Espionage in Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) often involves intricate planning, meticulous execution, and strategic use of magical abilities. In this clandestine world, spells play a pivotal role, offering adventurers a wide array of tools to navigate dangerous situations, gather vital information, and outmaneuver their adversaries.
20 Locate Object / Locate Creature
| 2nd-Level Divination / 4th-Level Divination | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | Self |
| Target: | An object within 1000 feet / A creature within 1000 feet |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic, Material: A forked twig / Verbal, Somatic, Material: A bit of fur from a bloodhound |
| Duration: | Concentration (10 Minutes) / Concentration (1 Hour) |
| Classes: | Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger, Wizard |
Locate Object and Locate Creature provide the direction to a specific creature or object within range, aiding in tracking marks or finding elusive items. These divination spells assist adventurers in locating valuable targets or retrieving looted objects, offering invaluable assistance in surveillance, pursuit, or recovery missions. Whether hunting down elusive foes, recovering stolen artifacts, or tracking down valuable treasures, these locate spells provide adventurers with the means to track down and acquire coveted assets, ensuring their success in espionage missions.
19 Comprehend Languages
| 1st-Level Divination | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | Self |
| Target: | Self |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic, Material: A pinch of soot and salt |
| Duration: | 1 Hour |
| Classes: | Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard |
Comprehend Languages allows the caster to understand spoken and written languages, facilitating communication and deciphering foreign texts. This divination spell enables adventurers to overcome language barriers, eavesdrop on conversations, or decipher coded messages, making it indispensable for gathering intelligence or infiltrating foreign cultures. Comprehend Languages can provide adventurers with the linguistic skills to navigate diverse cultures and uncover hidden secrets concealed within foreign languages.
18 Detect Magic
| 1st-Level Divination | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | Self |
| Target: | Self |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic |
| Duration: | Concentration (10 Minutes) |
| Classes: | Artificer, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Wizard |
Detect Magic senses the presence of magic and identifies its school within range, which helps locate magical items, traps, or illusions. This divination spell aids adventurers in identifying magical threats, uncovering hidden enchantments, or discerning illusions, enhancing their ability to navigate treacherous environments or see hidden dangers. Detect Magic gives adventurers invaluable insights into mystical forces and allows them to uncover hidden truths concealed by magic.
17 Prestidigitation
| Transmutation Cantrip | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | 10 feet |
| Target: | An object or point of your choice within range |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic |
| Duration: | 1 Hour |
| Classes: | Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard |
Prestidigitation performs minor magical tricks, such as creating sensory effects, lighting fires, cleaning objects, or producing small illusions. This versatile spell offers a range of utility for espionage, including creating distractions, concealing evidence, altering appearances, or crafting illusions to deceive or mislead adversaries. Prestidigitation provides adventurers endless possibilities for outwitting their foes through cunning and deception.
16 Knock
| 2nd-Level Transmutation | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | 60 Feet |
| Target: | An object of your choice you can see within range |
| Components: | Verbal |
| Duration: | Instantaneous |
| Classes: | Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard |
Knock can open locked objects or temporarily suppress magical locks. This versatile spell is invaluable for bypassing obstacles and unlocking doors, chests, or restraints, but its loud noise can alert nearby enemies, requiring careful timing or strategic placement. Whether gaining entry to secure locations, accessing hidden chambers, or bypassing magical barriers, Knock offers adventurers a reliable means of overcoming obstacles.
15 Scrying
| 5th-Level Divination | |
| Casting Time: | 10 Minutes |
| Range: | Self |
| Target: | A creature of your choice on the same plane of existence |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic, Material: A focus worth at least 1,000 gp, such as a crystal ball, a silver mirror, or a font filled with holy water |
| Duration: | Concentration (10 Minutes) |
| Classes: | Bard, Cleric, Druid, Warlock, Wizard |
Scrying allows the caster to observe a specific creature or location from a distance, providing valuable surveillance capabilities. This divination spell enables remote monitoring of targets, tracking enemy movements, or gathering intelligence on distant locations, making it an invaluable tool for strategic planning and surveillance. Scrying can give adventurers unparalleled insights into their adversaries’ plans and activities.
14 Suggestion
| 2nd-Level Enchantment | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | 30 Feet |
| Target: | A creature of your choice you can see within range |
| Components: | Verbal, Material: A snake’s tongue and either a bit of honeycomb or a drop of sweet oil |
| Duration: | Concentration (8 Hours) |
| Classes: | Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard |
Suggestion influences a target to carry out a suggested course of action, provided it sounds reasonable and is not harmful. This enchantment is a powerful tool for manipulation and deception, allowing adventurers to influence the behavior of NPCs, gain access to restricted areas, or extract information without coercion. Persuading guards to look the other way, convincing informants to reveal secrets, or manipulating adversaries into revealing their intentions are ways Suggestion can offer adventurers endless possibilities for achieving their objectives.
