Must have spells!

[ImSAMazing]

Hi Playgrounders,

I'm currently playing a Wizard, and I got some money to write over some spells. What are Wizard spells that you think are musthave spells! This excludes the following obvious strong spells:


Mage Armor
Shield
Fireball
Fly
Disintegrate
Finger of Death
True Polymorph
Wish
Foresight
Gate
Clone
Firebolt

[Shining Wrath]

What's your level, what's your Arcane Tradition, what's the rest of your party doing spell-wise?


Sleep: still a classic even after nerfing.
Thunderwave: your first "move the enemy around the battlefield" spell
Enlarge / Reduce: Get through narrow passages, turn your fighter into Super Fighter (play Mario music)
Web: can be a win button in underground / forest encounters
Leomund's Tiny Hut: By RAW, you are invincible but can attack out. What's not to like?
Haste: Ask your fighter how he feels about more attacks. Go ahead. See what he says.
Slow: Ask your monsters how they feel about losing half their move, their reaction, and either their action or their bonus action. Be prepared for profanity; they are, after all, monsters

[Kryx]

Leomund's Tiny Hut: By RAW, you are invincible but can attack out. What's not to like?

For those that care about RAI Crawford has, thankfully, clarified this to not be the intent.

[HoarsHalberd]

What's your level, what's your Arcane Tradition, what's the rest of your party doing spell-wise?



Haste: Ask your fighter how he feels about more attacks. Go ahead. See what he says.



Note, it is much better on Paladins and Barbarians than it is fighters.

[Shining Wrath]

Note, it is much better on Paladins and Barbarians than it is fighters.

Ask your barbarian how he feels about extra attacks; be prepared for him to grab you and give you noogies in his enthusiasm.

[ImSAMazing]

Almost lvl 16. I have enough money so I can get access to all the spells.

[dropbear8mybaby]

Fear.

Use it in an enclosed space with limited exits where you can stand somewhere that prevents the affected from moving to them. Those affected by it can't move closer to you at all and as long as you remain in line of sight, they don't get a save, which means disadvantage on all their attacks and they tend to end up grouped together and unable to move because most movement will have them moving closer to you. I've managed to gimp entire groups for entire combats because of it. More than that, you can just sit back and do ranged attacks all day (well, up to one minute) on them.

[Sigreid]

On my wizard I have only a few spells that are combat oriented. Other than that I focus on the spells that help make everything else easier. Tiny Hut provides a save place to rest, Banishment has more uses in this edition than any other. Wall spells to restrict the battlefield and keep the martials from getting overwhelmed, Creation and/or fabrication (not for ruining the economy but for generating that item we didn't know we desperately needed, Remove Curse has come up, etc. The rest of the party does an excellent job of making things dead so cantrips for battle and a couple of AOE for dealing with mooks is most of my combat choices.

[coredump]

Grab every ritual spell.

[zinycor]

I love slow. such a good debuff

[SharkForce]

levitate can be useful and versatile (can remove an enemy melee from combat, can also let you lift quite a lot of stuff at once, like the entire party standing on a platform for example). hold person if you have it is gold in the right situation (unfortunately useless in the wrong situation though). mirror image and misty step are also quite good in their respective ways. phantasmal force can let you reliably shut down single targets. web is not nearly as limited by environment as some would suggest... you can layer it on the floor, walls, or ceiling if available. you can even use it in completely open air for 1 round.

bestow curse can be a useful debuff. counterspell and dispel magic are, again, great when you need them. glyph of warding can in the right circumstances give you concentration-free spells (you will need to lure your enemies to you, however, unless your DM interprets it such that you can get concentration-free buffs when the text heavily implies it is supposed to only be useful for traps). hypnotic pattern is a great spell for control. magic circle is a must-have if you ever intend to use planar binding (and if you have money to spare, you absolutely should be intending to use planar binding imo; you can get half a year of service for 1000 gp from a variety of creatures, which is frankly excellent).

arcane eye can be amazing. you are a wizard. you benefit *massively* from preparing the right spells. arcane eye can help you know what the right spells are. banishment is a rare cha-save CC spell. very useful to have. leomund's secret chest is basically you buying a portable hole for 5,000 gold. or really, as many portable holes as you want for 5,000 gold each and a spell slot every 2 months or so. mordenkainen's faithful hound is good, *if* you routinely have people locked up and unable to escape. combined with other CC spells, a game-changer. without some other form of CC, vastly overpriced. polymorph is handy, but not amazing (still, letting your fighter start off as a giant ape, soak a ton of damage, and then come out of that with full health and resources is not a bad deal no matter how you slice it imo). otiluke's resilient sphere can be a great emergency spell.

animate hand provides good DPR options in a "summon". bigby's hand is amazing against individual enemies that only use melee. planar binding is a good way to invest excess money when you have it. wall of force is basically an automatic removal of many enemies from a fight until you're ready to deal with them.

globe of invulnerability is absolutely amazing. do not leave home without it. mass suggestion can gain you allies or remove large groups of enemies with no recurring saves. sunbeam is, in my opinion, a much better combat spell than disintegrate, and lasts a whole fight as an added bonus (can be hard to target, but it also blinds your enemies; what more could you ask for?)

finger of death gives you unlimited zombies. forcecage is a no-save control spell. there's more, but i'll have to come back later.

