Eldritch Knight Spell List

[CyberThread]

So creating a new list, this took me awhile to compile will add it to the EK preview once finished and confirmed.


Cantrips
Dancing Lights
Light Evocation
Ray of Frost
Fire Bolt
Shocking Grasp
Blade Ward


1st Level Spells
Protection from Evil and Good
Shield
Alarm * Ritual
Mage Armor
Witch Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Magic Missile
Burning Hands
Thunderwave


2nd Level Spells
Arcane Lock
Continual Flame
Scorching Ray
Darkness
Shatter
Gust of Wind
Melf's Acid Arrow


3rd Level Spells
Counterspell
Remove Curse
Glyph of Warding
Dispel Magic
Magic Circle
Nondetection
Protection from Energy
Leomund's Tiny Hut
Fireball
Lightning Bolt
Sending

4th Level Spels
Banishment
Mordenkainen's
Fire Shield
Ice Storm
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
Wall of Fire

[Lokiare]

What's the damage on Melf's Acid Arrow?

[pcamp88]

What's the damage on Melf's Acid Arrow?

4d4 + 2d4 at the end of the target's next turn. Both values get an extra d4 for each level above 2 of the slot you use.


Also just so the folks who haven't been able to look at the PHB yet know, EK's also get to learn 4 total spells from any school of magic off of the wizard list at certain levels.

[Lokiare]

4d4 + 2d4 at the end of the target's next turn. Both values get an extra d4 for each level above 2 of the slot you use.


Also just so the folks who haven't been able to look at the PHB yet know, EK's also get to learn 4 total spells from any school of magic off of the wizard list at certain levels.

Are they full casters?!?! Because if so they can give the Bard a run for its money.

[Totema]

Are they full casters?!?! Because if so they can give the Bard a run for its money.

Unfortunately not, they can only cast up to 4th level spells. And they have strange requirements for what they can learn; in short, a large proportion of their known spells must be either evocations or abjurations. Truthfully I'm not sure why this thread needs to exist, because other than that requirement, they can learn any wizard spell up to 4th level. Just look at the wizard spell list instead.

[Chaosvii7]

Are they full casters?!?! Because if so they can give the Bard a run for its money.

They are not. They only get up to 4th level spells, and get about 13 spells known. They also get the following, in order:

*The ability to make a free weapon attack after casting a cantrip with their action(specifically mentions "uses an action to cast a cantrip").
*They cause enemies they strike in melee to suffer disadvantage on saving throws against their spells.
*They can make a 30 foot teleport when they Action Surge, before or after actually taking the action.
*Their capstone makes it so that they can cast a regular spell and attack as the same action(upgraded from just a cantrip).

Also, re-reading the entry on Eldritch Knight cantrips, I think they get access to all of them. Cantrips are not only listed as separate from spells under their section, but the wording is precisely thus:

Cantrips. You learn two cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. You learn an additional wizard cantrip of your choice at 10th level.

They only call out the restriction to evocation and abjuration for spells known, which are independent from cantrips.

Which makes sense, as cantrips are pretty generalized effects that even a mediocre specialist wizard can get access to.

[da_chicken]

Also just so the folks who haven't been able to look at the PHB yet know, EK's also get to learn 4 total spells from any school of magic off of the wizard list at certain levels.

Are you sure? I thought it was only 3, with the last one at level 20 so it's really only 2?

Multiclassing Wizard for 1-3 levels does give you a much broader number of spells known, depending on your Int.


Are they full casters?!?! Because if so they can give the Bard a run for its money.

They're 1/3 casters. You tick up the universal caster spell slot progression chart once every three levels (first level is at level 3). The Rogue's Arcane Trickster path is the same (that one is limited to Illusion and Enchantment). At level 19 your casting table is that of a level 7 full caster.

Ranger and Paladin spell slots work the same way, IIRC, but are 1/2 casters.

Edit to add:


Also, re-reading the entry on Eldritch Knight cantrips, I think they get access to all of them.

That was my reading as well. Note that True Strike explicitly affects the next turn, not the current one.

[EternalHobbyist]

Are you sure? I thought it was only 3, with the last one at level 20 so it's really only 2?


