Spells and Spellcasting

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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 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, drain life energy away, and restore life to the dead.

Uncounted thousands of spells have been created over the course of the multiverse's history, and many of them are long forgotten. Some might yet lie recorded in crumbling spellbooks hidden in ancient ruins or trapped in the minds of dead gods. Or they might someday be reinvented by a character who has amassed enough power and wisdom to do so.


Spell Level
Every spell has a level from 0 to 9. 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 earth-shaking Wish at 9th. 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 17th level, not 9th level, to cast a 9th level spell for example.


Known and Prepared Spells
Before a spellcaster can use a spell, they must have the spell firmly fixed in the mind, or must have access to the spell in a magic item. Members of a few classes, including bards and sorcerers, have a limited list of spells they know that are always fixed in the mind. The same thing is true of many magic-using monsters. Other spellcasters, such as clerics and wizards, undergo a process of preparing spells. This process varies for different classes, as detailed in their class descriptions.

In every case, the number of spells a caster can have fixed in the mind at any given time depends on the character's level.


Spell Slots
Regardless of how many spells a caster knows or prepares, they 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, each spellcasting class's descriptions (excluding the special case of the warlock, which works slightly differently) includes a table showing how many spell slots of each spell level a character can use at each character level. For example, a 3rd-level wizard has four 1st-level spell slots and two 2nd-level spell slots.

When a character casts a spell, they expend 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 certain size—small for a 1st-level slot, larger for a spell of a higher level. A 1st-level spell can, thus, fit into a spell slot of any size; as the lowest spell level, it can fit in any of the slots above it. While a 1st-level spell fits into a slot of any size, a 9th-level spell can only fit into a 9th-level slot. So, if you were to cast Magic Missile as a 1st-level spell, you would spend one of your 1st-level spell slots to do so, subtracting that from the total amount of 1st-level slots you have per long rest. Finishing a long rest always restores all expended spell slots.

Some characters and monsters have special abilities that let them cast spells without using spell slots. For example, a monk who follows the Way of the Four Elements can cast spells in such a way—as can a pit fiend from the Nine Hells.

Casting a Spell at a Higher Level
When a spellcaster casts a spell using a slot that is of a higher level than the spell, the spell assumes the higher level for that casting. For instance, if you cast Magic Missile using a 2nd-level spell slot, that Magic Missile is 2nd level. Effectively, when a spell is "upcast" in this way, the spell expands to fill the slot it is put into.

In addition, some spells such as Magic Missile and Cure Wounds have more powerful effects when cast at a higher level. This will be detailed in the spell's description. Any spell without such a specification will have the same effect as normal, regardless of the slot used to cast it.


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. It also doesn't expend a spell slot, which means the ritual version of a spell can never be cast at a higher level (but also can always be cast, even with no spell slots remaining).

To cast a spell as a ritual, a spellcaster must have a feature that grants the ability to do so. The cleric and the druid, for example, have such a feature. The caster must also have the spell prepared or on their list of spells known to cast it as a ritual, unless the character's ritual feature specifies otherwise, as the wizard's does.



Casting a Spell

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When a character casts any spell, the same basic rules are followed, regardless of the character's class or the spell's effects.

Each spell description begins with a block of information, including the spell's name, level, school of magic, casting time, range, necessary components, and duration. The rest of a spell entry describes the spell's effect.

As well, armor is often cumbersome to spellcasters. Because of the mental focus and precise gestures required for spellcasting, you must be proficient with the armor you are wearing to cast a spell. You are otherwise too distracted and physically hampered by your armor to cast any spells.


Casting Time
Most spells require a single action to cast, but some spells can take a bonus action, reaction, or even much more time to cast.

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 if you do so, unless that spell is a cantrip and has a casting time of 1 action.

If you cast a spell of 1st-level or higher using your action, you cannot cast a spell as a bonus action on that turn.

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 in exactly what scenario you can do so.

Longer Casting Time
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, bonus action, or reaction, you must spend your action each turn casting the spell, and you must maintain your concentration while you do so (detailed below). If your concentration is broken, the spell fails but you don't expend the 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. Such 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 (such areas of effect are described below).

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 where 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 preform these gestures.

Material (M)
Casting some spells require particular objects, specified in parentheses in the component entry. A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in Equipment, Tools, and Languages) in place of the components specified for a spell. However, if a monetary cost is indicated for a component, a character must have that specific component before they can cast the spell.

As well, if a spell states that a material component is consumed by the spell, the caster must provide this component for each casting of the spell even if it has no written monetary cost. Spell components are never consumed by a spell unless otherwise stated. A spellcaster must have a hand free to access a spell's material components or to hold a spellcasting focus in their place, but it can be the same hand that they use 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. Some spells specify that their effects last until the spells are dispelled or 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. As well, you cannot cast a concentration spell for "just an instant." If a spell can be concentrated on as part of its duration, casting it makes you lose concentration on any other spell, even if you dispel the concentration instantly.
  
