Favorite Level 1 Spells

[MarkVIIIMarc]

What are your favorite level 1 spells? To me these are the most important. You get tons of slots for them eventually, and most importantly you have them from session 1!

For me:

1. Healing Word, absolute pop-a-mole power gaming spell which may lose some relevance at ultra high levels where damage isn't your only concern but it has been great for me.

2. Dissonant Whispers, does some damage, gets your party to do more with opportunity attacks, might even get you out of melee.

3. Hellish Rebuke, I like combat spells too much I know. Nothing like doing some damage when it isn't even your turn. Plus you get to describe the fire and hatred in your eyes!

4 Chaos Bolt, just this side of too complicated but fun in the hands of an experience quick roller.

5. Disguise Self, let's go have some fun and start some trouble for anyone who looks remotely like you like another humanoid!

Honorable mention to at least a dozen others.


I think this is the list:

Absorb Elements
Alarm
Animal Friendship
Armor of Agathys
Arms of Hadar
Bane
Beast Bond
Bless
Burning Hands
Catapult
Cause Fear
Ceremony
Chaos Bolt
Charm Person
Chromatic Orb
Color Spray
Command
Compelled Duel
Comprehend Languages
Create or Destroy Water
Cure Wounds
Detect Evil and Good
Detect Magic
Detect Poison and Disease
Disguise Self
Dissonant Whispers
Divine Favor
Earth Tremor
Ensnaring Strike
Entangle
Expeditious Retreat
Faerie Fire
False Life
Feather Fall
Find Familiar
Fog Cloud
Goodberry
Grease
Guiding Bolt
Hail of Thorns
Healing Word
Hellish Rebuke
Heroism
Hex
Hunter’s Mark
Ice Knife
Identify
Illusory Script
Inflict Wounds
Jump
Longstrider
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Protection from Evil and Good
Purify Food and Drink
Ray of Sickness
Sanctuary
Searing Smite
Shield
Shield of Faith
Silent Image
Sleep
Snare
Speak with Animals
Tasha’s Hideous Laughter
Tenser’s Floating Disk
Thunderous Smite
Thunderwave
Unseen Servant
Witch Bolt
Wrathful Smite
Zephyr Strike

[Man_Over_Game]

Level is important. Sleep will basically win you every fight you encounter until level 4 or so, and then you'll probably never use it again.

Featherfall is a staple. No other level 1 spell is going to save the entire party, and be the only spell able to do so. What else in the entire list of spells is going to save you from something Featherfall would?

Find Familiar, for obvious reasons.

The sleeper in the list is Catapult. Solid damage, travels in a straight line until it hits something, so you might get multiple chances to hit something, has non-combat uses, and it only deals slightly less damage than the best single target level 1 spell (Chromatic Orb). I've always liked the idea of Holding Catapult until an enemy throws a Javelin, and then throwing it back at him. If no projectile comes, then you just launch something that you were going to throw anyway (like a rock).

Speak With Animals has a lot of utility that I think a lot of people miss.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Level is important. Sleep will basically win you every fight you encounter until level 4 or so, and then you'll probably never use it again.

Featherfall is a staple. No other level 1 spell is going to save the entire party, and be the only spell able to do so. What else in the entire list of spells is going to save you from something Featherfall would?

Find Familiar, for obvious reasons.

The sleeper in the list is Catapult. Solid damage, travels in a straight line until it hits something, so you might get multiple chances to hit something, has non-combat uses, and it only deals slightly less damage than the best single target level 1 spell (Chromatic Orb). I've always liked the idea of Holding Catapult until an enemy throws a Javelin, and then throwing it back at him. If no projectile comes, then you just launch something that you were going to throw anyway (like a rock).

Speak With Animals has a lot of utility that I think a lot of people miss.


Creative, I like it.

Only one player in a group I play in or DM has used Speak With Animals. It really solved a mystery.

[JakOfAllTirades]

Hex is my favorite for being useful in and out of combat, and for its "hidden" damage scaling. As written, it never does more than +1d6 per attack, but for most characters who use it, the extra damage rises with level as they gain more attacks, so it eventually goes up to +4d6*. This works for any attack roll: melee, ranged, or spell attacks. And its rider can disadvantage any ability score, so it has six different options to choose from. Not many 1st level spells have this kind of versatility.

