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D&D 5E Choose your spells in real life?
- Thread starter green_destiny
- Start date
Great game!
I could find uses for any of the three options. I'd probably choose the level-1 spells, though: that would have the greatest positive impact on my day-to-day life in a mostly mundane world.
Cantrips:
* Mending -- fix anything, seamlessly, from minor home repairs to broken red-figure vases in the British museum.
* Guidance -- be ~15% better at everything, always.
* Spare the Dying -- I understand the altruism behind choosing this, but the truth is I've not trained to be an EMT, a first responder, or an Emergency Room physician, and it's not the life I'd choose to lead. I'd probably choose Thaumaturgy instead.
Level 1:
* Comprehend Languages -- this would make me immeasurably better at my present job, in addition to the ability to understand anyone; read anything. With this question in mind, reading the spell description brings new things to light. the "literal" meaning is understood; does that mean that you aren't able to perceive non-literal meaning? What happens when I read poetry in another language?
* Unseen Servant -- an hour's housework done/day, with no guilt about asking someone else to do what I don't want to. This seems a no-brainer, to me.
* Speak with animals (first alternate) -- the more I think about this, the more I realize I'd learn about the world if I could speak to animals. We'd solve the dolphins question; and gain immeasurably in terms of our understanding of intelligence and nature. Plus, it would be cool. The only reason it's not higher is that I live in the city, and I expect I'd be saddened by the true thoughts of the animals around me.
Level 2:
* Lesser Restoration -- okay, curing cancer or blindness or something else 1/day is pretty incredible, and it's hard to deny one should choose that, even if I'm not working in an Emerg ward (the demands will be high, though, and I don't want to be making the call on who gets the benefit. So now I'm using my unseen servant to do triage for me). Next to that, my initial instinct to get Alter self for the aquatic adaptation seems positively selfish (or maybe shellfish).
I could find uses for any of the three options. I'd probably choose the level-1 spells, though: that would have the greatest positive impact on my day-to-day life in a mostly mundane world.
Cantrips:
* Mending -- fix anything, seamlessly, from minor home repairs to broken red-figure vases in the British museum.
* Guidance -- be ~15% better at everything, always.
* Spare the Dying -- I understand the altruism behind choosing this, but the truth is I've not trained to be an EMT, a first responder, or an Emergency Room physician, and it's not the life I'd choose to lead. I'd probably choose Thaumaturgy instead.
Level 1:
* Comprehend Languages -- this would make me immeasurably better at my present job, in addition to the ability to understand anyone; read anything. With this question in mind, reading the spell description brings new things to light. the "literal" meaning is understood; does that mean that you aren't able to perceive non-literal meaning? What happens when I read poetry in another language?
* Unseen Servant -- an hour's housework done/day, with no guilt about asking someone else to do what I don't want to. This seems a no-brainer, to me.
* Speak with animals (first alternate) -- the more I think about this, the more I realize I'd learn about the world if I could speak to animals. We'd solve the dolphins question; and gain immeasurably in terms of our understanding of intelligence and nature. Plus, it would be cool. The only reason it's not higher is that I live in the city, and I expect I'd be saddened by the true thoughts of the animals around me.
Level 2:
* Lesser Restoration -- okay, curing cancer or blindness or something else 1/day is pretty incredible, and it's hard to deny one should choose that, even if I'm not working in an Emerg ward (the demands will be high, though, and I don't want to be making the call on who gets the benefit. So now I'm using my unseen servant to do triage for me). Next to that, my initial instinct to get Alter self for the aquatic adaptation seems positively selfish (or maybe shellfish).
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Guys, you do realize it's A, B, or C, right? You don't get three cantrips and two 1st-level spells and one 2nd-level spell. You have to choose. If you get a 2nd-level spell, that's all you get.
Anyway, I agree with the folks picking lesser restoration. The ability to cure one disease per day--any disease--would be huge.
Anyway, I agree with the folks picking lesser restoration. The ability to cure one disease per day--any disease--would be huge.
The Crimson Binome
Hero
I guess I'll break the trend, and go with the three cantrips - Mending, Ray of Frost, and Guidance.
Mending is great utility for everyday life. Especially in the case of electronics, it helps that this will fix a physical defect even if I don't know what the problem actually is.
Ray of Frost is great for a demonstration of principle, because it violates thermodynamics. (Or maybe I'd go with Prestidigitation, just to show off in general.)
Guidance, in my opinion, should save more lives than Lesser Restoration. I mean, sure, I don't get to heal one person per day of a terminal ailment. On the other hand, I do get to increase the rate of scientific discovery by allowing mundane research to break through current limits, and that should save more people in the long run.
Mending is great utility for everyday life. Especially in the case of electronics, it helps that this will fix a physical defect even if I don't know what the problem actually is.
Ray of Frost is great for a demonstration of principle, because it violates thermodynamics. (Or maybe I'd go with Prestidigitation, just to show off in general.)
Guidance, in my opinion, should save more lives than Lesser Restoration. I mean, sure, I don't get to heal one person per day of a terminal ailment. On the other hand, I do get to increase the rate of scientific discovery by allowing mundane research to break through current limits, and that should save more people in the long run.
AverageCitizen
Explorer
I've tried my hardest but I don't think you can beat Lesser Restoration.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
This thread is great at making me think. About the original question definitely, but also since these have been pointed out to be so useful for non-adventurers, it's making me think about every village having access to these listed spells and how that will affect the lives there.
Maybe cure Disease needs to wait for the traveling friar once a month, but since he'll also stop at the bandit's hideaway no one bothers him on the roads. He's also got cure wounds which can bring people up from negatives, though the local leader of worship also has that. Between the hedge witch, the padre, and that occasional druid or sorcerer who lives on the outskirts of town many cantrips are covered. The blacksmith makes things (and kaes them better with Guidance) but the hedge witch fixes them quicker. Root cellars are re-cooled during the hot parts of the year with half an hour of ray of frost.
Lots of thoughts. Better living through magic.
Maybe cure Disease needs to wait for the traveling friar once a month, but since he'll also stop at the bandit's hideaway no one bothers him on the roads. He's also got cure wounds which can bring people up from negatives, though the local leader of worship also has that. Between the hedge witch, the padre, and that occasional druid or sorcerer who lives on the outskirts of town many cantrips are covered. The blacksmith makes things (and kaes them better with Guidance) but the hedge witch fixes them quicker. Root cellars are re-cooled during the hot parts of the year with half an hour of ray of frost.
Lots of thoughts. Better living through magic.
OK, I'll go with Find familiar and Speak with Animals.
Jester David
Hero
Invisibility once per day.
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