Magical adept level 1 spell.

[cbwjm]

I like choosing my spells for magic initiate along a theme. For someone initiated into the mysteries of the children of flame I might pick control flames, fire bolt, and burning hands. Burning hands won't scale at all but it fits the theme. Another use might be a sage who picks up light, mage hand, and comprehend languages to aid them with their studies.

However, if you just want any old spell then I would suggest absorb elements or shield for defensive options. Unseen servant I think would provide some use throughout your career, so would detect magic. Many people tout find familiar as the spell everyone should have. A 1/day cure wounds or healing word would be useful to bring someone back up from unconscious. longstrider for a speed boost or speak with animals for intelligence gathering. I think disguise self would also be a good pick.

 

[5ekyu]

I like choosing my spells for magic initiate along a theme. For someone initiated into the mysteries of the children of flame I might pick control flames, fire bolt, and burning hands. Burning hands won't scale at all but it fits the theme. Another use might be a sage who picks up light, mage hand, and comprehend languages to aid them with their studies.

However, if you just want any old spell then I would suggest absorb elements or shield for defensive options. Unseen servant I think would provide some use throughout your career, so would detect magic. Many people tout find familiar as the spell everyone should have. A 1/day cure wounds or healing word would be useful to bring someone back up from unconscious. longstrider for a speed boost or speak with animals for intelligence gathering. I think disguise self would also be a good pick.

them. Would be very careful about choosing a ritual other than FF using MI. Mainly because many of the characters wont have ritual casting, so its once per day, and the other reason is some of the classes with ritual casting have restrictions that would block the ritual casting from being used.

So, the difference between unseen servant thru ritual magic feat and thru MI is pretty huge in most cases.

 

[Valetudo]

Grease.

 

[ccs]

For my 1/2ling warlock I chose Expeditious Retreat.
Bree will run away from things - giant plant monsters, wild boars, werewolves, wraiths(?), vampire spawn.... It also lets her keep up with faster party members if it's a group retreat.
On occasion it's been used to get into a position to better aid teammates.
And then there's misc humorous uses - like when she used it to out run the 1/2orc barbarian as they attempted to catch a fleeing tiger. Or when a great amount of loot was found when she was clear on the other side of a lair....

It's a great (mostly defensive) spell that I always want on tap, use often, but really don't need more than once/day.

 

[Dausuul]

I'm not sure about shield. It's a great "panic button" for a spellcaster who stays in the back, only has to deal with the occasional enemy who gets past the front line, and has 1st-level spell slots to spare. But when you're a martial type expecting to be in melee on a regular basis, and you only have 1 spell per day, is shield really the best option?

Hex is nifty because it combines a damage boost with an amazingly versatile debuff. You can target Strength to help a grappling PC, Wisdom to help the rogue sneak or fast-talk, Intelligence to help the party wizard keep phantasmal force stuck*... just generally handy to have around. That said, the concentration requirement is a serious drawback for any kind of melee warrior. And if you're an archer, there's a decent chance that you are a ranger and have hunter's mark anyway.

My top picks would be find familiar, goodberry, mage armor, absorb elements (better than shield because elemental damage is much more likely to come in a single gigantic blast), and disguise self.

[size=-2]*Does not help with the initial saving throw, but makes damn sure the enemy is wasting its time trying to Investigate its way out of it.[/size]

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Most of the good ones have been mentioned but I'd also like to throw Expeditious Retreat into the ring. Extra mobility is great, you get to use it the turn you cast it and it's even a bonus action to cast so you can still do stuff on your turn. Especially useful on melee focused builds that would otherwise have trouble closing the gap with slippery foes.

I sometimes spice up monsters with a feat, and magic initiate is a good second choice (if only one monster gets a feat, it will probably be Alert), and when I use it, ER is often the 1st level spell, so if the fight starts going bad, the monster makes a beeline towards its buddies in the next room....

 

[Immortal Sun]

Find Familiar is my go-to. Not because of the particular benefits of having a familiar, but because I often like to have "evil" characters with a pet cat or a pirate with a parrot that isn't "just an animal".

 

[Mistwell]

I think find familiar on its own is a bad spell for magic initiate. You can get it on ritual caster feat knstead and be able to use your class level to determine your ritual levels.

Find familiar is also overrated. Yes it is a very good scout but a single hit costa you 25 gold which is not trivial in many games.

It's 10gp, not 25gp. And yes, that's a trivial sum. And if your first level spell got you advantage on an attack AND cost a foe an attack action, it was definitely worth it. Find Familiar is so not overrated. I agree with you that Ritual Caster is a better feat IF the thing you want is find familiar, however (though not for the reasons you state, as almost no rituals scale with level anyway). Ritual Caster is a great feat. It can get you access to 20 spells, if you can find the spells to copy into your ritual book.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

It's 10gp, not 25gp. And yes, that's a trivial sum. And if your first level spell got you advantage on an attack AND cost a foe an attack action, it was definitely worth it. Find Familiar is so not overrated. I agree with you that Ritual Caster is a better feat IF the thing you want is find familiar, however. Ritual Caster is a great feat. It can get you access to 20 spells, if you can find the spells to copy into your ritual book.

10 gp might be a trivial sum in your game. Compare it with magic item prizes. It is not that trivial actually... at least in our current game.
With overrated I don't mean that is bad in any way. It is a great spell for scouting and alarming. It is also a great thing if you badly need that advantage or the distraction. But in many combats, a single shot from a minion will destroy it. It is not hard to hit and it has only very few hp.

I'd be more careful than just using my familiar in every combat for very little gain.
And now we get into argue territory: my reading of the help action is that you can only help someone if you are within 5ft of the target. I know that I am quite alone with my interpretation but I have serious problems with helping and flying away... I mean you can only help if you can contribute meaningfully. Just flyby and help is not going to do anything at my table. The player needs to be more specific.

 

[tglassy]

I mean, Montolo or whatever his name was in the Drizzt books had an owl that helped him target enemies with his bow and arrows. He was blind, and the owl would flyby and hoot in front of the enemy, and montolo would aim for the hoot. Got the target every time.