Material components are perceptible and can be used in various ways in a game. They are often included in standard component pouches or used as part of somatic components, such as presenting or using them as part of a spell. However, they are not always necessary for all spells, as they are considered balancing factors for spells with unbalanced in-game and meta-game effects.
A spellcaster must have a hand free to access a spell’s material components or hold a spellcasting focus, but it can be the same hand that they use. Material components are essential for many spells, as they help ensure that players have the right components for all their spells. If a spell mentions a material component that doesn’t have a cost, they are assumed to be in the component pouch.
The Player’s Handbook (PHB) states that material components are consumed only if they have a cost written, so it is not necessary to keep track of material components with negligible costs. However, if a spell states that a material component is consumed by the spell, the caster must provide this component for each casting of the spell.
In summary, material components are essential for balancing the effects of spells, and they can be used in various ways in games. The PHB assumes that a spell caster has all the necessary materials on hand, but it is important to consider the cost of material components when casting a spell.
📹 How to Flavor your D&D Spells
▽ INDEX ▽ 0:00 – Intro 0:31 – What is flavor? 2:04 – Look at the components 3:26 – Look at the damage type 4:53 – Sponsored by …
Are material components always consumed?
The consumption of a material component by a spell is contingent upon the version in question. In the 5th edition, the consumption of a material component is contingent upon the stipulations outlined in the spell description. It is incumbent upon the caster to provide this component for each casting of the spell.
Do cantrips count as spells?
Cantrips are spells that are relatively simple and are listed separately from regular spells. Unlike regular spells, they do not require the use of spell slots or preparation. It is presumed that these spells are accessible to the character in question at any given moment.
Do you still need components for ritual spells?
Ritual casting doesn’t add any material costs or modify the spell, using the same components and spellcasting focus. It functions identically to the normal spell except for the casting time. Ritual spells are accessible to the Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Druid, and Wizard classes as part of their spellcasting features. Anyone can be a ritual caster if they’re willing to spend a feat on it, even if it’s not a class feature.
Do you have to have ritual spells prepared?
Ritual casting is an alternate form of spellcasting for many spellcasters, allowing them to casually cast a few spells during downtime and between encounters where the action economy isn’t as important. In the 5th edition, ritual casting is tucked into the main spellcasting section of the player’s guide. Certain spells have a special tag called “ritual”, which can be cast following the normal rules or as a ritual. The ritual version of a spell takes 10 minutes longer to cast than normal and doesn’t expend a spell slot, meaning it can’t be cast at a higher level.
If you have a set list of spells you know, like a bard or a sorcerer, you need to know the spell to cast it as a ritual. If you’re a prepared spellcaster, like a cleric or a druid, you need to have the spell prepared for the day.
Do cantrips require materials?
A spellcasting focus is an object utilized by a spellcaster to channel their magical energy, and some cantrips may necessitate its use. The components (V, S, M) encompass verbal (V), somatic (S), and material (M) elements that are necessary for the casting of numerous spells, or alternatively, the inclusion of one or more of these components.
What is the material component rule in D&D?
A character may utilize a component pouch or spellcasting focus in lieu of the specified components for a spell, provided that the requisite component with the specified cost is available prior to casting the spell. It should be noted that JavaScript may be disabled or blocked by browser extensions, and that cookies may not be supported by certain browser versions.
Can you reuse spell components?
Witches often ask about the use of leftovers from their spells, which can sometimes look like a pile of garbage. However, it is allowed to re-use items from spell to spell as long as they are intentional about it. Dismantling the spell and cleaning the jar out physically and energetically can help the jar live a long life.
One way to upcycle spent spell ingredients is through edible offerings. Hot food is traditionally the ideal offering, as the steam acts as a spirit-version of the food being carried to the spirit realm. Once the offering has cooled and been made, it can be eaten, as it nourishes the body and pleases the spirit guides, especially ancestors. If the offering is safe for the ancestors to consume, it can be shared with them.
In summary, upcycling spent spell ingredients is a sustainable and environmentally friendly practice that can help maintain the longevity of the jars and the spirits.
What are the requirements for spells in D&D?
A spell’s components are the physical requirements needed to cast it. Each spell’s description outlines whether it requires verbal (V), somatic (S), or material (M) components. Verbal components involve chanting mystic words, which are not the source of the spell’s power. Casting a spell with a verbal component is not possible for a character in a gagged or silenced area. Somatic components involve forceful gesticulation or intricate set of gestures, and a caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures. In essence, a spell’s components determine its effectiveness.
Do spell-like abilities require material components?
A spell-like ability is a mental ability that mimics a spell, without any verbal, somatic, or material components. It doesn’t require focus and has a casting time of 1 standard action. The ability lists the name of the spell it replicates and is subject to spell resistance and dispel magic. It doesn’t work in areas where magic is suppressed or negated, such as antimagic fields. Spell-like abilities cannot be used to counterspell or counterspelled. Armor doesn’t affect the use of these abilities.
Do you need materials for spells in D&D?
D&D spells frequently comprise a combination of verbal, somatic, or material elements. However, players and Dungeon Masters frequently neglect to consider the necessity of material components in commonly utilized spells. This is attributable to the constraints imposed on spellcasting in the event of a character being immobilized or silenced, and the browser’s inability to support cookies.
What are the rules for cantrips?
Cantrips are free, weak magic pieces that don’t have significant effects and are level 0 spells. They don’t cost anything and don’t even have a spell slot. On the other hand, spells are powerful and require a character’s spell slots to cast various components. They are used to pace out attacks in battle. A cantrip is like a penguin, but it’s not suitable for fighting a demogorgon. In contrast, spells are like a pen full of carnivorous dinosaurs, and when used to deal damage, the carnotaurus should be used instead of the penguin.
