If you had to pick 3 wizard spells 1st-3rd...

[anthon]

If you only had 3 wizard spells to choose from,
for the rest of your life/career

and they all had to be below 4th level,

What spells would you choose?

[Wizard_Lizard]

Well.. prestidigitation is a must have, find familiar and feather fall would be the second and third, they aren't the flashiest.. but oh well

[nickl_2000]

In game or in real life?

[8wGremlin]

Assumptions: Real World.

Unseen Servant - 1st level ritual, so can be cast more often, get 1 hour of house cleaning, laundry, done with 10 minute ritual. If you spent 1 hour doing rituals you'd get 6 hours of work done!

Find Familiar - 1st level - excellent smuggling, helper, drone, spy, helper, companion

Tiny Servants - 3rd level, make tiny servant that works for 8 hours.

or may be swap out find familiar for

Suggestion - 2nd level, making a'holes do the right thing.

[KorvinStarmast]

Assumptions: Real World.

Unseen Servant - 1st level ritual, so can be cast more often, get 1 hour of house cleaning, laundry, done with 10 minute ritual. If you spent 1 hour doing rituals you'd get 6 hours of work done!

Find Familiar - 1st level - excellent smuggling, helper, drone, spy, helper, companion

Tiny Servants - 3rd level, make tiny servant that works for 8 hours.

or may be swap out find familiar for

Suggestion - 2nd level, making a'holes do the right thing. That's four. :smallsmile: Which one are you going to get rid of?

Assumptions: Game

1st Level: Fog Cloud and Find Familiar are the finalists and I'll go with Find Familiar. (Very Close Call).
2d Level: finalists are Lesser Restoration or Shatter: Shatter. (you want to clear a room? Shatter)
3d Level: Counterspell (There is something really satisfying about icing that person across the room who is about to lay some magical mischief down ... )

[Catullus64]

Assumption: Game, No Cantrips, Spell slots of a 6th-level Wizard.

Feather Fall, Phantasmal Force, Tongues

Just my favorites, gameplay-wise.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

IRL:
Animate Dead - tireless free labor.
Invisibility - obvious reasons.
Silent Image - obvious reasons.

D&D, assuming we still get spell slots of higher levels:
Magic Missile - ol' reliable.
Suggestion - great for both out of combat and crowd control.
Fireball - ol' reliable.

[Jerrykhor]

I'd pick Fireball 3 times. Any other answer is wrong, you can't convince me otherwise.

[Kane0]

I'd pick Fireball 3 times. Any other answer is wrong, you can't convince me otherwise.

Just fireball.

Edit: but probably also flight and invisibility.

[Ogre Mage]

Real life:

Find Familiar
Invisibility
Fly


D&D:

Find Familiar
Invisibility
Fireball

[diplomancer]

Game:
Find Familiar, Misty Step, Hypnotic Pattern

Real life:
Unseen Servant, Invisibility, Tongues

[kingcheesepants]

Real life: Prestidigitation (flavor any food to perfection), Unseen Servant, Tongues (be able to translate any language perfectly, yes please).
D&D: Find Familiar, Suggestion (would probably replace tongues on my real world list but I have a hard time justifying even this level of mind control as anywhere near acceptable for real life), Fireball

[nickl_2000]

These are all assuming that cantrips are not available.

Game:
Shield - Protection good
Web - Crowd control, but it isn't deadly
Scorching Ray - Good damage that can be used in almost all situations


Real Life:
Unseen Servant - Takes care of my house, cooking, etc
Clairvoyance - All you have to do is visit somewhere once and you can see and hear everything that goes on in there.
Alter Self - Look different, be able to breath under water, can have natural weapons for protection


For the people who are saying Find Familiar in real life, what is the situation where you would use that? I get why they are amazing in the D&D world, but how often would it be useful to have a rat scouting for you? Or an owl peeking in a window?



Assumptions: Real World.

Suggestion - 2nd level, making a'holes do the right thing.

I don't know, would doing the right thing be considered a reasonable course of action for an a'hole?

[jojosskul]

Assuming Real World:

1st Level - Comprehend Languages - Being able to both understand AND read any language as a ritual is amazing. Due to the reading factor I like it better than Tongues. Sure I can't speak it, but could manage to get by if I understand what the other person is saying.

2nd Level - Augury - Help with at least one major decision a day. More if you're feeling lucky.

3rd Level - Speak With Dead - I'd set myself up like that guy from Pushing Daisies. Apparently combined with comprehend languages and augury I secretly want to be a detective without having to put in too much work.

[KorvinStarmast]

2nd Level - Augury - Help with at least one major decision a day. More if you're feeling lucky. Vegas, here I come. :smallcool:

[Bobthewizard]

Real world - Detect thoughts and Suggestion (to get what I want), Fly (just for fun)

In game - Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Web, Fireball

[Wizard_Lizard]

Yeah.. levitate also seems like a good option too. But still calling feather fall over that and fly for IRL.

[Thrasher92]

Lesser Restoration - I could cure ANY disease, paralysis, blindness, and deafness. This alone would be an incredible gift to humanity.

Cure Wounds/Prayer of Healing - I'm not sure how this would work in the real world but I'd love to be able to help others survive deadly wounds, sure it wouldn't be regeneration but I'm sure it would help some how.

Sanctuary - An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If I could prevent anyone from getting hurt in the first place, that would be ideal.

[kingcheesepants]

Lesser Restoration - I could cure ANY disease, paralysis, blindness, and deafness. This alone would be an incredible gift to humanity.

Cure Wounds/Prayer of Healing - I'm not sure how this would work in the real world but I'd love to be able to help others survive deadly wounds, sure it wouldn't be regeneration but I'm sure it would help some how.

Sanctuary - An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If I could prevent anyone from getting hurt in the first place, that would be ideal.

Those aren't Wizard spells. I guess you could get them as like racial spells or from a feat or whatever and then cast them even if you're a wizard, but that doesn't make them wizard spells.

[Bobthewizard]

Lesser Restoration - I could cure ANY disease, paralysis, blindness, and deafness. This alone would be an incredible gift to humanity.

Cure Wounds/Prayer of Healing - I'm not sure how this would work in the real world but I'd love to be able to help others survive deadly wounds, sure it wouldn't be regeneration but I'm sure it would help some how.

Sanctuary - An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If I could prevent anyone from getting hurt in the first place, that would be ideal.

Aww. You are such a better person than me. I mean that sincerely. I'm not making fun of you.

Me: "I want to fly and make people give me anything I want."

You: "I want to help people."

[Doug Lampert]

Aww. You are such a better person than me. I mean that sincerely. I'm not making fun of you.

Me: "I want to fly and make people give me anything I want."

You: "I want to help people."

