Editing Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (section)

== Magic/Spellcasting ==
Spells don't vanish like Vancian spellcasting "fire-and-forget". Spellcasters get a small number of 'cantrips' that they can cast at-will. The attacking ones are (sort of) equivalent to weapons, and scale up with level. Non-cantrip spells do not scale up their effect with character level, but they may have bigger effects if cast using a higher spell slot. For instance, the 1st-level spell Burning Hands (3d6 damage) does 4d6 when cast as a 2nd-level spell, 5d6 as a third-level, etc. The caster either prepares a number of different spells each day (cleric, druid, paladin, wizard) or uses all the spells in his repertoire (ranger, sorcerer, warlock, bard) which are then freely cast using spell slots. There is no "Improved Hold Person" instead you cast this 2nd level spell using a 3rd level slot to affect one additional person.

Some spells can be cast as rituals, usually utility stuff. They take an additional 10 minutes to cast as a ritual, but don't use a spell slot. Still needs to be on your spell list, but this means no more blowing an entire day's worth of spell slots on casting "Read Magic" and "Identify" just so you can assess loot. More interestingly, there are some utility spells, what are not rituals, so you DO need to waste a spell slot for one person's 8 hour darkvision.

Some spells, like buff enchantments or protection abjurations, have a continuous effect maintained by 'concentration'. The spellcaster can maintain concentration as a free action, but can only keep concentration going for one spell. No more [[CoDzilla|heaping a bazillion enchantments or abjurations all at once]]. Concentration can also be broken by taking damage if the caster fails a Constitution saving throw.

Another change to spellcasting is that many spells have been compressed into one; instead of having six different buff spells, one for each stat, there is now one and you pick which stat to buff when you cast it. Examples of spells that have this are the Runes spell series and the Symbol spells.

Spells are no longer cast with XP as a required component. [[Wish]], for example, does not require EXP to cast; however, it is much more dangerous to use (the caster has a 1/3 chance of never being able to cast it again).

Charge-based magic items such as wands, staves, etc have returned, but are no longer completely "fire and forget". If you use your last charge in such an item, there's a 1 in 20 chance that it will be destroyed (roll a D20 after charges drop to zero, item disintegrates after use if you roll a 1), but otherwise it will regain a number of charges based on the item each morning. So, if you're careful and lucky, you can keep using the same wand (or other item) throughout your career.