[Princess]

Frankly I don't understand how none of you have brought up Dominate Person yet. Watch as one of your enemies... beats another of your enemies to death. If it works, it's a two-for-one special on awesome.

[GiantOctopodes]

mirror image- Doesn't require concentration, gives 'better than temp HP' in mitigating attacks entirely (possibly several if the DM rolls poorly or your dex is quite high), provides full effect off a relatively low level slot.

Counterspell- for when things are about to get very very bad, and you don't want that to occur.

Animate Objects- currently the most reliable "summons" in the game, great against any enemies not slinging around fireballs.

Hypnotic Pattern- can end an encounter outright, it's still better if you have grapplers / open hand monk / battlemaster fighter / warlock with repelling blast to drag enemies who pass the save away from their buddies so you can slaughter them without disturbing those who failed, then take out the stragglers one by one.

Wall of Force- no better spell for carving up the battlefield, has the extra benefit of being a lower level and in some ways superior version of forcecage against most enemies. Stick them in a dome and let them cool off while you deal with their buddies, stop concentrating and you just made one hard encounter two easy ones.

Those would be my top 5 you didn't mention, enjoy!

Edit: Also, what Coredump said. It's basically free (well, minus whatever it took to get them) spells prepared each day.

[Elbeyon]

Here's the spell list I used for one of my high level wizards. The dm said I didn't get any extra spells. I never encountered another spell user or found a scroll/spell book in all my years of adventuring. :smallannoyed: Stupid 5e wizard generation rules. *grumble* *grumble*

Alarm (R)
Comprehend Languages (R)
Detect Magic (R, C)
Feather Fall
Find Familiar (R)
Fog Cloud
Grease
Identify (R)
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Protection from Evil and Good
Shield
Silent Image (C)
Unseen Servant (R)
Misty Step
Phantasmal Force (C)
Pyrotechnics
Web (C)
Counterspell
Dispel Magic
Hypnotic Pattern
Magic Circle
Banishment
Confusion
Greater Invisibility
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
Animate Objects
Bigby's Hand
Planar Binding
Wall of Force
Major Image
Mass Suggestion
Simulacrum
True Seeing
Etherealness
Force Cage
Plane Shift
Whirlwind
Antipathy/Sympathy
Feeblemind
Maze
Mind Blank
Foresight
Gate
True Polymorph
Wish

[HoarsHalberd]

Here's the spell list I used for one of my high level wizards. The dm said I didn't get any extra spells. I never encountered another spell user or found a scroll/spell book in all my years of adventuring. :smallannoyed: Stupid 5e wizard generation rules. *grumble* *grumble*

Alarm (R)
Comprehend Languages (R)
Detect Magic (R, C)
Feather Fall
Find Familiar (R)
Fog Cloud
Grease
Identify (R)
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Protection from Evil and Good
Shield
Silent Image (C)
Unseen Servant (R)
Misty Step
Phantasmal Force (C)
Pyrotechnics
Web (C)
Counterspell
Dispel Magic
Hypnotic Pattern
Magic Circle
Banishment
Confusion
Greater Invisibility
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
Animate Objects
Bigby's Hand
Planar Binding
Wall of Force
Major Image
Mass Suggestion
Simulacrum
True Seeing
Etherealness
Force Cage
Plane Shift
Whirlwind
Antipathy/Sympathy
Feeblemind
Maze
Mind Blank
Foresight
Gate
True Polymorph
Wish

Rough luck on the DM front. But in some ways it is better than having a too generous DM.

[Kryx]

Here's the spell list I used for one of my high level wizards. The dm said I didn't get any extra spells. I never encountered another spell user or found a scroll/spell book in all my years of adventuring. :smallannoyed:
You still knew 44 spells which is significantly better than any other Arcane caster. :)

But ya, not giving Wizards some scrolls is not nice - they should at least get some!

[Shining Wrath]

You still knew 44 spells which is significantly better than any other Arcane caster. :)

But ya, not giving Wizards some scrolls is not nice - they should at least get some!

If you beat an enemy wizard, he ought to have a spell book.

A well hidden, thoroughly trapped spellbook written in a language other than Common, but there ought to be one.

[Kryx]

If you beat an enemy wizard, he ought to have a spell book.

A well hidden, thoroughly trapped spellbook written in a language other than Common, but there ought to be one.
100% agreed via fluff.

However it's pretty sucky to double your wizards spells known with 1 enemy. It feels like magic items of old - you had to be careful what you gave your monsters as the PCs would get it eventually. Same problem with wizards fighting wizards.

That said they should still get some, ya.

[Giant2005]

Blur is a pretty big winner - no other spell slot can potentially mitigate damage on your tank like Blue can. That one spell being active is enough incentive for your Cleric to quit storing spell slots for heals and join in on the killing.

