Origins

In 1974, the 36-page "Volume 1: Men & Magic" pamphlet was published as part of the original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set and included 12 pages about magic. It primarily describes individual spells where the "spells often but not always have both duration and ranges, and the explanation of spells frequently references earlier Chainmail materials".^[1]: 239 The first edition had over 100 spells that were "largely inflexible" and when a caster ran out of spells to cast, they were "defenseless fodder for orcs, goblins, and trolls".^[2] If a caster could "survive those vulnerable early levels, spells could grant godlike powers, like the reality-warping Wish spell, which does exactly what you think it does. A maxed-level fighter might be Achilles, but a level 20 magic-user was Zeus".^[2]

The publication of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1977) included a much more complex and systematic style to magic. "There is still a long list of individual spells, but every spell now includes a matrix specifying spell level, duration, area of effect, components, casting time, and saving throw".^[1]: 239 There are three types of components: "verbal components are magic words, material components are physical elements," and "somatic components are the arcane gestures of the hand and body".^[1]: 239 Magic was now divided into either arcane or divine magic.^[2]

This edition also includes what the game designer community would come to call the Vancian magic system.^{[1]: 240 [2]} "In the Vancian model of magic, magic users must memorize all the spells which they wish to cast. When they cast a given spell, it disappears from memory and must be memorized again if the magic user so desires".^[1]: 240 The idea of spell memorization was inspired by the way magic works in Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories.^{[2][3][4]: 383 [1]: 240} In 1976, Gary Gygax wrote:

If magic is unrestrained in the campaign, D&D quickly degenerates into a weird wizard show where players get bored quickly... It is the opinion of this writer that the most desirable game is one in which the various character types are able to compete with each other as relative equals, for that will maintain freshness in the campaign.^[5]

The intent of the Vancian magic system in Dungeons & Dragons was to create restraints on magic users to balance the overall game.^[1]: 240

d20 System

The d20 System was published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast and was originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Due to the Open Game License, the core set of rules are used as the basis for many games. Thus, many d20 games might use the D&D spell list from the System Reference Document, while others create their own or even replace the entire magic system.^[6][7][8]

The Vancian magic system included "basic assumptions about how arcane magic worked" that "only began to change with D&D 3e (2000), which introduced the non-memorizing sorcerer, and with D&D 3.5e (2003), which introduced the at-will warlock".^[9]

Modernization

The fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons (2008) added unique powers to every class with a focus on party roles rather than just spell-casters having powers.^[8][10][11] The mechanical change of adding at-will and encounter powers "moved spell-casters away from the idea of 'Vancian' spell casting [...]. Magic items were also built into a character's progression, with each item having suggested levels".^[11] Fourth edition divided magic into three types: arcane, divine and primal. Druids now practiced primal magic while clerics and paladins practiced divine magic.^[12] Fourth edition also initially "abandoned the school-of-magic approach" to arcane magic,^[12]: 135 however, magic school specialization was reintroduced in the fourth edition Essentials line.^[13]

The fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons (2014) uses a hybrid system of Vancian and at-will magic.^[2][14] Some classes, such as clerics and wizards, go through the process of preparing spells they can cast everyday from their spell list. Other classes, such as bards and sorcerers, "have a limited list of spells they know that are always fixed in the mind".^[14]: 201 The idea of at-will magic from fourth edition "mainly survives now as the mechanic behind cantrips, which allow spellcasting classes to keep using magic even when"^[15] they've used up all of their daily spell slots.^[14]: 201 Magic is once again only divided into two types: arcane and divine.^[14] In terms of spell usage across all classes, Kaila Hale-Stern, for The Mary-Sue, reported that of the 5th edition spells known or prepared by spell caster players on D&D Beyond the three most popular spells are Cure Wounds, Healing Word, and Detect Magic.^[16]

The One D&D public playtest reintroduced the fourth edition division of magic types: arcane, divine and primal in August 2022.^[17][18] However, this division was removed in September 2023.^[19]

Types

In the Dungeons & Dragons game, magic is a force of nature and a part of the world. Since the publication of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1977), magic has typically been divided into two main types: 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.^[1]: 239 While there is no mechanical difference between arcane and divine magic, Jeremy Crawford, Co-Lead Designer of the 5th Edition, said:

That divide between arcane and divine ultimately is way more about the spellcaster than is about the spell. [...] So many different motivations can influence how magic users use their magic and to what purpose they put it. Your class helps determine that, and again this meta divide between divine and arcane can also provide a role-playing framework, and is this magic coming in service to a being or cause or are you in way manipulating reality to your own designs. Those are the questions posed by arcane magic and divine magic.^[20]

