Eldritch knight and his spells

[Raezeman]

Greetings,

in the not so distant future, my dnd group and I will pick up a campaign that has been on hold for a while and probably switch it's mechanics from 3.5 to 5th edition, meaning that my duskblade will become an eldritch knight. We will continue with the character level we stopped at, being 11. Now, i've only played 1 other 5th edition character up to level 3 just now, so i do not have much grasp on how the concept of spells being more effective when put in higher level slots really plays when compared to effects per caster level, so hence here my questions:

do most of the evocation spells available for the eldritch knight just seem not worth it at all? I mean, for them to any real damage by that level, i'm going to guess you need either higher level spells or put them in highter level slots, but the eldritch knight only goes up to 4 (eventually), and with the multiple attacks he has, these spells just seem not good at all? or am i wrong at this?

For the abjuration school, shield seems nice for it, being a reaction, but other than that my first glances don't seem to pick out anything that would really be worth casting in stead of just attacking with the axe…
And with the few spells of any school, i'm going to need more time to look into these but

What spells are actually worth it for the eldritch knight? Someone with experience on this case out there to help me?

[Eslin]

Greetings,

in the not so distant future, my dnd group and I will pick up a campaign that has been on hold for a while and probably switch it's mechanics from 3.5 to 5th edition, meaning that my duskblade will become an eldritch knight. We will continue with the character level we stopped at, being 11. Now, i've only played 1 other 5th edition character up to level 3 just now, so i do not have much grasp on how the concept of spells being more effective when put in higher level slots really plays when compared to effects per caster level, so hence here my questions:

do most of the evocation spells available for the eldritch knight just seem not worth it at all? I mean, for them to any real damage by that level, i'm going to guess you need either higher level spells or put them in highter level slots, but the eldritch knight only goes up to 4 (eventually), and with the multiple attacks he has, these spells just seem not good at all? or am i wrong at this?

For the abjuration school, shield seems nice for it, being a reaction, but other than that my first glances don't seem to pick out anything that would really be worth casting in stead of just attacking with the axe…
And with the few spells of any school, i'm going to need more time to look into these but

What spells are actually worth it for the eldritch knight? Someone with experience on this case out there to help me?

Fireball and lightning bolt are ok, since they are aoe which isn't something you can really do otherwise, but yeah evocation's kinda pointless. Haste and fly are both amazing self buffs, misty step, mirror image and invisibility are always useful and even with the low amount of spell slots you have, a few undead minions under your control with animate dead is great. Dispel and counterspell are both super useful against casters, even if you'll be having to ability check a lot of the time. You'll notice most of these aren't abjuration, so enjoy your limited choices =P

[Gurka]

Eslin got most of the good ones there. Blur is also incredible.

Personally, I find the restriction to evocation and abjuration completely arbitrary, and as a DM, I allow anybody wanting to play an EK to ignore that bit. I just ask that they choose a theme for third spells and attempt to stock to it with most of their choices.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

some good ones: darkness, dispel, daylight, counterspell, gust of wind, protection from evil and good

[silveralen]

You are going to focus on self buff spells by level 11, with some AoE. AFB right now, but dipping a level or two of sorcerer might give your spells a little bit more oomph and mileage.

Also worth mentioning is duskblade is more mechanically similar to paladin this edition. Just something to keep in mind for your next char.

[Regulas]

If you dipped for 1 level of wizard would you be able to copy 2nd level spells? While the automatic spells have to be based on what a lvl 1 Wizard can learn, the spellbook itself doesn't specify any restrictions for what you can copy significantly does it (since it's DM decided anyway)?

[Eslin]

If you dipped for 1 level of wizard would you be able to copy 2nd level spells? While the automatic spells have to be based on what a lvl 1 Wizard can learn, the spellbook itself doesn't specify any restrictions for what you can copy significantly does it (since it's DM decided anyway)?

Nope, they specifically ruled that out later in the book. Don't worry, I got all excited too.

[Regulas]

Nope, they specifically ruled that out later in the book. Don't worry, I got all excited too.

What page?

[Eslin]

What page?

Page 164, Spells Known and Prepared.

[Regulas]

Page 164, Spells Known and Prepared.

Cool ty.

More onto OP's topic. While available spells aren't the best given your limited spell list one suggestion is to have the DM let you pick any two schools to draw spells from (as opposed to just getting random other spells). This way you're still largely restricted in the same way as the EK was meant to be while being able to take a more flavourful or varied style.

[Scirocco]

If you dipped for 1 level of wizard would you be able to copy 2nd level spells? While the automatic spells have to be based on what a lvl 1 Wizard can learn, the spellbook itself doesn't specify any restrictions for what you can copy significantly does it (since it's DM decided anyway)?

It's still pretty good even though it won't let you do that. You won't be restricted to level 1 evocation/abjuration spells that way, effectively pick up an extra first level slot, and there are a lot of rituals at that level.

[Shadow]

Personally, I find the restriction to evocation and abjuration completely arbitrary, and as a DM, I allow anybody wanting to play an EK to ignore that bit. I just ask that they choose a theme for third spells and attempt to stock to it with most of their choices.

I understand the restriction, but I think it's too harsh.
Our games allow an EK and an AT to choose a third school in addition to the two listed. Between this and the few choices that they get from any school, this seems to work well.

[Gurka]

I understand the restriction, but I think it's too harsh.
Our games allow an EK and an AT to choose a third school in addition to the two listed. Between this and the few choices that they get from any school, this seems to work well.

Adding a 3rd choice has worked well, and in our most recent game we allowed the restriction of two schools to apply to basically whichever two the fighter wanted, and I haven't seen any problem with it yet that way either.

On a semi-related note, I've also allowed the magic users to (with significant experimentation, some cost, and some wild magic roles) to alter certain spells to change damage types, alter spell schools, things like that. It's gone a long way to help the heavily restricted casters feel less constrained in there options.