I'm new to D&D and there are a lot of things that I have not figured out about spellcasting, but this is supposed to be fun, so I was hoping to start with the goal of making spellcasting fun. I think there is a need to communicate what the spell I am casting does, and perhaps how it works, or maybe I should work out the mechanics (rolls, ,modifiers, ect) and the math myself and just say what the upshot is. I don't think that me reading the spell out loud is particularly fun for anyone (me, the other players, or the DM). Maybe spell casting is just a bit more tedious than attacking monsters with weapons. I'm the only spellcaster at the table and I feel like, even though they are very kind, the other players might kind of dread my turn, or wonder why I can't seem to pull it together and make what I do, fun. I have heard of flavoring spells, and I'm interested in pursuing that, but maybe I'm not there yet, like maybe I'm missing something more basic.
So what is your best advice for making spellcasting more fun?
You should know what it does, but don’t worry about the rest of the table. Keeping it mysterious might make it more fun. Most games I’ve played, the player says something like, I cast magic missile at that guy (indicates enemy) and then starts rolling dice. They don’t necessarily narrate just which components they use or anything. But just how much detail you give will depend on how things work at your table. If you’re worried, I’d say ask the others if they find it annoying.
Flavoring is when you can get interesting. You can describe your missiles to look like anything: are they shapeless blobs of energy or do they look like something, do they go perfectly straight or kind of twist around in a spiral, what color are they, and are they the same color always, or does it change depending on your mood. That kind of thing. Though I usually only describe them once or twice, but depending on how your table works, you might do it more often.
Your problem seems to come from a lack of experiences. You might not yet realise it, but a lot of spells work pretty much the way one would expect them. Most groups will get to the point where they know vaguely what the spell does by its name after a time. (nobody will be surprised what magic missile does when you cast it the 20h time)
So explaining what a spell does won't be nessessary for long. Just go with it for a bit. And once you're ready you can try and give the spells a bit more flavor by describing what our character does to cast it or how the magic looks.
Agreed, Sutio that my main problem is lack of experience. And thank you. I think it would help to see spellcasting done in a fun way or at least in a way that doesn't impede the flow of the game too much. Is there a player on youtube that you might suggest that I watch to get ideas from?
What about casting healing spells or buffing spells, where the spell that my character casts, affects the math of another player's character, how do I communicate that in a fun way (or at least without causing much interruption in the game)? (Or it is normal for those sort of spell to be a bit awkward to cast?)
It's normal for spellcasting to slow things down a little bit, especially when someone is new at the game and doesn't know exactly how every spell works, but there's a few ways to address this.
First and foremost, spend some time reading through your spells and try to memorize what they do. You don't have to memorize them verbatim, but just make sure you have a general idea of how they work. Most spells are fairly self-explanatory just with their name, but then you get things like "Chill Touch" which is a Ranged spell that deals Necrotic damage. As you play you'll get used to what spells work best in what situations, and you'll probably find a few favorites that you use more often than others.
When you're playing, try to plan out what spell you're going to cast in combat before it gets to your turn. Keep an eye on the battlefield... you might have to change what you were planning to do... maybe the enemy you were planning to cast Blind on gets hit with a critical attack and dies faster than you expected, or the Barbarian might run into the middle of a group of enemies you were planning to hit with a fireball. Even if your plan gets completely uprooted occasionally, more often than not you'll be able to do what you plan and quickly keep the battle moving forward, even if you occasionally have a turn where you have to scramble and read through your spells because right before your turn some major event occurred.
On average you don't need to read out, verbatim, how a spell works when you cast it. My sort of rule of thumb is you only have to get into the specific wording if your DM asks you to. The main thing to keep in mind is knowing your Spell Save DC, and what Saving Throw an enemy needs to make. The exception is Buff Spells, since you want whoever you cast it on to know exactly how it works, but in general your fellow players are happy to hear what cool power you're giving them, so don't worry about slowing things down for a bit as you pump up your allies.
