D&D 5E Wizard 18: Spell Mastery

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FormerlyHemlock

Hero

• Sep 1, 2015

• #1

Does anyone have any particularly good ideas for what to do with Spell Mastery? What do you do with an at-will 1st or 2nd level spell when you're mostly limited by concentration economy anyway?

The only ideas I have that are at all interesting are Disguise Self and (for obvious reasons) Shield at 1st level, and maybe Misty Step and Web at 2nd level. Disguise Self would be useful for Mystique shenanigans (assume twelve different identities during the course of an infiltration), and of course Shield is useful for permanently increasing your AC by five points, which combined with partial cover from terrain or bodyguards makes your wizard actually pretty durable. Misty Step is useful because it's bonus action, no cover required (not compatible with non-cantrips though). Web might be useful just because it's a pretty hefty combat spell.

Any other good ideas? Mirror Image? Suggestion? Hold Person?

 

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Wolf118

Explorer

• Sep 1, 2015

• #2

Comprehend Languages, although that depends on how detailed a world your DM has created. Detect Magic is good, too. Expeditious Retreat, even though it's concentration, because having Dash every round makes you hard to pin down. Feather Fall. Grease every round could create some hilarious situations, and delay pursuit or allow your party to flank the enemy. Jump for extra mobility in combat for the entire party. Tenser's Disk for a near-permanent "mule" to carry all your stuff. Unseen Servant for related reasons. Invisibility, despite the concentration, because being able to become invisible whenever you need to can be very helpful (not to mention lifesaving). Rope Trick for the short rest.

 

F

FormerlyHemlock

Hero

• Sep 1, 2015

• #3

Comprehend Languages/Detect Magic/Unseen Servant/Tenser's Disk are already rituals, so all Spell Mastery is doing is making it quicker to cast (at the cost of a prepared spell slot). Still, I can indeed imagine situations where at-will Unseen Servant could be fun. ("Now I have SIX HUNDRED Unseen Servants preparing dinner! Mwahahaha!")

Good thoughts, thanks.

 

MonkeezOnFire

Adventurer

• Sep 1, 2015

• #4

I think you mentioned some of the most viable choices but here are some others:

Grease basically gives you access to an at-will, ranged trip. I've also found it useful for clogging choke points in dungeons. It stalls some enemies while the group deals with the ones that make it through making groups a bit more manageable. Remember spell mastery are not permanent choices so you can slot it out if you know you won't be adventuring in a dungeon/closed space.

Blindness/Deafness is a non-concentration debuff that really cripples enemies that don't have alternate senses.

Sleep. Some have said that it remains potent for closing out fights at higher levels. I personally can't comment on it as I haven't reached very high levels with my wizard yet, but maybe someone else can.

Of course there's also plenty of out of combat choices: Invisibility, Detect Thoughts, Locate Object, Knock, Levitate (probably not as viable in combat against higher level monsters that are more likely to have flight or ranged attacks)

 

steeldragons

Steeliest of the dragons

Epic

• Sep 1, 2015

• #5

Disguise Self (as you noted), Featherfall (never worry about a pit, cliff, narrow ledge or loosing concentration on levitation or fly again), Unseen Servant, Detect Magic (must be one of the two for nearly all 18+ level wizards, no?), Comp Languages...there's probably more.

For combat options: Magic Missile, Burning Hands, Sleep, Shield.

Second level spells, as others have mentioned, I don't even know where to begin. Probably opt for Detect Thoughts or Levitate myself...Misty Step is a great idea (auto-getaway and/or defensive maneuvering) though. Utility out the wazoo.

 

F

FormerlyHemlock

Hero

• Sep 1, 2015

• #6

steeldragons said:

Disguise Self (as you noted), Featherfall (never worry about a pit, cliff, narrow ledge or loosing concentration on levitation or fly again), Unseen Servant, Detect Magic (must be one of the two for nearly all 18+ level wizards, no?), Comp Languages...there's probably more.

For combat options: Magic Missile, Burning Hands, Sleep, Shield.

Click to expand...

Remember that Spell Mastery just prevents you from expending a spell slot. If you Spell Mastery Feather Fall, and then don't fall that day, Spell Mastery did nothing for you. Even if you fall once or twice during the day, it just saved you 4 spell points. In order to leverage Spell Mastery it needs to be doing something significant for you like enabling unlimited Unseen Servants or Disguise Self. For that reason I don't see Feather Fall or Comprehend Languages as strong candidates. Sleep and Burning Hands are weak choices for a different reason: by the time you get Spell Mastery they are both inferior to cantrips. Detect Magic is potentially useful, but remember that it's a ritual already.

Magic Missile isn't terrible, especially for an Evoker against high-AC foes, but it's not much better than cantrips for anyone else.

There are some abilities like the Abjuror's Arcane Ward, Necromancer's Grim Harvest and the illusionist's Illusory Reality that benefit from having free 1st/2nd level spells. Amusingly, an 18th level Diviner can refresh all of his 1st level spell slots by casting e.g. Detect Thoughts over and over. If you're on a spell points system that basically gives the Diviner unlimited spell points.

 

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kerleth

Explorer

• Sep 1, 2015

• #7

Well remember that you can change them out with 8 hours of study, so you might want to adjust your at-wills on occasion. As a baseline spell, though, I would go with invisibility for the 2nd level slot. Being able to cast invisibility at will means that one of the party members simply doesn't exist. You simply pass yourself off as being a party with 1 less member in casual situations. If the wizard makes himself the invisible one, then he can wander around with much less chance of being taken out at the start of combat. With the wide range of options his spells give him, that could be all sorts of fun. Or maybe you want to keep the rogue invisible, so that he's an uberscout and can get the jump on almost anyone. Or heck, invisible the stupid clumsy fighter so that he at least has advantage and a chance not to mess thing up for the party when sneaking. Near constant invisibility can be used in a lot of different ways in a lot of different scenarios.

 

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Saeviomagy

Adventurer

• Sep 2, 2015

• #8

Hemlock said:

There are some abilities like the Abjuror's Arcane Ward, Necromancer's Grim Harvest and the illusionist's Illusory Reality that benefit from having free 1st/2nd level spells. Amusingly, an 18th level Diviner can refresh all of his 1st level spell slots by casting e.g. Detect Thoughts over and over. If you're on a spell points system that basically gives the Diviner unlimited spell points.

Click to expand...

No, alas, it doesn't. The diviner ability says "when you cast... ...using a spell slot".

Level 1 spells - longstrider, shield, protection from evil/good, silent image, detect magic

Level 2 spells - detect thoughts, alter self, misty step, nystuls magic aura (on everything)

 

Li Shenron

Legend

• Sep 2, 2015

• #9

I would choose Shield hands down, the fact that it only takes a reaction to cast is really good as an at-will.

I also would like Detect Magic, you can almost keep this "always on" during the exploration phase, and if your campaign has plenty of character interaction then also unlimited Charm Person would be nice.

On the other hand, I would avoid damaging spells because cantrips are better at that level.

 

C

Celtavian

Dragon Lord

• Sep 2, 2015

• #10

I looked at the list. My go two Spell Mastery spells are shield and misty step. Suggestion or Mirror Image might be cool as well.