Spells

From DDO Compendium

Overview[edit]

A spell is a discrete magical effect, a single shaping of the magical energies that are plentiful in the universe. In Casting a Spell, a character carefully plucks a magical thread and releases them to unleash the desired effect—in most cases, all in the span of seconds.

Spells can be Versatile tools, Weapons, or protective wards. They can deal damage or undo it, impose or remove Conditions, drain life energy away, and restore life to the dead.

List of All Spells

Spell Level[edit]

Every spell has a level from 0 to 9. A spell’s level is a general indicator of how powerful it is, with the lowly (but still impressive) Magic Missile at 1st level and the mass healing at level 9. The higher a spell’s level, the higher level a spellcaster must be to use that spell.

Spell level and character level don’t correspond directly. Typically, a character has to be at least 17th level, not 9th level, to cast a 9th--level spell.

Casting Spells[edit]

Before a spellcaster can use a spell, he or she must have the spell prepared, or must have access to the spell in a magic item. Members of a few Classes, including bards and sorcerers, have a limited list of Spells they know that are always prepared.

Preparing a spell[edit]

This isn't needed for all classes:

  • Some classes select spells during level up, and those are automatically prepared, Sorcerer for example
  • Some classes automatically get all possible spells during level up, but have to prepare them, Clerics for example
  • Some classes need to pick spells during level up, but can add to that list by inscribing more spells, but they also have to prepare them, Wizards for example

To prepare a spell, you need to either be in a tavern, or having just rested (and not moved, or casted a different spell) at a shrine. Open the character sheet by pressing c on the keyboard. Then click on the Spells tab.

Character Sheet Spells Overall.png

There are 3 sections to this part of the spell list in the character sheet:

  • Class List: Highlighted in Yellow
    • Shows all the classes that you have spells available for
    • In the example there is only 1, but you could have up to 3 classes there
    • Clicking on this changes which spells and spell levels are shown on the rest of the UI
  • Spell Level Tabs: Highlighted in Green
    • Shows the different spell levels you can go and select spells for
    • The top one is the overall view (shown in this example)
    • Clicking on one changes the overall view into a list of spells that are available, and active. This is described below
  • Prepared Spells: Highlighted in Blue
    • This shows all the spells that are currently prepared, or empty boxes for locations that you can prepare a new spell
    • To prepare a spell you need to click on the level tab to show the list of spells that are available and active
    • You must drag a prepared spell onto a hot bar to be able to use it.


Character Sheet Spells Prepare.png

This portion shares 2 sections with the above (Class List and Spell Level Tabs), the other 2 are new:

  • Known Spells: Highlighted in Purple
    • Contains a list of all memorized spell
    • The list will be greyed out if you can't currently change which spells are prepared
  • Prepared Spells: Highlighted in Red
    • This contains the list of prepared spells for the level
    • You can drag from the memorized spell list to the prepared spell to prepare a specific spell
    • You can then drag it from the prepared spell location to a hot bar if you would like