If you had one wizard spell what would it be?

[Yogibear41]

Lets say your a wizard of level X, and your spell book has been lost/stolen/destroyed. but for whatever reason you managed to save just enough pages to be able to prepare a single spell of any level you can cast(and read magic of course), what would that spell be and why? For X you can choose any level 1, 5, 12, 15, 20 etc.

[Stux]

Initial thought was wish, but then you have all the XP costs.

So maybe Shades, or whatever Shadow spell is appropriate for your level.

[Shazek]

1: Sleep - Now, you have a chance of surviving/contributing to encounters till you get spells
3: Scorching Ray, take the Reserve Feat that lets you deal fire damage at will. You're basically a weaker Warlock, which kinda sucks, but you can contribute.
5: Major Image, maybe? Not sure here...
7: Polymorph, no doubt.
9: Teleport. You now have the capacity to go get a new spellbook.
11: Teleport.
13: Greater Teleport
15: Probably still Greater Teleport- PAO is tempting, though.
17+: Shapechange, full stop. Anything anyone else in the party who isn't a full caster can do, you can probably do better. Includes all the powers of the lower level choices, too.

[Vortenger]

Shapechange. Be any monster. Use all of its awesomeness. Switch to a different monster. Repeat.

Barring that, Polymorph Any Object. Become a Gold Dragon incrementally, turn your enemies into grumpy cats for your own amusement. (Bonus points for Handle Animal-ing them to be your pets. They do have 2 int now...) Make whole cities out of the surrounding landscape. Outfit armies for your cities by transmuting dirt into adamantine. I find it to be more open ended than wish in many ways.

[Hecuba]

Lets say your a wizard of level X, and your spell book has been lost/stolen/destroyed. but for whatever reason you managed to save just enough pages to be able to prepare a single spell of any level you can cast(and read magic of course), what would that spell be and why? For X you can choose any level 1, 5, 12, 15, 20 etc.

Generally, the best strategy under these constraints will likely be to retreat and return with more resources. Your options for such a strategy are (generally) movement modification, long-range teleportation, and stealth.

My general list, in order of preference,

Wish trumps, because if will get you out even of teleportation is otherwise blocked.
If not somehow blocked, teleportation is the most efficient.
Next we have SM 7-9, as they can provide multiple relevant options multiple times a day.
Things from the Invisibility line.


If you have to stay, I'd go with something from the summon monster line. The SLAs make a good stopgap.

[Malroth]

If i'm a shadowcraft mage then silent image since at that point its the entire conjuration and evocation schools as well as likely also being the entire divination and illusion schools as well.

[Humble Master]

1: Sleep or Grease - Can pretty much invalidate most encounters at level 1. Would be my first choice with Silent Image as a close second.
3: Locate Object - Lets you find your spellbook or at least the closest spellbook. My second choice would be Scorching Ray as it lets you at least throw some respectable damage around.
5: Stinking Cloud - Good battlefield control. OR Fly - Can let you get the heck out of somewhere and is also a trump card against anyone without ranged weapons.
7: Polymorph - Lets you be effective in combat, turn into stuff that flies/swim/burrows, get some potent special attacks.
9: Teleport - Easily lets you get a new spellbook.
11: Antimagic Field - Lets you even the playing field a bit. Teleport is still a really good option though.
13: Greater Teleport - It's Teleport but anywhere and with no chance of error.
15: Polymorph Any Object - It's just ripe for abuse and can be used in so many ways.
17: Shapechange - It does pretty much everything. Probably one of, if not the, most versatile spells in the Players Handbook.

[Svata]

Grease isn't the best spell at lv. 1 as it only lasts one round.

[Segev]

If you've got the level for it, (Lesser) Planar Binding is a good choice. You can call up allies or servants with whatever ablities you do need.

[Humble Master]

Grease isn't the best spell at lv. 1 as it only lasts one round. Ah yes, forgot about that duration. Then Sleep it is. Essentially get rid of 4 hit dice worth of creatures if they fail their Will save. Of course, at later level swap Sleep for Grease.

[ArcturusV]

Heck, I'd think at level 1 I'd take Silent Image over sleep or grease or Color Spray, etc. While the latter options are clearly better if you got drawn into a fight... in such relatively dire circumstances I'd want to avoid a fight anyway. And illusion magic like that is always useful for Escape, Evasion, etc. At least if you're creative with it and your DM isn't being an **** about Illusions.

[Hecuba]

If you've got the level for it, (Lesser) Planar Binding is a good choice. You can call up allies or servants with whatever ablities you do need.

You might run into some problems without having the appropriate magic circle available.