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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 6430485" data-attributes="member: 2011">Actually, although I learned Witch Bolt when I designed my PC, I only prepped it the first day (after which I found out here on the forums how crappy it really is <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing    :lol:" data-shortname=":lol:" />).And in 20 encounters, I've only used Shield once or twice. Mostly, I let foes take down my Arcane Ward and then use Shield to get part of it back. But since my PC does not get attacked a lot, that hasn't happened a lot.Until encounters 17-20, my PC had not even learned Burning Hands or Scorching Ray. We had just made level 4, so I added Scorching Ray to my list and my ally PC ranger / wizard added Burning Hands, so since I had extra materials for scribing new spells, I added Burning Hands. First day I had those two spells. I tried them both out.I have been using Web and Fog Cloud more. An occasional Chromatic Orb to do some damage. Mage Armor once per day to get my AC up and my Arcane Ward up.I took Suggestion. Never had a chance to use it. I could have taken Sleep, but the Bard already had it.I took Detect Magic. I took Identify (not knowing the rules about short rest which I cannot find anywhere except in the DMG .pdf). I took mostly utility spells and only a few offensive ones.And, I've cast a boatload of cantrips which tend to do 1 to 4 points of damage if I can manage to roll well enough to even hit. I have not even critted once with a cantrip. 4 times, a cantrip has done more than 4 points of damage. It's been a party joke since day one that the wizard is just along for the scenery.But yes, I could have taken Color Spray. But I'm not too worried about a gang of mooks. The other PCs are VERY capable. I would want Color Spray for a room full of Bugbears, but it might take out a single Bugbear. I might be able to get two Orcs with it, but even there, a crappy set of rolls and the wizard is standing in a room full of Orcs and used his action to give disadvantage to one foe. Sounds like a subpar tactic.The spell is a level one Kobold delayer. I don't really see us fighting rooms full of Kobolds too often, at least that's not very awesome sounding to me. I also didn't see us staying at level one for long. In 2E and 3E, Color Spray was a fairly decent spell until about level 6 or so. It actually did something real. Here, it's a minion delayer at best.Sorry, but anyone who argues that 5E Color Spray is better in 5E than it was in 2E or 3E just isn't reading the old spells.And as my Hold Person math above, it tends to work for a single round if it works at all. Also as per my dungeon experience above, it was worth casting on 2 creatures out of 60. And the funny thing about that is that the party was split up when those two creatures were faced. So as it turned out, my PC wasn't even in that fight. It ended up being 0 creatures where Hold Person was worthwhile in that particular dungeon because the DM ended up splitting up the party (long story).WotC, while beefing up the abilities of other low level classes, has nerfed the Wizard pretty significantly in 5E. One just has to compare the spells with their former incarnations.</blockquote>

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