Bards, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards learn to cast arcane spells, which are typically flashy and powerful. 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 some spells can be cast by both arcane and divine casters, other spells are limited to one type or the other. Crawford highlighted the thematic difference between divine and arcane magic, where the spell lists for divine spellcasters have fewer destructive spells and instead "tend to be filled with healing magic, magic that protects people. [...] Arcane power at its heart is really in a way about hacking the multiverse".^[20] As a result, spell lists for arcane spellcasters have "more spells that change the form of things, transmutation magic that completely alters the shape of something" and "more spells that will just alter reality culminating with the spell of spells wish".^[20]

The fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons introduced a third type of magic called primal, which comes from the natural world; in this edition, druids channeled primal magic instead of divine.^[12] The fifth edition returned to original division of magic types.^[14]

Schools of magic

There are eight classic schools of magic in Dungeons & Dragons, as originally named in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: abjuration, alteration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, illusion, invocation, and necromancy.^{[1]: 109–111} Each spell belongs to one of eight schools of magic. The ability to specialize in specific schools of magic was formally introduced in the 2nd edition Player's Handbook (1989) and then greatly expanded on in The Complete Wizard's Handbook (1990).^[24][25] Jeff Howard, in his book Game Magic: A Designer's Guide to Magic Systems in Theory and Practice, highlights that the schools of magic do not "necessarily refer to an academic institution for learning and teaching" but rather "schools of magic constitute a taxonomy of reality, in the sense of methodical and ordered classification of the chaos of existence and experience into a structured and order whole. The domains are aspects of existence over which various spells operate".^[1]: 109

In 4th edition, spell schools are initially absent but were reintroduced with the Dungeons & Dragons Essentials supplement.^[12][13] The spell schools introduced are Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Nethermancy (corresponding to the Shadow subschool of the Illusion school from the previous editions). The spells of other classical schools are present in the form of utility spells (like True Seeing being available but not being specifically named a Divination spell) or spell descriptors (like Conjuration or Summoning).^[13]

Dweomer

In Dungeons & Dragons, a dweomer (/ˈdwɛmər, ˈdwɪ-, ˈdwiː-/)^[29] is an aura of magic; especially that which enchanted items radiate.

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." Gygax invented such derivations as dweomered, dweomercræfter, and dweomercræfting.

Dark Sun

In the Dark Sun campaign setting, arcane magic draws its power from the life force of plants or living creatures, with the potential to cause tremendous harm to the environment. Arcane spellcasters may cast spells in a manner that preserves nature, known as preservers, or in a manner that destroys it, known as defilers. However, any arcane caster may choose to defile at any time. As a result, wizards and other arcane casters are despised and must practice in secret. Due to the scarcity of natural resources on the fictional planet Athas, few wizards have access to books made of paper pages and hard covers; instead, they record their spells with string patterns and complex knots.^{[54][55][56]: 119–120} Psionics are extremely common with nearly every living thing having at least a modicum of psionic ability. Unlike arcane magic, psionic abilities are accepted and revered in every strata of Athasian society.^{[57]: 7–9}

Athas has no deities and no formal religions other than the cults created by the sorcerer-kings.^[58]: 17 Clerics and druids instead draw power from the Inner Planes/Elemental Chaos.^{[59][60]: 3–4} In previous editions, templars (casters who directly serve and derive their powers from the sorcerer-kings) were treated as a specialized form of cleric. In 4th edition, the templar class shifted away from being a divine caster to an arcane caster, though not all templars are skilled in magic.^[56]: 62 Many templars are not clerics at all but instead warlocks who have pacted with their sorcerer-king and thus are entirely dependent on their patrons for their magical abilities.^[61][55]

Forgotten Realms

In the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, the Weave is the source of both arcane and divine spellcasting. Within the context of the Forgotten Realms, raw magic is characterized as difficult for mortals to access safely. The Weave works to protect the world from the dangers of unrefined magic while giving the ability to cast spells to magic users. Destroying the Weave results in widespread destruction. Reckless use of magic can also damage the Weave, creating areas of dead or wild magic where normal spellcasting doesn't work.^[62]: 54 In ancient Netheril, "Spellcasters are arcanists and do not memorise spells – they merely pluck them out of the weave."^[63] The Weave is present in everything and is part of the goddess Mystra's body, who actively willed its effects.^[64] The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (2015) states, "in two senses, both the metaphorical and the real, the goddess Mystra is the Weave. She is its keeper and tender, but all three times the goddess of magic has died or been separated from her divinity [...], magic has been twisted or has failed entirely".^[65]: 18

