D&D 5E Player characters teaching (arcane) spells to each other

[steeldragons]

I concur, I would not permit the cross-class, or rather, I would make it a case by case basis.

Could a Wizard "teach" an Arcane Trickster or Eldritch Knight? How about someone with the Magic Initiate feat who takes Arcane spells? Are you going to let Bards "teach" a Cleric or vice versa? How about a Cleric "teaching" a Paladin? Paladin teaching a Druid?

I think this is a can of worms that, if you want to open them for roleplay/story reasons, have at it. But I would have a well structured "funnel" to pour that can into as soon as it's opened.

1. My primary question would be...What kind of magic are we talking about?
In my own game world, I draw distinctions between Arcane, Divine, and Nature magic. For the purposes of 5e/BTB, we have to look, at least, at drawing lines between Divine and Arcane.

If "Yes," then that's one hurdle down. Proceed to #2.
So, theoretically, a Sorcerer could "teach" an Eldritch Knight (though I would say the "figured magic out on my own/how it works for me" fluff of a sorcerer would prohibit this from an immersion/believability pov). An Arcane Trickster could teach a Bard (though in my game world, this would be a no since Bards are NOT arcane casters).

If No, then sorry. No way. A Paladin can not teach a Wizard. A Warlock can not teach a Druid. A Bard [per 5e] can not teach a Cleric.

2. Is the spell shared on the different class' spell lists?
If Yes, then let them do it.
So, Clerics might [if the spell appears on both lists] be able to teach a Paladin. A Wizard might teach a Bard (per 5e) or Sorcerer ...my immersion hackles go up at the idea of vice versa. But, if we're keeping this simple, that should/would be allowed. etc...

If No, then no dice. Won't work. You could rp the attempts at instruction (might be fun), but it's not going to work.

2a) In the interest of internal consistency, for me, I would add: Are the schools of magic a match, as well?
So only abjuration/evocation spells could be learned by an Eldritch Knight (since, btb, those are the only schools the EK can learn). Only an Illusion or Enchantment could be taught to an Arcane Trickster...and vice versa. Because those are the only types of spells/kinds of magic these subclasses have a knack/talent for/interest in. If you wanted to go the extra mile, for flavor, you could stipulate that only those types of mages, Abjurers/Evokers/Illusionists/Enchanters, respectively, could "teach" the subclass properly.


Back in the [1e] day, "sharing spellbooks" was a relatively common practice among party mages who were of suitably similar alignment/outlook/pragmatism. Sometimes not. But most of the time, it was good for bolstering both casters' versatility.

If you wanted to say, due to the nature of their training and widespread spell selection, that a Bard (and ONLY a Bard) could teach cross-discipline, that is...believable, I guess. They get a few spells from here, a few spells from there, a coupla magical secrets, etc... Sure, if the spell appears on both the Bard and the other class' spell list, go ahead. Again, it wouldn't work for me/in my game world since Bards have their own, completely separate, casting style (more like a channeling than casting, really) but if you're just doing run-of-the-mill-PHB arcane-full-caster Bards, I suppose it is plausible.

But the "open door cross-class" idea, to say "ANY class can teach a spell to ANY other class", is just a biiig No-no for me.

 

[Azurewraith]

I wouldn't allow it at my table as it is going to cause more trouble than its worth. If i where to allow it i would make it be a down time thing say taking a month or so to do as you need to learn the movement, the words and the symbol or what ever to write down.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

I think we are discussing two different things here: wizards and other arcane casters.

A wizard teaching another wizard a spell is fine, but I don't think it actually requires teaching. Just give the second wizard the first wizard's spellbook.

However, Arcane Tricksters, Eldritch Knights and Bards don't have spellbooks. They get known spells on certain levels and that's all. They can't learn extra spells, whether from scrolls or books or teachers. You could certainly say "my fighter learnt sleep from the bard" on choosing sleep at a new level, but that would just be cosmetic.

