Unlocked my level 2 spells, looking for any suggestions.
My character isnt a battler, he's more a trickster type spells he finds amusing and a showoff who will go for something out of the box in creative ways to try and show how smart he is rather than what might be the most useful or most pure power.
So far, his most used spells have been hideous laughter, mage hands and charm person.
I was thinkinh Jim's Glowing Coin would suit him and seems pretty useful. But struggling for the 2nd one
If you are playing a bit more of a trickster then I would go for Nystul's Magical Aura. Great for fleecing merchants by selling them "magical" weapons, or in the case of an NPC in my campaign, using it to change peoples auras so they detect as Vampires. And you can make the effects permanent with a bit of time and repeat castings.
For a bit of utility I find Hold Person, Darkvision, Invisibility and See Invisibility are always good.
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I enjoy Levitate. It can be used for exploration, keeping a ranged party member out of melee, or keeping a melee opponent out of melee.
I second Levitate; it's incredibly versatile and powerful for its level. If used on an ally they're completely safe from melee attacks and if used on an enemy they get one chance to save or else they're hosed. Most other spells that severely penalize an enemy for a duration allow a save every turn or the spell breaks if they're attacked, but not this one! It can also be used to lower flying enemies, but the range is quite limited so the smart ones will stay out of range.
Earthbind is situational but it's also really powerful against flying opponents, especially before the party has easy access to Fly. Smaller creatures in particular will be more susceptible to it, since Strength scores correlate pretty well with size.
Invisibility is great for exploration, especially if you've got a sneaky rogue or monk in the party.
Magic Weapon is almost always a good choice and makes you a team player. It's also mostly wizard-exclusive so it's something you can bring to the table that other spellcasters in your party probably can't.
Pyrotechnics is a clever, non-concentration way to incapacitate a group of enemies for a round if you have oil or alchemist's fire to start a fire nearby. Having Fire Bolt to start fires is also handy. Web is a more straightforward crowd control option but requires concentration.
You mentioned being more of a trickster than a battler, but some combat spells worth mentioning are:
Cloud of daggers: an area denial/damage over time spell notable for its no save damage. Combined with a grappler character, the damage can really add up.
Darkness: most people talk about this spell in the context of combos that let you see through it, but even without that it makes a 30 foot sphere of total cover. It requires a bit of proper role play (and no metegaming) to properly represent its effectiveness. If creatures can just march through it, it isn't as useful.
Dragon's breath: a personal favorite. If you have monsters with particular weaknesses and resistances, this could be very useful. It is also a repeatable AoE attack that cam be given to any character not very effective in combat.
Flaming sphere: one of the better damage over time Wizard spells, because it lets you use your bonus action to make an attack with it basically getting 2 attacks per turn.
Hold person: Great at threat removal amd support. The target can't move, use actions, and all your attacks are auto crits.
Scorching ray: a non-concentration, blasty spell and a good one (the only one on this list). Highest single target DPS at level 2, but can also target multiple if needed.
Dragon’s Breath can even be given to a fighter or other strong melee character. It does 3d6 damage per round to an area which is better than even a dedicated melee character can do because it isn’t limited to one opponent and it does damage even if it’s target(s) make their saves. It’s one of my favorite teamwork spells.
Dragon’s Breath can even be given to a fighter or other strong melee character. It does 3d6 damage per round to an area which is better than even a dedicated melee character can do because it isn’t limited to one opponent and it does damage even if it’s target(s) make their saves. It’s one of my favorite teamwork spells.
Dragons Breath looks cool, but not really a spell that fits my character. He's not a,teamwork sorta guy. More of a do something fun, cool but pretty useless and then claim he did everything.
Darkness and hold person are probably the 2 less directly helpful, but still easy to claim credit with spells. They also may have clever uses out of combat.
As a trickseter-type mage, you might want to look into Maximilian's Earthen Grasp and Snilloc's Snowball Swarm. One limits movement without dealing damage and the other is a low damage AoE that's fun to describe. At low levels, a Wizard with Fireball is to be feared, but a Wizard with Snowball Swarm is much more amusing.
I've gotten my Illusionist to 9th level and one of the things that was a repeated heart-pounder were monsters that automatically grapple/restrain you on a hit. You don't want to spend your action just to fail straight Str checks and Shield wont help you if the monster is rolling advantage every turn. Once I got Misty Step that problem was sorted. Better to get this sooner rather than later. You can get all fancy and get Thunderstep and Dimension Door but most of the time this humble spell will do everything you need.
^This isn't a good spell early on. But later, when you've say, trapped a Dragon in a globe Wall of Force, you'll be wanting to deal with its cultists/henchmen etc. Blindness is one of the few CC's that doesn't require concentration
...so if the fight is too messy to lay down AoE try this
Unlocked my level 2 spells, looking for any suggestions.
