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Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation. These are Dungeons & Dragons’ eight schools of magic, and the fundamental building blocks upon which the study and practice of magic is built. Whether Wizard or Warlock, those who consider themselves arcane practitioners will embrace one of these eight schools to become fearsome summoners, healers, and reality benders. For the jack-of-all-trades, a full loadout of spells from different schools may serve well, but those who choose to specialize in one form of magic over the other will go on to unlock more than just the secrets of the arcane, but the very principles of the universe itself.

Whether building a spellslinger from scratch or designing an arcane encounter, the eight schools come with an exclusive list of spells, a unique set of rituals and practices, and most importantly, a distinct impact on your playstyle.

Abjuration

Abjuration is the primary defensive school for spell casters, using whatever magical practices they can to block, banish, or protect themselves or their allies. Abjurers are often described as protector mages, or arcane tanks, using their magical acumen to redirect, negate, and absorb damage entirely. With several reaction and action-interrupting spells, the Abjuration spell caster can be a key member in combat scenarios, thanks to their ability to outright deny enemy attacks when it matters most.

Essential Abjuration Spells

• Shield — An iconic reaction spell that adds +5 AC until the start of your next turn, making it one of the most efficient defensive tools in the game
• Counterspell — Interrupts an enemy spell mid-cast, potentially nullifying devastating attacks.
• Globe of Invulnerability — Summons a barrier in the form of an arcane globe that surrounds you and your party and blocks spells of 5th level or lower.

Pro Tip: Abjuration often involves buffs such as temporary HP that can be a lot to keep track of, but with Roll20 token settings, building custom status bars for classic Abjuration features like Arcane Ward makes health pool management a breeze.

Conjuration

Conjuration magic is one of D&D's most versatile schools thanks to a long list of summonable items, creatures, and magical entities. In practice, a Conjurer can do anything from pulling a rabbit out of a hat to summoning interplanar doorways. Conjuration magic is a blend of utility and buff magic, making Conjurers a much-needed member in any party.

 

Summoning Spells vs. Teleportation Spells

Conjuration magic splits into two major “types” that play very differently at the table. One focuses more on summoning companions, while the other focuses more on moving across the battlefield. Of course, your playstyle will more than likely involve a blend of both, but the Conjurer allows for a wide variety of possible builds depending on which side you lean into more.

• Summoning — Some spells, like Summon Beast or Conjure Elemental, allow the caster to conjure creatures into existence, acting as minions on the player's behalf.
• Teleportation — Other Conjuration spells like Misty Step and Dimension Door allow the caster to move themselves or their allies in an instant.

Divination

Divination magic is the school for the sorcerers who seek to warp reality itself rather than wow onlookers with flashy explosions. Instead of dealing raw damage, Divination magic is about answering questions and revealing truths. When the party is scouting a dragon or chasing a cursed artifact, the Diviners use their understanding of the cosmos and the fabric of reality to make the world bend at their will.

Essential Divination Spells

• Detect Magic — Opens up your senses to detect magical auras nearby.
• Identify — A necessary spell for identifying the magical properties of artifacts and key items.
• Scrying — Projects a sensor to a distant creature's location, giving the party eyes anywhere on the plane.

Enchantment

Enchantment magic is the art of altering and influencing the mind itself. The Enchanters are the social manipulators of the spell casters, using their unique set of abilities to win the favor of their targets, reduce them to a whimpering mess, or even paralyze them completely. As far as the eight schools of magic go, the Enchanter stands out the most in both a dungeon battlefield and a royal banquet.

Essential Enchantment Spells

• Charm Person — Gives targets the Charmed condition, making them friendly to you and providing advantage on attacks against the creature.
• Hold Person — Paralyzes a target where they stand for up to 1 minute.
• Dominate Monster — Gives a monster the Charmed condition and grants the caster a telepathic link to the creature, allowing them to issue commands.

Enchantment spells typically target Wisdom saving throws to alter behavior, which means non-intelligent creatures and Wisdom-dump statted characters are far more susceptible to the effect of the Enchanters.

Evocation

Evocation is the “Destruction” magic school of Dungeons & Dragons. Conjuring raw energy from nothing and channeling it into devastating effects, the Evoker excels at berating their opponents with focused attacks of fire, force, lightning, thunder, and beyond. Evocation is a school built upon elemental variety, meaning it’s a practice that comes with a long list of spells of all kinds, from cold damage to radiant, making Evocation magic the school with the highest volume of spells.

