D&D Spell Cards will save you time, give a visual reference of spells and hels every caster prepare spells. Learn how to get Free Printable Spell Cards for D&D 5e!

I’m sure you’ve seen Gale Force 9’s Spellbook Cards before, right?

Maybe you’ve seen them on Amazon, or on my first post “10 Dungeons & Dragons Gifts Under $40 for Christmas”

Anyways, GF9 sells many packs with spellbook cards. They’re laminated, water resistant and very durable.

BUT

THEY. ARE. EXPENSIVE.

Yes, sir. That’s a big downside if you’re someone like me (a DM who likes to buy everything D&D-related to give more options to my players – lucky them!)

HOWEVER…

THERE’S A FREE OPTION!

Yep, you’re right. FREE Spellbook Cards (very similar to GF9’s) are available for free download and I’ll teach you how.

Before we start, I just want to let you know that I’m NOT the owner/creator of that website and all credit goes to the original owner. If you want to support his job, you can CLICK HERE to support on Patreon, so the website can keep running and new content is being added constantly!

Don’t forget to read the FULL ARTICLE to learn how to get exactly what you want (there are some filters you must apply before downloading).

These are the steps we will follow:

  1. Go to the website
  2. Select the Class
  3. Apply filters (if needed)
  4. Select Card Format
  5. Download PDF
  6. Print

Note: There’s also a way to make your own Spell Cards (or edit a Spell Card), I’ll explain how to do that also!

1. Visit the Website

Before you go to the website, make sure you have Google Chrome installed and you’re using it as a browser. This ONLY WORKS with Chrome, from what I know.

Alright. Go to this website: Hard Codex

Once you’re in, you’ll see a screen that looks like this:

Free D&D Printable Spell Card 5e 1

There are many Classes to choose from. Let’s go to step number 2.

2. Select the Class

Now you must select the Class you want. There’s:

  • Paladin
  • Wizard (Left side – Arcane picture)
  • Sorcerer (Right side – Arcane picture)
  • Ranger
  • Warlock
  • Bard
  • Druid
  • Cleric
  • Monster Stats (for DMs)

The images are edited because of copyright. For this example, I will pick Ranger.

Free D&D Printable Spell Card 5e 2

3. Apply Filters

If you want ALL the available spells for the class you just selected, skip this step. If you want to apply filters, keep reading.

Now, on the left side, you’ll see a bar that lets you select some options (filters):

  • Class (if you want to change the class)
  • Level (Spell level, maybe you just want to download Cantrips?)
  • Examine (to upload your own .csv file and print your customized Spell Cards)
  • Hide XGE Spells (XGE = Xanathar’s Guide to Everything)
  • Paper Size
  • Custom background URL (upload your own background for the Spell Cards? Some stone texture maybe?… kinda useless)
  • Change class color (self-explanatory)
Free D&D Printable Spell Card 5e 3

Ok. Now apply all the filters you want and proceed to Step #4.

Note: If you want to select only a SOME SPELLS (so you don’t have to print ALL), just click the ones you want.

4. Select Card Format

Great job. Now you have to select the format you’re going to use before printing.

On the top right corner, you’ll see some options. One of them says “Card mode”. Click that to change the way the cards are presented in the paper:

  • Spellbook mode: Some kind of spell written on a “book”. Personally, I don’t find it useful.
  • Two-side cards mode: Cool if you want both sides so you can fold the card and paste it after printing (VERY similar to GF9’s)
  • 4 Big cards: Bigger cards.
  • Scrolls template: Empty cards
  • Only XGE Spells: Shows only spells contained in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
  • Only SCAG Spells: Shows only spells contained in Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide

There’s also another option: “en”. That’s used to change the language of the card’s text.

Personally, I ‘ve only used English but let me know in the comments section if you try another language and the translation is accurate!

Free D&D Printable Spell Card 5e 4

If you want to store your cards in a “spellbook” format, be sure to try this Spell Card Binder by Ultra Pro!

The Ultra Pro binder holds up to 360 standard sized cards (in Ultra Pro Sleeves, for maximum protection). It is durable, rigid and includes an elastic band to keep the binder securely closed.

Ultra Pro Pro Binder Black-minAnother useful (and way cooler) card storage option is to keep them inside these spellbooks:

They’re made by a company called Forged Dice, that makes great and useful dice and card accessories. Those spell card organizers are made of PU leather and can fit up to 80 monster or spell cards.

Although, if you’re looking for something smaller that’s suitable for travelling DMs or Players, this might be a better option:

The Pocket Compendium just looks badass! It contains 26 pages and even includes 54 blank cards for you to overwrite and create your own spells!

5. Download PDF

THE final step, yo.

Well, besides the printing part.

Hit the Download button on the top right corner.

You’ll see 2 options:

  • Download PDF (Out limit) Use Print as PDF in Chrome
  • Download Spellbook CSV

The first one (PDF) is used to export your document to PDF and then print it. Just click that (while using Chrome) and a screen will appear. On the left side, where it says Destination, hit Change and select Save as PDF.

Free D&D Printable Spell Card 5e 5

The second one (CSV) is used to download an Excel file that you can edit and reupload with the exact text you want.

6. Print

Well…

Print.

