What 2nd-level spells should any Wizard have?

[tleilaxu]

i'm not commenting on what is powerful or useful, but any wizard should be ashamed and shunned in the wizarding community if they don't know these:

invisibility :: see invisibility
arcane lock :: knock

 

[Hypersmurf]

You'd think they could have come up with a better name for a range increasing feat.

Yeah. But 'Extend Spell' was taken, and while a couple of the design team tried to suggest 'Elongate Spell', the emails kept getting fried by Jonathan Tweet's spam filters...

Glitterdust is *so* good.

I know that.

The player seems to have a 'direct damage' mindset, though - inflicting a penalty so the tanks can chop someone up doesn't register as 'contributing', I think. He wants to take hit points off personally.

-Hyp.

 

[Ancalagon]

Gliterdust is a good wizard spell.

However, as a sorcerer spell it is incredibly great. It gives you:

-a will save spell (with pretty dire consequences if it is failed)
-an area of attack spell
-a way to deal with invisible creatures

All that for just one spell! This kind of versatility just can't be beaten.

Ancalagon

 

[Liquidsabre]

Wow folk don't like Acid Arrow much? When you happen upon a creature with good SR there's nothing better than a spell that bypasses the thing's SR, such as Melf's Acid Arrow.

 

[Al'Kelhar]

The "one-hit-to-kill" spells (i.e. spells that take an opponent out of the combat, although not necessarily killing it): blindness, glitterdust, hideous laughter, web. My specialist diviner/loremaster always has to take a divination, and both locate object and see invisibility are pretty useful; the former can be quite a versatile spell if used intelligently. Invisibility is good, but is overtaken by greater invisibility at 4th, and IME the illusion school is frequently dumped by specialist wizards (it's dependent on the type of campaign you play, of course).

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

 

[Thanee]

Yes, Glitterdust is very, very good, but against an invisible target it often does not help, unless you have a way to pinpoint its location.

If you have, it's obviously better than See Invisible, but in general I prefer the latter for just being automatic.

I don't really like Alter Self much in 3.5, in 3.0 it was my favorite 2nd level spell, tho.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Al]

You missed out Glitterdust, which seems to have received more votes as a 'write-in' option than many on the actual poll!

Not only is it handy against invisible opponents- at least as useful as See Invisibility (whilst SI allows more accuracy it only enables the caster to see the invisible opponent whereas Glitterdust makes them plain for all to see) but it's superior to Blindness/Deafness. Of course B/D is permanent, but against most opponents you're only going to fight them in one combat so Glitterdust's duration should be easily long enough.

Of those on the poll, Mirror Image is the only must-have in my book. Invisibility is extremely useful but rapidly rendered obsolete by Greater Invisibility, but few spells supplant Mirror Image, which can effectively guarantee victory against melee types (unless they have Great Cleave).

 

[Hypersmurf]

Yes, Glitterdust is very, very good, but against an invisible target it often does not help, unless you have a way to pinpoint its location.

10' radius gives you a reasonable margin of error, though

-Hyp.

 

[Li Shenron]

I play a 6th level Sorcerer in a 3.0 campaign, so the question is not directly for me but I know 3 spells: Glitterdust, Invisibility and Web.

edit: however, I think no spell is 100% essential, and the selection really depends on which spells you have of other levels! I have Lightning Bolt at 3rd, but I could have dropped that and Web for Scorching Ray and Slow.

Yes, Glitterdust is very, very good, but against an invisible target it often does not help, unless you have a way to pinpoint its location.

If you have, it's obviously better than See Invisible, but in general I prefer the latter for just being automatic.

While this is true, I still prefer Glitterdust because (1) it lets everyone see the invisible creature, not just the caster and (2) when there are no invisible creatures around, you still have the blindness effect which is never wasted, especially in the Wizard's case

 

[Darklone]

I chose:
Alter Self (multifunctional), Blindness (For the weak Fort dudes), Blur (against pesky sneak attacks), Tashas (for the weak Will dudes), Invis, Mirror Image, Rope Trick (you can't beat these three in their own field), See Invis... Resist Energy for later.

Scorching Ray and Melfs Acid Arrow are nice, but depending on your other damaging spells sometimes not necessary while it's always a good idea to have a scroll of the abovementioned spells at hand even if you don't prepare them.