Spell Suggestion for my level 1 wizard

[fulong]

My Elf Generalist/Transmutation Domain Wizard needs suggestion for cantrip and level 1 spells he should take. So give me great spells from any book and magazines such as Dungeon and Dragon.

[Tyndmyr]

Sonic Snap is my favorite cantrip. A mere 1 damage, but no save. And the mental image is awesome.

[gallagher]

cant go wrong with acid splash either.

also, prestidigitation is absolutely necessary. not kidding. you can win a game with that one spell.

poor on cash? go find one of those street gamblin dudes. bet him everything he has. pick one of the cups, it doesnt matter which. prestidigitation the ball there. win money.

i like finding evil kings, presto'ing a pair of horns coming from their butt, and make them panic about some new disease.

[Keld Denar]

Grease is kinda lackluster at 1 due to the duration, but the real winners at that level are Color Spray, Sleep, Ray of Enfeeblement (vs a single target), and Enlarge Person. Color Spray is a save or lose. Sleep is a save or die (although it has a 1 round casting time). Ray of Enfeeblement is a no-save, just suck, 1d6+1 is a pretty decent penalty, especially if you roll well. Enlarge Person gives a reach advantage to any one of your party members. At level 1, a single hit usually kills a bad guy. Enlarge Person gives one of your guys the reach to get that alpha strike in even if hes not normally carrying a reach weapon. Its a good thing.

[holywhippet]

Enlarge person is even better than that - being a size category larger means the target's weapons are a size category larger. Target someone with a greatsword or greataxe - 3d6 damage FTW.

Colour spray is great fun at low levels for seriously messing up clustered enemies.

[fulong]

Would making the creature deaf actually decrease their initiative checks by 4 means that their initiative go down by 4?

[holywhippet]

Would making the creature deaf actually decrease their initiative checks by 4 means that their initiative go down by 4?

No. You only do a single initiative check at the start of combat. After that you can only change initiative if you chose to delay your actions etc.

If you are deafened when you enter combat then you take the penalty.

[jumpet]

Reduce Person is also a great first level choice, it will net you +2 on ranged attacks, helping you contribute with ranged weapons attacks.

[cdrcjsn]

I personally like color spray, but if this is your first caster, you might want to stick with spells that don't require you to be up close and personal like sleep.

At low levels, both spells are basically save or die.

Oh, and get a riding dog as soon as you can. Put it in barding, train it for war, tell it to defend you, and make sure you keep it between you and bad guys at all times.

[aboyd]

prestidigitation is absolutely necessary. not kidding. you can win a game with that one spell.

poor on cash? go find one of those street gamblin dudes. bet him everything he has. pick one of the cups, it doesnt matter which. prestidigitation the ball there. win money.

Doesn't it say that it "lacks the power to duplicate any other spell effects" in the spell description? So the moment you try to teleport a ball, as a DM, I'd say, "Whoa, duplicating the teleport spell is too much -- especially since this is an improved teleport that affects objects and bypasses the range: personal or touch limitation!"

It does say that it can create objects at a range of 10 feet, and no line of sight is mentioned. So I think you could create a duplicate of the ball in the cup you selected. However, oh man would that be dangerous. First, it says that the items created "look crude and artificial." So unless the guy gets maybe a 3 or less on a free Spot check, he's not buying it. Next, I'm giving the guy a free wisdom roll to decide to check the cup it was supposed to be in, which he'd almost have to do to set up the next challenge. If he discovers the original ball, he's calling shenanigans.

i like finding evil kings, presto'ing a pair of horns coming from their butt, and make them panic about some new disease.

As a DM I'd say, "Uh, so, you took the Alter Self spell, made it better by having it affect others without a saving throw, and that means it should be OK for a zero-level spell to reproduce it? No, thanks."

And again, since Prestidigitation can create crude objects, I guess you could create little horn-like objects that were designated to appear flush against the evil king's back side, but they'd then be immediately subject to gravity and fall off. Or, if you placed the horns flush against the skin, hoping that the pressure from clothing would hold the horns in place, I'd probably suggest that the horns would be crushed (as "materials created by a prestidigitation spell are extremely fragile").

You have played with some lax DMs, my friend. :)

[Aron Times]

Level 1 spells, folks. Wizards get all non-prohibited cantrips at level 1.

I suggest Sleep, which ends encounters by itself. There's also Power Word Pain, which one-shots most low-level monsters (deals an average of 35 damage to a creature with 50 or less HP). There's also Ray of Enfeeblement, which is a decent debuff.

[gbprime]

Cantrip of choice... Open/Close. No more figuring out who the poor sot is that has to set off the trap or be the first one the goblins skewer when the door opens.

Ray of Enfeeblement - previously mentioned, great debuff at low levels.

Benign Transposition - 2 allies swap places... great to get someone to safety when the poo has hit the fan. No matter how well your group plans, this spell will be needed every once in a while. Make a scroll or two.

[aboyd]

Level 1 spells, folks. Wizards get all non-prohibited cantrips at level 1.

The OP himself asked for cantrips, so it would seem that this isn't just "what gets on the spellbook" but rather "I have limited spells per day, what should they be?"

Benign Transposition - 2 allies swap places... great to get someone to safety when the poo has hit the fan. No matter how well your group plans, this spell will be needed every once in a while. Make a scroll or two.

Something cool to note, from the SRD (in the spells chapter):

Unconscious creatures are automatically considered willing

...so that means that Benign Transposition is an amazing way to save your fallen ally, as they are always considered willing to be under the spell. I had a wizard with the Abrupt Jaunt alternative class feature, which allowed my character to teleport 10' as an immediate action. My wizard was standing back from battle, with the cleric. The fighter fell, surrounded by 3 attackers. My turn came up and I used Benign Transposition to swap with the fighter. The whole party howled -- the wizard swaps into melee combat?!?! But now the dying fighter was right next to the cleric, and I simply used Abrupt Jaunt to teleport out of the way when the bad guys tried to hit me.

Granted, you can only pull off that stunt about 2 or 3 times a day (or, depending upon how meta your DM is, maybe only 2 or 3 times in a campaign). However, when you need it, you need it. :) Keeping the party from a TPK is a very good reason to put that spell on your list.

[Endarire]

Initiative-wise, these rules suggest that changes to initiative apply in subsequent rounds.