Spell Slots

Characters of spellcasting classes can cast a certain number of spells each day; the spells you can cast in a day are referred to as spell slots. At 1st level, a character has only a small number of 1st-level spell slots per day, but as you advance in level, you gain more spell slots and new slots for higher-level spells. A spell’s level indicates its overall power, from 1 to 10.

Prepared Spells

If you’re a prepared spellcaster—such as a cleric, druid, or wizard—you must spend time each day preparing spells for that day. At the start of your daily preparations, you select a number of spells of different spell levels determined by your character level and class. Your spells remain prepared until you cast them or until you prepare spells again.

Each prepared spell is expended after a single casting, so if you want to cast a particular spell more than once in a day, you need to prepare that spell multiple times. The exceptions to this rule are spells with the cantrip trait; once you prepare a cantrip, you can cast it as many times as you want until the next time you prepare spells. See page 300 for more information on cantrips.

You might gain an ability that allows you to swap prepared spells or perform other aspects of preparing spells at different times throughout the day, but only your daily preparation counts for the purpose of effects that last until the next time you prepare spells.

Spontaneous Spells

If you’re a spontaneous spellcaster—such as a bard or a sorcerer—you choose which spell you’re using a spell

MAGICAL TRADITIONS

Spellcasters cast spells from one of four different spell lists, each representing a different magical tradition: arcane, divine, occult, and primal.

Your class determines which tradition of magic your spells use. In some cases, such as when a cleric gains spells from their deity or when a sorcerer gets spells from their bloodline, you might be able to cast spells

Arcane

Divine Arcane spellcasters use logic

The power of the divine is and rationality to categorize

steeped in faith, the unseen, the magic inherent in the

and belief in a power source world around them. Because

from beyond the Material of its far-reaching approach,

Plane. Clerics are the most the arcane tradition has

iconic divine spellcasters, the broadest spell list,

beseeching the gods to though it’s generally poor

grant them their magic.

at affecting the spirit or the

Divine sorcerers can use soul. Wizards are the most

the blood of their celestial iconic arcane spellcasters,

or fiendish ancestors poring over tomes and

as a divine conduit, and grimoires, though arcane

champions call upon sorcerers study the secrets

their gods to grant them of their blood to unlock the

martial prowess through power within themselves.

divine guidance.

slot for at the moment you decide to cast it. This provides you with more freedom in your spellcasting, but you have fewer spells in your spell repertoire, as determined by your character level and class. When you make your daily preparations, all your spell slots are refreshed, but you don’t get to change the spells in your repertoire.

Heightened Spells

Both prepared and spontaneous spellcasters can cast a spell at a higher spell level than that listed for the spell. This is called heightening the spell. A prepared spellcaster can heighten a spell by preparing it in a higher-level slot than its normal spell level, while a spontaneous spellcaster can heighten a spell by casting it using a higher-level spell slot, so long as they know the spell at that level (see Heightened Spontaneous Spells below). When you heighten your spell, the spell’s level increases to match the higher level of the spell slot you’ve prepared it in or used to cast it. This is useful for any spell, because some effects, such as counteracting, depend on the spell’s level.

In addition, many spells have additional specific benefits when they are heightened, such as increased damage. These extra benefits are described at the end of the spell’s stat block. Some heightened entries specify one or more levels at which the spell must be prepared or cast to gain these extra advantages. Each of these heightened entries states specifically which aspects of the spell change at the given level. Read the heightened from a different spell list. In these cases, the spell uses your magic tradition, not the list the spell normally comes from. When you cast a spell, add your tradition’s trait to the spell.

Some types of magic, such as that of most magic items, don’t belong to any single tradition. These have the magical trait instead of a tradition trait.

Occult

Primal The practitioners of

An instinctual connection occult traditions seek

to and faith in the world, to understand the

the cycle of day and night, unexplainable, categorize

the turning of the seasons, the bizarre, and otherwise

and the natural selection access the ephemeral in

of predator and prey drive a systematic way. Bards

the primal tradition. Druids are the most iconic occult

are the most iconic primal spellcasters, collecting

spellcasters, calling upon strange esoterica and

the magic of nature through using their performances

deep faith and a connection to influence the mind

to the plants and animals or elevate the soul, and

around them, and primal occult sorcerers strive to

sorcerers call upon their fey understand the mysterious

or beast blood to harness power in their blood.

the same natural energies.

entry only for the spell level you’re using or preparing; if its benefits are meant to include any of the effects of a lower-level heightened entry, those benefits will be included in the entry.

Other heightened entries give a number after a plus sign, indicating that heightening grants extra advantages over multiple levels. The listed effect applies for every increment of levels by which the spell is heightened above its lowest spell level, and the benefit is cumulative. For example, fireball says “Heightened (+1) The damage increases by 2d6.” Because fireball deals 6d6 fire damage at 3rd level, a 4th-level fireball would deal 8d6 fire damage, a 5th-level spell would deal 10d6 fire damage, and so on.

Heightened Spontaneous Spells

If you’re a spontaneous spellcaster, you must know a spell at the specific level that you want to cast it in order to heighten it. You can add a spell to your spell repertoire at more than a single level so that you have more options when casting it. For example, if you added fireball to your repertoire as a 3rd-level spell and again as a 5th-level spell, you could cast it as a 3rd-level or a 5th-level spell; however, you couldn’t cast it as a 4th-level spell.

Many spontaneous spellcasting classes provide abilities like the signature spells class feature, which allows you to cast a limited number of spells as heightened versions even if you know the spell at only a single level.

THE FOUR ESSENCES

Spells that affect certain physical or metaphysical forces tend to be grouped into particular magical traditions. Scholars of magic widely agree that all of existence is composed of some combination of four essences, though they disagree on the names and particular qualities of each essence.

Matter

Spirit Also called body, material

Also called soul, ethereal essence, or physical

essence, or spiritual essence, matter is the

essence, spirit is an fundamental building

otherworldly building block block that makes up all

that makes up a being’s physical things in the

immaterial and immortal universe. The arcane

self. The spirit travels and primal traditions

through the Ethereal Plane are especially attuned

and into the Great Beyond toward manipulating and

after the death of the shaping matter. Spells

physical body. The spirit that are used to create

is most easily affected by or alter matter most

divine and occult spells. often come from the

Spirit spells are usually conjuration, evocation, or

of the divination or transmutation schools.

necromancy schools.