How My Spell Rating System Works

Look, not all spells are created equal. Some blow stuff up, some get you past locked doors, and some do basically nothing unless you’re in a very specific situation. This rating system breaks down what actually matters when you’re picking spells for your character.

Every spell gets rated on seven categories, each scored 1-10. Here’s what they mean:

Contextual Performance

  • Combat rating (1-10). How good is this spell in a fight? Pretty straightforward. Does it deal damage, control the battlefield, buff allies, debuff enemies, or otherwise help you not die? The bread and butter of DnD.

  • Exploration rating (1-10). How useful is this spell when you’re dungeon-delving, traveling, or investigating? Does it help you get past obstacles, find hidden things, or avoid danger? If your campaign is heavy on exploration, pay attention to this score.

  • Social rating (1-10). Can you use this in social encounters, or is it completely useless when talking to NPCs? Most spells score low here — you can’t Fireball your way through a negotiation (well, you can, but that’s not really “social”). The ones that score high are genuinely valuable for that pillar of play.

Core Metrics

  • Raw power (1-10). For combat spells: How much damage or control can you reliably get out of this? We’re talking realistic, consistent value — not some perfect-world scenario where all five enemies fail their saves and stand in the perfect formation.

    For utility spells: How much value does this provide, and how often will you actually use it? A spell that solves one specific problem once per campaign scores low. A spell that’s useful every session scores high.

  • Versatility (1-10). How many different problems can this spell solve? This includes situational value — a spell might do one thing, but if that one thing comes up constantly, it’s still versatile in practice. This also factors in creative uses and whether the spell is useful across different types of encounters.

  • Efficiency (1-10). Bang for your buck. This accounts for the spell’s level, action economy cost (action vs. bonus action vs. reaction), and whether it requires concentration. A concentration spell that eats your highest slot and takes your action? That better be doing some serious work. A non-concentration bonus action spell? Now we’re talking efficiency.

  • Upcast scaling (1-10). Does this spell get better when you use higher-level slots, or does it stay the same mediocre spell it always was? Some spells scale perfectly (looking at you, Dispel Magic). Others are a waste of a high-level slot. This measures whether upcasting is worth it or if you should just prepare something else for those higher slots.

The Bottom Line

These ratings aren’t gospel — your mileage will vary based on your campaign, your DM, and your party composition. A spell that’s useless in a dungeon crawl might be essential in an intrigue-heavy campaign. Use these ratings as a starting point, not a rigid tier list.

And remember: if you’re not having fun, the ratings don’t matter.