Tetch’s Book of Small Wonders and Other Useful Magics
Being an honest account of my most reliable tricks, my least reliable spells, and other matters of chance and folly.
If lost, the fates intended it so.
Minor Illusion
Useful for convincing drunks, guards, and occasionally yourself. Remember: the more you believe it, the longer it fools them. Tried to make a dragon once. Looked more like an angry chicken. Still worked. Who hooted at it for fifteen minutes — proud moment.
Spell Block
PHB
Minor Illusion
0-level (Cantrip) Illusion
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 30 feet
Components: Somatic, Material
Materials: A bit of fleece
Duration: 1 minute
You create a sound or an image of an object within range that lasts for the duration. The illusion also ends if you dismiss it as an action or cast this spell again.
If you create a sound, its volume can range from a whisper to a scream. It can be your voice, someone else’s voice, a lion’s roar, a beating of drums, or any other sound you choose. The sound continues unabated throughout the duration, or you can make discrete sounds at different times before the spell ends.
If you create an image of an object—such as a chair, muddy footprints, or a small chest—it must be no larger than a 5-foot cube. The image can’t create sound, light, smell, or any other sensory effect. Physical interaction with the image reveals it to be an illusion, because things can pass through it.
If a creature uses its action to examine the sound or image, the creature can determine that it is an illusion with a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. If a creature discerns the illusion for what it is, the illusion becomes faint to the creature.
Sound travels faster than light when you’re lying.
Illusions are lies. Illusions are truths with better timing.
Mage Hand
A ghostly helper better at holding drinks than secrets. Useful for card tricks, door handles, or polite theft.
Spell Block
PHB
Mage Hand
0-level (Cantrip) Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 30 feet
Components: Verbal, Somatic
Duration: 1 minute
A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. The hand vanishes if it is ever more than 30 feet away from you or if you cast this spell again.
You can use your action to control the hand. You can use the hand to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. You can move the hand up to 30 feet each time you use it.
The hand can’t attack, activate magical items, or carry more than 10 pounds.
Note: The hand refuses to clean up after me.
Mind Sliver
Sharp as a hangover and just as unkind. Feels like whispering a bad idea directly into someone’s skull.
Spell Block
TCE
Mind Sliver
0-level (Cantrip) Enchantment
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 60 feet
Components: Verbal
Duration: 1 round
Attack/Save: Saving Throw
You drive a disorienting spike of psychic energy into the mind of one creature you can see within range. The target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw or take 1d6 psychic damage and subtract 1d4 from the next saving throw it makes before the end of your next turn.
At higher levels: This spell’s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach certain levels: 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).
Works best when you’re annoyed.
Create Bonfire
Tiny flames for warmth or distraction. Once singed my sleeve — worth it.
Always check wind direction.
Prestidigitation
The bread and butter of pretending to be competent. Cleans, dirties, flavors, or distracts. Also makes a
decent spark for lighting cigars.
Spell Block
PHB
Prestidigitation
0-level (Cantrip) Transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 10 feet
Components: Verbal, Somatic
Duration: Up to 1 hour
This spell is a minor magical trick that novice spellcasters use for practice. You create one of the following magical effects within range:
- You create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint musical notes, or an odd odor.
- You instantaneously light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
- You instantaneously clean or soil an object no larger than 1 cubic foot.
- You chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for 1 hour.
- You make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear on an object or a surface for 1 hour.
- You create a nonmagical trinket or an illusory image that can fit in your hand and that lasts until the end of your next turn.
If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.
Find Familiar
Summons Who, my elf owl. A gossip with wings and far too much self-importance. He sees what I don’t and tells me what I already knew.
Spell Block
PHB
Find Familiar
1-level Conjuration
Ritual - does not require spell slot, takes 10 minutes longer
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range/Area: 10 feet
Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material
Materials: 10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier
You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.
Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can’t attack, but it can take other actions as normal.
When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again. As an action, you can temporarily dismiss your familiar to a pocket dimension. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. Whenever the familiar drops to 0 hit points or disappears into the pocket dimension, it leaves behind in its space anything it was wearing or carrying.
