Wizards have one of the most diverse assortment of spells to choose from, fitting nearly any sort of situation one might come across.
What are some of your favorite spells you've added to your spellbook?
For me, I love the quirkier spells...stuff like "Bigby's Hand", "Evard's Black Tentacles", "Otiluke's Freezing Sphere", "Thunder Step"...the sort of thing that changes an encounter.
Share your favorite Wizard spells below...and maybe a fun moment when you used the spell.
Grease. One hundred thousand percent grease. My god I love that little spell.
Underdark Campaign:
Session 1: This was meant to be a real gritty, resource light campaign. Level 1, classic prisoner trope, we're all shackled and clothed in nothing but burlap. No equipment. And I mean NO EQUIPMENT. I'm a goblin wizard with no spellbook, no components, no arcane focus.
Being lead along an underground passage by our Drow captors we stop for a meal. I ask the DM if I can roll sleight of hand to stow away a piece of animal fat. He smirks and says yes. My 18 dex with proficiency goblin (rolled stats) passes the check with ease.
Back on the move, we start crossing a precarious looking bridge. Obviously it collapses. Our ranger is the only one to fail the dexterity check and goes down from the damage. Many NPCs and guards die immediately. A very hectic battle ensues.
The paladin can't hit anything to save his life. The shaman (homebrew druid-esque class) is franticly racing over to the ranger to use spare the dying. The paladin goes down to some goblins. The shaman races to them. The halfling fighter in a move of crazy desperation ran up on three Goblin guards that had survived the fall and were tag teaming the paladin. They absolutely crushed their intimidation roll (planned to MC in bard so had a high charisma) to the point where the DM had them all turn and run. I will always remember the image of that young halfling girl screaming murderous obscenities. She then manages to kill the drow guard that had survived the fall with her manacles.
Meanwhile there is a Drow wielding a crossbow that did not fall off the bridge. They're perched up there trying to land a shot. Our luck ends when they hit the ranger and down them again. The shaman races back to them again.
Meanwhile, during all of this, I've been in this insane grapple session with a gnome NPC that had been driven mad while in the underdark. I finally manage to kick him off me after three rounds of this crazy struggle. The paladin, who had picked up a goblin sword, stabs the poor bastard.
Finally free, I look up at the Drow that had just downed the ranger with a precise bolt. They are perched right at the edge of the bridge where it had collapsed. I ask my DM if I can try to cast a spell without my spellbook or arcane focus if I have the component. "Roll a d20". 16. I pass whatever check they had set. I pull out the bit of animal fat and announce grease. I cover the edge of that bridge underneath the Drow's feet. They roll a 1. The DM decides that not only does the Drow slip, but they fall off the bridge. They die to a mess of falling damage.
And that was the final enemy. We had won our first combat.
Grease. One hundred thousand percent grease. My god I love that little spell.
Underdark Campaign:
Session 1: This was meant to be a real gritty, resource light campaign. Level 1, classic prisoner trope, we're all shackled and clothed in nothing but burlap. No equipment. And I mean NO EQUIPMENT. I'm a goblin wizard with no spellbook, no components, no arcane focus.
Being lead along an underground passage by our Drow captors we stop for a meal. I ask the DM if I can roll sleight of hand to stow away a piece of animal fat. He smirks and says yes. My 18 dex with proficiency goblin (rolled stats) passes the check with ease.
Back on the move, we start crossing a precarious looking bridge. Obviously it collapses. Our ranger is the only one to fail the dexterity check and goes down from the damage. Many NPCs and guards die immediately. A very hectic battle ensues.
The paladin can't hit anything to save his life. The shaman (homebrew druid-esque class) is franticly racing over to the ranger to use spare the dying. The paladin goes down to some goblins. The shaman races to them. The halfling fighter in a move of crazy desperation ran up on three Goblin guards that had survived the fall and were tag teaming the paladin. They absolutely crushed their intimidation roll (planned to MC in bard so had a high charisma) to the point where the DM had them all turn and run. I will always remember the image of that young halfling girl screaming murderous obscenities. She then manages to kill the drow guard that had survived the fall with her manacles.
Meanwhile there is a Drow wielding a crossbow that did not fall off the bridge. They're perched up there trying to land a shot. Our luck ends when they hit the ranger and down them again. The shaman races back to them again.
Meanwhile, during all of this, I've been in this insane grapple session with a gnome NPC that had been driven mad while in the underdark. I finally manage to kick him off me after three rounds of this crazy struggle. The paladin, who had picked up a goblin sword, stabs the poor bastard.
