Magic In Real Life

[Bluydee]

As title. If you could use, atwill, one cantrip or 1st level spell, what would it be?

I would have to say Silent Image. Illusions OP.

[Raven777]

Prestidigitation, full stop.

[Psyren]

Comprehend Languages = make a fortune both as an interpreter/translator and as a code debugger.

(That or Scholar's Touch.)

[Boci]

Comprehend Languages = make a fortune both as an interpreter/translator and as a code debugger.

(That or Scholar's Touch.)

I think scholars touch is the better bet. Comprehend languages has the annoying clause of:

"The ability to read does not necessarily impart insight into the material, merely its literal meaning."

which could very well impact your ability to work as a translator, which often requires presicion. You will be able to translate more languages than any one person, but any one translator will be better at the languages they speak then you.

Personally I'd go for detect evil, just to answer some of the big questions, if only for myself.

[qwertyu63]

If I am restricted to Cantrips/first level arcane spells, Prestidigitation all the way.

If I am allowed to plunder other lists, give me Cure Light Wounds.

[Phelix-Mu]

I will refrain from posting links since someone else is about to do so, but there have been very interesting discussions on this topic before.

Nurturing seeds is my perennial favorite. Let's you make magically enhanced seedlings that are basically guaranteed to survive into adult plants despite bad conditions. Makes multiple seedlings per casting, and they can grow even in areas where normally it would be impossible. It also makes them fit for transport until they are planted.

Basically, I like lots of the spells out there, but this one lets me help everyone out there with something they need (viable food source), lets them help themselves (they don't spend so much effort gathering food), improves diets, and can help with reforestation efforts.

The text, for those interested:
Nurturing Seeds
Abjuration
Level: Drd 0
Components: V, S, M, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Up to 10 seeds touched
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
You render up to 10 cuttings or seeds dormant and
suitable for transport. The seeds or cuttings can
then be taken to an area where inclement weather,
lack of moisture, or other problems have kept
plants from growing. The dormant seeds or
cuttings are planted there and will magically take
root and can be used to start new patches of
vegetation, anchoring the soil and creating an
environment suitable for more plants to survive.
This spell protects the transplants from normal
weather conditions, but defilers, hungry animals, or
unnatural phenomenon (like Tyr-Storms) can still
destroy the plants.
Material Components: A tiny bit of dung and a
drop of water.

In theory you can even terraform using this spell, as the surface of Mars could qualify as ground eligible to be planted with this spell. Once the plants are growing, they fix a bunch of problems right there (though maybe not Mars' particular set of problems...*sigh*).

[With a box]

Sanctum alter self or Sanctum invisibility
It's first level spell isn't it? :tongue:

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Phelix-Mu
Nurturing seeds is my perennial favorite.

I see what you did there.

:smalltongue:


Originally Posted by Phelix-Mu
...this one lets me help everyone out there with something they need (viable food source), lets them help themselves (they don't spend so much effort gathering food), improves diets, and can help with reforestation efforts.

Despite being a longtime player of druids, I'd never heard of this spell before. Where is it from? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

And I wish I'd known of it long before, because this spell is potentially world-changing. Yes, it's a zero-level spell that makes seeds grow…but as you say, it gives seedlings a head start at rooting and surviving tough weather. As someone who propagates native plants from wild seed, I can tell you that getting seeds to germinate is the toughest part of the process, often fraught and frustrating. My witch-hazel seeds have about a 4% germination rate. (Picky soil requirements and double dormancy…headaches galore.)

This spell would give my witch-hazel seeds a 100% germination rate, as ensured by the phrase "magically take root." This means that any seeds treated with this spell will have an automatic advantage over any other seed dispersed and germinated by nonmagical means, whether wild or cultivated.

And this, plus the protection from adverse weather, means that these seeds will have a tremendous competitive advantage over any other vegetation where they're planted. Ten seeds by themselves won't do much--and there are still many other issues, from overshading to smothering vines to destruction by aggressive commensals, not to mention allochemical interference from other trees--but if you have a small group of druids working to plant hundreds or thousands of seeds, even in just a month or two, then you're almost guaranteed to create a durable stand with whatever species composition you prefer.

