What are the Best 1st lvl spells for Magic Initiate?

[Edgerunner]

In addition, choose one 1st-level spell from that same
list. You learn that spell and can cast it at its lowest
level. Once you cast it, you must finish a long rest before
you can cast it again.
As per the PHB

Seeing as the 1st lvl spells from Magic Initiate don't scale..... what are the best spell choices for each of the available choices?

[JellyPooga]

Shield, Feather Fall, Protection from E/G and Hex are all spells I'd consider a solid choice.

[MaxWilson]

In addition, choose one 1st-level spell from that same
list. You learn that spell and can cast it at its lowest
level. Once you cast it, you must finish a long rest before
you can cast it again.
As per the PHB

Seeing as the 1st lvl spells from Magic Initiate don't scale..... what are the best spell choices for each of the available choices?

Seeing as how you only get one casting per day, they're all pretty bad. Shield and Hex would be good if not for that limitation. Absorb Elements is probably the "best" combat option with the way the feat works by RAW: taking 46 damage instead of 92 from the red dragon might save your life someday. Edit: JellyPooga is right about Feather Fall, that comes in the same category as Absorb Elements.

Of course, that's entirely dependent on how deadly your campaign world is. In a world where Red Dragons never attack 4th level characters and monsters never try to push PCs off 600' cliffs, taking a defensive "might save my life someday" feat is pretty worthless since your life was never in danger anyway.

So in less deadly campaigns, I would nominate Unseen Servant as a spell that would be cool to have in real life. "Hey, Invisible Butler! Do the dishes, would you?" The problem there is that Ritual Magic (Wizards) gets you all that Unseen Servant goodness and a bag of chips besides, so Magic Initiative is still dominated except for the bonus cantrips.

And those cantrips are really the only reason besides Hex that you'd ever want to take Magic Initiative. A high-level Champion fighter might actually get pretty good mileage out of Magic Initiate for Longstrider, Thunderclap, and Minor Illusion.

[Edgerunner]

Shield, Feather Fall, Protection from E/G and Hex are all spells I'd consider a solid choice.

All of those are excellent choices.

But what if you chose the class for the 2 cantrips and all the first lvl spells are pretty vanilla?

Just wondering if anyone has rated the best Non-Scaling first lvl spells from each class.

I know which class I want from Magic Initiate but don't want to flavor the thread by limiting it to one class.

[Human Paragon 3]

Find Familiar is a good choice. You don't need to cast it more than once.

[Saint Martin]

I personally made an Eldritch Knight character with the Magic Initiate feat, and I chose Thunderwave. I don't know what role you are hoping to play, but Thunderwave is a good area of effect offensive spell that can take out multiple enemies at once. I took out 7 enemies at level 1 using this spell. Just make sure your fellow party members are out of range. Unless you don't care and want to be that guy. Entirely up to you. It can bring extra laughs if you're in a particularly trolling mood.

[eastmabl]

Find Familiar is a good choice. You don't need to cast it more than once.

At least until your familiar dies - although if you're going through multiple familiars a day, you might want to consider more judicious uses of your familiar.

What I've always thought was a decent use of Magic Initiate was Spare the Dying, Sacred Flame and Healing Word. You get a cantrip that you can use in and out of melee and turn yourself into a back pocket healer. I'm sure that's non-optimal, but so is watching your healer die.

[Kane0]

Dont forget bless

[JellyPooga]

But what if you chose the class for the 2 cantrips and all the first lvl spells are pretty vanilla?

The 2 Cantrips are really the meat of that Feat, the 1st level spell 1/day is just dressing.

From what you said, I'm assuming you've chosen either Sorcerer (because you wanted some Wizard Cantrips based on Charisma instead of Intelligence) or Druid (which has some tasty Cantrips, but the 1st level selection is a bit poor for a 1/day gig). Out of those two, I'm hedging on Druid (largely because none of the spells I suggested are on its list)? At a guess, you've gone for Shillelagh and either Thorn Whip, Produce Flame or Druidcraft.

- Create/Destroy Water or Goodberry are spells you'll use every day in certain conditions (e.g. a desert or if stuck in another waterless/foodless environment, like a particularly barren dungeon for an extended period).
- Cure Wounds or Healing Word are spells you'll get a lot of use out of.
- Fog Cloud is a nice hidey-spell that doesn't require Wisdom to be effective.
- Jump and Longstrider might get you out of a spot of trouble, but the former is probably situational at best.
- Entangle and Faerie Fire are both solid debuffs.

Really, take whatever tickles your fancy. Whatever you choose, it'll be handy when it comes up. On the flipside, whatever you choose won't change your game much because it's only a 1/day.

[Santra]

I have always been a fan of grabbing goodberry if you choose druid. 10hp worth of healing and no worry of starvation for you and your party.

[MeeposFire]

For most characters it is probably best to choose what cantrips you want so you can choose the class optoin that fits. Then you choose a 1st level spell from that class. With this in mind it would probably be best to list a number of spells from each class.