The nice thing about a capitalist system is that if you can help people, they will often pay you, lots and lots of money, to help them.

And you don't need to worry about money laundering or the mob coming after you.

[noob]

Aww. You are such a better person than me. I mean that sincerely. I'm not making fun of you.

Me: "I want to fly and make people give me anything I want."

You: "I want to help people."

A thing to know is that never being sick for long is cool too.

[Thrasher92]

Those aren't Wizard spells. I guess you could get them as like racial spells or from a feat or whatever and then cast them even if you're a wizard, but that doesn't make them wizard spells.

You're right, I totally missed the whole "Wizard" part of it. I was reading through all of the replies and got thinking on just what spells I'd want, not what Wizard spells. I typically prefer more of a support role whenever I play.

[Nagog]

In real life:

Fly, Fire Bolt, and Invisibility.

In game?

Probably the same. If I'm a regular schmuck with only 3 spells known, that's what I'd want: utility, damage, and stealth/defense.

[noob]

In real life:

Fly, Fire Bolt, and Invisibility.

In game?

Probably the same. If I'm a regular schmuck with only 3 spells known, that's what I'd want: utility, damage, and stealth/defense.

Do you have gun control laws where you live?
Firebolt is a bit more hurtful than an old gun(dnd 3.5 gun rules mentioned a musket as dealing 1d10 so you go up to 1d12 which is a significant improvement) but is otherwise of a similar power(touch attack and other rules like that) and if you compare it to a modern gun it probably matches.
So if you have not very strict gun control laws you might prefer to use a gun and pick another cool cantrip or level 1 spell(like shield because it probably helps a lot in a gun fight).
If you have strict gun control laws where you are then firebolt is very valuable all of a sudden because it is a way to have a good self defence weapon where you would otherwise not have one.

[Guy Lombard-O]

Real world?

Fly, Lesser Restoration (Oops, edited to Alter Self), and Suggestion.


Real world - Detect thoughts and Suggestion (to get what I want), Fly (just for fun)

In game - Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Web, Fireball

Detect Thought and Suggestion? But why...?!? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W0EO6C2sFg

[Jon talks a lot]

You can't carry a gun everywhere, but you will always have firebolt.

[nickl_2000]

I also feel like there are a lot of people who get into fights a lot more than I do. I have literally never run into a situation in my life where I have needed to use an offensive cantrip/spell.

[noob]

I also feel like there are a lot of people who get into fights a lot more than I do. I have literally never run into a situation in my life where I have needed to use an offensive cantrip.

I too never had a situation warranting the use of a weapon.

[Bobthewizard]

Detect Thought and Suggestion? But why...?!? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W0EO6C2sFg

Detect thoughts would be better in a room of people. Suggestion only works on one, but you can scan 10 people's thoughts with detect thoughts. Sometimes in D&D I like to scan the room and see what people are thinking. And it's more subtle than "Tell me what you are thinking." But you are right you probably don't need both. Lesser restoration would be amazing if it were on the wizard spell list.

[verbatim]

IRL:
1. Jump would be pretty funny
2. Alter Self: looking like whatever you want for an hour sounds amazing for lots of real world scenarios
3. Sending would be interesting since you have a 95% chance of contacting other planes. It would be an interesting way to test for an Afterlife in the real world.

[The_Jette]

IRL:

1: Comprehend Languages; I might not be able to speak it. But, being able to understand any language is so useful that it's not even a question.
2: Knock; never have to worry about forgetting my keys, again!
3: Fly; given the opportunity for any one spell, I'd probably go for Fly, just because I've always wished I could fly. Obviously, Wish would be the one spell if it were an option, though.

[8wGremlin]

That's four. :smallsmile: Which one are you going to get rid of?

Assumptions: Game

1st Level: Fog Cloud and Find Familiar are the finalists and I'll go with Find Familiar. (Very Close Call).
2d Level: finalists are Lesser Restoration or Shatter: Shatter. (you want to clear a room? Shatter)
3d Level: Counterspell (There is something really satisfying about icing that person across the room who is about to lay some magical mischief down ... )

if you read my most you'll see I said may be swap out Find familiar for suggestion, so it was 3 choices.

also Lesser Restoration isn't a Wizard spell.

[borg286]

Real life
1. Silent Image/Minor Illusion
See my signature for Minor Illusion guide. I personally would view Minor Illusion as more powerful due to the auditory power and that it can be combined with Detect Thoughts.



2. Detect Thoughts
Pass interviews/tests with ease. Extract credit card pins through leading questions. Please your man/woman. Never be swindled. Never lose a court battle with a detailed recount and intimidation roll with advantage. Be an avenger by rooting out corrupt politicians. Win a presidential/anything debate. Be an amazing salesman regardless of a customer's stone face.


3. Summon Lesser Demons
Given that they are immortal, they are so much more knowledgeable than me, but even if they are unwilling, there would be so many scientific experiments we could do given that we can contain the demon with monkey's blood. I thought of Sending, but they likely adhere to a rule of non-interference. Summon forces their hand.

[HPisBS]

Real life:

Mage Hand. (How many times have you thought "I need a 3rd hand for this?" How many times have you wanted to handle something from a distance - either because it's dangerous, or because it's just a bit out of reach? How many times have you locked yourself out of your car? This would be a perfect and free solution to all of that.)

Mending. (Break your phone screen? Crack in your windshield? Have the best repair business there is. Note: some cracks, etc may be > 1 ft, so this may not be all that you'd need.)

Prestidigitation. (Instantly flavor healthy foods you don't like. Always have chilled drinks. Instantly clean the dishes, laundry and whatever else. Heck, have the best, lowest overhead cleaning business there is.)

Detect Thoughts. (Aside from all the reasons others have already said... this would also help you be the Poker World Champ [depending on spell slots].)



3. Sending would be interesting since you have a 95% chance of contacting other planes. It would be an interesting way to test for an Afterlife in the real world.

Sending only targets "creatures you are familiar with." So no dice, there.

[kingcheesepants]

Sending only targets "creatures you are familiar with." So no dice, there.

I'm familiar with my grandfather who passed away a number of years ago and presumably you and most of us here have friends or loved ones who have passed on. It never occurred to me to try and use sending to talk to the dead in real life but that's a totally valid use of it. Sending would be on my list if I was a non adventurer with 3 spells in a D&D setting. Instant long range communication, even given sending's limits on length is super handy. But here in the real world we have phones and computers which makes it less valuable (aside from the aforementioned speaking to the dead).

[Ir0ns0ul]

Shield, Web, Animate Dead.

[Ogre Mage]

For the people who are saying Find Familiar in real life, what is the situation where you would use that? I get why they are amazing in the D&D world, but how often would it be useful to have a rat scouting for you? Or an owl peeking in a window?



