Spell Scroll 5e: Save DC, Cost by Level and Who Can Use It

A Spell Scroll 5e holds one spell that you can cast by reading it, if the spell is on your class's spell list (your spell list, in 2024), with no material components needed. The spell's level sets rarity, save DC and attack bonus, from common, DC 13 and +5 (1st level) to legendary, DC 19 and +11 (9th). A spell above your level needs an ability check, DC 10 + the spell's level. Verdict: a cheap way to carry a spell nobody prepared.

Table of Contents

• •Spell Scroll Rules Text
• •Spell Scroll DC, Attack Bonus and Cost by Level
• •How the Spell Scroll Works
• •Spell Scroll: 2014 vs 2024
• •Who Should Use Spell Scrolls?
• •Spell Scrolls for DMs
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Spell Scroll Rules Text

SRD 5.1 (2014), then SRD 5.2.1 (2024).

The cards share the table and the check. The 2024 card says "your spell list" instead of "your class's spell list", and the 2024 SRD adds scribing rules and prices.

Spell Scroll DC, Attack Bonus and Cost by Level

The first four columns are the same in both editions. The 2014 SRD has no prices or scribing rules.

Value follows the 2024 rule that a Spell Scroll is worth double its scribing cost, replacing the rarity value: a common 1st-level scroll is 50 GP, not 100 GP. The table's DCs apply to found scrolls; a scroll you scribe uses your own spell save DC and attack bonus.

How the Spell Scroll Works

Who can read it

2014: the spell must be on your class's spell list. A wizard can read a Fireball scroll; a cleric can't, because Fireball isn't a cleric spell. To anyone else the scroll is unintelligible.

2024: the spell must be on "your spell list". Some features settle this directly: a Bard's Magical Secrets says the chosen spells count as Bard spells. For other added spells the SRD is silent. DM ruling: a spell your features let you always have prepared counts.

In neither edition does the spell need to be prepared or known.

Casting time and components

Reading the scroll takes the spell's normal casting time: an action for Fireball, a reaction for Counterspell, an hour for Raise Dead. The scroll waives material components, costly ones included: a scroll of Revivify needs no 300 GP diamond.

It waives nothing else. The general spellcasting rules still require Verbal and Somatic components, and a creature in magical silence can't cast a spell with a Verbal component, so you can't read a Fireball scroll inside Silence. Concentration spells need your concentration as usual.

Interrupted casting

The scroll crumbles once the spell is cast. If the casting is interrupted, the scroll isn't lost, in both SRDs. Some online copies of the 2014 text print "uninterrupted", which reverses the rule. It matters for long casts: a fight that breaks up an hour-long Raise Dead leaves you the scroll.

Spells above your level

If the spell is on your list but higher than you can normally cast, make an ability check with your spellcasting ability, DC 10 + the spell's level. On a failure the spell vanishes from the scroll. Proficiency doesn't apply to a plain ability check.

Copying into a spellbook

A wizard spell on a scroll can be copied. The copier makes an Intelligence (Arcana) check, DC 10 + the spell's level, and the scroll is destroyed either way. The spellbook rules still apply: the spell must be of a level you can prepare, and copying costs 2 hours and 50 GP per level in both editions. A 3rd-level wizard with Intelligence 16 and Arcana proficiency (+5) copies a 2nd-level spell (DC 12) on 7+, 70%.

Thieves: Use Magic Device

Both SRDs include the Thief rogue's level 13 Use Magic Device feature.

• •2014: the Thief ignores all class, race and level requirements on magic items, so the spell list rule doesn't stop them. Where an item calls for a spellcasting ability, a rogue with this feature uses +0. The text doesn't say whether "level requirements" covers the higher-level check. DM ruling: a Thief has no spell slots, so every leveled scroll needs the check, at +0.
• •2024: the feature settles it. The Thief can use any Spell Scroll with Intelligence as the spellcasting ability, casts cantrips and level 1 spells reliably, and needs an Intelligence (Arcana) check, DC 10 + the spell's level, for anything higher. On a failure the scroll disintegrates.

Scribing scrolls (2024)

To scribe a scroll you need proficiency in Arcana or with Calligrapher's Supplies, the spell prepared on each day of work, and its material components at hand; consumed components are used up when you finish. Each day is 8 hours, and the days needn't be consecutive. The scroll uses your spell save DC and attack bonus, and a scribed cantrip works at your level.

Spell Scroll: 2014 vs 2024

The card plays the same in both editions. The change that matters is downtime: under 2024 rules a wizard with a free week can turn 150 GP into a 3rd-level scroll for a friend, at the wizard's own DC.

Who Should Use Spell Scrolls?

Wizards first. Every wizard spell on a scroll is a possible spellbook entry as well as one casting.

Any caster who wants a situational spell without preparing it. Remove Curse, Water Breathing and Identify sit unprepared most days; a scroll covers the day you need them.

Not non-casters, except a Thief of level 13 or higher.

Scrolls take no attunement slot, so they never compete with a Pearl of Power. The Ring of Spell Storing is the reusable alternative, but it holds 5 levels of spells at a time and needs a caster to refill it.

Spell Scrolls for DMs

Placement. A low-level scroll fits any hoard, and it is the simplest way to hand the party a spell its casters lack: Identify in the first dungeon, Dispel Magic before the warded vault, Water Breathing before the sunken temple.

Watch the level. A 5th-level scroll in a 3rd-level party is a coin flip to cast and a spell the wizard will want to copy. Be happy with either outcome before you place it. A Revivify scroll is also a free diamond: reading it waives the 300 GP component.

Pricing. Use the 2024 table above: twice the scribing cost. The 2014 SRD has no prices; any 2014 figure comes from the Dungeon Master's Guide, not the SRD. The magic item generator and treasure generator can roll scrolls into a hoard.

Hooks.

• •A dead wizard's apprentice left a satchel of scrolls, each a spell her master never let her learn. One is too high for anyone in the party to read safely.
• •A scribe sells scrolls at cost. Her save DCs are 2 lower than they should be: she isn't the caster she claims to be.

Which scrolls are still in the pack is easy to forget. Loreify records each session and keeps a running list of the loot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can use a Spell Scroll in 5e?

A creature with the spell on its class's spell list (2014) or its spell list (2024). Anyone else finds it unintelligible, except a Thief rogue of level 13 or higher with Use Magic Device.

Does a Spell Scroll need verbal and somatic components?

Yes. The scroll waives only material components, including costly ones. Verbal and Somatic components still apply, so Silence or a gag stops a scroll with a Verbal component.

Can you cast a Spell Scroll of a higher level than you can cast?

Yes, if the spell is on your list. Make an ability check with your spellcasting ability, DC 10 + the spell's level; on a failure the spell disappears from the scroll.

How much does a Spell Scroll cost?

Under the 2024 SRD a scroll is worth twice its scribing cost: 30 GP for a cantrip, 50 GP for level 1, 300 GP for level 3, 3,000 GP for level 5 and 100,000 GP for level 9. The 2014 SRD gives no prices.

Can a wizard copy a spell from a scroll?

Yes. Make an Intelligence (Arcana) check, DC 10 + the spell's level, and pay the usual 2 hours and 50 GP per level. The scroll is destroyed whether the check succeeds or fails.

Item text: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Analysis, rulings and ideas are Loreify's own.