What the Hell Is a Cantrip?
The magic system in Dungeons & Dragons is derived around various levels of spells, rather than the typical sorts of mana systems you might expect in a video game. The more powerful the ability, the higher the spell level, up to nine in the TTRPG—but they’re also restricted by the number of spell slots a caster has. You might only be able to cast a couple of higher-level spells compared to lower-level ones, or you can empower certain lower-level spells by “upcasting” them at the cost of using one of those higher-level-specific spell slots.
But there’s a certain class of spell that doesn’t require using one of your spell slots: cantrips, which can still be cast even when your character is out of spell slots. That usually comes at the cost of the fact that cantrips are pretty basic abilities, and far from the most powerful or damaging magic in your toolkit. Don’t count them out though, because they can still be useful and dangerous in the right hands, like our dear friend Eldritch Blast.