The familiar can be resummoned to take a variety of animal forms and is telepathically linked to you. It could do a variety of light chores for you. For instance, turn it into a spider or cat to eliminate household pests. Or turn it into an owl to deliver letters to the mailbox or look for a parking spot. If you lose something, it is an extra pair of eyes looking for it. For extroverts, you can dismiss the familiar into a pocket dimension and bring it back anywhere within range. This could be a key part of a magic show/Vegas act.

There is also the social aspect. You will always have a companion looking out for you, who can raise an alarm if you get into trouble. For single people like me this is important. And unlike a real pet, it requires no veterinary care or cleanup of poop. It is the ultimate service animal.

[8wGremlin]

The familiar can be resummoned to take a variety of animal forms and is telepathically linked to you. It could do a variety of light chores for you. For instance, turn it into a spider or cat to eliminate household pests. Or turn it into an owl to deliver letters to the mailbox or look for a parking spot. If you lose something, it is an extra pair of eyes looking for it. For extroverts, you can dismiss the familiar into a pocket dimension and bring it back anywhere within range. This could be a key part of a magic show/Vegas act.

There is also the social aspect. You will always have a companion looking out for you, who can raise an alarm if you get into trouble. For single people like me this is important. And unlike a real pet, it requires no veterinary care or cleanup of poop. It is the ultimate service animal.

^ this, and from a more nefarious or cautious manner, smuggling, or having your valuables protected.
You can summon and dismiss them with all that they can carry. You take item X and hand it to your familiar, they are dismissed and go hang out in their extra dimensional home. You fly to your target location, get stoped and searched and they find nothing, and when you are home, you summon back your familiar with the item again.

They are the ultimate companion, help action when you're doing your homework, or debugging code.
They are so versatile.

[Ogre Mage]

^ this, and from a more nefarious or cautious manner, smuggling, or having your valuables protected.
You can summon and dismiss them with all that they can carry. You take item X and hand it to your familiar, they are dismissed and go hang out in their extra dimensional home. You fly to your target location, get stoped and searched and they find nothing, and when you are home, you summon back your familiar with the item again.

They are the ultimate companion, help action when you're doing your homework, or debugging code.
They are so versatile.

Heh, good point. I never considered the criminal angle, but a real-life thief or smuggler could make very cunning use of a familiar.

[kingcheesepants]

^ this, and from a more nefarious or cautious manner, smuggling, or having your valuables protected.
You can summon and dismiss them with all that they can carry. You take item X and hand it to your familiar, they are dismissed and go hang out in their extra dimensional home. You fly to your target location, get stoped and searched and they find nothing, and when you are home, you summon back your familiar with the item again.

They are the ultimate companion, help action when you're doing your homework, or debugging code.
They are so versatile.

If you have some official (or semi-official) source for the idea that familiars can teleport items they're holding with them or can provide help for any task, I'd love to see them. As far as I know though anything a familiar is carrying falls when it goes back to its original plane and they can only provide help if you can provide a reasonable explanation of how they're helping. The later point about helping is DM dependent but I've yet to see a DM (myself included) who would allow a familiar to help without at least a cursory explanation of how.

Also for those that are thinking of having find familiar in real life, keep in mind that while 10gp is chump change to adventurers it's more than a weeks wages for your average commoner. I usually think of 1GP as being roughly equal to $100 (US). So 10 GP is about equal to $1,000. You very well might spend that on a pet but certainly not lightly (unless you're some sort of millionaire).

[Cybren]

... how many spell slots do I get?

[HPisBS]

... how many spell slots do I get?

How about 30 spell points instead? (Enough for 3 of each level.)

In which case, I may be tempted to take Catnap instead of Detect Thoughts. Lay down for just 10 min, be guaranteed to actually sleep, and get the effects of a full hour of rest? Yes, please! And tons of students would pay out the nose for a way to nap for just 10 min, yet get a full hour of rest... especially around finals time. Since a person can only benefit from it once / day, sell the rest of your uses to whoever needs that extra rest the most.


If we'd be limited to normal spell slots, then Comprehend Languages becomes that much more appealing instead.

[8wGremlin]

If you have some official (or semi-official) source for the idea that familiars can teleport items they're holding with them or can provide help for any task, I'd love to see them. As far as I know though anything a familiar is carrying falls when it goes back to its original plane and they can only provide help if you can provide a reasonable explanation of how they're helping. The later point about helping is DM dependent but I've yet to see a DM (myself included) who would allow a familiar to help without at least a cursory explanation of how.


Also for those that are thinking of having find familiar in real life, keep in mind that while 10gp is chump change to adventurers it's more than a weeks wages for your average commoner. I usually think of 1GP as being roughly equal to $100 (US). So 10 GP is about equal to $1,000. You very well might spend that on a pet but certainly not lightly (unless you're some sort of millionaire).


You only have to cast the spell once to actually get the familiar. Then you can:
As an action, you can temporarily dismiss your familiar. It disappears into a pocket dimension where it awaits your summons. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. (you don't need to cast the spell again)


Now all the other Find spells (Find Steed and Great Steed), state that they disappear, not to a pocket dimension, and although they can be temporarily dismissed they need the spell to be cast again for the creature to come back, fully healed.


So why is this relevant in the Find Familiar spell, as it states that there is a pocket dimension, where it waits, and you can dismiss and re-summon as actions. it doesn't come back healed, so it comes back in the state that it left in.


This is further collaborated by the fact that Sprites can be Pact of Chain Warlock familiars.


Sprites have equipment on them (Leather armour, Shortbow and Longsword)

Since these are "part" of the sprite description and equipment, so when "it disappears, leaving behind no physical form." it must take them with it, and bring them back when it's re-called.

[Randel]

Real Life:
1. Find Familiar - Get an intelligent pet/companion

2. Enhance Ability - All the stat boosting spells from previous editions (Bear's Endurance, Fox's Cunning, Owl's Wisdom, etc) in one spell. Granted, they don't work exactly the same way as previous editions, but having advantages to ability check's sounds good. Especially since I can deliver them through my familiar as well.

3. Continual Flame - A perpetual light source that only requires a one-time component of 50 gp worth of ruby dust. I'm not sure how exactly D&D prices translate into real world money, but synthetic rubies are pretty affordable (especially when you just need dust). Use this a few times to create magical lights for my house and save on my energy bill. I might even be able to repeatedly cast it on some thin pieces of glass, stick them on some solar panels, and then keep the solar panels safely in my basement or something where they won't get damaged by the elements. With enough investment, I could probably go off-grid, power my house, or sell back to to the grid due to the continual flame/solar panel setup constantly generating power.