13 Spider Climb
| 2nd-Level Transmutation | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | Touch |
| Target: | A creature of your choice within range |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic, Material: A drop of bitumen and a spider |
| Duration: | Concentration (1 Hour) |
| Classes: | Artificer, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard |
Spider Climb allows the caster or a willing creature to climb vertical surfaces and traverse ceilings, providing unconventional mobility options. This spell enables adventurers to access otherwise inaccessible areas, evade pursuit by scaling walls or ceilings, or hide in elevated positions to observe or ambush adversaries. Players can also escape confinement, navigate treacherous terrain, or gain a tactical advantage in combat using Spider Climb, giving adventurers unmatched versatility and agility in espionage missions.
12 Find Familiar
| 1st-Level Conjuration | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | 60 feet |
| Target: | An unoccupied space within range |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic, Material: A brass brazier to burn 10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs |
| Duration: | Instantaneous |
| Classes: | Wizard |
Find Familiar summons a loyal familiar spirit that can aid in reconnaissance, surveillance, or delivering touch spells. This spell provides adventurers with a discreet companion for espionage missions, offering enhanced senses, stealthy surveillance, or the ability to discharge spells from a safe distance. Find Familiar enhances adventurers’ capabilities and enables them to navigate dangerous situations easily.
11 Mage Hand
| Conjuration Cantrip | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | 30 Feet |
| Target: | A point of your choice within range |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic |
| Duration: | 1 Minute |
| Classes: | Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard |
Mage Hand conjures a spectral hand that can manipulate objects from a distance, providing a versatile tool for interacting with the environment. This spell facilitates covert actions such as opening doors, retrieving items, or activating mechanisms without direct contact, reducing the risk of detection or triggering traps. Mage Hand can pick locks, disarm traps, and retrieve valuable artifacts, offering adventurers endless possibilities for overcoming obstacles and outsmarting their adversaries.
10 Disguise Self
| 1st-Level Illusion | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | Self |
| Target: | Self |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic |
| Duration: | 1 Hour |
| Classes: | Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard |
Disguise Self allows the caster to alter their appearance, assuming a different guise and blending in with their surroundings. This illusion is invaluable for undercover operations, enabling adventurers to infiltrate enemy ranks, gather information incognito, or avoid detection by assuming false identities. Whether impersonating enemy agents, infiltrating enemy strongholds, or conducting covert surveillance, Disguise Self offers adventurers a versatile tool for deception and fraud.
9 Sleep
| 1st-Level Enchantment | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | 90 Feet |
| Target: | Multiple creatures of your choice within range |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic, Material: A pinch of fine sand, rose petals, or a cricket |
| Duration: | 1 Minute |
| Classes: | Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard |
Sleep sends creatures within range into a magical slumber, rendering them unconscious for the spell’s duration. This enchantment is helpful for subduing guards, neutralizing threats, or pacifying adversaries without resorting to violence. Sleep offers adventurers a non-lethal means of incapacitating opponents and gaining the upper hand in confrontations.
8 Clairvoyance
| 3rd-Level Divination | |
| Casting Time: | 10 Minutes |
| Range: | 1 Mile |
| Target: | A location familiar to you within range |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic, Material: A focus worth at least 100 gp, either a jeweled horn for hearing or a glass eye for seeing |
| Duration: | Concentration (10 Minutes) |
| Classes: | Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer, Wizard |
Clairvoyance creates an invisible sensor at a familiar or specified location, allowing the caster to see or hear through it remotely. This spell enables remote reconnaissance, allowing adventurers to gather intelligence on enemy activities, monitor strategic locations, or eavesdrop on conversations from a safe distance. Players can scout, surveil, and collect information using Clairvoyance, which provides adventurers with invaluable insights into their adversaries’ plans and activities.
7 Pass Without Trace
| 2nd-Level Abjuration | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | Self |
| Target: | Self |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic, Material: Ashes from a burned leaf of mistletoe and a sprig of spruce |
| Duration: | Concentration (1 Hour) |
| Classes: | Druid, Ranger |
Pass Without Trace envelops the caster and nearby allies in a veil of shadows and silence, masking their presence and preventing tracking. This spell is indispensable for stealth operations, providing a significant bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks and erasing tracks, making it easier to traverse hostile terrain or evade pursuit. Pass Without Trace allows adventurers to move undetected and remain unseen by their enemies.