[coredump]

100% agreed via fluff.

However it's pretty sucky to double your wizards spells known with 1 enemy. It feels like magic items of old - you had to be careful what you gave your monsters as the PCs would get it eventually. Same problem with wizards fighting wizards.

That said they should still get some, ya.

A lot of wizards tend to have the same spells, so while the first spellbook is a big help, the second and third aren't usually all that great.

[SharkForce]

100% agreed via fluff.

However it's pretty sucky to double your wizards spells known with 1 enemy. It feels like magic items of old - you had to be careful what you gave your monsters as the PCs would get it eventually. Same problem with wizards fighting wizards.

That said they should still get some, ya.

there's likely to be a lot of overlap. unless you deliberately avoid the "best" spells, you can expect the spellbooks you find to have a lot of the "best" spells that you're already picking. you're very unlikely to double your spells known from a second spellbook. you're extremely unlikely to triple your spells known from a third spellbook. the only exception to this sort of thing would be if you had a group with several wizards that each specifically choose to not overlap so that they can exchange spell knowledge.


Blur is a pretty big winner - no other spell slot can potentially mitigate damage on your tank like Blue can. That one spell being active is enough incentive for your Cleric to quit storing spell slots for heals and join in on the killing.

edit: iirc, blur is self-only. kind of a bummer if it is.

[Kryx]

An enemy caster is generally higher level meaning when you level you can choose spells to avoid doubling up.

I'd expect about 40% increase of spells from the first book with diminishing returns after.

[Sigreid]

100% agreed via fluff.

However it's pretty sucky to double your wizards spells known with 1 enemy. It feels like magic items of old - you had to be careful what you gave your monsters as the PCs would get it eventually. Same problem with wizards fighting wizards.

That said they should still get some, ya.

The rational thing would be to acknowledge that wizards know a lot of the same spells. Capture a book, maybe you get 1-2 new spells, maybe more. The more spells you have the more likely you are to already overlap the spells in the captured book.

[Kryx]

Capture a book, maybe you get 1-2 new spells, maybe more.
Lets assume you are level 6 and your party kills a 8th level wizard.

He knows 4 4th level, 4 3rd level, 4 2nd level, and 8 1st level.
You know 4 3rd level, 4 2nd level, and 8 1st level.

Automatically you learn 4 spells. Now if if we assume that you already know half of the 2nd & 3rd level spells the enemy wizard knows (bad assumption, but whatever) then you learn 4 more spells. First level spells are likely less than half as all Wizards have a gluttony of them. Maybe 3 are different.

In total you'd learn 4 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 11 spells from your first higher level wizard. You originally knew 12 spells. That's a 91% increase.

If you fight a caster around the same level it's 7 spells which is a 58% increase.

[Sigreid]

Lets assume you are level 6 and your party kills a 8th level wizard.

He knows 4 4th level, 4 3rd level, 4 2nd level, and 8 1st level.
You know 4 3rd level, 4 2nd level, and 8 1st level.

Automatically you learn 4 spells. Now if if we assume that you already know half of the 2nd & 3rd level spells the enemy wizard knows (bad assumption, but whatever) then you learn 4 more spells. First level spells are likely less than half as all Wizards have a gluttony of them. Maybe 3 are different.

In total you'd learn 4 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 11 spells from your first higher level wizard. You originally knew 12 spells. That's a 91% increase.

If you fight a caster around the same level it's 7 spells which is a 58% increase.

Reasonable statenents. I think several of us are merely pointing out that there is no need for a DM to give himself an ulcer over captured spellbooks.

[Shining Wrath]

Reasonable statenents. I think several of us are merely pointing out that there is no need for a DM to give himself an ulcer over captured spellbooks.

It's also possible that the traps go off, damage the spell book, and you only get 10% or 20% of it readable.

[Daishain]

It's also possible that the traps go off, damage the spell book, and you only get 10% or 20% of it readable.
Possible yes, but if it happens for a third time in a row the DM may have to start ducking thrown PHBs.

[Ralanr]

How about Bigbys hand? 26 str, 10 dex, 20 AC and it doesn't run off your casting mod.

Also wall of force. Because it's invincible.

[TrollCapAmerica]

Honestly this question should be asked for all casters lest people end up with garbage like Mordes sword

also question does Bigbys hand get its STR bonus to damage on its attacks?

[SharkForce]

Honestly this question should be asked for all casters lest people end up with garbage like Mordes sword

also question does Bigbys hand get its STR bonus to damage on its attacks?

the hand isn't proficient. if you want to grapple, I recommend you instead cast the spell "summon party member". you probably get someone who can make 2-4 attempts per round and probably has a better modifier.

what makes the hand amazing is that you can use it to just prevent someone from coming closer to you with no save, which is something that "summon party member" typically cannot do.

edit: just realized I answered the wrong question. in my head, you asked about grappling... which you didn't.

anyways, the hand should add its attribute to damage. but it still isn't really best used for attack, because the best thing it does is just tell an enemy "no, you're not coming any closer".