D&D General What are your go-to spells as a caster? And why?

[Stormonu]

Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Shield, Invisibility, Hold Person.

Prestidigitation, while such a minor effect, is just too handy not to have about. Cleans and dries, gets rid of bad smells (helpful foiling creatures with Heightened Senses such as dogs or wolves) and just all around useful for day-to-day drudgery and at encampments.

Mage Hand as an old-school gamer, is always used to open doors and chests. Just too handy for avoiding nasty surprises. When possible, I also like to employ Unseen Servant for many of the same uses.

Shield (& Mage Armor) - hated it as a DM, love it as a player. I tend to play more martial mages (my current is a Shadow Sorcerer/Arcane Trickster Rogue) and it is pretty much a requirement if you don't want to be hanging out in the back or be completely out of the fight - something at some point is going to hit - and it'll hit way harder on a spellcaster's hit points, and Shield is huge at reducing the chance of that.

Invisibility for simply getting the drop on foes and not being a target when the bad guys show up.

Hold Person - taking an opponent out of the fight for even a round for the martials to wail on them (or focus on other problems) is just too good not to have in arsenal.

Unfortunately, I've found a lot of the damage-dealing spells in 5E to be traps (especially Dust Devil and Flaming Sphere - I abhor those two spells). Monster hit points are so deep that it's rarely worth packing spells that only deal pure damage. I understand the designers wanted to get away from the nova strike of previous editions, but unless the DM is running a fair amount of fodder, damage spells are rarely worth the slot - they just don't have a big enough impact for a once-per-day resource.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Mold Earth - it is a cantrip that can

• Provide full cover (a 5ft pile of soil) and a terrain obstacle (a 5ft hole) with a single action (though the hole can also be used for 3/4-full cover for anyone willing to jump in)
• be used as a junior-varsity Sequester for McGuffins (open hole, throw in item, close hole, watch enemy spend 6 hours digging it out with shovels)
• Bury corpses in moments
• barricade a door or a portcullis (5ft mass of soil weighs 6 tons)
• restrain prisoners (put them waist-deep in soil) or horses (drop knotted rope in a hole, cover with soil)
• Be used for one-way signaling with near-infinite range; cast on a stone to create a word/glyph/color then dismiss (or if GM is picky about range of dismiss, recast spell twice).
• Put out grass fires 25sf at a time (or campfires)
• Make perfectly flat ground for camp or sculpted for your bedroll. Can also make raised areas to be out of puddles and small ditches to drain water away, or an earthen barrier to block wind.
• Fix a dirt road full of ruts and pot holes
• Make friends with villagers by doing weeks of laborious ditch digging in an hour

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

Cure _______ Wounds, because my party is always doing dumb things that require healing. I really like searing light and control water as well. The last always surprises DMs that have battles planned in water with creatures that use cool water effect .

 

[Lazybones]

Dual wielding is irrelevant to the two spells with the changes to the 2024 rules.

As for the Ranger Hunter's Mark upgrades .... sure they are there, but they come on at a level when it is a terrible spell to be using. In teir 1 Hunter's Mark is pretty good in combat, at 11th level you don't want to be concentrating on Hunter's Mark when things like Summon Fey and Conjure Animals and some of the really outstanding subclass spells are available. Add to that other bonus action options like Potions, Nature's Veil and some of the subclass bonus options and it just not something that will usually be poweful in play, even with the enhancements you get at 13, 17 and 20.

Can you explain why dual wielding is irrelevant? Sure, you have to use your bonus action to cast the spell, but in every subsequent round it's a potential additional +1d6 damage. I'll grant it's more useful when facing a single tough foe; when facing mooks you'll need to expend your bonus actions switching targets.

Sure, there are other, better options for your concentration. If you're only fighting one or two battles a day, then I yield the point; use your high-level options first. But if you're going to be spending a long adventuring day with multiple encounters, the 2024 additions made hunter's mark a useful option past the point where it would have been in the 2014 rules. And you get the free castings, so why not?

 

[ECMO3]

Can you explain why dual wielding is irrelevant? Sure, you have to use your bonus action to cast the spell, but in every subsequent round it's a potential additional +1d6 damage.

