Our Top 10 Spells in Dungeons & Dragons 5e

[@bzutim]

0: Eldritch Blast / Minor Illusion 1: Healing Word / Find Familiar 2: Invisibility / Spiritual Weapon 3: Counterspell / Fireball 4: Polymorph 5: Animate Objects / Wall of Force 6: Mass Suggestion / Contingency 7: Simulacrum / Forcecage 8: Feeblemind / Maze 9: Wish

[@idontknowmyusername4]

thank you

[@nemam83]

Thanks, saved me half an hour.

[@bigassearl7963]

Don't forget the honorable mentions! lvl-4=Conjure woodland beings. lvl-8=Clone & Demi plane. Or the combo of lvl-8 Force cage + Cloud Kill.

[@illoney5663]

@@bigassearl7963 There's literally no benefit to upcasting Forcecage.

[@bigassearl7963]

@@illoney5663 was just adding to list for completeness, I've never used force cage ever.

[@Turntwobounceland]

Monty: *explains Simulacrum* Kelly: "You can do what, now?!"

[@j.asmrgaming1228]

Watching this a bit in the future, but one thing I did notice reading the spell is that the form is partially real and created from ice or snow. This to me makes it seem like using it for stealth or espionage would not work quite as well as mentioned. Though I could see it being waved away as well magic makes them look exactly like the original.

[@TheJerbol]

@@j.asmrgaming1228 They are MADE of snow but don't LOOK like snow..

[@lloydlineske2642]

@@j.asmrgaming1228 or you could just throw an illusion spell on them to make them look like the target also. Either works.

[@alexsanchez1620]

@@lloydlineske2642 it already is an illusion spell that makes it look like the target

[@icarus-wings]

Monty: explains how you can use Simulacrum, a 7th level spell, to replace “disguise self”, a 1st level spell. Kelly: mind blown.

[@wizardgradstudent]

So I’ve got a fun story with Contingency. Recently my group just finished a campaign where we all ended at 12. As soon as we had the components, the other wizard and I cast our contingencies. His was logical: dispel magic if he’s hit with an effect. Mine was more funny: cast polymorph on myself if I get below 10 HP. Guess who nearly got one-shotted by the final boss only to survive on 2 hp and then became a T Rex? Great boss fight 😄

[@damienpeters6004]

For Cantrips I have to give a shout out to Guidance. It's essentially a low level Bardic Inspiration at will for any out of combat situation. The number of times that little d4 has saved our party from getting captured or pissing off a noble makes it the #1 pick for me.

[@michaelnielson3978]

It can even be applied to your initiative roll if you know it's coming

[@AllToastersToastToast]

I guess it kinda depends on which of the three pillars of play is focused on most in a campaign. Eldritch Blast is easily the most potent in combat scenarios, but if you only get one or two combat encounters in a session, it’s not as useful until you roll initiative again. Compare with Minor Illusion and Guidance: both are extremely potent in both exploration and social scenarios, but if you’re stuck in a bunch of combat scenarios, you might not always have a good use with either. Doesn’t mean you can’t have a good use because there are creative solutions to some combat scenarios, but sometimes a spellcaster has better uses for their action.

[@damienpeters6004]

@@AllToastersToastToast I think you're right. That is kind of the crux of the situation. Most of the games I play are more roleplay heavy, so I lean into that kind of solution. I don't deny, Minor Image may have a bit of an edge in overall utility just because it can be applied in so many situations, and Eldrtich Blast can potentially have an entire class based around it. It's all in how you play.

[@AllToastersToastToast]

Damien Peters I agree. Personally roleplay is what’s weakest for me because of a bit of social anxiety, so I like to focus more on other types of spells. That just means I can focus more on other spells. Not to mention I normally play Adventurer’s League games, so you’re not always completely sure how much of anything you’ll get, particularly Epic adventures where you sometimes get to choose what type of encounters you play.

[@charliescheirmann2926]

I don't think a king's court/advisors/guards would take too kindly to you casting a spell in his presence or near his throne. And even if they knew it wasn't hostile I don't think they would want you using a spell that increases your odds at deceiving him and things of the sort.

[@simingmeng7561]

The craziest thing about Fireball was with our wild magic sorcerer. It was the final battle against the BBEG, he casted fireball, which triggered his wild magic table. I was the DM, so when he rolled the d100 and I checked which crazy effect he got this time, it was none other than - a fireball, centring himself. In order to save himself and his allies, our player pulled one of the craziest trick I've ever seen - he casted Counterspell on himself. So I basically described the scene as: "As the Fireball flew out of Ralph's hand, all of a sudden, another one emerged from his palm, growing larger and larger to the point of explosion with in seconds. Just as you all watched this in horror, you see Ralph clenched his teeth in desperation, and the Fireball that was slipping out his hand suddenly withered away into a puff of smoke, and vanished as quietly as it had come."

[@BladesOfLight]

That’s… amazing. I’ve never considered casting counterspell on yourself, I feel like this is one of the only times it could/would ever happen… But holy cow that’s an amazing moment, and definitely the most unique use of the spell I think I’ve ever heard

[@confusedturtle55]

BBEG: *returns from maze* “NOTHING CAN STOP ME NOW!” Wizard: *wishes for another maze*

[@samuelevans738]

Oof.

[@oliverworley5162]

Wish for a naze with infinite duration and no concentration?

[@samuelevans738]

@@oliverworley5162 dm might over rule that though; besides, maze can be escaped in it's own. There's always an exit. That's why minotaurs used to be immune to maze. They could find their way through immediately.

[@ladylad2763]

@@samuelevans738 I think they still are

[@samuelevans738]

@@ladylad2763 cool. Still, I love the idea, but I think at that point, it's better to just wish for the target to get banished to a closed demiplane.

[@michelefolli4132]

You didn't say for counterspell that you can do the hypest thing in d&d: counterspell a counterspell

[@onurcradibleable]

"You fool! You activated my trap card!" -"You fool! You activated my trap card!"

[@PureGoldNeverCorrodes]

Unless the Counterspell is cast by a Glyph of Warding.

[@martinbaraldilobe3334]

@@PureGoldNeverCorrodes you can't counter spell glyph of warding?

[@PureGoldNeverCorrodes]

Martin Baraldi Lobe nope, it’s not a creature.

[@ryanestes7331]

@@onurcradibleable well then I play this card!

[@TheJoeFactor]

I open the video and once i saw the format said to myself, "Monty is going to pick Fireball at 3, isnt he?" I didnt have to be a divination wizard for that, I guess.

[@samuelevans738]

@Vince M jocat agrees.

[@andrewlakhach4806]

@Vince M and when u out of fireballs cast wish to cast fireball

[@hammerdall]

I found it an odd choice, when they also listed Fireball in their 5 Most Overrated Spells video. Here they say you can use it to solve almost any problem by blowing it up, and in that video they say why would you waste spell slots on damage spells? I'm confused.

[@Aleksandrus12]

@@hammerdall Because it's true, many situations can be solved by blowing something or someone up, especially if your character doesn't care about consequences. On the other half you'll probably use some other spell to blow up just 1 or 2 enemies. Also listen you what they said in the ending it's subjective and ripped of context list so it means these are in their opinion best spells of that levels, but they aren't suited for every situation and it's really visible in their pick 'cause this video could also be named "top 10 most versatile spells in d&d 5e"

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

@@hammerdall Yeah it is odd, especially since there are spells that can increase the party's damage output by more than Fireball, which also have alternative applications.

[@JabezFuutonSpecialis]

Kelly's expression at the Simulacrum explanations 😂🤣🤣🤣

[@karpmageddon4155]

Missed opportunity not zooming in on that gold! 😆

[@guamae]

Simulacrum is definitely a spell I'd have to put extra limits on, as a DM... Particularly the Wishing for Infinite Selves situation... (17th level Wizard casts Simulacrum, creating a new copy of themselves with All their spells available. Simulacrum uses Wish to reproduce Simulacrum, without the material component. They copy the Wizard, with all their spells available. Repeat.)

[@karpmageddon4155]

@@guamae Higher levels are supposed to break the game by all accounts. So yes a wizard could make an infinite amount of him or herself but there are ways to have fun with that as a DM. So rather than restricting players for adhering to RAW, you as a DM should expand your mind on the fun that can be had within it. Also, you should always let your players know that if they can do it then you can do it. So that means you could make your BBEG just as infinite for example.

[@guamae]

@@karpmageddon4155 Yeah, but that doesn't sound fun... It sounds exciting for them sneak into the Big Bad's chamber, get into the Epic-Throw down, and when they finally strike the killing blow, the body dissolves into snow... now they realize that their foe is more powerful than they thought, and they need to track down the Real Archmage... If they then go into the next room and find 50 copies of the same Super-Villain... that's a let-down, not an amp-up. I'd rather just say "You can only have One Simulacrum active at a time." It's still an Awesome spell, but doesn't Break the World...

[@karpmageddon4155]

@@guamae My point was to let your players know that if they want to get cheesy then you can too. So whenever your players make a choice they can ask themselves, "If the DM did this would I still consider it fun?" and if the answer is no then they realize they are probably doing something they shouldn't even if RAW allows them to. Which should alleviate most cheese problems (like infinite wizards) you might have with your players in the game.

[@CalculusPhysics]

one of my favorite spells is Reverse Gravity, since it allows for a lot of creativity. One idea i had was if a ship was gonna fall off of a waterfall, you could cast Reverse Gravity beneath it and slow it down before it reached the bottom. my wizard was level 20, so he could cast it a max of 4 times (since it's a 7th level spell) which meant that we could fall off an 800ft waterfall and not take any damage. this might not be totally RAW, but i have a physics degree, so i tried working out the physics of the scenario, and it turns out you can fall twice the height of the cylinder without taking damage (since the kinetic energy you gain for half the fall is then lost for the other half the fall when you're inside the cylinder). i always imagined this awesome scenario of us being chased down a river, when suddenly we came across a massive waterfall, and my wizard just stands at the helm, telling everyone to brace, and pulling off this crazy maneuver. sadly i never got the chance to use it, but it's a lot of fun to think about and imagine, plus it combined by two favorite things: Physics and D&D

[@dragonborne3277]

And the mess at the end would be like the end result of taking Aqua Expurgo

[@dragonborne3277]

Considering terminal velocity, you would only need one.

[@CalculusPhysics]

dragonborne the terminal velocity for a giant ship is incredibly high, and it wouldn't reach terminal velocity when falling 400ft (or even 800ft)

[@MyRegularNameWasTaken]

Fun alternative way to use physics: flip that upside down. You can cast Reverse Gravity on yourself for the first 100 feet, stop concentrating, and slingshot yourself another 100 feet higher. How to climb a 200 foot cliff in 2 easy steps.

[@Aleksandrus12]

Well i see 1 hole in this plan. With reversed gravity you'll be on top of the ship now pulled upwards, that's means all of crew members must roll savings throw to hold on something to not be pulled to the sky, unless you can cast it only on ship. But seriously how often do you fall with a ship down a waterfall??? And 20 lv wizard travelling river by a ship? Why do not teleport or fly or anything else. It's so strange... Maybe an escort mission but not about people but ship itself... That's really interesting quest to make... *quite new gm pats himself on the shoulder* hmmm....

[@logancuster8035]

Find familiar is amazing, particularly at low level, and healing word is almost crucial, but I would like to give a shout out to the most used spell in both of of the Drakenheim campaigns, as well as my own. Shield. Action economy is king in 5th ed, and having such an incredible use for ones reaction has surely turned the tide of countless battles.

[@DungeonDudes]

It was my choice literally until the day of shooting and I switched to healing word. Shield was a heavy contender on both our lists

[@sagov9]

@N L Shield is nice, however, it only lasts one round and the spell slots run out quickly, especially for low level wizards. Try to get a staff of defense for your shield (and mage armor!) instead (if the DM is kind enough), and use your spell slots for burning hands to get rid of multiple enemies as fast as possible. Attack is the best form of defense, that's what I think.

[@robbiejames1540]

Yesssss, I was scrolling down to find this. Shield has saved my character so many times.

