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If I have a bard with cure wounds, and take one level of Celestial warlock (Xanathar's Guide to Everything, p. 54) before getting the Boon of Spell Mastery (DMG, 232):

Choose one 1st-level sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell that you can cast. You can now cast that spell at its lowest level without expending a spell slot.

The Celestial warlock has an Expanded Spell List that includes cure wounds as an option.

Does this inclusion of cure wounds as a possible spell to select, but that I did not actually select, allow for the use of the Boon of Spellcasting with it?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Epic Boons can be found starting on page 231 of the DMG. \$\endgroup\$
    – Szega
    Oct 22, 2018 at 16:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ @NautArch It's a feature of the Celestial Warlock class. Ten spells, one of which is Cure Wounds, are "added to the Warlock Spell List" for that class. \$\endgroup\$
    – Xirema
    Oct 22, 2018 at 17:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ You should probably add the text of the Celestial Warlock "Expanded Spell List" feature just so its text is easily visible to would-be answers. \$\endgroup\$
    – Xirema
    Oct 22, 2018 at 17:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ The question in the body is the inverse of the question in the title. I recommend one be switched to provide more coherent answers \$\endgroup\$ Oct 22, 2018 at 17:21
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    \$\begingroup\$ You should clarify that the character IS or IS NOT taking cure wounds as one of their warlock spells known. \$\endgroup\$
    – GcL
    Oct 22, 2018 at 18:30

3 Answers 3

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RAW: Yes in general. No for the character you described

The epic boon of Spell Mastery says the following (emphasis mine):

Choose one 1st-level sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell that you can cast.

You indicate in your question that Cure Wounds might be a spell that's on your character's spell list due to their one level dip into Celestial Warlock, but your character doesn't know it as a Warlock. If your character doesn't know the spell as a member of the stated classes, then they don't meet the criteria of being able to cast it and thus are ineligible for selecting Cure Wounds for this boon.

That said, were you to select Cure Wounds as a spell known then you meet the criteria of the spell being one you can cast and thus, yes, you can select Cure Wounds for the boon.

The Catch

Once you're in the realm of epic boons, you are also in the realm of DM discretion to prevent game imbalance. As the DMG and the epic boons were published prior to the Celestial Warlock (or the Divine Soul Sorcerer), your DM would be well within their bounds to restrict Cure Wounds from what can be selected for that boon.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Yes, but it's not a warlock spell then, it's a Bard spell. So no. \$\endgroup\$ Oct 22, 2018 at 16:48
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Stackstuck it's a warlock spell for you if you learned it as a warlock (chose it for your level 1 warlock spells). Otherwise it's just a bard spell and a spell on the warlock list for you \$\endgroup\$ Oct 22, 2018 at 17:21
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    \$\begingroup\$ So, if I'm reading this right - The character has and can cast "Bard: Cure Wounds" but not "Warlock: Cure Wounds" even though "Warlock: Cure Wounds" is technically on his spell list - and this boon only applies to "Warlock:" Spells (or sorcerer or wizard). Right? \$\endgroup\$ Oct 22, 2018 at 17:46
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    \$\begingroup\$ @SirCinnamon It's not on his spell list. It's now available for the character to choose it to add to his spell list. \$\endgroup\$
    – NotArch
    Oct 22, 2018 at 17:46
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    \$\begingroup\$ @NautArch and DavidCoffron: The Expanded Spell List feature simply states, "The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you." It makes no exception that it's only a warlock spell for you if you learn it. If you have the Celestial patron, the spells in that table are treated as warlock spells for you. (You just still need to learn them to actually cast them, without boons.) \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Oct 23, 2018 at 6:56
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No

Each spell you know and prepare is associated with one of your classes, and you use the spellcasting ability of that class when you cast the spell. (PHB 164 on multiclassing)

When you learn or prepare a spell, you do it tied to a certain class. Ie. if you prepare it from your spellbook as a wizard, it is a wizard spell. And this is what the boon refers to by a "< class> spell". The point is not whether or not the spell is on a spell list, but whether you know or prepare it as a sorcerer, wizard or warlock spell. You learned the spell as a bard, thus it is a bard spell for you.

Note: If with your 1 level dip you learn cure wounds as a Warlock of the Celestial, it becomes also a warlock spell for you and will be eligible for the Epic Boon.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ @NautArch Yeah, there should be a reference. I have remedied the situation. Thanks. \$\endgroup\$
    – Szega
    Oct 22, 2018 at 17:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ Can you add a citation for and/or analysis of the text to back "And this is what the boon refers to." \$\endgroup\$
    – Yakk
    Oct 22, 2018 at 19:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Yakk Added a bit of clarification, but this is simply a game term, no need for "analysis". \$\endgroup\$
    – Szega
    Oct 22, 2018 at 19:44
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RAW, Probably Yes

The contention, of course, boils down to what constitutes a spell being on a given class' spell list, and whether or not that makes it a "X spell". The entry for Celestial Warlock, where its additional spells are listed, has this to say:

The Celestial lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

Full stop, the class feature specifies that these spells are added to the warlock spell list for you. So for you, as a [part-]Celestial Warlock, the spell Cure Wounds is both a Bard Spell (because of your Bard Levels) and a Warlock Spell (because it has been added to your class list), and therefore, ought to qualify when receiving the Boon of Spell Mastery.

