What classes can cast spells?
| Class Method Focus/Foci | Rogue (Arcane Trickster) Knowledge – | Sorcerer Knowledge Arcane focus | Warlock Knowledge Arcane focus | Wizard Wizard Arcane focus |
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Bards, sorcerers, warlocks and wizards learn to cast arcane spells, which are typically flashy and powerful. Clerics, druids, rangers and paladins cast divine spells, which draw their power from a deity, from nature, or simply the caster’s inner faith.
Only creatures that use a class’s spell list and have spell slots or who have the Ritual Caster feat can use Spell Scrolls. In the published official material as of 2018, this includes: PCs with levels in the Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Warlock or Wizard classes.
The majority of the caster classes are full-casters : bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, and wizard.
There are 132 spells of 1st level or higher available for a Druid – 69 of these can also be cast by a Wizard leaving only 63 spells a Druid can cast that a Wizard cannot .
There may be some levels and ability score combinations where other classes have more spells, but for purely classes Clerics come out as the winners (35 at level 20 with a Wisdom of 20).
No, Warlocks do not have to prepare spells
Warlocks do not have to prepare spells like a cleric or wizard, they have a list of spells known and a number of spell slots they can use to cast those spells. See pg. 107 of the PHB.
Image: Wizards of the Coast. As spellcasters druids are able to prepare which spells they plan to use after every long rest . Selecting from the list of druid spells, your character will be able to select as many spells to prepare as equal to their wisdom modifier plus their current level.
Paladins are fighters first, and spell casters second . They can only cast spells starting at 2nd level and can only prepare a number of spells equal to their Charisma modifier (which, being your 3rd priority stat should only be a +1, maybe +2 unless you had some AMAZING stat rolls) plus half their Paladin level.
You cannot cast two cantrips during one action . That’s why many cantrips scale as you level. To further explain what you read, if you cast a spell as a bonus action, you can only use your action to cast a cantrip. For example, there’s a monster next to you.
So in 5e the answer is Yes. Within limits . For example a Cleric does not have a spellbook and so would have to scribe a spell to a scroll before the wizard could acquire it. But the aformentioned Tome Warlock and the Wizard can just copy down spells from eachothers books.
A cleric doesn’t learn any spells mechanically, but they do prepare them , which means they do not have to learn them as they gain levels. The process of preparing spells is detailed in the PHB on page 58: ... you prepare the list of cleric spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the cleric spell list.
The general rule for scrolls “any creature that can understand a written language can read the arcane script on a scroll and attempt to activate it” is overridden by the specific rule for Spell Scrolls: “ if the spell is on your class’s list you can use an action to read it...otherwise the scroll is illegible “.
The general rule is that anyone who can read a language can read the scroll and attempt to activate it. This makes it so anyone can use types of scrolls that aren’t spell scrolls, such as scroll of protection.
Ranger and Paladin were originally invented to specifically be half Fighter and “half caster” (Druid and Cleric respectively), back when there was a difference between “multiclassing” and “dual classing” based on which races could do which and how they worked.
The Bard character class that appears in the Player’s Handbook has always seemed somewhat overpowered, compared to the other “full caster” classes (i.e. the Sorcerer).
You can turn someone into a velociraptor, but a dragon isn’t a viable option . Next the CR limitation is mostly for “voluntary” polymorphs, rather than “offensive” polymorphs, as it’s basically just there to stop you from turning your buddy into something way above your paygrade.
Classes that access spell slots at Level 1 are full casters. These classes are bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, and wizard . They gain the most spell slots and can access up to 9th level spell slots: the most powerful spells in the game.
Fireball is only available to Pact of the Fiend Warlocks .
As for why Warlock has fewer spell slots, one of the reasons is because no other caster can deal that kind damage with a Cantrips spell . Because of eldritch blast and it’s invocations. Even when you have no spell slots remaining, warlocks are quite good.
The multi-classing rules state that you select the spells known or prepared based on your levels in the specific classes but you receive spell slots based on the combination of classes . A 6th level artificer is a 3rd level spell caster and can choose spells from the artificer list up to level 2 spells.
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