D&D 5E The (almost) no-damage wizard: tell me your favorite spells

[Snarf Zagyg]

Does anyone have any favorite non-damage spells that are a little more off the wall?

A do-no-harm Wizard?

I'd take .... Witchbolt.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've played an illusionist for more than a decade. I think I've cast color spray once. It's totally doable, but it requires creativity and an understanding that you're going to sweat on a regular basis. There's lots of situations where it would be a lot easier to toss a lightning bolt down a hallway, but once you unlock the power of the no-damage spells -- which are often quite powerful, to make up for the fact that they're not inherently deadly -- you can really wreck everyone else's world.

The key with illusions, IMO, is to make something plausible. Move the existing wall a foot forward and hide your group behind that and you've got mass invisibility at level 1, assuming everyone can stay quiet enough. Flickering torchlight (via dancing lights) coming down from the opposite corridor is a good way to make guards look the wrong direction. Filthy urchins sitting in city doorways aren't invisible -- but NPCs will look right past you when you're disguised as such, so you might as well be. And so on.

 

[fearsomepirate]

I should add that the last character I played for more than 2-3 sessions was a Valor Bard for Tyranny of Dragons, so most of my spells were of the Illusion/Buff/Debuff variety. Illusory walls, illusory floor spikes, illusory wall blades...lots of stuff to do with Major Image.

So far, Color Spray is an easy go-to. At level 1, it blinds a lot of creatures, and the party has a lot of damage-dealers, so even though it's only a round of ad/dis, it ain't bad.

 

[Shiroiken]

Lv 1 - Grease
Lv 2 - Blindness/Deafness, Levitate (on enemy), Suggestion
Lv 3 - Enemies Abound, Slow

 

[Enrico Poli1]

1.Sleep, Charm Person, Disguise Self, Shield, Mage Armor, Featherfall, Find Familiar, Comprehend Languages, Identify
2.Web, Suggestion, Invisibility, Misty Step, Knock, Darkvision
3.Major Image, Fly, Hypnotic Pattern, Dispel Magic, Counterspell
4.Banishment, Evard's Black Tentacles, Polymorph, Solid Fog, Arcane Eye
5.Animate Objects, Wall of Force
6.Mass Suggestion, Otto's Irresistible Dance
7.Forcecage, Plane Shift, Simulacrum
8.Maze, Mind Blank
9.Wish

 

[AtomicPope]

I play an Enchanter a while back and it was quite effective. My most useful spell to stop Giants and their giant beasts was Banish because it targets Charisma. Cut the encounter in half and it becomes easy. Also, consider a spell list with No Concentration. I quickly ran into problems because the giants would either break my concentration or I'd have to drop one ongoing effect to cast again.

Here were my No Concentration spells:
1st - Charm Person, Shield
2nd - Blindness, Enthrall, Mirror Image
3rd - Blink
4th - Charm Monster
5th - Bestow Curse (at this level it's no Concentration), Seeming (one of the best spells in 5e)

Several of those spells I listed are defensive, and it's important to weigh your options. At higher levels you could be fighting against creatures with True Seeing so Blink becomes a better defense.

 

[jgsugden]

Don't sleep on sleep at higher level, btw. A lot of people stop preparing it at higher level. However, it has no save. At 8th level, it stops about 85 hps. If you can isolate a target or make sure it is the weakest in the area, it can be a finishing move that bypasses legendary resistances. I usually have it prepared while traveling over land or on other planes where flying enemies way happen more often.

 

[Gadget]

While I think the scaling section of Bestow Curse is great, and more spells in 5e could have taken a page from this, I question the viability of the spell at any level beyond very niche uses. Sure, casting it at 5th level removes concentration, but for benefits that were questionable at 3rd level, let alone 5th. It is rare you need to curse someone for 8 hours, though I suppose it can come up.

That said, I think a no or little damage wizard isn't really sub-optimal as crowd control, debuffs and buffs can really make a difference when applied properly.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

You can also get a lot of use out of illusions of inanimate objects to control the battlefield. Heck, against an enemy spellcaster, you can use minor illusion to break line-of sight, stopping certain spells with a simple cantrip.

I'm probably going to go Illusionist, since then I can use Silent Image to create illusory monsters with sound, e.g. scare goblins off with an illusory owlbear.

Our current party composition is Barbarian, Monk, Ranger, Cleric, Wizard, and since IME Wizard single-target damage is pretty lame, relying on Grease, Slow, and Fear as my big AoE spells instead of damage might be doable.

 

[Dausuul]

I'm a fan of Tasha's hideous laughter, myself. It's nice for midrange encounters, where you don't want to burn your high-level slots, but it's worth spending an action and a 1st-level slot to take one opponent out of the fight for a couple rounds.

For 2nd level Blindness/Deafness is great for making 1 enemy combatant much less dangerous and easy to hit and Blur can make one of your own tanks much harder to kill. Phantasmal Force can be a great spell depending on your DM and the campaign.

Seconded on phantasmal force, and it isn't as DM-dependent as people make it out. The key is that the Investigation check to end the spell costs an action; so the target is forced to choose between "suffer [X] effect for the entire combat" and "suffer [X] and take no actions until you make your Investigation check."

As for what [X] is, even a restrictive DM would almost have to agree that "blindness" was legit, and that's a nasty debuff. If you can get other effects like restrained, even better.