[@Hazel-xl8in]

“you’ll never be this restricted in actual play, choosing one spell for an entire level” cries in mystic arcanum

[@ashtonpeterson4618]

What is that?

[@Zswasd]

@@ashtonpeterson4618 warlocks get spells only up to 5th level. But starting from warlock 11th they get mystic arcanum, wich lets them use spells above 5th level once per long rest. And they only get to choose 1 spell per level above the 5th level. "At 11th level, your patron bestows upon you a magical Secret called an arcanum. Choose one 6th-level spell from the Warlock spell list as this arcanum. You can cast your arcanum spell once without expending a spell slot. You must finish a Long Rest before you can do so again. At higher levels, you gain more Warlock Spells of your choice that can be cast in this way: one 7th-level spell at 13th level, one 8th-level spell at 15th level, and one 9th-level spell at 17th level. You regain all uses of your Mystic A rcanum when you finish a Long Rest" - PHB

[@ashtonpeterson4618]

@@Zswasd That's cool! I don't think I ever saw that. Then again I haven't looked into Warlock much. I'm a wizard main when I'm not DM'ing. Do you choose one spell of each level above 5th and you're stuck with it, or can you swap them out? Also do you only get to cast one above 5th before resting or one if each level before resting?

[@151darkrai]

@@ashtonpeterson4618 you get to cast each spell once until long rest (mystic arcanum)

[@ashtonpeterson4618]

@@151darkrai that's great. Too bad it only happens at higher levels though. Until then you only get two spell slots

[@danzai]

Funniest thing is Monty beating Kelly to "Fireball".

[@Aleksandrus12]

That's what I thought! Kelly will choose fireball and Monty'll come with something else. And I was as shocked as Kelly listening about simulacrum. :D

[@mikev4638]

I'm fond of Pass Without Trace. In my current game, we have a Paladin who we lovingly refer to as "Mr. Clanky" because of his heavy armor and notoriously bad stealth and dex rolls. That spell has saved even our louder party members from being detected while infiltrating a location, it's super helpful.

[@fuzzygreentiger]

Ok I love the “go to the nearest beach and count sand”. Also going to be a new irl way to tell someone off. And omg, I laughed so hard at “when I say giggle shorts”

[@trikkinikki6843]

I know I'm one person in an ocean, but I feel like giving my list because why not? Cantrip: Guidance. I've been playing a cleric recently, and and giving myself (or sometimes someone else when needed) an extra 1d4 can give that extra little boost to get the outcome you need. Will it always? Hell no. But it can turn an absolute shit roll into a less shit roll, or a great roll into an outstanding roll. 1st level: Shield. Became my favorite when my group's artificer used it once to block like 6 attacks to tank for the team, so then they can focus on someone else, get an important artifact from them, and then they could all get grouped up together so then their more powerful friend can cast teleport to get them out. If that spell wasn't cast, she probably would have went down and the situation would have been much more complicated. 2nd level: While Heat Metal is very tempting, gotta go with Enlarge/Reduce. It has so much utility, both in and of combat, and also it is so universally hilarious. 3rd level: If I wanted to be different from you two, i would pick Sending because of how integral it can be for easily communicating with NPCs, but because I don't care about that, I'm choosing Counterspell. It is sooooo clutch. I've used it as a DM with NPCs to help the PCs out a lot. But soon, there will be a situation where I will be using it to mess around with them. It'll be a great time. 4th level: I'm tempted by Dimension Door, Control Water, and Summon Greater Demon, but I'm also in the Polymorph club for the same reasons you said. 5th level: Here are a bunch of campaign-defining spells: Scrying, Teleportation Circle, and Greater Restoration. However, I'm going with a strange one: Circle of Power. Paladin only (but kickass magical secrets pick), gives advantage on all magical saves, and all of those saves that do damage you basically have evasion for (half on a fail, none on a success). Never played a paladin or high level bard, but if I get a chance I am taking this spell. 6th level: Otto's Irresistible Dance is really funny, and having a no-saving throw (but can be resisted if they are immune to charm) immediate restriction on a ton of the shit they can do is kickass. I'm also tempted by Disintegrate just for pure damage. 7th level: This is the only real tie because they serve a similar purpose: Teleport and Plane shift. Plane shift can be defining to a whole arc of a campaign, but teleport is great for convenience. 8th level: Had the same problem as you guys.I also chose the same thing: Feeblemind, with second choice being Maze. But now that I'm looking again, Illusory Dragon looks kick-ass for damage, Clone is a GREAT DM spell (I've used it myself in that way as backups for the big baddies), and Telepathy is an extended Sending spell which is wonderful. 9th level: Other than Wish, Meteor Swarm is THE best pure damage AOE spell. But honestly, my fav has to be Foresight. No concentration, advantage on all d20 rolls for and disadvantage on attacks rolls against the person of your choice for 8 HOURS?! Gonna take that wish whoever I can.

[@michaelduke9057]

100% with you on Guidance and Shield my DM hates shield so much.

[@trikkinikki6843]

@@michaelduke9057 Honestly, as a DM, I also kinda hate shield. But I'm soon gonna get a chance to use both shield and counterspell against them, so it balances out.

[@mal2ksc]

I have a specific memory associated with Disintegrate, because of the way I used it _as a DM_ while playing a summoned NPC. The party consisted of one 5th-level PC and one similarly leveled NPC, but said NPC had an emergency "save" in her pocket in the form of a marble that could be crushed to summon help. In this case that help was her half-sister, who was at the time an 11th level wizard. Anyhow, the party met with bandits. When the attackers realized they were outmatched and ran, they entered a nearby shop and barred the door behind them, then ran out the back. The PC gave chase and was irate at the barred door. The NPC tried to go through the window but got stuck, and I don't even remember what exactly happened but the marble got crushed and the wizard got called. Meanwhile the PC is torturing the shopkeeper to try to get the whereabouts of the bandits, and the newly summoned wizard warns him to stop carving runes into the shopkeeper's scalp with a dagger -- three separate times. She prepared to cast Bigby's Hand, and her hand was already in the air when there was a noise at the back door. Fearing it was the same bandits that had gone out that way less than a minute earlier, she changed her spell to Disintegrate because she didn't want to be fighting two battles at once. This wasn't the fastest PC kill I've ever had occur in a session, but it was certainly the fastest _permanent_ death. When I reckoned for every move he had made, his in-game lifespan had been less than two minutes.

[@trikkinikki6843]

@@mal2ksc Oh wowza, that is one hell of a story. I have a couple of higher level npcs who have it so I can't wait until a fight comes up so then I can pop it.

[@mal2ksc]

@@trikkinikki6843 It's a save-or-suck spell, like Banishment or Hypnotic Pattern. If you can get it to work, it can turn a battle from deadly to trivial in a flash. If it doesn't work, you're out a spell slot, which may or may not be a problem, and whatever battlefield setup enabled you to do that probably won't exist next turn. A party that relies upon such spells without a backup plan is likely to crash and burn when the dice gods frown.

[@KodyackCasual]

"It (Simulacrum) does take 12 hours to cast..." Me, having planned many a wizard build "Until you cast wish and 1-action create a copy of yourself (or the bbeg) in the middle of the bossfight!"

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

I'd be careful with that. A DM might easily rule that in duplicating a spell you duplicate the casting time for the spell to take effect. So if you wished for a Simulacrum it would still take 12 hours to form. Wishing for a Clone would take a full year as per the norm. It's just that you don't need any Components, including normally expensive material ones.

[@Linduil]

@@XoRandomGuyoX If you're worried about your DM houseruling how wish works, just talk to them about it before using it to make sure that it works the way you expect it to.

[@zeroarc906]

I ran a 20th level FFA in which a player won using that as their strategy. Super broken.

[@KodyackCasual]

@@XoRandomGuyoX A DM is allowed to rule however they want, but if they do such a thing, they *are* homebrewing the rules, it is not something that is up for debate. Wish has a casting time of 1 action and a duration of instantaneous, there's nothing ambiguous about that. A DM who adds the casting time of the spell on top of the casting time of wish has just made wish really bad, as you now need 2 actions to cast any regularly 1-action spell. I don't assume the DM is going to be using anything homebrewed when making my statements, one way or the other. (note: wish says you don't need to meet *any* requirements listed in the spell. this means components, casting time, spell list, etc, including costly material components)

[@eruditecaptain3117]

Genius.

[@saturn1b1]

8th level: Glibness never role below a 15 on a charisma check. Immune to truth magic. Situational but one of my favorites.

[@robertmacneish4470]

It's a fantastic villain spell. Have an innocuous NPC (secret BBEG) who is always lying and deceiving and the party will almost never Insight through their lies

[@jst1215]

There’s even a fun combat utility people often overlook with glibness- since you can’t roll below a 15 on any charisma checks, that includes spells that use charisma checks for charisma based casters. With 5 charisma and reliable talent, a bard can’t roll below 22/23 on counterspell checks or telekinesis checks, so their counterspells always work no matter the spell level and their telekinesis becomes incredibly hard to resist.

[@ashtonpeterson4618]

​@@jst1215damn.

[@TainakaRicchan]

3rd level: Hypnotic Pattern Fireball has solved many a encoutner, counterspell has thwartet much of a plan, but hpynotic pattern is as a battlefield controlspell simply ridiculously amazing. 30 by 30 cube, only initial save, inflictes charmed, so a instrumend oh the bards impsoes disadvantge on this save. range 120' so out of the range of counterspell.

[@dragonborne3277]

Sebastian showed how useful this spell this. I think he cast this more than FB.

[@M0ebius]

Hypnotic Pattern is number 1 on my list too. Shout out to Spirit Guardians, number 2 on my list.

[@Mr911superstar]

I think fireball is super over rated, conjure animals gives you 8 creatures all dealing about 1d6+2 damage. In the first round, that can easily surpass a fireball. Those attacks can crit and you can get something like wolves that have pack tactics.

[@M0ebius]

Life from the Loamly Fireball is good the level you get it and another couple levels after just because its damage is frontloaded, which situationally speaking can be better than damage spread out over multiple rounds. But it scales terribly, and its hard to use in close quarters unless youre an Evoker. Comparing purely dmg AOEs, Spirit Guardians is superior.

[@lostlune]

HP could be a better choice that fireball, i agree with that

[@st1buchanan698]

Barbarian on a T Rex is metal AF. I think I saw it on an old Molly Hatchet album cover .

[@cavareenvius7886]

The only thing more Metal would be a Barbarian on a robot T-Rex headbenging a skeleton dragon that is mounted by a naked lady that shots lighting bolzs from her nippels.

[@st1buchanan698]

@@cavareenvius7886 Hell yeah! Now I wanna buy a van just to airbrush that on the side!

[@robinwang6399]

After hearing feeble mind and maze. 8th level: Mind blank everyday, and always prep anti magic field, also have a bunch of clones around just in case.

[@angelocorsino1773]

Mind blank is so stupid good late game on weak wisdom characters.

[@robinwang6399]

Angelo Corsino mind blank is protection against any psychic/mental attacks, with it, you never have to worry about being feeble minded by some lich anymore.

[@angelocorsino1773]

@@robinwang6399 Yes exactly? also all those pesky charm effects

[@DurandalsFate]

@@robinwang6399 Mind Blank only protects you against the psychic damage in Feeblemind. It doesn't prevent the other effects.

[@robinwang6399]

DurandalsFate good point, mind blank protects from charms and mind probing, not a straight score deduction, I guess the dispell magic at 5 level contingency could help. Or better cast clone , then have a contingency of fire ball on self to suicide if ever charmed or otherwise mentally disabled.

[@DStrormer]

Lore Bard with Magic Initiate can obtain all of these spells by level 18. :D Alternately, if you're not using feats you can pop those 2 spare levels into warlock and you're also covered with the added benefit of invocations.

[@JoeSmith-st9lc]

Bardlocks are fantastic creations. Find familiar is a wizard spell though, so other than ritual caster or magic initiate feat, I think the character needs to take a dip in wizard.

