Magic of Dungeons & Dragons consists of spells used in the settings of the role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). There is little if any similarity between these fictional spells and any actual historical mythology. D&D defined the genre of fantasy role-playing games, and remains the most popular. Many of the original spells have become widely used in the role-playing community, across many different fictional worlds, and across books, board games, video games, and movies.
The specific effects of each spell, and even the names of some spells, vary from edition to edition of the D&D corpus.
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The idea of spell memorization is sometimes called "Vancian" in the game designer community, since its first use, in Dungeons & Dragons, was inspired by the way magic works in Jack Vance's Dying Earth world.[1][2]
The current rules are based on the d20 System—a core set of rules which can be (and are) used as the basis for many games. Thus, many d20 games might use the D&D spell list, while others create their own or even replace the entire magic system.
In the Dungeons & Dragons game, magic is a force of nature, and a part of the world. In the game's 3rd Edition there are two main types of magic: arcane, which comes from the world and universe around the caster, and divine, which is inspired from above (or below): the realms of gods and demons. Wizards, sorcerers and bards learn to cast arcane spells, which are typically flashy and powerful, but, prior to 4th edition, often require complex movements and gestures known as somatic components, which are impeded by wearing bulky armor. Clerics, druids, rangers and paladins cast divine spells, which draw their power from a deity, from nature, or simply the caster's inner faith. While the casting of these spells is not impeded by heavy armor, it may require the caster to wear a holy symbol as a focus. A spell may exist in both arcane and divine forms—for example, summon monster VII can be cast by both wizards and clerics, although a cleric might use it to summon an angel while a wizard would feel free to summon whichever creature best fits the situation.
These are typically spells devoted to manipulating energy, converting one substance to another, or calling on the services of other creatures. For wizards, these spells are generally committed to memory after a session of meditation upon a spellbook containing the details of the incantation; sorcerers and bards know their spells innately and do not need to prepare them at all, nor do they require a spellbook. Once prepared, the spell is cast using specific words and / or gestures, and sometimes a specific material component.
Prior to 3rd edition, arcane spellcasting ability is always linked to the Intelligence ability score. In 3rd and 3.5 editions, arcane spellcasters who prepare spells in advance are Intelligence-based, while spontaneous arcane spellcasters, such as Bards and Sorcerers, are Charisma-based.
Each spell belongs to one of eight groups, called 'schools'. Technically, divine spells belong to schools as well, but the distinction is, for the most part, irrelevant. A wizard (but not a sorcerer) may specialize in one school, but at the expense of completely forsaking one or more others. A few spells are "universal", meaning that they belong to no particular school of magic.
In 4th edition, spell schools have been eliminated as a game mechanic.
| Alteration | Illusion | Enchantment |
| Divination | ✵ | Conjuration |
| Invocation | Necromancy | Abjuration |
Divine spells take their name from the fact that they are mainly granted to clerics by the grace of the cleric's patron deity, although the spells cast by druids, rangers and paladins also come under this category. Although divine spells can be cast equally well while wearing armor, only rarely require material components, and do not need to be prepared from a spell book, they are generally less overtly powerful than arcane spells and have fewer offensive applications. Despite the lack of flashy spells such as the fireball or meteor swarm granted to a wizard, many very powerful spells—such as gate, summon monster IX, and energy drain—are shared between clerics and wizards. Other powerful wizard spells, such as time stop, are granted to clerics who take up the mantle of certain domains. Finally, spells such as implosion are restricted to clerics only.
Cleric spells are typically devoted to either healing the wounded, restoring lost abilities, and acquiring blessings, or to inflict harm and to curse opponents. These spells must be prepared by the caster daily through a session of meditation or prayer. Since a cleric is also something of a church knight and a champion of his faith, his spells also include ones which temporarily improve his combat ability. Clerics also have the ability either to turn (drive off or destroy) or to rebuke (cow or command) undead, based on their alignment. The spells and abilities of a cleric are based on his deity, as well as his alignment. In 3rd and 3.5 editions, each cleric also has access to bonus spells and granted powers, such as feats, additional class skills and spell-like abilities, from two (or occasionally more) domains which represent his deity or faith; examples include War, Trickery, Good, Evil, and Travel. In 3rd and 3.5 editions, clerics have the ability to lose a prepared spell in order to spontaneously cast either a Cure Wounds spell or Inflict Wounds spell of the same level based on their alignment.
