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When you’re casting a spell the school it belongs do likely won’t matter, however, the schools do matter for certain subclasses: Notable spells from this school include Featherfall, Goodberry, Alter Self, Dragon Breath, and Slow. This could be turning an enemy into a harmless creature, bolstering the strength of a party member, or moving an object at the user’s command.
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Notable spells in this school include False Life, Vampiric Touch, Animate Dead, and Revivify. Necromancy – The energies of life itself are manipulated by this school, whether that be investing a creature with an extra reserve of life force, draining the life from an enemy, raising the bodies of the dead as minions, and even bringing back allies from death.Notable spells in this school include Minor Illusion, Disguise Self, Invisibility, Shadow Blade, and Hypnotic Pattern. Illusion – Deceiving the mind and senses is what this school does, whether that be distorting reality for all to see, or planting images directly into the mind of an individual.Notable spells in this school include Cure Wounds, Darkness, Fireball, and Sending. Evocation – This school deals with the manipulation of energy to achieve the desired effect, this is commonly thought of as damaging effects but also includes healing and other kinds of effects.Notable spells from this school include Bless, Charm Person, Hex, and Hold Person. These spells can warp the target’s perception of friend or foe, force them to take a certain course of action, or outright control them like a puppet. Enchantment – Whilst you may think about enchanting an item to make it magic, this school actually contains spells that affect the minds of others to influence or control their behavior.Notable spells in this school include Guidance, Detect Magic, Hunter’s Mark, Augury, and Scrying. Divination – Gathering and revealing information is the purview of this school, be it forgotten secrets, the location of objects, glimpses of the future, or the reality behind an illusion.Notable spells in this school include Mage Hand, Find Familiar, Find Steed, Misty Step, Call Lightning, Spirit Guardians, and Conjure Animals. Conjuration – These spells deal with the transporting of objects and creatures from one location to another, or even creating objects or effects from nothing.Notable spells in this school include Shield, Alarm, Aid, Counterspell, and Lesser/Greater Restoration. Abjuration – Spells that typically protect or ward creatures or areas, this can include creating magical barriers, harming trespassers, and banishing creatures to other planes of existence.There are no rules inherent to the schools of magic, however, some subclasses do use the label for certain features. This classification is primarily used by in-game magic academies and Wizards for theoretical purposes, with every spell assigned to one of these schools.
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In this article, we’ll explain what these schools mean and how they may affect you.
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You might be most familiar with these schools as they form the framework for the Wizard subclasses included in the Player’s Handbook ( PHB). Spells in Dungeons and Dragons are separated into eight categories, called the schools of magic.
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