Finally, when it comes to flavoring... I think a good starting point is just to describe how your character is casting their spells. Whether it's something as simple as, "I point my finger at him and a bolt of lightning shoots out", or more complex like, "I hold out my hands, gathering glowing red energy into a tiny dot of intense light, then throw it arcing through air where it stops an inch above the ground before erupting in a blazing Fireball". Don't feel that you need to do this every single time you cast a spell, but whenever you feel inspired or if you feel like you're doing something particularly cool, just jazz it up a little. There's no right or wrong way to do flavoring, just uh... don't spend 5 minutes describing an elaborate song and dance with every single spell, unless it's something like the finishing blow on a major enemy.
What about casting healing spells or buffing spells, where the spell that my character casts, affects the math of another player's character, how do I communicate that in a fun way (or at least without causing much interruption in the game)? (Or it is normal for those sort of spell to be a bit awkward to cast?)
That’s also going to depend on your table. Some people play a just-the-facts game where it’s like. “I cast healing word on Bob, (rolls dice) he gets 5 hp.” Others will be more like “I invoke the healing powers of (god’s name) and Bob is bathed in a soothing light as his wounds close. (Roll dice) He regains 5 hp.
It just a question of what you and everyone else is comfortable with. One person’s slowing things down is another person’s immersive storytelling experience.
What about casting healing spells or buffing spells, where the spell that my character casts, affects the math of another player's character, how do I communicate that in a fun way (or at least without causing much interruption in the game)? (Or it is normal for those sort of spell to be a bit awkward to cast?)
That’s also going to depend on your table. Some people play a just-the-facts game where it’s like. “I cast healing word on Bob, (rolls dice) he gets 5 hp.” Others will be more like “I invoke the healing powers of (god’s name) and Bob is bathed in a soothing light as his wounds close. (Roll dice) He regains 5 hp.
It just a question of what you and everyone else is comfortable with. One person’s slowing things down is another person’s immersive storytelling experience.
Good advice in this thread, and we do a combination of what you said, Xalthu, at our table.
Sometimes it’s just easy to say “I cast sleet storm” and describe where we place the AOE. Sometimes we describe the look of the spell, like when my Druid picked up Fey Touched, I described it as “vines coming out of the ground completely enveloping my Druid, then pulling them down into the ground. Then at the destination the vines re-emerge from the ground, open up and my Druid steps out.” It’s fun to flavor spells this way, but I only did it once or twice and now it’s just “I misty step over there”. The table would get bored of overly long descriptions over and over again.
Agreed, Sutio that my main problem is lack of experience. And thank you. I think it would help to see spellcasting done in a fun way or at least in a way that doesn't impede the flow of the game too much. Is there a player on youtube that you might suggest that I watch to get ideas from?
What about casting healing spells or buffing spells, where the spell that my character casts, affects the math of another player's character, how do I communicate that in a fun way (or at least without causing much interruption in the game)? (Or it is normal for those sort of spell to be a bit awkward to cast?)
I particularly liked the way Liam O'Brien's character Caleb was portrayed in Critical Role Campaign 2. If you haven't seen it, great use of components, flair and flavor. Might be worth checking it out of you're looking for ideas.
Another important thing to keep in mind is to avoid picking spells that overlap too much in function. While it's fun to have lots of spells that blow things up, lock enemies down, or buff allies, it's not very practical to have too many spells that do the same thing. It can lead to analysis paralysis, where you spend too long picking a spell for the moment, because you have so many that are very similar in function.
Pick combat spells that:
target different saving throws
target single enemies or multiple enemies
do damage, lockdown enemies, buff allies, or change the battlefield in your favor (walls)
Such that you avoid having too many that meet the same criteria. Fill in the rest with out-of-combat spells like Enhance Ability.
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Instead of "I cast X" describe your gestures, your utterances, and the effects.
When I DM'd my last session, there is an Oracle who has been guiding my players' characters. They brought him (at his direction) a teen girl prodigy from a magic school, the Circle of Magi. The Oracle needed to question her and determine if she is potentially dangerous.