📹 Spells and Spellcasting Guide for Dungeons and Dragons 5e
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My girlfriend is running a game that skews to the comical side, and my character is a warforged artificer named F.A.T.H.E.R., and all his spells are dad-related. My favorite is Tasha’s caustic brew, AKA “crackin’ a cold one with the boys” where he pulls a miller light out of his fanny-pack of holding and shakes it up before spraying it everywhere. (also his construct companion is a roomba with googly-eyes named Boomba, and he’s the party’s mascot)
Granny Crackletooth, my Eladrin Storm Sorcerer has a mortar and pestle that she calls her “teacup” for casting spells. She literally brews a storm in a teacup. She also has a components pouch. So when she uses spells with random effects, she just shoves her hand into her pouch, grabs whatever her hand touches, shoves it into the teacup and grinds it up for the spell. Granny’s a lot of fun.
I once played with a guy who flavored his warlock and, with DM permission, would dab to cast eldritch blast. Not only was it one of the more odd things I’ve seen at a table, at one point my spirit got put into his body so I had to try and imitate it. Easily one of the funniest moments of my D&D career so far!
I’m currently playing an archfey warlock, my patron is the “Mistress of Roses” who is a fey princess cursed to never be able to feel love by herself, so she approached my character to experience as many romantic situations as possible in order to experience them herself, so for example he blows glowing kisses at people as Eldritch Blasts and blows a pink mist as Charm Person.
My cleric is a follower of a hearth and community goddess, similar to Hestia, who carries a lantern with a white flame that burns on his faith. So, usually his spells are fire based…. until he had to cast create water. So I said that a cloud of steam burst from his lantern with the sound of whistling like a tea kettle, then condensed into an orb of water in the air. It can be a lot of fun to think about how some spells would work when you’re dedicated to a certain flavor
One of my players reads the spell in a deeper, more ethereal voice, and he says the name of the spell backwards. Magic Missile therefore becomes “ELLISIM CIGAM!” Another of my players has recently started playing a caster. He’s remembered a few of the key words but he’s never actually spotted the pattern. So he reads Ray of Frost as Sor Fire, and there are spells he’s never heard my other player say which he’s totally lost on.
My newest character is the sweetest necromancer you’ll ever meet! She’s pretty shy, and her magic ability is kind of a place of shame for her. So she keeps her arcane focus, which is a little wand with a small amethyst at the tip, in her hair–as if it’s there to only keep her bun in place like a piece of jewelry. She even wears pastel colors like lavender to offset how morbid her spells tend to be. She tends to mumble a lot, and tries not to be too obvious about casting.
My girlfriend played a Gnome Druid who spoke in a high-pitched stream-of-consciousness super fast pace, but when she would cast her druid magic, she would slow down, drop half-an-octave from her regular voice and speak her incantations in Swahili… The effect every time was like this little pink-haired troll doll would start negotiating with the Earth in it’s own language to have it bestow it’s power upon her. I played a lizardfolk shaman-type character who would chant and dance Polynesian hakas (as verbal and somatic components) and all his material components were attached to his hips or thighs or arms of chest so he could grab them as he was dancing and casting… It also made him look weirder and more tribal-y to outside folk. When I play a wizard, all the magical auras of his spells match the ink colour from his spellbooks.
I’ve been having a ton of fun playing a catfolk bard where the whole concept is that instead of using her charisma for seduction it means she is just the most goddamn adorable thing anyone has ever seen. She has a lot of glitter based spells and things like Terrible Remorse where enemies become so overwhelmed with shame that they threatened such a cute little kitty that they attack themselves. Also her dirge of doom is a distressed cat yowl.
Cheerful Song: “You sing a happy little tune, bolstering the spirits of up to 3 friendly creatures within range. Affected creatures gain 1 temporary hit point, and can add a +1 bonus to their first attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made before the start of your next turn” My firbolg cowgirl bardbarian: …IF IT HADN’T BEEN FOR COTTON-EYED JOE-
I’ve been thinking lately about a wizard whose arcane focus is a deck of tarot cards and casts their spells through them. For instance: “The sun” card casts fire-based spells, like firebolt; but if you want something bigger, like fireball, you combine “The sun” with “The strength” when you cast it. It’s just choosing cards that fit the spells you cast (even though I’m not taking in count the actual meaning of the cards, I’m not a tarot expert). I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds fun. And, by the way, you can totally steal this idea if you like it, I would be honored, actually 😄.
This is something I started doing with my previous character, a Kobold Druid. The DM let me theme all her spells around fire, and specifically, fire-breathing, as if she was a tiny dragon! This included healing spells as well! It’s super fun seeing the kobold walking up to a wounded NPC that doesn’t know her, and see them recoil in panic as she starts breathing fire on them, just to notice the flames aren’t burning them, but actually just cauterizing the wounds! It’s super fun! I highly recommend everyone to talk with their DMs to try this at least once!
I totally do this with my Tortle Druid, who is circle of spores. goodberry actually produces truffles, faerie fire is actually a bunch of Bioluminescence spores. Entangle is mold growths that anchor people in place, etc. I’m absolutely loving the flavor for my tortle, and because of it, he is probably the character that I love the most, so far.
In a Star Wars campaign with a Droid player character. The droid’s class is Rogue. Uncanny Dodge was flavored to be its body falling to pieces when used as a reaction (damaged is halved because the entire body does not feel the force of a hit on one part of the body). The DM later used this when putting my character in a jail cell that actually had cell bars be one wall. Ran head first at the front, uncanny dodged the damage I took, and my pieces fell on the other side. I’ve also used this in deception moments where enemies think the droid is defeated after just one hit when I don’t reform immediately. My DM loves my ways of using the tools he gives me in different/varied ways, so he gets a chance to laugh whenever I come up with something.
I heavily second this. I reflavoured my bard’s Vicious Mockery since he’s far too kind a person to, well, viciously mock people. Since he gets his powers from a fey, I renamed the cantrip to fey dissonance, and reflavoured it so, that he conjures a green energy, whistles to send it to an enemy who then hears a really unpleasant tinnitus-like ringing.