 

[Ath-kethin]

How about someone with the Magic Initiate feat who takes Arcane spells? Are you going to let Bards "teach" a Cleric or vice versa? How about a Cleric "teaching" a Paladin? Paladin teaching a Druid?

Just as a note: taking the Magic Initiate feat requires you to pick a class whose list you use to gain spells: bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock or wizard. You don't get to just pick "arcane" or "divine."

I'd let someone with the Magic initiate (bard) feat teach spells to a bard, and maybe to a sorcerer; I'd draw the distinctions as arcane (prepared)/arcane (spontaneous)/divine. I'd allow anyone within one category to teach spells to someone else in that category.

 

[Halivar]

EK's and Arcane Tricksters don't have books? Yikes, that's the first I've heard of it. No likey at all. Henceforth, in my game they still have books. It's thematic and cool.

 

[ScuroNotte]

Downtime can be used for many things. And you are allowed to add other features that is acceptable in your campaign. With that said, could you not request to see if you can "learn" a spell not on your casters list. Example Sorcerer tried to learn Absorb Elements or Bigby's Fist. In this example there are multiple forms of Bigby's's fist. So if the attempt was allowed, you only learn one manifestation

 

[KahlessNestor]

That starts to threaten niches again. Wizards with healing spells and all that. You start blurring the caster lines.

Besides, I'm not sure how well divine and natural spells could be taught. It stretches belief enough that a "prayer" spell can even be written on a scroll.

 

[Xethreau]

Niche protection is the main thing to ensure I guess. But learning spells from other characters (and from people with different learning styles) can be great role-play. The differences in how you learn can be attributed to spell-lists; if anybody has ever seen Fate/Stay Night or Fate/Zero, it could be said that the specifics of casting a spell is just a mater of the auto-hypnosis required to activate one's magical circuits and channel mana in the correct manner.

A wizard adopts a bunch of kobods and decides to raise them to be good and to teach them magic. The kobolds learn the magic... but the wizard is overbearing with all his books and stuff so they hit the road and become sorcerers. A warlock sits in his tower, surrounded by his notes. He passes them to the wizard; there are many he cannot learn, but he jots some spells down that he can understand. A sorcerer looks at his bard friend, and figures he might be able to teach her a spell. Through his study of metamagic, he realizes that a bard's song is just a different way of focusing their mana, and the lesson begins.

 

[ScuroNotte]

That starts to threaten niches again. Wizards with healing spells and all that. You start blurring the caster lines.

Besides, I'm not sure how well divine and natural spells could be taught. It stretches belief enough that a "prayer" spell can even be written on a scroll.

Would it still threaten the individual classes if you only Arcane users try to learn arcane spells and dividers only learn Devine spells?

 

[Chaosmancer]

This is honestly a pretty narrow set of circumstances if you take the Divine/Arcane/Primal divide into account. Also, it doesn't apply well to divine casters at all.

As per the PHB rules, a divine caster (AKA Cleric or Paladin) already "knows" every spell of a certain level. Therefore, a cleric cannot teach a cleric any new spells, they both have the same spells known. Teaching a Paladin a cleric only spell enters into the territory of simply expanding the paladin list, and also these spells are "inspired by the gods" so that whole thing is a little tricky.

Allowing Sorcerers or Warlocks to teach spells falls into the same fluff problem. Warlocks and Sorcerers get their spells, but they don't study and learn them. For a sorcerer it becomes teaching someone how to breathe, at a certain point you either can do it or not, you can't explain how to someone. Since Warlocks get their spells from other entities it depends a lot on their fluff, but if you go with them just suddenly "knowing" magic it could be something they can't teach.

So... bards and wizards are the big arcane question and Druids and Rangers. I think Druids work the same as clerics, so they wouldn't have any need to teach beyond the circle of the land extra spells... which you could conceivably share but that might upset the balance. Also, Bards using the power of song and word is very different from the wizards arcane formulas in my opinion, so I would not allow Bards and wizards to share.