It is irrelevant to the difference between the spells. Hex has a material component, while Hunters Mark does not, that is the main difference and it is not significant when dual wielding with the 2024 rules, it could be a minor difference using the 2014 rules.

In 2014 you needed to use an interaction to draw a weapon and you also needed an interaction to draw your mustard seed out of the component pouch to cast Hex. This made Hunter's Mark less fiddly than Hex. For dual weapon users if they wanted to cast Hex after the first round it could complicate things because of the material component and that they already were holding two weapons. It was not an issue the first round since they could not make a bonus action attack anyway.

Now with the 2024 rules you do not need an interaction to draw a weapon, you draw it as part of the attack you make with it, so for the 2024 rules there is no significant mechanical difference in using one versus the other when it comes to dual wielding.

Sure, there are other, better options for your concentration. If you're only fighting one or two battles a day, then I yield the point; use your high-level options first. But if you're going to be spending a long adventuring day with multiple encounters, the 2024 additions made hunter's mark a useful option past the point where it would have been in the 2014 rules. And you get the free castings, so why not?

The free castings are why I listed it among my "go-to spells". Since the 2024 rules were published HM is one of the spells I have cast the most .... because I play a lot of Rangers and ALL of them have it.

I want to play a Hollow Warden in an upcoming campaign and I expect I will not use HM much with that characters since they have a pretty awesome and alternative use for their Favored Enemy.

 

[Zardnaar]

If available.

True Strike
Guidance
Command
Healing Word
Tashas Hideous Laughter
Dissonant Whispers
Various rituals mostly detect magic/comprehend languages
Bless
Shield
Prayer of Healing (5.5).


Mostly low level spells that upcast well. 5.5 damage dealing spells kinda suck.

 

[Lazybones]

It is irrelevant to the difference between the spells. Hex has a material component, while Hunters Mark does not, that is the main difference and it is not significant when dual wielding with the 2024 rules, it could be a minor difference using the 2014 rules.

In 2014 you needed to use an interaction to draw a weapon and you also needed an interaction to draw your mustard seed out of the component pouch to cast Hex. This made Hunter's Mark less fiddly than Hex. For dual weapon users if they wanted to cast Hex after the first round it could complicate things because of the material component and that they already were holding two weapons. It was not an issue the first round since they could not make a bonus action attack anyway.

Now with the 2024 rules you do not need an interaction to draw a weapon, you draw it as part of the attack you make with it, so for the 2024 rules there is no significant mechanical difference in using one versus the other when it comes to dual wielding.



The free castings are why I listed it among my "go-to spells". Since the 2024 rules were published HM is one of the spells I have cast the most .... because I play a lot of Rangers and ALL of them have it.

I want to play a Hollow Warden in an upcoming campaign and I expect I will not use HM much with that characters since they have a pretty awesome and alternative use for their Favored Enemy.

Okay, I think we're basically on the same page here. A good spell, not the best, but useful for rangers (since it's free, there's no opportunity cost to taking it).

 

[Tonguez]

Goodberry - it allows me to have a meaningful "would you like a jellybaby?" moment

and Web or Entangle because pinning the enemy down is always fun

 

[Clint_L]

Healing word - it’s the most powerful spell in 5e.

 

[Li Shenron]

For those of you who like playing either a full caster or a half caster in 5.0/5.5 D&D, which spells are your go-to spells every time you make such a character? And why? curious

I am mostly a DM, as a player I'd say Wizard is traditionally my favourite class but when I play I tend to end up a Cleric because there's always someone else wanting to be arcane casters and nobody wanting to be the primary healer... so Cure Wounds is my most used spell by far, as trivial as it sounds (and it's a very straightforward spell, not something that encourage creativity).

I also tend to try a lot of different spells each time, pretty much because my time as a player is limited. Nevertheless in 5e I use Spiritual Weapon quite a lot. It is essentially an extra range attack, but it feels like summoning, so many DMs may allow to use it a bit more "narratively" (e.g. to create distractions or do some battlefield control).

On the arcane side, Mage Hand and Tenser's Floating Disc are often my go-to spells to do small creative things.