Losing spells?

[Whale hunter]

Hey guys, am I missing how spell mechanics work? I have a few memorised, I’m rested and have full availability. But during combat I will use one or two spells, then lose access to ones I haven’t used?

Only thing I can think of is you can “double cast” the same spell? And lose access to one you haven’t used? It that correct? I seem to go into fights with 4/5 spells that I’m ready to use, then after one or two casts I’m empty and it’s making life tricky!

[bytestream]

Basically:
- You have spell slots of different levels.
- For each spell you cast of a given level you use a spell slot.
- Once you run out of spell slots for a given level you can no longer cast spells of that level until you take a long rest
- warlocks work differently

[Frostbeast]

Is that a Warlock, you are playing with? They have 2 slots only. 3 with higher level.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

For most spellcasters, lets say you have

3 level 2 spell slots and
4 level 1 spell slots

if you cast 3 level 2 spells, you no longer have any level 2 spell slots available. Thus you can't cast any level 2 spells, but can still cast your level 1 spells.

If instead you cast 4 level 1 spells, you still have level 2 spell slots. You can still cast your level 2 spells. However, you can *also* cast your level 1 spells using your level 2 slots, if necessary. For some spells this will increase the damage or other effects of the spell.

If you Long Rest you get all your spell slots back. Theres also some class features like Arcane Recovery that can let you get spell slots back depending on what class you have.

[KingOfFriedChicken]

If your early in game and not a warlock you gain "spell slots" as a few have said every few levels you'll gain higher level and more spell slots. If you have 2 spell slots of lvl 1 and you use them both on the same spell twice then you run out of those spell slots and either have to upcast (cast it at higher levels) or if you have none left use cantrips. Cantrips are your main attack as a spell caster usually speaking spells are for when you need extra power or a special effect.

[Whale hunter]

Sorry guys I should have added a bit more detail, I’m at work so apologies if I miss some. I have shadowheart with her two big damage abilities memorised, the 1-24 and 1-30 (ish) and a few extra like hold person, command and silence I think? But once I have used the two damage abilities I lose all access to all other spells In every fight. It must be something I’m missing. I’ll post the exact spells tonight after work. But I’m getting two casts from all my spells at level 4

[Roaming Zombie]

Originally posted by Whale hunter:

Sorry guys I should have added a bit more detail, I’m at work so apologies if I miss some. I have shadowheart with her two big damage abilities memorised, the 1-24 and 1-30 (ish) and a few extra like hold person, command and silence I think? But once I have used the two damage abilities I lose all access to all other spells In every fight. It must be something I’m missing. I’ll post the exact spells tonight after work. But I’m getting two casts from all my spells at level 4

Read what they told you. You have spells and spellslots. No matter how many spells you have, you can only use as much as you have spellslots (those little blue nibs above the taskbar) until you do a long rest.

[KingOfFriedChicken]

Originally posted by Whale hunter:

Sorry guys I should have added a bit more detail, I’m at work so apologies if I miss some. I have shadowheart with her two big damage abilities memorised, the 1-24 and 1-30 (ish) and a few extra like hold person, command and silence I think? But once I have used the two damage abilities I lose all access to all other spells In every fight. It must be something I’m missing. I’ll post the exact spells tonight after work. But I’m getting two casts from all my spells at level 4

As your spell caster above your hotbar you have little boxes filled with blue squares these little blue squares are your spell slots. Each blue square represents 1 spell slot in thar level of spells. The dashes above them indicate the level of those slots.

If you cast 1 spell wether its silence or guiding bolt, you lose 1 of 2 spell slots. You can only cast 1 spell per slot that class offers.

Spells are not meant to be cast constantly every turn, they are strong beneficial attacks that often offer utility on top of their effects to turn the battle in your favor.

[Whale hunter]

Thank you for all the replies guys and clearing this up. I was treating this like BG2 and not realising how the new 5e works. Appreciate the clear up