Within Fifth Edition games, spellcasting is an incredibly relevant pillar of the system. Spells allow both players and NPCs to manifest a variety of effects in a game. Within Alchemy, a Fifth Edition universe allows creators to input relevant spells for both players and NPCs.
Fifth Edition Exclusive
Creating spells within a universe is only available to universes created using the Fifth Edition system. This particular type of universe object is not available when in a systemless universe, custom universe, or universes built around other game systems.
Article Information
Category | Universe |
Targeted Profiles | Creators & Gamemasters |
In This Article
What are Spells?
Creating Spells
What are Spells?
Spells are magical effects that can provide adventuring parties with a variety of unique abilities such as amplified attacks, protective wards, enhanced abilities, or even teleportation. Each spell is unique from one another, may have different conditions to cast, and have different outcomes depending on what creatures or areas are targeted by their various effects.
To learn more about spells within Fifth Edition, see the Fifth Edition System Reference Document (SRD) officially managed by Wizards of the Coast.
Creating Spells
Spells are able to be created quickly to be used in Fifth Edition games. When a spell is created in a universe, that universe can be enabled in several games; bringing the spell into multiple games. Creating spells directly in a game enables players to input their own spells on their character sheets without the need for the gamemaster to create the spell in an enabled universe.
Creating a Spell
At this time, spells can be created in two ways:
When in a Fifth Edition game, navigate to a player character or NPC and unlock the character to open the edit modal. From there, navigate to the Spells tab. At the bottom of each spell list by spell level, create buttons will be presented to create new spells.
When editing a Fifth Edition universe, navigate to the Spells tab and click the 'Create Spell' button.
When creating a spell, a modal with a single tab will appear to walk the player through creating the spell.
Spell Information
To begin creating a new spell, start with inputting the main details of the spell using the fields at the start of the modal.
Field | Description |
NAME | Input a name for this new spell. |
LEVEL | Input a spell level for this new spell. |
SCHOOL | Input the specific category of magic tied to the spell's nature. |
CASTING TIME | Input the specific length of time or action type required to expend when casting this spell. |
DURATION | Input the time a spell is active before the effects end. |
RANGE/AREA | Specify shape, area, or distance limitations for the spell. |
DESCRIPTION | Input the descriptive information of the spell. This will generally specify a spell's effects, any imposed dice rolls on the target(s), and guide the players on how that effect behaves if it does not end instantly. This field also accepts markdown for additional formatting techniques such as bolding text and creating roll tables. |
Spell Components
This section of the modal enables inputting spell components. These are the physical requirements necessary for casting the spell. If a material is required for casting a spell, a field to input the specific material will appear when material components are toggled on.
Spell Casting Modifiers
Casting modifiers can be specified if a spell requires concentration to maintain or if the spell can be casted as a ritual without expending a spell slot.
Spell Attack Type & Damage
If an attack is rolled as a part of casting this spell, this can be labeled using the Attack toggle. If a saving throw is required to resolve the spell's effect, this can be toggled with the Saving Throw toggle. When a saving throw is toggled for a spell, fields appear to set the appropriate difficulty class (DC) and associated ability used for resolving the saving throw.
If a spell can deal damage to a target, the spell's damage can be specified by clicking the 'Add Damage' button and adding the appropriate dice to be rolled, ability bonuses, and damage type of the damage.
Spell Upcasting & Meta Tags
At the end of the modal, higher-level casting can be specified if a spell can be upcasted using higher level spell slots. When this is toggled, additional descriptive text can be added to indicate what aspects of the spell change as a part of this upcasting.
Meta tags can be added to the spell to make it easier to search for this specific spell using a search bar. This search bar can be found either on the Spells tab of the character sheet in a game or in the Spells tab of a Fifth Edition universe.
Casting Spells in Game
When playing a Fifth Edition game, spells can be added to a character sheet by clicking a spell on the Spells tab of the character sheet. Once all of the character's spells have been selected, clicking the white Floating Action Button (FAB) beneath the modal will add the character's spells to the Spells panel.
Specify Spellcasting Ability Modifier
If a spell the character can access uses a different spellcasting ability modifier than the ability used in their Spellcasting feature, this can be altered by clicking the ability list on the right side of the spell's row. All of the available abilities can be cycled until the correct one is selected and when that spell is cast, it will use the ability modifier of the ability selected here instead.
From the Spells panel in the bottom left of a player or NPC's view, a spell can be selected and subsequently casted by clicking the 'Cast' button that appears beneath the character portrait.
The spell will resolve within the game's Journal panel for all of the players to see.
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