What is Your Favorite Spell?

[Krobar]

Commune. I had an epic bard in the 3.5 days that used limited wish to cast Commune so he could invite Sharess over to his place for drinks in the hot tub. Or dinner. Or because he wanted a back rub.

Etc.

[Chronos]

Minor Illusion has the twin advantages of being incredibly versatile, and not having any resource cost to use it (I hate using up spell slots that I "might need more later", and then of course the "later" never comes). There's almost no situation where it can't be used. In combat, make a crate or a boulder or a shrub or whatever other object makes sense to hide inside, or temporarily block something's line of sight, or a fake corpse to confuse an enemy about who is or isn't really dead. Out of combat, show exactly what something looks like, or communicate stealthily, or distract someone, or just add some special effects to spice things up.

[lall]

Chill Touch

[sambojin]

Certainly not for its power, but because it's so fun to use in tightly packed combats: Wind Wall.
OK, it does almost no damage for its slot, but the zigzag'y leaping lightning style targeting is a hoot. It's one of those spells that I always try and convince a DM to let me upcast. I've never actually used it for blocking ranged attacks, but will usually cast it a couple of times per level in most adventures because it's great on a grid.

Same with Tidal Wave. It looks horrible, until you realize that it can do mid-air-proning of flyers. It's also pretty much like a 1-off Sunbeam in its targeting as well (a really fat lightning bolt). Again, I try and get it upcastable, but I usually just prepare it for the lols (druids really don't have much to go on for nonconcentration direct damage). I like the mental image of geysers of water smashing things out of the sky.

My real favourite is Conjure Animals though. Just so good at doing so many things that it's hard to not have it whenever you can get it. There is never a time where having a couple of flying mounts or more chances for restrain-on-hit isn't useful.

[Iskande]

...

Same with Tidal Wave. It looks horrible, until you realize that it can do mid-air-proning of flyers. It's also pretty much like a 1-off Sunbeam in its targeting as well (a really fat lightning bolt). Again, I try and get it upcastable, but I usually just prepare it for the lols (druids really don't have much to go on for nonconcentration direct damage). I like the mental image of geysers of water smashing things out of the sky.

...

I enjoy tidal wave a lot, that's probably up there for me.

However, my favorite spell is heat metal.

Opponent is wearing armor? Give them disadvantage on basically everything they do for the rest of combat.

They have a scarily powerful magic weapon? Force them to drop it or take damage.

[sambojin]

Another thing I like about Tidal Wave is that its dimensions are all "up to". You want it smaller than 30'x10'x10'? Go for it. You could make it the size of a baseball and it would still knock a person down if they fail their dex save. And put out unprotected flames on the ground within 30' of it (it's magic, it doesn't have to make physical sense). And you can do it any angle if you're fat-beaming with it within that 120' cast range (so handy for tight combats or for hitting heaps of enemies).

That, and fall damage making it a far better damage spell than it looks like against anything without hover flight/ prone immunity, if they're in the air when you hit them with it.

And the "lights out" effect is actually *really big*. It can backfire, but great for when that's what you want to happen (which is mostly).

It's more like an EMP blast, than a tidal wave, and is also a very customizable-on-cast one. Fireball can't be altered nearly as easily, and virtually nothing resists magical bludgeoning damage.


(I tend to like any spell where it looks weak at first glance, until you follow what it says through to its logical conclusion in game mechanics terms).

((Wind Wall is another "up to" these dimensions spell. If there's a 2mm crack under a door, and you know there's someone on the other side of it, you can fire mini-chain-lightning under it. Targeted effect has to be on the ground, unfortunately. Tidal Wave doesn't. You can fire it through keyholes, down chimneys, along battlements, around street/ dungeon corners, into courtyards/ over walls from above, through window shutters, or whatever looks fun at the time. You don't need to see the area it's effecting, just the point-of-origin of the effect, with nothing actually blocking line-of-effect to that))

[Mad_Saulot]

Shadow of Moil is just so cool

[Stealthscout]

Shape water, hands down.

So many options and flexible wording in the spell description that allow you to play with it in hundreds of ways. The fact it is a cantrip with an hour duration is a heapfull of frosting. I dare say it rivals presdigitation that way.