There's nothing that specifies they all have to be the same species for any particular casting, so you can mix and match freely, and you could create a dense patch of customized habitat: any vegetation community you like, with a mix of whatever fruits, tubers, berries or other forest products you prefer.

Imagine a community of elven druids working with this spell, patiently over the long years, following a diligent plan of restoration and expansion. They could transform a region entirely--assuming they chose species which could survive there as adults--and over the centuries, if the community remained intact and committed, they could create an immense wilderness designed according to their taste.

Give the elves thousands of years to work on this, and they could transform a world. Even human druids, if they treated this like the construction of a cathedral--a grand project, far outlasting any individual lives--could work wonders on almost any scale, if they stuck with it long enough.

You really could terraform a world with this. I can't think of another cantrip with farther-reaching implications.

[Phelix-Mu]

It's from Athas.org, which is the officially licensed source for Dark Sun materials in 3e. WotC sold them/gave them the license, so it should be as official as anything else, at least according to people on this board. It has some interesting stuff, not least because the big conflict on Athas is that many of the magic users are defiling, which basically spells the doom of the biosphere. Thus, the druids from Athas (the primary divine casters due to a lack of "clerics") have a number of really good spells for attempting to restore the ecosystem.

Anyway, I was a huge fan of the Dark Sun fluff from 2e, and was quite sad it didn't get treatment by WotC in 3e. But, then this stuff came out and was pretty good. Much better than the totally horrible Dragon Magazine stuff, anyway.

And I totally agree with Palanan's analysis; one of the best parts of the spell is that the druids don't even have to be the one to plant the seeds. Once prepped, the cuttings apparently last forever, meaning that even irl, the person with the spell can just spend all day, prep several tens of thousands of seeds in a day, then pass it out to his or her favorite NGO, and let them plant them whenever.

The only downside is, as you say, a possible anti-competitive bias that could land reckless, unchecked users in a bit of hot water if they don't diversify their plantings. Easily remedied, though.

[Jeff the Green]

I will refrain from posting links since someone else is about to do so, but there have been very interesting discussions on this topic before.

Nurturing seeds is my perennial favorite. Let's you make magically enhanced seedlings that are basically guaranteed to survive into adult plants despite bad conditions. Makes multiple seedlings per casting, and they can grow even in areas where normally it would be impossible. It also makes them fit for transport until they are planted.

Basically, I like lots of the spells out there, but this one lets me help everyone out there with something they need (viable food source), lets them help themselves (they don't spend so much effort gathering food), improves diets, and can help with reforestation efforts.

The text, for those interested:
Nurturing Seeds
Abjuration
Level: Drd 0
Components: V, S, M, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Up to 10 seeds touched
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
You render up to 10 cuttings or seeds dormant and
suitable for transport. The seeds or cuttings can
then be taken to an area where inclement weather,
lack of moisture, or other problems have kept
plants from growing. The dormant seeds or
cuttings are planted there and will magically take
root and can be used to start new patches of
vegetation, anchoring the soil and creating an
environment suitable for more plants to survive.
This spell protects the transplants from normal
weather conditions, but defilers, hungry animals, or
unnatural phenomenon (like Tyr-Storms) can still
destroy the plants.
Material Components: A tiny bit of dung and a
drop of water.

In theory you can even terraform using this spell, as the surface of Mars could qualify as ground eligible to be planted with this spell. Once the plants are growing, they fix a bunch of problems right there (though maybe not Mars' particular set of problems...*sigh*).

Damn. I'm not much of a gardener (I have a near OCD-level aversion to getting my hands literally dirty), but I would pick this in a heartbeat and sacrifice nearly all I have for it. Working eight hours a day I could produce 48000 seeds per day. With help I could regrow forests at a rate of 420-700 acres per week. In six months (okay, eight, because even for this I don't think i could work seven days a week for that long) I could replace all the almond trees in California with ones that need no more water than what naturally falls in the San Joaquin Valley. I could regrow the forests of Canaan.