Warforged Runepriest wrote her spells on little sutra slips that she attached to her armor/body. When using one of these spells she’d stick it onto her target before striking it with her maul to activate its effect. A warlock of the great old one’s Hideous Laughter spell was him chucking a rubber chicken at his target. Made it even funnier when the target made their save, like the chicken just bounced off them with a squeak but no effect.
Playing an Artificer is basically the ultimate gauntlet of spell flavoring. Playing my main Artificer character, I never cast a spell that I haven’t thought of a description for, and I’ve decided that my character should have little to no innate arcane ability. Everything he casts is either purely mechanical and chemical, like his mechanically pressurized potion squirtgun, or magic that’s created through the use of magipunk gadgets, like his carved wooden pistol that shoots Firebolts.
I as a DM have a general rule, no 2 classes cast the same. I once had a bard and a warlock cast ID on 2 separate chests so i made it a point to describe how they visually and thematically. in the case of identify bard hears a song, warlock gets a whisper in their ear, wizards see a mathmatical problem they fully understand, and sorcerers it depends on how they got magic.
On somatic components specifically: especially powerful NPCs character in my world have glowing eyes when they cast, but they can ignore somatic components. When casting especially powerful spells, they return to using the somatic elements to “maintain better control of the spell”. This effects nothing but it adds to the narrative. When effortlessly casting lower level spells with nothing but a glow in their eyes it informs the players that the person in front of them is not to be trifled with; and when the same character starts waving his hands – they know without being told that the fight has gotten serious.
My character grew up in a desert tundra so a lot of his spells have a flavouring of either ice, snow, cold wind or sand. Cure wounds sends a cold chill through the body that helps to heal faster. Fairie Fire is basically glowing snow that clings to the body of the enemy hence why they get a dexterity save. Blindness deafness is either a loud concentrated wind around the head or a burst of sand depending on weather and blinding or deafening them. And featherfall is a cushion of air below the feet I think it’s pretty cool overall.
My druid of the shepherd is also a woodcarver. She makes individual small wooden carvings of various creatures so that when she casts Conjure Animals she rummages around in her bag for the right animal carving and they form into the full size fey creature/s. All the conjured animals also have names e.g. Chunky (rhino), North (polar bear) Crest and Crown (Giant Eagles) and many more!
I love your flavour for chill touch, that is really cool! Playing an Aasimar monk I don’t get a lot of flavour opportunities but if I get a “How do you want to do this?” I definitely take that opportunity to describe my kill. Example: “As he thrusts his short sword at me I roll inside his reach, grasp his arm, break it and as the sword falls I catch it and as I roll under the arm I stab it through his armpit!”
Ahh, last time I got inventive with spells, I was running a horror game in a pulp-y system. The baddie was vomiting bugs for the ranged bursts. Oooh, I should have added a swarm! The party improvised a flamethrower. It would have been perfect! They’d have felt really clever, and they’d definitely have run out of fuel then. Aww. When you think of the perfect action to take but years too late. ^^;
Since I’m playing a bard who totally totally loves music, and each of the spells she makes has a distinct sound and color . These descriptions make her combat sound and feel like a song and dance, as does her pose and speech. Since she is a aasimar, she had two personality’s a chaotic good human pacifist named Lindsey who usually has control of the body, and the angel part, that of a merciless lawful good angel of justice named Abigail. What spells they use and how they look and sound change drastically depending on who is in control. As does there stance. Lindsey daintily holds her sword in fools guard, and Abigail switches between ox, wrath, and kando stance. The one sided arguing the other players hear ( they don’t know about Abigail, Lindsey says that she talks to her donkey as a cover up) is hilarious. They stand stand with there party members over the sacrificial alter, injured but victorious Abigail ” yes Lindsey, you have defeated these vile worshippers of evil, finish them, and let them be cast down to hell to meet who they so foolishly worship” Lindsey ” hey guys, we’ve won, you guys can go, just leave your weapons at the door though, I don’t want you hurting anybody else ” Abigail ” wait what!” Cultist” Mrs….. my friends hurt, do you think you can save him?” Abigail” Lindsey I swear….” Lindsey ” it’s the right thing to do” Abigail ” you can just use bandages don’t…” Lindsey casts life transference Abigail ” every f****ing time…” Lindsey falls unconscious.
I’m playing a Sorlock who’s patron is a Goddess of Storms, Fortune, and Revolutions. My spells tend to have a golden hue to them, or they followed by jolts of electricity. My Darkness spell is quite literally a storm cloud and my Thunderstep is a bolt of lightning striking me to teleport me away. My favorite aesthetic choice are my eyes though. They were naturally green but now they have flecks of gold throughout. Whenever I cast spells or use Devil’s Sight, a gold mist slowly pours out of the sides.
I have a bard whose has an arcane focus that is a keytar made from the bones out of a lich’s arm, so many of his spells have a “from the depths of the crypt” feel to them and the somatic components involve mad shredding on the keys. I also DM’d a campaign where a player who was a caster wanted to play as a mute, so we replaced her verbal components with a form of sign language that is worked into the spell. To balance the drop of all verbal components mechanically, she had to dance as the somatic component and sign as the verbal, and spells affecting physical capability could have the same effect on her as being silenced.
