What's your favorite first level spell?

[Tokiko Mima]

Apologies if someone else has already posted Wired magazine's look at 1st level D&D sorcerer/wizard spells.

Link: Alt Text Video: Surveying D&D's Entry-Level Spells

Enjoy!

[drengnikrafe]

I'm really new to magic, so I'm not sure I have a "favorite", per se, but I have several that I really like...

Alarm
Unseen Servent (surprising number of combat uses for a non combat spell...)
Color Spray (For lower levels? Lifesaver)
Identify, if you have a DM that doesn't tell you what magic items do

I only have my 3.5 Players Manual on me right now, so I'm probably missing a bunch of good ones form the Spell Compedium...

[its_all_ogre]

personal favourites ray of enfeeblement and grease, both on the party dwarf fighter for extra giggles!
hide from animals is also good fun!

[senrath]

Grease is probably my favorite. Gotta love all the things you can do with it.

[Talya]

Favorite by the time first level spells are mostly useless:

Nerveskitter. It never wears out its usefulness.

[hylian chozo]

Grease is a good spell, very versatile. Color spray is also very good; but my favorite would have to be silent image, it's just a very open-ended spell that is useful until you get minor image.

[Nohwl]

i really like identify. feather fall is another one i like too.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Identify, if you have a DM that doesn't tell you what magic items do

>.> What the hell else would Identify be used for?....Why else would the DM tell you what magic items do?

[senrath]

The only problem I have with Identify is its material components:

A pearl of at least 100 gp value, crushed and stirred into wine with an owl feather; the infusion must be drunk prior to spellcasting.

That's pretty expensive for a low level spell, although it does come in handy later.

[Chronos]

My top three would have to be:

1: Silent Image
2: Silent Image
3: Silent Image.

It's just so versatile. Often, making someone think that something is so is just as good as actually making it so, which means that this humble first level spell can often effectively duplicate a spell of much higher level.

[drengnikrafe]

>.> What the hell else would Identify be used for?....Why else would the DM tell you what magic items do?

Nah, I'm referring to the part where my DM decides that spending 5 minutes trying to work out what a piece of equipment does is a waste of time, and just tells us what it's called, and usually what it does.
DM: He's wearing a breastplate of armor surging.
Me: What does that do?
DM: *Grins*
That was a really creative effect...

[Dark Knight Renee]

Magic Missile, because I like blasters.

Too bad blasters are poorly supported at best and everything else is a much better option, even in-character

[Azerian Kelimon]

Magic missile too, here. Yeah, it is mostly teh suxxorz, but it spawned one of the best and most finely balanced spells I've seen, Mordenkainen's Force/concussive missiles.

[Corsec1337]

I've got to give a shout out to Magic Missile. Never fails... unless it has spell resistence but we don't like to talk about that.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

I'm with the grease crowd on this one.

[drengnikrafe]

Magic Missile, because I like blasters.

Too bad blasters are poorly supported at best and everything else is a much better option, even in-character

I believe that Blasters are the best introductory choice for new Casters. It's not that difficult to get the start of a grasp on magic with just "I blow that up" type mentality, and if they like magic they'll build it from there out of sheer fastenation (Or maybe that's just how I got into magics). Either way, I like blasters too.

EDIT: I totally forgot the main point of this response... I don't particularly like Magic Missle because it's... really kind of weak. Sure, it's an automatic hit, but it doesn't feel like it makes enough of a difference... Sorry about that.

EDIT AGAIN: Curse my overly verbose nature! Sorry about complaining about Magic Missle, I just don't really like it that much. Sorry all you guys.

[Glyde]

Lantern light for two reasons:

Eye lasers

Spell Component involves sex

[skywalker]

Magic Missile is cool because it ALWAYS hits.

My favorite is sleep. Grease is nice, color spray owns, but there's nothing like putting a room of orcs to sleep and slitting their throats while they slumber.(At least for me)

Ooh, ooh, bonus points: Expeditious Retreat!


EDIT: I think Lantern Light is fun, too, altho I could sworn it wasn't first level? I also think it should be mentioned, it involves abstaining from sex. Not sex. Big difference there.

[TheThan]

I’ll go with true strike. Because missing sucks

For second level I’ll go with snowball swarm from Spell Compendium.
Because the imagery is just great.

[Collin152]

Rouse.
Nothings better than a first level spell weaker than cantrips.

[Enguhl]

Magic missile is the single coolest thing ever. I made a magic missile sorcerer once (with the meta magic sorc variant) and was going to be throwing out lvl 5+ magic missiles, but alas it never got played...

[Deepblue706]

I'm caught between Jump, Charm Person, and Obscuring Mist.

[SadisticFishing]

Nerveskitter, Shield, and Ray of Enfeeblement for Arcane.

Sign and Divine Favor for Divine.

[Grommen]

Grease
Followed by a Flaming Sphere or some other fire inducing spell. (Yes in my world Grease is flammable)

Quite Fond of Color Spray too and it's bigger brother Prismatic Spray.

[sonofzeal]

Produce Flame. Compare to Call Lightning - very similar but more reliable damage, uses a Ranged Touch attack which is especially easy to pump for a Druid (anything small with high Dex), and two spell levels earlier. Stops being useful around lvl7-9 but hey, you're a Druid, you didn't have to permanently learn it or anything.

My very first campaign-smasher was a Halfling Druid5/Rogue1. Getting a Sneak off with a fire attack is a bit harder, but the results were worth it, especially since I was effectively getting +3 to my attack roll from being a Halfling (size, dex, and technically it's "thrown"...)

[Kurald Galain]

My top three would have to be:

1: Silent Image
2: Silent Image
3: Silent Image.

Completely agreed.

[Tempest Fennac]

For Arcane, I'd go with Identiy or Unseen servant. For Divine, I'd go with Lesser Vigour (I'd love to be able to se that in real life).

[raygungothic]

Silent Image's versatility is really dependent on the attitude of your GM. Some people are way too harsh - giving every NPC so many chances to save, then having them get furious with the party for the trickery - others are too lax, and let you get away with just about anything. I try to stick somewhere in the middle, but know I tend to err on the lax side - my present party doesn't cast illusions, though, so I'm not getting any practice.

As for my favourites...

"Expeditious retreat! Expeditious retreat!"... it's a little ambiguous as to whether it stacks with Jump, but most people I play with think it does, and it's an awesome combination.

Sleep is pretty good at low levels, though less handy later.

[serow]

I'm sure I actually have spells that I actually like more, but the first that springs into mind is Cure Light Wounds.

[Paul H]

I'm sure I actually have spells that I actually like more, but the first that springs into mind is Cure Light Wounds.

Hi

I think they're looking for Arcane spells, not Divine. (Yes I know, with Arcane Disciple, Healing Domain, Cure Lt wnds is 1st lvl Arcane).

If Divine spells were allowed, then Identify (Domain spell, so uses DF, no components).

As for Arcane - still 'horses for courses'. Lssr Acid Orb is a good one - no save, no SR. Crits on 20, x2 damage. Better empowered, or cast by Warmage (int bonus to damage). Warmage with good int and Sudden Empower is just vicious.

Cheers
Paul H