[@sunayama4650]

Contingency: if a spell you cast that would charm a person fails, you immediately dimension door yourself. Wish for whatever legendary item you want. If you are transported to the owner of the item, cast Dominate Person and order them to hand over the item. If the charm fails, the contingency spell will abscond you from the area before harm is done. Or at least that's my theory.

[@jeohranalfhir8366]

Dimension Door hasn't a range of self or "one creature within range" :/

[@theraven5850]

Or you could just cast gift of gab and then try to charm them again. That spell makes them forget the last 6 seconds (ie you failing to charm them).

[@joemama114]

Personally I'd just go the other way with it. You instantly get the item in hand, along with a small note. "You have made a grievous mistake." -House of Recollections, Reclaimed Property and Violent Revenge. The previous owner also would get a note that reads such as this. "Sorry to inform you but Person X has wished for your item and as such the powers of the weave has delivered it unto them. I am contacting you in the interest of business, and should you be interested in collecting your missing property, we have ample openings for commissions on Steel Predators. Please do look us up if you are in Sigil" -House of Recollections, Reclaimed Property and Violent Revenge. Sooner or later Steel Predators start tracking you down with notes pinned to them, "I know you stole from me, return my property and this may well end without your death."

[@seanellis5410]

If you really want an evil way to use feeblemind, have a high level spell casting villain use it in a campaign with mind flayers, and then send in a couple intellect devourers. That barbarian or fighter is almost guaranteed to not make their save, and then they’re one successful attack away from having to turn against their party. Theoretically, they could even have to turn against the party within the first round of combat

[@natashasurvivallady8021]

I don't know if I want you to DM a game for me... 🤣🤣🤣

[@sandrols7]

I did something simular in a Battle Royal against the other players. I had to save Feeblemind, but eventually only the bard, who also still had some intense spells left (he told me afterwards) was left and had more HP and spells left than my warlock, who only had the last two Mystic Arcanum left (lvl 8 and 9). I simply cast Feeblemind, got the fuck out of there, and then True Polymorphed myself into a Hydroloth. Hydroloth's have an amazing ability that TAKES AWAY ALL PROFICIENCIES! That includes Saving Throws, Weapon and Armour proficiencies. The best part? It takes an Intelligence Saving Throw to resist, and he had to roll a 19 or 20, since he actually had int save proficiency. From that moment on, I just managed to get myself on top of a mountain, cast Leomond's Tiny Hut, and camped out. He didn't save againt the Hydroloth's Ability that day… and was just left wandering about. The player was a great sport about it, by the way. Day after, I just Plane Shifted him into the Abyss. Fun times!

[@mal2ksc]

Such reasons are why even high level wizards should consider memorizing _Magic Missile_ every morning. Guaranteed hit, and the minimal damage will give your charmed ally another saving throw on the spot. (Either that or keep a Wand of Magic Missiles handy.)

[@sandrols7]

@@mal2ksc There's no Saving Throws against Feeblemind upon taking damage. Or do you mean something else?

[@mal2ksc]

@@sandrols7 I was thinking of mind flayer _arcanists_ which can cast Dominate Person. Also, the Enslave ability of an aboleth, which is something fairly frequently encountered toward the end of a crawl, if you're finding mind flayers at the beginning. Both of these effects grant a new saving throw any time the charmed creature takes damage. Hence keeping _Magic Missile_ in the back pocket.

[@fardareismai4495]

I love all the little nicknames you give yourself, it's a nice little joke to look forward to. Also, this is a great video topic, I already know I'm going to enjoy it! Edit: yeah, this was a great video, I loved your debate and your picks! Thanks

[@Klaital1]

Here is my list, before watching yours. Cantrip: Minor Illusion 1st: Find Familiar 2nd: Web 3rd: Counterspell 4th: Polymorph 5th: Wall of Force 6th: Heal 7th: Forcecage 8th: Feeblemind 9th: Wish

[@AvangionQ]

Why is Feeblemind an 8th level spell? It used to be 5th level. www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/feeblemind

[@digifreak90]

For me Cantrip: Shocking Grasp. Advantage if the opponent is wearing metal armor as well as getting rid of their reaction can be very useful. Especially since most casters don't want to be close to an enemy it can allow them to get away without having to disengage. 1st level: Tasha's Hideous Laughter. While I personally have never used this spell, the number of times a friend has used it to completely remove an enemy from the battle has probably saved our skins on multiple occasions. 2nd level: Shadow Blade. Mainly this is just a personal preference for the coolness factor of the spell being a blade made out of shadow. Spiritual Weapon is a close second though. 3rd level: Spirit Guardians. My group calls this spell 'The Lawn Mower' for a reason. Once our cleric wiped out a horde of zombies with this spell. 4th level: Banishment. While situational, this spell once allowed me to completely bypass a major boss, since they were from a different plane natively and there were no other enemies to break my concentration on the spell. 5th: Immolation. One of my first characters was a Wild Magic Sorcerer who specialized in fire magic. And having the ability to use subtle spell meta magic meant he could literally just look at someone and set them on fire. 6th level: Contingency. While I debated choosing one of the Investiture spells from Xanathar's, the sheer usefulness of this spell won out. Being able to set a condition to automatically cast any spell on yourself, so long as it's 5th level or lower and you know the spell, could be used in so many creative and potentially life saving ways. 7th level: Simulacrum. Basically for the same reasons listed in this video. 8th level: Illusory Dragon. Being able to basically just summon a dragon to fight by your side can't be overrated to me. 9th level: Prismatic Wall.While Wish is the ultimate spell and Meteor Swarm can wipe out armies, I love the idea of having a near impassable wall made of light. And that every layer of the wall can potentially kill you.

[@adamkaris]

shocking grasp is worse than just disengaging though, which is what messes it up for me

[@fightingfalcon777]

I LOVE Prismatic Wall so much. I built up an Abjuration Wizard with a three level dip into Eldritch Knight with Prismatic Wall and I can’t wait for the chance to use this character in a campaign

[@anthiondel]

My list: Cantrip: Guidance 1st: Bless 2nd: Invisibility 3rd: Counterspell 4th: Polymorph 5th: Wall of Force 6th: Contingency 7th: Force Cage 8th: Maze 9th: Wish

[@nathankurtz8045]

In that category I would prefer Faerie Fire to Bless. Everybody in the party gets advantage on attack rolls against the enemies you hit with it, and it's not a save every turn spell. It'll also reveal any invisible creatures. Plus a rogue's sneak attack will proc every turn on the targets.

[@charlespeterson9668]

Hmmmm, I think I agree with every one of these choices.

[@OceanGateEngineer4Hire]

22:59 Monty's face immediately after he announces his 8th Level Spell choice just kills me; you can tell he's so pleased with himself and he's really savouring his buddy's reaction to his pick. What I wouldn't give to get some beers and just talk D&D for hours with the Dungeon Dudes...

[@TheHornedKing]

Spellcasters are usually my go-to in any videogame, but I'm playing my first campaign, and I'm playing a barbarian, as I felt like we needed something like that and I had a cool idea anyway. We did have a mini campaign were I played as a warlock though, and that time I cast Synaptic Static was really cool. Allways been a fan of dmg+debuff attacks, and that "psychic fireball" was great.

[@1manApocalypse_CP]

Yeah, never played, but can't imagine playing without some sort of magic.

[@CalculusPhysics]

some of my favorite spells in D&D aren't the most damage dealing, or even the most useful spells ever. sometimes a spell just seems badass, and that's why i love it. for example Control Weather and Mirage Arcane. they're very niche spells, and probably only useful in a small amount of situations, but they're just fucking cool (like you can literally control the weather, how sick is that?)

[@matus9]

That is the reason why i love meteor swarm

[@harrywhiteley89]

For 9th level I do love me a Invulnerability... I really want to have a BBEG who is an awesome Actor who casts Invulnerability and fakes all of the damage the party does to him included with packets of blood and a contingent plane shift for the end of the "battle"

[@Aleksandrus12]

Hahhahahah Pc: i attack 4 times Gm: Make 4 perception or maybe insight checks while i secretly will be doing performance checks. And copy that about 4-6 times per round, nothing could go wrong But it's still interesting way to mess up with players

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

And then when the party is celebrating their victory at the tavern afterward, the BBEG walks in, explains in detail how he did that, each party member buys him a drink, and he goes on to make a career as the greatest Bard in Tamriel!

[@tham819]

Bro basically wants Aizen as his BBEG

[@dingodango3725]

My top ten spells coming from a roleplayer: 0: Message. The amount of times having a basically silent walkie talkie with other party members has saved our arses when the party is split is beyond counting. Take it either as a high elf or with magic initiate. 1: Identify. Being able to identify gear as a ritual is handy, but also using it to discern whether someone has been charmed, or to see if they have a curse upon them or any protective spells, or even to discern if they are disguised (use your spider familiar to sit on their back and deliver the spell if you are being sneaky) really expands the scope of this spell and lends itself to an inquisitor character. 2: Rope trick. Use it to get out of a dire situation, use it to create a rope that scales a wall 60 ft high without having to try and throw it. Use it to keep an item safe, or an NPC safe during a fight or whilst infiltrating. Use it as a hiding spot without concentration or the chance of being detected as in the case of invisibility. 3: Glyph of Warding. Contingency as a third level spell, concentrates for you, lasts indefinitely and can be cast multiple times, great for setting ambushes or to mess with a villain (cast Glyph of warding on an object they are likely to use, store Alter Self in the Glyph, change their appearance to look like an intruder, then alter yourself to look like them and take their place or whatever). 4: Polymorph, for similar reasons to the Dudes. 5: Wall of force. Sheer utility. 6: Guards and Wards. Now YOU are the villain XD 7: Sequester. Willow: I've sent her... I've sent her to a realm where evil cannot harm her! Bavmorda: That's impossible! There's no such place! 8: Clone. Now YOU are Rick Sanchez 9: Imprisonment. Now YOU are queen Grimhilde XD

[@DubiousByName]

The only things better than the suggestions on your list are your great quotes and references!

[@moodyfingers7301]

The only problem with Glyph of Warding is that it breaks if it moves 10 feets from where is casted. If you could up-casting to at least increase that limit it would be perfect.

[@RemedialHappyMan]

I'd like to bring up a spell that I think is underrepresented at 1st level. Bless is amazing. Bless scales well with upcasting. Bless is one of the only ways to add bonus's to saving throws. Bless helps you hold concentration on the spell because you can just buff yourself too. Bless is I think one of, if not THEE best party buff in the game that you can get from spells. Even something like Haste can only hit one target and has the downside of stunning if the spell fails. Polymorph is really good but again it's only one target. Bless is a spell you can use every single combat, that will most of the time last the entire combat, and it can spread the effects over everyone in the party. PLUS IF THAT WASN'T ENOUGH. Bless can't get countered by terrain/vision/hearing etc. The text simply says "choose x targets in range". The targets don't even need to be on the same floor of the building and it has no range limit after the spell lands. For 2nd level... AID! Aid is not only one of the only ways to increase max health in the entire game. Not only that, it increases the HP and heals at the same time so it can also be used as a clutch level 2 spell that can bring up three people that have been downed. It's also non concentration so it stacks with Bless. It also stacks with inspiring leader since its real HP and not temp HP. Bless + Aid + Inspiring Leader has been SUCH A POTENT combination. For me these two spells have done more work in my campaign than greater invisibility, than haste, than slow, than polymorph and plant growth. Like because of how rests work too these spells and abilities are literally "just have them up EVERY SINGLE ENCOUNTER" as well. I just don't understand how they're not higher rated on a lot of lists. Like sure they aren't "versitile" in terms of RP and stuff but in the moments of the game where you're actually in clutch circumstances of life and death giving everyone in the party several levels worth of HP and + 1d4 to hits and saves is a massive force multiplier.