For one of my characters their entire thing is that they look opposite of what they cast. Like they’re a demonic warlock who mainly uses fire spells, but they look like a cutesy flower druid and i describe their spells as looking like balls of ice….until it gets so close, you realize it’s blue fire I have a fun time doing this to my players when I DM 😀
When you described Aisling as casting the verbal components of her spells in Sylvan, that reminded me of my Archfey Warlock, a Warforged named Ti-22. She also verbalizes the vocal components in Sylvan sometimes, though she has her own unique quirks as a self-described Feywild Magic Unit, Titania-series, 22nd Iteration. Her material components often involve the amethyst crystal on her forehead glowing or pulsing. The somatic components involve her throwing out a locator beacon for Misty Step, sending out a wire-and-crystal lash for Lightning Lure, or transforming one of her hands into a Samus Aran-style arm cannon. And her vocal components, when not Sylvan incantations, involve her running some kind of magical program. Examples: Armor Invocation: “Activating enhanced defensive protocols.” She touches her chest as she casts Mage Armor. Fey Presence: Her gem begins to pulse as she speaks to the targets, then flashes with a bright purple light like a Neuralizer from Men in Black. Hellish Rebuke: “Activating emergency countermeasures.” Magical fire erupts around her in the direction of the offending creature. Lightning Lure: She throws out a lash of wires and crystals. “I demand your presence at this location.” Pulls them in on a failed save; sends an electrical surge through the wires. HDYWTDT (Kill flavor): The spectral image of a glamorous, regal Archfey appears in glowing light behind her. “Termination protocol activated! Source code: High Queen.”
Warlocks make the best class for easy flavor, in my opinion. I have my hexblade of Desirat, the Twilight Phoenix (from Wildemount). His hexblade’s curse is his curved longsword igniting with purple and red flame, and his Armor of Agathys forms out of feathers made of ice that freeze over his upper torso.
I’m a big fan of flavoring spells. In the last D&D Campaign I played in, my character Aurelia was a fire Genasi Bard / Rogue (Bard first). She started out as a fairly standard fire genasi with red and orange flames, and a lot of her spells were flavored in that direction, especially utilizing her flaming hair and her white eyes. At one point late in the game, she became a Vampire, and I commissioned a second piece of art to show this change, where her red flames were now a cool bluish white, her eyes pitch black, and her general appearance more feral (as a result of her transformation, she was killed and buried, so I played that up a bit). The flavor of her spells changed accordingly. A lot of what I was doing was color based, and still rooted in flame, but it was cool to see just how different things can feel when starting with a simple base.
Two examples of flavouring (one is not mine) 1. Critical Role: Caleb calling his version of Bigby’s Hand by the name of Cat’s Ire and having it be a giant cat claw. 2. This one is mine: I had a dragonborn wizard that was a war mage, and had very militaristic/intimidating spells. One example was my flavouring of Agannazar’s Scorcher: he peeled off one of his own scales and shot a drgaon made of fire from it, that then flew back to him as a pheonix and reattached his scale.
I had a way of the four elements monk who had the spell “earthen grasp” and instead of it being a cats paw it was pillars of stone entrapping someone. I just figured it made more sense because if it were a wizard casting the spell I would understand animating dirt into a paw but if a monk is doing like Kung fu or other martial arts to use these powers then it would make more sense to have it be more archaic and natural
I once played in a “silly” campaign as a narcoleptic halfling barbarian. Every time I rolled a 1, she fell asleep. The other 2 characters were a tiefling who cast shocking grasp by rubbing her feet on the carpet and zapping people and an extremely old wizard who forgot all of his spells and every time he “leveled” he “remembered” spells he had forgotten. He also cast “stinking cloud” as a loud old-man fart. Description can truly make the game. Whether it’s insanely epic or ridiculously funny, it really does spice up the game and get your roll-playing juices flowing.
I have concept of a drow bladesinger who casts closer to a cleric then a wizard. She escaped Loth’s cluthes with the help of the godess Eilistraee. She now worships her mostly in gratitude for offering her a better life but instead of using the divine blessing from worshipping her to become a cleric, she uses it to do her own thing and casts arcane spells with it, giving everything she does a silvery starlike shine to it
I have a druid character that loves to cast conjure animals. Her two Dire Wolves she conjures are called Hiedi and Hans and one has a bow on her head, the other a bowtie. She also conjures Marta, a purple Rhino to ride into battle. It does not change anything, but makes it more fun. I love flavor! Great article.
I have a necromancer that is very cheerful and outgoing, which kind of contrasts with the morbid magic she uses, she doesn’t hide the fact that she’s a necromancer at all and her magic is as morbid as can be. Her spell casting focus is a pair of bracelets made of bones she never takes off because her teacher gave them to her. So you basically have this very cheerful girl having tea parties with skeletons and zombies (though she is also strongly religious and has a strict code of self conduct when it comes to reanimating corpses).
My character is an emissary who studied magic through her travels when she picked up spells from different court wizards and magicians. She cast spells through rituals recited in a language she created that way no one could steal the spells she altered to be her own. Thanks for this article, I’ve been struggling to know how to make my magic stand out when we’re fighting and now I know!
Had a oneshot character who was a conjuration wizard who’s primary job was a costumer/prop’s mistress. Setting was roughly modern day, so there was a lot of fun with flavoring. My favorite moment was casting False Life, which gives a boost of temp HP and traditionally uses a bit of alcohol as a component. I had her conjure up a magical Four Loko and shotgun it as the flavor text of the spell.
I love your descriptions of Aisling’s use of magic. When you talked how she was taught magic was a thing to be ashamed of and how she tries to hide her magic when she casts spells, I immediately started thinking about how my Firbolg Druid, Scarabée, would react. He would probably be really confused at first, but it would shift to sadness, and he might even take her aside to talk to her on how to be more comfortable with her Druidic magic. Thanks for inspiring me again, Ginny!
This is a really good hint for DMs as well. You can use these ideas to describe the outcome of your players spells and abilities to make them feel more invested in their characters. For example, if your Spores Druid casts Detect Magic, describe how they sees spectral mushrooms growing on magical items, the species and color of the fungi denoting the school of magic (maybe some dark poisonous deathcaps for Necromancy or a circle of bioluminescent mushrooms for Evocation). If you have a Paladin who worships the Raven Queen, when they use Divine Sense, describe them seeing a skeletal crow over undead, a beautiful blue jay for celestials and maybe a strangely deformed raven for fiends. They’ll appreciate you weaving their character ideas into the story and might even inspire them to do more of that when casting their own spells.
I play a changeling wizard and enjoy describing transmutation spells that effect specifically her having some kind of interaction with the fact she can shapeshift. My favorite was casting Fly and describing wings pushing their way out of her back, second favorite was Tenser’s Transformation, which was essentially played like a scene out of The Thing.
