From Abjurer to Necromancer, magic is a major part of Dungeons & Dragons. If you are wanting to use your arcane abilities to change your appearance, dish out some massive damage, help seduce that dragon, or something in between, there’s probably a spell for that!

When Gygax created D&D with Dave Arneson back in 1969 there were three classes: Fighting-Men, Cleric, and Magic-User. While the Cleric was able to cast some spells, Magic-User was the real arcane power house. Ultimately Magic-Users expanded to include Wizard, Illusionist, Druid, Mage, Bard, Sorcerer, Psionic, Warlock, and more through the editions. One thing they all had in common was, they all pulled from various schools of magic to meet the means they wished to accomplish. In this article we will delve into the wild world of magic in the Dungeons & Dragons universe.

Abjuration (Abjurers)

Wanna make your squishy Wizard a bit more sturdy? Abjuration is the school for you! Abjurations spells focus on protection at its foundation, allowing arcane users to defend and be a little more defendable on the battlefield. Mage Armor and Shield allow for a harder to hit spell slinger. Abjuration is not just limited to protective wards; Spells like Counter spell and dispel magic allow the caster to negate certain magics produced by other spell casters. Alarm and Pass without Trace make it harder to be snuck up on and easier to sneak, respectively. As a DM my least favorite spell is Banishment. There’s just something infuriating about my Ifreti being “noped” out of the Material Plane if my players don’t wanna fight it. No-no, it’s cool. I didn’t spend 3 days on painting this miniature and building this battle map or anything. It’s fine. IT’S FINE. Abjuration is a very powerful school of magic that allows for all kinds of possibilities.

Conjuration (Conjurers)

Imagine fighting a group of adventurers and all of a sudden individual black pools form around you each producing these dark tentacles to grasp you, like some kind of nightmaresque Rule 34 monster. That’s how Conjuration do. Conjuration allows for transporting creatures and objects from one place to another, and also allows for the creation of objects or effects out of nothing Wanna splash your target with an acid bubble, really fuck up their prom night? You got it! Enlist the service of a spirit in the form of a seahorse. Sure! Summon a swarm of asshole locusts to really just ruin your opponents day? Why not! Conjuration gives you the ability to produce new allies for your caster and gtfo out of there if things get too dicey. Just be careful, sometimes your new ally or escape plan may not work out in your favor.

Divination (Diviners)

Pretty sure that your Half-elf companion is talking mad shit in Elvish about you and you only speak common? Well, Divination may be the best route to calling them out! Diviners use their school of magic to reveal information about the world around them. You can use this magic to understand and even speak unknown languages, detect if that gem is evil or not, allow for more damage by marking a target’s weak spot, see invisible objects or creatures around you, or spy on creatures across the world. I think the most practical use out of this school of magic would definitely be finding my damn keys through the Locate Object spell. All I need to do is find my forked twig…

Enchantment (Enchanters)

“I roll to seduce the dragon!” the Bard exclaims after he casts his enchantment spell to help better his odds. (To my players who may be reading this: This isn’t a good idea, don’t even think about it.) Enchantment spells affect the minds of those at the receiving end of your spell, giving you that sweet sweet advantage for those Charisma checks or commanding a creature to do your bidding. You’re a maniacal little spell caster aren’t you? I love it. There is a lot of confusion around this school of magic due to games in the Elder Scrolls and World of Warcraft universe where enchanting a weapon imbues it with some sort of magical effect. In the Dungeons & Dragons universe it just allows you to do fun stuff like cause your enemies to fall into a fit of laughter or reduce their intelligence to that of a wee child.

Evocation (Evokers)

Evokers manipulate The Weave to produce something from nothing. Whether it’s flingin’ a fireball down field or sending a message from half a world away Evokers are a whole mess of fun. This is the school for all those who want to defeat their enemies with sheer arcane might. From Evocation to Meteor Swarm there’s a lot of damage that can be dealt in this school of magic, however it’s not all fireballs and frostbite. With Evocation you can protect you and your adventuring party within a tiny magical hut, heal your friends, or create a large hand to do your bidding. Don’t pick your nose with that last one.

Illusion (Illusionists)

Move aside David Blaine, we have a real Illusionist in town! This School of Magic is fairly self explanatory, Illusion through arcane use, making things look like they’re something they’re not. This arcane school is especially good for disguising yourself to look like something you’re not, to make things appear that are not there, and to make others not see things that are there. One of my favorite Illusionary spells to cast against my players is Mislead. Allowing the opponent to become invisible at the same time that an illusory double appears where it’s standing. This makes it so that the players will gang up on this illusion of their aggressor (or victim) while the real arcanist readies a powerful attack. Real nasty stuff if used correctly.

Necromancy (Necromancers)

You were waiting for this one, weren’t you, filthy edgelord? Necromancy spells manipulate life or life force. Depending on where your PC lives, this school of magic can be outlawed or at the very least taboo. Not only is this spell used to raise the dead back to the world of the living, but it also can do some nasty damage on your enemies. Spells like Vampiric Touch allows you to make a melee attack on a creature and siphon the life force from them. Another spell, called Clone, is a way to cheat death. It allows the casters soul to be transmitted into a clone of itself if the original body is killed. Makes me think of having a whole lab full of clones to essentially live forever. Evil Scientist Vibes, for sure.

Transmutation (Transmuters)

Wanna really throw a wrench into your Dungeon Master’s plans? Transmutation is the school for you! Transmuters change the properties of their targets. Things like Enhance Ability, Disintegrate, Flesh to Stone are some of the few spells that they can cast. Recently my bane with the players in my game is Polymorph. Arguably this is the most used spell in this school of magic. Wanna end a battle with the dragon quick? Step 1. Cast polymorph on the Dragon to turn it into a toad. Step 2. Throw that toad into another plane of existence so it can’t return. Step 3. ??? Step 4. Profit.

Magic in the Dungeons & Dragons universe is a fun and fantastical tool, whether for progressing the storyline or to get the DM to rip out his hair, you can use many spells for many different means.

Hopefully this piece has given you some ideas on how to use The Weave to your advantage. Have some interesting ways that you or your players used magic in Dungeons & Dragons? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear it.

Also, if you liked the photos from this article, they’re from an amazing artist: Dmitry Burmak. He’s done tons of work with companies like Wizards of the Coast, Warlords: Art of War, Frostgrave, and much more. Check out more of his work here!

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If you’ve made it this far, you can choose to succeed on your next arcana check. Let them know that they can contact me for any discrepancies or concerns with this ruling.

Thanks for reading!

Anthony Hiler Mini paintin’, Dungeon Masterin’, terrain buildin’, diaper changin’ nerd.

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