How to Track Spell Slots in D&D 5e

Spell slots are the fuel for a spellcaster’s leveled spells. Every prepared or known spell you cast, other than a cantrip, burns one slot. Keeping an accurate count mid-combat is where paper sheets fall apart, so most players track slots with pips they can tap up and down.

How spell slots work

You have a set number of slots at each spell level, determined by your class and character level. Casting a spell of level 1 or higher spends one slot of that spell’s level or higher. The spell’s school, whether it’s an attack or a save, and its components don’t change the cost. Only its level does.

Two rules trip people up:

• Cantrips never cost a slot. They scale with your character level instead.
• Upcasting spends the bigger slot. If you cast a 1st-level spell using a 2nd-level slot, you’ve used a 2nd-level slot, so mark that one.

When slots come back

You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. A short rest does not restore slots for most classes. The notable exception is the Warlock: their Pact Magic slots recover on a short rest, which is why Warlock tracking works differently from other casters.

Tracking slots without the bookkeeping

Because slots are a small, capped count that resets on rest, they map cleanly onto tap controls. In Adventure Codex you set up one consumable per spell level, mark it resetType: long, and each slot shows as a filled or empty pip. Tapping spends or restores a slot, and a long rest refills every slot at once, so you never have to recount at the start of a session.

That’s the whole loop: tap to cast, long rest to refill, and the numbers are always right when it’s your turn.