Spell levels

Spell levels were introduced in the "Volume 1: Men & Magic" (1974) pamphlet where spell levels maxed "out at 6th level for magic-users and 5th level for clerics".^[66] Supplement I: Greyhawk (1975), an expansion for OD&D, increased the maximum spell level. "Cleric spells were expanded to 7th level and wizards spells to 9th, creating the limits that would be used throughout the AD&D run of the game".^[66] Spell levels 1-9 became the standard mechanic for each subsequent edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The 5th edition Player's Handbook (2014) states that "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. [...] The higher a spell's level, the higher level a spellcaster must be to use that spell".^[14]: 201

Spell slots

Spellcasters can only cast a spell they know or have prepared if they have an available spell slot. This mechanic originated out of the Vancian magic system where "the number of memorized spells is strictly limited by the magician's memory capacity in proportion to the spells' difficulty levels, effectively granting a number of spell slots".^[1]: 273 Dungeons & Dragons simplified Vance's formula "to a number of spell slots scaling with the player character's level".^[1]: 274 In the 3rd edition, the mechanic to cast a spell was described as a drain on a spellcaster's resources which reduces their capacity to cast additional spells.^[27] The 5th edition Player's Handbook (2014) states that "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. [...] 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. [...] Finishing a long rest restores any expended spell slots".^[14]: 201

Ritual magic

The 2nd edition sourcebook Tome of Magic (1991) introduced many new variant spell concepts. The cleric class gained access to community-powered spells, cooperatively cast spells, and "super-powerful spells that required a quest before they could be cast". Most of these new concepts have disappeared since 2nd edition, however, "a few of the quest spells did show up in [3rd edition] as 9th-level priest spells".^[53]

The 3.5 edition sourcebook Unearthed Arcana (2004) added optional rules to Dungeons & Dragons including variant systems for magic. It expanded on the concept of incantations which were introduced in the d20 System Reference Document as part of the variant magic rules.^[67][68] Incantations were designed to give non-spellcasters access to magic and to give lower level games access to higher level magic. Unearthed Arcana states "at its simplest, casting an incantation is akin to preparing and cooking something according to a recipe".^[69] However, there are drawbacks to attempting to cast incantations: they are time-consuming, they require particular circumstances and sometimes multiple casters, the components can be expensive, and there's no guarantee the incantation will work successively.^[69]

In 4th edition, rituals became a key part of the magic system. Rituals replaced many non-combat spells and had no limitation on how often they could be cast except for time and material resources. "The instructions have to be written down" and could not be cast from memory. Artificers, bards, clerics, druids, invokers, psions, and wizards had ritual casting as a class feature, while other character classes could become ritual casters by selecting the corresponding feat.^[70]

In 5th edition, rituals continued to be a key part of spell casting. Some spells have the ritual tag which means that the "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't be cast at a higher level".^{[14]: 201–202} Similar to 4th edition, some character classes, such as the cleric, druid, and wizard classes, were automatically ritual casters. Other characters could become ritual casters by picking up a specific feat or subclass feature. Unlike 4th edition, the caster must "have the spell prepared [on their] list of spells known, unless the character's ritual feature specifies otherwise, as the wizard's does".^{[14]: 201–202}

Components

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.^{[1]: 239–242} In 4th edition, spell components were eliminated as a mechanic. Flavor text for some spells and prayers mention 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. In 5th edition, spells may require a verbal, somatic, or material component.^[14]: 203