The Boon of Spell Mastery demands that you be capable of casting Cure Wounds (which your level in Celestial Warlock ensures is part of the list), but does not explicitly specify that you be able to cast it as part of that class. It merely says

Choose one 1st-level sorcerer, warlock, or wizard spell that you can cast.

So,

  • As a Bard, you have learned Cure Wounds, and are therefore able to cast it.
  • As a Celestial Warlock, the spell Cure Wounds is part of the Warlock Spell List for you,

Therefore, you've met the criteria for this Boon, and ought to be able to use it in this manner.

The implication of this is that you probably don't even need to have actual spellcasting levels: the way this is written, A Firbolg Player Character, who will have the ability to cast (once per Short Rest) the spells Detect Magic and Disguise Self, would be eligible for this boon because they are "able to cast" both of those spells, both of which are on the Wizard Spell List, even if they themselves are a Fighter with no spellcasting levels or levels in classes which permit spellcasting.

Note that this might not work for a Divine Soul Sorcerer with Cleric spells, because the specification for them is a little different:

When your Spellcasting feature lets you learn or replace a sorcerer cantrip or a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher, you can choose the new spell from the cleric spell list or the sorcerer spell list. You must otherwise obey all the restrictions for selecting the spell, and it becomes a sorcerer spell for you.

For Divine Sorcerers, the cause for a spell to count as a sorcerer spell is specifically contingent on having selected to learn it. So in this case, the Sorcerer would only be able to use this boon with a cleric spell if they specifically learn said spell through their Divine Sorcerer features.

Boons are almost exclusively in the realm of DM fiat

While the RAW answer might suggest that this is viable, DMs are not required to provide Boons at all, or at the particular discretion of the players receiving them, or according to the letter of the capabilities specified by said Boons. So if a DM says that they would or would not permit this particular combo, I don't think an appeal to RAW would justify overturning their decision.

Personally, as a DM, I don't agree with the class restriction in the first place (what 1st level spell becomes overpowered by this Boon that wasn't already accessible to those three classes in the first place???), but I can't make assumptions about what your DM will consider reasonable or unreasonable.

There's no such thing as a "Bard version of Cure Wounds"

Some of the other answers to this question have hinged their logic on the assertion that because you learned Cure Wounds as a Bard, that it therefore cannot count as a Warlock spell, irrespective of other features (like the Expanded Spell List feature of the Celestial Warlock Patron); that the spell has an innate quality as a Bard!Cure Wounds distinct from the identity it supposedly needs as a Warlock!Cure Wounds spell in order to be eligible for this boon.

There is no evidence in the 5th edition rules to support this conclusion.

Consider, as a proof-by-contradiction, that we assumed that any prepared spell had this innate quality; that by virtue of being prepared by a Wizard, the spell Detect Magic becomes a Wizard!Detect Magic spell. If this were true, then consider the example of a Spell Scroll, as dictated in the Dungeon Master's Guide:

A spell scroll bears the words of a single spell, written as a mystical cipher. If the spell is on your class's spell list, you can read the scroll and cast its spell without having to provide any of the spell's components. Otherwise, the scroll is unintelligible.

The spell stored in the Spell Scroll would have to have the property of the spellcaster that created it (bear in mind the DMG provides rules for players to create Spell Scrolls), which would mean that a Scroll of Detect Magic would instead be a Scroll of Wizard!Detect Magic if crafted by a Wizard, and as a result, a Cleric would be unable to use it.

This is not how spell scrolls work; they only require that the spell be on your character's spell list. If a Bard created a scroll of Cure Wounds and a Celestial Warlock were to pick it up, they'd be capable of casting it, even without having memorized Cure Wounds; the fact that it was created by a Bard is immaterial.

Therefore, because of how spell scrolls work, we conclude that there's nothing innate about a spell's preparation that makes it uniquely a X!Spell. The only difference is the spellcasting modifier used.

One other wrinkle

It's not clear from context whether the intent of the Boon is to only permit spells that are normally from the Wizard, Warlock, Sorcerer spell lists. It may be that that is the intended interpretation of the wording of this Boon, and as such, it would negate this use of the Boon, but short of a clarifying response from Crawford, we can't make assumptions on this front.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. \$\endgroup\$ Oct 22, 2018 at 19:47

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