God, I just made myself cry at the fact that it isn't really possible.

[Psyren]

I think scholars touch is the better bet. Comprehend languages has the annoying clause of:

"The ability to read does not necessarily impart insight into the material, merely its literal meaning."

which could very well impact your ability to work as a translator, which often requires presicion. You will be able to translate more languages than any one person, but any one translator will be better at the languages they speak then you.

True but it's easier to learn a bunch of idioms than to learn several languages. I would mostly use it for translating formal writing in any case, which would have few of those.

Using it on code would be extremely valuable however - you could touch any subroutine regardless of syntax,and figure out exactly what it is actually doing, then compare that to what it should be doing, all in seconds. Missing close parens, undeclared variables, you spot them all.


Personally I'd go for detect evil, just to answer some of the big questions, if only for myself.

That strikes me as useless in our world since everybody would ping to some degree.

[Abd al-Azrad]

Charm Person, or CLW. The last person I heard of who could CLW became pretty darn popular, after all.

[Forrestfire]

Scholar's Touch, hands down. Read a book, reread it, work problems, and do it again until you understand it. Repeat for another topic.

It'd be just such a useful tool for saving time and learning, especially since if you don't understand a concept, well, there are books about that one concept. Read those, then continue. Think of how much you could learn and the applications of that much knowledge shoved into one head.

... That or Nurturing Seeds. Just kinda amazing implications attached to that one. If I was going for selfishness, I'd pick Scholar's Touch, though. Probably would end up with Nurturing Seeds, if only for how awesomely useful it'd be in real life.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Phelix-Mu
…the big conflict on Athas is that many of the magic users are defiling, which basically spells the doom of the biosphere.

Aha, thank you. I'd just been thinking a little while ago that this spell would be very useful on Athas, although I don't know much about the setting.


Originally Posted by Phelix-Mu
…one of the best parts of the spell is that the druids don't even have to be the one to plant the seeds.

You know, that aspect completely slipped by me; I was thinking too hard about druidic communities.

But yes, this opens it up even further, since it allows the druids to give a tremendous advantage to local agriculture--or at least the farmers and homesteaders of their choosing. Likely this would come with strings attached, or at least a quid pro quo: we'll give you these seeds, which will improve your yield and give you a marketable surplus, if you stay out of the places we'd rather you not go.


Originally Posted by Phelix-Mu
…the person with the spell can just spend all day, prep several tens of thousands of seeds in a day….

I was thinking more the 3.5 approach, limited to just a few castings per day, based on 0-level spell slots available.

With Pathfinder-style unlimited cantripping, the elven druids really would rule the world.


Originally Posted by Phelix-Mu
The only downside is, as you say, a possible anti-competitive bias that could land reckless, unchecked users in a bit of hot water if they don't diversify their plantings.

This would certainly have its perils, and on a small scale it could be misused for profit or even extortion.

But on a broader scale, I'd imagine a conflict of philosophies between different druidic sects or faiths. In the Forgotten Realms, I could easily see druids of Chauntea wanting to help small farmers expand their harvests, while druids of Silvanus would prefer to intensify the defenses of the impenetrable forest depths.

And even druids of the same faith might have differing ecological perspectives. What would be the best forest cover and understory community for a particular region? The possibilities are almost limitless, and there could be long debates about whether restoration of a particular species assembly would be best, or if an entirely new forest community should be developed to accommodate a mix of requirements from wildlife and local communities.




Originally Posted by Jeff the Green
I could regrow the forests of Canaan.

Not to mention the cedars of Lebanon.

I'm thinking southern longleaf pine where I am…not to mention using seeds from the last few blight-resistant American chestnuts, from the population in Georgia, to rejuvenate the Mid-Atlantic forests.