Druid spells are typically devoted to communing with nature, interpreting or directing the weather, communicating with creatures and plants, and the like. The druid shares some spells with the cleric, such as some healing spells, and has a surprising number of offensive spells which use the power of nature—calling down lightning storms, for example, or summoning wild animals to fight. In 3.5 edition, druids have the ability to lose a prepared spell in order to spontaneously cast a Summon Nature's Ally spell of the same level.
Paladin and ranger spells are similar to cleric and druid spells, respectively, but they are allowed fewer spells per day, only gain access to lower-level spells, and gain access to them more slowly. Both classes have some unique spells that can be fairly powerful, despite their low level. In compensation for their diminished spellcasting ability, paladins and rangers have a more martial focus than clerics and druids.
In 2nd edition, divine spells are divided into thematic spheres, with Clerics, Druids and specialty priests gaining access to spells from different spheres. The core spheres are All (generic divine spells), Animal, Astral, Charm, Combat, Creation, Divination, Elemental (optionally divided into Air, Earth, Fire and Water sub-spheres), Healing, Necromancy, Plant, Protection, Summon, Sun and Weather. Tome of Magic introduced the Chaos, Numbers, Law, Thought, Time, War and Wards spheres. Spheres were not retained in subsequent editions.
Prior to 3.5 edition, divine spellcasting ability was always linked the Wisdom ability score. 3.5 edition introduced non-core Charisma-based and Intellingence-based divine spellcasting classes.
In 4th edition, divine spells were renamed to prayers.
Incarnum is a later addition to D&D (in a 3.5 edition book called Magic of Incarnum by James Wyatt), and is not part of the core d20 System. It is a kind of energy based on the soul. By drawing upon the spirits of past, present and future the meldshaper can become better at fighting, more skilled, or gain special abilities. To draw upon soul energy, the meldshaper first shapes an item called a "soulmeld" out of soul energies which occupies a chakra on the body. In this system, there are ten chakras: crown, brow, throat, shoulder, arms, hands, heart, soul, waist and feet.
After shaping a soulmeld, the meldshaper can invest his own soul energy, called essentia, into it to make it stronger. A meldshaper can also bind a soulmeld to a chakra to enhance its power and get even greater benefits from it.
Integration of Incarnum use into a campaign with traditional magic is similar to the way psionics are incorporated. The standard rule is Incarnum–magic transparency, and there is a variant rule called "Incarnum is different".
In 4th edition, druids and shamans are no longer divine spellcasters; instead, they use the new primal power source, along with barbarians and the new warden class. Primal magic is associated with the nature and the feywild. Primal powers are called evocations.
The following is a sampling of the many spells in Dungeons & Dragons, and is not a full list by any means.
In 4e, rituals are non-combat spells. There are nine categories: binding, creation, deception, divination, exploration, restoration, scrying, travel and warding. Each ritual has a key skill, Arcana, Heal, Nature or Religion, some rituals have multiple key skills, allowing a player to choose which key skill to use. Each ritual has a casting time and a component cost. There are five classes of ritual components: alchemical reagents can be used for arcana rituals, mystic salves can be used for heal rituals, rare herbs can be used for nature rituals, sanctified incense can be used for religion rituals and residuum can be used for any ritual. Rituals are performed from books or scrolls, unlike spells, rituals are not learned and are not restricted by class, a ritual can be performed by any character who has the Ritual Caster feat and meets the ritual's level requirement. Using a ritual scroll halves the time required to perform a specific ritual, however doing so expends the scroll, causing it to crumble to dust once the ritual has been performed.[4]
The casting of spells within Dungeons & Dragons often requires the mage to do, say, or use something in order for the spell to work. Spells may require a verbal, somatic, or material component or a magical focus. These actions are performed by the fictional character in the game, not by the player in the real world. The player may simply state what the character does, or may embellish with sound effects or gestures to enhance the theatrics of the game. In 4th edition, spell components were eliminated as a mechanic, the flavour text for some spells and prayers mentions words, gestures or objects, however this is purely cosmetic. Although 4th edition eliminated the component mechanic for spells, most rituals require material components, some rituals require foci and many spells and prayers benefit from magical implements.
Many spells require the caster to speak certain words, or, in the case of a bard, create music, to cast a spell. Being prevented from speaking, by such means as a gag or magical effects that remove sounds, makes it impossible for a caster to cast such a spell. A deafened caster may also fail when casting a spell, by misspeaking, which causes the spell to be expended with no effect.