So he cast Zone of Truth. He's old man in a wheelchair.
Old weak voice, "Come here, my dear. Let me have a good look at cha"
"I have something something important to tell you. In this realm all mortals die, your deeds and words may go awry. But in this zone you shall not fail, your lips know only truth, and never a fanciful tail"
Me: And the air around you gets warm, and suddenly you feel extremely relaxed. Like a huge concrete slab has just been lifted off your chest. Everyone make a Charisma saving throw.
I do not think spellcasting is very different to martial attacks in this regard.. A fighter can say "I move up to the archer and attack him with my longsword" or he can be more flavourful. "I run upto the archer and attempt to use my momentum to thrust my longsword into his abdoman"
I'm new to D&D and there are a lot of things that I have not figured out about spellcasting, but this is supposed to be fun, so I was hoping to start with the goal of making spellcasting fun. I think there is a need to communicate what the spell I am casting does, and perhaps how it works, or maybe I should work out the mechanics (rolls, ,modifiers, ect) and the math myself and just say what the upshot is. I don't think that me reading the spell out loud is particularly fun for anyone (me, the other players, or the DM). Maybe spell casting is just a bit more tedious than attacking monsters with weapons. I'm the only spellcaster at the table and I feel like, even though they are very kind, the other players might kind of dread my turn, or wonder why I can't seem to pull it together and make what I do, fun. I have heard of flavoring spells, and I'm interested in pursuing that, but maybe I'm not there yet, like maybe I'm missing something more basic.
So what is your best advice for making spellcasting more fun?
The first step is to figure out what you find fun about casting spells
Some people really enjoy getting into weeds on describing how they cast the spell, how they use the spell components, what the effects look like etc., and really immerse themselves in the role play
Some people enjoy the tactical challenge of figuring out which spells are best for specific situations
Some people enjoy being a team player and like handing out buffs, debuffs, heals etc.
Some people like blowing stuff up with fireballs
There's no right or wrong approach, but if you figure out what's fun for you and are enthusiastic/engaged when playing your character, generally speaking, the rest of your party will have fun too
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Agreed, Sutio that my main problem is lack of experience. And thank you. I think it would help to see spellcasting done in a fun way or at least in a way that doesn't impede the flow of the game too much. Is there a player on youtube that you might suggest that I watch to get ideas from?
What about casting healing spells or buffing spells, where the spell that my character casts, affects the math of another player's character, how do I communicate that in a fun way (or at least without causing much interruption in the game)? (Or it is normal for those sort of spell to be a bit awkward to cast?)
I played as a barbarian in a campaign with a scout rogue, a grave cleric, and an undying warlock. The grave cleric would sometimes flavor their Toll the Dead as he would make a finger gun gesture. That was typically the most that either caster would really do that I can recall other than saying that they cast whatever spell. The Grave cleric liked to cast Aid when we first came unto a dangerous area. He would cast Bless or more often Bane. He liked to get Spiritual Weapon going. But he would just say that he was casting them and it was fine. The warlock would cast Eldritch Blast, Mind Sliver or Shatter most often and she would just say that she was casting them. It was fine.
Hearing the description of what the spell does is not necessary, as long as you and the DM know what it does. Hearing a description of any overt gestures, any particularly distinct vocalizations that you make, or the handling of any large materials or spell focus can be fun a handful of times to give an idea of what you're doing. After a few times, the image should be set in the other players minds and you won't have to repeat it for frequently cast spells other than the first time in a session if you play sporadically.
Describing what happens that the characters can sense also helps with the immersion and can be fun. Discuss with your DM (outside of a session) what these descriptions should be like and whether they want to be able to describe effects that happen as a result of the spell (like the debris from a shatter spell). These are aspects that our group found to be fun.
Your group could be similar or could be quite different. People generally like to be doing things themselves, so err on the side of brevity when considering the others. This doesn't mean don't make descriptions, just don't take a minute describing what you are doing when the entire action should be taking less than 6 seconds.
