Spellcasting in D&D: The Schools of Magic

There are many schools of magic in the D&D world, and thankfully, they all have confusing names. A school of magic is a group of spells that affect the world in similar ways.

Abjuration

The origin of the word Abjuration comes from the Latin “abjurare” which means to, forswear something, or to get rid of something. In D&D abjuration spells can range from banishing your enemy’s to another plane of existence, or simply blocking foes from allies, most abjuration spells involve getting rid of an enemy or stopping them from moving to a certain location.

Conjuration

Conjuration magic allows you to summon an animal or a monster to appear suddenly in front of you, or to create water seemingly out of nothing. Conjuration spells allow you to transport matter from one location to another spells like “call lightning” and “conjure animal” are in the conjuration school of magic.

Divination

The Latin origin of divination is “divinare” which means to predict. Divination spells are used to gather and reveal unknown information. Often Divination spells can show you glimpses of the future or give you previously unknown information. Spells like find traps and detect thoughts can be used to give you more knowledge during your adventures.

Enchantment

Enchantment in D&D doesn’t mean the enchantment of an object, enchantment in D&D means the manipulation of people, monsters or beast’s, minds, be it by calming down a wild animal or making an enemy see you as a friend .

Evocation

Evocation spells are good at killing things, with fire lightning or floating magical swords, most evocation spells are used offensively, although some can be used to heal allies. Evocation comes from the latin word “evocatio” which means to call forth, similar to the large amounts of energy projcted through evocation spells, especially when they make things go boom.

Illusion

Illusion spells are often used for trickery, be it deceiving another senses with artificial sounds or messing with their minds, to make them see, taste, smell or hear something that isn’t there, or so that they fail to see what is really there.

Necromancy

The word necromancy comes from the splicing together of two ancient Greek words, “Nekrós” which means dead body and “Manteia” which means seeking knowledge, this fits with spells in D&D like “Speak With Dead” which literally allows you to gain knowledge from the dead.

Necromancy spells in D&D are described as using the energy of life and death. In the Players handbook it states that spells such as “animate dead” which create the undead are a a big no-no and that mages that cast those spells regularly are evil characters.However It is up to the discretion of your Dungeon Master whether or not necromancy spells are inherently evil.

Transmutation

Transmutation spells are used to change the properties of a creature, object or environment. Spells like “Mold Earth” or “Enlarge” are classed as Transmutation spells as they alter the properties of physical matter.