And eventually restore the great northern gingko forests, although gingkos are absurdly slow-growing.

And...yeah. There's a lot could be done with this.

[Telonius]

Charm Person would be my pick. It just makes so many things, so much easier.

[Psyren]

Scholar's Touch, hands down. Read a book, reread it, work problems, and do it again until you understand it. Repeat for another topic.

ST doesn't let you reread as far as I can see. Or rather if you cast it on the same book multiple times it wouldn't add anything new, because even if you cast it 50 times, each use would only get you what you would get for reading it completely once. You would have to reread it manually to get more. (Granted, rereading something that you have read through once is a bit quicker, but there is still a good chance you won't grok any of it.)

[Forrestfire]

I guess it depends on how you interpret "The character does not gain perfect recall of the information, just whatever he would have gotten from reading it completely once."

If you've already read it once, and you cast it again, shouldn't it give you the information you'd have gotten if you read it once more? You're still reading it once (per casting), it's just that each "once" is after you've already read it at least once. I've always interpreted the spell's text as noting that it doesn't let you memorize the entirety of the book, but I guess it could be seen the other way.

If that's the case, then it's not worth having, and Nurturing Seeds is the only choice here, I feel. If only because the other options are either not super useful in real life (prestidigitation, magic missile, etc), or horrible to contemplate (charm person).

Oh! Black Bag. Black Bag conjures a bag full of surgical implements, which are presumably sterile, since the bag is created whole cloth. Possibly super useful.

[Inevitability]

Something as simple as feather fall would already be awesome. Baumgartner - parachute = pure Incredibility.

[Trundlebug]

Charm Person, or ...

If anyone used that on me I would gladly use a quarter of my annual income (should be far more than enough) to have that person's joints, optics and tongue rendered irreparable for life. Hypothetically ofc. Magic-mind-rape is not cool.

Enjoy the spell.

This whole nurturing seeds thing is...wow. This planet needs that. Or someone to cast an uber Apocalypse from the Sky on heavily populated areas. That too. Seriously as the other poster said I've upset myself thinking about that spell and this planet.

[Lightlawbliss]

prestidigitation, no second thoughts. I could get so much more done if hours of scrubbing and cleaning was done in seconds and at a better quality then I could ever produce.

[heavyfuel]

The biggest problem I see with Scholar's Touch is its duration. You could read a book in ~3 seconds (Standard Action), but the knowledge you absorbed from it would only last 6 seconds (1 round for your lv1 butt). Good if you need a quick answer, but otherwise impractical.

I'd also take Prestidigitation. Making salad taste like beef parmigiana or basically any other taste would be neat.

[Jeff the Green]

And eventually restore the great northern gingko forests, although gingkos are absurdly slow-growing.

Oh, god, please no. Have you ever smelled ginkgo fruit? The landscaper at my work decided to plant a row of four ginkgo trees and then to not cut some of them down when it turned out they were a mix of male an female. Basically from the end of September to the middle of November the entire area smells like it's been sprayed with a dog's diarrhea. That's one living fossil I wouldn't mind removing the "living" part.


Or someone to cast an uber Apocalypse from the Sky on heavily populated areas. That too.

Nah, the heavily populated areas are, counter-intuitively, not a huge problem. It's the suburbs I want to see die in a fire.

[KillianHawkeye]

Greater Mage Hand.

[Telonius]

So much hate for Charm Person! Yeah, it's obviously abusable, but I'm thinking more along the lines of dealing with bureaucracy, avoiding conflict at work, getting the landlord off my case over things that really don't matter, and generally getting people to leave me alone to do my thing.

[Psyren]

If you've already read it once, and you cast it again, shouldn't it give you the information you'd have gotten if you read it once more?

The spell says nothing about "once more." You get the same info every time. Useful for skimming dozens of books, not so useful for learning a foreign subject in-depth.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Jeff the Green
*snip*

I live in the suburbs and I love my gingko tree. I'm sensing a conflict of druidic ethos here.