If you're concerned about it talk to your group to find out what they think.
You can also take cues from how they describe their attacks. If the monk says, "I attack the goblin", that could be a signal to keep it brief. If they say "I feint a kick at the goblin before planting my foot and driving my forehead towards its nose" instead, then you can be a little more verbose in your descriptions.
The posts above have provided great advice and I will repeat some of them, so here goes and they are in no particular order.
1) Fun: What do you and your group define as fun and what is the purpose of you gaming. If you plan on streaming you game and trying to make money you often have different gaols then just playing for fun with friends.
2) Know you PC: In general knowing what it means to be a spell caster vs a "swinger of steel".
3) Ask your GM what level of detail they would prefer you provide in how you cast spells. Provide an example or examples. Also remember your description may not matter if people can not see what you are doing. For example as a archer you may describe what you are doing while hiding and sniping but often no one can see you and repeatedly describing all of your actions can pull away from the larger game narrative and flow.
4) Ask your GM how spell casting works, looks and is defined in their game at times this is different then 3 above. For example I am thinking about playing a blood hunter/wizard and they collect samples of monsters for research, so I have to have equipment to do so, a way to store them and a place to either provide my samples to someone or do the research myself. Do those things work in the games context and how the GM plays their game.
5) Be flexible in what you expect from the game and how you play your role as there are many ways to roleplay.
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I'm new to D&D and there are a lot of things that I have not figured out about spellcasting, but this is supposed to be fun, so I was hoping to start with the goal of making spellcasting fun. I think there is a need to communicate what the spell I am casting does, and perhaps how it works, or maybe I should work out the mechanics (rolls, ,modifiers, ect) and the math myself and just say what the upshot is. I don't think that me reading the spell out loud is particularly fun for anyone (me, the other players, or the DM). Maybe spell casting is just a bit more tedious than attacking monsters with weapons. I'm the only spellcaster at the table and I feel like, even though they are very kind, the other players might kind of dread my turn, or wonder why I can't seem to pull it together and make what I do, fun. I have heard of flavoring spells, and I'm interested in pursuing that, but maybe I'm not there yet, like maybe I'm missing something more basic.
So what is your best advice for making spellcasting more fun?
You should know what it does, but don’t worry about the rest of the table. Keeping it mysterious might make it more fun. Most games I’ve played, the player says something like, I cast magic missile at that guy (indicates enemy) and then starts rolling dice. They don’t necessarily narrate just which components they use or anything. But just how much detail you give will depend on how things work at your table. If you’re worried, I’d say ask the others if they find it annoying.
Flavoring is when you can get interesting. You can describe your missiles to look like anything: are they shapeless blobs of energy or do they look like something, do they go perfectly straight or kind of twist around in a spiral, what color are they, and are they the same color always, or does it change depending on your mood. That kind of thing. Though I usually only describe them once or twice, but depending on how your table works, you might do it more often.
Your problem seems to come from a lack of experiences. You might not yet realise it, but a lot of spells work pretty much the way one would expect them. Most groups will get to the point where they know vaguely what the spell does by its name after a time. (nobody will be surprised what magic missile does when you cast it the 20h time)
So explaining what a spell does won't be nessessary for long. Just go with it for a bit. And once you're ready you can try and give the spells a bit more flavor by describing what our character does to cast it or how the magic looks.
Agreed, Sutio that my main problem is lack of experience. And thank you. I think it would help to see spellcasting done in a fun way or at least in a way that doesn't impede the flow of the game too much. Is there a player on youtube that you might suggest that I watch to get ideas from?
What about casting healing spells or buffing spells, where the spell that my character casts, affects the math of another player's character, how do I communicate that in a fun way (or at least without causing much interruption in the game)? (Or it is normal for those sort of spell to be a bit awkward to cast?)
That seems like solid advice!
It's normal for spellcasting to slow things down a little bit, especially when someone is new at the game and doesn't know exactly how every spell works, but there's a few ways to address this.
