Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Spells: who can learn what ?

Hey guys,

I’m very new to the DnD universe, and I don’t understand which class can learn which spells. I saw in my party that some characters have spells in common, but are not of the same class. I also saw that there’s « schools » of magic. Does it mean that some classes can learn only spells from some schools, or is it more complexe ? Or any class can learn any spells ? I didn’t get very far in the game, but apart from the Wizard that can learn from scrolls, how do other magic classes Lear spells ? Is it automatic when you level up ? Or are they other ways ?

By the way there’s a lot (like, a lot) of stuff that are part of the DnD ruleset and must feel obvious to educated players, but are very unclear for new players unless you make and compulse deep internet research… Like the fact that ranged weapons use Dexterity and close-combat weapons use Strength unless they have Finesse, if I understood well. Or the way that dice work in any given situation. Maybe there could be an optional tutorial in the main menu for new DND players, so that we could learn exactly how the dice work ? But I guess this belongs to the Suggestions & Feedback part of the forum .

Thank you for your help guys, and thank you for the game Larian !

Noé

As far as I can remember the only class that can "learn" spells from scrolls is the mage.
Everyone else learns their class spells at level up and that's pretty much it.

Even mages should be supposedly capable to learn only THEIR class spells (with some exceptions according to the specialization, if I remember right), but currently in this Alpha they can learn ANY scroll available without exceptions. Even druid and cleric spells.

It's actually less complex. Schools mean nothing to non-wizard spell-casters. Wizards, though, pick an archetype at level 2 (I think), and those archetypes are based around the schools of magic (e.g., "Evocation" vs "Abjuration" currently in game). Among other things, wizards get perks related to spells in their school. However, any wizard can learn and use any wizard-based spell.

As Tuco alluded to, each class should be limited to its own class spell list (e.g., Rangers pick only from Ranger spells, etc.). However, there can be a lot of overlap between the class lists, and there are "by-the-book" exceptions here and there. For example, Clerics can learn a handful of non-cleric spells depending on their specialty, or "domain".

So each class has their own spell list that generally fits their archetype of caster.
Druid and Ranger have more Nature oriented spells.
Cleric and Paladin have more Divine oriented spells.
And Wizard, Warlock, Sorcerer, Bard, and Artificer have more Arcane oriented spells.

And each of these have a spell list that reflects the flavor of the individual class.

I do think BG3 could be a more clear on what you can expect with a class. Something that could be cool is adding to the main menu a custom version of the player's handbook that explains the classess, subclasses, and spells in the game so people can plan out their character progression.

Edit: The only class that actually cares about magic schools (unless you really love flavoring you character up in a certain way) is the Wizard with their subclasses referring to the School of magic directly. For example a Conjuration Wizard has an easier time learning Conjuration Spells from scroll and whenever they cast a Conjuration Spell they recharge their subclass ability that allows them to teleport or switch places with a friendly target.

The only other thing that comes to mind off the top of my head (I am sure there is more) with caring about the School of Magic is the spell Detect Magic that just allows you to learn the school of magic around something.

To answer the OP's question a little more fully, there are eight different schools of magic and all spells fall into one of them. Each of the schools has a general focus:
Evocation - direct damage
Abjuration - protection
Conjuration - creating objects and creatures; also, teleportation
Illusion - creating illusions
Enchantment - charming and beguiling creatures
Transmutation - changing things into other things; other effects related to form
Divination - learning things and improving senses
Necromancy - manipulation of life force (including healing)

In addition to belonging to a school, every spell is on the spell list for one or more classes or subclasses - meaning characters with appropriate levels in those classes can learn that spell. Different classes might have different sources of power (i.e. clerics/paladins call on their deity, rangers/druids draw power from nature, wizards learn to control magic through study, warlocks are granted magical power by a patron, sorcerers basically win the lottery, artificers build devices), so the underlying mechanics of how a spell is cast might be different, but the game mechanics are more or less the same (e.g. if a ranger and a sorcerer cast Absorb Elements, the effect is identical).

Most classes don't care about what school a particular spell belongs to. Wizards do, because most wizard subclasses focus on a particular school and give them benefits for casting those spells. There are subclasses that care about magic schools; e.g. Arcane Tricksters focus on Enchantment and Illusion while Eldritch Knights focus on Evocation and Abjuration.

All of the above is how the 5e rules work. BG3 is somewhat based on this, but there are a few changes. The most notable changes are related to spell scrolls, which deviate from the 5e rules in two big ways:
1) In 5e, you can only attempt to cast a spell from a scroll if that spell is on your class' spell list (with a couple of exceptions that aren't critical to this explanation). And if a spell is on your class' spell list, but it's level is higher than you can normally cast, there's a chance for you to fail and waste the scroll. So, a wizard can cast fireball from a scroll, but a paladin can't, because fireball isn't on the paladin spell list. In BG3, any character can cast any spell from a scroll; class and level don't matter at all.

2) In 5e, wizards get to add two spells to their spellbook every time they level up. They can also copy spells into their spellbook from scrolls, provided the spell on the scroll is one that they would normally be able to learn (i.e. it's on the wizard spell list). In BG3, they can copy any spell from a scroll; so wizards can learn to cast Cure Wounds and other spells that they have no business knowing.

And yes, this game does a pretty bad job of teaching players how to play it. It would benefit quite a lot from both tutorials and access to reference materials.

Tiny nitpick, Conjuration is also Teleportation too with spells like Misty Step.

But overall your explanation seems to be the best one, most in depth in answering the question.

I always mix up which school does transportation stuff. I wrongly dropped it into Transmutation because I'm doing this from memory. Fixing it above. Thanks!