[Sam K]

I would stay away from anything overt. Flight seems cool, but the first time someone sees you doing it... well, this isn't the marvel cinematic universe, you don't get to be a TV star or wear tights and fight crime (well, you can do that, it just won't last). You get to hope the governmental agency that grabs you is from one of those countries that pretend to respect human rights. Most likely, even those will dissect you eventually, to try to figure out what kind of mutant freak you are!

Likewise, unless you're already a career criminal (I won't tell anyone, promise!), I would suggest staying away from things that allow you to break the law more effectively. It's probably not the lack of a sentient owl that has kept you out of the drug smuggling industry, or the lack of firebolt and invisibility that stops you from being an assassin.

I'll say Tongues (to be able to use suggestion on anyone) and Suggestion. Those are really my only concerns, and worst comes to worst, suggestion alone is fine - lots of people speak English. Then just SUGGEST your way to whatever you want. You might have to start small to build up some credibility - I can't just SUGGEST I become the CEO of Google. But I could probably SUGGEST my way into a senior management position at my current company (I'm tall and have wavy, grey hair, that seems to be the main requirement). Then I use that position to SUGGEST a competitor hire me for a more senior position. Now I have a senior management career going, which makes it credible that I might SUGGEST a big IT company to hire me as CEO... and so on, and so on. Want to do a TED talk? SUGGEST you get to speak at a local TEDx event, then use that to leverage bigger speaking gigs until you're a credible candidate to TED.

Keep in mind, people acted on the (supposedly non-magical) suggestions that they invest with Bernie M or buy sub-prime mortgages. As long as other people like you are doing something, a lot of things will be credible suggestions.

Don't have that big plans? Just suggest that your customers accept the price you quoted them without haggling, or that your boss give you the raise you ask for. Keep it above average but not unreasonable.

Best part is, it's completely covert and legal. I'm not FORCING anyone to hire me, I'm just SUGGESTING that I might be worth that 2 mil a year salary. That's not coercion. That's barely marketing!

[whateew]

Find familiar, for the perfect pet - if you don't think a pet raven would be fun, you are wrong.
Disguise self seems like a fun convenience - want to impress? Wear a Gucci suit over your normal one.
Enhance ability definitely
And tongues seems very useful irl

[noob]

I would stay away from anything overt. Flight seems cool, but the first time someone sees you doing it... well, this isn't the marvel cinematic universe, you don't get to be a TV star or wear tights and fight crime (well, you can do that, it just won't last). You get to hope the governmental agency that grabs you is from one of those countries that pretend to respect human rights. Most likely, even those will dissect you eventually, to try to figure out what kind of mutant freak you are!

Likewise, unless you're already a career criminal (I won't tell anyone, promise!), I would suggest staying away from things that allow you to break the law more effectively. It's probably not the lack of a sentient owl that has kept you out of the drug smuggling industry, or the lack of firebolt and invisibility that stops you from being an assassin.

I'll say Tongues (to be able to use suggestion on anyone) and Suggestion. Those are really my only concerns, and worst comes to worst, suggestion alone is fine - lots of people speak English. Then just SUGGEST your way to whatever you want. You might have to start small to build up some credibility - I can't just SUGGEST I become the CEO of Google. But I could probably SUGGEST my way into a senior management position at my current company (I'm tall and have wavy, grey hair, that seems to be the main requirement). Then I use that position to SUGGEST a competitor hire me for a more senior position. Now I have a senior management career going, which makes it credible that I might SUGGEST a big IT company to hire me as CEO... and so on, and so on. Want to do a TED talk? SUGGEST you get to speak at a local TEDx event, then use that to leverage bigger speaking gigs until you're a credible candidate to TED.

Keep in mind, people acted on the (supposedly non-magical) suggestions that they invest with Bernie M or buy sub-prime mortgages. As long as other people like you are doing something, a lot of things will be credible suggestions.

Don't have that big plans? Just suggest that your customers accept the price you quoted them without haggling, or that your boss give you the raise you ask for. Keep it above average but not unreasonable.

Best part is, it's completely covert and legal. I'm not FORCING anyone to hire me, I'm just SUGGESTING that I might be worth that 2 mil a year salary. That's not coercion. That's barely marketing!
I think that if you lack the ability to hide the obviously mystical incantation that you might not be caught by justice but instead be killed by someone scared by you or one of those people at the top of society with low amounts of moral quandaries who made his save against suggestion(in which case probably by recruiting an assassin that knows how to make the victim just vanish).


Components: V M (A snake's tongue and either a bit of honeycomb or a drop of sweet oil)
In suggestion and some rules makes clear that V components are not mundane sentences.
Also you will be seen as quite odd if you literally walk around with a snake tongue in some easily accessible pocket and pull it out in the middle of a discussion.

[diplomancer]

I think that if you lack the ability to hide the obviously mystical incantation that you might not be caught by justice but instead be killed by someone scared by you or one of those people at the top of society with low amounts of moral quandaries who made his save against suggestion(in which case probably by recruiting an assassin that knows how to make the victim just vanish).


In suggestion and some rules makes clear that V components are not mundane sentences.
Also you will be seen as quite odd if you literally walk around with a snake tongue in some easily accessible pocket and pull it out in the middle of a discussion.

On the other hand, we don't have magic (or do we?); so if you are slick enough, you may convince whomever you are talking to that these words you preface some sentence is just some silly superstition taught you by your father to "make things come true"

[Guy Lombard-O]

On the other hand, we don't have magic (or do we?); so if you are slick enough, you may convince whomever you are talking to that these words you preface some sentence is just some silly superstition taught you by your father to "make things come true"

Better yet, be a "spiritual advisor" or start your own little cult. As you say, make the mysticism obvious and "believe" in it overtly, then question naysayers' skepticism with a righteous attitude.

[Sam K]

I think that if you lack the ability to hide the obviously mystical incantation that you might not be caught by justice but instead be killed by someone scared by you or one of those people at the top of society with low amounts of moral quandaries who made his save against suggestion(in which case probably by recruiting an assassin that knows how to make the victim just vanish).


In suggestion and some rules makes clear that V components are not mundane sentences.
Also you will be seen as quite odd if you literally walk around with a snake tongue in some easily accessible pocket and pull it out in the middle of a discussion.

It's a good point, but as some people have pointed out, it can be passed off as "spiritual". So maybe I won't be Elon Musk's hedge fund manager, I'll have to be his spiritual advisor. That's probably even better, spiritual advisors have fewer KPIs!

[Nifft]

spiritual advisors have fewer KPIs!

Sure but a spiritual advisor's KPI ends with "Inquisitor" so factor that in.


Anyway, for me IRL:
- Lesser Restoration
- Detect Thoughts
- Suggestion

The latter does have some in-person issues but I bet you'd get great use out of it via Zoom.