:smallbiggrin:

[Forrestfire]

The spell says nothing about "once more." You get the same info every time. Useful for skimming dozens of books, not so useful for learning a foreign subject in-depth.

If you read something once, you've read it once. If you put it down, then pick it up and read it once, you just read it once, but have read it a total amount of two times. More important is the duration issue that was pointed out, probably. Or the target lune and range :smalltongue:

[Jeff the Green]

I live in the suburbs and I love my gingko tree. I'm sensing a conflict of druidic ethos here.

:smallbiggrin:

Did you not see the part about hating dirt? I'd make a lousy druid.

I really have no problem with ginkgos as ornamental trees or I suppose in forests I won't get within a hundred miles of. It's when you let them reproduce that they're a problem. You have to treat them like you're in some ultra strict religion and keep the males well away from the females.

[jiriku]

So much hate for Charm Person! Yeah, it's obviously abusable, but I'm thinking more along the lines of dealing with bureaucracy, avoiding conflict at work, getting the landlord off my case over things that really don't matter, and generally getting people to leave me alone to do my thing.

Jacking around with other people's free will = not cool regardless of how convenient it would be.

[TheIronGolem]

The biggest problem I see with Scholar's Touch is its duration. You could read a book in ~3 seconds (Standard Action), but the knowledge you absorbed from it would only last 6 seconds (1 round for your lv1 butt). Good if you need a quick answer, but otherwise impractical.

Unless it works on electronic media. Then you can just buy the biggest SD card you can afford, load it with ebooks, and tape it to your forearm or something.

I'd still pick Prestidigitation, though.

[Psyren]

If you read something once, you've read it once. If you put it down, then pick it up and read it once, you just read it once, but have read it a total amount of two times. More important is the duration issue that was pointed out, probably. Or the target lune and range :smalltongue:

Equally important is the text of the spell - it specifically states that you get what you would have gotten for reading it once. Thus even if you cast it 500 times, you will only ever get the same information as reading it once.

[Jormengand]

Mending would tempt me. Disguise Self or Unseen Servant might be good. CLW would be something that would definitely be a good thing to have. Speak With Animals? Dunno if they have much interesting to say, though.

Trying to think of something other than the ones everyone goes for, so that when everyone's running around translating, reading and turning things blue, and they find out that their job's already been taken 17 times over, I'll be sitting there repairing all their stuff when it goes wrong.

[Rubik]

Equally important is the text of the spell - it specifically states that you get what you would have gotten for reading it once. Thus even if you cast it 500 times, you will only ever get the same information as reading it once.Invest in Autohypnosis.

Also, I'd want a shadowcraft mage's Silent Image as a cantrip. :smallcool:

[Psyren]

Invest in Autohypnosis.

That will help you get back everything you lost when the spell ended, but it won't help you get anything more out of the spell itself.

[Rubik]

That will help you get back everything you lost when the spell ended, but it won't help you get anything more out of the spell itself.You'll just have the entire thing memorized, word for word. Obviously not at all useful.

[Milo v3]

I'd probably take Polypurpose Panacea, no need to sleep anymore + cure for insomnia + various other benefits.

[Troacctid]

Songbird, from Spell Compendium. "You intone this simple spell and your control over your voice improves, your unruly hair straightens, and your flesh radiates a healthy glow. You're ready for showtime." It's basically the magical ability to look good and feel confident. That can get you pretty far.

Vigilant Slumber, from Complete Mage. You can set a specific condition that makes you automatically wake up. Toss out that annoying alarm clock. You can quit the coffee too--the spell makes you wake up "fully alert and ready for action" every time.

Wieldskill, from Magic of Faerun. +10 competence bonus to any skill, and you count as trained in it. Want to learn guitar? +10 to Perform (String Instruments). Leaky pipe? +10 to Profession (Plumber). Forced at gunpoint to write an 800-word essay on duck migration? +10 to Knowledge (Ducks). The possibilities are endless.