[@charliescheirmann2926]

Bless statistically adds on average 12.5% chance to make a save/attack. But as a cleric a good 1st level buff spell would be a strategic faerie fire, which could possibly grant your ENTIRE party advantage to hit which is on average a +5 to hot (an extra 25%) and advantage not only increases you and your allies chance to hit, but it also nearly doubles your chance to roll a crit, which your barbarian/paladin/or rogue will thank you for if they do! There is the druid spell entangle which may restrain an opponent, making their movement 0 which means all of your ranged attackers can simply pepper them with ranged attacks at advantage, and the target has to use their action to ATTEMPT to escape and if they do, they still wasted their turn and the area around them will be rough terrain, meaning everyone would have a chance to back up to pepper the enemy a little bit more. And if the fighter/barbarian didn't want to feel left out they can engage the enemy and will have advantage, and if the enemy opts to spend their action attacking back, they will have disadvantage. So the fighter will either have a severe advantage, or get a free round attacking the enemy. Heck you could be a moon druid and just engage the enemy yourself! Lastly you could use guiding bolt as a cleric, which deals 4d6 radiant damage, which is good damage and damage type for a 1st level spell, and then give the next person to attack advantage to hit. And for 2nd level spells you have to give it to Hold Person, if it works the opponent is guaranteed to lose a turn so while that may not seem useful because you essentially used your turn to cast it, but you also have to consider that this effect may work across several turns AND you have party members who will have advantage to hit and anyone hitting the enemy from 5 feet away get an AUTO crit, meaning if you have any melee combatant in the party whatsoever that has a chance to act while the enemy is paralyzed, they will dish out some amazing damage, which would certainly make up for any damage you would have dealt by casting any other 2nd level spell as your action! The sooner you can end an encounter or the more actions you can take away from your enemy(ies) means the less damage your allies will be taking and the less saving throws the enemy can force on your allies, the better, why cast bless so your allies have a better chance of passing a saving throw from the bbeg, when you have a chance to just stop the bbeg from even getting a chance to induce the saving throw?!

[@RemedialHappyMan]

@@charliescheirmann2926 I like faerie fire but the fact that bless provides unique defensive and offensive buffs and doesn't have any failure rate is just too good to pass up. When I use faerie fire there's a pretty good chance that several of the enemies will pass the save. If I use Bless I know exactly what the effect is. Plus Bless stacks with bonus action hide for advantage, bless stacks with knocking someone prone and getting melee weapon advantage attacks. Bless stacks with familiars giving help actions. Advantage is something that is plentiful in the game but Bless gives unique bonus's that stack with everything on everyones toolkit basically. If you have a Paladin giving an aura you can actually Bless the party and probably give everyone at least an extra 4-8 extra bonus on their saves. That paladin that dumped dex now probably has a reasonable chance to take half damage from dex spells when they have that sort of bonus to their roll even though their this slow moving bruiser like character. The wizard and druid can suddenly hold concentration way better than he could before. I mean in the ideal party I'd want Bless > Bane > Faerie Fire > Slow all up at once. Just the first round of combat dedicated to putting up buffs and debuffs and then moving from their. I'd want them up in that order too because Bane has a VERY unique effect of lowering enemy saving throws so you can make Faerie Fire and Slow easier to land. I always prefer using abilities that avoid failure rates though such as magic missile. I'd rather throw out a magic missile than a lot of other spells any day because avoiding the to hit roll is great.

[@RemedialHappyMan]

Also something I feel is kind of important is that the common saying of "advantage is +5 on average" is actually a pretty big misrepresentation that mainly exists because somewhere Wizards posted that as a suggestion. If you look at the actual math which you can get by putting "output 1d20" and "output [highest of 2d20]" into anydice.com you can compare the results directly. The average of 1d20 is 10.5, while the average of advantage ([highest of 2d20]) is 13.82. This means the average benefit of advantage is actually a difference of 3.32 which is only slightly higher than the average of Bless which is 2.5. It does "close" to double the crit chance, I think it actually comes out to like 9.82% instead of 5%, but I think the bonus Bless gives to saves makes up for the loss in damage from not having Faerie Fire. Bless is very underrated I think. I think it's probably the best 1st level spell in the game period. I think it's statistically better than healing word if your party is 4 or more people.

[@charliescheirmann2926]

@@RemedialHappyMan you're right a out the 13.82 average, and adv gives around a 95% bonus to your crit chance. If you're looking for defensive buffs I still think entangle is a pretty good candidate for 1st level. Outright taking a few enemies off the map for even 1 turn a piece so your allies don't have to make any saving throws whatsoever is pretty strong. However bless having no chance to fail makes it pretty reliable

[@charliescheirmann2926]

@@GoblinUrNuts I wasnt comparing the two spells to draw comparisons, we were just on the subject of 1st level buff spells. And it's a Dex save, most party members that will be up and front line will most likely be a melee fighter, most of which will also probably have a good Dex to avoid that. The classes typical to melee combatants are, Barb, fighter, rogue, monk, ranger and paladin (maybe clerics). All of which but barbarian can make dex builds. And are usually stronger when you do so, and barbarians have a class ability that give them advantage to dex saves anyways. And you can always position it to hit as few allies as possible of any at all, and can hit plenty of enemies. And while other things can offer advantage there isn't many reliable ways outside of spells (aside from barbarians reckless attacks, and even if you do provide them advantage that means they don't need to use reckless attack, so enemies would no longer get advantage to hit the barb). And if every spell caster went into the game with the thought process of something else will give them advantage, no one would end up taking said spells and the party would be out of luck, it's better to be over prepared, and since we're talking faerie fire v bless, I assume we are talking about a cleric PC, and if that's the case and our party members did end up taking alot of said spells, you could end up changing it as a long rest anyways.

[@amartyobasu801]

I’ve waited so long for them to do a top ten spells. Great video as always.

[@donnybrasco9347]

Barbarian on a T Rex is metal AF. I think I saw it on an old Molly Hatchet album cover .

[@releasethekrakaren2611]

I'd go: Cantrip: Guidance 1st: Bless 2nd: Invisibility 3rd: Major Image 4th: Either Polymorph or Dimension Door 5th: Animate Objects 6th: Mass Suggestion 7th: Either Plane Shift or Reverse Gravity 8th: Illusory Dragon 9th: Wish or Prismatic Wall My wizard has slippers of spider climbing and likes to walk into the middle of wide open rooms filled with enemies and very tall ceilings (or just outdoors, cast reverse gravity, then watch as everything but his slams into the ceiling as he casually walks away, then lets them slam into the ground when its done lol

[@billionai4871]

For second level, I really like Heat Metal. I know it requires concentration, but as a bard, I don't really want to weaponize my bonus action, since i'll be dishing out inspiration or healing word with that. Heat metal either disarms an opponent or is a constant 2d8 fire damage if you cast it on their armor, and frequent disadvantage on attack rolls. That means I can use my vicious mockery on the other enemy and support 2 people for the price of 1, or just dish out extra damage because why not? Also, given how many regeneration effects don't work when the creature takes fire damage, you might be looking at "extra" 10 or 20 point that the creature would recover, but didn't.

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

An excellent spell for those reasons, but limited to niche category because it only works on characters who have metal. If you're fighting ordinary monsters, or archers in leather armor, you're out of luck.

[@ranekeisenkralle8265]

I'm pretty fond of Major Image actually... I like to use that with my warlock to manifest a fake "Gate" spell complete with ritual circle etc. The faces of the other party members are just priceless when you do that the first time around. "WTF? How did a Lv 6 character get a 9th level spell?!?!" Being a fiend-pact warlock adds the cherry on top by putting the silhouette of one's patron into the gate. Now imagine the massive boost to any intimidation check you were to do by simply asking your opponent: "Are you going to comply with what I want, or do I need to ask my friend to come and play?"

[@charliescheirmann2926]

You can achieve every single one of these spells with a multiclass of cleric 3, wizard 17, and as a variant human take the magic initiate feat and pick up eldritch blast, one other cantrip and a useful first level warlock spell (Armor of Agathys will be good early levels but not scale well, Charm Person, Hex to go with eldritch blast or even affect an opponents strength/dex so the fighter can grapple easier, or hellish rebuke, because casters dont get too much when it comes to reactions unless they are using War Caster, or are in a counter spell war with an enemy caster)

[@wannes-rombouts]

or variant human bard 18 and take the feat twice. (once for find familiar from the wizard list, once for eldritch blast from the warlock list.)

[@SSB_Master_Hand]

My list: *Cantrip:* Prestidigitation. This is easily my favorite cantrip purely for its versatility. It's the swiss army knife of cantrips! If I'm ever making a spellcaster and one of the cantrips they can choose is Prestidigitation, then I'm choosing Prestidigitation. *1st Level:* Chaos Bolt. What cements this as my favorite 1st level spell is the damage, the randomness involved, and that you can CHOOSE the damage type! Of course, what damage type you can choose depends on the d8s. However, if you roll the same number on both d8s, the damage goes even further beyond, hitting another enemy within 30 feet. If you roll the same numbers on the d8s, rinse and repeat. But for me, what cemented this spell as my favorite is a moment in Hoard of the Dragon Queen when my Sorcerer one-shot Frulam with a critical hit from a Chaos Bolt; I was able to pick thunder damage, so I flavored the spell as emitting this powerful boom throughout the cave as the sheer destructive force of the soundwaves throughout Frulam's body ruptured and destroyed her from the inside out. Everyone cultist in the immediate area lost the will the fight right then and there. *2nd Level:* Mirror Image. As someone who loves Naruto and has an interest in ninjas, this seems like the coolest spell of all second-level spells. Making up to three illusory copies of myself, thus making it difficult for most enemies to hit me, is too hard to pass up. *3rd Level:* Haste. Haste is a spell that satisfies my speedster play-style. Yes, there is the drawback of having to skip your next turn, leaving you vulnerable. But until the minute is up, you're extremely fast and hard to pin down. The speed theme of this spell especially works great with Quickened Spell. Another good combo is with Extended Spell, doubling the duration to two minutes. You could also cast Haste on your Monk, Fighter, or Barbarian to make them an absolute menace on the battlefield *4th Level:* Greater Invisibility. So you take Invisibility, which is already a potent spell on its own, but then knock off that last sentence. What do you get? A real nasty spell! Go invisible, and for a whole minute, you have advantage on attack rolls while everyone else has disadvantage on attack rolls against you! Hell, go wild and cast a damaging spell like Fireball or, if you're a Divine Soul Sorcerer, for example, a spell to heal or revive a party member! *5th Level:* Steel Wind Strike. First off, I fucking love that name! Second, Steel Wind Strike is anime as fuck when you think about it. You basically flash step and decimate enemies within range. Third, force damage is a nice bonus because monsters that resist or are immune to force damage are extremely rare. Fourth but definitely not least, 6d10 damage is real nice. *6th Level:* Flesh to Stone. You can potentially permanently petrify your opponent. That's real _solid_ stuff right there. The Constitution saving throws up until then are basically like death saving throws, and considering that any damage and deformities done to the person while they're petrified carries over to their original form, they could very well be rolling those saving throws for their life. *7th Level:* Simulacrum. You've convinced me, but that wasn't hard to do considering I didn't have a favorite 7th level spell before this. *8th Level:* Might Fortress. Easy instant base, and it comes with invisible servants, bedrooms, turrets, is pre-furnished and decorated _however you like_, free food and drink in quantity fit for a king! While the material component, a diamond worth 500 gp, is expensive, I imagine that at this point, with your tier 4 party, that component most likely ain't much of a problem. Besides, what you're getting out of those diamonds is more than worth it, especially if you want to make the fortress permanent! *9th Level:* Foresight. Just... Foresight. So what you're telling me is, for 8 hours and without concentration, and with no super-hard-to-obtain material components, I can have advantage on all of my rolls, can't be surprised, and people constantly have disadvantage on attack rolls against me? COUNT ME THE FUCK IN!! Also, as of the Class Variant Unearthed Arcana, a Sorcerer could have this in their spell list. Use Extended Spell with Foresight and you've got that bad boy running for a whopping 16 hours! All other 9th level spells can SHOVE IT!! Yes, that especially goes for you too, Wish! Fuck your Monkey's Paw shit!