Back when I played my Hobgoblin Paladin, I flavored her holy symbol as a series of runes burned into her arms. Each rune corresponded to a different spell, and whenever she would cast one, the corresponding rune would glow. It was simple, but I really loved how much character that one little touch gave her!
I used to play a Bard that didn’t know how to play any instrument or sing. Instead, she used card-like paintings she prepared beforehand to cast her spells, and named every card with a poem-like name to say whenever she would’ve needed to sing. It was just for show, wanted to try an artistic bard in a different field, and our DM had no problem with this. I ended up even painting some of the spells into actual cards i would bring to the games, and acted out the casting of the spells with them. It was so much fun!!
Sometimes flavor can come from just taking something that seems straightforward and doing the least obvious thing from it. I’m a DM and for my upcoming campaign I plan on doing a lot of these. I’ve got a whole encounter planned out with this chef who’s also a necromancer who brings his food back to life.
A really cool example of this I saw was in the Curse of Strahd Twice Bitten (awesome stream – blast to watch) where the high-elf Aerthrandir traces elven runes in the air to cast the spell – whereas the more shy half-elf Lilissen has a gem in her palm which she thrusts forwards to fire out the spells. Amity – the tiefling Bard who loves fables – always links her vicious mockery to a moral in her book of fables. I just love stuff like this
love this article! the way you described Aisling’s casting of Chill Touch chefs kiss My Twilight Cleric of the Raven Queen’s verbal components are in (terribly pronounced) Latin and I also changed the spell “leomund’s hut” to “Raven’s Respite”. Adding flavor to spells is such a wonderful way to immerse yourself and this article was so informative!
I have a Wizard I’m really looking forward to playing because I’ve been considering many ways to flavor his spells. For example, when casting Fire Bolt I picture him usually snapping his fingers, causing a spark to fly up from the friction. Then he catches that spark as it falls and hurls the now handful of flame. I’ve also run the names of spells through google translate to find something that sounds good for a verbal component.
My wizard, Reoánaigh, always has a little flair of ice and frost to any of her spells (except her fire spells, of course). Her Dancing Lights cantrip looks like tiny crystal spheres because they’re covered in frost. It does mean her Disguise Self eventually gets frosty, though… She’s very shy, so her somatic components for her spells are a lot more unsure because she doesn’t want to draw attention to herself, but spellcasting is one of the only things she doesn’t stutter over because she’s fully confident in what she’s saying (Reoánaigh stutters more because she’s nervous and thinking a lot about what she’s saying than an actual speech impediment). Though unsure of what she’s doing, Reoánaigh’s gestures are always elegant and graceful. Her spells miss because of her lack of confidence in herself. I’ve already decided that if she ever ends up possessed or whatever, her somatic casts are a lot more deft and confident and bigger. Like instead of just gesturing with her wrists or her fingers, Dark!Reoánaigh would use her entire arm. Meanwhile my warlock-who-didn’t-wanna-be-a-warlock-but-its-a-punishment-so-deal Eilzorwyn makes a lot of aggressive gestures when casting, and it makes her look like a physical fighter because that is what she used to be before having all of her skills ripped from her for being a horrible, greedy person. I haven’t used her yet, but she definitely goes down a lot early on because she insists on getting in the action directly rather than staying back like somone who by the luck of dice rolls is somehow squishier than my wizard.
Artificer My guy has a bunch of tiny constructs he bud that help him. “After pulling two string with his index and thumb, he catches the small wooden ball covered with runes. He presses the small button and throws it up into the air, where a small robot catches it flies at rocket speed towards it target. An explosion of fire swiftly follows. The tiny constructs returns after dropping it’s payload.” False life, is literal small tiny constructs sacrificing themselves, up casting it gives them shields. Most spells slots are energy, and material components where the things used in their creation of the gizmo.
One of my favourite examples of flavour that I saw was when a friend of mine played as a old man teifling Cleric who had a little flame between his horns, all his healing spells where cookies, like instead of casting a spell, he would take a pot of cookie dough from his pocket, hold it over his flame, and cook the cookie, then feed it to who the spell was being cast on. Smaller spells where mini hard biscuits, while bigger spells where massive soft cookies with melty chocolate chips! It made me very hungry and the player would even bring food to the campaigns!
My current character is a cocky draconic sorcerer who constantly gives off a thin trail of smoke. All his spells are smoke themed and usually start with him coughing up a ball of smoke or spitting out a bit of fire onto his fingers. My favorite scene so far is when we were fighting giants and my sorcerer casted a twinned spell Enlarge Person on our fighters. I got to describe how he spit up two balls of black smoke and chucked them at his allies. The smoke balls enveloped the two fighters and morphed them into giant versions of themselves seemingly shaped out of black smoke. My DM even added to this by saying when the spell faded the smoke giants faded as well, leaving the fighters in their place a little singed and covered in soot.
I play a fire genasi (elf background) wizard at work, and I used an Elvish dictionary and some artistic license to make a physical spellbook, making up incantations, gestures based on school and on the spell, and how to hold the focus, and actually learned some of it. She’s a conjuration wizard, so all of her conjuration spells are easy, with shortcuts that only she could find (fingers held in a certain way to access the planes required to conjure, and she simply traces a circle in the air). It’s a ton of fun for me.
My Fire Genasi Warlock, Fervor, casts their spells like… it’s hard to describe. You ever hold your fingers in front of your face and squint at someone across the room, and play with perspective to make it look to you like you’re squishing them? It’s sort of like that. To cast Demiplane, they cover their eyes, and the door appears when they move their hands away. To cast circle of death, they make a little circle with their hands and slowly it expands with their fingers until it reaches its maximum. To cast Hold person, they hold their hand in front of their face and make it look like they’re physically holding them in place. Only one I haven’t found one for, of all things, is eldritch blast. Anyone got ideas? They’re a fire genesi, but I wanted to differ away from the firey sort of things since their patron is a homebrew demigod that seeks knowledge above all else, and represents itself physically with a cuttlefish eye. So I wanted to do something cooler than just fireballs.