While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar’s eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.
You can’t have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.
Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll.
Shield
Works best when screaming
"not today!" very loudly.
Spell Block
PHB
Shield
1-level Abjuration
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when you are hit by an attack or targeted by the magic missile spell
Range/Area: Self
Components: Verbal, Somatic
Duration: 1 round
An invisible barrier of magical force appears and protects you. Until the start of your next turn, you have a +5 bonus to AC, including against the triggering attack, and you take no damage from magic missile.
Highly recommended during tavern brawls.
Silent Image
Great for hiding things or making things seem different than they are. Who enjoys making copies of himself for company.
Spell Block
PHB
Silent Image
1-level Illusion
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 60 feet
Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material
Materials: A bit of fleece
You create the image of an object, a creature, or some other visible phenomenon that is no larger than a 15-foot cube. The image appears at a spot within range and lasts for the duration. The image is purely visual; it isn’t accompanied by sound, smell, or other sensory effects.
You can use your action to cause the image to move to any spot within range. As the image changes location, you can alter its appearance so that its movements appear natural for the image. For example, if you create an image of a creature and move it, you can alter the image so that it appears to be walking.
Physical interaction with the image reveals it to be an illusion, because things can pass through it. A creature that uses its action to examine the image can determine that it is an illusion with a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. If a creature discerns the illusion for what it is, the creature can see through the image.
Disguise Self
Change appearance to fool onlookers.
Spell Block
PHB
Disguise Self
1-level Illusion
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: Self
Components: Verbal, Somatic
Duration: 1 hour
You make yourself – including your clothing, armor, weapons, and other belongings on your person – look different until the spell ends or until you use your action to dismiss it. You can seem 1 foot shorter or taller and can appear thin, fat, or in between. You can’t change your body type, so you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs. Otherwise, the extent of the illusion is up to you.
The changes wrought by this spell fail to hold up to physical inspection. For example, if you use this spell to add a hat to your outfit, objects pass through the hat, and anyone who touches it would feel nothing or would feel your head and hair. If you use this spell to appear thinner than you are, the hand of someone who reaches out to touch you would bump into you while it was seemingly still in midair. To discern that you are disguised, a creature can use its action to inspect your appearance and must succeed on an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC.
Change personality. Change look, not attitude.
Comprehend Languages
I know what they say, even if I pretend not to. Useful at markets, taverns, and shady card tables.
Spell Block
PHB
Comprehend Languages
1-level Divination
Ritual - does not require spell slot, takes 10 minutes longer
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: Self
Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material
Materials: A pinch of soot and salt
Duration: 1 hour
For the duration, you understand the literal meaning of any spoken language that you hear. You also understand any written language that you see, but you must be touching the surface on which the words are written. It takes about 1 minute to read one page of text.
This spell doesn’t decode secret messages in a text or glyph, such as an arcane sigil, that isn’t part of a written language.
Alarm
Magical bell that yells at intruders. Often startles Who more than anyone else.
Spell Block
PHB
Alarm
1-level Abjuration
Ritual - does not require spell slot, takes 10 minutes longer
Casting Time: 1 Minute
Range/Area: 30 feet
Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material
Materials: A tiny bell and a piece of fine silver wire
Duration: 8 hours
You set an alarm against unwanted intrusion. Choose a door, a window, or an area within range that is no larger than a 20-foot cube. Until the spell ends, an alarm alerts you whenever a tiny or larger creature touches or enters the warded area. When you cast the spell, you can designate creatures that won’t set off the alarm. You also choose whether the alarm is mental or audible.
A mental alarm alerts you with a ping in your mind if you are within 1 mile of the warded area. This ping awakens you if you are sleeping. An audible alarm produces the sound of a hand bell for 10 seconds within 60 feet.
Detect Magic
Find the shimmer in things that shouldn’t shimmer. Also helps locate missing coins.
