D&D 5E Can I use spell slots to cast Shadow Arts spells?

[ECMO3]

How do you have second level slots without knowledge of second level spells?

My caster level is (will be) 3. Using the multiclass rules - Sorcerer levels + 1/2 Ranger levels --> 1+1/2(4) =1+2=3

So I have the same number of slots as a 3rd level full caster, which is 4 1st level, 2 2nd level.

Spells known are 2-1st level Sorcerer Spells (Shield, Silvery barbs) and 3-1st level Ranger spells (Goodberry, Ensnaring Strike, Absorb Elements), plus I also get Speak with Animals and Disguise Self through Primal Awareness and Gloomstalker.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

You neither know nor have those spells prepared, so by RAW you can't cast them.

Ignoring RAW, I personally would be hesitant allowing it even beyond that, as I feel like the idea is more that your shadowy monk skills duplicate the effects of these spells rather than that you are casting them or able to cast them in the conventional sense. I don't really like the idea that even a multiclassed shadow monk adds these spells to their general spellcasting. I love multi-classing, but I don't want it undermining the narratives the class abilities are trying to build more than it already does.

But balance-wise it hardly seems like an issue. Realistically you are probably burning through a lot of your spells slots to save some Ki on a Monk who is extra Ki starved due to multi-classing.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Huh, interesting wrinkle. Thanks for the answers!