Many spells require the caster to make a motion to cast the spell. If the caster is unable to make the correct motion, the spell cannot be cast. Prior to 4th edition, wearing armor or using a shield interferes with the somatic components of arcane spells (but not divine spells), preventing spellcasting prior to 3rd edition and creating a risk of arcane spell failure (which causes the spell to be expended with no effect) in 3rd and 3.5 editions. In 3.5 edition, Bards and some other arcane classes can cast spells in light armor without this risk.
Casting a spell often requires that the caster sacrifice some sort of material component, which is typically has a thematic connection to the spell. Often, these components are of negligible cost (egg shells, sand, a feather, etc.), but spells which allow major bending or breaking of the laws of nature, such as spells to reanimate the dead or grant wishes, require material components costing thousands of gold pieces (precious or semiprecious gems, statuettes, etc.). In 3rd and 3.5 editions, components with negligible cost are not tracked by default, and do not need to be acquired in play, any character who has their spell component pouch is presumed to have a sufficient supply of such components whenever they cast a spell. If a caster is unable to access or use the correct material component, the spell cannot be cast. In 1st and 2nd editions, some components were not consumed during casting, in 3rd edition, this concept was split off into focus components. In 4th edition, spells and prayers do not require material components, however costly components are required for most rituals, there are five types of components: alchemical reagents, mystic salves, rare herbs, sanctified incense and residuum, by default, these components are only tracked by their type and value.
In 3rd and 3.5 edition, certain powerful spells, such as Wish, Miracle, and Atonement require a caster to pay a certain amount of experience points, the same that are used to determine in-game level progression, in order to reduce the overuse of such a powerful spell.
Casting a spell may require that the caster have access to a specific, generally thematic prop, such as a feather for Fly or a glove for the Hand spells. Many bard spells require a musical instrument as a focus. A number of divine spells require a divine focus: a holy symbol or other special object; unlike a regular focus, which is specific and varies from spell to spell, a character can use the same divine focus for any spell with a divine focus requirement. Some spells with both arcane and divine versions require a material component or focus for the arcane version and a divine focus for the divine version. The focus and divine focus components were introduced in 3rd edition; however, 1st and 2nd editions had a counterpart: material components which were not consumed. In 4th edition, spells and prayers with the weapon keyword require a weapon, with some requiring a specific weapon type, spells and prayers with the implement keyword benefit from an appropriate magical implement but do not require one and some rituals require a specific focus.
4th edition introduced implements. Magic implements fill a similar role to magic weapons, although no power requires an implement, if a character wields an appropriate magical implement while activating a power with the implement keyword, that power can benefit from the enhancement bonus and other properties of the implements. Rods are used by invokers and warlocks. Staffs, which also function as weapons, are used by druids, invokers, sorcerers and wizards. Totems are used by druids and shamans. Wands are used by bards, warlocks and wizards. Holy symbols are used by Avengers, Clerics and Paladins; unlike other implements, a character can benefit from a holy symbol by wearing it rather than needing to wield it. Orbs are used by wizards and musical instruments are used by bards. Sorcerers can use daggers as implements, and swordmages can use any weapon in the light and heavy blade groups, and certain paragon paths such as Wizard of the Spiral Tower can use specific weapon types as implements. Additionally, some magic weapons, such as Holy Avengers (for paladins), Pact Blades (for warlocks) and Songblades (for bards), function as implements. The July 2008 Playtest version of the Artificer uses orbs, rods, staffs and wands as implements.
In 1st and 2nd edition AD&D, some spells have the reversible trait. These spells are memorized in either their normal or reverse version. For example the reversed form of the Cure Serious Wounds spell, which heals a touched target, is Cause Serious Wounds,[5][6] which damages a touched target, while the reversed form of the Water Breathing spell, which allows the target to breathe water, is Air Breathing, which allows the target to breathe air, and the reversed form of the Continual Light spell, which provides magical illumination, is Continual Darkness, which causes magical darkness.
In Dungeons & Dragons, a dweomer is the magical aura on an enchanted item. More broadly, it may refer to the aura of a spell having been cast whose duration remains active. According to Wizards of the Coast the word is pronounced DWEH-mer (rhymes with "hem her"), or DWIH-mer; sometimes DWEE-mer.[7]
Gary Gygax encountered the Middle English word "dweomercræft" in Susan Kelz Sperling's book Poplollies & Bellibones: A Celebration of Lost Words (1977), where it is defined as "the art of magic or juggling". From this hint, Gygax inferred the meaning of the element "dweomer", and went on to use dweomer, dweomercræft, and derivative forms that he invented, such as dweomered, dweomercræfter, and dweomercræfting. The element "dweomer" was previously unattested in this form outside of compounds.