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

[Corinnguard]

I am playing my second Half-Caster, so I have yet to find that one spell or spells that appeals to me as a go-to spell. It's one thing to like a spell you come across in a book, and another to actually use it in a role-playing session.

 

[ART!]

Feather Fall.

It's just one of those spells that when you need it you really need it.

 

[Dessert Nomad]

I don't really have any for all casters because the lists and roles differ so much from class to class, other than really basic utility stuff like 'someone in the party should have detect magic'. One spell that I think gets overlooked.

Fog Cloud is a really potent 1st level spell. It blocks anyone without blindsight or tremorsense from being able to see - things like Devil's Sight and Truesight don't penetrate it since it causes obscurement, not darkness or invisibility. If the melee characters in a party take blindsight (blind fighting style, skulker, druid forms with blindsight) and casters take a decent selection of 'don't need a target' spells, you can give advantage to you, disadvantage to enemies, and stop their AOOs and specials that require sight while your party remains effective. It covers a huge area - as a 1st level spell it has a 20' radius, and that goes up by 10' per spell level - if you use a 3rd level slot, the 40' radius will usually cover most of a map. While counterspell isn't as overwhelming in 5.5 as it was in 5.0, the fact that it blocks counterspell (since you need to see a target to cast counterspell) can be a huge boon if you have some spells you need to cast, and it's large radius and range mean you can easily cast it outside of counterspell range.

It's one of those spells that you often don't use, but at the right time can completely turn things around. Also it's absolutely hilarious against beholders, since it shuts down their eye beams, except for the area covered by their antimagic eye, which also shuts down their other eye beams.

 

[Ashrym]

Sleep

It's accessable early, party friendly as a AoE even if that AoE is small, the initial save or suck effect is useful, it's easy to argue as a non-harmful alternative in situations where that might come up, and it's an iconic spell. The 2024 version keeps it relevant instead of our leveling it like previous versions.

 

[abazaba]

Sleep

It's accessable early, party friendly as a AoE even if that AoE is small, the initial save or suck effect is useful, it's easy to argue as a non-harmful alternative in situations where that might come up, and it's an iconic spell. The 2024 version keeps it relevant instead of our leveling it like previous versions.

Spoiler: Lost Mine of Phandelver

When we reached the end of the goblin cave and reached a single goblin holding a knife to another (NPC) persons throat, I successfully cast 'sleep' to turn the goblin to sleep. We were all like 'ok, so now what ?". Do we still kill the goblin ? Do we wake him up? Do we just leave ? Now what ? Total confusion.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Another spell I quite like, though I'm waiting for its 5.5e version, is sickening radiance. That's a nasty spell if you can trap your enemies inside it. Essentially guaranteed death, since it lasts 10 minutes (concentration) and inflicts a level of Exhaustion with every failed save. It does nothing at all if enemies pass their saves...but now that Exhaustion is just -N to all checks, including saves, it becomes a self-amplifying death field.