Hi im a new Dungeon Master and two of my players are playing sorcerers and im a bit confused.
this is a new campaign and all my players are starting at level 4 so I went to check how many spells can scorcerers use and I was hit with the sorcerer spell chart but I noticed that it said 5 spells known but it also said 4 level 1 spell slots and 3 level 2 spell slots so I wanted to know why this is and what does spells known means
thank you very much for readin and have a great day
The spells known column in the table tells you how many level 1 or higher spells that a sorcerer can know; at level 4, this is 5. Cantrips are tracked separately. These spells have to be picked according to the rules: You gain them as you level, and when you select them, you must select spells of a level for which you have slots, but you can change 1 per level.
That means at character levels 1 and 2, all of your spells must be spell level 1. At level 3, you gain a spell and can swap one of your old level 1 spells for a 2. At level 4, you gain one more spell and can swap another. That means a level 4 sorcerer can have a mix of all 1st level spells up to 4 second level spells and 1 first level spell.
Spell slots are what you use to cast spells when you want to produce a known spell’s effects in the game. Sorcerers must know a spell, then use a slot to cast it. If you know catapult as one of your 5 spells, then you can cast it with a first or second level slot during the game (see the text about casting with higher level slots in the spell). The number of spell slots only tells you how many of each spell level you can cast in a day, not which ones or how many you can know.
There are a few other minor details, like sorcerers can convert between sorcery points and spell slots and that some specific sorcerer bloodlines add spells known that don’t count against that number.
I usually say slots are the (universal) ammo and spells are the weapon. You can have more weapons than ammo (or vice versa *cough warlock*), but you can't use the weapon unless you have ammo to put in it.
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Hi im a new Dungeon Master and two of my players are playing sorcerers and im a bit confused.
this is a new campaign and all my players are starting at level 4 so I went to check how many spells can scorcerers use and I was hit with the sorcerer spell chart but I noticed that it said 5 spells known but it also said 4 level 1 spell slots and 3 level 2 spell slots so I wanted to know why this is and what does spells known means
thank you very much for readin and have a great day
The spells known column in the table tells you how many level 1 or higher spells that a sorcerer can know; at level 4, this is 5. Cantrips are tracked separately. These spells have to be picked according to the rules: You gain them as you level, and when you select them, you must select spells of a level for which you have slots, but you can change 1 per level.
That means at character levels 1 and 2, all of your spells must be spell level 1. At level 3, you gain a spell and can swap one of your old level 1 spells for a 2. At level 4, you gain one more spell and can swap another. That means a level 4 sorcerer can have a mix of all 1st level spells up to 4 second level spells and 1 first level spell.
Spell slots are what you use to cast spells when you want to produce a known spell’s effects in the game. Sorcerers must know a spell, then use a slot to cast it. If you know catapult as one of your 5 spells, then you can cast it with a first or second level slot during the game (see the text about casting with higher level slots in the spell). The number of spell slots only tells you how many of each spell level you can cast in a day, not which ones or how many you can know.
this explains everything thank you very much you made my job alot easier have a great day
There are a few other minor details, like sorcerers can convert between sorcery points and spell slots and that some specific sorcerer bloodlines add spells known that don’t count against that number.
I usually say slots are the (universal) ammo and spells are the weapon. You can have more weapons than ammo (or vice versa *cough warlock*), but you can't use the weapon unless you have ammo to put in it.