Cantrip help

[HamsterKun]

One of my newbie players wanted to know which cantrips he should give to his Wizard. Does anybody here have any advice for me to give to him?

[Man_Over_Game]

One of my newbie players wanted to know which cantrips he should give to his Wizard. Does anybody here have any advice for me to give to him?

Pick one ranged damage cantrip (Firebolt, probably), pick one melee cantrip for running away (Shocking Grasp), and spend the rest of your options on non-combat uses, like Minor Illusion.

Cantrips should only be used when a leveled spell shouldn't. With that in mind, you don't need many Cantrips to deal damage. It doesn't matter if you have 5 different guns if you can only use one at a time.

[heavyfuel]

Honestly, tell him to pick whatever he fancies. It doesn't really matter

Prestidigitation is always nice, though.

[Segev]

Pick one ranged damage cantrip (Firebolt, probably), pick one melee cantrip for running away (Shocking Grasp), and spend the rest of your options on non-combat uses, like Minor Illusion.

Cantrips should only be used when a leveled spell shouldn't. With that in mind, you don't need many Cantrips to deal damage. It doesn't matter if you have 5 different guns if you can only use one at a time.

As a first level wizard, playing for the first time, I suggest firebolt, prestidigitation, and minor illusion. Maybe acid splash instead of firebolt, if he prefers hitting two creatures rather than 1, and doesn't mind a little bit of damage trade-off.

This will give him toys to feel like he's doing magic whenever he wants to, in reasonably wide variety.

[Vogie]

As a first level wizard, playing for the first time, I suggest firebolt, prestidigitation, and minor illusion.

These three are what I'd suggest. Lots of potential utility, and a solid damage cantrip. The problem with giving new players Shocking Grasp at level one is that they look at it, and say "I'm gonna wade into combat now!" and... die. Once they have a couple levels under their belt, and have an understanding of attacks of opportunity, then suggest they pick up the Taser.

Acid splash seems better on paper than it actually is.

[Dalebert]

Acid splash seems better on paper than it actually is.

It's nice having a save-based option for high ACs but they can wait. It's not that important in early levels. And then I'd grab Toll the Dead over Acid Splash if it's an option. About Splash feels wasted if you don't have two adjacent enemies which is rare.

[JumboWheat01]

I'm always a fan of having the "I'm this class!" cantrip, and Prestidigitation can be nice to have, if nothing more than flavoring trail rations, lighting the campfire at night for the long rest, and just acting like a magician.

As others have said, a ranged cantrip and one that can be used in melee is nice to have. I favor cantrips like Ray of Frost or Chill Touch, things with riders rather than straight-up damage, it gives you a little more for your action than just blasting.

Also, Light is nice to have. If you have one person without Darkvision, they will love you for having light around. Also, Darkvision doesn't get rid of the disadvantage on perception checks unless it's upgrading from low-light. Also, I can't imagine reading being all that easy without a light source, and if there's one class that reads, it's Wizards.

That's four right there, and non-Illusionists only have 5 by default, so the last one is a pretty free choice. I'm rather partial to Mending or Message, not all that useful all the time, but fun little cantrips to have as needed.

In short, as long as they don't snag Bladeward and True Strike, they're probably fine. A wizard's main power comes from their spell slots and ritual spell ability.

[Chronos]

You definitely want one damage cantrip, so you're not useless in combat when you're out of spells, or in a combat where it's not worth using up slots. You might want two, for enemies that are immune to one of the damage types. But don't take more than two: If a monster is immune to both of (say) fire and necrotic, then it's probably something that you want to bring out the big guns for.

For utility cantrips, Minor Illusion and Mage Hand are my favorites. Prestidigitation is good if you don't know what you want, because it gives you a little of everything. If splatbooks are available, then Move Earth and Shape Water are both quite handy (dig fortifications near-instantly, or shape water into whatever you want and then freeze it).

[Man_Over_Game]

You definitely want one damage cantrip, so you're not useless in combat when you're out of spells, or in a combat where it's not worth using up slots. You might want two, for enemies that are immune to one of the damage types. But don't take more than two: If a monster is immune to both of (say) fire and necrotic, then it's probably something that you want to bring out the big guns for.

For utility cantrips, Minor Illusion and Mage Hand are my favorites. Prestidigitation is good if you don't know what you want, because it gives you a little of everything. If splatbooks are available, then Move Earth and Shape Water are both quite handy (dig fortifications near-instantly, or shape water into whatever you want and then freeze it).

I personally like combining Prestidigitation with Shape Water to make snow cones.

You can also have Minor Illusion make smells or sounds. Disguise yourself and add a scent to flesh out the concept. Use Minor illusion for a ventriloquism effect, or have it make a basic drum rhythm for some phat beats.

[Tallytrev813]

I always take Minor Illusion - almost always.

Thats 1

Many take Prestidigitation

Take 1 damaging cantrip, Firebolt is a common one.

[Man_Over_Game]

Kind of an odd subject, but pay attention to how busy your DM is. If he's a hard working dad who scraps together a session every week, he won't have the same amount of time as other DMs to put together a large battle map every session, or one that regularly uses long ranges.

The reason I bring this up is that Firebolt's primary advantage is the 120 feet range. Many DMs don't have encounters that span 100 feet across, so its additional range is rarely valuable. However, Ray of Frost has half the range, deals just 1 damage less, and has an amazing utility effect (lowers speed by 10), which is great as a backup. Chill Touch also has a lot of great utility for dealing with undead.