First and foremost, spend some time reading through your spells and try to memorize what they do. You don't have to memorize them verbatim, but just make sure you have a general idea of how they work. Most spells are fairly self-explanatory just with their name, but then you get things like "Chill Touch" which is a Ranged spell that deals Necrotic damage. As you play you'll get used to what spells work best in what situations, and you'll probably find a few favorites that you use more often than others.
When you're playing, try to plan out what spell you're going to cast in combat before it gets to your turn. Keep an eye on the battlefield... you might have to change what you were planning to do... maybe the enemy you were planning to cast Blind on gets hit with a critical attack and dies faster than you expected, or the Barbarian might run into the middle of a group of enemies you were planning to hit with a fireball. Even if your plan gets completely uprooted occasionally, more often than not you'll be able to do what you plan and quickly keep the battle moving forward, even if you occasionally have a turn where you have to scramble and read through your spells because right before your turn some major event occurred.
On average you don't need to read out, verbatim, how a spell works when you cast it. My sort of rule of thumb is you only have to get into the specific wording if your DM asks you to. The main thing to keep in mind is knowing your Spell Save DC, and what Saving Throw an enemy needs to make. The exception is Buff Spells, since you want whoever you cast it on to know exactly how it works, but in general your fellow players are happy to hear what cool power you're giving them, so don't worry about slowing things down for a bit as you pump up your allies.
Finally, when it comes to flavoring... I think a good starting point is just to describe how your character is casting their spells. Whether it's something as simple as, "I point my finger at him and a bolt of lightning shoots out", or more complex like, "I hold out my hands, gathering glowing red energy into a tiny dot of intense light, then throw it arcing through air where it stops an inch above the ground before erupting in a blazing Fireball". Don't feel that you need to do this every single time you cast a spell, but whenever you feel inspired or if you feel like you're doing something particularly cool, just jazz it up a little. There's no right or wrong way to do flavoring, just uh... don't spend 5 minutes describing an elaborate song and dance with every single spell, unless it's something like the finishing blow on a major enemy.
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That’s also going to depend on your table. Some people play a just-the-facts game where it’s like. “I cast healing word on Bob, (rolls dice) he gets 5 hp.” Others will be more like “I invoke the healing powers of (god’s name) and Bob is bathed in a soothing light as his wounds close. (Roll dice) He regains 5 hp.
It just a question of what you and everyone else is comfortable with. One person’s slowing things down is another person’s immersive storytelling experience.
Good advice in this thread, and we do a combination of what you said, Xalthu, at our table.
Sometimes it’s just easy to say “I cast sleet storm” and describe where we place the AOE. Sometimes we describe the look of the spell, like when my Druid picked up Fey Touched, I described it as “vines coming out of the ground completely enveloping my Druid, then pulling them down into the ground. Then at the destination the vines re-emerge from the ground, open up and my Druid steps out.” It’s fun to flavor spells this way, but I only did it once or twice and now it’s just “I misty step over there”. The table would get bored of overly long descriptions over and over again.
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https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
I particularly liked the way Liam O'Brien's character Caleb was portrayed in Critical Role Campaign 2. If you haven't seen it, great use of components, flair and flavor. Might be worth checking it out of you're looking for ideas.
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ModeratorAnother important thing to keep in mind is to avoid picking spells that overlap too much in function. While it's fun to have lots of spells that blow things up, lock enemies down, or buff allies, it's not very practical to have too many spells that do the same thing. It can lead to analysis paralysis, where you spend too long picking a spell for the moment, because you have so many that are very similar in function.
Pick combat spells that:
Such that you avoid having too many that meet the same criteria. Fill in the rest with out-of-combat spells like Enhance Ability.
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Instead of "I cast X" describe your gestures, your utterances, and the effects.
When I DM'd my last session, there is an Oracle who has been guiding my players' characters. They brought him (at his direction) a teen girl prodigy from a magic school, the Circle of Magi. The Oracle needed to question her and determine if she is potentially dangerous.
