1st Level Wizard - What Spells Do You Take?

[CanadienneBacon]

I think the following are seven good 1st-level wizard spells: grease, mage armor, obscuring mist, identify, magic missile, color spray, and silent image. I also like ray of enfeeblement, but necromancy isn't for every character and if I think the PC wouldn't be cast from that school then I don't take the spell even though it's hella effective at low levels. No save and all. At some point soon after first level, I often try to buy scrolls of feather fall, animate rope, and jump. Grease is my all-time favorite 1st-level spell. Mage armor is, well, it's mage armor. Gotta have it. Obscuring mist is cool for getaways and trumps expeditious retreat because you can use obscuring mist for sneaking too. Identify helps you know what the heck you've just found in that pile of loot. Magic missile...sometimes I don't take this spell but most people seem to take it right away and I can't blame them. To a lot of folks through a lot of generations of D&D, it's a staple. Color spray used to be a lot better in earlier editions but it's still a good spell and I like the 'knock 'em out' instead of 'kill 'em outright' way it works. Very useful for wreaking havoc on the DM by color spraying enemies so you can interrogate them later. Silent image is a great defensive spell. Need a place to hide? Make an illusory stone wall to get behind. Or a bit of rock cliff. Or a bush. Or a tree. Or a horse. Whatever.

When I'm creating a 1st-level adventuring wizard, I don't bother with unseen servant. You have limited slots and there are other more useful spells to include in your adventuring repetoire. Unseen servant is a nifty spell but when I take it, I wait until later or buy it in scroll form to copy into the character's spellbook.

 

[Nifft]

Best spells by type (at level 1):

Burning Hands -- best direct-damage, thanks to its lovely cone shape. Works on swarms, too, which are a major pain at this level.

Color Spray -- it's the new sleep. Very effective at ending fights (especially if you're a Gnome).

Ray of Enfeeblement -- long-lasting penalty; great for boss fights.

Silent Image -- Duration: Concentration !!! this spell shoots through schools. You can avoid fights very easily (so long as your foes haven't seen you yet) by putting a house between you and them. Or some trees. If you're actually creative, it can do even more than that.

Mage Armor -- Got a monk in the party? Cast it on him before you do the dungeon.

Mount or Ventriloquism or Charm Person or Animate Rope -- Utility. Pick one that you think will amuse you.

- - - - -

Stuff you'll want later:

Grease -- never gets old, thanks to "SR: No" and "Balance Check to resist". How many ancient stone golems have ranks in Balance? That's right, none. It's the spell that keeps on giving.

True Strike -- when you need to nail that sucker who's got concealment and a high deflection bonus with your lovely green disintegrate ray, and you need to do it now. Don't bother until you can Quicken it.

Shield -- it stacks with your Bracers of Armor, and it stops magic missiles. Don't bother until you have nice Bracers of Armor.

Magic Missile -- at level 7, it's the best 1st level spell. At level 9, it's even better than that. A staple.

Unseen Servant -- what insane wizard in his right mind wouldn't take a spell that has "servant" right in the name? It's a winner.

Protection from Evil -- Nice deflection bonus and immunities; keep it in reserve and cast on dominated Barbarian.

Identify -- when you have magic loot.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Sejs]

Ah 1st level, when cantrips actually matter.

First off - get to know Prestidigitation and Dancing Lights. They are your friends. Also keep a Detect Magic handy, as dealing with the magic stuff is part of what you do as a wizard.

Keep a crossbow on hand. You'll be using it. For a little while, it'll be your main mode of offense. At this level Magic Missle is a waste. Burning Hands is an annoyance. If you need to hurt people, shoot them. Don't bother with defensive spells yet, you don't have the spell slots to spare. Just play smart and make sure to be where the violence isn't.

Color Spray. It's your Save The Day button. Know it, love it.

For your other spell, because let's face it, you have one from your int mod - several options. From the PHB:

Grease. Great for croud control. It's one of those spells that just keeps on giving, even as the levels roll past. Not many badguys bother investing in Balance.

Enlarge Person. The fighters will love you forever and ever. And at 1 min/lvl, the duration's not bad either.

Obscuring Mist. Another good croud control spell.

Ray of Enfeeblement. A boss-killer. Turns ogres into kittens. Pulls the teeth out of even the most hardened low-level brute. Very special purpose though, so I'd put it low on the list of priorities.

Silent Image. The more creative you can be the better it gets. Illusions can be very fun and amazingly useful, just remember - look, don't touch. The concentration duration is also ver' nice.


From the SC:

Ray of Clumsiness. It's to agile foes what Enfeeblement is to brutes. Handy in the right circumstances, though even slightly less so than its str-sapping brother.

Benign Transposition. The real cherry. Particularly fun in combination with a flying familiar. Get an ally where you need him to be. Move an injured comrade away from the front lines. Amaze your friends. Confound your enemies.

 

[3d6]

Protection from evil, grease, mage armor, mount, charm person, color spray, disguise self, and silent image are probably your best spells at 1st level. Later on, you'll want to pick up enlarge person, ray of enfeeblement, and feather fall.

 

[Wik]

I like Sleep, as it can really wipe out a lot of mooks. Kinda sucks after 2nd level, though.

Silent Image is probably the most useful 1st level spell, because there's always something you can do with it. Even my 7th level tiefling wizard used Silent Image a fair amount.

Charm Person is also fun, and very useful, at lower levels. I mean, you can use it to really get info from your enemies, and at lower levels, the more info you can get, the better.

Magic Missile is fun and all, but I like Burning Hands because it has more flavour. Personally, I prefer Shocking Grasp, but that's because I'm nuts.

Ray of Enfeeblement is great, but I find it's much better after a few levels - at 1st level, the biggest things you're gonna fight aren't gonna have a huge strength anyways. That being said, it's a lifesaver later on. We had a fight against a "big bad bullywug" a few months ago, and he killed one of our PCs - because the sorcerer in the group was too stupid to cast Ray of Enfeeblement right off the bat (he used his crossbow, instead).

Mage Armour is a lifesaver. Take it, boost your AC, and hope you never have to use it.

If I'm playing a 1st level mage, my spells are usually - Sleep, Silent Image, Burning Hands, Ray of Enfeeblement, Charm Person, and Rope Trick (just because it's a fun spell that can get me out of trouble).

 

[Choranzanus]

Sleep has better range than color spray, so I like it more.
Shield is another good idea: cast it on a fighter or barbarian and watch them mow everything in their path (especially if you combine it with cleric's protection from evil).

Magic missile and burning hands are not a good idea, they don't have the bang you expect from a wizard at this level.

I would also never take mage armor at first level.

Mount, identify, unseen servant and charm person can be useful.

 

[charlesatan]

Shield is another good idea: cast it on a fighter or barbarian and watch them mow everything in their path (especially if you combine it with cleric's protection from evil).

Except Shield has a range of Personal...

 

[JoeBlank]

A poster named dcollins did a series of polls, one for every spell level, a couple of years ago.

This thread has links to each spell poll thread: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=144162

 

[Darklone]

Feather Fall hasn't been mentioned yet. I never forget to take it...

 

[lukelightning]

The problem with sleep is that it has a 1-round casting time. So you start casting the spell at a bunch of goblins and hope that by your next action the goblins are still clustered together, not killing you, not dead, etc.