[@OscarGomez-hg8cb]

I love your list, it’s very similar to mine XD foresight is both broken and cool as hell. Steel wind strike can enable your caster to take out a squad of guards in an action and looks cool as hell (AND gives you awesome positioning) Haste is just awesome in any combat situation and quite a few non-combat ones, though I do prefer counterspell for the sheer hilarity of just shutting down opposing casters. And though greater invisibility is not my personal favorite, combined with some other spells like shatter and just plain old green flame blade or booming blade, it can easily make a wizard ninja Also, blink and thunder step should definitely be honorable mentions for that kind of build

[@trikkinikki6843]

I think if we are talking about Haste and Sorcerers, you've got to talk about Twin spell. The backup character for my wizard is a sorcerer/warlock, and I'm definetly getting haste when/if the opportunity comes to slap it onto the barbarian and the monk at the same time.

[@chrisjones4571]

Why not wish for foresight to be permanent?

[@SSB_Master_Hand]

@@chrisjones4571 Because there's no way any sane DM is going to let me get away with that so easily, not unless I write out multiple paragraphs to cover every possible loophole and flaw in the wish to get precisely what I want. There's also the three drawbacks from doing that: 1. I take 1d10 necrotic damage per level of spell I cast after using Wish. This lasts until my next long rest. 2. My strength score drops to 3 for 2d4 days. Those days have to be spent resting and doing nothing more than light activity. 3. I have a 33% chance of never being able to cast Wish again, period. I could go through all of that...or I could spend one minute to cast Foresight and get 8 straight hours, no concentration, of advantage on everything, disadvantage on attack rolls against me, and not being surprised. I'm sad that, as of TCE, Sorcerers don't get Foresight added to their spell list. However, the Metamagic Adept feat from that same book can be taken so a Bard, Druid, Warlock, or Wizard can use metamagic with Foresight. Throw in three levels of Sorcerer for two extra metamagic and three extra sorcery points, which is a multiclass build that works out since full casters get 9th level spells at 17th level, which leaves 3 levels to work with. Warlocks and Bards would benefit the most from the multiclass since they're both Charisma casters.

[@noahcarroll4944]

Yeah I saw the wish spell from a mile away, but I honestly have to give a big honorable mention to Meteor Swarm (or as I say, Meteor Storm). 20d6 fire damage AND 20d6 bludgeoning damage for any creature in a 40 foot radius of one of 4 circles over the course of a mile?! Epic as hell, and powerful as everything. Ya don't even need any materials for it!

[@thomaswatson8301]

My list. Cantrip: Toll the Dead or Prestidigitation. 1st level: Shield. 2nd level: Spiritual Weapon. 3rd level: Revivify. 4th level: Polymorph. 5th level: Wall of Force. 6th level: Heal. 7th level: Crown of Stars (from Xanathar's. Not the strongest pick, but I love it.) 8th level: Glibness or Maze. 9th level: Power Word Heal (again, not the strongest, but I like it.)

[@AvangionQ]

I remember the days when Glibness was a 3rd level spell. www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/glibness.htm

[@destroyerinazuma96]

This sounds like a Sailor Moon list I like it.

[@gold5964]

9:25 Hi, i'm Jocat. And i approve this message

[@DravenDresden]

Cantrip: Ray of Frost - Decent damage + slowed movement Level 1: Sleep - it may only work for a few levels, but it destroys combats for those levels. Level 2: Silence - for when you don't want enemy casters to have access to 90% of their spells. Level 3: Counterspell - reasons in video Level 4: Polymorph - reasons in video Level 5: Wall of Force - reasons in video Level 6: Hero's Feast - while I struggled between this and Mass Suggestion, by the time you have access to the Feast, it will be so useful for the combats that I had to pick it. Level 7: Simulacrum - reasons in video. 2nd choice: Teleport. Get Out of Jail Free card. Level 8: Feeblemind - reasons in video. 2nd choice: Antipathy/Sympathy. With enough time, you could get up to 10 days of easy travel and/or focus enemy attacks on the party 'tank.' Level 9: Wish - reasons in video

[@MultiracialLion]

A list of my own: Cantrip - Minor Illusion 1 - Find Familiar (just beating Disguise Self) 2 - Misty Step 3 - Spirit Guardians 4 - Polymorph 5 - Scrying 6 - Heroes' Feast 7 - Forcecage (just beating Reverse Gravity) 8 - Mind Blank 9 - True Polymorph Wish is the clear 9th level winner, but it sort of feels like a copout for me to choose it. Fun video!

[@billionai4871]

for the BBEG, casting true polymorph using a glyph of warding could be quite scary if the party is running low on spell slots. They have one hour to end the spell or they might lose their friend, because it became a chair

[@eliashickle4117]

I counterspell your spirit guardians

[@MultiracialLion]

@@billionai4871 Thank you for the devious idea! I haven't planned out how the party's confrontation with my BBEG will go, but they're probably about to hit the reveal here pretty soon. Good to have one in my back pocket like that!

[@MultiracialLion]

@@eliashickle4117 okay?

[@PeacefulOz]

Love your guys list and would love videos like this for each class Cantrip: Tie between Guidance and Minor Illusion 1st Level: Find Familiar 2nd Level: Aid or Alter Self 3rd Level: Major Image 4th Level: Can't Argue with Polymorph but don't forget about Death Ward 5th Level: Telekinesis or Animate Objects 6th Level: Contingency 7th Level: Simulacrum 8th Level: Control Weather 9th Level: Wish of Course but personal favorite of my Bladesinger is Foresight

[@jurajbencurik4939]

I think that, for 2nd lvl you can't overlook Healing Spirit. It's just nearly impossible to kill a party with barbarian/moon druid as a tank and with healing spirit that is constantly healing them every turn for 1d6.

[@Aleksandrus12]

Well... Firstly, it could heal you every time you run through it, couldn't it? Or just 1 time per 6 seconds. If not, depending on your speed you could get much more that 1d6 per turn but it's still not unduable, furthermore not even that hard if you wanted to. First thing on the fly, mindflayers and intelect devourers and I must do some thinking or research to make more but really just spells requiring saving throws implying status effects like paralism, stun and else, banishing or charming them and so on. If pc has too many hp and ac, attack it by requiring intelligence, wisdom and charisma saving throws and vice versa - really high saving throws, probably meek ac and hp.

[@duffman2625]

My choices are Minor Illusion, Shield, Dragon's Breath, Animate Dead, Polymorph, Animate Objects, Planar Ally, Teleport, Tsunami, True Polymorph. Honorable mention to Wall of Stone for its ability to allow the players to essentially build any permanent structure they want in their downtime for free if they can get the land for it and get a foundation laid.

[@0num4]

"So many problems can be solved just by blowing them up." You're speaking to my 8 years of Army service, Monty. Fuck yeah!

[@jacobyspurnger8488]

Misty step has been one of my favorite spells. So much varsitility with a low level spell. Movement, especially in combat, makes it one of the best spells in my opinion

[@stavrospolyviou7045]

No need to multiclass, I got most of the spells on this list with my Lore Bard. I used simulacrum to copy a 15th level divination wizard and managed to bring down Tiamat herself with spells cast by just these two characters...

[@duckqueen4120]

Watching Kelly’s expression when Monty picked fireball and Monty’s expression when Kelly picked forcecage put a big dumb smile on my face.

[@thiluk8644]

How to improve a raging barbarian riding a T-rex ? Well, make it fly !

[@talongreenlee7704]

wata arthy I had a DM who was running a game where a druid helped a high level Barbarian accomplish this. He put his head in his hands for a while and then said, “you see a Terrasque off in the distance. On its back is an Empyrean, sent by his god to duel you, because he was impressed with your resourcefulness. Roll for initiative.” He was inspired by the random negative effects tied to artifacts. If you look in the DMG, there’s a whole table of terrible things that can happen to you upon finding a legendary artifact, including dueling an Empyrean - a CR 23 creature - for the right to wield it.

[@samuelevans738]

@@talongreenlee7704 ... that must have been terrible... how'd you kill it?

[@talongreenlee7704]

Samuel Evans it wasn’t in my game, it was something he did to another group. Apparently the guy had power gamer issues prior to this incident and the DM just had enough of it

[@samuelevans738]

@@talongreenlee7704 ah... that sucks.

[@alanschaub147]

Isn’t a dragon kind of flying T-Rex? T-Rex your day! 🦖

[@gigantisaurusrex6647]

I really enjoyed this format of you guys offering differing opinions/options. It would be cool to see versions on other subjects in the future. Great stuff as usual! Keep up the great work!

[@robinwang6399]

After hearing about force cage: Always take disintegrate just to counter all the force cage and walls.

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

You can get meaner than Cloud Kill as well. Try throwing Sickening Radiance on the trapped targets... They have to make 10 minutes worth of saving throws, and failing 6 times results in DEATH by Fatigue. If ever there was a time to consider forcibly shifting someone's alignment toward evil, this would certainly qualify.

[@robinwang6399]

XoRandomGuyoX time stop + force cage + delayed blast fireball + cloud kill.

[@robinwang6399]

XoRandomGuyoX this makes me think that a contingency of resilient sphere on self, when down to the last few hit points, or getting targeted by spells or attacks that can potentially kill me.

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

@@robinwang6399 Resilient Sphere is a fun ability to be sure, useful when cast on either the party or an enemy... If you need a one minute breather against a foe, just put them in the Hamster Ball for a while...

[@robinwang6399]

XoRandomGuyoX true, and since no magic effects can past through the sphere, it should also cut off any magic effects the opponent have on you.

[@JS-zr9qs]

Cantrip - Guidance. Every session ever can make use of it. Lv 1 - Healing Word - As said, it's the most reliable way to save a bro from losing a beloved character. Lv 2 - Misty Step - As a Wizard who used it almost every round without spending a spell slot? I'm biased. Lv 3 - Fly - There is so much quality of life improving by taking away challenges in terrain and mobility. Lv 4 - Greater Invisibility - There is always someone in combat who will enjoy attacking or casting freely without being seen. Lv 5 - Wall of Force - There was no encounter, and very few roleplay options where it didn't win the game. Lv 6 - Sunbeam - Ten rounds of linear radiant damage, creates actual sunlight, cause blindness? I find it's better even than Meteor Swarm offensively, at Lv. 6. Lv 7 - Teleport. Time saving, hassle saving, escape mechanism, creates stable points of familiarity in the map. Quality of life gold. Lv 8 - Power Word Stun. Like Maze, it utterly halts a single foe's ability to act (and 150 HP is a very reasonable range), but you CAN harm it during that one assured turn of stun. Lv 9 - Wish. Duh. One no-cost, no-component, instant Clone, Simulacrum, Heroes' Feast, or Contingency per night? Two if you use spell slot recovery tricks? Peerless.

[@ascapedgoat8462]

Getting a pc with all the spells (or at least one of each level)? Easy: Bard with magic initiate.

[@alanschaub147]

Stovie Weems I was going to say Divine Soul Sorcerer with Magic Initiate, but I think your answer is better.

[@KGray-vt2mp]

or Bard with Ritual Caster (wizard). They both get you Find Familiar

[@fishinatube9028]

Also from a DM's perspective, any wish that diverges from the preset options anihillates a player's strength score, discourages spellcasting for the rest of the day, and has the possibility of that player never being able to cast wish again.

[@draxthemsklonst]

This must have been somewhat difficult to narrow down! Please...a suggestion/request/idea for a vid: spells, that are still good at higher echelons of play. Good picks, beyond the point a player/PC would have access to them... I don't know if I'm stating this request clearly. It's difficult to find the best phrasing, to convey what I'm attempting to say. I hope most people reading this get the jist. Thank you for your consideration, either way. Also, just for now... does anyone else that is reading this, have input on their favorite lower-than-current-level spells, to cast, later in the game? Please add details, or examples of situation the spell is utilized for, if the usage of that spell is not general/common D&D player knowledge. To attempt to clarify here is one of my example picks: Tenser's Disc is typically still useful, through mid and even somewhat at higher levels. It's effective at doing what it does in the spell description (as it is generically intended to be used). I don't know of clever, atypical uses for the disc, if anyone else does...speak up.