So he cast Zone of Truth. He's old man in a wheelchair.
Old weak voice, "Come here, my dear. Let me have a good look at cha"
"I have something something important to tell you. In this realm all mortals die, your deeds and words may go awry. But in this zone you shall not fail, your lips know only truth, and never a fanciful tail"
Me: And the air around you gets warm, and suddenly you feel extremely relaxed. Like a huge concrete slab has just been lifted off your chest. Everyone make a Charisma saving throw.
Zone of Truth
I do not think spellcasting is very different to martial attacks in this regard.. A fighter can say "I move up to the archer and attack him with my longsword" or he can be more flavourful. "I run upto the archer and attempt to use my momentum to thrust my longsword into his abdoman"
The first step is to figure out what you find fun about casting spells
Some people really enjoy getting into weeds on describing how they cast the spell, how they use the spell components, what the effects look like etc., and really immerse themselves in the role play
Some people enjoy the tactical challenge of figuring out which spells are best for specific situations
Some people enjoy being a team player and like handing out buffs, debuffs, heals etc.
Some people like blowing stuff up with fireballs
There's no right or wrong approach, but if you figure out what's fun for you and are enthusiastic/engaged when playing your character, generally speaking, the rest of your party will have fun too
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I played as a barbarian in a campaign with a scout rogue, a grave cleric, and an undying warlock. The grave cleric would sometimes flavor their Toll the Dead as he would make a finger gun gesture. That was typically the most that either caster would really do that I can recall other than saying that they cast whatever spell. The Grave cleric liked to cast Aid when we first came unto a dangerous area. He would cast Bless or more often Bane. He liked to get Spiritual Weapon going. But he would just say that he was casting them and it was fine. The warlock would cast Eldritch Blast, Mind Sliver or Shatter most often and she would just say that she was casting them. It was fine.
Hearing the description of what the spell does is not necessary, as long as you and the DM know what it does. Hearing a description of any overt gestures, any particularly distinct vocalizations that you make, or the handling of any large materials or spell focus can be fun a handful of times to give an idea of what you're doing. After a few times, the image should be set in the other players minds and you won't have to repeat it for frequently cast spells other than the first time in a session if you play sporadically.
Describing what happens that the characters can sense also helps with the immersion and can be fun. Discuss with your DM (outside of a session) what these descriptions should be like and whether they want to be able to describe effects that happen as a result of the spell (like the debris from a shatter spell). These are aspects that our group found to be fun.
Your group could be similar or could be quite different. People generally like to be doing things themselves, so err on the side of brevity when considering the others. This doesn't mean don't make descriptions, just don't take a minute describing what you are doing when the entire action should be taking less than 6 seconds.
If you're concerned about it talk to your group to find out what they think.
You can also take cues from how they describe their attacks. If the monk says, "I attack the goblin", that could be a signal to keep it brief. If they say "I feint a kick at the goblin before planting my foot and driving my forehead towards its nose" instead, then you can be a little more verbose in your descriptions.
The posts above have provided great advice and I will repeat some of them, so here goes and they are in no particular order.
1) Fun: What do you and your group define as fun and what is the purpose of you gaming. If you plan on streaming you game and trying to make money you often have different gaols then just playing for fun with friends.
2) Know you PC: In general knowing what it means to be a spell caster vs a "swinger of steel".
3) Ask your GM what level of detail they would prefer you provide in how you cast spells. Provide an example or examples. Also remember your description may not matter if people can not see what you are doing. For example as a archer you may describe what you are doing while hiding and sniping but often no one can see you and repeatedly describing all of your actions can pull away from the larger game narrative and flow.
4) Ask your GM how spell casting works, looks and is defined in their game at times this is different then 3 above. For example I am thinking about playing a blood hunter/wizard and they collect samples of monsters for research, so I have to have equipment to do so, a way to store them and a place to either provide my samples to someone or do the research myself. Do those things work in the games context and how the GM plays their game.
5) Be flexible in what you expect from the game and how you play your role as there are many ways to roleplay.