Me: Gloomstalker pointing a spot as I clutch the golden acorn I fashioned as a pendant to cast the Summon Beast spell. A shadowy gust of wind swirls at the area and from it soars an onyx feathered eagle attempting to claw the slaver’s grasp on the chains. DM: is that magical? Me:….. well it’s your final call but we talked about this.. Rest of the table: Rangers cast spells???
My newest character is a parody of Paula Deen. Every spell is reflavored for the character. She’s only level 2, so she doesn’t have many spells yet, but so far she knows: Lemon Splash (Acid Splash) Good Manners (Friends) Presentation (Prestidigitation) Butter (Grease) Brulee Torch (Burning Hands) The ‘Ol Razzle Dazzle (Color Spray) Food Coma (Sleep) Apron (Mage Armor) Southern Hospitality (Charm Person) Bacon Grease (Magic Missle) Unpaid Intern (Unseen Servant)
One of my favorite things to do with sorcerers is to combine flavoring and spell selection under a single theme. I don’t always choose the absolute most powerful spell available (for doing whatever it is — damage, utility, etc.); instead, I choose a reasonably effective spell that can be flavored well to align with all the other character choices I’ve made.
Spell flavoring is one of my absolute favorite ways to truly make a character come alive and be distinct! My necromancer bard was taught that spells are like art, and it’s a creative process. So his verbal components are humming certain chords for certain spells, and his somatic components is him moving his fingers as if he were playing that same chord or measure on his lute. So I make it part of his character that, in down time, he’s working on finding new chord and note combinations for new spells. His (now dead) mother always told him to stay away from necromancy (in a similar way parents say not to do drugs/smoking/drinking) so he never learned any. But now that he is learning necromancy, I designed a new way for him to do it: it’s still artistic in the sense that he speaks a couplet for each necromancy spell, but due to Abyssal summoning circles destroying his childhood home and everyone there, he views Abyssal as a language of death. So all his necromancy couplets are in Abyssal. Which is a lot of fun for things like Hex: an Enchantment spell with necrotic damage. So he sings that couplet in Abyssal… to the opening refrain of Greensleeves, hahaha. Spell flavoring is definitely one of the ways I’ve found that can truly make a character your own. My bard’s spell are like an artist creating their art, yet our celestial sorcerer/fey warlock has a much more innate, glowing and glittery version. It really makes our magic distinct in a fight despite the fact that we started the campaign with many of the same spells.
Every time my arcane trickster rogue casts a Touch-ranged spell on a party member, it’s a finger flick to the forehead. Started as a gaff when casting Invisibility, now I do it for every close quarter spell (being gentler on allied NPCs). Unless I specify the intensity, my party members play it out like it was a full-force hit. Minor role-play moments all stemmed from one ornery session’s choice.
Oh, I ADORE flavouring everything in D&D I can think of. I’ll try to mostly keep my personal favourites I’ve come up with here to spells 😀 – campaign that uses Norse mythology, I have an aasimar paladin of Freyja with an Valkyrie angelic guide (Freyja is Queen of the Valkyries, and has her own hall- Folkvangr- similar to Valhalla, but she has first pick over Odin.) I flavoured the spirits from Spirit Shroud as einharjar, the warrior spirits of Valhalla and Folkvangr- she shouts “From Folkvangr, aide me!” When casting it. My DM took it one step further and when she chooses Necrotic damage for the spell’s duration, the spirits appear like draugr (Viking warrior zombies, basically). I haven’t tried the other damage types yet, but I’m imagining shining warrior spirits for Radiant and maybe like icy mist spirits for Cold. Same aasimar paladin spent the first part of the campaign trying to hide her race from the party. Flavour hints included her occasionally using certain magic Light, Lesser Restoration, and Daylight- as having her eyes and hands glow gold, but not her holy symbol (normal spellcasting, her hands & holy symbol glow, not eyes). Same effect differentiates Healing Hands from Lay On Hands. -I have a Divine Soul Sorcerer whose Mending spell leaves behind golden seams where it broke, like Japanese kintsugi pottery. Her healing magic also leaves a faint golden line to any scars left behind. -my Tempest Cleric’s Spirit Guardians look like small blue/purple lightning balls, with a crackling storm mist that swirls around her feet in the radius.
The cleric in our campaign is affiliated to a wolf nature god and has twisted the sacred flame cantrip into a medium size maw that appears behind a foe to try and bite him. It works well with the dex save ! I just love that idea and all our players love when she uses it ! Everyone is singing the Jaws theme while I roll the npc dex save 😛
This is super helpful. I struggle to flavor spells usually but with my last character that I created I’m actually pretty proud of it. She is a warforged clockwork sorcerer who started life as a mindless automaton, one of many inventions by a cruel artificer. One day he was destroying one of his inventions and something awoke in her, she came to life and destroyed the artificer. She then took all this inventions and left. Now her spells are enacted by all the inventions that have become a part of her shell. You soldiers build barricades when she casts Aid or Shield. A ballerina doll with lobster claws triples in size and comes to life as her Summoned Construct.
One of my players is an artificer, and he does a brilliant job of flavoring his character’s spells to be artificer gadgets instead of traditional magic. In our most recent session, he cast the spell Faerie Fire, which he had imagined as covering the target in luminescent glitter. He even put on his character voice and shouted “glitter in the hole!” when he cast it.
I got an arti spi warrior. All her spells, spi powers and tech come from her ability to manipulate the strings of fate. Granted by her origin as decendend of a champion of the God’s of fate. It’s been what made the character fun as she explores both her innate and learned ability of messing with someone’s fate.