So consider that when you're choosing your cantrips.

Also, a note to DMs, please don't forget about long ranges. Even if it means simplifying the combat to: "After your harassing shots for the last 30 seconds, they've found some cover behind a hill, and don't seem to be moving", leading the party to have a minor damage advantage.

[HamsterKun]

I gave him your advice, and he chose Prestidigitation, Light, and Mage Hand. No offensive cantrip, but he’s only Lv1, so he can get Fire Bolt or something later.

[Man_Over_Game]

I gave him your advice, and he chose Prestidigitation, Light, and Mage Hand. No offensive cantrip, but he’s only Lv1, so he can get Fire Bolt or something later.

I'll be honest...that was a terrible choice in hindsight.

You are more likely to be dependent on your cantrips at lower levels than you are at higher levels. At level 5, you have almost 10 spell slots at your disposal, enough to last the majority of the day. At level 1, you have 2, which is...about one fight?

Unless he's really sentimental about the ol' days when you had to pack a crossbow as a wizard for those instances when you were useless.

[Tallytrev813]

I gave him your advice, and he chose Prestidigitation, Light, and Mage Hand. No offensive cantrip, but he’s only Lv1, so he can get Fire Bolt or something later.

He's going to want to ditch one for something that does damage.

Cantrips you can cast indefinatly

His spells require slots, and at level 1 most of all, hell run out quick.

I'd strongly recommend some kind of damaging cantrip.

[Tallytrev813]

Kind of an odd subject, but pay attention to how busy your DM is. If he's a hard working dad who scraps together a session every week, he won't have the same amount of time as other DMs to put together a large battle map every session, or one that regularly uses long ranges.

The reason I bring this up is that Firebolt's primary advantage is the 120 feet range. Many DMs don't have encounters that span 100 feet across, so its additional range is rarely valuable. However, Ray of Frost has half the range, deals just 1 damage less, and has an amazing utility effect (lowers speed by 10), which is great as a backup. Chill Touch also has a lot of great utility for dealing with undead.

So consider that when you're choosing your cantrips.

Also, a note to DMs, please don't forget about long ranges. Even if it means simplifying the combat to: "After your harassing shots for the last 30 seconds, they've found some cover behind a hill, and don't seem to be moving", leading the party to have a minor damage advantage.

I always got a surprising amount of use out of firebolt's ability to ignite.
Whether it's "I shoot the rope attaching the bridge to the other side" or "I firebolt the barrel of gunpowder" or I set the boxes he's hiding behind on fire with firebolt

That creative option has always come up quite often for me

[HamsterKun]

He's going to want to ditch one for something that does damage.

Cantrips you can cast indefinatly

His spells require slots, and at level 1 most of all, hell run out quick.

I'd strongly recommend some kind of damaging cantrip.

Maybe replace Light with Fire Bolt then. I’ll allow it.

[Contrast]

I too would strongly recommend a ranged damage cantrip of some sort.

While a source of light is useful if you don't have darkvision I'd point out a hooded lantern is 5g and as a wizard he's probably got a hand free to carry one.

Depending how his dex is he could always just use a light crossbow or something of course for similar effect at levels 1-4 so it isn't that big a deal.

My suggestion would be to flag it up, let him stick with it if he wants to but let him know if he wants to rebuild to let you know.

[Great Dragon]

Personally, I'd drop Prestidigitation.
For his choice of one of the damage types.

Light and Mage Hand can see lots of use.

[Bobthewizard]

I gave him your advice, and he chose Prestidigitation, Light, and Mage Hand. No offensive cantrip, but he’s only Lv1, so he can get Fire Bolt or something later.

I'm ok with this choice. Since you don't add a stat bonus to the damage of a cantrip but you do to a crossbow attack, I usually use a crossbow until the cantrip damage increases at level 5. Firebolt does d10 while a light crossbow does d8 +2-3. You can get away without a damage cantrip until level 4.

[JumboWheat01]

Could also go for a Wizard that doesn't rely on HP damage, instead focuses more on hard control, utility and support. Isn't always about the damage, after all, and if he wants to go with non-damage cantrips, cool idea.

[OverLordOcelot]

Pick one ranged damage cantrip (Firebolt, probably), pick one melee cantrip for running away (Shocking Grasp), and spend the rest of your options on non-combat uses, like Minor Illusion.

Never been a big fan of taking shocking grasp for this this and wouldn't recommend it to a new player. If you're in melee with an enemy, to get away with shocking grasp you have to hit the enemy, if not you take an op attack. If you're in melee with more than one enemy or there are others along your path, you're going to have to eat at least one op attack. Disengage, which everyone has, is what you should usually use for running away, as it doesn't have the failure chance that shocking grasp does and works on all enemies (including invisible enemies you didn't know about). Shocking grasp isn't a useless cantrip, but it's not the general 'running away' solution people often try to use it as.

[Chronos]

Chill Touch's extra effect against undead isn't nearly as effective as it's sometimes made out to be: It's only for attacks they make against you, so they can just hit someone else instead. And undead are more likely than other types to be resistant or immune to necrotic damage. The real benefit of Chill Touch is that relatively few creatures overall resist it, and (at least in the PHB) it's the only cantrip wizards get that's one of the unusual damage types.