What 1st-level spells should any Wizard have?

[EvilGM]

Mage Armor for much-needed defense.

Grease for battlefield control.

Charm Person for information gathering and much more.

 

[Li Shenron]

Short answer: none (there's no must-have spell at any level).

Long answer: at 1st level there are a few spells which of course are very good.
Defensive - Mage Armor is the absolutely most popular I have seen, but it's not an absolute must, you may live with Shield or Protection from Evil (both are inferior IMO but some may have an advantage in choosing an abjuration over a conjuration).
Offensive - Color Spray and Sleep are the best offensive spells at very low-levels, far better than Magic Missile and Burning Hands, which instead seem to be more popular.
Utility - Unseen Servant has always been my favourite for versatility; Charm Person is a great help outside of combat.

 

[irdeggman]

Magic missile is the single most useful offensive spell at lower levels (and most others for that matter) for the simple reason that it never misses and can target multiple opponents.

Using it on a foe when he is engaged with an ally provides a tremendous amount of assistance, while sleep and color spray puts the wizard in more immediate danger (line of effect for spray) and area of effect for sleep (don't catch allies). I can't even list the number of times that a fighter character of mine was aided by a wizard casting magic missile (the only spell effective at the time). Think about if the ally is being swallowed or grappled - magic missile is the aid the ally needs.

Now in this case sleep is more useful since the wizard is 3rd level and invisibility is available as a 2nd level spell - so invisible wizard casting sleep gains an advantage. But the downside is that this is for a 3rd level party so sleep only affects 4 HD worth of creatures, pretty limiting in this scenario - much more useful at 1st/2nd level than 3rd.

 

[Li Shenron]

I kindly disagree

Magic missile is the single most useful offensive spell at lower levels (and most others for that matter) for the simple reason that it never misses and can target multiple opponents.

Well before level 3 you cannot target multiple opponents. The fact that it never misses is definitely its best feature (later you may find SR, but it's quite uncommon for opponents at this level), but you do only 2-5 damage. A normal light crossbow does 1-8 which is better, and at this level you have typically 5%-10% less chance to hit with it than a fighter. It takes time to reload and you can miss yes, but you don't need to spend a spell to do it, IMO at 1st level there are so many other ways to better use that slot!

Using it on a foe when he is engaged with an ally provides a tremendous amount of assistance, while sleep and color spray puts the wizard in more immediate danger (line of effect for spray) and area of effect for sleep (don't catch allies).

IMHO again, it's not "a tremendous assistance". Of course it's a help, but it's equivalent to less than a single successful attack by anyone else. A sleep or color spray, although they may fail to beat ST, grant a much better combat benefit, and since you can target more creatures on average you can expect at least one success. Even Burning Hands can deal more average damage at level 1.

I can't even list the number of times that a fighter character of mine was aided by a wizard casting magic missile (the only spell effective at the time).

I can: zero, but that's because at level 1 you aren't going to prepare more than 3 magic missile and those few slots are precious; and if you are going to prepare it only once, I think it's best not to prepare it at all. OTOH the spell is more useful for a Sorcerer because of the different spellcasting.

I think the spell would be more versatile therefore useful at this 1st level if it allowed to target objects. In that case, you could do much more than just a little damage, you could use it to cut a rope (whatever it held), destroy a handle, jam a lock, sunder a weapon, break a potion or something similar, but eventually once you get more missiles per spell it would become pretty broken.

 

[Li Shenron]

Say you have a Wizard of about 3rd level...

Ok, I haven't noticed that we're already at 3rd level!

 

[dcollins]

Thanks for your responses, everyone. Here's the current ordered results (within 50% of top in bold):


62 Magic Missile
61 Mage Armor
38 Shield
33 Identify
28 Sleep
21 Grease
21 Ray of Enfeeblement
20 Charm Person
20 Color Spray
20 Comprehend Languages
18 Feather Fall
16 Enlarge Person
16 Expeditious Retreat
13 Obscuring Mist
13 Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law
11 True Strike
9 Endure Elements
7 Burning Hands
7 Summon Monster I
6 Unseen Servant
5 Alarm
5 Disguise Self
5 Magic Weapon
5 Shocking Grasp
4 Detect Secret Doors
4 Hold Portal
4 Jump
3 Animate Rope
3 Mount
3 Silent Image
3 Ventriloquism
2 Chill Touch
2 Detect Undead
1 Cause Fear
1 Erase
1 Floating Disk
0 Hypnotism
0 Magic Aura
0 Reduce Person

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Anyone who picked Identify didn't read the question.

 

[dcollins]

Yes, I'm sort of surprised by that myself.

 

[Silveras]

I have to say that Mage Armor, Magic Missile, and Sleep are my choices. My reasons have been stated before, but to reiterate:

Mage Armor: long duration good defense for general use.
Magic Missile: For those occasions when you just can't let yourself miss.
Sleep: Nice, "safe" area-effect

Also, I agree that for most other things, the Wizard should be scribing scrolls as fast as s/he can.

 

[argo]

re: magic missle. While this may be a great choice at mid and high levels where you can afford to spend all your first (and maybe secod) level slots on it it is much less usefull at low levels. One magic missle most likely won't put an enemy down nor will it likely turn the tide of a battle, you are probably better off picking a spell that has at least a chance of incapicating an enemy or else gives the fighter some advantage over the half-dozen goblins he is facing.

At any rate, my picks:
Mage Armor: unless you expect no combat whatsoever (or have bracers) you want this spell

Color Spray: this spell can incapicate enemies long enough for you to make your get-away or, if you have a good plan, can set them up for the fighter to take down.

Grease: if for some reason you dont' want color spray then grease should be your second choice, you can use it for rudimentary ground-control (either to delay persuit or hold the flank) or can be used to make the orc who is about to kill you drop his axe.

Sleep: this spell alone can make entire encounters a cake-walk and is usefull for stealth type missions as well.

Charm person: an alternative to sleep, more usefull in an urban adventure but still a benefit in the dungeon.



Other spells worth noting: enlarge person, unseen servant, summon monster I (for flanking w/rogue), obscuring mist, silent image