*Eldritch Knights with Hex max out at +8d6 with Action Surge. So do Sorcerers w/Quickened Eldritch Blast.

[zinycor]

I love Tasha's Hideous laughter, it can affect so many kinds of creatures, and inflicts an amazing debuff

Find familiar is something every player on my table want and usually get some way to get it regardless of the class they have... They don't really use them that much, but having a magical pet is always nice I guess xD

Bless and Healing word are just very good spells and I like them a lot.

[dragoeniex]

The sleeper in the list is Catapult. Solid damage, travels in a straight line until it hits something, so you might get multiple chances to hit something, has non-combat uses, and it only deals slightly less damage than the best single target level 1 spell (Chromatic Orb). I've always liked the idea of Holding Catapult until an enemy throws a Javelin, and then throwing it back at him. If no projectile comes, then you just launch something that you were going to throw anyway (like a rock).

Seconding this as a lovely spell. Since you can target items within a 60 ft range, you can do fun things like point at the family heirloom some goblins are guarding and toss it back over everyone's heads for the fighter to catch. Or make a stone from nine bushes over lob itself at a guard so they run toward that while you skulk away.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Seconding this as a lovely spell. Since you can target items within a 60 ft range, you can do fun things like point at the family heirloom some goblins are guarding and toss it back over everyone's heads for the fighter to catch. Or make a stone from nine bushes over lob itself at a guard so they run toward that while you skulk away.

That is very interesting. I'm learning something. By 3rd level you'll be tossing 15lb objects and doing 5d8 of damage on a failed save.

If it looses to Shatter or Thunderwave on AOE and save for 1/2 vs no damage, it gains with crazy Mage Hand shenanigans. I never thought of the creative use before.

[MrStabby]

My favourites are probably wrathful smite and dissonant whispers. Not just for power but because they are interesting.

I think that control of movement is really important, especially were melee combatants are common. Hitting someone with a pike attack and wrathful smite then positioning yourself so the melee enemy (which generally don't have wisdom as their strongest save) has to move towards you to reach any of the team can just waste their entire turn. Plus of course it takes a skill check with disadvantage to shrug it off.

Dissonant whispers is similar. Take an enemy and make them run away, potentially triggering a load of opportunity attacks. As long as your team sidles away from them just slightly then they cant make it back and attack you next turn either.

I will also add entangle (great spell and really powerful at low levels), fairy fire (awesome level 1 spell, stays relevant for a long time) and ceremony (great RP addition to a character - especially on a character that can swap in in and out).

[Renduaz]

Charm Person - A level 1 save-or-suck for any humanoid, and scales to higher levels. To say that it is not a bad deal would be an understatement. Charm Monster and Polymorph are really the only ones which next become available that can match the potential for long-term neutralization.

Find Familiar - Don't get me started.

Detect Magic - If your campaign difficulty ( By which I mean design, intelligence, puzzles, traps, everything, not even just combat CR's ) is above medium, not having that in your party is pretty much a death verdict.

Identify - For obvious reasons.

Disguise Self - aside from all that is self-evident, non-concentration spells with durable effects are all carrying a sign which says "Swipe right, I'm low maintenance"

Longstrider - Same as the above, but gets Juicy when combined with Haste. Not to mention class abilities that increase speed, or the Mobile feat... it gets pretty juicy.

Mage Armor - A wizard's best friend, though useless if you MC with heavy or even medium armor

Magic Missile - So I've heard you have 50AC and resistance to every type of damage except that one that almost no creature does. That's a funny coincidence, I had a little something prepared.

Sanctuary - The poor man's Blink

Shield - "For the next round, I'm Neo" + low maintenance

Shield of Faith - Poor man's Haste for AC

Tenser's Floating Disk - You know how many things that disk can do? You can even elaborately break the spell stipulations and fly, though a lot of people don't realize it's still possible. Also, Ritual, AKA the "No maintenance" spell category.

Unseen Servant - Ritual. Infinite possibilities and non-attack action shenanigans. Can have several at once. Why would you even play a Bard, Warlock or Wizard if not to be a massive diva? Your party deserves to groan while the DM narrates your pampered decadence.