[8wGremlin]

Sure but a spiritual advisor's KPI ends with "Inquisitor" so factor that in.


Anyway, for me IRL:
- Lesser Restoration
- Detect Thoughts
- Suggestion

The latter does have some in-person issues but I bet you'd get great use out of it via Zoom.

I thought it was Wizard spells, 'Lesser Restoration' is awesome, but not a wizard spell.

[Kane0]

With Ravnica backgrounds anything is possible!

[Nifft]

I thought it was Wizard spells, 'Lesser Restoration' is awesome, but not a wizard spell.

You are correct, but it has been discussed in this thread already.


Another fun option not mentioned yet: Skywrite. Just make words appear, and it's a Ritual so you can do it all day, and it appears anywhere you can see so it's going to be difficult to pin it on you in specific. Decent way to steer public policy without all the mess of mind-control.

[Temperjoke]

Disguise Self (perfect for hiding in plain sight, no matter who you are hiding from)
Locate Object (lots of applications, from personal needs to resource applications)
Gaseous Form (allows flight if needed, pass through tight fits, can't be physically hit)

[HPisBS]

Another fun option not mentioned yet: Skywrite. Just make words appear, and it's a Ritual so you can do it all day, and it appears anywhere you can see so it's going to be difficult to pin it on you in specific. Decent way to steer public policy without all the mess of mind-control.

I've often thought that, but... how often do you really look up like that?

(It'd be even less visible on overcast days.)

[Randel]

You're right, I totally missed the whole "Wizard" part of it. I was reading through all of the replies and got thinking on just what spells I'd want, not what Wizard spells. I typically prefer more of a support role whenever I play.

Actually, if Unearthed Arcana is allowed, there is the Healing Elixir spell that summons up a healing potion that dissapears after 24 hours.

Still, that's a magical potion that heals 2d4+2 damage and you could deliver a case of them to a hospital or shelter for people to use.

Actually, you might be able to pair it with something like Invisibility and Fly. Use all but two of your spell slots making elixirs, cast fly and invisibility, set the elixirs where someone can find them (along with a note), and then walk away.

I'm not sure if a familiar would be able to help with something like that. Familiars can deliver touch spells, but healing elixir has a target of Self. So you can't have your celestial raven fly to a hospital, summon a bunch of healing elixirs, and then vanish to a pocket dimension to repeat it the next day.

[8wGremlin]

Actually, if Unearthed Arcana is allowed, there is the Healing Elixir spell that summons up a healing potion that dissapears after 24 hours.

Still, that's a magical potion that heals 2d4+2 damage and you could deliver a case of them to a hospital or shelter for people to use.

I had that on a Coffeelock that would make 2 of them every hour! (such fun)

[Nifft]

I've often thought that, but... how often do you really look up like that?

Look up like what?

The sky goes all the way down to the horizon.

[HPisBS]

Look up like what?

The sky goes all the way down to the horizon.

You mean all the way down to that hill. Or that line of trees. Or those buildings all around you.

People tend to look at what's directly in front of them. At the destination, what's on the way there, and what might intercept that path. Clouds tend to not factor in.

Or just look down at their next steps. Or, more likely, at their phones.

[Nifft]

Actually, if Unearthed Arcana is allowed, there is the Healing Elixir spell that summons up a healing potion that dissapears after 24 hours.

If UA is allowed, then the stuff in Modern Magic might see some use.

Remote Access was pretty great, as was Find Vehicle (particularly if you get higher-level slots).

[PhoenixPhyre]

I would stay away from anything overt. Flight seems cool, but the first time someone sees you doing it... well, this isn't the marvel cinematic universe, you don't get to be a TV star or wear tights and fight crime (well, you can do that, it just won't last). You get to hope the governmental agency that grabs you is from one of those countries that pretend to respect human rights. Most likely, even those will dissect you eventually, to try to figure out what kind of mutant freak you are!

Likewise, unless you're already a career criminal (I won't tell anyone, promise!), I would suggest staying away from things that allow you to break the law more effectively. It's probably not the lack of a sentient owl that has kept you out of the drug smuggling industry, or the lack of firebolt and invisibility that stops you from being an assassin.

I'll say Tongues (to be able to use suggestion on anyone) and Suggestion. Those are really my only concerns, and worst comes to worst, suggestion alone is fine - lots of people speak English. Then just SUGGEST your way to whatever you want. You might have to start small to build up some credibility - I can't just SUGGEST I become the CEO of Google. But I could probably SUGGEST my way into a senior management position at my current company (I'm tall and have wavy, grey hair, that seems to be the main requirement). Then I use that position to SUGGEST a competitor hire me for a more senior position. Now I have a senior management career going, which makes it credible that I might SUGGEST a big IT company to hire me as CEO... and so on, and so on. Want to do a TED talk? SUGGEST you get to speak at a local TEDx event, then use that to leverage bigger speaking gigs until you're a credible candidate to TED.

Keep in mind, people acted on the (supposedly non-magical) suggestions that they invest with Bernie M or buy sub-prime mortgages. As long as other people like you are doing something, a lot of things will be credible suggestions.

Don't have that big plans? Just suggest that your customers accept the price you quoted them without haggling, or that your boss give you the raise you ask for. Keep it above average but not unreasonable.

Best part is, it's completely covert and legal. I'm not FORCING anyone to hire me, I'm just SUGGESTING that I might be worth that 2 mil a year salary. That's not coercion. That's barely marketing!

Generally, getting hired takes way more than 8 hours. And often involves multiple people. And "bypass all your procedures and hire me on the spot" runs into severe difficulties with anything but a small company:
* HR bureaucracy. Just getting the paperwork started often takes longer than that.
* legal bureaucracy. Background checks. Fair offer laws (ie have to have positions posted, etc).
* trial periods. Sure, you get hired. But 8 hours later when the spell wears off, you get kicked out on your butt and blacklisted. As does the shmuck who hired you.
* more than one person involved. Especially for executive positions, those generally have to go to the Board of Directors. Who aren't under your suggestion spell.

Not to mention the "what is this freak doing chanting strange words" issue.

[Sam K]

Generally, getting hired takes way more than 8 hours. And often involves multiple people. And "bypass all your procedures and hire me on the spot" runs into severe difficulties with anything but a small company:
* HR bureaucracy. Just getting the paperwork started often takes longer than that.
* legal bureaucracy. Background checks. Fair offer laws (ie have to have positions posted, etc).
* trial periods. Sure, you get hired. But 8 hours later when the spell wears off, you get kicked out on your butt and blacklisted. As does the shmuck who hired you.
* more than one person involved. Especially for executive positions, those generally have to go to the Board of Directors. Who aren't under your suggestion spell.

Not to mention the "what is this freak doing chanting strange words" issue.