6 Minor Illusion
| Illusion Cantrip | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | 30 Feet |
| Target: | A point of your choice within range |
| Components: | Somatic, Material: A bit of fleece |
| Duration: | 1 Minute |
| Classes: | Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard |
Minor Illusion allows the caster to create auditory or visual illusions within range, providing a versatile tool for deception and misdirection. Players can use this spell to create distractions, mimic sounds, or fabricate false images to mislead enemies or conceal actions. Minor Illusion offers adventurers endless possibilities for outwitting their foes through cunning and deception, including producing decoys, disguising secret passages, and even creating false documents.
5 Silence
| 2nd-Level Illusion | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | 120 Feet |
| Target: | A point of your choice within range |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic |
| Duration: | Concentration (10 Minutes) |
| Classes: | Bard, Cleric, Ranger |
Silence creates an area of magical silence within a 20-foot-radius sphere, preventing sound from emanating and inhibiting spells with verbal components. This spell is essential for maintaining stealth during infiltration or avoiding detection by preventing noise from alerting nearby enemies. Whether infiltrating enemy strongholds, disabling alarm systems, or conducting covert operations, Silence offers adventurers a valuable tool for staying undetected in hostile environments.
4 Misty Step
| 2nd-Level Conjuration | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Bonus Action |
| Range: | Self |
| Target: | Self |
| Components: | Verbal |
| Duration: | Instantaneous |
| Classes: | Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard |
Misty Step provides adventurers with a swift and agile means of movement by allowing them to teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space they can see. This instantaneous teleportation can be a lifesaver in tight situations, enabling adventurers to evade pursuit, escape traps, or infiltrate secured locations by bypassing locked doors or barriers. With its versatility and speed, Misty Step is a must-have for any aspiring spy or infiltrator.
3 Arcane Eye
| 4th-Level Divination | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | 30 Feet |
| Target: | A point of your choice within range |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic, Material: A bit of bat fur |
| Duration: | Concentration (1 Hour) |
| Classes: | Artificer, Wizard |
Arcane Eye conjures an invisible, magical eye within range that provides visual information to the caster. This remote surveillance tool is a covert spy camera, offering valuable insights into enemy movements, fortifications, or hidden dangers. Arcane Eye is invaluable for gathering intelligence from a safe distance, allowing adventurers to scout ahead, monitor strategic locations, or observe adversaries without risking direct exposure.
2 Invisibility
| 2nd-Level Enchantment | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | 60 Feet |
| Target: | A creature of your choice within range |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic, Material: An eyelash encased in gum arabic |
| Duration: | Concentration (1 Hour) |
| Classes: | Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard |
This spell renders a target invisible but fails if that target attacks or casts a spell. Despite this limitation, Invisibility remains a valuable tool for reconnaissance missions where combat or spellcasting isn’t necessary. It facilitates stealthy movement, scouting of enemy positions, or evading detection in hostile environments, offering adventurers a crucial advantage in covert operations.
1 Greater Invisibility
| 4th-Level Illusion | |
| Casting Time: | 1 Action |
| Range: | Touch |
| Target: | A creature of your choice within range |
| Components: | Verbal, Somatic |
| Duration: | Concentration (1 Minute) |
| Classes: | Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard |
Greater Invisibility is a potent spell that renders the target invisible, allowing them to move undetected while still being able to cast spells and launch attacks. This powerful illusion can be a game-changer in espionage scenarios, providing adventurers with unparalleled stealth capabilities to infiltrate enemy strongholds, bypass guards, or escape sticky situations unnoticed. Regardless of its use, Greater Invisibility is an indispensable undercover asset.
In the intricate web of espionage within Dungeons & Dragons, spells are indispensable tools for adventurers seeking to navigate treacherous landscapes, gather vital intelligence, and outmaneuver their adversaries. From the stealth-enhancing abilities of Greater Invisibility and Pass Without Trace to the versatile utility of spells like Clairvoyance and Prestidigitation, each spell offers unique capabilities that can turn the tide in favor of cunning infiltrators and masterful spies. Whether conducting covert surveillance, manipulating adversaries with enchantments, or overcoming obstacles with magical prowess, the 20 spells outlined above provide adventurers with a comprehensive arsenal for success in the clandestine world of espionage. With wit, ingenuity, and a touch of magic, adventurers can infiltrate enemy strongholds, gather crucial intelligence, and emerge victorious.