Finally free, I look up at the Drow that had just downed the ranger with a precise bolt. They are perched right at the edge of the bridge where it had collapsed. I ask my DM if I can try to cast a spell without my spellbook or arcane focus if I have the component. "Roll a d20". 16. I pass whatever check they had set. I pull out the bit of animal fat and announce grease. I cover the edge of that bridge underneath the Drow's feet. They roll a 1. The DM decides that not only does the Drow slip, but they fall off the bridge. They die to a mess of falling damage.
And that was the final enemy. We had won our first combat.
Some of my picks are unpopular because people refuse to look at them as anything but in a white room environment with little to no group synergy so I'll forgo any fights about something like witchbolt here.
But I do like some area control spells without actually getting into things like Darkness. Sleet storm is one that I love for slowing down or just denying meaningful actions in an area of the battle field while my party prepares for what will come through it, deals with what is not blocked by it, or uses it as cover to gain some space on our retreat.
Tidal Wave despite the fact that it sounds a bit awkward is one that i've had a fair bit of success inconveniencing and disrupting battle lines with since it tends to break up formations fairly regularly by some making their saves and some not making them and being knocked prone.
And Slow has really changed more than a few encounters for parties I've been in. I know it's easy to overlook much like the other two because it's yet another third level spell and it does no damage. But it does a pretty good job of disrupting the action economy and movement of opponents to give your own party a valuable head start even if some of them avoid it or eventually break out of it's effect. Though at this point it is yet another spell where i'm going to have to feel out a DM and see how much they value something like Intellect Fortress which can make slow a lot less effective in general. Or for that matter understand how they interpret and choose to employ dispel magic apparently.
I have two personal favorites besides classics like Sleep, Tasha’s Hideous Laugher, Fog Cloud, Hold Person, Blindness/Deafness, Misty Step, Fireball, Hypnotic Pattern and Slow.
And these are Levitate and Web. My Wizard just achieved level 6 and I still have both spells prepared. I have used both so much, that they became like a signature move and in my last session my DM gave a Wand of Web to my character.
Levitate was a life saver more than once. CON save kind of suck and tend to be quite high with the creatures that you usually want to target with this spell, but in combination with Portent, it can trivialize really hard encounters, like Dire Trolls and the like.
I like Web and variations of it such as Ensnare. I'm just not the usually the one casting them because of said "let's not talk about it" spell that I mentioned. I'm usually more often working in synergy with it thanks to it's ability to provide relatively stationary targets.
We're in a fairly low level game, and our party of two wizards have recently fallen in love with the spell "Catapult".
Especially since the wording doesn't require you to *see* what you're throwing with it. Anything that's not nailed down is now a bullet for a tag team of projectile wizards. We're thinking of picking up Metamagic adept just to twin it to gatling gun random crap at our targets once we're 4th level.
I really like life transference... It may not be super optimal for your squishy wizard to hurt himself to help out a friend.. But it's super cool for an arcane caster to be the emergence healer when the cleric or druid goes down.
I play as a good necromancer, and I like to use "dark magic" to help people out, which includes healing injured soldiers with my own blood.
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Wizards have one of the most diverse assortment of spells to choose from, fitting nearly any sort of situation one might come across.
What are some of your favorite spells you've added to your spellbook?
For me, I love the quirkier spells...stuff like "Bigby's Hand", "Evard's Black Tentacles", "Otiluke's Freezing Sphere", "Thunder Step"...the sort of thing that changes an encounter.
Share your favorite Wizard spells below...and maybe a fun moment when you used the spell.
Grease. One hundred thousand percent grease. My god I love that little spell.
Underdark Campaign:
Session 1: This was meant to be a real gritty, resource light campaign. Level 1, classic prisoner trope, we're all shackled and clothed in nothing but burlap. No equipment. And I mean NO EQUIPMENT. I'm a goblin wizard with no spellbook, no components, no arcane focus.
Being lead along an underground passage by our Drow captors we stop for a meal. I ask the DM if I can roll sleight of hand to stow away a piece of animal fat. He smirks and says yes. My 18 dex with proficiency goblin (rolled stats) passes the check with ease.
Back on the move, we start crossing a precarious looking bridge. Obviously it collapses. Our ranger is the only one to fail the dexterity check and goes down from the damage. Many NPCs and guards die immediately. A very hectic battle ensues.