[@jj-mw1824]

Matt Lynn Blade Ward combined with a sorcerers quickened spell gives you essentially rage for a turn. Minor Illusion translated subtitles while using comprehend languages. Using Infestation as sustenance. Casting command on an enemy shaman/paladin/cultist and telling them to heal an ally for you. With magic initiate you can get Goodberry as a life cleric. This allows you to heal 40HP total with that spell due to the life clerics 1st level ability. Heat metal on a suit of armor someone’s wearing- they can’t take it off this being at disadvantage for a while. Casting Silence on an arrow for stealth kills. And just for fun and hilarity, take summon lesser demon because why not? Anyways hope this helps

[@TylerRamsey123]

@@jj-mw1824 Dude, you just blew my mind, especially with the goodberry tactic, i'm currently playing a life cleric and i totally would have done that if i had thought about it during an earlier level!

[@draxthemsklonst]

@@jj-mw1824 That subtitles trick is good stuff! Role playing, immersive treasure! Did you also consider doing that for telepathic communication and speak with animals / plants (which may not have a language, but may still be translatable via nonword images) That would be like those drawing and hint-giving guessing games. Pictionary, Guesstures, trivia games. The infestation spell has a duration of instantaneous, does that mean the effects stop after the effect or the parasites poof out of existence? Infestation as food, if that is how it works, is a novel idea. The pea crabs (oyster parasite), and pennella balaenopterae (lives in whale blubber) are fine dining cuisine, could actually cost quite a lot for a meal (IRL). Also, all sorts of fungi that are edible are also parasites, you likely knew that due to your use of the spell as you mentioned. If this spell lets the created fungi endure it can be used later, if harvested, for poisoning. Toxic fungi get all sorts of effects, each can be very unique. Needs to be researched, maybe.

[@jj-mw1824]

Matt Lynn Well, using infestation as sustenance creates mites and fleas. Though it is instantaneous, since it’s your characters spell and depending on how your DM takes it, you could possibly control how nutritious these bugs created are, more so focusing on making them meatier instead of doing damage. Everything I listed could all be shot down depending on your DM, but what you asked for was creative uses of low level spells. Especially as a high level caster, having master like control over your cantrips / spells is something you Could talk to your DM about, which is why infestation working as food could potentially work. RULE OF COOL BABY! But anyways I never thought of using the subtitles idea for speak with animals but that could work too I guess.

[@draxthemsklonst]

@@jj-mw1824 Right on.

[@Axelovskji]

One of my favourite combos is playing as an arcane trickster, casting phantasmal killer, and someone else in the party casts greater invisibility on you Possible 4d10 damage for 10 turns with disadvantage on the saving throw

[@illoney5663]

Kelly's face during your description of Simulacrum was utterly priceless. Edit: Also, regarding simulacrum, using Simulacrum through Wish to copy a humanoid enemy(especially one with legendary actions...)would be so much fun.

[@TheHandgunhero]

My list: Cantrip: Minor Illusion. Most versatile cantrip by far and as good as Eldritch Blast is, other options are available like Toll The Dead. 1st Level: Find Familiar - great for RP, exploration, infiltration and can help heal or distract people. 2nd Level: Silence. You can effectively nullify a spell caster as most spells have verbal components. You can also mask the sound of your movement and it allows for stealth kills of guards and removes one of the few ways to detect invisible creatures. 3rd Level: Revivify. 300 gold isn’t the worst fee and you can instantly save a dead ally in battle. 4th Level: Polymorph is too good to ignore, but Dimension Door is a close second as an escape option. 5th Level: Wall of Force, it’s an absolute life saver and an amazingly reliable battlefield control spell. 6th Level: Disintegrate. Amazing damage dealer, removes walls of force and prevents resurrection by your enemies. 7th Level: Teleport. Go anywhere you want. 8th Level: Maze. Not even a Tarrasque is safe from this and it gives you valuable time to prepare in an emergency or save dying allies. It’s like a slightly lower Timestop in this way. 9th Level: Wish. Change the fabric of reality and profit.

[@Phiro00]

Video starts at 1:23

[@M0ebius]

My favorite use of Contingency - fifth level Spirit Guardians with a keyword trigger.

[@stijnvannieuwpoort6217]

dID I hEaR F I R E B A L L!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[@kazebaret]

Very nice video guys... I can see that Kelly always leans on the damaging and combat spells... Nevertheless, in my experience both as a DM and a Player, I think that you forgot more important spells: 0: Guidance. Guidance can be used in every situation, even in combat, but especially outside of it. Its versatility and availability, even if countered by the fact that is Concentration, are truly amazing, and game changing. 1: Find Familiar: no one can argue with that! 2: Healing spirit (if this spell is allowed in its actual brokenness), otherwise Invisibility. 3-6: I agree with your picks. 7: Teleport/Plane Shift. Teleport changed my Out of the Abyss campaign. When the characters got access to this spell, they stop wandering for weeks in the Underdark, and just teleported wherever they needed to: the campaign started to be more linear, because now the characters went whey they needed to go, whenever they wanted to. Teleport is a group saver, and it is just V component. You cannot limit a teleport by limiting the material components of the group (like for Force Cage). 8: you are not the first people that I hear complaining about the 8th level spells. I have to say: I never understood why, and I hope somebody is going to explain it to me. Several spells at this level are so powerful that they put a lot of 9th level spells to shame. Antimagic Field is by far one of the most powerful spell in the game. You laugh at the beholder and his eyes, at the lich that tries to kill you, at the enemy sorcerer, while all your group is protected by you and, when the barbarian turn comes, he goes out, grab the lich/beholder/sorcerer, drag him into the antimagic area, and beat the crap out of it. "But he had a Contingency on him!" "It does not work." "And all the magic defenses that he cast before?" "No". "And his powerful staff of the Magi that ... " "No". Insulting the enemy is a must. NO legendary action/reaction involved, nothing of nothing. They die, screaming (if they can make a sound), otherwise they die in utter silence. Maze was a 9th level spell in the first edition of D&D, and for a reason. I still do not understand what it is doing in the 8th level spell list. Mind Blank makes you IMMUNE to psychic damage, charme condition, DIVINATIONS ("look, I´m invisible now, and you cannot see me even if you cast See invisibility or True Seeing.. because I also have Mind Blank!") for 24 hours (you cast it the day before, just before going to sleep), no concentration asked. It is so powerful that one of my players decided not to take it to avoid destroying my campaign. And I don't even want to speak about Clone and Demiplane.... Immortality: here I come!

[@JabezFuutonSpecialis]

Cool I never get here this early, within first 5 minutes

[@MrDarkweaver]

For sheer utility and frequency of use by almost every party that has someone who can cast it. 3rd lvl - Tiny Hut. So long as everyone stays inside the hut, no problems with watches and everyone is safe and dry. Plus in less than ideal conditions (arctic tundra or desert regions) allows you to survive in conditions over night that would kill any other people with temperature regulation and keeping out the elements. Not a sexy spell like CS or FB, but for me the best party utility spell that can be had at lower levels. There are so many damage dealing spells in the game that whilst it's iconic, FB can also be redundant. Counterspell and Dispel Magic would be my other two favourite 3rd level spells. Always enjoy the vids fellas :)

[@markstruckmeyer9193]

This has saved my ass countless times.

[@Lin-ue8wr]

in the next campain i am gonna be a sorcorer, and my my fovorite spell will be phantasmal force, just to be a troll

[@deanfeole3602]

I laughed pretty hard when Kelly said "I don't know, I guess I'll die" in reference to the force cage/cloudkill combo. Great video guys!

[@hummzwallypeez8294]

If I had a wish spell, I'd wish for the Dungeon Dudes to like this comment, and help me make a fun New character to play in my next game! 👌⚔️🛡️

[@DungeonDudes]

You’re character is Jams Darkwin, a halfling Paladin who grew up in a small halfling community reading books of great adventurers and noble holy knights and told everyone he was going to be one someday, and everyone laughed at him. Now he’s ran away from home with a wooden sword and some thrown together armour and a holy quest to travel to the big city and devote himself to the trainings of the mighty Paladins, along the way he gets swept up in to his own unlikely adventure.

[@evanabney3659]

@@DungeonDudes I love that you guys actually did this!

[@hummzwallypeez8294]

Jams Darkwin is going to be the shortest in stature but tallest in devotion!!!! And I have to admit I'm still new to DND, could you somehow connect that same story to a monk? Also thank you so much for actually fulfilling my wish!!! Love you guys so much!!

[@archie4president330]

@@hummzwallypeez8294 just have a monk save him from a reckless attack he went into. He isn't quite a hero yet, first he needs some help from his friends

[@Richard-oy1pv]

@@DungeonDudes He's that Podling from Netflix's Dark Crystal. Paladin!!!

[@archmagemc3561]

Mine, if I don't copy what you have. Most are underrated. Cantrip - Prestidigitation, you can use it mostly like minor illusion. Or you can use it to hide the rogue's poison and end an encounter with a cantrip which is amazing. A million and one uses, its just so versatile. Plus you tend to get advantage on charisma checks if you keep your character squaky clean and smell nice xD. 1st level - Absorb Elements. Resistance to Breath weapons for a first level spell is huge. 2nd level - Enlarge/Reduce, Make that barbarian able to grapple a Huge creature, shrink that door, shrink and light that goblin tent on fire, ext... So many uses for this spell. 3rd level - Tiny hut, Easy long rest for no spell slot! 4th level - Summon Greater Demon, Your first action is to tell you its true name so you give disadvantage to its saving throws. Summon it to sandwitch your enemies, and if it somehow gets loose? It'll kill whats in front of it, which is the enemies and not you. It is a Demon, not a Devil, so they just want things dead. 5th level - Wall of Force, Force cage 2 levels before you get force cage. 6th level - Create Homunclous, Its a 2nd familiar you can cast during your downtime, giving you TWO pets for no spell slots used! 7th level - Finger of Death, An alright spell to use during downtime to make your zombie army. You can zap a rat with it and get a zombie out of it, and that zombie is always under your control. Necromancers can finally have their zombie army! 8th level - Anti-Magic field. Good bye Beholder, you can't do anything now! And now that Barbarian is grappling you! 9th level - Prismatic Wall, If you can force them through that wall, its going to probably kill them. Let that grappling barbarian drag them through the wall and back.

[@TheDreamburner]

My personal top 10: Cantrip- Guidance 1st- Healing Word 2nd- Enhance Ability (especially with Guidance, particularly on Bards) 3rd- Flock of Familiars 4th- Polymorph 5th- Animate Objects OR an upcast Bestow Curse 6th- Disintegrate 7th- Force Cage (but Symbol is SO GOOD, it's worth mentioning) 8th- Demiplane 9th- Yeah, definitely Wish!

[@AndrewChumKaser]

Here's my list: 0 (cantrip): Prestidigitation It's the cantrip that screams "forget builds and forget min-maxing, I want to play a _character"_ 1: Thunderwave A useful, powerful, and surprisingly flexible spell that is available to almost everbody and can be reflavored in many fun ways. 2: Enlarge/Reduce Toolbox spells are fun, and this is one of the best. 3: Lightning bolt As much damage as the infamous Fireball, but way cooler imo and more deserving of the crazy damage it can deal. 4: Dimension door Opens up endless possibilities for creative problem solving. Closely followed by Polymorph. 5: Wall of Force An endlessly useful spell that just works, no muss no fuss. 6: Otto's Irresistible Dance The funniest and also a surprisingly useful control spell. It just works, no save required. Play dancing queen and chuckle. 7: Delayed Blast Fireball Live out your Konosuba fantasies and cast Ekasploshun. What's not to love? 8: Demiplane The potential! Think of the potential! What a wonderful world you can create. 9: Time Stop *ZA WAULDO!!!* _BBBBBBZZZZZZTTTTICK tick tock tock._

[@DungeonClass]

Excellent video as always. We love Eldritch Blast as well and we knew at least one of you were going to say Fireball for 3rd level. Nothing else compares. Thanks guys.

