In D&D, the topic of spell preparation has confused new players for quite a while. And it’s easy to see why, when you have spells known, spell slots, spell levels, cantrips, schools of magic, and so on, it looks like there’s a lot to sort through. In actuality, it isn’t that hard. You just have to look at it from another angle.

If you are a class that can prepare spells, such as a artificer, cleric, druid, paladin, or wizard, think of your spell list like a library. Now, think of each spell on the list as a book you can check out. Then, pretend you’re picking which books to check out, up to your limit, and those are your prepared spells.

There is one slight exception: the wizard. Wizards get a spellbook to fill with spells. To adjust for this, simply pretend your spellbook is your own private library. You don’t check out books from the public library (the whole wizard’s spell list), you make your own library and check them out from there.

As a final note, artificers, clerics, druids, and paladins, get special additions to their spells prepared. Whatever form it takes, it simply means you have these spells always prepared, so you don’t have to “check them out”. They are yours.

I hope that clears things up for anyone new to Dungeons and Dragons spellcasters. Now go out there and hit the endgame!

-The Clark Side.