According to my reading, EK gets an unrestricted spell at 3rd, 8th, 14th, and 20th levels. So an EK Fighter 20 would be able to know 13 total Wiz spells any given day, 4 of which need not be Abjuration or Evocations.

If I'm reading correctly, Eldritch Knight at 20th level could take 3 attacks in a round, and cast a lvl 4 Wiz spell and get a 4th weapon attack as well.

[da_chicken]

According to my reading, EK gets an unrestricted spell at 3rd, 8th, 14th, and 20th levels. So an EK Fighter 20 would be able to know 13 total Wiz spells any given day, 4 of which need not be Abjuration or Evocations.

Ah, I missed that one of the first three spells doesn't need to be Abj/Evoc. That's significantly better.


If I'm reading correctly, Eldritch Knight at 20th level could take 3 attacks in a round, and cast a lvl 4 Wiz spell and get a 4th weapon attack as well.

How do you get that? You take the Cast A Spell action, and then as a Bonus Action can make a single melee attack. Or, you take the Attack action, and can make 4 weapon attacks. If you Action Surge, you can do that twice and teleport 30 feet.

[pwykersotz]

Ah, I missed that one of the first three spells doesn't need to be Abj/Evoc. That's significantly better.

I am seriously torn on what spells to take at level 3. I just hit that point in the Starter Set and the GM is letting us choose what subclasses we want. For the Folk Hero, Dex-based Fighter, I'm thinking of going Eldritch Knight, but the problem is that most spells take away from my ability to do combat. Offensive Cantrips seem weak when I have a perfectly good Bow that deals more damage and hits more accurately.

So that pretty much means the Shield spell and probably Protection from Good/Evil. Maaaybe Burning Hands or Witch Bolt, but those seem situational. Then there's the third spell that's wide open. Feather Fall? Detect Magic? Comprehend Languages? What would you guys do?

[da_chicken]

I am seriously torn on what spells to take at level 3. I just hit that point in the Starter Set and the GM is letting us choose what subclasses we want. For the Folk Hero, Dex-based Fighter, I'm thinking of going Eldritch Knight, but the problem is that most spells take away from my ability to do combat. Offensive Cantrips seem weak when I have a perfectly good Bow that deals more damage and hits more accurately.

So that pretty much means the Shield spell and probably Protection from Good/Evil. Maaaybe Burning Hands or Witch Bolt, but those seem situational. Then there's the third spell that's wide open. Feather Fall? Detect Magic? Comprehend Languages? What would you guys do?

I'm thinking you can't really expect to have more than 13 Int as an EK, so spells that you attack with or spells you roll saves against have got to be stellar. That pretty much means the best attack spell is Magic Missile, since yours is just as good as anybody else's, so I would probably pick that up eventually. 3d4+3 no save is certainly not bad.

For cantrips I think you basically have to take Blade Ward or True Strike, if not both, by level 7. I'd almost want to play an Elf just to get the extra cantrip so I wouldn't have to pick between Light and Prestidigitation.

I'd probably go with Shield and Protection from Good/Evil, too. Those are fantastic spells. I think Thunderwave is better than Burning Hands but I don't think either are that compelling. Maybe Detect Magic or (failing all that) Longstrider. I think as soon as you hit level 7 you swap out your unlimited spell for one of: Levitate, Invisibility, Misty Step, Alter Self, or See Invisibility. As limited as the 1st level spells are, the 2nd level spells are much, much better.

[pwykersotz]

I'm thinking you can't really expect to have more than 13 Int as an EK, so spells that you attack with or spells you roll saves against have got to be stellar. That pretty much means the best attack spell is Magic Missile, since yours is just as good as anybody else's, so I would probably pick that up eventually. 3d4+3 no save is certainly not bad.

For cantrips I think you basically have to take Blade Ward or True Strike, if not both, by level 7. I'd almost want to play an Elf just to get the extra cantrip so I wouldn't have to pick between Light and Prestidigitation.

I'd probably go with Shield and Protection from Good/Evil, too. Those are fantastic spells. I think Thunderwave is better than Burning Hands but I don't think either are that compelling. Maybe Detect Magic or (failing all that) Longstrider. I think as soon as you hit level 7 you swap out your unlimited spell for one of: Levitate, Invisibility, Misty Step, Alter Self, or See Invisibility. As limited as the 1st level spells are, the 2nd level spells are much, much better.