[@nathankurtz8045]

Rope Trick is a fun 2nd level spell, and the first opportunity to access an extradimensional space without magic items. Plus, you can use it just to make a rope stand on end to climb vertical spaces. Could use it to scale a castle wall or reach a hovering platform or climb out of the ocean or hide your whole party from a guard patrol. You could hide townsfolk from an invasion or rescue captives by having them climb up and pull the rope in, then waiting for the coast to be clear and retrieving them.

[@IAmDukeSilver]

Couple months late on this, but I actually built a character today that has every one of these spells. Variant Human race to take the Spell Sniper feat for Eldritch Blast, Magic Initiate feat at 4th level in place of ASI to get Healing Word from the cleric spell list, and Theurgy Wizard with the Life Domain to get Spiritual Weapon. Then just get the other 15 spells from the Wizard spell list. Thanks for the inspiration, love your videos!

[@scottyp1722]

Another nice feature of Animate Objects is the fact that the objects gain true sight, so having some of your objects stick to your opponent (especially useful if you animate balls of string) will nullify their invisibility. Animate object can also be great when dealing with dexterity based obstacles. Rolling logs, unstable platforms, and swinging ropes/blades are a lot less hazardous when they are doing what YOU want them to do.

[@jarnivanwaesberge3984]

Since a lot of people are giving their lists and lists are fun, here's mine: Cantrip: Guidance. Aside from a Warlock's buffed Eldritch Blast, the one cantrip that remains as useful at high levels as it is at low levels. 1st level: Find Familiar. You simply can't get around the sheer utility and versatility of this spell. When it comes to utility: you name it, Find Familiar can do it. As a 1st level spell. 2nd level: Invisibility. Another one of those lovely low level spells that don't lose their viability when getting to higher levels. Making someone invisible is just super useful in a lot of situations. It also upcasts well. 3d level: tie between Counterspell and Fireball. I feel like Fireball is much more useful at the first few levels after you gain access to it, but Counterspell starts to outpace it as you reach higher levels. Because whereas Fireball becomes less useful as you level up, Counterspell becomes increasingly more useful. 4th level: Polymorph. Like Kelly and Monty said in the video, Polymorph is just way better than any other 4th level spell. It drastically increases your team's tankiness, damage output and utility when you need it. I feel like Polymorph would also be a top pick if it was a 5th or even 6th level spell. 5th level: Wall of Force. The first true encounter breaking spell a spellcaster can gain access to. Locking up enemies or blocking a path is just too good an effect to pass up on. This one spell really turns any spellcaster into an absolute master of battlefield control. 6th level: Mass Suggestion. I also really like the 2nd level version of it, but I feel like the single target restraint combined with the use of concentration makes it a bit too situational. Mass Suggestion gets rid of the single target restraint, making it much more flexible and game changing and my pick for the best 6th level spell. 7th level: Forcecage. Just like Wall of Force, Forcecage is a true encounter breaking spell and wonderful for battlefield control. Only this time on a larger scale. 8th level: Clone. I feel like the ability to literally cheat death by making your whole party practically unkillable is just too amazing not to make this my top pick. You won't often need it, but when you do, you'll be very happy to know that you don't have to roll up a new character. 9th level: Wish. Cast any 1st-8th level spell as an action without any material cost, or just wish for anything else that you might need. Enough said.

[@chrisjones4571]

Cantrip: create bonfire. It can be used offensive or defense. It is a great combo spell. You can cast it on a target in front of a fighter so they can keep them stuck and taking constant damaging. It is also a utility spell. 1: shield. 2: web or flaming sphere. I choose sphere first because it is useful as offensive and defensive. Use it to block a door. Use it to keep an enemy locked in combat. It can be used outside of combat to great effect as well. 3: Counterspell 4: Polymoph 5: Geas 6: Contingency 7: simulacrum 8: clone 9: wish

[@l33tsamurai]

Bigbys hand is my favorite. I love the flavor of summoning a giant spectral hand! Also it is soooo useful. Floor trap? Giant hand saves you. Enemy getting too close? Giant hand grabs and crushes them. BBEG too close to cliff while monologuing? Big hand shoves him off. So many possibilities!

[@wayneslater5531]

Warlock 1, Bard (Lore) 18 gets you the entire list except 1 I chose to omit Spiritual weapon, cuz bards should be using bonus actions for Inspiration; but really you could choose to omit any one of them and still get the others. W1: Eldritch Blast B6: Find Familiar, Counterspell B10: Fireball, Wall of Force B14: Contingency, Simulacrum B18: Maze, Wish All of the others are already on the Bard list. I'm sure there is a more optimal order, i just listed them (basically) in order. Cheers.

[@WhimsicalCreature457]

Time Stop is my all time favorite spell. Think about it, the ability to freeze time around you in an instant for 9 seconds. Those 9 seconds feel like forever when you can think of all the possibilities you could do with it. A boss could be moments away from killing you, their attack ready to end it all, but with Time Stop you can more than easily move out of the way.

[@Smilley85]

My picks: Cantrip: Prestidigitation - out of the three flavor spells (Presti, Druidcraft and Thaumaturgy), it has the best suite of effects. The single most versatile spell, outside Wish. Runners-up: Guidance, Mage Hand, obviously Eldritch Blast for combat. 1st: Cure Wounds - sure, Healing Word beats it out in range and action economy, but you'll be hard-pressed to heal more than a single hit's worth of HP at any level. Get an owl familiar - flying, doesn't provoke opportunity attacks - and you can even Cure at a range of up to 100 ft. Also very good target for upcasting. Runner-up: Find familiar. 2nd: Lesser Restoration - Neutralize Poison, Cure Disease and remove a bunch of debuffs, all in one spell? Yes, please! Though having access to this spell might make DMs consider using these status effects more often. Runners-up: Shatter (aka. discount Fireball), Spiritual Weapon 3rd: Revivify - aka. discount Raise Dead. Obviously, you never want to get to the point where you have to use it, but most encounters rarely take more than a minute, so you'll have the ability to use it in most cases. Runner-up: too many to count. 4th: Greater Invisibility - Whether to hide your squishy self, or enable the Rogue to dispense stealthy death with impunity, there's no better way. 5th: Mass Cure Wounds - see above, but for the entire party, and has innate range. Both of these make the investment of a full action that much more worth it. Runners-up: Raise Dead, Bigby's Hand (just for the utility) 6th: Forbiddance - this one might seem like a purely defensive, fluff spell at first glance, but then you get to the second part. It does 5d10 radiant or necrotic damage every round to any Undead, Fey, Elemental, Fiend and/or Celestial in its 40,000 foot area, up to 30 feet in height. If you know there's a big demon/fey/undead battle on the other side of a door, and they don't know you are coming, you can set up the spell and roast all of them with holy (b)light before they even realize what's going on. And the three best things about this spell? It doesnt require concentration, its spell components are only consumed when you want to make the zone permanent, and it can be cast as a ritual, so you don't even need to use a spell slot on it. Runner-ups: Heroes' Feast, Sunbeam 7th: Regenerate . the healing (both initial and gradual) might not be that sexy, but being able to regrow lost body parts is huge beyond comprehension. Runners-up: Forcecage, Plane Shift 8th: Clone - Immortality, even to old age. 'Nuff said. Runner-up: Feeblemind 9th: Wish, duh! Runner-up: Shapechange - all the advantages of Polymorph when used on ones self, without any of the drawbacks.

[@erikbjelke4411]

Barbarian riding a T-rex (who's another party member) into battle against a dragon. . . I didn't know how much I needed that mental image in my life. Thank you. Also, I remember a forum signature from awhile back, something along the lines of "wish is a spell intended to help the party, not let sadistic DMs thrash the party." The idea of perverting or suborning the wish with "Exact Words" instead of following the intent was meant to curb player excess when using the spell. But certain adversarial DMs took that as permission to do anything and everything they could think of to make wish a bane instead of a boon for a spellcaster. I much prefer the idea that, if the player is asking for something they have to word very carefully and precisely so the DM won't subvert it, the DM just says "nothing happens." Because in that case, what they were asking for was probably something the DM wouldn't grant anyway, and the sadistic DM is denied the opportunity to twist it into something horrible.

[@connormccloskey5128]

Cantrip: Eldritch Blast (scale is just too dirty. If you get Illusionist Bracers you also just kill everything). 2nd place to guidance. 3rd goes to booming blade. Honorable mentions to green flame blade, prestidigitation, shellelagh, and minor illusion 1. Thunderwave (healing word op) 2. Healing Spirit (Misty Step is great) 3. Fireball (counterspell is good) 4. Polymorph 5. Circle of power 6. Mass Suggestion 7. Forcecage 8. Maze 9. Wish

[@simplyclover7410]

Here are my picks: Cantrip: Eldritch Blast 1: Find Familiar 2: Phantasmal Force 3: Counterspell 4: Polymorph 5: Hallow 6: Contingency 7: Simulacrum 8: Sunburst 9: Wish Honorable Mentions -Mind Sliver -Spirit Shroud -Geas -Delayed Blast Fireball -Mirage Arcane

[@PowderKeg3838]

My Picks: Cantrip: Guidance 1st Level: Find Familiar 2nd Level: Spiritual Weapon 3rd Level: Counterspell 4th Level: Polymorph 5th Level: Wall of Force 6th Level: Contingency 7th Level: Simulacrum 8th Level: Maze 9th Level: Wish

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Now this vid is up my alley. Cantrips: I'm with Monty (obviously) 1st level: No surprise, with Monty again 100% 2nd level: OK Monty - we seem to be on the same page. I'm surprised nobody mentioned Healing Spirit 3rd level: Oh Monty, what happened? (jk) I'm on Kelly's side here, though for me, Hypnotic Pattern is the one. 4th: No guys, it's Blight! (/s) yeah, of course, I totally agree. 5th: Agree with Monty, but I feel you Kelly 6th: Both great spells, I lean towards Kelly's pick, and one thing you forgot to mention is Mass Suggestion does not use your concentration! 7th: Also both great spells, but Simulacrum is probably the most broken spell in the game. Kelly, you should check out my channel - I've discussed that use of Simulacrum multiple times ;) But if DM frustration is your goal - I totally get the Forcecage pick. Cast=win. 8th: Totally agree about 8th level spells in general. I'm on Monty's side here, and I also agree that Demiplane is a tempting choice. 9th: You've come around! One thing to add here, is as great as Simulacrum is, with wish you can cast Simulacrum with one action and no material component, so you can Simulacrum an enemy right in the middle of a combat! Great vid guys! Totally enjoyed it.

[@carolinedavis8339]

I love Mass Suggestion so much, I finally cast it for the first time a couple months back. One of my characters had betrayed the party and was now showing up as a recurring antagonist, and the DM being a swell guy, let me keep control of her whenever she'd shoe up. She was originally a more martial Tomelock using Shillelegh, with Polearm Master and War Caster, but she's since maneuvered into being an Eldritch Sniper with close combat utility. Anyway, upon peppering the party with shots from a sniper's nest on the nearby building, she then cast Mass Suggestion for a getaway, telling everyone to count to 1000, close their eyes, and sit on their hands. Given most of the party are spellcasters...

[@binolombardi]

Probe the outside wall/door of a castle, an inner dungeons walls, or mountain pass cliff sides with your dimension pocketed familiar. When it makes it to an unoccupied space on other side, use your action to look around using its eyes. If advantageous for infiltration, then cast misty step to bypass the up to 30ft of total cover and appear on the other side. This works for escape plans with NPCs too. have a familiar summoned on the other side of a wall and if things loom dicey, action to see bonus action to misty step. Every enemy wizard that doesn’t have a familiar within line of sight basically always has a way out unless it gets focused down all at once.

[@a.z.pantera5577]

For my list: Cantrip: Fire Bolt - what can I say? I'm a fan of the basics 1st level: Chaos Bolt - i love the reliability yet uncertainty of this spell 2nd level: Mirror Image - the great thing about me, is that there's so many me's. 3rd level: Spirit Guardians - tiny Navi's shred anything that comes near you. Terrifying on a melee character. 4th level: Elemental Bane - Oh? you have resistance to Fire? Now you're weak to it. 5th level: Steel Wind Strike - The most anime spell in the game, and it doesn't scale for a reason 6th level: Tenser's Transformation - "You know what, screw magic! You're catchin' these hands!" 7th level: Teleport - you now have fast travel 8th level: Dominate Monster - "you belong to me now" 9th level: Shapechange - Turn into a Dragon. You can do that now.

