Arcana
Intelligence-based skill for recalling lore about spells, magic items, arcane traditions, and magical creatures.
Arcana covers knowledge of magic, spells, magical traditions, and the creatures of the arcane world. It is governed by Intelligence.
When to roll: The DM calls for an Arcana check when a character tries to recall or identify something related to magic.
Common uses:
- Identifying a spell being cast, or recognizing a magical effect
- Recalling lore about magical traditions (wizardly schools, druidic circles, warlock pacts)
- Identifying magical items, runes, or sigils
- Understanding or deciphering arcane writing
- Knowing the nature of magic-using creatures
Identifying magic items: To identify a magic item, you can cast the identify spell, or attune to the item and spend a short rest focusing on it.
This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.