wandless magic guidelines
the dos and the don'ts in a nutshellA frequent question the administration receives from the members of Magical Hogwarts is "What can I and can I not do without my wand?" To clarify, for everyone's sake, this question will be answered in depth in this guide to the best of our abilities.
First of all, students rarely can cast any spells wandlessly. They are students for a reason. There are extreme cases where magic manifests itself based on emotion (such as Harry blowing his Aunt Marge up like a balloon, as seen in Prisoner of Azkaban), but this is rare and gets even rarer the older your character gets. Students cannot cast wandless spells as a general rule. There are exceptions where special features are involved, and another magical artifact replaces the wand's role in magic, such as
Elementals and the runes imbued in their body or the ones they use or
Necromancers and magical blood,
Hypnotists and pendulums. If you're approved for a special feature where the wand is not used, you are exempted only where that special feature is concerned. However, wandless magic is tiring, too exhausting for students to cast it on a functional level, and for that reason they are not able to do so.
Adults, depending on their age and talents, can cast some spells wandlessly. For example, an adult with talents where wandwork is concerned would likely cast some spells without their wand. As before stated, wandless magic is more difficult than using a wand and more tiring - so the more difficult the spell, the harder it is to cast without a wand. Summoning charms and levitation would be relatively easy, and so younger adults could do it to some extent, though they would probably use their wand most of the time. Spells like the unforgivable, which are exceptionally difficult, cannot be cast even by the most talented and oldest wizards without a wand. Nonverbal wandless spells are completely out, no one can do it. Adults whose talents lie with subjects like potions, ancient runes and arithmancy will be unlikely to cast wandless magic, because it calls on talents where charms are concerned.
It should be noted that any spell whose nature is tied to a wand (for example point me, lumos or wand sparks) cannot be cast without a wand even by adults; it is pointless, as the wand is needed for the spell to function. Any spell that alters the conscious mind or does extreme harm (Unforgivables, Sectumsempra, deadly curses of this nature) can't be cast without a wand. Partial transfiguration is very, very hard, even near-impossible to do without a wand. Those who can do it are approved for special features --
Metamorphmagus and
Animagus. Light curses (tickling hex, stinging hex, full-body bind) are possible to do wandlessly, but it is very difficult. Slight improvement spells and self-targeted spells (such as Sonorus cast on yourself) are okay within the limit. Remember, these will be exhausting and therefore more practical to do with your wand.
As a general rule, non-offensive spells (as in non-hexes, non-jinxes, non-curses) are easier to cast wandlessly, and the difficulty level (as determined by the
Spell Guidelines) can give you a general idea of how hard to cast without a wand it would be. The older and more experienced your character, the easier wandless magic will come to them, but wands are a magical focus, a medium which makes the magic easier to cast. Never would a normal character enter a duel wandlessly, nor would they likely travel without their wand and rely solely on wandless magic. It is always exhausting. Difficulty level is also based on the character's natural talents. If your character is only decent at charms, it will be much harder and more draining on them to cast a wandless spell, and it is likely they'll mess it up. To some extent, this therefore relies on the discretion of the role player within reason.
If you're not sure if your character can cast a spell wandlessly and have it be realistic, do yourself a favor: have them use their wand. It's what they are there for.
