Old-school "Evil Caster" spells, and their equivalent in 5e?

[Unoriginal]

Hi folks.

I realized that I really didn't know much about how NPC casters were handled in pre-3e edition, especially low-level antagonist ones.

If you wanted to give an "old-school low level magic bad guy" feel, which 5e spells do you think would do the trick?

[Pildion]

Hi folks.

I realized that I really didn't know much about how NPC casters were handled in pre-3e edition, especially low-level antagonist ones.

If you wanted to give an "old-school low level magic bad guy" feel, which 5e spells do you think would do the trick?

Well, I never played before 3e myself, but I would think Animate Dead would be the obvious spell. Finger of Death as well for a second spell.

[RogueJK]

These are the 3rd level and under spells that jump out as being especially appropriate to pick from when setting up an "old-school low level magic bad guy".


Cantrip:
Chill Touch
Toll the Dead
Poison Spray

1st Level:
Arms of Hadar
Bane
Cause Fear
Dissonant Whispers
Hellish Rebuke
Inflict Wounds
Ray of Sickness
Wrathful Smite

2nd Level:
Crown of Madness
Enthrall
Hold Person
Phantasmal Force
Ray of Enfeeblement
Tasha's Mind Whip

3rd Level:
Animate Dead
Bestow Curse
Enemies Abound
Fear
Hunger of Hadar
Spirit Shroud
Summon Lesser Demon
Summon Undead
Vampiric Touch


Of course, an evil spellcaster can do evil things with a number of other spells too, especially stuff like Charm and Illusion spells. And you can refluff any number of other spells to have an "evil" flavor, just by altering your description of their effects. For example, a Fireball becomes "an explosion of sickly green flames, accompanied by the sound of unholy shrieks and the smell of burning flesh and sulfur".



Finger of Death as well for a second spell.

I wouldn't consider a 7th level spell to be "low level"...

[Unoriginal]

Of course, an evil spellcaster can do evil things with a number of other spells too, especially stuff like Charm and Illusion spells.

100% true. It is part of why I was curious about what kind of arsenal pre-3e antagonistic spellcasters had.

I recall a story (from The Spoony One) where one of an official module's encounters was "3 evil wizards leap from the bushes, casting Magic Missile (which was the only spell they could cast, and only once)".

[Scots Dragon]

100% true. It is part of why I was curious about what kind of arsenal pre-3e antagonistic spellcasters had.

I recall a story (from The Spoony One) where one of an official module's encounters was "3 evil wizards leap from the bushes, casting Magic Missile (which was the only spell they could cast, and only once)".

This was an RPGA encounter. The RPGA modules, being organised play, were sort of notorious for being way easier than most other modules.

In T1: The Village of Hommlet, the big spellcaster encounter is a 5th-level cleric. He's got the following prepared;

1st Level: Command, Cure Light Wounds (2), Protection from Good, Sanctuary
2nd Level: Hold Person (2), Know Alignment, Resist Fire, Silence 15' Radius
3rd Level: Cause Blindness, Continual Darkness

[Eldariel]

Magic Missile was the spell of the day for many (I recall that one Drizzt book where Barbarian Drizzt kills that random Drow Mage had Magic Missile too), but for NPCs, few that come to mind:

Kwairno (Magic-User 4) from "Dwellers of the Forgotten City" has basically Magic Missile and control spells (Web, Stinking Cloud).

Sanbalet (Illusionist 4) from that Saltmarsh adventure has a bunch of illusions (Hypnotism, Wall of Fog, Color Spray maybe?)

Colderan (Magic-User 6) from "Doom of Daggerdale" has a bunch of summons (Monster Summoning I, Summon Swarm), Scare, Wraithform, Magic Missile, Grease/Ray of Enfeeblement/etc.


In short, mostly based on specialty: Colderan is a conjurer of sorts, Sanbalet an Illusionist, Kwairno...I don't remember, generalist probably, but could be Conjurer? I don't think there's any specific "evil spells" per ce but obviously scary necromancy stuff and different control stuff is overrepresented in evil mages' character sheets.

[Trask]

Some classic modules would use low level evil clerics that could prevent a cleric from turning their undead minions. Turning undead isnt nearly as important now as it used to be, but maybe you could give some evil caster a spell or feature that gives their undead minions resistance to radiant damage for a few rounds?

I also think that Bane feels like a perfect evil caster type spell, same with Ray of Sickness. Something that weakens your enemies, doesn't feel like "fighting fair" really gets at the heart of what classic fantasy loves to hate about evil wizards.