D&D 5E Wizard Spell Selection

[MonkeezOnFire]

I'm currently playing through Lost Mines of Phandelvar as the almighty wizard class! And I'm loving it. So far I've gotten to turn around a goblin ambush using sleep, trick goblins into going where I want them to with minor illusion (tried to at least), blast a bug bear down a hole using thunder wave and cause a thug to fall prone twice in one turn using grease. Even at low level I feel like I contribute by denying my enemies their precious turns.

Anyway I am about to hit level 3, which is huge. My spell slot count will double and I get access to lvl 2 spells. Looking over the level 2 spells I quickly realized that there are a lot of things that I want and unless the DM is overly generous I will not be able to learn them all. After looking over what I had and what's newly available I decided upon Web and Blindness/Deafness. I love area control effects so Web was a no-brainer for me and Blindness/Deafness is a bit better for me as I am a divination wizard and its a great use for low rolls.

For me the choosing process was a bit of a long one as I experienced analysis paralysis. This got me interested in how others choose spells and what strategies they favor. For me, as I said above, area control effects tend to get prioritized over others. I find they are great to start a fight with. I also try to diversify my profile and choose things that I didn't have access to at the previous level. I didn't have a level 1 single target debuff to use with my divination rolls so Blindness seemed great. I also like to pick up spell that have utility outside of combat.

So how do you go about choosing spells? What are your must-haves? Which do you think are the hidden gems?

 

[bgbarcus]

I've been in the DM chair for most of my playing time but I always favored wizards when I got to play, and I agree, the 5e wizard feels like a great class.

Hitting 3rd level lets you select two spells and Web is always a good choice. My players have put it to good use. But, for the second spell, I'm not sure I'd take Blindness/Deafness. Misty Step is super useful for getting out of a difficult spot and that has been a key spell for both PC's and NPC's in my games. The second level spell my players have really gotten the greatest benefit from is Mirror Image. Between that and Shield your defenses are really solid so you can survive to get more of those control and attack spells later.

 

[HarrisonF]

I also spend a lot of time agonizing over my spell choices. At level 3, I ended up going with web and levitate. Levitate is nice since it can be both a debuff for melee types, as well as a buff or support spell in other cases.

My other two commonly used second level spells ended up as detect thoughts (our group lacked a good social character) and invisibility for scouting. I really only try to pick a few combat-only spells since wizards have so many out of combat spells.

 

[jrowland]

As a diviner, you can get a re-use of slots of lower level when you hit level 6 when you cast div spells. So say you cast a 2nd level Div spell, you will regain a spent 1st level slot. So keep that in mind when choosing spells. You'll want a Div spell in every level from 2-6, hopefully a really useful one like locate object, so you can refresh slots of 1-5. That's a lot of extra casting when its all said and done.

So maybe not at 3d level, but you'll want to get it via scroll/downtime/etc as soon as you can and start building that library.

 

[Shiroiken]

As a fellow lover of the Wizard: Welcome!

Unless you have access to spells outside your normal advancement, it's tricky to decide. I won't give any specific choices, since those vary from game to game, but there are a few things to take into consideration before choosing.

One of the things that matters is your game's style of combat. If you're getting attacked fairly regularly, then I would stock up on a good defensive spell or a movement spell to get you out of trouble. If you seldom see damage, then you can get by with just Shield or maybe Mage Armor.

Concentration is a drawback for many good spells. Make sure you only have a handful of those, preferably for different situations. If you have too many concentration spells, you won't have that many choices each round, since you'll want to maintain the first concentration spell you cast.

Wizard has the best Ritual Caster ability in the game: you don't have to prepare it, just have it in your book. This means that you can pick up a few ritual spells (comprehend languages, for example) that you never actually plan on preparing. I try to build my spellbook to be mostly my regularly prepared spells, plus rituals. I maximize my utility this way.

Something I LOVE about 5E is that you don't need an attack spell for every level. You can cast most of those with higher level slots for similar damage to spells of that level. This frees you up to have situational spells that you may seldom cast, but are vital when needed (Feather Fall, for example). I would make sure you have 1 attack spell for 1st level and 3rd level, and everything else as desired.

As a side note, if your DM ever allows you to scribe spells into your spellbook... do it! Save all your money (which you won't have much use for, outside of a few expensive components) to do so. More spells means more options, which increases your overall ability (especially if they're rituals!). Even spells that you don't think you'll ever need may come in handy

 

[IgnatiusJ.Reilly]

Second level spells seem kinda disappointing to me overall, but then again, they're better than other classes 2nd level spells, with a few exceptions.

1. Mirror Image: Don't overlook this one, it's not concentration and is one of the your best spells, unless there's some way for your attacker to ignore it (tremorsense, blindsight, truesight, etc.)

2. Levitate: Someone mentioned this already, but you can shutdown one of your enemies if they don't have a decent ranged attack - there is no re-save. Though it ties up your concentration slot. Not to mention it's great for the mobility/utility it provides under many circumstances.