[SwordChucks]

1.) Go to Vegas

2.) Cast Cheat

3.) Run


Edit: Preserve organ would be great for transplant patients and is a lot less selfish then my first choice.

[Jeff the Green]

Knowledge (Ducks)

I want this to be a thing.

[atemu1234]

Create water. Become televangelist. Make ton of money.

[Troacctid]

Knowledge (Ducks)
I want this to be a thing.
Wieldskill for a +10 competence bonus to Craft (Things). :smallcool:

[ninjamaster1991]

I'm going to be a dissenter - Instant Search would be my pick. Have you ever wanted to inspect an area or find something, but didn't have enough time? No? Try:
Your parents'/child's/SO's room for presents/drugs/etc.
Each room of your house, for keys/remotes/loose change
Any given locker room/public shower/bath house/sorority slumber party You have to search every inch - any of those attractive young ladies could be hiding something dangerous underneath their clothes!
Each person going through a certain point - the most effective security scan this side of the Astral Plane!
The inside of a book, though shaky, is technically RAW, as you could search for the answer to a question or any interesting facts.

And all this at a range defined only as being pointed to.

[Lightlawbliss]

Unless it works on electronic media. Then you can just buy the biggest SD card you can afford, load it with ebooks, and tape it to your forearm or something.


It specifies "book or scroll".
...
So print everything you can into one book and your golden, make the font tiny to save space and weight. (It doesn't even require you to be able to read the words on the page, it just tells you the info as if you had read it.)

[oxybe]

I'll be going off the Pathfinder stuff since that's what I have on hand most quickly.

Prestidigitation is the king of utility. cleaning stuff, minor levitation, spicing/flavouring food/drink, weird little things... just really handy.

Disguise self allows for some rather interesting uses, be it the fact one never really needs to buy clothes again or that one could simply get into places. There's the old saying that the easiest way to get into someplace is to look/act like you belong there and there is no better way to look like you belong somewhere like turning into an employee.

Some form of healing magic would probably help land me a rather lucrative job in the health industry. Imagine having someone in the ER who can, at a moment's notice, repair tissue/heal damage.

True Strike and become a military sniper :P

In that vein, Abundant Ammunition and whatever weapon has the highest rate of fire. It costs 400000$ to fire the Heavy Weapons Guy's minigun for 12 seconds. I can do so for 60 and finish with a full clip. Then recast :P

Unseen Servant allows for some really lazy magework.

Charm Person makes people friendly rather then 100% mind control, so it might allow me to get the landlord to fix leaks faster rather then waiting or having him give me an extension on a late rent, but if i putz about he'll still kick me out. Might get me better/quicker service in places too.

Burning hands. No real reason except pyro is my fav TF2 class.

Silent Image and all the benefits being able to create illusions of nearly anything gives me.

Expeditious Retreat allows me to run about town and do errands rather quickly. Probably be the best UPS foot delivery guy they would ever have.

Purify Food and Drink would be the ultimate bachelor spell: that old something in the back of the fridge? turns out it was actually meatloaf. And thanks to magic, it's meatloaf again.

Abstemiousness allows one to live on a fistful of trailmix everyday. Perfect for the bachelor or starving artist in your life.

Enhance Water is the fratboy's fav spell. Always having cheap booze on hand without having to pay? Everyone's fav guy on campus.

Mending is always useful. Fix up a broken fan or just random stuff that breaks.

Alchemical Tinkering oh the less-then-legal ramification of this spell in a modern world.

Vanish, because invisibility. Sure i'll need to recast it every turn. It's invisibility, who cares!

[Troacctid]

Silent Image would actually excite me much more for illustration than deception. It's the ultimate visual aid. Whatever's in your imagination can instantly be magically projected into holographic reality at a moment's notice.

[Phelix-Mu]

Silent Image would actually excite me much more for illustration than deception. It's the ultimate visual aid. Whatever's in your imagination can instantly be magically projected into holographic reality at a moment's notice.

