Introduction
The 2024 Player's Handbook keeps the familiar spellcasting framework, but spell text is the rule. A spell's current entry tells you its casting time, range, components, duration, Concentration requirement, and any benefit from a higher-level slot. That is the information that decides whether the spell works in the moment you want it.
This hub directs you to the right class guide, helps you verify expansion access, and keeps the party's actual problems in view. The current rulebook entry and your GM's ruling settle a question at the table.
For Arcana Unleashed spell access, start with the Arcana Unleashed overview, then check the sourcebook's current spell entry, your class list, and your GM's source policy before changing a build.
A Practical Spell Selection Check
Pick spells you can cast when the party needs them without giving up a more important action, slot, or Concentration effect. A large damage number is only one part of that decision.
Start With Access
Each class has its own spell list. Check that list before comparing a spell with another class's options. Multiclass characters should confirm which class gives them access and how the multiclass spellcasting rules apply to their slots.
The Artificer is an expansion class from Eberron: Forge of the Artificer. Read its list in that book's context.
Treat Concentration as a Real Cost
Only one Concentration spell can run at a time. Read the duration line before treating a buff, control effect, summon, or mobility spell as part of a combination. The 2024 PHB entries for Fly, Invisibility, and Blur all list Concentration, so each competes with another sustained effect.
Compare the Turn, Not Just the Spell
Ask what the spell costs on the turn you cast it. An Action spell competes with attacks, a Bonus Action spell competes with other bonus-action features, and a Reaction spell needs a reliable trigger. Then check whether a higher-level slot changes the effect enough to justify the spend.
Build for a Job
Give a spell a reason to be on the list: reliable damage, battlefield control, defense, movement, exploration, information, or recovery. A party that already has several damage options may get more from a control or utility spell than another attack roll.
Hot Take: When the party already covers damage, choose a spell for control, defense, movement, or recovery instead of adding another spell for the same easy fight.
Core 2024 Spell Notes
The 2024 PHB changed and reorganized many spell entries. These examples point to the rule details that matter at the table; they are not a universal ranking.
| Spell | What to verify before choosing it |
|---|---|
| Aid | Check its targets, duration, and the value of spending a 2nd-level slot before the day begins. |
| Conjure Animals | The 2024 entry creates a spectral animal pack with its own area and damage procedure. Read that entry instead of using the older multiple-creature version. |
| Counterspell | Confirm the trigger and your Reaction before reserving it as part of the party's defense plan. |
| Fly | The current entry grants a willing creature a Fly Speed and requires Concentration. |
| Healing Word | Compare its bonus-action timing and range with the recovery problem you expect it to solve. |
| Shillelagh | Check the spell's current target and duration before using it to support a weapon-based build. |
| Thunderwave | Check the saving throw, area, push effect, and higher-level-slot damage before planning around forced movement. |
Build Your D&D 2024 Character
The D&D 2024 character builder is live - build a Beastkin, a Kobold, or whatever your table is missing, free, right now.
Start BuildingNew Spells From Heroes of Faerun
Heroes of Faerun adds nineteen setting spells. Use the book's current text and your GM's source policy when deciding whether one belongs in a campaign. For setting context around spellfire, mythals, wild and dead magic, and circle magic, see the Forgotten Realms magic guide.
| Spell | Level | Classes |
|---|---|---|
| Alustriel's Mooncloak | 5 | Bard, Druid, Ranger, Wizard |
| Backlash | 4 | Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard |
| Blade of Disaster | 9 | Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard |
| Cacophonic Shield | 3 | Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard |
| Conjure Constructs | 3 | Wizard |
| Death Armor | 2 | Sorcerer, Wizard |
| Deryan's Helpful Homunculi | 2 | Cleric, Wizard |
| Dirge | 6 | Bard, Cleric |
| Doomtide | 4 | Bard, Cleric, Warlock |
| Elminster's Effulgent Spheres | 6 | Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard |
| Elminster's Elusion | 2 | Wizard |
| Holy Star of Mystra | 8 | Cleric, Wizard |
| Laeral's Silver Lance | 3 | Cleric, Sorcerer, Wizard |
| Simbul's Synostodweomer | 7 | Sorcerer, Wizard |
| Songal's Elemental Suffusion | 5 | Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard |
| Spellfire Flare | 1 | Sorcerer, Wizard |
| Spellfire Storm | 4 | Sorcerer, Wizard |
| Sylune's Viper | 3 | Druid, Wizard |
| Wardaway | 1 | Bard, Cleric, Paladin, Wizard |
Arcana Unleashed Spell Access
Arcana Unleashed adds and revises spells outside the 2024 Player's Handbook. The supplied source's spell table identifies 32 named entries across 2nd through 9th level. The official product overview describes 33 new or revised spells, so use this section as an access check for the verified table entries and consult the book's current text for the rule.
Every standard spellcasting class receives at least one listed spell. Access is uneven: Paladin receives Dueling Ground at 2nd level, while full casters receive a wider set of options. Before you rebuild around one, confirm that your table allows the sourcebook and that the entry still appears on your class list.
| Class | Verified access from the supplied table |
|---|---|
| Artificer | Dueling Ground, Uncertain Footing, Catnap, Distorted Distance, Spirit Lantern |
| Bard | Disruptive Tune, Dueling Ground, Uncertain Footing, Catnap, Inflict Doubt, Zone of Amicability, and high-level control options |
| Cleric | Dueling Ground, Grave Ground, Spirit Lantern, Reweave Fate |
| Druid | Battle Familiar, Dueling Ground, Wither and Bloom, Festering Blast, Summon Plant, Summon Dinosaur, Lightning Ring |
| Paladin | Dueling Ground |
| Ranger | Dueling Ground, Summon Plant |
| Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard | Broad access across the table, including several 7th- through 9th-level entries |
The class guides below list the verified names and levels for their own spell lists. For book scope, other player options, and table-permission context, return to the Arcana Unleashed overview.
Class Spell Guides
Open the guide for the class that supplies the spell. Each one frames spell choices around that class's preparation or known-spell limits, action economy, and role at the table.
| Class | Use the guide for |
|---|---|
| Artificer Spells (Eberron) | Eberron's Artificer list and the tradeoffs between spells and class resources. |
| Bard Spells | Control, support, and social-pillar choices. |
| Cleric Spells | Recovery, defense, and sustained spell decisions. |
| Druid Spells | Nature magic, battlefield control, and exploration tools. |
| Paladin Spells | Half-caster slots, smites, and frontline support. |
| Ranger Spells | Exploration, ranged pressure, and tactical movement. |
| Sorcerer Spells | Known-spell limits and Metamagic-friendly choices. |
| Warlock Spells | Pact Magic slots, Invocations, and short-rest planning. |
| Wizard Spells | Spellbook breadth, rituals, and prepared-spell decisions. |
Bottom Line
Choose spells from the current entry, not from a memory of an older version or a generic tier list. Start with your class list, make Concentration and action economy part of the cost, and select spells that cover gaps in the party's plan. If an expansion spell looks appealing, confirm both its access and the campaign's source policy before building around it.
