Iv'e been playing 5th D&D for a year, and 2e D&D for 3 years, and with magic in both games were house rules. The 5th edition the DM said every one had to prepare there spells like 3.5, and in the 2nd Edition the Dm gave us all first lvl spells are classes can learn, and we had to prepare every day to use them. Well Im starting up as a green horn Dm, and i was reading the rules on Magic and how other classes just know there spells, and some have to prepare. Well in the bard class it says at 3rd lvl i know 6 spells, but i chose one spell to put in to 1st or 2nd, so say I know 2 cantrips, and 4 1st lvl spells, but it says I have 2 slots for 2nd lvl spells. So can that player go out in the world and fill those two slots up?
P.S. - im really sorry for this probably simple answer, of a question.
A 3rd level bard knows 2 cantrips and 6 spells. The 6 spells must be of a level of which the bard has spell slots. So, the bard can choose five 1st level spells and one 2nd level spell to fill the 6 spells it knows.
A level 1 bard knows 4 L1 spells. They learn another L1 spell when they move to level 2. As they move to level three they can learn a single L2 spell, and they can also swap one of their L1 spells for a new L2 spell if they want. And so on, most each level they can learn a new spell, and also swap out an old spell for a new. At all times they know and have access to all their spells, limited by the slots they can cast.
Stepping back a bit. No one preps spells per spell slot anymore. Spell slots are just a resource per day of spells a character can cast. Instead everyone has spells known, and sometimes spells prepared, and spell slots are mostly independent of these two mechanics. There is no more, " I have three 1st level spell slots, so I prepare Magic Missile twice and Shield once".
Cantrips are in their own class, they are not considered 'spells' for the purposes of knowing and preparing spells, each spell casting class knows x number of cantrips as indicated by their spell casting table. There are ways to get more cantrips, but they do not affect any other aspect of casting spells.
Druids and clerics know all spells for a spell level they can cast, but they can only prepare a number of spells equal to their level + their wisdom mod. They can then cast these prepared spells using any spell slot of appropriate level (some spells can be up-cast to use a spell slot of a higher level at the time of casting, but no spell can be down-cast to use a slot of a lower level). That means if a druid has prepared moonbeam and darkvision (both second level spells) and the druid has three 2nd level spell slots available that means they can cast moonbeam three times, moonbeam once and darkvision twice, or any permutation of those two prepared spells. However the druid can not cast heat metal (also 2nd level) because they did not prepare it.
A bard, does not need to prepare spells, they simply know a subset of the spells on the bard list. Learning a spell typically happens when a bard levels and how many spells they can know is defined on the bard table. Note that the spells known is separate from the cantrips known because cantrips are in a class of their own. A bard can learn a spell of a level that they can cast, so if a bard has 3rd level spell slots, they can learn up to 3rd level spells. It is viable, that a 3rd level bard decided to know six 1st level spells. They would still have four 1st level spell slots, and two 2nd level slots. That bard could then choose (at the time of casting) to up-cast some of their 1st level spells using their 2nd level slots.
I don't know if there's any wording about being able to delay and learn a spell at a later date, but RP reasons aside, delaying is pretty irrelevant because a bard can learn any spell on the bard spell list of an appropriate level (no need to learn from a scroll or anything, that is a unique wizard mechanic).
For the most part each class has their own unique way of learning and preparing spells but, exuding the warlock, it's mostly a variation on the two scenarios outlined above.
Stepping back a bit. No one preps spells per spell slot anymore. Spell slots are just a resource per day of spells a character can cast. Instead everyone has spells known, and sometimes spells prepared, and spell slots are mostly independent of these two mechanics. There is no more, " I have three 1st level spell slots, so I prepare Magic Missile twice and Shield once".
I played older editions ( I mean really older editions) and this took me a bit to get my head around. Great change. I used to house rule it back in the day... when the whole game was practically house ruled.
Anyhow I came up with the blurb below. Did I get it right?
Known Spells: Limited list for all but divine casters. Divine caster know all spells. For example Known Spells are the amount of spells in your spell book for a wizard or "all of them" for a cleric.
Prepared Spells: You choose these each day. The number of spells you may prepare is equal to the Casters Level + Spell Casting Ability Modifier. Prepared spells is a subset of your Known Spells. The bard, ranger, sorcerer, warlock and classes with spellcasting subclasses do not prepare spells, they skip this step because they always have their known spell prepared.
Spell Slots: The amount of spells you can cast of each level, chosen from your Prepared Spells. It may be different depending on your class. For “full casters like Wizards, Clerics, Druids, Sorcerers, Bards et al. except Warlocks” it goes like this: Class level 1: 2 First level spell slots Class level 2: 3 First level spell slots Class level 3: 4 First level spell slots/ 2 Second level spell slots Class level 4: 4 First level spell slots/ 3 Second level spell slots Class level 5: 4 First level spell slots/ 3 Second level spell slots/ 2 Third level spell slots Class level 6: 4 First level spell slots/ 3 Second level spell slots/ 3 Third level spell slots
Warlocks use their own Spell Slot table because “pact magic”. Multiclass and classes with spell casting subclasses use their own Spell Slot table as well.