[Throne12]

It hard to choose but I love illusion magic and it hard to pick just one. But major image is a good contender. You can do a lot of stuff with it.

[Callak_Remier]

Magic Jar, Plane shift, Drawmij instant summons.

[moonfly7]

Mold earth. It's easily my favorite spell ever. It's just a cantrip so it's not on par power wise with, say, fireball, or even eldritch blast in the cantrip department, but it really rewards creativity, especially with my DMs who generally allow a few logical steps with spells, especially cantrips(once our bard used Prestidigitation to send a strong puff of air at a dust mephit, DM let it deal 1d4 damage, and he critted and then killed it), so it's great for shenanigans.
We routinely use it to fortify locations, create trenches, just flat up burry fools, or other crazy stuff.
I also like control flames, gust, and shape water.

[Desamir]

Web! I pick it on every caster I can. It's just SO GOOD for a 2nd level spell. Restrained is a great condition to inflict, breaking out requires an action, and unlike Entangle you can just push them right back in.

[Sindal]

Ooo toughy.

-Magic missile.
It's iconic. It's near fullproof for its purpose and it makes me feel like a caster.

Honorable mention:
Aid - effectively a preventative aoe heal so you can focus your energy on not healing as much.

[Falconcry]

For me it’s Dragon’s Breath. I have an arcane cleric 1 / transmutation wizard 4. I’m grouped with a wildfire druid 5 that can throw two fireballs per fight and has a flaming pet. I cast DB on my familiar and was told “You can repeat the damage each turn? That’s to OP!”

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Sending has probably been my favorite out of combat spell. Its just nice to be able to message old allies/NPC's every so often. The DM comes up with some funny lines. Ending up in a 6 spell slot conversation about "well how is it dark there but light here?" which elves just seem to know the answer to is priceless.

[Arkhios]

Thunderwave.

Simple, effective, and LOUD. xD

[Callak_Remier]

Sending has probably been my favorite out of combat spell. Its just nice to be able to message old allies/NPC's every so often. The DM comes up with some funny lines. Ending up in a 6 spell slot conversation about "well how is it dark there but light here?" which elves just seem to know the answer to is priceless.

My favorite 3rd level spell for sure.

[Phhase]

So many choices....

I'm going to confine myself to mostly non-psionics, just so I don't create an integer overflow with my character count.

Dust Devil: Ironically, I just realized how cool this spell is since I took it on my Wu Jen Mystic. It really helps me push my Desert flavor, since I'm an undead Thri-kreen. Using my light weight and hang gliding skills I can ride the whirlwind, which is super cool. You can also fill it up to churning with nasty things like caltrops, oil, poison, you name it.

Shape Water: It's Fabricate, but 1 action and ice only. I once fortified a barn into an ice castle. I called that session Assault on Icecrown.

Mold Earth: Since my DM is quite kind, this handy thing ended up being just like Shape Water, but for earth and stone. It's really nice to be able to just pull things like writing tablets right out of the ground (More desert flavor!).

Gaseous Form: Technically the Misty Form psionic discipline, but essentially the same thing. Being able to turn into a breeze is just the coolest thing, and suuuuper useful. I now have an underground base that is only accessible through a small broken pipe in the sewer. It's also great for searching for hidden cracks and compartments.

Prestidigitation:
"Hey, I'm thirsty, pass me some water?"
*Casts Prestidigitation discreetly* "Here" *Passes over canteen of distilled 90% ethyl alcohol, with the flavor and smell removed*
(Drinks) "Thanks!"

Rope Trick: (Assassin's Creed Noises)

Suggestion: Has surprising utility. The best use I've ever seen was one of my players casting it on themselves. They'd just been hit with a potent Abyssal curse that seemingly transported them to the Abyss, but in truth, only put them in a fake vision (Though still damaging). The Suggestion was "Wake up". It didn't work the way it was intended since they weren't technically asleep, merely turned invisible and paralyzed, but I ruled it allowed them to use their mind to make their illusions into reality within the bounds of the vision, which was arguably more fun in the end.

