There are seemingly countless magical spells in the world ofDungeons & Dragons. Or so Big Magic would want you to think. There’s actually a very countable number of spells available in D&D 5e.
There are around 512 spells across several different sourcebooks and adventures, covering everything from mundane modifications or bombastic blizzard attacks. But it’s not an even spread. Some schools of magic are far more popular than others.
How these numbers were determined: Spells were counted and categorized based on what was available on D&DBeyond. It included all spells from all official books on the platform. It does not include any third-party content, including partnered content. Legacy spells are not counted toward the total, but are mentioned in each entry.
29
Eye With Lower Lashes
Purple
Coming in at last place, Illusion being the first entry was a surprising one. Illusion covers the practice of changing perception, deceiving senses, or altering minds.
Despite being home to some of the most popular spells, like Invisibility, Disguise Self, and Blur, it doesn’t actually have many other spells of interest. As a result, most folks forget about Illusion past level 2 spells.
32
A Stylized Integral Symbol
Light Blue
The ability to see things, Divination covers long-range communication, future vision, and influencing luck. And if that sounds limited, you’re right. Detect Magic, Scry, and Guidance are the only spellsa non-clerictends to care about.
It’s also seen almost as much change as it has spells, with a good 32 of them having a Legacy version. There’s something funny about having to make corrections about Divination spells.
Curvy Omega
Green
The most infamous school of magic, Necromancy covers the manipulation of life force, usually either by inflicting sickness or raising the dead. Due to the controversial aspect of that, it’s often an outlawed form of magic inmany campaign settings.
Necromancy has some of the most popular spells, though, like Spare The Dying, Revivify, and Bestow Curse. But most of the remaining options are all just some form of raising the dead or adding a debuff.
38
A Cross With A Curvy M On The Right
Magenta
Enchantment is like Illusion for emotions. This school manipulates how other people and creatures feel. This makes it home for some classic emergency spells like Charm Person, Calm Emotions, and Command.
Most of the spells here are some form of getting a person or animal to be your friend. Others are to debuff or paralyze them. A small few are more nuanced, like Incite Greed.
Some DMs will treat Enchantment spells as in-world controversial as necromancy, due to how it manipulates others.
46
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Blue
A fancy way to say “protective magic,” Abjuration covers various buffs and protections. This includes classic spells like Mage Armor, Shield, and Arcane Lock.
It also encompasses healing magic, probably so it doesn’t get lumped into Necromancy, so spells like Cure Wounds are here, too. Despite the wide variety, it’s still an underfilled category, ranking in the bottom half.
74
A “V” With Two Lines Through It
Yellow
Most folks know Conjuration for summoning animals and supernatural creatures. But it also covers any time a spellcaster is creating an item, area of effect, or status. It also covers most teleportation magic.
So Conjuration is responsible for spells like Find Familiar, Misty Step, Sleet Storm, and Dimension Door. And since D&D absolutely loves to make a different spell for every element, there are a lot of different AoE spells available.
81
An Oval Crosshair With Spikes On The Outer Ring
Dark Red
The shining star of spellcasting, Evocation covers any magic that simply invokes an effect. This generally means “attack spell for an element.” Chromatic Orb, Eldritch Blast, andthe one and only Fireballare all Evocation spells.
Evocation covers most direct attacks and has all sorts of elemental variations, making it one of the most expansive schools of magic and the most popular.
And yet…
65
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Orange
The winner is Transmutation! The only school that managed to break into the triple digits, this covers anything that physically modifies the world around them. Prestidigitation, Feather Fall, Fly, and Haste are all classic examples.
Transmutation is where all the fun is. It’s a wide variety of diverse and interesting spells, and one worthy of getting all the extra attention.