The paladin can't hit anything to save his life. The shaman (homebrew druid-esque class) is franticly racing over to the ranger to use spare the dying. The paladin goes down to some goblins. The shaman races to them. The halfling fighter in a move of crazy desperation ran up on three Goblin guards that had survived the fall and were tag teaming the paladin. They absolutely crushed their intimidation roll (planned to MC in bard so had a high charisma) to the point where the DM had them all turn and run. I will always remember the image of that young halfling girl screaming murderous obscenities. She then manages to kill the drow guard that had survived the fall with her manacles.
Meanwhile there is a Drow wielding a crossbow that did not fall off the bridge. They're perched up there trying to land a shot. Our luck ends when they hit the ranger and down them again. The shaman races back to them again.
Meanwhile, during all of this, I've been in this insane grapple session with a gnome NPC that had been driven mad while in the underdark. I finally manage to kick him off me after three rounds of this crazy struggle. The paladin, who had picked up a goblin sword, stabs the poor bastard.
Finally free, I look up at the Drow that had just downed the ranger with a precise bolt. They are perched right at the edge of the bridge where it had collapsed. I ask my DM if I can try to cast a spell without my spellbook or arcane focus if I have the component. "Roll a d20". 16. I pass whatever check they had set. I pull out the bit of animal fat and announce grease. I cover the edge of that bridge underneath the Drow's feet. They roll a 1. The DM decides that not only does the Drow slip, but they fall off the bridge. They die to a mess of falling damage.
And that was the final enemy. We had won our first combat.
I will always remember that fight.
Excellent!
Some of my picks are unpopular because people refuse to look at them as anything but in a white room environment with little to no group synergy so I'll forgo any fights about something like witchbolt here.
But I do like some area control spells without actually getting into things like Darkness. Sleet storm is one that I love for slowing down or just denying meaningful actions in an area of the battle field while my party prepares for what will come through it, deals with what is not blocked by it, or uses it as cover to gain some space on our retreat.
Tidal Wave despite the fact that it sounds a bit awkward is one that i've had a fair bit of success inconveniencing and disrupting battle lines with since it tends to break up formations fairly regularly by some making their saves and some not making them and being knocked prone.
And Slow has really changed more than a few encounters for parties I've been in. I know it's easy to overlook much like the other two because it's yet another third level spell and it does no damage. But it does a pretty good job of disrupting the action economy and movement of opponents to give your own party a valuable head start even if some of them avoid it or eventually break out of it's effect. Though at this point it is yet another spell where i'm going to have to feel out a DM and see how much they value something like Intellect Fortress which can make slow a lot less effective in general. Or for that matter understand how they interpret and choose to employ dispel magic apparently.
I have two personal favorites besides classics like Sleep, Tasha’s Hideous Laugher, Fog Cloud, Hold Person, Blindness/Deafness, Misty Step, Fireball, Hypnotic Pattern and Slow.
And these are Levitate and Web. My Wizard just achieved level 6 and I still have both spells prepared. I have used both so much, that they became like a signature move and in my last session my DM gave a Wand of Web to my character.
Levitate was a life saver more than once. CON save kind of suck and tend to be quite high with the creatures that you usually want to target with this spell, but in combination with Portent, it can trivialize really hard encounters, like Dire Trolls and the like.
Web is my go-to against mooks and swarms.
I like Web and variations of it such as Ensnare. I'm just not the usually the one casting them because of said "let's not talk about it" spell that I mentioned. I'm usually more often working in synergy with it thanks to it's ability to provide relatively stationary targets.
Though not exclusive...I must say that I enjoy the "Dream" spell.
It's whimsical, and potentially hilarious.
Use it to call out a villain (if they're capable of sleeping).
Get petty revenge on an NPC by going all Freddy Krueger on them.
Imitate Mufasa.
Etc.
We're in a fairly low level game, and our party of two wizards have recently fallen in love with the spell "Catapult".
Especially since the wording doesn't require you to *see* what you're throwing with it. Anything that's not nailed down is now a bullet for a tag team of projectile wizards. We're thinking of picking up Metamagic adept just to twin it to gatling gun random crap at our targets once we're 4th level.
this is what DnD is all about!
I really like life transference... It may not be super optimal for your squishy wizard to hurt himself to help out a friend.. But it's super cool for an arcane caster to be the emergence healer when the cleric or druid goes down.
I play as a good necromancer, and I like to use "dark magic" to help people out, which includes healing injured soldiers with my own blood.