I remember my dragonborn wizard well. I tried some more unique things with him. His “spellbook” was literally him using arcane ink to tattoo the arcane patterns of the skin under his scales (paper cost was reflavored as new needles since scales hard). My favorite was that his arcane focus was a cigar and when he casted shadow blade hw would take a lung full of arcane smoke and breath it out over his claw while whispering the spell component in Draconic. The “blade” would manifest as a claw gauntlet around his arm.
I personally love playing my half-elven bard, because for every spell, I wrote a quarter page description of flavor. I often end up only describing how I want my party to feel when he’s playing, but it really helps to immerse me. I also took extra care to make every song significant and memorable, such as one taught by his late mom, or one in memory of a dear friend.
I have legacy of Mammon tiefling character who gets arcane lock as one of his racial spells. My flavour for that one is inspired by Tanith Low from Skulduggery Pleasant. He places his hands on the door, says the infernal word for “withstand” and the a pearlescent sheen coats the door momentarily, then the door is magically locked. (On a side note, being able to cast Arcane lock with no material cost is really great, because that spell is permanent, I just pick a door and that door is magically locked until someone dispels it, it’s really fun)
In my groups first campaign, I had a High Elf Barbarian. I was never good at flavoring any of her attacks, cause there are only so many ways you can describe swinging a sword, and I am not good at explaining things. However, she died a lot haha but every time she was brought back to life, she would sneeze. Its just a small thing, but I liked that it separated her from everyone else in that aspect.
What a great article! Some reflavorings I had a lot of fun with have been: – A Tiefling Heavy Metal Bard whose lightning spells came from electrifying guitar solos, whose thunder spells were power chords and whose Hellish Rebuke was a Death Metal scream – A mecha-anime inspired Armorer artificer whose spells were programs or weapons built into their suit, ie Hunter’s Mark as a scanner targeting system, or Magic Missile as spinning energy drills. – A Tortle Monk/Druid who called out the increasingly ridiculous names of his martial arts techniques when he used Monk features, ie “Crashing Mongoose Kick”, and whose Druid spells were under the watchful gaze of Tortoise spirits.
I love this idea! In essence, it’s turning the official spell into basically the ”scaffolding” (how it interacts with stats and world) for the DM – but in a way making it completely different spells in the roleplay. The way you described Pass Unseen for druid and ranger are completely different spells, then, just with the exact same effect in game.
I played an automaton bard in a scifi campaign who was mute, and so all the vocal components to his spells were either him playing a little tune on his instrument, or if he didn’t have that to hand then it was snapping his fingers/clapping his hands/tapping his foot, etc. Additionally, most of his “spells” had some form of technological explanation. For example, thunderwave was actually him attempting to use his busted voicebox (which was naturally capable of hurting people thanks to his creator constructing him like a really complicated mail bomb). Disguise self was a hologram, light was him turning on his lightbulb eyes (and the reason he couldn’t have them on for too long was because the wires would slowly warm up to the point of risking tripping his electrics). Whenever we levelled up and he learned a new spell, it was that he was literally discovering another weird thing his creator had built into him (he’d never met the guy so he had no idea how he was actually made).
Coming up with mechanical ways to produce spells effects is one of the things I really enjoy about playing an Artificer. One of my favorites is that his Faerie Fire is a foxtail loaded with a glass globe full of day-glo talcum powder and glitter that bursts on impact. Enemies that fail their save are glitter bombed.
I once played a young nobleborn war mage (before the subclass was introduced) – a wizard specifically trained to accompany and support an army during campaigns. He looked more like a noble military officer than a mage and always carried a two-handed longsword he was trained to use by his father since early childhood. He used that sword to cast a lot. For instance, to cast a ranged spell he’d point it towards the enemy with a wide gesture and shout the verbal component as if commanding archers to shoot, and the missiles would fly from behind his back. Or for Burning hands he’d chennel the energy into the blade heating it up and then make a broad swing, discharging the heat and sending forth a wave of flames. That game didn’t last too long and I was struck with the curse of DM ever since, but playing that character was loads of fun. 🙂
I once played a human wizard and flavored his offensive spells to look like energy/elemental weapons that he conjured. Most of the lower level spells were just flying sword/daggers, but some were quite memorable when I casted them the first time. Two of my favorite examples: – Chain Lightning: took the form of a trident made of Lightning. After hitting the first creature, the prongs of the trident would fly off separately to hit the other targets. – Immolation: a fiery chain would wrap around the creature, not in a way that would restrict it’s movement, but enough to make the sheet heat of the chain hurt I had the verbal components of every spell written down in my character sheet, and all of the “weapon” spells started with Armis Vocata (something like “summoned armament” in Latin), followed by a verb (burn, freeze, pierce, rain, whatever fits the spell). The somatic components were not as defined, but most of them involved the character raising his arm and then lowering it like a commander ordering his troops to attack.
I’d like to highlight some of my favorite castings due to the nature of the article: Haedrig, my Firbolg ranger, casts Pass Without Trace by inhaling a unique type of plant to improve his awareness to sounds, which lets him warn the party far ahead of time. Warrukstein, my Halfling Cleric, has a spiritual weapon of a massive wine glass that spills wine all over his foes. He also has Spirit Guardians, renamed into Spiritual Intoxication that deals poison damage. Aand my NPC, Lerica Muzworn, a Clockwork Soul sorcerer, casts his spells with his pocketwatch, which ticks VERY LOUDLY when he casts, and the spell effects go tick-tock like a watch/clock would.
Something that I love to do for my Warlock, Arvis, is make up spell incantations for his vocal components by putting phrases through a Latin translator. Examples: Fireball = *”Ignis ante mundi!”* (“Fire before the world!”) Summon Shadowspawn = *”Resurgemus, pulvis et umbra!”* (“Rise, dust and shadow!”) It may be poorly translated Latin, but it’s perfect (insert fantasy language here). I started doing it to make my Warlock’s spells feel more impactful, since he only has 2 to use. Make them feel bigger! Loved it so much, I started doing it for my other spell casters.