• 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. This means spells like Magic Missile , which fires three darts, would require you to make three Constitution saving throws against each instance of damage if all three hit you.
  
• Being incapacitated or killed. You lose concentration on a spell if you are incapacitated or if you die.

Staff might also decide that certain environmental phenomena, such as a wave crashing over you while you're on a storm-tossed ship, require you to succeed on a Constitution saving throw to maintain concentration on a spell.


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).

Unless a spell has a perceptible effect, a creature might not know it was targeted by a spell at all. An effect like crackling lightning is obvious, but a more subtle effect, such as an attempt to read a creature's thoughts, typically goes unnoticed, unless a spell says otherwise.

A Clear Path to the Target
To target something, you must have a clear path to it, so it can't be behind total cover. 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. A good rule of thumb is that if you couldn't hit the target with an arrow, you can't target them with a spell, unless something in the spell's description allows otherwise.

For example, if a closed window were between you and your target, you would not be able to target them with a spell even if you could see them. The glass is acting as full cover, and the window would need to be open or destroyed to have a clear path to the target.

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.

Invalid Spell Targets
A spell specifies what a caster can target with it: any type of creature, a creature of a certain type (humanoid or beast, for instance), an object, an area, the caster, or something else. But what happens if a spell targets something that isn't a valid target? For example, someone might cast Charm Person on a creature believed to be a humanoid, not knowing that the target is in fact a vampire (which are undead).
If you cast a spell on someone or something that can't be affected by the spell, nothing happens to that target. If you used a spell slot, an item charge, or some other limited feature to cast the spell, the resource is still expended as normal. If the spell normally has no effect on a target that succeeds on the saving throw, the invalid target appears to have succeeded on its saving throw normally, giving no hint that the creature is an invalid target. Otherwise, you perceive that the spell did nothing to the target.


Areas of Effect
Spells such as Burning Hands and Cone of Cold 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 five different shapes: cone, cube, cylinder, line, or sphere. 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 (unless a spell's description says otherwise). To block one of these imaginary lines, an obstruction must provide total cover.

When selecting a point of origin for a spell, choose an intersection of squares as the point of origin of an area of effect, then follow the rules for that kind of area as normal (see the spoiler below). If an area of effect covers at least half a square, it affects that square. Otherwise, the creature is able to move at the last moment, dodging the effect. Staff will adjudicate areas of effect.


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 + any special modifiers.


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.


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, or the most recent effect applies if the castings are equally potent and their durations overlap.

For example, if two clerics cast Bless on the same target, that character gains the spell's benefit only once; they don't get to roll two bonus dice.


Identifying Casters and Spells
Many spells create obvious effects: explosions of fire, walls of ice, teleportation, and the like. Other spells, such as Charm Person , display no visible, audible, or otherwise perceptible sign of their effects, and could easily go unnoticed by someone unaffected by them. As noted above, you normally don't know that a spell has been cast unless the spell produces a noticeable effect.
But what about the act of casting a spell? Is it possible for someone to perceive that a spell is being cast in their presence? To be perceptible, the casting of a spell must involve a verbal, somatic, or material component. The form of a material component doesn't matter for the purposes of perception, whether it's an object specified in the spell's description, a component pouch, or a spellcasting focus.
If the need for a spell's components has been removed by a special ability, such as the sorcerer's Subtle Spell feature or the Innate Spellcasting trait possessed by many creatures, the casting of the spell is imperceptible. If an imperceptible casting produces a perceptible effect, it's normally impossible to determine who cast the spell in the absence of other evidence.

Identifying a Spell
Sometimes a character wants to identify a spell that someone else is casting or that was already cast. To do so, a character can use their reaction to identify a spell as it's being cast, or they can use an action on their turn to identify a spell by its effect after it is cast.
If the character perceived the casting, the spell's effect, or both, the character can make an Intelligence (Arcana) check with the reaction or action. The DC equals 15 + the spell's level. If the spell is cast as a class spell and the character is a member of that class, the check is made with advantage. For example, if the spellcaster casts a spell as a cleric, another cleric has advantage on the check to identify the spell. Some spells aren't associated with any class when they're cast, such as when a monster uses its Innate Spellcasting trait. If you fail the check or don't make one, you don't know what spell is cast for certain. However, you can guess based on the effects you notice.
This Intelligence (Arcana) check represents the fact that identifying a spell requires a quick mind and familiarity with the theory and practice of casting. This is true even for a character whose spellcasting ability is Wisdom or Charisma. Being able to cast spells doesn't by itself make you adept at deducing exactly what others are doing when they cast their spells.


The Schools of Magic
Academies of magic group spells into eight categories called schools of magic. Scholars, particularly wizards, apply these categories to all spells, believing that all magic functions in essentially the same way, whether it derives from rigorous study or is bestowed by a deity.

The schools of magic help describe spells; they have no rules of their own, although some rules refer to the schools.


Last edited: about 1 year ago