ice and fire AND lightning.
Not bad, but radiant damage means your enemy's clothes don't catch on fire, so it's not as funny.
Don't worry about protecting things, Morty. Everything dies.
The spellcasting equivalent of a jockstrap: useful in the right circumstances, but way cooler if you can do your thing without needing it—and eventually it'll need a wash.
I dunno, I kinda respect this.
concentrate} on how much they love their god so you can get punched harder. That's pretty metal.
Like shuffling your feet on a carpet just before slapping some sense into a goblin.
I like busting this one out on enemy spellcasters and then throwing up the universal sign language for "Oops! Guess you're f***ed!"
A spell that requires me to tiptoe around the battlefield is not my style, Morty. Like, I get that it can be useful, but it still just feels like a stopgap.
It's not full Jerry, but it's also not rushing into my prepared spell list either.
Crazy ghosts that zap monsters for you?
That's f***ing cool.
It's more hands-off than my typical "crush your enemies, see them driven before you" approach, but I definitely see the appeal.
There's nothing as demoralizing as being hit by a big ol' ghost schlong.
Here's a real suggestion: don't take a spell that requires 10 minutes of arguing at the table to figure out if it worked or not.
This spell wants to be prestidigitation for clerics, but it's definitely on the weak side. Here's some harmless tremors for you—*FAAART*
Let this baby fly when the bass drops, Morty. Trust me. The crowd will go wild.
I'm not here to tell anyone where and when they should blow their personal sticky load, y'know? Th-th-that's a personal choice.
Everybody needs to make their own decisions.