D&D 5e Cantrips
Cantrips are spells you can cast at will, without spending a spell slot, and they scale as you level. The SRD includes 24 of them across every spellcasting class. Tap any spell for its full text.
24 results
- Acid SplashConjuration
- Chill TouchNecromancy
- Dancing LightsEvocation
- DruidcraftTransmutation
- Eldritch BlastEvocation
- Fire BoltEvocation
- GuidanceDivination
- LightEvocation
- Mage HandConjuration
- MendingTransmutation
- MessageTransmutation
- Minor IllusionIllusion
- Poison SprayConjuration
- PrestidigitationTransmutation
- Produce FlameConjuration
- Ray of FrostEvocation
- ResistanceAbjuration
- Sacred FlameEvocation
- ShillelaghTransmutation
- Shocking GraspEvocation
- Spare the DyingNecromancy
- ThaumaturgyTransmutation
- True StrikeDivination
- Vicious MockeryEnchantment
What's at this level
The 24 cantrips in the SRD are 7 evocation and 6 transmutation, with 11 more across other groups. 4 of them require concentration, which is the real constraint on this level — you can only hold one at a time, so two concentration spells in the same slot range compete rather than combine. None can be cast as a ritual at this level.
How to choose cantrips
Cantrips are the only spells a caster uses without limit, so they define what the character does on an average turn across the whole campaign. Pick one damage cantrip that scales, and then spend the remaining picks on utility rather than a second attack option — light, minor illusion, prestidigitation and guidance solve more problems over a campaign than a marginally better damage die. The damage cantrips are deliberately close in power; the utility ones are not interchangeable at all.
What DMs should know
Because cantrips cost nothing, they change how attrition works. A party of casters can travel indefinitely with light, mend their gear, and keep a reliable ranged attack at will, which removes several classic pressures. That is fine, but it means resource pressure has to come from elsewhere — time, information, or consequences — rather than from running out of spells.
Common questions
- How many cantrips are in the D&D 5e SRD?
- There are 24 cantrips in the SRD. The SRD is the free subset of the rules, so the Player's Handbook contains more.
- Do cantrips use spell slots?
- No. A cantrip can be cast at will, any number of times, without expending a spell slot. Most damage cantrips also scale automatically at higher character levels, which is why they stay useful for the whole campaign.
- What character level can cast cantrips?
- Every spellcasting class has cantrips available from first level, though the number you know varies by class and increases as you level.
From the shop
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