Arcane spells

• Color Spray: A vivid cone of clashing colors springs forth from the caster's hand, causing creatures to become stunned, perhaps also blinded, and possibly even knocking them unconscious.^[72]
• Darkvision: The subject gains the ability to see clearly (albeit in black and white) in total darkness.
• Feather Fall: The affected creatures or objects fall slowly; at a feather rate. Feather fall instantly changes the rate at which the targets fall to a mere 60 feet per round (equivalent to the end of a fall from a few feet), and the subjects take no damage upon landing while the spell is in effect. However, when the spell duration expires, a normal rate of falling resumes.^[73]
• Fireball: A tiny ball flies forward from the caster, exploding in a huge fireball at a point designated by the caster. While an extremely potent spell, the caster must take care to avoid catching allies in the explosion, or to accidentally strike an obstruction and detonate the spell early.^[73][74]
• Flesh to Stone: The subject, along with all its carried gear, is turned into a mindless, inert, stone statue. If the statue resulting from this spell is broken or damaged, the subject (if ever returned to its original state) has similar damage or deformities. (See also: Petrification)^[75]
• Invisibility: The target of this spell becomes invisible for a time, but immediately becomes visible if they attack a person or creature or casts another spell.^[72]
• Magic Missile: A bolt of pure energy from the caster's fingertips. It strikes a target automatically, with multiple missiles launched at higher levels.^[76][77] The spell's ability to cause automatic damage makes it one of the most-used spells.^[78] In the initial release of 4th edition, magic missile required an attack roll. The July 2010 update changed this back to an automatic hit, albeit with a lower amount of damage.
• Meteor Swarm: Four meteors fly forward and explode like Fireballs. One of the most destructive spells in the game, capable of rending castles or devastating entire armies.^[79][80]
• Polymorph: Transforms a target into another creature of the caster's choosing, such as an ogre, a small giant or the like.^[81][82] In some editions, polymorph is divided into several spells, for example, in 3rd edition, it is divided into Polymorph Self, which can only target the caster, and Polymorph Other, a higher level spell which can affect other targets, while in 3.5 edition, it is divided into Polymorph, which can only affect a willing target, and the higher level Baleful Polymorph, can transform an unwilling target into a weaker form, such as a frog.
• Scrying: Allows the caster to spy on someone from a distance.^[74]
• Summon Monster: Summons a single extraplanar creature or several weaker extraplanar creatures. Most of the creatures are animals with the celestial creature template, although elementals and other creatures unique to other planes are also available. In 3rd edition, there is a distinct Summon Monster spell, differentiated by a Roman numeral, for each of the nine spell levels, with higher level spells summoning more powerful monsters.^[83] In 5th edition, there are 17 spells with the summoning tag and summoning is broken up creature type.^[84] Tasha's Cauldron of Everything is adds nine additional summon monster spells (from such as aberration and shadowspawn)^[85] that were originally part of the Unearthed Arcana playtest.^[86]
• Teleport: Allows the caster to instantly appear somewhere else in the world, though at lower levels this ability can be somewhat imprecise.^[87]
• Time Stop: Allows the caster to manipulate the flow of time, giving them few extra moments to act when time is "stopped" for everyone (and everything) else.^[80]
• Wish: The mightiest of all non-epic spells a wizard or sorcerer can cast. Bending reality, the caster can change the events of the past few minutes, create an object from nothing, emulate another spell or create practically any effect they can imagine.^[80] However, casting the spell has a considerable cost, which varied between editions. In 1st and 2nd edition AD&D, casting Wish causes the caster to age several years. In 3rd and 3.5 editions, this spell drains the caster of experience points.^[88] In 5th edition, using the spell for anything other than duplicating a spell of 8th level or lower causes serious arcane stress, severely weakening the caster for between 2 and 8 days and a 33 percent chance of leaving them unable to cast Wish ever again. Though the wish can technically fulfill any desire, there are set limitations as to what can be wished for without consequence. Dungeon Masters are often encouraged to interpret a player's wish as literally as possible, particularly for selfish or greedy wishes (or any other wish that exceeds the set boundaries for "safe" wishes). For example, if someone wished for a fortune in gold, the DM could grant the wish by appropriating a local king's treasury, making the wisher a target for retaliation. Or, if somebody wished to live forever, they could end up being trapped in a timeless extradimensional space. Thus, the wisher must be very careful upon using the spell.

Divine spells

• Cure light wounds: A basic healing spell available to clerics, druids, bards, paladins, and rangers. Cure critical wounds is a more powerful healing spell available only to clerics, druids, and bards. In 5th edition, there is only one Cure wounds spell^[89] with Mass Cure Wounds simply extending the original spell to up to 6 creatures within a thirty-foot radius.^[90]
• Detect evil: The caster is able to tell if someone or something they look at is evil. Other versions of this spell exist for the various other alignment components, such as good, lawful, and chaotic.
• Raise dead: The power to revive a deceased character, as long as their remains are roughly whole and have not deteriorated beyond a certain point.^[90] In some editions, the character being revived will lose enough experience points to drop their most recent class level. More potent versions of this spell include resurrection, which needs only a fragment of the body, and true resurrection, which doesn't need the body at all and can be performed many years after the character's death.^[80]
• Miracle: This is the Divine equivalent of wish. It essentially calls upon the cleric's deity to perform an epic miracle, such as resurrecting an entire army or lifting a massive curse. Unlike wish, it may or may not come at a high cost of experience points, depending on the miracle requested. The miracle-granting deity is typically more forgiving of its followers' requests than the wish spell is, but this can change depending on the deity's alignment and the specific miracle being requested.^[88]
• Summon Nature's Ally: This Druid spell can summon one creature or several weaker creatures.^[91][92] It is similar to the arcane Summon Monster spells (which Clerics can also cast as Divine spells), and like Summon Monster there is a variant of Summon Nature's Ally for each spell level. Summon Nature's Ally differs from Summon Monster in the kind of creatures it is capable of summoning. Most of the available creatures are animals, although elementals, magical beasts and fey are also available. In 5th edition, druids, rangers and some bards have access to the spell now known as Conjure Woodland Beings.^[81]
• Stick to Snakes: Allows a cleric to turn a pile of sticks into snakes.^[93]