Sending: Long Distance Voicemail

Usable By: Bard, Cleric, Wizard

Spell Level: 3

School: Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Unlimited

Duration: 1 round

Components: V S M (A short piece of fine copper wire)

You send a short message of twenty‑five words or less to a creature with which you are familiar. The creature hears the message in its mind, recognizes you as the sender if it knows you, and can answer in a like manner immediately. The spell enables creatures with Intelligence scores of at least 1 to understand the meaning of your message.

You can send the message across any distance and even to other planes of existence, but if the target is on a different plane than you, there is a 5 percent chance that the message doesn’t arrive.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

Sending is basically a spell through Sending Stones, which are so common the movie Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves uses them. It's like the Message cantrip but can cover any distance. That just isn’t usually worth a 3rd level spell slot, nor is it worth a known spell in the case of bards. Wizards might be able to justify sticking it in their spell book for long-distance communication over periods of downtime to enhance their flavor or run their magic item sales business to maintain their lifestyle, but typically clerics are the class to make the most use of it because they’re prepared casters.

Having the ability to pick this up when you know you’re not going to be dungeon and delving and will have spell slots to burn on sneaky communications that probably could be accomplished in mundane ways.

If you’re getting access to Sending, it's probably through Sending Stones, and that’s more as a convenience to mitigate metagaming than a particularly powerful magic item. Most tables just won’t want to spend a 3rd level spell slot on this, especially when the distance isn’t typically a major element you’re worried about in most games.

As a downtime activity for clerics or wizards, it's a cute, flavorful, magical replacement for texting. As a practical adventuring tool, sending a single message to another party member just isn’t worth this cost.

Sending FAQ

Can I cast Sending to an unconscious creature?

There aren’t official answers to this one, so you’ll want to bring this up to your DM in advance. If the target is asleep, then they may awaken thinking the experience was just a dream, and not a real message. If the target has been KO’d in a bar fight, then they’re probably going to be oblivious to the spell – the message gets delivered, but they’re not aware of it. It’s sort of like as if you were standing there, talking to someone who’s asleep or unconscious. They might hear you, but they probably won’t.

5e Spells

Sending: Long Distance Voicemail

Sending FAQ