This is one of the reasons why I liked the 0-level chalkboard spell from Dragon Magz. It makes an illusionary, opaque chalkboard that one can write on with imaginary chalk. Ostensibly, this would also allow illustration, which would be awesome for storytelling and, as you say, a kind of holographic interface (though probably not as capable as silent image due to 2D limitations).

[Troacctid]

This is one of the reasons why I liked the 0-level chalkboard spell from Dragon Magz. It makes an illusionary, opaque chalkboard that one can write on with imaginary chalk. Ostensibly, this would also allow illustration, which would be awesome for storytelling and, as you say, a kind of holographic interface (though probably not as capable as silent image due to 2D limitations).

No, that's much worse, because it requires you being able to draw the thing you're visualizing. Drawing takes a non-insignificant amount of skill, and even if you have the skill, it can be time-consuming. It's barely better than just carrying around a mundane pad of paper. Whereas with Silent Image, whatever you can visualize in your head is instantly translated into a 3D image, and quite a large one at that--the minimum caster level gives you five 10-foot cubes. The illusion can move too, which is a large part of the appeal--you can't draw an animation. Well, you can, but you have to draw a bazillion frames, and you can't do it on a chalkboard.

[Phelix-Mu]

No, that's much worse, because it requires you being able to draw the thing you're visualizing. Drawing takes a non-insignificant amount of skill, and even if you have the skill, it can be time-consuming. It's barely better than just carrying around a mundane pad of paper. Whereas with Silent Image, whatever you can visualize in your head is instantly translated into a 3D image, and quite a large one at that--the minimum caster level gives you five 10-foot cubes. The illusion can move too, which is a large part of the appeal--you can't draw an animation. Well, you can, but you have to draw a bazillion frames, and you can't do it on a chalkboard.

No time or skill requirement is noted, but a DM might sensibly imply them. The benefit is mainly the spell-level, not relevant in this thread, though, so your point is well taken. And I hadn't thought about moving images.

But if we compare them level-by-level, a 1st-level improvement on chalkboard would add as much utility as silent image adds over ghost sound (as a very rough rubric), so I do like the concept. But I'm not at all implying that silent image isn't the bees' knees (cause it is).

[ben-zayb]

Is this under the assumption that the world is such a harmonious, happy place to live in, with mostly good, honest, and altruistic people? Or are we taking into account opportunistic, greedy, and megalomaniacal people who will pounce at any chances to exploit something that will help them attain more money, authority, or power?

In the first case, either Create Water or Nurturing Seeds. In the second case, probably create water or prestidigitation.

[Psyren]

You'll just have the entire thing memorized, word for word. Obviously not at all useful.

Rote memorization != understanding. I could memorize every page of the instruction manual for a nuclear submarine if I had enough time on my hands, and regurgitate the lot of it onto a different page somewhere else, but that doesn't mean I could operate it.

[Telonius]

Jacking around with other people's free will = not cool regardless of how convenient it would be.

I don't see how it's jacking around with their free will - just jacking around with their perceptions. To some degree, messing with people's perceptions is a pretty commonly accepted thing. (Advertising is a legal profession, beauty products are available at any grocery store, Obi-Wan "These aren't the droids you're looking for" Kenobi is considered a hero ... )

All the spell does, is makes someone Friendly. You basically get a big Benefit Of the Doubt for whatever you're doing. It doesn't let you give orders to the target to do anything they wouldn't normally do (at least without a Charisma check, which you'd need to make even if you weren't casting a spell). It doesn't take away their agency. You still have to convince them; they don't blindly follow anything you say.

[Psyren]

The more practical concern with Charm is it doesn't appear to affect their memory. So they're going to remember you walking up to them, muttering some gibberish and suddenly they feel way more disposed to like you. Then they're going to remember feeling very different an hour later and become suspicious around you from there on out.