Get some paper sheets and prepare yourself to print your cards and cut them (takes a lot of patience!), but the result is awesome and will save you a lot of time at the table!

However, if you want higher quality on your cards, you can print them on cardstock and have them laminated, or use card sleeves.

Personally, I use Ultra Pro Transparent Card Sleeves (same ones that are used for Magic: The Gathering cards).

Ultra Pro Pro-Fit Transparent Sleeves

You can also store your cards in the well-known and highly-used Page Protectors.

The Ultra Pro Page Protectors are a pack that comes with 25 pages that hold 9 cards each, so you get storage for 225 cards for ONLY $6.

Ultra Pro Page Protector

This is a cheaper alternative but requires you to have a binder with rings to store them.

Final Words

Well, congrats on making your own Spell Cards for free. Just make sure they are used for personal purposes only. The material shared here must not be commercialized.

Have fun and enjoy this cards, that will save you time and money.

If you liked this awesome resource, be sure to support the original creator on Patreon!

If you want to get the official cards, however, you can buy the ones made by Gale Force 9. They are (obviously) super high quality and will last you a lot (waterproof and laminated).

I hope you find this useful, see you soon!

Written by DM Alex

My name is Alex Vigil (you can call me DM Alex) and I’m an economist who has always loved writing articles, editing pictures & making videos. I live in Lima, Peru and can speak both English and Spanish. I’ve been playing D&D for 7 years. I started with 4th edition...
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27 Comments

Chelsea

When I try to do this, everything looks fine until I enter the print screen where you can either print or save as a PDF. In that screen, the colored border around the cards disappears and is just a basic white. Do you know why this is happening?

Reply
MacTydon

In Firefox, go to File, Page Setup, make sure Print Background (Colors & Images) is checked. Not sure about other browsers, but probably something similar. This fixed the border issue for me.

Reply
Kasper Buch

Thanks. But honestly I feel like it wouldnt hurt you to encourage people to support the actual creator of the page through his Patreon. I realize that the point of the aticle is free spellcards, bur you still recomend various binders and other things to buy, so asking poeple to donate a few dollars is hardly more of a counterpoint. The dude who made the page obviousely spend a lot of time making it for our use and allows access to alot of the feature withou spending a dime, so when telling people about it, putting a link to his patreon would not hurt you. You said it yourself, keep the dice rolling, well if you want to kep that page up, help support it.
For everyone else who enjoys the itrues of this dude work, consider tossing him some appreciation at his patreon at Thanks. But honestly I feel like it wouldnt hurt you to encourage people to support the actual creator of the page through his Patreon. I realize that the point of the aticle is free spellcards, bur you still recomend various binders and other things to buy, so asking poeple to donate a few dollars is hardly more of a counterpoint. The dude who made the page obviousely spend a lot of time making it for our use and allows access to alot of the feature withou spending a dime, so when telling people about it, putting a link to his patreon would not hurt you. You said it yourself, keep the dice rolling, well if you want to kep that page up, help support it.
For everyone else who enjoys the itrues of this dude work, consider tossing him some appreciation at his patreo at www. patreon. com /jeyvi

Reply
DM Alex

Hello Kasper, thanks for your detailed comment. What you’re saying is actually true. My bad for not encouraging to support the creator directly.
My article is dedicated on teaching how to use the resource that the original creator has on his website. Of course I’m not the owner of that website and, through the article, I’m not saying that I am the owner.
I just want to let people know that this exists and I’m redirecting around 500 daily visitors to his/her website, which is being monetized with ads.
However, you’re right and I should state his/her patreon page in a public way, so anyone can pledge if they want to.
The article has been edited and is now stating all that. Thank you for reminding me to do it 🙂 I hope you enjoyed the blog post.

Reply
Crystal Hughey

I am trying to make the custom cards but I don’t know who to get they to print out.

Reply
DM Alex

You have to download the Spellbook CSV file and open it with MS Excel. Edit the descriptions to whatever you’d like and then save and upload that CSV file to the website to be able to get the right format and print it 🙂

Reply
K

Overall a great way to save money, but when printing double sided the backs do not line up with the information on the front. Could this be an error on the margins?

Reply
Zach

I had the same problem at first. When printing from a browser reading the pdf the front and back didn’t line up. However after opening the pdf in Adobe Acrobat Reader and printing from there they lined up perfectly!

Reply
Kara

For other users; I print from the webpage I just print double sided with the flip on the short edge and it lines up.

Reply
Hobie Obarzanek

I only want to print a few spells, but when i select the ones i want and save the file, it randomly puts the spells on a ton of different pages, so i have to print a page for each spell
How do i fix that?

Reply
Cat

After you make your selection two links appear in the top toolbar (in the centre to the right of MAIN) ‘cancel selection’ and ‘get spellbook URL.’
If you click ‘get spellbook URL it opens up a new tab with only your selections.
Hope that helps.

Reply
Liz

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your comment! I wish I had seen it earlier – I just wasted a half hour of time trying to figure out what the hell I was doing wrong. This totally worked.

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this i a great website the spells do need updated from tasha’s cauldron of everything

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Clarisse Duryee

Thanks for these! very much appreciated although my printer will hate me after :p

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Walter

Such a shame images in your article and on the video thumbnail show original cards whereas the cards generated by this tool do not resemble the originals at all

Reply

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