Spell Block
PHB
Detect Magic
1-level Divination
Ritual - does not require spell slot, takes 10 minutes longer
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: Self
Components: Verbal, Somatic
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes
For the duration, you sense the presence of magic within 30 feet of you. If you sense magic in this way, you can use your action to see a faint aura around any visible creature or object in the area that bears magic, and you learn its school of magic, if any.
The spell can penetrate most barriers, but is blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt.
Identify
Tells you what an object does. Can be boring if it’s a regular spoon.
Spell Block
PHB
Identify
1-level Divination
Ritual - does not require spell slot, takes 10 minutes longer
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range/Area: Touch
Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material
Materials: A pearl worth at least 100 gp and an owl feather
Duration: Instantaneous
You choose one object that you must touch throughout the casting of the spell. If it is a magic item or some other magic-imbued object, you learn its properties and how to use them, whether it requires attunement to use, and how many charges it has, if any. You learn whether any spells are affecting the item and what they are. If the item was created by a spell, you learn which spell created it.
If you instead touch a creature throughout the casting, you learn what spells, if any, are currently affecting it.
Absorb Elements
Catch elemental attacks and throw them back.
Spell Block
XGE
Absorb Elements
1-level Abjuration
Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when you take acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage
Range/Area: Self
Components: Somatic
Duration: 1 round
Attack/Save: Melee
Damage/Effect: Variable
The spell captures some of the incoming energy, lessening its effect on you and storing it for your next melee attack. You have resistance to the triggering damage type until the start of your next turn. Also, the first time you hit with a melee attack on your next turn, the target takes an extra 1d6 damage of the triggering type, and the spell ends.
At higher levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the extra damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.
Warning: Owls are not impressed.
Goodberry
Berries that keep you alive and occasionally happy.
Spell Block
PHB
Goodberry
1-level Transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: Touch
Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material
Materials: A sprig of mistletoe
Duration: Instantaneous
Up to ten berries appear in your hand and are infused with magic for the duration. A creature can use its action to eat one berry. Eating a berry restores 1 hit point, and the berry provides enough nourishment to sustain a creature for one day.
The berries lose their potency if they have not been consumed within 24 hours of the casting of this spell.
Sleep
Nothing fancy, just makes people nap. Sometimes works on goblins.
Spell Block
PHB
Sleep
1-level Enchantment
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 90 feet
Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material
Materials: A pinch of fine sand, rose petals, or a cricket
Duration: 1 minute
This spell sends creatures into a magical slumber. Roll 5d8, the total is how many hit points of creatures this spell can affect. Creatures within 20 feet of a point you choose within range are affected in ascending order of their current hit points (ignoring unconscious creatures).
Starting with the creature that has the lowest current hit points, each creature affected by this spell falls unconscious until the spell ends, the sleeper takes damage, or someone uses an action to shake or slap the sleeper awake. Subtract each creature’s hit points from the total before moving on to the creature with the next lowest hit points. A creature’s hit points must be equal to or less than the remaining total for that creature to be affected. Undead and creatures immune to being charmed aren’t affected by this spell.
At higher levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, roll an additional 2d8 for each slot level above 1st.
Knock
Opens doors, chests, or stubborn minds.
Spell Block
Basic Rules (2014)
Knock
2-level Transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 60 ft.
Components: V
Duration: 10 minutes
Choose an object that you can see within range. The object can be a door, a box, a chest, a set of manacles, a padlock, or another object that contains a mundane or magical means that prevents access.
Casting this spell on a target that is held shut by a mundane lock or that is stuck or barred reduces the DC to open it by 10.
If you choose a target that is held shut with arcane lock, that spell is suppressed for the duration. Any magical traps or sensors that could be triggered by the object are also suppressed for the duration.
When you cast the spell, a loud knock, audible from as far away as 300 feet, emanates from the target object.
Available for: Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard, Oath of Zeal
Web
Sticky and annoying. Excellent for trapping pursuers or bad feelings.
Spell Block
PHB
Web
2-level Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 60 feet
Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material
Materials: A bit of spiderweb
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour
Attack/Save: Saving Throw
You conjure a mass of thick, sticky webbing at a point of your choice within range. The webs fill a 20-foot cube from that point for the duration. The webs are difficult terrain and lightly obscure their area.
