And how this will affect your character build and spell choices.
D&D 2024 brought with it some changes to the logic behind how some things are categorised. Some of these changes include the spell schools that certain spells belong to with 31 spells changing their school of magic.
While these changes don’t affect much mechanically, they do make a difference for certain character options and builds. Below I’ve compiled all the spells that have changed their school of magic and how that changes certain character options.
Which spells have changed their spell school?
I’ve gone through the 2014 and 2024 spells to see which have changed their spell school and I’ve listed all of these below:
| Spell | Level | 2014 school of magic | 2024 school of magic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aura of vitality | 3 | Evocation | Abjuration |
| Banishing smite | 5 | Abjuration | Conjuration |
| Contingency | 6 | Evocation | Abjuration |
| Cure wounds | 1 | Evocation | Abjuration |
| Hallow | 5 | Evocation | Abjuration |
| Heal | 6 | Evocation | Abjuration |
| Healing word | 1 | Evocation | Abjuration |
| Mass cure wounds | 5 | Evocation | Abjuration |
| Mass heal | 9 | Evocation | Abjuration |
| Mass healing word | 3 | Evocation | Abjuration |
| Otiluke’s resilient sphere | 4 | Evocation | Abjuration |
| Prayer of healing | 2 | Evocation | Abjuration |
| Stoneskin | 4 | Abjuration | Transmutation |
| Acid splash | Cantrip | Conjuration | Evocation |
| Etherealness | 7 | Transmutation | Conjuration |
| Giant insect | 4 | Transmutation | Conjuration |
| Goodberry | 1 | Transmutation | Conjuration |
| Poison spray | Cantrip | Conjuration | Necromancy |
| Sending | 3 | Evocation | Divination |
| Telepathy | 8 | Evocation | Divination |
| Glibness | 8 | Transmutation | Enchantment |
| Power word heal | 9 | Evocation | Enchantment |
| Staggering smite | 4 | Evocation | Enchantment |
| Dancing lights | Cantrip | Evocation | Illusion |
| Divine favor | 1 | Evocation | Transmutation |
| Earthquake | 8 | Evocation | Transmutation |
| Wrathful smite | 1 | Evocation | Necromancy |
| Blindness/deafness | 2 | Necromancy | Transmutation |
| Reincarnate | 5 | Transmutation | Necromancy |
| Shining smite/branding smite | 2 | Evocation | Transmutation |
Why have some spells changed their school of magic?
Mainly it’s just a recognition of the fact that certain spells fit into different magic schools better. For example, many healing spells were changed from evocation spells to abjuration spells because they fit the protective nature of the abjuration school better.
In some cases, it reflects a change in the way the spell is manifest. For example, in 2014, giant insect would grow a actual insects. In the 2024 rules, you simply summon a giant insect. This is why it makes sense that the spell has changed from transmutation to conjuration.
We may also find that there are some mechanical reasons as well, perhaps to pad out a certain wizard subclass’ spell list with the right kinds of spells for instance.
How might this affect a character build?
A spell’s school of magic doesn’t have much of a mechanical effect, but it can affect certain class features and feats. This often either affects which spells can be chosen with a given feature, or which spells are enhanced by a certain feature.
Below I’ve outlined how these changes to schools of magic might affect your character options in D&D 2024:
Wizard subclass savants
Each 2024 wizard subclass has a savant feature that lets you pick up additional wizard spells for your spellbook from a particular school of magic each time you gain a new level of spell. Abjurers can pick from the abjuration list, evokers from the evocation list and so on. These must be wizard spells though.
This means that the following spells can now be picked up by the relevant wizard subclasses using this feature that wouldn’t have been available without these spell school changes:
- Contingency – Abjurer
- Otiluke’s resilient sphere – Abjurer
- Sending – Diviner
- Telepathy – Diviner
- Acid splash – Evoker
- Dancing lights – Illusionist
Practically speaking, you could have picked these spells anyway, but this feature ties you into a certain school of magic so you want to have plenty of good options available. As more Wizard subclasses are released for D&D 2024, I expect these to have similar features for their own schools of magic.
Shadow touched and Fey touched
The shadow touched and fey touched feats let you pick a 1st level spell from the illusion and necromancy schools (for shadow touched) and the divination and enchantment schools (for fey touched).
These are both top feats and there are some great spells you can pick up from these schools of magic. The only extra spell you can now pick up because of these spell school changes though is wrathful smite through shadow touched.
This is a pretty good smite spell that most classes wouldn’t ordinarily be able to take as it’s exclusive to paladins. But now, grabbing shadow touched means your eldritch knight, ranger or even arcane trickster can put the fear of the gods into their victims!
Glamour bard
Glamour bards have a feature called beguiling magic that lets them attempt to charm or frighten a target when casting an enchantment or illusion spell. Neither school lost any spells but a glamour bard will be able to use power word heal and glibness to activate this feature. Sadly staggering smite isn’t available to bards, even with magical secrets. This means you’ll have to wait until very high levels before these spell school changes make any difference for you.
That’s all the changes to spell schools in D&D 2024 and how it might affect your build. But we may see more impact from this in future character options.
Have you spotted any other ways these spell school changes will impact character builds? Let me know about them in the comments below.
Spotlight on D&D 2024
All the latest updates on what’s changing with the 2024 rules revision.