3. Phantasmal Force: Int save, no re-save, but you'll need to be clever to use it effectively. Think of an effect that will be fun and plausible to the terrain/situation at hand and your DM will be more welcoming in its application. The damage portion is irrelevant, use it as a controlling effect.

4. Web: It's good around DC 15, but I don't find it that useful until then, assuming the targets don't have poor Dex saves. Maybe a good set up for a Fireball though. Remember it's difficult terrain, strike them with Ray of Frost for added movement drain.

5. Enlarge: Got a grappler in the party? If so, maybe it's okay. If not, it largely sucks. Your concentration slot is worth more.

6. Hold Person: Yes, they get a save every round, but if you've a couple of melee associates nearby, the target humanoid is in for a world of pain.

7. Blindness/Deafness: It's not concentration, but that's the only good I can say about.

 

[DEFCON 1]

As the DM, I made it a point to make sure and include scrolls in my treasure piles so that our Wizard PC had more spells available to add to his spellbook. The scroll section in the magic items chapter of the DMG can get kind of glossed over so some DMs might forget to include them.

But as a Wizard player, I'd make sure to notify your DM that you intend on looking for scrolls or spellbooks in various locations you adventure to increase the size of your spellbook, so that you aren't stuck with just your two 2nd level spells for too long.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

I had initially avoided choosing two concentration spells as my new additions. I feel that when I am able to cast higher level spells my concentration slot will typically be used on the higher level spells. That is why I was attracted to Blindness/Deafness. It is a debuff that retains its usefulness even at higher levels. Can anyone offer insight into if this line of thinking is valid or am I worrying too much? Though I must admit that the out of combat applications of levitate are attractive, and with the single saving throw it might be an even better candidate for my low divination rolls.

I plan on picking up Mirror Image and Misty Step next level.

Another question: Are there any levels where it is worth it to pick a spell from something other than the highest level available?

 

[the Jester]

So how do you go about choosing spells? What are your must-haves? Which do you think are the hidden gems?

I'm mostly the DM these days, so this is all based on older edition pcs I've run. But basically, I try to choose the spells that make sense for my character, even though this sometimes means taking suboptimal choices. So for instance, if I had a very greedy wizard, I might take fool's gold (I don't think it's in 5e- a 2nd level spell that made copper look like gold), if I am playing a guy with a theme I'll try to stick to the theme, etc.

 

[jgsugden]

At first level, a wizard can prepare 4 spells (usually), can cast 3 (using arcane recovery) and knows 6. That means that you're likely going to have 1 or 2 spells you are actually going to be using with prepared slots. Most likely, the other 4 should be rituals (find familiar, detect magic, comprehend language and unseen servant are my suggestions) so that you can get some use out of them.

As you advance, you gain one additional spell you can prepare, two spells in your spellbook from leveling, additional spells you choose to add, and between one and three spell slots for casting spells. You'll develop a group of commonly prepared spells, a group of spells you often prepare but sometimes swap out, a small list of conditional spells you occasionally swap in, a list of spells you never prepare but cast as rituals, and a bunch of spells you find and added to your book, but never prepare because they never make the cut. I find that I'm usually best served by adding one ritual per level and one non-ritual to my spell book. When you combine that one non-ritual per level with the spells you find and add to your book, you usually get about the right number of spells to prepare without getting too many spells that you'd need to prepare to use, but that never seem to make the cut.

As you hit about 7th level you should start to find it getting difficult to cast all of your spells before you take a long rest without feeling like you're wasting your spells unnecessarily. It may not be 7th - it might be anywhere from 7 to 11 depending upon play style, etc... However, you will hit that point. To get bang out of your spell list, you'll want to start preparing some spells that are not rituals, but that you either cast outside combat or that can be cast as reactions during combats. This allows you to use more slots than one per combat round. Buffs that do not require concentration (Mage Armor), utility spells (Knock), reaction spells (Shield) should start to make your prepared lists and be added to your spellbook.

Concentration should always be on your mind when acquiring and preparing spells. What will you be concentrating on? If you prepare a buff outside combat and carry it into combat, you won't be casting other concentration spells in combat unless you lose concentration on the first spell. I often limit myself to 1 to 3 concentration spells prepared, and if I know there are concentration spells in my regular repertoire, I won't choose to learn a new one when advancing a level unless it replaces the other spell in my regular repertoire.

Finally: Consider your items and class/race abilities. An enchanter can force a save or neuter spell anytime they want (once per enemy). If I have a wand of fireballs, I get 6+fireballs to throw around in addition to my normal spells. How much do I need to duplicate these readily available abilities, even if the duplication gives me slightly more efficient version of the spells? A typical wizard might consider memorizing fireball and lightning bolt... but if I have that wand, I might not use a prepared spell on fireball. If I am an enchanter, I might actually veer away from preparing hold person as it is somewhat redundant with hypnotic gaze. Of course, I might now - but it is something to consider.