Prestidigitation is a transmutation cantrip for Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. As an action, you create one of six minor effects within 10 feet. You can make a harmless sensory effect, light or snuff a small flame, or clean or soil a small object. You can also chill, warm, or flavor material for an hour, leave a mark for an hour, or make a tiny trinket or illusion. It cannot deal damage, and you can keep up to three of its lasting effects at once.
Prestidigitation is a cantrip of small magical tricks. The spell itself calls it the kind of magic novice spellcasters use for practice. It has no combat use on its own. What it does well is solve small problems for free: clean muddy boots, warm cold rations, light a campfire, leave a mark on a door, or put on a little show.
Every effect is tightly limited. The range is 10 feet. Cleaning, soiling, chilling, warming, and flavoring work on at most 1 cubic foot. Marks and temperature changes last 1 hour. Trinkets and illusions last only until the end of your next turn. Within those limits, how you use it is creative play, and many uses depend on how your DM rules them.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Level | 0 |
| School | Transmutation |
| Casting Time | 1 action |
| Range | 10 feet |
| Components | V, S |
| Material | None |
| Duration | Up to 1 hour |
| Concentration | No |
| Ritual | No |
| Save/Attack | None |
| Classes | Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard |
| Metric | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Slot Efficiency | Free. It is a cantrip, so you can cast it as often as you have actions. |
| Action Economy | Each casting takes 1 action, about 6 seconds. |
| Opportunity Cost | One cantrip pick. That matters most for classes that know few cantrips. |
When worth the pick: Characters who spend time in towns, travel, social scenes, or roleplay-heavy games.
When NOT worth the pick: A combat-focused character who already struggles to fill cantrip slots with damage and control.
Why it works: A color, small mark, or symbol on a surface lasts 1 hour. That is long enough to mark a route through a dungeon and have the marks fade on their own.
This avoids the mistake of: Leaving permanent chalk marks enemies can follow later.
Why it works: You can instantly light or put out a candle, torch, or small campfire within 10 feet. That can kill a light source in a dark room or light a signal fire.
This avoids the mistake of: Spending a turn fumbling with tinder or reaching into a fire.
Why it works: A puff of wind, faint music, or an odd smell can draw attention. How guards react is a DM decision, often with a Deception or Performance check.
This avoids the mistake of: Expecting the spell to force a reaction. It creates the effect; the DM decides what creatures do about it.
Why it works: Only non-instantaneous effects count toward the limit of three. Lighting a candle or cleaning a cup is instantaneous and does not use one of the three.
This avoids the mistake of: Thinking you cannot cast it again because you already used it three times.
Why it's bad: Every option is harmless. You can light a small campfire, but not set a creature on fire, and the sensory effects cannot hurt anyone.
Do this instead: Use a damage cantrip in combat and save Prestidigitation for utility.
Why it's bad: A trinket lasts only until the end of your next turn. In the 2024 rules it explicitly has no monetary worth and cannot deal damage.
Do this instead: Use trinkets for quick props, such as a fake key to wave around for a moment.
Why it's bad: Prestidigitation reaches only 10 feet. Snuffing a torch across a large room is out of range.
Do this instead: Move closer first, or use a spell with longer range. Druidcraft, for comparison, reaches 30 feet.
Why it's bad: Cleaning, soiling, chilling, warming, and flavoring cover at most 1 cubic foot of material. A cubic foot is a cube 12 inches on each side.
Do this instead: Cast it several times for larger jobs, and accept that the DM decides whether things like a whole person or a worn outfit count.
| Effect (2024 name) | What it does | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Sensory Effect | A harmless sensory effect, such as sparks, a puff of wind, faint music, or an odd odor | Instantaneous |
| Fire Play | Light or snuff a candle, torch, or small campfire | Instantaneous |
| Clean or Soil | Clean or soil an object no larger than 1 cubic foot | Instantaneous |
| Minor Sensation | Chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material | 1 hour |
| Magic Mark | A color, small mark, or symbol on an object or surface | 1 hour |
| Minor Creation | A nonmagical trinket or illusory image that fits in your hand | Until the end of your next turn |
The 2024 version keeps the same six effects, range, duration, and three-effect limit, and gives each effect a name. Two details change. The trinket from Minor Creation is now stated to deal no damage and have no monetary worth. The 2024 text also drops the 2014 line that lets you dismiss a lasting effect as an action. The class list stays the same: Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards.
It creates one of six minor effects within 10 feet: a harmless sensory effect, lighting or snuffing a small flame, cleaning or soiling a small object, chilling, warming, or flavoring nonliving material, a temporary mark, or a hand-sized trinket or illusion. It cannot deal damage.
No. Every effect is harmless. You can light a candle, torch, or small campfire, but the spell does not set creatures on fire. The 2024 version adds that its trinkets can deal no damage.
Chilling, warming, flavoring, and marks last 1 hour. Trinkets and illusions last until the end of your next turn. The other effects are instantaneous.
The spell cleans an object no larger than 1 cubic foot, and a creature is not an object. Many tables let it clean worn clothing or gear a piece at a time, but that is a DM call.
Up to three non-instantaneous effects at a time. Instantaneous effects, such as lighting a candle or cleaning a cup, do not count toward that limit.
No. Trinkets vanish at the end of your next turn, and the 2024 rules say they have no monetary worth. Any income from performing with it would come from the DM, not the spell.
10 feet. Every effect must be created within that range.
Prestidigitation is a 10-foot utility cantrip for Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. Thaumaturgy is a 30-foot cleric cantrip whose effects are signs of divine power, like a booming voice, harmless tremors, or a door that flies open. Prestidigitation is better for practical chores, and Thaumaturgy is better for intimidating displays.
Citations: api:spells/prestidigitation; SRD 5.1; SRD 5.2.1
Includes SRD content per CC BY 4.0. Sources: dnd5eapi.co, System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1.
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