If the webs aren’t anchored between two solid masses (such as walls or trees) or layered across a floor, wall, or ceiling, the conjured web collapses on itself, and the spell ends at the start of your next turn. Webs layered over a flat surface have a depth of 5 feet.
Each creature that starts its turn in the webs or that enters them during its turn must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is restrained as long as it remains in the webs or until it breaks free.
A creature restrained by the webs can use its action to make a Strength check against your spell save DC. If it succeeds, it is no longer restrained.
The webs are flammable. Any 5-foot cube of webs exposed to fire burns away in 1 round, dealing 2d4 fire damage to any creature that starts its turn in the fire.
Dragon's Breath
Fire, cold, or whatever you fancy.
Spell Block
Xanthar's Guide to Everything
Dragon's Breath
2-level Transmutation
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range/Area: Touch (15 ft. cone)
Components: V, S, M
Materials: a hot pepper
Duration: 1 minute (concentration)
You touch one willing creature and imbue it with the power to spew magical energy from its mouth, provided it has one. Choose acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison. Until the spell ends, the creature can use an action to exhale energy of the chosen type in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking 3d6 damage of the chosen type on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
At higher levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 2nd.
Available for: Sorcerer, Wizard, Draconic Sorcery
Don’t use right after lunch.
Augury
Divination via dice or omens. Who always disagrees.
Spell Block
Basic Rules (2014)
Augury
2-level Divination
Ritual - does not require spell slot, takes 10 minutes longer
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range/Area: Self
Components: V, S, M*
Materials: specially marked sticks, bones, or similar tokens worth at least 25 gp
Duration: Instantaneous
By casting gem-inlaid sticks, rolling dragon bones, laying out ornate cards, or employing some other divining tool, you receive an omen from an otherworldly entity about the results of a specific course of action that you plan to take within the next 30 minutes. The DM chooses from the following possible omens:
- Weal, for good results
- Woe, for bad results
- Weal and woe, for both good and bad results
- Nothing, for results that aren't especially good or bad
The spell doesn't take into account any possible circumstances that might change the outcome, such as the casting of additional spells or the loss or gain of a companion.
If you cast the spell two or more times before completing your next long rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting after the first that you get a random reading. The DM makes this roll in secret.
Available for: Cleric, Knowledge Domain, Oath of the Open Sea
Misty Step
Disappear for a second, appear elsewhere. Useful for tavern exits.
Spell Block
PHB
Misty Step
2-level Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range/Area: Self
Components: Verbal
Duration: Instantaneous
Briefly surrounded by silvery mist, you teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see.
See Invisibility
See what others hope you wouldn’t. Usually disappointing.
Spell Block
PHB
See Invisibility
2-level Divination
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: Self
Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material
Materials: A pinch of talc and a small sprinkling of powdered silver
Duration: 1 hour
For the duration, you see invisible creatures and objects as if they were visible, and you can see into the Ethereal Plane. Ethereal creatures and objects appear ghostly and translucent.
Darkvision
Because being a halfling in dark places is otherwise frustrating.
Spell Block
Basic Rules (2014)
Darkvision
2-level Transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: Touch
Components: V, S, M
Materials: a dried carrot
Duration: 8 hours
You touch a willing creature to grant it the ability to see in the dark. For the duration, that creature has darkvision out to a range of 60 feet.
Available for: Artificer, Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer, Wizard, Circle of Shadows
Borrowed Knowledge
Steal someone else’s knowledge temporarily.
Never steal Who’s knowledge.
Spell Block
Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
Borrowed Knowledge
2-level Divination
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: Self
Components: V, S, M*
Materials: a book worth at least 25 gp
Duration: 1 hour
You draw on knowledge from spirits of the past. Choose one skill in which you lack proficiency. For the spell’s duration, you have proficiency in the chosen skill. The spell ends early if you cast it again.
Available for: Bard, Cleric, Warlock, Wizard
Aid
A little boost for friends. Also works on oneself if very convincing.