I got a sorcadin with a sun theme and a zealot like devotion. So his spells are mostly sun themed. Spirit Guardians becoming him imposing his will onto others, making them feel like they’re standing on the sun (IE, higher gravity for lower speed and radiant damage) Or his teleportation (Misty Step, Dimension Door, and future teleportation) are flashes of light. Additionally, his defensive spells are always flavored as being very violent and forceful. Counterspell ripping the spell out from the casters hands, dispell magic ripping the magic off something, and shield is him pushing an attack away Revivify, he litterally grabs the soul of someone and sticks it back into the person’s body.
I played a Tabaxi Wizard. His Spellbook was a ball of yarn and the variegated was how he read it. His arcane was a little bell that he would paw at which would cause his hands to glow before performing the somatic components. I have also played an Aasimar Paladin, all his aasimar traits I described as a cooling bluish light, all my Paladin features I described as having a radiant warm orange light. It made for interesting RP opportunities as players asked about the different colours and sensations.
When I rolled up my rogue, the random trinket was a tiny mechanical crab. (Except hers is broken.) Partly influenced by that trinket, she ended up with a sailor background. As an arcane trickster, one of the spells she took is “Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp.” She casts it as a muddy crab claw reaching out of the ground. It’s named “Max the Muddy Crab.” She took the Inspiring Leader feat, but doesn’t think of herself as a leader, so calls it “Inspiring Friendship.” She named her Dagger of Returning, “Anchor.” All of these are small things that don’t take up game time to describe but help me immerse in the RP & give the other players small reminders about what my character is like, even during battle scenes.
My Circle of Dreams druid has probably the most flavor of any of my characters. Her somatic component for Ice Knife is flipping the bird at the target, I always make a note to talk about how she raises her staff to the sky when performing Call Lightning, her wild shapes all have a vine-shaped cutie mark to emphasize that her combat wheelchair (which, in itself, is basically a living plant) transforms with her.
I have a wizard NPC whose spellcasting focus is a series of tattoos imbued with crystal dust going all the way up his forearms. The tattoos themselves are of various symbols that serve as a mnemonic device to remember the spells he uses most often, sorta like Adam Savage’s ruler tattoo, or like a waterbending scroll.
I have a warlock who’s a socially anxious nerd who was studying before being thrown into a pact I tend to visualize her going through memorized steps, whispering her words and making very subtle gestures. On the other hand, I have a glamour bard who loves moving gracefully, so her spells are more like a dance or like a conductor of an orchestra
So the best instance of flavored magic in our group was in a campaign I ran. I asked the wizard what it looked like when he casted magic missile. He half jokingly demonstrated it was finger guns with shotgun sound effects. Later they are going into an orc infested library and I have an orc make finger guns a cocking sound. The party instantly recognise the components and dove begind cover. The more recent form of spell flavor is woth three different members of the same church. The paladin shouts out quick prayers or orders, the cleric has an exhaustive list of movements and latin prayers, and the oracle just closes his eyes and feels what he can cast.
I have a pair of tiefling characters, twin brothers separated in childhood. Both of them are casters, and they both prefer fire based spells over anything else. Charan is the lawful good evocation wizard, and his flames are bright orange and spluttery. On the other hand, Coala is the chaotic evil fiend warlock, and his flames are black with tinges of red and have a creeping, almost consuming tendency. I think flavor is an excellent way to really showcase characters’ personalities and how they differ from one another!
My favorite caster so far, has been my elf mage who lost an arm during an accident, and wanted to show that you can still follow the path of magic with such an handicap. She was really aggressive in the way she was spellcasting. She was throwing the materials component in the air and finished a rune written in the air just before it falls in front of her to cast attack spell like fireball. Really fun to play.
My current character in a campaign I play in is an armorer artificer, so all of my spells are flavored as gadgets built into his armor. So his firebolt and Ray of Frost are blasts from a small blaster that’s built into the wrist, blur is flavored as the armor and him vibrating fast to make him harder to hit, and when I reach the level for it, revivify will be flavored as a defibrillator.
I’m playing a Homebrew Vampire class that recently took a Level in Warlock for a homebrew archfey patron known as the Rat King. After fighting a BBG human, the boon I asked for in exchange for service was to transform the BBGs soul into a rat. This was essentially the Find Familiar spell, and after the hour was up, I carved a runic symbol into a wooden table with a dagger, and filled it with the blood of innocents (another party member). Then I resummoned the rat, placed him into the runes and finished binding him to me with a chant. Everyone loved it and I got major props for my spell casting flavor at wrap up.
I am a DM and I show my players like all of your articles. We’re german so we cannot acutally use the jokes from your Tasha article or similiar. But some of the players are new to D&D and some never played with DMs who likes to role play. We all take a lot from your articles! Sot hank you for making them! You put it really good and it’s easier for me, cause I don’t have to explain a lot of things while prepping the session. So yeah, thank you very much!
I have a character in Strahd who is a conjuration wizard from a modern world, but meant to come across more as an artificer type. When she uses spells like detect magic as a ritual, instead of putting candles out and other things, she takes out various gadgets that are frequently used nowadays by ghost investigators – like K2 meters, devices to measure temperature, spirit box (ie a radio that can’t stay on one station). She takes all these out and spends the ten minutes getting a feel for the area. I’m a big fan of ghost investigations anyway, as is my partner (who also plays with us), so it makes it a lot of fun and flavourful! 🙂
Ginny! I love your articles so much and when you make things like this I always note them down so I can share them with my other D&D friends. I find they’re especially helpful when getting new players to come out of their shell and play around a bit more with a second or third character! As for how my character casts spells, well, my paladin doesn’t talk ever and speaks through sign, so when he uses a spell, he often begins casting it using the movements he naturally makes while in combat – it makes for a very dynamic display of both combat and spellcasting skill, and makes me flavor his attacks in a more interesting way as well. It often looks like he’s dancing with his sword or spear! Thanks for sharing these ideas with us, and I hope you have a great weekend!