What is your Favorite Spells

[liquidformat]

So What is your favorite Spell of each level for Bard, Cleric, Druid, and Sorcerer/Wizard

Here's mine to start it off!
Bard: Summon Instrument, Hideous Laughter, Miser’s Envy, Glibness, Blinding Beauty, Cacophonic Burst, Otto’s Irresistible Dance

Cleric: Purify Food and Drink, Divine Favor, Divine Insight, Magic Vestment, Divine Power, Righteous Might, Heal, Holy Word/Blasphemy/Dictum/Word of Chaos, Visions of the Future, Miracle

Druid: Fire Eyes, Spider Hand, Blinding Spittle, Primal Instinct, Enhance Wild Shape, Call Avalanche, Fey Ring, Master Earth, Frostfell, Shambler

Sorcerer/Wizard: Prestidigitation, Mage Armor, Glitterdust, Major Image, Secure Shelter, Baleful Polymorph, Imbue Familiar with Spell Ability, Banishment, Mind Blank, Time Stop

[Vizzerdrix]

I won't go class by class, but I do have a few spells that I always ask if I can take. Animate animal, and summon natures minor ally are good flavor cantrips for necros and druids respectively, but come from 3rd party sources. Same with Death Blossoms (2nd lv), but I just love the visualization of someone sprouting killer flowers that turn into healing fruit.

In official, coral growth and minor servator are fun. I always try to make room for those. Same with steeldance, blockade, and splinterbolt.

[Particle_Man]

When I was very little I loved the "Finger of Death" spell in 1st ed AD&D. Just from the name, even. I point a finger at you and YOU DIE! :smallbiggrin:

Similarly, names like "Phantasmal Killer" and "Evard's Black Tentacles" just are fun to think about, although the spells are different in how the work in 3.5 than in 1st ed AD&D.

But even so, I had a *lot* of fun with a gnome that used illusions and then went hard on Phantasmal Killer (until someone rebounded it on him with a Helm of Telepathy . . . a fitting end I thought!).

So I guess Phantasmal Killer is my favourite spell. I know it is not the most powerful, since it has 2 saves and SR and people have all sorts of ways of becoming immune to illusions or death effects. But it is my favourite. :smallbiggrin:

[Scowlbear]

Mordenkainen's Buzzing Bee. It's utterly ridiculous and I love it. And it's surprisingly not terrible!

[Elkad]

I typically only play wizards as casters.
Spell loadout changes daily, so most levels I can't pick a favorite. I might go several days without memorizing Glitterdust or Polymorph or Fly.

But I'll never be without Blockade and Anticipate Teleportation. So just those two.

[Quertus]

Well, I don't know about all that "every level and every class" stuff, but my favorite spell is Animate Dead, and my second favorite is Mindrape. Prestidigitation may be third.

Beyond (or even including) that, I love every character being different. IIRC, Quertus, my signature academia mage for whom this account is named, has never cast either of my two favorites.

[Venger]

What a fun exercise. My choices are less on what the best spell at each level is. You've got handbooks for that and it's common knowledge anyway. Sometimes, there weren't a lot of options so I was boring and picked pao. Other than that, I tried to pick the most exciting or interesting spell at each level, especially ones that were class exclusive.

bard
1 inspirational boost
2 dark way
3 puppeteer
4 ruin delver's fortune
5 sonorous hum
6 otto's irresistible dance

cleric
1 ice slick
2 dispel fog
3 demon wings
4 death ward
5 bind to hell
6 create undead
7 resurrection
8 general of undeath
9 miracle

druid
1 faerie fire
2 master air
3 big sky
4 murderous mist
5 owl's insight
6 tortoise shell
7 storm tower
8 megalodon empowerment
9 anathema

sorcerer/wizard
1 dragon tail
2 crystalline memories
3 shivering touch
4 polymorph
5 circlet of enervation
6 disintegrate
7 kiss of the vampire
8 pao
9 laeral's crowning touch

[Miss Disaster]

sorcerer/wizard
1 dragon tail
2 crystalline memories
3 shivering touch
4 polymorph
5 circlet of enervation
6 disintegrate
7 kiss of the vampire
8 pao
9 laeral's crowning touch

I was recently reading this thread talking smack about Crystalline Memories here:

http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=13089.0

So now I'm curious Venger, what is it that you like about Crystalline Memories?

[Venger]

As that thread states, it's certainly not useful in a combat situation. I used it during my old campaign playing "eyes of the lich queen" when it came to questioning bad guys. It was useful when they were aware of something they didn't grasp the full significance of, like magical symbols, exposition, macguffins, etc. It's useful to be able to take that in a portable form and then compare it to the writings your party has at the base, to a drawing of some bad guy to see if it's the person in the memory, etc. After the crystal was removed, my guy would heal the henchperson with opportunistic piety to do a kind of good cop thing. It's probably mainly because of the association I have with the spell and the campaign. My guy cast it a lot. It also has a great illustration and thematically it's very distinctive versus an iconic useful spell like alter self or similar which is great but it doesn't look like anything.

[Miss Disaster]

As that thread states, it's certainly not useful in a combat situation. I used it during my old campaign playing "eyes of the lich queen" when it came to questioning bad guys. It was useful when they were aware of something they didn't grasp the full significance of, like magical symbols, exposition, macguffins, etc. It's useful to be able to take that in a portable form and then compare it to the writings your party has at the base, to a drawing of some bad guy to see if it's the person in the memory, etc. After the crystal was removed, my guy would heal the henchperson with opportunistic piety to do a kind of good cop thing. It's probably mainly because of the association I have with the spell and the campaign. My guy cast it a lot. It also has a great illustration and thematically it's very distinctive versus an iconic useful spell like alter self or similar which is great but it doesn't look like anything.
Interesting perspective. I'll experiment with the spell in my current campaign and take it for a spin.

[aglondier]

I play wizards fairly often, but seldom any other spellcasting class, so I'll just list those.
Prestidigitation...because it is literally your special effects budget. Light your pipe with your thumb, make your eyes glow, make your robes billow ominously, make smoke curl up from your mouth or nostrils, conjure tiny sugar candies for the kids, anything...
Animate Rope...combined with a whip, makes being Indiana Jones a lot easier...
Rope Trick...a safe campsite, a snipers nest, an anchored rope to scale a wall, a place to hide a bunch of rabbits and your lovely assistant...
Enter Image...like the queen, portraits of my glorious self are in every house, tavern and workplace...or else...
(Evard's) Black Tentacles...because all my foes are japanese schoolgirls, obviously...
Hungry Pit...what mage could resist opening the ground up beneath a foe, and slamming it shut on them...
Geas/Quest...because I really need my laundry done...
Mage's (Mordenkainen's) Magnificent Mansion...because keeping an actual tower is really expensive...
Polymorph Any Object...because lapis lazuli is not the most economic material to build a pyramid out of...
Tsunami...because Armykiller is a title of respect...