Thaumaturgy is a transmutation cantrip for Clerics, and Tieflings know it too. With only a verbal component, you create one minor wonder within 30 feet: a booming voice, flickering or recolored flames, harmless tremors, or altered eyes for 1 minute, or an instant sound or an unlocked door or window flying open or slamming shut. You can have up to three of the 1-minute effects running at once. In the 2024 rules, Booming Voice also gives you advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks while it lasts.
Thaumaturgy is a cantrip for showing people you have divine power. It deals no damage, imposes no condition, and in the 2014 rules gives no mechanical bonus. Its value is in setting a scene, selling a bluff, or getting a reaction from a non-player character.
It is the Cleric's answer to Prestidigitation (small practical tricks at 10 feet) and Minor Illusion (a fake sound or image). Thaumaturgy works at 30 feet, needs only your voice, and its effects are real: the ground does shake, the torches do turn green.
The 2024 Booming Voice adds advantage on Intimidation checks for a minute, which turns a flavor cantrip into one that changes dice for a Cleric who does the talking.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Level | 0 |
| School | Transmutation |
| Casting Time | 1 action |
| Range | 30 feet |
| Components | V |
| Material | None |
| Duration | Up to 1 minute |
| Concentration | No |
| Ritual | No |
| Save/Attack | None |
| Classes | Cleric |
| Metric | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Slot Efficiency | No slot. It is a cantrip, so you can use it as often as you like. |
| Action Economy | One action per effect. Out of combat, that rarely matters. |
| Opportunity Cost | One of your limited cantrip picks. Clerics learn three at 1st level in both editions. |
When worth the pick: Your Cleric talks to NPCs a lot (especially in 2024), or you enjoy staging divine presence.
When NOT worth the pick: Your Cleric is combat-focused and would rather have Guidance or Sacred Flame.
| Effect (2024 name) | What it does | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Booming Voice | Your voice booms up to three times as loud as normal. 2024: advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks. | 1 minute |
| Fire Play | Flames flicker, brighten, dim, or change color. | 1 minute |
| Tremors | Harmless tremors in the ground. | 1 minute |
| Phantom Sound | A sound from a point you choose within range, such as thunder, a raven's cry, or ominous whispers. | Instantaneous |
| Invisible Hand | An unlocked door or window flies open or slams shut. | Instantaneous |
| Altered Eyes | The appearance of your eyes changes. | 1 minute |
Up to three 1-minute effects can be active at once. The two instantaneous effects end immediately, so they don't count.
Why it works: For 1 minute you have advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks. At +5 against DC 15, your chance rises from 55% to about 80%.
This avoids the mistake of: Rolling the threat first and casting the spell afterwards.
Why it works: Cast it three times: glowing eyes, green torches, and a shaking floor, all running together. The only cost is your actions.
This avoids the mistake of: Using one effect and calling it a divine sign.
Why it works: You can open or shut an unlocked door or window within 30 feet without touching it: close one on a pursuer, or open one across a room without walking into a trap.
This avoids the mistake of: Sending the rogue to open a door you could have opened from 30 feet away.
Why it works: The sound comes from a point you choose within range, such as whispers behind a statue or thunder above an altar.
This avoids the mistake of: Assuming the spell only affects your own voice.
Why it's bad: The spell creates a sound. It doesn't force anyone to investigate or give you a bonus to Stealth.
Do this instead: Say what you want the sound to accomplish. How a guard reacts, and whether a check is involved, is a DM ruling, not rules text.
Why it's bad: The text calls the tremors harmless and gives them no other game effect. Nobody falls prone and nothing breaks.
Do this instead: Use them for atmosphere or to add weight to a threat.
Why it's bad: It takes an action every time and has no ritual tag. In a fight, three effects cost three turns.
Do this instead: Cast it before negotiations start.
Why it's bad: The 2024 rules give you disadvantage on checks to influence a Hostile creature. Booming Voice's advantage cancels it, so you roll one die.
Do this instead: Expect normal odds against a Hostile target and real advantage against an Indifferent one.
The 2024 Player's Handbook keeps Thaumaturgy's school, Cleric list, range, verbal component, duration, and six effects, which now have names: Altered Eyes, Booming Voice, Fire Play, Invisible Hand, Phantom Sound, and Tremors.
Two rules changed:
Access changed too. Every 2024 Tiefling knows Thaumaturgy through Otherworldly Presence and casts it with their Fiendish Legacy ability (Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma); the 2014 Tiefling uses Charisma. The 2024 Cleric class lists it among recommended starting cantrips, the Thaumaturge Divine Order grants one extra Cleric cantrip, and the Magic Initiate (Cleric) feat lets any character learn it.
It creates one minor wonder within 30 feet: a booming voice, flames that flicker or change color, harmless tremors, an instant sound, an unlocked door or window opening or slamming, or changed eyes.
In the 2024 rules, yes. Booming Voice grants advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks for 1 minute. In the 2014 rules, no. Any bonus is the DM's decision.
No. It only affects an unlocked door or window, which flies open or slams shut.
The text lets you make flames flicker, brighten, dim, or change color. It doesn't mention extinguishing them, so whether you can dim a flame to nothing is a DM ruling, not rules text.
No. It lasts up to 1 minute without concentration, so you can run it alongside a concentration spell.
Up to three of its 1-minute effects at a time. The instantaneous sound and door effects end immediately and don't count.
Yes. 2014 Tieflings know it through Infernal Legacy and cast it with Charisma. 2024 Tieflings know it through Otherworldly Presence and use the ability chosen for their Fiendish Legacy.
Thaumaturgy is a Cleric cantrip with a 30-foot range and divine-sign effects such as booming voices and tremors. Prestidigitation is a Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard cantrip with a 10-foot range for small practical tricks like cleaning, warming food, and lighting candles.
Citations: SRD 5.1 (2014 rules), SRD 5.2.1 (2024 rules)
Includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.
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