Now that I've thought about it, I think I'll do Find Familiar for my non-standard spell. Eyes in the air is extremely valuable. And if I keep it alive, I could even swap out the spell next level and keep the familiar.

[Sorris]

Now that I've thought about it, I think I'll do Find Familiar for my non-standard spell. Eyes in the air is extremely valuable. And if I keep it alive, I could even swap out the spell next level and keep the familiar.

Unfortunately, find familiar is a ritual spell that can't be cast as a normal spell, and eldritch knights don't have the ability to cast rituals (at least without the ritual feat you'd need to get if your dm is allowing the human variant rule.) So find familiar is completely usless to the eldritch knight class. (I wanted to do this too, before I found out about that.)

[pwykersotz]

Unfortunately, find familiar is a ritual spell that can't be cast as a normal spell, and eldritch knights don't have the ability to cast rituals (at least without the ritual feat you'd need to get if your dm is allowing the human variant rule.) So find familiar is completely usless to the eldritch knight class. (I wanted to do this too, before I found out about that.)

I'm pretty certain that's not the way that works. Ritual spells can be cast normally as spells. That it has a long casting time doesn't change anything. If you want to cast it AS a ritual and not take a spell slot, you add 10 minutes to the casting time.

Eldritch Knights can't use rituals, but unless I misread something, they can use spells that COULD be rituals normally.

Edit: Yeah, I don't see anywhere in the spell that it is always a ritual. Do you have somewhere you could point to?

[xyianth]

I'm thinking you can't really expect to have more than 13 Int as an EK, so spells that you attack with or spells you roll saves against have got to be stellar. That pretty much means the best attack spell is Magic Missile, since yours is just as good as anybody else's, so I would probably pick that up eventually. 3d4+3 no save is certainly not bad.

For cantrips I think you basically have to take Blade Ward or True Strike, if not both, by level 7. I'd almost want to play an Elf just to get the extra cantrip so I wouldn't have to pick between Light and Prestidigitation.

I'd probably go with Shield and Protection from Good/Evil, too. Those are fantastic spells. I think Thunderwave is better than Burning Hands but I don't think either are that compelling. Maybe Detect Magic or (failing all that) Longstrider. I think as soon as you hit level 7 you swap out your unlimited spell for one of: Levitate, Invisibility, Misty Step, Alter Self, or See Invisibility. As limited as the 1st level spells are, the 2nd level spells are much, much better.

The main issue is that almost all of those 'better' 2nd level spells requires concentration. Misty step is the only one I would recommend grabbing, because your concentration will be devoted to haste as soon as you can grab it. (14th) Since you can grab misty step as your 8th level spell choice, I'd rather keep my 1st level unrestricted spell choice of find familiar.


Unfortunately, find familiar is a ritual spell that can't be cast as a normal spell, and eldritch knights don't have the ability to cast rituals (at least without the ritual feat you'd need to get if your dm is allowing the human variant rule.) So find familiar is completely usless to the eldritch knight class. (I wanted to do this too, before I found out about that.)

This is not correct. EKs can take and cast find familiar as a normal spell. (as in it costs you a spell slot) In fact, it is probably the best use of their 1st level unrestricted spell choice.

My recommended spell list for EK is: (level learned in parenthesis)
0 - blade ward(1), poison spray(1), friends(10)
1 - shield(3), protection from evil and good(3), find familiar(3), magic missile(4)
2 - shatter(7), misty step(8), gust of wind(10), darkness(11)
3 - dispel magic(13), haste(14), leomund's tiny hut(16)
4 - fire shield(19), mordenkainen's faithful hound(20)

[heavyfuel]

Unfortunately, find familiar is a ritual spell that can't be cast as a normal spell, and eldritch knights don't have the ability to cast rituals (at least without the ritual feat you'd need to get if your dm is allowing the human variant rule.) So find familiar is completely usless to the eldritch knight class. (I wanted to do this too, before I found out about that.)

Not only are you wrong, as Ritual spells can be cast as regular spells or as rituals, {scrubbed}

[Savannah]

The Mod One Out: Closed -- thread necromancy.