While browsing the forums I remember a fun reflavoring idea I had for two of my characters. Both of which are artificers.

one of these characters is a gardener/farmer, he has an understanding of magic of course, being a centaur who lives on a border to the feywild, but his spell slots have been reflavored to a sack of magic constantly-regenerating seeds that appeared out of a portal to limbo. With each seed representing a spell that’s been reflavored as some sort of chaotic magic vegetable. His quest is to figure out how to control and reproduce these seeds for use in creating super-vegetables.

another is my grafting-obsessed flesh cleric. Although funnily enough he isn’t a cleric at all! He’s an artillerist who’s reflavored most of the magic items artificers can create as limbs and such that he attaches to himself. The Eldritch canon signature to the subclass being a red wyrmling’s head grafted in place of his left hand. 

So I wanted to just start a casual discussion; how do you reflavor your spells and spell slots for your characters? Provide examples.

I had a locathah swarm ranger/warlock. Pact familiar was a jellyfish, the ranger swarm was jellyfish, Faerie Fire was clingy bioluminescent jellyfish. Infestation, Hypnotic Pattern, Summon Fey... also jellyfish. The guy really had a way with jellyfish. RIP Gul'glorbol'glub

I had a cleric at one point who carried a Buddhist style staff (Staff of Adornment). On the staff were magic rings and a few gems. The gems held his spell slots, while the rings held his spells (I'm a fan of set it and forget it, even with divine casters). Casting a spell made both the gem and the ring glow, and then the gem would burn out until he completed a long rest.

I should really do a healing wizard that way one of these days.

I like to reflavor Eldritch blasts as eye beams like Cyclops from the X-Men, those are supposed to be pure force too.

My artificer had no innate magical talent (she started off as a fighter before I multiclassed), and I had her discover how to manipulate the Weave using pure sound waves. All her spellcasting involved producing specific pitches and rhythms with her smithing tools and weapons. She was constantly doing calculations to work out how to recreate spells she'd seen. As for spell slots, she said she only had a few because she wasn't efficient enough with her spellcasting such that she'd "saturate the Weave" and not be able to make it echo spells again that day. 

My druid cast spells through various plucked flowers (moonflower for Moonbeam, marigold for Mending, etc., all based on folklore or natural remedies) and I'd usually describe how the flowers were affected by the magic.

My cleric's magic often manifested as Kelemvor's intervention in response to prayer. Spiritual Weapon would materialize and strike if my cleric were threatened or unaware, for example. 

In one campaign that I am playing in, I play an aasimar life cleric/celestial warlock who has the investigator background (although the background isn't really relevant to how I flavor things).

He made a pact with a "forestmaster" (yea I used dragonlance for inspiration so sue me) who happened to be a unicorn and eventually was led to his Goddess Lurue (who in forgotten realms is a minor goddess who is goddess of intelligent beasts and the moon).

Based off this his spells, much to the chagrin of one of the players, the bulk of my powers are unicorn based. Cast sacred flame: I describe a orangish color unicorn fall to the sky creating glitter flames. I cast Eldritch Blast: A purple unicorn charges forth and does force damage. Cast Guiding bolt: I describe moons being tossed towards the enemy (not doing a great job of explaining that right now... picture something out of sailor moon though)... two of the three other players find it amusing and or funny... the other *laughs* it upsets him slightly (and were good friends so it's not a big deal but I know it bothers him).

I had so much fun adding description when my glamour bard used her class features.

The Mantle of Inspiration took several forms: Often, she would appear as a horny-headed warrior woman wearing woad and moon shadows; other times, she would appear as a silhouette cut through the world to reveal the night sky behind. A few times she was herself lit from within with a warm light or a figure in red. The best, however, was--she raises her arms and they drip afterimages. In her many hands, she holds a French horn and a banner the color of dried blood, she holds an ebony wand and a lyre, she holds a crystal sword and a jangle of keys. Her face is a mask with four expressions in one--joy, sorrow, rage, and terror--and it turns every way at once.

For Mantle of Majesty, she took two guises. Once, she was a pillar of golden smoke, shot through with purple lightnings. That didn't go so well, so the next time she tried a black figure, wearing a black cloak and a black hood, whose face is a perfect porcelain mask with no expression.

For Unbreakable Majesty she combined her guise as a silhouette made of stars with one of her spells, Crown of Stars, to become the Queene of the Stars.

There’s another thread like this one that is applicable too: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/tips-tactics/122383-flavouring-spells-tell-me-yours).

I'm having fun with my College of Spirits bard where I took "I see dead people" to the extreme of reflavoring all of his abilities. Bardic inspiration is having a spirit help the other PC. I've even named several of them leading to other players requesting specific spirits to help, like our barbarian always wants "The Hanged Gnome" assisting, or the eldritch knight who specializes in cold magic is usually inspired with "The Woodcutter in White" who froze to death. Mechanically, it's just bardic inspiration. But it makes it much more flavorful.

I've also reflavored a few spells like Vicious Mockery is instead Call of the Damned that channels the voices of tormented souls, or Destructive Wave instead summons dark spirits up out of the ground that "let out an earsplitting tormented wail and attempt to drag their targets to the ground." And other similar effects.

My armorer artificer is a scientist who finds and studies oozes. Think Steve Irwin but for slime. All his abilities and spells are ooze-based:

• Mending is a grey ooze that he's modified to solidify into superglue. Healing word is similar, but used to bind wounds.
• Thorn Whip is a sticky pseudopod of black pudding.
• Tasha's Caustic Brew is green slime.
• Detect magic is a rare iridescent ooze that feeds on arcane residues; he keeps it in a large petri dish and allows it to move to the side of the dish where it senses magic.
• His homunculus infusion is a sentient piece of an Oblex kept inside a hamster ball and trained to do tricks.

His armor is powered by a series of hydraulic pistons that use ochre jelly to expand and contract like artificial muscles. The whole reason why he's adventuring is to do more field work on oozes and their ecology.

I have an armorer artificer who discovered an advanced piece of magical technology (His armor). All the spells are sci-fi-ish:

Magic Missile is "Homing missiles" 

faerie fire is "Tracking beacons"

Thunderwave is "Sonic cannon" etc...


In a previous game I played in, we had a gnome artificer (battlesmith) who's name was McKeebler. He was a baker and all of his spells were various cookies imbued with magic. His "Steel defender" was a gingerbread bear