Essential Evocation Spells

• Fireball — The iconic 8d6 fire damage AoE at 3rd level; practically synonymous with the entire school.
• Magic Missile — Auto-hitting force darts that bypass AC entirely, making it one of the most dependably consistent spells in 5e.
• Shatter — Underrated thunder-damage option that bypasses resistances common on constructs and crystalline creatures.

Pro Tip: To avoid confusion when dealing with multiple damage types, use Roll20’s digital character sheet tools to cast spells directly from your character sheet with one click. Roll20 will automate the die roll, performing all necessary calculations and outputting the results directly to your chat. With this hack, you can cast Fireball, Shatter, and Eldritch Blast without having to keep track of multiple dice.

Illusion

Illusion magic is the school that probably looks the most like the magic of the real world, using a variety of tricks to deceive the senses with false images, phantom sounds, and manufactured stimuli, manipulating how creatures around them interact with the world. Of the eight schools, Illusion magic follows a scale of power that directly correlates with how creatively a player applies it. In other words, the best illusionists are the players who combine performance, innovation, and intelligence to pull off their illusions convincingly.

Essential Illusion Spells

• Minor Illusion — A cantrip with outsized utility. A stone wall to block a corridor, a coin purse to distract a guard, a sound to draw enemies away from the party.
• Invisibility — The quintessential escape and infiltration tool, granting advantage on attacks while removing the caster from enemy targeting.
• Major Image — The school's crown jewel at lower levels, producing a fully realized visual, auditory, and even olfactory illusion that persists for concentration duration.

Pro Tip: Token visibility and the GM layer are great ways to present illusions on Roll20. Even dynamic lighting can inform your illusions, as certain illusions might block sight lines, while others will be curiously translucent.

Necromancy

A classic school of magic and easily one of D&D’s most beloved, the art of necromancy is the subtle craft of manipulating the lines between the living and dead. Half conjurer, half enchanter, the Necromancer is a feast of unique mechanics, from summoning the dead to corrupting the minds of innocents. From death comes life, making Necromancy an incredibly complex school of magic, just as likely to send you to your grave as it is to pull you out of it.

Essential Necromancy Spells

• Resurrection — A much sought-after spell, literally allowing you to revive any dead creature to full Hit Points, from NPCs to your own party members.
• Animate Dead — Turns a corpse or pile of bones into an Undead minion who fights on your behalf.
• Blindness/Deafness — Blind or deafen a foe. A crucial tactical movement that can interrupt spellcasters and throw off melee combatants.

Pro Tip: In Roll20, assign all Undead minion tokens to the Necromancer's player account. That player will be able to use the Undead minions as they would with their own token, preventing the table from grinding to a halt every time the zombie horde acts.

Transmutation

What sets Transmutation apart is its ability to physically rewrite the rules of existence. This school’s core power lies in its ability to change the raw properties of creatures, objects, and environments. Transmutation comes with tons of practical applications, from summoning bridges to cross a chasm to buffing your party with spells that make them faster, stronger, and in some cases, a completely different being.

 

Essential Transmutation Spells

• Fly — Allows the target to fly with a speed of 60ft.
• Polymorph — Transforms your target into a beast, enabling you to replace their stat block entirely with the chosen form's HP, abilities, and movement speed.
• Gaseous Form — Turns your target into floating gas, making them resistant to nonmagical damage, and giving them the physical properties of gas so that they can pass through tiny cracks.

Expanding Your Spell List

There are more spells available to players beyond the already long list of spells available in The Player Handbook. Plus, Wizards of the Coast’s Season of Magic promises more new magic options to expect. Fortunately for the magic lovers, the collected spell list across all Dungeons & Dragons is massive.

If you’re looking for somewhere to start:

Books With Broader Spell Lists

• Xanathar’s Guide to Everything - Adds a large batch of new spells across many classes, which is why it’s the classic “expanded spell list” book.
• Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything - Adds optional class features and further expands the spell list.
• Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide - Adds some new spells, though it is much smaller in scope than Xanathar’s or Tasha’s.

Ready to put that knowledge to work at the table? Explore the Roll20 marketplace and start your next magical campaign with official D&D content, a full spell Compendium, and every tool your party needs, all in one place.