[Abd al-Azrad]

The rationale for my own choices a while back (Charm Person or Cure Light Wounds) is as follows:

Most obvious "magic tricks" available through illusions, prestidigitation, etc., strike me that they would be great for entertainment, but you'd never be able to distance yourself from skeptics claiming you're just a cheap trickster or stage magician. So you could make a decent amount of money by honing your craft and positioning yourself as the next Chris Angel - but at the end of the day, that's just another job.

With Cure Light Wounds, you'd be so much more than a passable doctor's assistant. That's one trick you really can't fake, and there are loads of people who would go crazy to hear there's someone out there who can close wounds with a touch. Sure, it's not healing disease, but it's probably enough to get yourself placed at the head of a cult.

Charm Person is something you'd have to be more careful with, but can you really grasp how powerful it would be to make friends with anyone, from across the room? Like... no matter who you can think of, you'd make a guaranteed good first impression. You of course need to follow through with a good conversation or whatever, but you basically get to bypass peoples' initial sales resistance, every time.

[Psyren]

Charm Person is something you'd have to be more careful with, but can you really grasp how powerful it would be to make friends with anyone, from across the room? Like... no matter who you can think of, you'd make a guaranteed good first impression.

Until the spell ended anyway, and they started to reflect on why exactly they liked you so much.

I recall episode 1 of Fairy Tail when Lucy got charmed by the local charlatan mage. After the fact she realized what had happened and became openly hostile to that person. Granted she was no stranger to magic herself but depending on who you use your wiles on you could end up in serious trouble.

[oxybe]

Note also that Bora, the fake salamander, was also using the charm magic to get himself a harem (http://media.animevice.com/uploads/0/4/145423-ft05_super.png) which he will then brand them (http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100922222737/fairytail/images/2/2e/Bora_trying_to_brand_Lucy.jpg) and sell in human trafficking. He also tried to roofie Lucy.

The charm spell he was using was banned because unlike D&D's charm, this one strait up made people do stuff they normally wouldn't, whereas D&D's charm just makes them like you more, but they still won't do things that are out of character for them. It's darn near dominate person, only you're less zombie-like and it's easier to break out of.

That he hasn't been caught and put in jail yet is either a testament to his ability to manipulate people or the inability of the police.

[SwordChucks]

With any obvious spell effect like silent image or cure light wounds you could also win the JREF million dollar prize, so no need to look for a spell to help you get a job.

[Jeff the Green]

With any obvious spell effect like silent image or cure light wounds you could also win the JREF million dollar prize, so no need to look for a spell to help you get a job.

Doesn't really need to be obvious. JREF is very pliable and has some very talented trial designers working for them. Even something like guidance can be tested with sufficiently large sample sizes and rigorous research practices.

[Mr.Kraken]

This is a no-brainer. Bigby's Tripping Hand or Grease!

[Rubik]

Keep in mind that tricks can open up higher level spells. Sanctum Spell'd 2nd level spells count as 1sts. Forceful Spell'd, Sanctum Spell'd 3rd level spells also count as 1sts.

Combine that with spells from different spell lists (like the trapsmith's) and you've potentially got 5th and 6th level spells available for the choosing.

[Bluydee]

An interesting one I've found is Painless Death. As long as the opponent is willing, (and unconcious is willing,) they die instantly, no save. This would be an interesting lesson in morality, I think, to see how responsibly someone could be trusted to be able to kill anyone.

[Forrestfire]

Keep in mind that tricks can open up higher level spells. Sanctum Spell'd 2nd level spells count as 1sts. Forceful Spell'd, Sanctum Spell'd 3rd level spells also count as 1sts.

Combine that with spells from different spell lists (like the trapsmith's) and you've potentially got 5th and 6th level spells available for the choosing.

Ooh, that's a good point. Fabricate is available, then.

Not sure if it beats Nurturing Seeds in amazingness, but it'd still be an awesome option. You are now a FMA-style Alchemist, sans horrible spoilers.

EDIT: Also, Lesser Planar Binding (off the Demonologist list). I'm not sure if that's useful (or if it even works) without a Magic Circle.