My character isnt a battler, he's more a trickster type spells he finds amusing and a showoff who will go for something out of the box in creative ways to try and show how smart he is rather than what might be the most useful or most pure power.
So far, his most used spells have been hideous laughter, mage hands and charm person.
I was thinkinh Jim's Glowing Coin would suit him and seems pretty useful. But struggling for the 2nd one
I enjoy Levitate. It can be used for exploration, keeping a ranged party member out of melee, or keeping a melee opponent out of melee.
Something tells me that you’ll get a lot of use out of Alter Self even though that’s not my favorite spell.
Professional computer geek
If you are playing a bit more of a trickster then I would go for Nystul's Magical Aura. Great for fleecing merchants by selling them "magical" weapons, or in the case of an NPC in my campaign, using it to change peoples auras so they detect as Vampires. And you can make the effects permanent with a bit of time and repeat castings.
For a bit of utility I find Hold Person, Darkvision, Invisibility and See Invisibility are always good.
I second Levitate; it's incredibly versatile and powerful for its level. If used on an ally they're completely safe from melee attacks and if used on an enemy they get one chance to save or else they're hosed. Most other spells that severely penalize an enemy for a duration allow a save every turn or the spell breaks if they're attacked, but not this one! It can also be used to lower flying enemies, but the range is quite limited so the smart ones will stay out of range.
Earthbind is situational but it's also really powerful against flying opponents, especially before the party has easy access to Fly. Smaller creatures in particular will be more susceptible to it, since Strength scores correlate pretty well with size.
Mirror Image, Misty Step and Warding Wind are some of my favorites in the self-defense category.
Invisibility is great for exploration, especially if you've got a sneaky rogue or monk in the party.
Magic Weapon is almost always a good choice and makes you a team player. It's also mostly wizard-exclusive so it's something you can bring to the table that other spellcasters in your party probably can't.
Pyrotechnics is a clever, non-concentration way to incapacitate a group of enemies for a round if you have oil or alchemist's fire to start a fire nearby. Having Fire Bolt to start fires is also handy. Web is a more straightforward crowd control option but requires concentration.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
You mentioned being more of a trickster than a battler, but some combat spells worth mentioning are:
Cloud of daggers: an area denial/damage over time spell notable for its no save damage. Combined with a grappler character, the damage can really add up.
Darkness: most people talk about this spell in the context of combos that let you see through it, but even without that it makes a 30 foot sphere of total cover. It requires a bit of proper role play (and no metegaming) to properly represent its effectiveness. If creatures can just march through it, it isn't as useful.
Dragon's breath: a personal favorite. If you have monsters with particular weaknesses and resistances, this could be very useful. It is also a repeatable AoE attack that cam be given to any character not very effective in combat.
Flaming sphere: one of the better damage over time Wizard spells, because it lets you use your bonus action to make an attack with it basically getting 2 attacks per turn.
Hold person: Great at threat removal amd support. The target can't move, use actions, and all your attacks are auto crits.
Scorching ray: a non-concentration, blasty spell and a good one (the only one on this list). Highest single target DPS at level 2, but can also target multiple if needed.
Dragon’s Breath can even be given to a fighter or other strong melee character. It does 3d6 damage per round to an area which is better than even a dedicated melee character can do because it isn’t limited to one opponent and it does damage even if it’s target(s) make their saves. It’s one of my favorite teamwork spells.
Professional computer geek
Dragons Breath looks cool, but not really a spell that fits my character. He's not a,teamwork sorta guy. More of a do something fun, cool but pretty useless and then claim he did everything.
Darkness and hold person are probably the 2 less directly helpful, but still easy to claim credit with spells. They also may have clever uses out of combat.
As a trickseter-type mage, you might want to look into Maximilian's Earthen Grasp and Snilloc's Snowball Swarm. One limits movement without dealing damage and the other is a low damage AoE that's fun to describe. At low levels, a Wizard with Fireball is to be feared, but a Wizard with Snowball Swarm is much more amusing.
If you're looking for a suggestion, how about . . . Suggestion? Absolutely fantastic spell.
Detect Thoughts
Misty Step.
I've gotten my Illusionist to 9th level and one of the things that was a repeated heart-pounder were monsters that automatically grapple/restrain you on a hit. You don't want to spend your action just to fail straight Str checks and Shield wont help you if the monster is rolling advantage every turn. Once I got Misty Step that problem was sorted. Better to get this sooner rather than later. You can get all fancy and get Thunderstep and Dimension Door but most of the time this humble spell will do everything you need.
Blindness/Deafness
^This isn't a good spell early on. But later, when you've say, trapped a Dragon in a globe Wall of Force, you'll be wanting to deal with its cultists/henchmen etc. Blindness is one of the few CC's that doesn't require concentration
...so if the fight is too messy to lay down AoE try this