I wrote a response to this which ended up being a discussion of bad hiring practices, which I felt de-railed the thread. So I'll just say this:

I think you make good points, but my experience with recruitment and armchair psychology tells me that using suggestion the right way makes my strategy highly likely to succeed and not backfire the way you describe. If you have different experiences with recruitment, or different perceptions on how humans make decisions, you're likely to disagree.

[Witty Username]

Just fireball.



https://i.imgur.com/NdmK4Om.png

[CountDVB]

In Real Life

Prestidigitation- Basic good spellcasting; to do all sorts of nice stuff and basic to help.

Comprehend Languages- Could do it to make a good job as a translator of text

Find Familiar- Having an animal buddy

[borg286]

Generally, getting hired takes way more than 8 hours. And often involves multiple people. And "bypass all your procedures and hire me on the spot" runs into severe difficulties with anything but a small company:
* HR bureaucracy. Just getting the paperwork started often takes longer than that.
* legal bureaucracy. Background checks. Fair offer laws (ie have to have positions posted, etc).
* trial periods. Sure, you get hired. But 8 hours later when the spell wears off, you get kicked out on your butt and blacklisted. As does the shmuck who hired you.
* more than one person involved. Especially for executive positions, those generally have to go to the Board of Directors. Who aren't under your suggestion spell.

Not to mention the "what is this freak doing chanting strange words" issue.
But getting root in production is feasible. A company as big as google will surely have tons of automated auditing going on. But if you knew what you're doing and had another willing person with root in prod you could sneak in quite a few changes.

[HPisBS]

But getting root in production is feasible. A company as big as google will surely have tons of automated auditing going on. But if you knew what you're doing and had another willing person with root in prod you could sneak in quite a few changes.

And everybody knows Google, FB, etc need to change. Unfortunately, while significant parts of it may be automated, the main things that need to change about them are done intentionally. So if they changed like this, it wouldn't be for long.

[Bobthewizard]

With suggestion, why even get a job? Just go to Vegas and play high stakes poker. "You should fold," and "you should go all in," or even "you should just tell me what you have," would make you a ton of money. Working is for suckers, not wizards.

[Witty Username]

Tongues, create food and water and prestidigitation.
Communication, food, and basic cleanliness. I could get to reading all that manga that doesn't have an English release.
Edit: comprehend languages, not tongues.

Edit2: Between giving it some thought and realizing cantrips are not included,
Create food and water.
Water breathing, I really like to swim.
Tenser's floating disk, being able to do full store runs without my car would be nice.

[noob]

Tongues, create food and water and prestidigitation.
Communication, food, and basic cleanliness. I could get to reading all that manga that doesn't have an English release.
Edit: comprehend languages, not tongues.

Edit2: Between giving it some thought and realizing cantrips are not included,
Create food and water.
Water breathing, I really like to swim.
Tenser's floating disk, being able to do full store runs without my car would be nice.

You would need to hide the fact the disk is floating(ex: have it be at the bottom of your shopping cart) but otherwise it would work fine.

[kazaryu]

If you only had 3 wizard spells to choose from,
for the rest of your life/career

and they all had to be below 4th level,

What spells would you choose?
assumptions: irl, some limit of spell casts per day.


ok, so first i'd probably wanna look for something that i can use to make money...unfortunately there aren't a lot of options at low levels. i mean, there are plenty of things that can help in a job, but very little that straight up makes money super easily, not without doing some illegal stuff OR revealing that you have magic. obviously there's a ton of easy money to be made offering your services via several of the spells (for example unseen servant). but in order to sell that i'd need to reveal my secret, and thats not something i wanna risk. which leaves me, as far as i can tell, with alter self and social media modeling. i.e. making money off of simps. which...im honestly not sure i'd do...but it is an option.

of course, i'd still take alter self. the ability to change my appearance could be useful, or fun, regardless. and the other two benefits, while niche, would come in extremely handy in their respective niches.

outside of that, fly. just because of course i'd take fly. sure there's a risk of being seen/exposing yourself. but thats fairly easy to mitigate, and i wouldn't do it all the time. but just having hte option....its irresistible.

last i'd probably take tongues for its utility value. being able to communicate with anyone would be great.

if we go a bit fantastical and assume that instead i decide to go criminal. well.

alter self again: invisibility is nice, but its flashy. i imagine there's probably more to be gained by being able to look however you want. including like other people. and its much harder to realize whats going on.
misty step: because obviously being able to teleport is useful
find familiar: an interesting, if a little heartless, scam. sell my familiar to someone. especially if i can summon it to look like some rare breed of animal.

[HPisBS]

Edit2: Between giving it some thought and realizing cantrips are not included,

Oh, you're right. It says "1st-3rd," not "up to 3rd."

In which case, it comes back to

Comprehend Languages
Detect Thoughts
Unseen Servant // Suggestion // Catnap.

[Temperjoke]

With suggestion, why even get a job? Just go to Vegas and play high stakes poker. "You should fold," and "you should go all in," or even "you should just tell me what you have," would make you a ton of money. Working is for suckers, not wizards.

I'm fairly sure that's not how it would go, at least more than once, maybe twice.

[Miele]

Prestidigitation and Mending for me would be immediate choices, being cantrips and extremely useful, the third would be either Suggestion for a normal career or Invisibility for fun and awesomeness.

[Bobthewizard]

I'm fairly sure that's not how it would go, at least more than once, maybe twice.

Ah. You're no fun. :smallsmile: I'm curious why you think it won't work.

I think it would work fine. Suggestion doesn't say the target knows they were charmed so they won't know for sure you cast a spell and why would they expect that in this world. Even if people see you casting a spell, no one here knows real magic and wouldn't recognize it as a spell. There's no somatic component, so either touch an amulet or keep some honeycomb in your pocket. You could be even more direct, "You should lose all of your money to me. It will be a good learning experience for you."

You could also use this in other situations. Go to an art auction and Suggest to the buyer of the most expensive piece to donate the art to your "museum." Have all of the paperwork and a lawyer ready.

If you can meet a home seller in person, convince someone to sell you their home for $1.

Never pay for anything again, "You should comp this meal (or vacation rental or whatever)"

It's all pretty evil, but I think it would work.

[Temperjoke]

Ah. You're no fun. :smallsmile: I'm curious why you think it won't work.

I think it would work fine. Suggestion doesn't say the target knows they were charmed so they won't know for sure you cast a spell and why would they expect that in this world. Even if people see you casting a spell, no one here knows real magic and wouldn't recognize it as a spell. There's no somatic component, so either touch an amulet or keep some honeycomb in your pocket. You could be even more direct, "You should lose all of your money to me. It will be a good learning experience for you."

