D&D 5E Wizard able to prepare a single spell from any class

[HarrisonF]

My DM recently gave me a magic item that will let me prepare a single spell from any list (like magical secrets except not cantrips), so I have been spending some time trying to figure out what is the best to learn and wanted some advice.

For the item requirements, it requires a caster that has the spell I want and them being willing to teach me (takes 2 hours per spell level), and I can only have a single one written in the magic spell book at a time, so it will require a decent amount of in-game work to get higher level spells and it will be a pain to switch what it is, so I won't have a lot of chances to get many different ones. Cleric spells are a bit easier to get and swap since I have one traveling with me.

As some background, my party is currently all 9th level, so I can do up to 5th level spells.

Party makeup:

Gnome diviner wizard (me)
Human battlemaster fighter (2H fighter with hazirawn)
Elven hunter ranger (archer)
Elven life cleric

Generally I play the god role of the party and do a lot of miscellaneous buffing, debuffing, and battlefield controlling. The fighter is very tanky, as well as does good DPS now that he has hazirawn. The hunter has always done really good damage. The cleric is mostly a healbot and does some minor damage and other buffs.

Ideas so far:

Cure Wounds: Scalable healing can be useful. We don't have a lot of off-healer action going on, but a life cleric is a really good healer already
Raise Dead: Currently only the cleric can cast this, so if they die, it will kinda suck. Doesn't need to be prepared all of the time, can cast it a day later.
Revivify: Same as above, but easier on slots, but requires it to be prepared all of the time.
Circle of Power: Seems like a good buff, but requires concentration which is already tough to manage.
Contagion: Not super awesome due to needing to fail 3 saves, but I do have a familiar to cast it with and portent could make it more likely to work.

Any one have any other ideas?

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I might go for Revivify so that I can cast Contingency: Revivify on myself.

But then, once you get Clone online that becomes less attractive. Hmmm. Conjure Animals might be my other pick then. It's more efficient than anything a wizard gets natively (except Animate Dead for a Necromancer).

Enhance Ability is a lot of fun too.

 

[HarrisonF]

I might go for Revivify so that I can cast Contingency: Revivify on myself. But then, once you get Clone online that becomes less attractive.

Oh, that is an interesting thought. I really do like Contingency: Dimension Door on reduced to half HP though, so it might be a hard trade off. I doubt we will play all the way until I get to Clone since that would be level 15 + 120 days time.

Hmmm. Conjure Animals might be my other pick then. It's more efficient than anything a wizard gets natively (except Animate Dead for a Necromancer).

We do play with the sage advice ruling that the DM gets to be the ultimate pick. The ranger has been using this spell, and so far the DM has been pretty lenient with allowing for what he wants. But if I did 16 wolfs, he might a bit annoyed and give me something crappy instead It is a bit thematic as well since he is a outlander forest gnome that has a background of spending a lot of time in nature.

Enhance Ability is a lot of fun too.

The cleric uses this quite a bit, so probably too much overlap.


Thanks for the ideas!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

With the concentration slot already contested I would propose aporitual weapon. No utility at all but a great way to increase your dpr if that is important to you. Otherwise revivify is a great idea since if your cleric is killed you can get him back to work.

 

[dmnqwk]

5th level Conjure Animals lets you summon either 16 Giant Owls, or 16 Poisonous Snakes.

Each Owl can do 2d6+1 damage while the Snakes deal 1d4+4 and 3d6 poison (con save for half). When it comes to raw damage, Conjure Animals is overpowered and is always a worthwhile consideration.

At the same token your DM might get sick of you doing it, so I would recommend Mass Healing Word, the utility of using it as an AoE heal in a pinch is incredibly powerful.

 

[Eejit]

I might go for Revivify so that I can cast Contingency: Revivify on myself.

But then, once you get Clone online that becomes less attractive. Hmmm. Conjure Animals might be my other pick then. It's more efficient than anything a wizard gets natively (except Animate Dead for a Necromancer).

Enhance Ability is a lot of fun too.

Reincarnate is much more fun than Revivify or Raise Dead IMO

(It also avoid some niche problems, such as getting around a Mind Devourer brainotomy)


Antilife Shell is pretty sweet, when you're not fighting undead or contstructs.

 

[darilon]

Swift Quiver would be fun to cast on the Ranger since they don't usually get this until Lvl 17. I assume it can be cast on others as range is "touch".

 

[HarrisonF]

Swift Quiver would be fun to cast on the Ranger since they don't usually get this until Lvl 17. I assume it can be cast on others as range is "touch".

I don't think you can do that, since the spell specifies you are touching a quiver and then it changes how the quiver works for you. It is kinda oddly worded though.

 

[HarrisonF]

Mass healing word: My life cleric party member is so much better than me at that. He will heal d4+10 (+5 to himself) vs. my d4+5, so I doubt it will be useful for me to use it much. The regular healing word to get the cleric back up as a bonus action might be better. I don't have a lot of things to use my first level spell slots on.

Antilife Shell: I'm not a huge fan of using concentration on a defensive buff. This one also seems very specific for only working against creatures without ranged weapon attacks.



I think I might go with Conjure Animals, at least until my DM kills me. I just ordered a bunch of bulk dice to be able to do 16 attack rolls and damage rolls at once to try to keep the annoyance to a minimum.

Revivify and Spiritual Weapon are interesting as well, particularly if I get conjure animals nerfed. I rarely use my bonus action for anything, so the DPR from spiritual weapon could be handy at times.

Luckily, all three of these options are available from my party members, so it will be easy to swap them if needed.

Thanks for the ideas!

 

[Tanaka Chris]

Well, as a God style player, I'd pick Contagion, mainly because I believe you've mis-read the text.

From the PHB (Bolding the relevant bits)
Your touch inflicts disease. Make a melee spell attack against a creature within your reach. On a hit, you afflict the creature with a disease of your choice from any of the ones described below.
At the end of each of the target’s turns, it must make a Constitution saving throw. After failing three of these saving throws, the disease’s effects last for the duration, and the creature stops making these saves.
After succeeding on three of these saving throws, the creature recovers from the disease, and the spell ends.

The way I read it, the Creature suffers from the disease the moment you connect your melee spell attack. Causing a minimum of 3 rounds of which it makes it saving throws, whilst suffering from the attacks.
Pick the Slimy Doom, to disadvantage it's Constitution Saving Throws.... which it happens to be forced to make every turn
Meanwhile, have your attackers hit the creature and cause the stun effect to proc non stop.