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The Players Handbook says:

A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. You can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.

What if we had the power of the spell Haste (as example), or Action Surge (fighter feature), where the player has 2 actions + 1 bonus. Then the player use a bonus action for a spell. Must then both actions be a Cantrip, or only one?

Thomas Markov
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Flo
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  • I added Action Surge as another potential example, since that one is specifically mentioned in our canonical question on this. You’ll find a handy table outlining what uses are legal/illegal in the linked duplicate. – Thomas Markov Dec 13 '23 at 20:22

1 Answers1

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Both spells cast as an action must be cantrips

The wording of the rule is unambiguous (emphasis mine):

A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. You can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.

If it's still the same turn, you cannot cast any other spell other than a cantrip with the casting time of one action. Thus even though you have two actions, the only spells that may be cast with them are cantrips.

Regarding haste:

You mention having two actions and a bonus action due to being under the effect of the haste spell. You may want to note that the haste action is less powerful than a normal action, and cannot be used to cast a spell:

Choose a willing creature that you can see within range. Until the spell ends, the target's speed is doubled, it gains a +2 bonus to AC, it has advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and it gains an additional action on each of its turns. That action can be used only to take the Attack (one weapon attack only), Dash, Disengage, Hide, or Use an Object action.

It is possible to have two regular actions and a bonus action available on a turn, for example through the use of Action Surge, but the above rule still stands.

smbailey
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  • I thought that too. Thank you for the confirmation and clarification! By the way: Haste was only an example. What was important to me was if the player (for whatever reason - Hombrew, etc.) had 2 actions. – Flo Dec 13 '23 at 20:21