[Warlush]

#1. Eldritch blast!!!!!
#2. Hex

[KorvinStarmast]

My Five Favorites In Order
1. Fog Cloud
2. Tasha's Hideous Laughter
3. Banishment
4. Find Familiar.
5. Lesser Restoration (condition removal for the win at low cost)

[Bardon]

My Five Favorites In Order
1. Fog Cloud
2. Tasha's Hideous Laughter
3. Banishment
4. Find Familiar.
5. Lesser Restoration (condition removal for the win at low cost)

See, I *love* Banishment ... except for the material component: an item distasteful to the target

Unless you have a Handy Haversack this is much more limited than I'd like, and in some cases it's really difficult to work out what some entities find distasteful. Not so bad for a wizard but if you're spell-limited like a sorcerer it can make it very difficult to choose Banishment.

[Desamir]

See, I *love* Banishment ... except for the material component: an item distasteful to the target

Unless you have a Handy Haversack this is much more limited than I'd like, and in some cases it's really difficult to work out what some entities find distasteful. Not so bad for a wizard but if you're spell-limited like a sorcerer it can make it very difficult to choose Banishment.

As a component without a cost, it can be replaced with a spellcasting focus or a component pouch.

[micahaphone]

Maybe distasteful is very loosely applied? A fiend thinks your Macaroni art of Pelor is just uncalled for, you keep lettuce in your pouch for undead, a squirt gun is gauche to a fire elemental.

[Blood of Gaea]

Mirage Arcane, hands down. Nothing beats the feeling of just changing the entire terrain in a massive area into nearly whatever you like.

[Chronos]

The component for Banishment isn't an item without a cost; it's an item with an unspecified cost. What the cost is depends on what the item is, which depends on what you're trying to banish. For instance, a holy symbol will work for undead and some outsiders, and it costs 5 GP, so it can't be replaced by a component pouch.

[elyktsorb]

At the moment it's Thorn Whip, so I can pretend to be Scorpion from Mortal Combat. Of course pulling things off of ledges is neat.

[NaughtyTiger]

At the moment it's Thorn Whip, so I can pretend to be Scorpion from Mortal Combat. Of course pulling things off of ledges is neat.

i was gonna post this...
i like that it is really useful on friendlies in a bad situation.
i like that i have to decide if 1d6 against a friendly is worth it. (often is)
some DMs give more flexibility (spider man web sling or no damage...)

[Man_Over_Game]

Catapult. You can do so many things with it. Throw something off-scene to distract someone, pull the McGuffin off the floor and near your party, Ready it and grab someone's thrown javelin to launch it back at them. Not to mention that it keeps going until it hits a target, meaning it can easily get more value tactically than something like Chromatic Orb.

[Christew]

The component for Banishment isn't an item without a cost; it's an item with an unspecified cost. What the cost is depends on what the item is, which depends on what you're trying to banish. For instance, a holy symbol will work for undead and some outsiders, and it costs 5 GP, so it can't be replaced by a component pouch.

Per PHB Material Components: "Casting some Spells requires particular Objects, specified in parentheses in the component entry. A character can use a Component pouch or a Spellcasting focus (found in “Equipment”) in place of the Components specified for a spell. But if a cost is indicated for a component, a character must have that specific component before he or she can cast the spell.

If a spell states that a material component is consumed by the spell, the caster must provide this component for each casting of the spell.
A spellcaster must have a hand free to access a spell’s material components—or to hold a Spellcasting focus—but it can be the same hand that he or she uses to perform somatic Components."

No "cost is indicated," ergo "a character can use a Component pouch or a Spellcasting focus."

I agree that requiring specific distasteful items for different targets opens some interesting roleplaying opportunities, but that kind of house rule should be telegraphed before the game starts since it is not strictly RAW and could impact player's spell selection.

[Nifft]

See, I *love* Banishment ... except for the material component: an item distasteful to the target

Unless you have a Handy Haversack this is much more limited than I'd like, and in some cases it's really difficult to work out what some entities find distasteful. Not so bad for a wizard but if you're spell-limited like a sorcerer it can make it very difficult to choose Banishment.

Just carry around a stack of gnome porn.