5e for 5 year olds - Spellcasting

[Malapterus]

I would very much like someone to explain 5e spellcasting to me, as if I were 5, or an idiot. I apparently am, because I've read the book a dozen times and I cannot grasp how player magic works. I don't know how to determine how many spells I know, what level they are, how many I can cast per day; I can't figure it out for any class. I do not understand anything.

Pretend that I'm fresh off the boat from Moron Island and the only English word I know is 'magic'.

Much appreciation,
Malapterus
Diplomatic Envoy of Moron Island

[Man_Over_Game]

You have spells, which are like "recipes"
And you have Spell Slots, which are like "ingredients".

You can spend your ingredients to make a recipe that you currently know.

Some characters change what recipes they can remember each day (Clerics, Druids).
Some characters remember all of their recipes all of the time, but can only pick what recipes to know when they level up (Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks).
Wizards are weird. They keep a recipe book, but can only read it while they sleep, so they both have to gather new recipes that they find to collect, while only being able to use some of them each day.

Each "Ingredient" has a size. You can make a big batch of chocolate pudding with a big ingredient, but there's no way of making a small batch of a roasted turkey. Big ingredients can make bigger portions of smaller recipes, but small ingredients can't make big recipes.

What recipes you know are based on what kind of chef you are, but the ingredients can be used for any recipe. As you get better at being a chef-of any kind-you will get more ingredients to make more recipes with. However, becoming a better soup chef doesn't make you a better baker, so it's often better to focus on being one kind of chef.

You get your Ingredients back at the start of each day, unless you're the Warlock. They get special ingredients that come back whenever you take a lunch break.

Cantrips are recipes that don't require any ingredients. Like a cup of water, or making ice. They aren't particularly big or delicious, but they're available whenever you want them. How many you know is based on what kind of chef you are. If you are a bunch of different kinds of chef, you know some from all of them!

[JackPhoenix]

You know as many spells as your class says you know. Every spell has a level listed in both its description and the list in the spellcasting chapter. Every spellcasting class has a table which lists how many spells of each level you can cast between rests. Any spell can be cast from a slot of its level or higher, and some have additional effect when cast from a slot higher than the listed, as written in their descriptions.

For example, after a quick look, level 5 sorcerer knows 6 spells and 5 cantrips, each of those spells has its level listed in its description, and the sorcerer has 4 level 1 spell slots, 3 level 2 spell slots and 2 level 3 spell slots to cast those spells with.

[AvatarVecna]

Are you asking for analogies to explain the process of casting better, or are you asking for us to explain the number of slots/spells known/spells prepared/whatever to you?

[Millstone85]

Because not all classes work the same, it is difficult to explain them all at once.

Do you have a favourite?

[Segev]

I'll start with druids. They're not the most obvious caster class to start with, but they have the core of the spell system pretty well down, with minimal "extras."

As a druid, your spellcasting stat is Wisdom. The higher your Wisdom, the better you are at casting druid spells. It helps determine how accurate your attack spells are, how hard your spells are to save against, and, most importantly to our discussion here, how many druid spells you can have prepared in a day.

Druids prepare spells every day by meditating upon nature. They may prepare up to their Druid level plus their Wisdom Modifier in druid spells. Unlike previous editions, there is no reason to prepare a spell "twice" or more. Preparing druid spells just means making the list of spells from which you may choose to cast for the day.

Druids are limited in level of spell they may prepare. There is a portion of the Druid table (the one that shows what they get at various levels) that shows how many spell slots of each spell level they may cast in a day. A druid may prepare spells of no higher level than they have spell slots in that table for. So a third level druid, who has two 2nd level spell slots (and no spell slots of higher level) may prepare spells of first or second level, off of the druid list. The druid spell list is given right before the spell description section, along with the other caster spell lists.

The spell slots are used to actually cast spells.

When a druid wishes to cast a spell he has prepared, he must have a spell slot of that spell's level or higher available. Casting the spell expends the spell slot. He still has that spell prepared, however. If he has used up all the spell slots of a given spell's level or higher, he cannot cast that spell any more that day. He still has it prepared, in case that matters, but he is out of "fuel" to cast it with. As long as he has spell slots of the right level (or higher) available, he can cast any spell on his list of spells prepared for the day.



Finally, there are cantrips. These are "0-level spells," but they behave differently than other spells. Every spellcasting class has a number of cantrips they know at each level. You do not get to change these selections when you prepare your spells. You pick them, and you know them. Cantrips can be cast at will. They have no spell slot cost. You can just perform them whenver you like.



Does that make more sense to you?

[Man_Over_Game]

I should have mentioned this earlier:

In the front of every class page section is a table. That table shows how many spell slots, cantrips, and spells known you get for every single level into that class, 1-20. For the most part, you just need to refer to that table and it'll give you almost all of the information you'd need.

Spells and cantrips are earned separately for each class. That is, if class A would give you 3 cantrips, and class B would give you 2, you'd have 5 cantrips if you were both classes.

Spell slots are earned using the multiclass rules/table in the multiclass section of the book. The basic idea is that each class has a ratio (100%, 50%, 33%) of how much magic they add, and you sum up how "magic" you are to determine your total number of spell slots.

A spell slot can cast a spell for any spell you know, but spells known are specific to each class. So you can all of your spell slots to cast Cleric spells, even if you're mostly a Wizard, but you track what Cleric and Wizard spells you know/learn separately using their normal class rules.



What about what I have said, or what's on the tables themselves, seems confusing?