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I'm just starting out, and want to play a Drow Bard in D&D 5e.

Basically, the wording of the PHB is a bit confusing:

  • Does 'knowing' a cantrip mean you can 'cast' a cantrip for free without a slot (like it states later for Faerie Fire and Darkness) an unlimited number of times?
  • Or does it have to use one of your existing cantrip slots? Bards have access to 2 from the Bard list at level 1. If so, would this mean it's a waste to play a Drow Bard, since the free cantrip is part of the Bard's cantrip list?

It looks like this question was asked before, but no answer was given, hence I'm providing more info than the previous user.

Shalvenay
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Turbanator
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1 Answers1

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The racial cantrip that some races get (including Dancing Lights for Drow) is in addition to any cantrips that might be gained as a class feature. The character adds that racial cantrip to the list of cantrips known - it does NOT take one of the known cantrips allowed if cantrips are gained as a class feature.

Carey Sauerbrun
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    So, in other words, 'knowing' = a free spell/cantrip to use as I wish without adding to my spell slots, 'casting' (when referring to Darness) = the ability to cast a spell as many times as stated in the manual? If it's a free cantrip for me to play with, and I can still choose two others when playing as a bard, giving me 3 in total as level 1, that should make the game interesting! – Turbanator Feb 02 '20 at 11:22
  • If you should make your character on DnD Beyond, While in Edit mode, you would get the racial cantrip under your racial features, and your regular cantrips would be chosen as normal in your class spell selection. You would only see all of the cantrips you have available when you actually View the final character sheet. – Carey Sauerbrun May 15 '20 at 14:10