You could also use this in other situations. Go to an art auction and Suggest to the buyer of the most expensive piece to donate the art to your "museum." Have all of the paperwork and a lawyer ready.

If you can meet a home seller in person, convince someone to sell you their home for $1.

Never pay for anything again, "You should comp this meal (or vacation rental or whatever)"

It's all pretty evil, but I think it would work.

Mostly because the people in charge take a proactive stance regarding their profits in Vegas. :P Even if they can't prove anything, you'd be "discouraged" from coming back. As to the other scenarios, you'd get a lot of negative attention that you wouldn't be able to suggest your way out of.

[FabulousFizban]

Minor illusion, firebolt, light.

[Bobthewizard]

Mostly because the people in charge take a proactive stance regarding their profits in Vegas. :P Even if they can't prove anything, you'd be "discouraged" from coming back. As to the other scenarios, you'd get a lot of negative attention that you wouldn't be able to suggest your way out of.

Ah, I see where you're coming from. But in poker you don't beat the house. You play against other players and the house gets a cut. You'd need to watch who you con though, for any of them.

[WaroftheCrans]

I'll be going the sports coach/spiritual advisor route. Athletes are famously superstitious, I'll give them superstitions that work.

Longstrider: an extra 2.4 mph doesn't seem like too much but it's certainly significant in track and some other sports. Call it meditative yoga. Works for any event less that the half marathon.

(Alternates: expeditious retreat. Maybe professional level athletes can already dash as their bonus action. Maybe they don't have bonus actions. But if this works its a 50% increase to speed for anything 2 miles or less. Hell, go up to a 5k. Sure it might not be lasting the whole time but it sure would be worth it.

Haste: triple the targets speed for the duration. Reeks of magic or peds. Only use is to give yourself a world class sprinting career or give a distance runner a really ducking good kick.)

Enhance ability: want to hit a homerun every at bat? Want to make every tackle? Make every goal? Have I got the routine for you. Just pay me and your effective strength, dexterity or con increases by 50%. Mental attributes are for me. Wisdom for planning, int for tests or finances or the like and cha for everything else, including getting these positions.

Suggestion takes the cake for the last one. I'll already have a reputation for mutterings of weird stuff under my breath, this just helps me out of any really tight spots.

I have some honorable mentions I'll put here later.

[Willowhelm]

Real life? Continual flame + solar panel = infinite energy.

Breaking the laws of physics for fun and profit.

There are other options but really once you’ve got that one covered you’re pretty much turning the entire world upside down already. (Pick up tongues for the press conferences and sales pitch)

[Flallen]

Real Life: Unseen Servant, Mage Hand, Tongues

In Game: Bestow Curse, Remove Curse, Nystul's Magic Aura. Nothing specific in mind, but I think you could do interesting things with them.

[noob]

Real life? Continual flame + solar panel = infinite energy.

Breaking the laws of physics for fun and profit.

There are other options but really once you’ve got that one covered you’re pretty much turning the entire world upside down already. (Pick up tongues for the press conferences and sales pitch)

3.5 specified continual flame emitted no heat and 5e did not say otherwise.
So it is even more epic: you have energy-less light and just that will change radically how physics are interpreted in new and interesting ways.

[kazaryu]

3.5 specified continual flame emitted no heat and 5e did not say otherwise.
So it is even more epic: you have energy-less light and just that will change radically how physics are interpreted in new and interesting ways.

light...and heat are different things...not having heat doesn't mean not having energy

[Sam K]

Ah, I see where you're coming from. But in poker you don't beat the house. You play against other players and the house gets a cut. You'd need to watch who you con though, for any of them.

No floor boss wants to run the floor where people suddenly start acting strangely and lose lots of money as a result, it's bad for business. You might get away with it for a while if it's a lower stakes game, but eventually people will start talking, video tapes will get watched, and you'll get identified. Then a couple of big, burly gentlemen tap you on the shoulder; in a best case you get blacklisted, in a worst case you get "missing person" listed.

Then there's the risk that someone you clean out take matters in their own hands...

I've thought a lot about how to use charm/suggestion for profit, and I still believe the best way to do it is to get people to do things they could plausibly justify to themselves, and which doesn't seem to incur a direct cost to them personally. The reason I think you can SUGGEST your way to a good job is because hiring a less-than-ideal candidate isn't implausible (every thief, bully and rabid incompetent in the workplace was hired by someone), and it doesn't cost the hiring manager anything unless you're rampantly destructive.

But I think the BEST way to make money using SUGGESTION has to be selling premium products to customers that aren't very price sensitive - especially if you can become an independent agent or broker, so you can keep the profits from any good deals you suggest. Luxury cars or watches might be good, or high-end art, where negotiating even a slightly better deal can net you a lot of money. Then there's the "advice" industry - the finance industry have made a killing charging people for investment advice, then advising they invest in whatever gives the advisor the biggest kickback! It's already a proven business model, all suggestion does is make your sales faster and slightly more profitable.

Nothing to see here, officer. I SUGGEST you move along and audit my competition instead.

[noob]

light...and heat are different things...not having heat doesn't mean not having energy

If you emit light that have energy then you can not avoid creating heat if you are in the atmosphere due to the light heating up the air around.
Therefore the fact it does not create heat in the normal use case means it does not create light with energy.

[Saelethil]

IRL
Assuming cantrips are not allowed,
Find Familiar (allergen free pet with a lot of options)
Catnap (resting with a busy schedule)
Galder’s Tower (portable tiny house that can go anywhere you can, perfect for backpacking trips)

[Willowhelm]

If you emit light that have energy then you can not avoid creating heat if you are in the atmosphere due to the light heating up the air around.
Therefore the fact it does not create heat in the normal use case means it does not create light with energy.

Light is a form of energy.

My original post was just pointing out that if you bring dnd magic into the real world you can break physics. If you can break some laws of physics then there’s a way to work it around to infinite energy.

Continual flame is just the simplest case as you don’t need to keep casting it. With magic mouth you get sound energy (add microphones and you get electricity).

If the thread allowed cantrips and you didn’t mind being the energy source then you can just keep casting other options over and over to produce energy from nothing. (And physical items too). Mold earth to move tons of dirt every few seconds? That’s a lot of potential gravitational and kinetic energy there... shape water? Same deal. Prestidigitation for heating and cooling? The issue with these is not the energy from nothing, it is that you have to spend your time casting them. (They don’t “scale”)

Anything that gets you energy from nothing (even tiny amounts) leads to the same result. The entire power system (electrical and political) of the planet is going to face a massive upheaval.

Even if we go with your position that this is magical light that somehow cannot be converted using photovoltaic cells then you still have an entirely new thing never before seen in the world which you do not have to be present for other people to use and study. The key here is that it lasts until dispelled (ie forever) and requires no concentration or further maintenance from you.