For instance feather fall is great but what if you wanted guidance and the like? Feather fall is no longer an option so then we get spells like healing word. That may not ever be a heavy healing spell but remember it does bring somebody up from being at 0 HP which is great action economy for most characters since it only uses a bonus action.

[NNescio]

... So in less deadly campaigns, I would nominate Unseen Servant as a spell that would be cool to have in real life. "Hey, Invisible Butler! Do the dishes, would you?" The problem there is that Ritual Magic (Wizards) gets you all that Unseen Servant goodness and a bag of chips besides, so Magic Initiative is still dominated except for the bonus cantrips. ...


Find Familiar is a good choice. You don't need to cast it more than once.

I wouldn't pick any Ritual spells with Magic Initiate, since those can also be gotten via Ritual Caster (granted, you can only cast them as rituals, but you generally don't need to cast most ritual spells immediately anyway. Plus you get to spam.)

Generally, you can't go wrong with Shield (on the off chance it might save your life one day). Featherfall is invaluable if you have access to flight (like, say, by being a Druid, or anybody picking the Aarakocra race) without other methods to mitigate fall damage if you flight gets turned off. Resist Elements is a bit more niche, but it can potentially shave off a lot of damage (and you get to pick after damage is rolled).

If you picked Warlock spells (but EB, maybe), then Hex is tasty, while if you picked Cleric, you can't go wrong with Bless.

If you don't wear armor (and don't rely on Unarmored Defense), or if you're a Moon Druid who can't wear armor while wildshaped, then Mage Armor becomes invaluable. Note that the cantrips are also tasty options for Druids who generally have sucky cantrips.

If you picked Druid spells, then well... Healing Word or Goodberry, I guess. Druid cantrips kinda suck anyway for that matter (only reason to pick it is for a non-Nature Cleric who wants Shillelagh).

[ghost_warlock]

If you picked Druid spells, then well... Healing Word or Goodberry, I guess. Druid cantrips kinda suck anyway for that matter (only reason to pick it is for a non-Nature Cleric who wants Shillelagh).

Guidance is also on the druid list, as is Magic Stone. Used them both to good measure on a monk recently.

[Edgerunner]

Some great choices there.

I am looking at Vicious Mockery. Not a great cantrip but the 1d4 psychic damage and have disadvantage on the next attack roll could be very useful in boss fights. The only place you can get it however is the Bard class and all of their 1st lvl spells are pretty lackluster to my eyes.
There really isn't anything there That screams 'Take Me!'.

Faerie Fire looks good and it doesn't need to scale.
Healing Touch may come in handy.
Anything else in the Bard's list that would be worth taking?

[Maxilian]

Well... right now Magic Initiate is my favorite feat, but as most have pointed out, its good mainly thanks to the 2 extra cantrips.

But good options:

-Goodberry, those are 10 berries that you will use every day, its helps a lot (don't need to waste money on rations anymore, or at least less), also... its really good to use on other players that have been knocked out.

-Faery Fire, a really good debuff, its kind of sad that you can't use it more often but its always helpful

-Find Familiar, familiars per se... bring a lot of options but have something in mind, you have only 1 cast per day (so... if you want it to be useful you need it alive, protect it)

-Cure wounds and Healing word is good, mainly on non-casters to have some way to recover also its pretty nice to know, that there's someone else with a emergency heal (its would be like a potion! -Healing word is not that good in this case, but its a bonus action)

[Inevitability]

If you have lots of low level spell slots because of another spellcasting class, Shield, Goodberry (especially on life clerics) or Absorb Elements.

If you can only cast the spell once per day, Find Familiar (at low levels) or Identify (at high levels if no one else can cast it).

[Alikat]

I like mage armor on dex fighters with this feat. Only an 8 hour duration, but I've yet to see that be an issue. Just cast it before the first combat of the day.

Edit: Just reread the description on mage armor and unarmored defense. Do these stack?? I see no reason they wouldn't.

[hymer]

Edit: Just reread the description on mage armor and unarmored defense. Do these stack?? I see no reason they wouldn't.

They don't. They each give you a way to calculate your AC, not bonuses to your AC.

[JNAProductions]

They do not stack. You pick one formula or the other.

Edit: Shadow monk'd.

[Gizmogidget]

If I were to choose bard as the class I take spells from dissonant whispers could be nice because it forces the enemy to run away similar to a fear spell and could be nice for AoO's. Though hex is nice because it has an hour long duration, with concentration, a nice debuff effect as well. I used this to do insane amounts of damage with a sorcerer 5/Warlock 2.

In order of my favorite.
Hex
Dissonant Whispers
Armor of Agathys
Anything else mentioned by other posters.

[MeeposFire]

If I were to choose bard as the class I take spells from dissonant whispers could be nice because it forces the enemy to run away similar to a fear spell and could be nice for AoO's. Though hex is nice because it has an hour long duration, with concentration, a nice debuff effect as well. I used this to do insane amounts of damage with a sorcerer 5/Warlock 2.

In order of my favorite.
Hex
Dissonant Whispers
Armor of Agathys
Anything else mentioned by other posters.

Combo whispers with booming blade as a group. Booming blade deals additional damage if the target moves away.