Iv'e been playing 5th D&D for a year, and 2e D&D for 3 years, and with magic in both games were house rules. The 5th edition the DM said every one had to prepare there spells like 3.5, and in the 2nd Edition the Dm gave us all first lvl spells are classes can learn, and we had to prepare every day to use them. Well Im starting up as a green horn Dm, and i was reading the rules on Magic and how other classes just know there spells, and some have to prepare. Well in the bard class it says at 3rd lvl i know 6 spells, but i chose one spell to put in to 1st or 2nd, so say I know 2 cantrips, and 4 1st lvl spells, but it says I have 2 slots for 2nd lvl spells. So can that player go out in the world and fill those two slots up?
P.S. - im really sorry for this probably simple answer, of a question.
A 3rd level bard knows 2 cantrips and 6 spells. The 6 spells must be of a level of which the bard has spell slots. So, the bard can choose five 1st level spells and one 2nd level spell to fill the 6 spells it knows.
A level 1 bard knows 4 L1 spells. They learn another L1 spell when they move to level 2. As they move to level three they can learn a single L2 spell, and they can also swap one of their L1 spells for a new L2 spell if they want. And so on, most each level they can learn a new spell, and also swap out an old spell for a new. At all times they know and have access to all their spells, limited by the slots they can cast.
Stepping back a bit. No one preps spells per spell slot anymore. Spell slots are just a resource per day of spells a character can cast. Instead everyone has spells known, and sometimes spells prepared, and spell slots are mostly independent of these two mechanics. There is no more, " I have three 1st level spell slots, so I prepare Magic Missile twice and Shield once".
Cantrips are in their own class, they are not considered 'spells' for the purposes of knowing and preparing spells, each spell casting class knows x number of cantrips as indicated by their spell casting table. There are ways to get more cantrips, but they do not affect any other aspect of casting spells.
Druids and clerics know all spells for a spell level they can cast, but they can only prepare a number of spells equal to their level + their wisdom mod. They can then cast these prepared spells using any spell slot of appropriate level (some spells can be up-cast to use a spell slot of a higher level at the time of casting, but no spell can be down-cast to use a slot of a lower level). That means if a druid has prepared moonbeam and darkvision (both second level spells) and the druid has three 2nd level spell slots available that means they can cast moonbeam three times, moonbeam once and darkvision twice, or any permutation of those two prepared spells. However the druid can not cast heat metal (also 2nd level) because they did not prepare it.
A bard, does not need to prepare spells, they simply know a subset of the spells on the bard list. Learning a spell typically happens when a bard levels and how many spells they can know is defined on the bard table. Note that the spells known is separate from the cantrips known because cantrips are in a class of their own. A bard can learn a spell of a level that they can cast, so if a bard has 3rd level spell slots, they can learn up to 3rd level spells. It is viable, that a 3rd level bard decided to know six 1st level spells. They would still have four 1st level spell slots, and two 2nd level slots. That bard could then choose (at the time of casting) to up-cast some of their 1st level spells using their 2nd level slots.
I don't know if there's any wording about being able to delay and learn a spell at a later date, but RP reasons aside, delaying is pretty irrelevant because a bard can learn any spell on the bard spell list of an appropriate level (no need to learn from a scroll or anything, that is a unique wizard mechanic).
For the most part each class has their own unique way of learning and preparing spells but, exuding the warlock, it's mostly a variation on the two scenarios outlined above.
Prepared Spells: You choose these each day. The number of spells you may prepare is equal to the Casters Level + Spell Casting Ability Modifier. Prepared spells is a subset of your Known Spells. The bard, ranger, sorcerer, warlock and classes with spellcasting subclasses do not prepare spells, they skip this step because they always have their known spell prepared.
Spell Slots: The amount of spells you can cast of each level, chosen from your Prepared Spells. It may be different depending on your class. For “full casters like Wizards, Clerics, Druids, Sorcerers, Bards et al. except Warlocks” it goes like this:
Class level 1: 2 First level spell slots
Class level 2: 3 First level spell slots
Class level 3: 4 First level spell slots/ 2 Second level spell slots
Class level 4: 4 First level spell slots/ 3 Second level spell slots
Class level 5: 4 First level spell slots/ 3 Second level spell slots/ 2 Third level spell slots
Class level 6: 4 First level spell slots/ 3 Second level spell slots/ 3 Third level spell slots
Warlocks use their own Spell Slot table because “pact magic”. Multiclass and classes with spell casting subclasses use their own Spell Slot table as well.
see: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/rules-game-mechanics/13532-question-concerning-rules-about-known-spells-per
We use spell card in our games. So I found these cards to add to the spell cards to help keep track: https://i.imgur.com/uz9hmcS.png from this post on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/7p7qni/i_made_a_thing_spell_slot_tracker/
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