Sell them for whatever price you like - you are the only source. Give them to every physics department in the world - let them figure out how the magic works. Same end result - you don’t have to be present or experimented on yourself and the world will be turned upside down. Even if you believe it would just be a novelty (it wouldn’t) then you could easily live off it for the rest of your life.

Sure. You could magically recreate things technology already does for us or make it easier to trick people or commit crimes... or you can break the limitations of the universe as we know them. Go big.

Edit:
If photovoltaic cells don’t work with this magical light, can we assume eyes do? If they do... guess what happens in your eye. Light -> electricity. If they don’t, how are you seeing the light? Direct manipulation of your brain (more electricity) or does it just create the image directly in your mind with no physical manifestation? In which case congratulations you just proved that mind is independent of your brain. Another massive piece of evidence that I’m sure a few major religions will be interested in.

If anyone wants to continue this though it should probably be another thread rather than detailing this one.

[noob]

Light is a form of energy.

My original post was just pointing out that if you bring dnd magic into the real world you can break physics. If you can break some laws of physics then there’s a way to work it around to infinite energy.

Continual flame is just the simplest case as you don’t need to keep casting it. With magic mouth you get sound energy (add microphones and you get electricity).

If the thread allowed cantrips and you didn’t mind being the energy source then you can just keep casting other options over and over to produce energy from nothing. (And physical items too). Mold earth to move tons of dirt every few seconds? That’s a lot of potential gravitational and kinetic energy there... shape water? Same deal. Prestidigitation for heating and cooling? The issue with these is not the energy from nothing, it is that you have to spend your time casting them. (They don’t “scale”)

Anything that gets you energy from nothing (even tiny amounts) leads to the same result. The entire power system (electrical and political) of the planet is going to face a massive upheaval.

Even if we go with your position that this is magical light that somehow cannot be converted using photovoltaic cells then you still have an entirely new thing never before seen in the world which you do not have to be present for other people to use and study. The key here is that it lasts until dispelled (ie forever) and requires no concentration or further maintenance from you.

Sell them for whatever price you like - you are the only source. Give them to every physics department in the world - let them figure out how the magic works. Same end result - you don’t have to be present or experimented on yourself and the world will be turned upside down. Even if you believe it would just be a novelty (it wouldn’t) then you could easily live off it for the rest of your life.

Sure. You could magically recreate things technology already does for us or make it easier to trick people or commit crimes... or you can break the limitations of the universe as we know them. Go big.

Edit:
If photovoltaic cells don’t work with this magical light, can we assume eyes do? If they do... guess what happens in your eye. Light -> electricity. If they don’t, how are you seeing the light? Direct manipulation of your brain (more electricity) or does it just create the image directly in your mind with no physical manifestation? In which case congratulations you just proved that mind is independent of your brain. Another massive piece of evidence that I’m sure a few major religions will be interested in.

If anyone wants to continue this though it should probably be another thread rather than detailing this one.

I was arguing that creating light without creating heat was awesome in an entirely new kind of way: one that will change radically how all physics are interpreted.
Conservation of energy being proven false is way less impactful in terms of knowledge of how physics works: people believed it to be proven false multiple times and in fact if you look at cosmologic scales it does not seems to be true either.
Regardless when you bring an eternal light it is epic.
If you want to not be a celebrity then of course eternal light is to avoid.

[Willowhelm]

I see. I think we just have an English language communication issue then. “Light without energy” is a difficult thing to debate when the language assumes light = energy!

[neceros]

Fireball, fireball, and fireball.

[Samayu]

Funny how few people are talking about in-game choices, because the real-life implications are far more fun to contemplate.

Nobody commented on one person's preference for Animate Dead in real life?

"Why is it that whenever I try to read somebody's thoughts, they're only thinking about why I was making odd hand gestures and chanting strange phrases?"

One could make a living off of Prestidigitation.


In game, I'm not sure but probably Shield, Hypnotic Pattern, Fireball. Misty Step, a close fourth. There are other spells I like a lot, but are more dependent on party composition and team role.

[Lunali]

You only have to cast the spell once to actually get the familiar. Then you can:
As an action, you can temporarily dismiss your familiar. It disappears into a pocket dimension where it awaits your summons. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. (you don't need to cast the spell again)

You only have to cast the spell once to get the familiar, but if you want to change it's form, as some suggested, you have to cast it every time you change it.

[noob]

Funny how few people are talking about in-game choices, because the real-life implications are far more fun to contemplate.

Nobody commented on one person's preference for Animate Dead in real life?

"Why is it that whenever I try to read somebody's thoughts, they're only thinking about why I was making odd hand gestures and chanting strange phrases?"

One could make a living off of Prestidigitation.


In game, I'm not sure but probably Shield, Hypnotic Pattern, Fireball. Misty Step, a close fourth. There are other spells I like a lot, but are more dependent on party composition and team role.

Animate dead in real life would probably be very useful.
Just make sure people do not see the walking corpses.

[BMF]

Generally, getting hired takes way more than 8 hours. And often involves multiple people. And "bypass all your procedures and hire me on the spot" runs into severe difficulties with anything but a small company:
* HR bureaucracy. Just getting the paperwork started often takes longer than that.
* legal bureaucracy. Background checks. Fair offer laws (ie have to have positions posted, etc).
* trial periods. Sure, you get hired. But 8 hours later when the spell wears off, you get kicked out on your butt and blacklisted. As does the shmuck who hired you.
* more than one person involved. Especially for executive positions, those generally have to go to the Board of Directors. Who aren't under your suggestion spell.

Not to mention the "what is this freak doing chanting strange words" issue.

I'd just like to point that that the existence of various 'corporate shamans' and the like, including this guy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shing), not only give lie to the idea that this wouldn't work, they make me think that magic is actually real.

I cannot come up with another explanation for this man.

[noob]

I'd just like to point that that the existence of various 'corporate shamans' and the like, including this guy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shing), not only give lie to the idea that this wouldn't work, they make me think that magic is actually real.

I cannot come up with another explanation for this man.

I can come up with multiple reasonable explanations but all of them relies on humans being fallible or unreasonably influenced by parameters that should not matter.
1: Mainstream religions getting bad press means that people who carve for religious experiences or people are more willing to listen to autoproclamed prophets and other shamans not linked to the religions that get bad press.
2: Charisma and the immediate influence of a personality can (but is not likely to) derive from its strangeness.
3: Recruiters are often people who have no clue how a good employee looks like (tip: unless the job is to look like something they do not look like something specific and so outside of this case their appearance is not a good criteria of judgement) and being memorable can actually help at getting recruited.

[Corran]

Irl: fly for the experience, feather fall for safety and catnap for the future.

Game: Invisibility, alter self and sending.