The Five Colors of Magic
The Shape of the Weave
Across the worlds of the material plane, the weave of magic takes many different forms. In many worlds, magic conforms to eight schools: Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation These are the categories most familiar to mages in such realms as Faerûn, Oerth, and Khorvaire.
However, there are also words in which magic takes a different shape. In some worlds, magic takes the form of five colors: White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green. These are the categories most familiar to mages in such realms as Dominaria, Ravnica, and Eldraine.
The Five Colors: Themes
The five colors of magic differ thematically from one another. The colors' most central themes are as follows:
White Magic is associated with light, law, peace, morality, defense, retribution, military, honor, and healing. Blue Magic is associated with mentality, water, trickery, preparation,
memory, illusion, artifice, reaction, and the future. Black Magic is associated with darkness, death, fear, vermin, pain, undeath, disease, poison, and parasitism. Red Magic is associated with emotion, chaos, fire, violence, lightning, earth, impulse, destruction, and action. Green Magic is associated with physicality, life, plants, animals, instinct, spiritualism, ancestry, symbiosis, and the past.
The Five Colors: Spell Effects
In addition to differing thematically, the five colors of magic also differ with respect to their access to spell effects. Some important examples of these differences are described in in the table below. A color has primary access to a spell effect if it can produce that effect unqualifiedly. A color has secondary access to a spell effect when it can produce that effect only in special circumstances, or in conjunction with other spell effects. A color has tertiary access to a spell effect if it produces that effect only incidentally, or in very specific circumstances.
Colors and Spell Effects
| Spell Effect | White | Blue | Black | Red | Green |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct Spell Damage | Tertiary | Tertiary | Secondary | Primary | Tertiary |
| Healing | Primary | — | Tertiary | — | Secondary |
| Bolstering Attacks | Secondary | — | — | Primary | Primary |
| Bolstering Defenses | Primary | Secondary | Tertiary | — | Secondary |
| Weakening Attacks | — | Primary | Primary | — | — |
| Weakening Defenses | — | Secondary | Primary | — | — |
| Restraining & Grappling | Primary | Secondary | — | Tertiary | Primary |
| Blinding & Deafening | Primary | Tertiary | Secondary | Tertiary | — |
| Frightening & Sickening | — | — | Primary | Secondary | Tertiary |
| Charming | — | Primary | Tertiary | Secondary | — |
| Social Manipulation | Tertiary | Primary | — | Tertiary | — |
| Environment Manipulation | — | Tertiary | Tertiary | Primary | Primary |
| Movement and Exploration | Tertiary | Secondary | — | Secondary | Primary |
| Summoning | Tertiary | Tertiary | Secondary | Tertiary | Primary |
Artist Credit: Steven Belledin
Cantrips
White Spells
- Blade ward
- Mending
- Rebuking light*
- Resistance
- Shackle*
- Spare the dying
- Word of radiance
Blue Spells
- Friends
- Message
- Resistance
- Minor illusion
- Psychic pulse — (as vicious mockery, except 1d6 psychic, and does not affect creatures immune to being charmed)
- Ray of frost
- Shape water
Black Spells
- Befoul*
- Chill touch
- Disfigure*
- Poison Spray
- Shadowfeed*
- Scare*
- Toll the dead
Red Spells
- Control flames
- Create bonfire
- Enemies
- Fire bolt
- Magic stone
- Mold earth
- Shocking grasp
- Thunderclap
Green Spells
- Druidcraft
- Giant's grip*
- Gust
- Infestation
- Prey upon*
- Primal savagery
- Shillelagh
- Thorn whip
Colorless Spells
- Dancing lights
- Mage hand
- Prestidigitation
- Thaumaturgy
Agonize
black cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: S, M
- Duration: Instantaneous
You cause baleful energy to briefly twist and contort a creature within range. The target must attempt a Constitution saving throw. If it fails, it has disadvantage on attack rolls, and attack rolls against it have advantage. Both effects end at the beginning of your next turn.
Befoul
black cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: touch
- Components: S, M
- Duration: Instantaneous
Your touch befouls one item of food and drink, such as a plate of dried fruit or a goblet of wine. Any creature that eats the befouled food item must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 2d4 poison damage.
If you cast this spell multiple times, all previously diseased food items return to normal.
This spell has no effect on food or drink which has been subject to a purify food and drink spell within the last 24 hours.
The spell’s damage increases by 2d4 when you reach 5th level (4d4), 11th level (6d4), and 17th level (8d4).
Giant's Grip
green cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 action action
- Range: Self
- Components: V, S
- Duration: 1 minute
You augment your muscles with magic, allowing you to lift heavy burdens. For the duration, your lifting and carrying capacity is tripled.
Your lifting and carrying capacity is instead multiplied by five when you reach 5th level, by ten when you reach 11th level, and by twenty when you reach 17th level.
Enemies
red cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 30 feet
- Components: S, M
- Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
You stoke the anger of a creature within range. That creature must attempt a Wisdom saving throw or become hostile to another creature of your choice within range. A creature prone to violence might attack. Another creature might express its anger in other ways (at the DM’s discretion).
When the spell ends, the creature realizes that you used magic to influence its mood and becomes hostile toward you, if it wasn't already.
Prey Upon
green cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: V
- Duration: Instantaneous
Strength surges through a creature you see within range. That creature can immediately use its reaction to make a melee attack.
Rebuking Light
white cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: V, S
- Duration: Instantaneous
A creature of your choice within range must attempt a Dexterity saving throw or be surrounded by a faint halo of light. The halo sheds dim light out to 20 feet. Whenever the creature attacks, the halo deals 1d10 radiant damage to it. The halo fades at the start of your next turn.
The spell’s damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).
Scare
black cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: V, S
- Duration: Instantaneous
Uttering a curse imbued with black magic, you attempt to frighten a creature within range. That creature must attempt a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of you until the start of your next turn.
Shackle
white cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: S, M
- Duration: Instantaneous
A chain of light attempts to shackle a creature within range. That creature must attempt a Strength saving throw or have its speed reduced to 0 until the start of your next turn.
The shackled creature can use its action to make a Strength check against your spell save DC. On a success, the chain shatters in a flash of radiant energy, dealing 1d4 radiant damage to the creature that freed itself. Whether or not the chain was broken, it disappears harmlessly at the start of your next turn.
The spell’s damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 5th level (2d4), 11th level (3d4), and 17th level (4d4).
Shadowfeed
black cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 10 feet
- Components: S, M
- Duration: Instantaneous
You drain the lingering life energy from a creature that died within the last minute. The chosen creature's corpse instantly decomposes, leaving only bones and a small pool of black sludge. You gain hit points equal to the CR of the consumed creature, rounded down.
This spell has no effect on a corpse that is under the effect of a gentle repose spell.