Spell Block
D&D Free Rules (2024)
Aid
2-level Abjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 30 ft.
Components: V, S, M
Materials: a strip of white cloth
Duration: 8 hours
Choose up to three creatures within range. Each target’s Hit Point maximum and current Hit Points increase by 5 for the duration.
At higher levels: Each target’s Hit Points increase by 5 for each spell slot level above 2.
Available for: Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger, Peace Domain, Life Domain, Oath of Devotion, Clockwork Sorcery, The Celestial
Calm Emotions
Makes the grumpy less grumpy. Sometimes backfires on cats.
Spell Block
Basic Rules (2014) - Modified
Calm Emotions
2-level Enchantment
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 60 ft. (20 ft. sphere)
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 minute (concentration)
Each humanoid in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on a point you choose within range must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be affected by one of the following effects (choose for each creature):
- The creature has immunity to the charmed and frightened conditions until the spell ends. If the creature was already charmed or frightened, those conditions are suppressed for the duration.
- The creature becomes indifferent about creatures of your choice that it’s hostile toward. This indifference ends if the target takes damage or witnesses its allies taking damage. When the spell ends, the creature’s attitude returns to normal.
Available for: Bard, Cleric, Keeper Domain, Oath of Redemption, Aberrant Sorcery, The Archfey
Hypnotic Pattern
Flashy lights that mesmerize.
Spell Block
PHB
Hypnotic Pattern
3-level Illusion
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 120 feet
Components: Somatic, Material
Materials: A glowing stick of incense or a crystal vial filled with phosphorescent material
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
You create a twisting pattern of colors that weaves through the air inside a 30-foot cube within range. The pattern appears for a moment and vanishes. Each creature in the area who sees the pattern must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature becomes charmed for the duration. While charmed by this spell, the creature is incapacitated and has a speed of 0.
The spell ends for an affected creature if it takes any damage or if someone else uses an action to shake the creature out of its stupor.
Warning: may mesmerize self too.
Summon Shadowspawn
Call forth little creepy helpers. They like to lurk.
Create Food and Water
Useful if you forgot to pack lunch.
Spell Block
PHB
Create Food and Water
3-level Conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range/Area: 30 feet
Components: Verbal, Somatic
Duration: Instantaneous
You create 45 pounds of food and 30 gallons of water on the ground or in containers within range, enough to sustain up to fifteen humanoids or five steeds for 24 hours. The food is bland but nourishing, and spoils if uneaten after 24 hours. The water is clean and doesn’t go bad.
Leomund's Tiny Hut
Personal cozy dome. Great for sleeping, planning, and hiding from Who’s judgment.
Spell Block
PHB
Leomund's Tiny Hut
3-level Evocation
Ritual - does not require spell slot, takes 10 minutes longer
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range/Area: Self (10-foot-radius hemisphere)
Components: Verbal, Somatic, Material
Materials: A small crystal bead
Duration: 8 hours
A 10-foot-radius immobile dome of force springs into existence around and above you and remains stationary for the duration. The spell ends if you leave its area.
Nine creatures of Medium size or smaller can fit inside the dome with you. The spell fails if its area includes a larger creature or more than nine creatures. Creatures and objects within the dome when you cast this spell can move through it freely. All other creatures and objects are barred from passing through it. Spells and other magical effects can't extend through the dome or be cast through it. The atmosphere inside the space is comfortable and dry, regardless of the weather outside.
Until the spell ends, you can command the interior to become dimly lit or dark. The dome is opaque from the outside, of any color you choose, but it is transparent from the inside.
Omens
Day 14: The clouds are gossiping today. They talk about coin, coffee, and cats.
Day 27: Who predicts rain, but I disagree. Spent three hours proving him wrong.
Day 33: Met a bard who claimed the world ends on Tuesdays. I took notes.
Day 41: A merchant tried selling me invisible ink. Worked perfectly on my temper.
Day 47: Saw three shadows overlap. Either a portent or a coincidence. Who won't say.
The trick, really, is knowing when to believe your own lies.
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