Best 1st level combat spell for 1st level caster?

[brehobit]

We tend to play a lot of lower-level games. I was wondering what people felt were
the very best 1st level spells for 1st level casters intent on harming the baddies.

Magic missile is nice, but the damage is fairly low. From a warmage it gets pretty good pretty quickly due to the edge.

Personally I think the wu-jen "elemental burst" may win hands down. Short range, but 10' radius blast of (usually) untyped damage for d8 points, reflex for half. It scales very poorly, but it is very effective at 1st and even 2nd level.

Other thoughts?

(With the right feats draconic feats , the ability to do 2d6 damage in a cone is nice out of a 1st level spell at 1st level)

 

[Li Shenron]

Crossbow

 

[Radiating Gnome]

I am a big fan of Grease, actually.

Sure, it doesn't directly do damage, but it's very effective for crowd control, it has multiple uses (grease up the floor or disarm an opponent) and while it doesn't do damage on it's own it can really help control the battlefield and make life better and safer for other members of the party.

The party rogue, for example, should really appreciate the spell (because anything moving within the area of the grease spell must make a balance check, and because when you are balancing you lose your dex bonus, rogues attacking you (either with readied attacks or movement-triggered AOEs) would also deal sneak attack damage. This makes the spell useful even when there's very little chance that the target will fail it's reflex save and fall.

I never would have given this spell much thought until i came upon a wand of grease early in a wizard's career and started using it a lot -- and it quickly became one of my favorite options.

-rg

 

[TheNovaLord]

1st level war human warmage 18int with precious apprentice feat n PBS using scorching ray (ok its second level)

4d6+4+1PBS.....kills the BBEG of the 1st level dungeon if it hits (which it will as u cast true strike last round)

JohnD

 

[taferial]

from recent experience (my spell thief borrowing it from our party mage)...

Fist of Stone. iirc you recieve a +6 strength bonus and D6 damage which can go a long way at first level.

 

[Thanee]

Power Word: Pain

Bye
Thanee

 

[Stalker0]

I'm a big fan of the classics, sleep or color spray.

 

[D.Shaffer]

True Strike with a Great Crossbow (Races of Stone weapon).
2d8 damage, 150 range increment, and a +16 to hit (+20 Insight, -4 Lack of Proficiency). What's not to like? Well, besides the 14 pounds of weight and full round to reload (So you're only getting off 1 shot every three rounds or so)

 

[satori01]

Power Word: Pain

Yep, not only does the spell almost assure you of killing the low level creature you cast it on, but it scales nicely at higher levels where it can be used to be a spell like Coup de Grace. Knock a mob down, cast Hold, Slow etc, and watch it die.

At my table it is called: Power Word: Broken.

 

[nittanytbone]

Sleep is good for early Save or Die effects. And its a will save, which most low level creatures suck at.