[@mcparks1968]

My list... I play almost exclusively druids, so with that in mind... Cantrip: Magic Stone - being able to give fellow party members the stones to cast magical damage is a huge bonus 1st: Cure wounds for healing, although Ice Knife is a close second if there's a cleric in the party. 2nd: Heat Metal... Cook and book baby 3rd: Call Lightning. Being able to wild shape and keep dealing good lightning damage is a sweet deal, especially when coupled with Plant Growth 4th: Wall of Fire. Hard to pick on this one. My second choice in this level would have been Conjure Woodland Beings, but being at the DM mercy on that one gives me pause. 5th: Geas: Something about giving a command that must be followed for a full month is entertaining. 6th: Investiture of Wind, I hereby become a Flying Polar Bear!!! 7th: Mirage Arcane gives me the ability to have the top of a cliff look like a meadow that just goes into the distance, until the creature falls through it. 8th: Tsunami, as long as I can see the enemy, I can strike at them, this has led to some WEIRD situations. 9th: Storm of Vengeance: Again, being able to only need to SEE the point I want to create the storm is freaking amazing.

[@arthilas_]

As someone who loves to play swordmages/gishes of all kinds, these are my picks: Cantrip: Booming Blade. Such an useful spell for all types of swordmage builds. And also very thematic for a storm-themed gish and for a tempest cleric if taken with Magic Initiate or as the high elf or variant half elf starting cantrip. 1st: Shield. Endlessly useful at all character levels and for all builds that get access to it, especially for swordmages who usually have less HP than other martials but still want to stay in melee. 2nd: Shadow Blade. Spiritual Weapon might go here as well, but I love playing gishes, and thus I chose shadow blade. While gishes usually already have real swords, shadow blade creates a weapon more powerful than any normal sword, especially when upcasted. Also, the spell solves another problem most weapon-using characters besides bladelocks and eldritch knights might encounter: you will never be unarmed again. Even when you were forced to give your weapon away, you will still be able to cast a Shadow Blade to be fully functional in melee. 3rd: Haste. Haste is such an useful buf and also incredibly stylish and becomes even more powerful with one of my favourite feats, which is Mobile, which denies enemies of their opportunity attacks when you just speed through them, while slicing them with your blades. Honorable Mentions go to Glyph of Warding for being the potentially most game-breaking spell in DnD aside from just being incredibly versatile and useful if you have gold and time to spare to turn your home into a powerful fortress, and to Counterspell for being a party-saver. Also, Dispel Magic should be mentioned here, as it is really underused as a spell against player characters, especially against those who like to stack various magical buffs. 4th: Polymorph. Always an useful spell to have, out of combat and in combat. 5th: Wrath of Nature. I am actually taking a druid spell here. It might not be the most damaging or useful spell, but basicially animating nature around you, taking control over it feels really cool, I would even say that spell kinda is like a little capstone for some druids. Honorable Mention goes to Contagion due to the world wide situation these days. Free Corona for everyone! 6th: Heroes' Feast. Just be nice to your friends and provide some food for your party and you, and gain some really nice buffs on top of that for the next adventuring day. Would be really nice in combination with serving actual food. 7th: Simulacrum. Of course. 8th: Feeblemind. A very powerful and especially mean spell and the consequences might lead to interesting "roleplay" with the affected character. When casted by a divination wizard with a low portent roll or by a sorcerer as a heightened spell vial Wish, it becomes even more mean. 9th: Shapechange. Yes, I am choosing a spell other than Wish for that. For many characters, no spell can fulfill their goal better than Shapechange - wether they had that goal from the beginning or it developed over time during their adventures - they can now transform into angels, devils, demons, dragons, undead... and they would still be themselves, with their own abilities, unlike a true polymorphed creature. Did your character dream of becoming an actual dragon? Well, he can now become one. Did your land druid dream of becoming a powerful tree guardian of the mysterious, deep jungle? Well, now he can become a treant who is capable of throwing around powerful druid spells. Did your wizard always wanted to become the most intelligent being ever? Fine, become an Elder Brain. You have a high level wizard or druid who got blessed by a god? Fine, now hat divine blessing allows him to become an archangel of said god.The spell becomes even better when thematically fitting homebrew creatures are added to the pool of possible shapechanges.

[@voids11]

My Favorites (not in order as it's hard to rank em) 1.Geas 2.Reincarnate 3.Awaken 5.Healing Word (and Mass version) 6.Identify 7.Counter Spell 8.Magnificant Mansion 9.Find Familiar (Greater Steed if not access familiar) 10.Demiplane oh and Primal Savagery as my fav. cantrip

[@WolfeofGrey]

Woo! Glad to see my suggestion come to life in a video.

[@DarkGunn22]

Animate Objects is great. I made use of it in our (unfortunately now finished) campaign, our party was in the astral plane and the area we was in had sand between us and a chest which was roughly 120m away. We noticed something was crawling around under the sand, so I used animate objects on the chest and 4 medium sized rocks. The idea was that the rocks would distract the creature by tapping on the ground while the chest floated towards us. In the end it worked and we got to witness what the creature was as it devoured the rocks... a gargantuan sized Astral Worm.

[@ryadinstormblessed8308]

4:16 creative use of Minor Illusion to avoid combat: my party recently was faced with a zombie beholder guarding a magical sword. While it's challenge level wasn't TOO extraordinary for our 5 4th level characters, I sure as heck didn't want to take any chances with that disintegration ray! The monster hadn't noticed us yet, as we were inside a haunted house that it was out in the garden of, so instead of fighting it, 2 of us cast minor illusion to distract the zombie beholder, then one character cast invisibility on his pseudodragon familiar to steal the real sword, which was replaced with a minor illusion and we all escaped.

[@ulyssesthedm]

My Favorite Spells Cantrip: *Prestidigitation,* it has so many uses if you are creative with it 1: *Ceremony* is useful because you never know when you'll need some holy water. You can make a crap ton of that stuff if you use Bless Water during long or short rests. Also "Wedding" has some fun shenanigans that you can do. 2: *Silence* gives you IMMUNITY to the thunder damage type as long as you are inside the radius, and keeps most casters from casting any spells that require verbal components. Very strong, but not as strong as 🕸️ *Web* 🕸️. *Web* has the ability to RESTRAIN creatures and flat-out shut down melee creatures. As long as you or other party members can use ranged attacks, this is amazing. Just uhhhh....don't Fireball it. 3: *Spirit Guardians* is too good, expecially when paired with the first level spell Sanctuary. Sit back, relax, and enjoy watching groups of enemies drop dead. 4: *Polymorph* because of how versatile it is. I agree with the guys on this. You can get rid of nasty encounters this way and also buff your friends or yourself this way with a nice boost in health and armor class in some cases. *Greater Invisibility* would be my second pick here though because it grants so much damage mitigation by the sheer fact that most spells can't target you. 5: *Synaptic Static* has very little contest. Aside from the 8d6 psychic damage it deals,1d6 subtracted from every roll as a debuff is really good. Outside of combat however, *Geas* is my go-to. 6: *Mass Suggestion* is good both outside of combat and within combat if you are creative. This can end wars for a day, after which you could just cast it again. Upcasting this makes it even better in duration, and metamagic can double the duration. 7: *Divine Word* is incredible with the conditions it causes, but *Simulacrum* is far stronger as you can create a duplicate of yourself which can also cast spells using remaining spell slots you had after casting the spell. What is better than one spellcaster? Two. 8: *Clone* or *Reality Break* are a couple of my favorite spells, but *Maze* isn't bad either for when a creature has a low intelligence stat- which is most creatures. If Maze wasn't concentration, it would be even stronger. 9: *Wish* is, and always will be, the mightiest spell in 5e D&D. The only limit is your DM, and your imagination.

[@Sentinel851]

my own list 0: Booming Blade. it's an amazing spell for both battlefield control, damage, and because it enables a playstyle that anyone can enjoy, of whacking someone, HARD, then moving away, and seeing the puzzle on the DM's face when deciding if they want to move and take the damage, or stay there and basically lose a turn. 1: a tough choice, honorable mentions to Armor of Agathys, Shield, Guiding Bolt, Comprehend Languages, Bless, and Hunter's mark, but for me, it goes to Magic Missile. it's the quintessential D&D spell. force damage is so nice, being rarely resisted, being able to just decide to hit a monster is great, and being able to split it up among multiple foes is also great. also, and this can be contentious, but the Hexblade's Curse can also theoretically proc on each of the missiles, turning a 5th level magic missile, cast by a 9th level warlock (somehow), into 35+7d4 damage, which is pretty awesome. as an aside, my favorite spell to upcast is actually Armor of Agathys. if you cast it as a higher level spell, it's actually possible to just swathe through an army of minions, dealing damage when they scratch your armor, and have them be nearly entirely destroyed. if a monster deals 1d4+2 damage, you can generally take about 3 monsters out with a 2nd level armor. if you cast it as a 5th level, then that's 25 temp hp, which isn't small, plus potentially 100 damage, if it merely triggers 4 times, which is entirely possible, particularly against something with multi-attack, or a horde of mooks. 2: Honorable mentions to Spiritual Weapon and Spider Climb, but for me, it goes to Enlarge/Reduce. being able to double a creature's size is both an amazing theater of the mind image, as well as a utility power, being able to reach things in places you otherwise couldn't is great, and it's a solid buff spell, for additional damage, as well as strength checks/saves. 3: I give Honorable Mentions to Tiny Hut, Spirit Guardians, Counterspell, Call Lightning, and Sending, but it's Haste. a mega powerful buff, for extra attacks, move speed, dex saves, and AC. the downside of losing concentration is well earned for how powerful it is, but even that downside has saved me before, when the barbarian got mind controlled while in haste, so I dropped concentration, and that gave us a turn of the barbarian not murdering us. 4: a Very Honorable Mention to Polymorph, as well as Dimension Door, but to keep it different, Banishment. this spell can be a fight ender, and once the monster is gone, normally it's very easy to maintain concentration for a minute. it's one of the spells that will always get a Legendary Resistance, and Charisma saves tend to be one of the rarer high saves on monsters that are worth banishing. 5: Honorable Mention to Greater Restoration, Holy Weapon, Dominate Person, and Teleportation Circle, but for me, it's Contagion. if Banishment takes a Legendary Resistance, Contagion just burns all of them. this one is a monster ender. being poisoned for the duration, no save, is pretty huge anyway. but after the 3 failed saves, inflicting a stun on any form of damage means just tying a torch to them means they're stuck there for a week, or vulnerability to all damage, or being blinded and disadvantage on wisdom saves, or being under the confusion spell in combat. 6: HM for Heal, Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, and Eyebite, but Heroes' Feast is my pick for this level. being able to prepare a Heroes' Feast the night before a big fight, for 2d10 max hit points, not temporary, advantage on wisdom saves (which tend to be the ones that incapacitate or debuff allies), as well as immunity to disease, frightened, and poisoned/poison damage is huge. it's a costly spell, at 1000 gp item per cast, but it's worth it. 7: HM's to Teleport, Plane Shift, Magnificent Mansion, and Forcecage, but my pick is Reverse Gravity. in terms of battlefield control, it's up there (or down there, depending on your perspective). it's not the most damage spell, it's dependent on the situation, but hell, the idea of reversing gravity in an area is akin to yelling at the top of your lungs "UNLIMITED POWER", and that's what I like most. 8: Feeblemind, Demiplane, and Dominate Monster all get HM, but for me, it's Control Weather. again, one of those "UNLIMITED POWER" spells you can cast, and it's one of those spells that provides a lot of utility. want to develop a paradise with your million gp? give the plants healthy weather to grow properly, and keep it nice weather. want to help out a town that's in drought? make it rain. want to cause some chaos? go to the arctic and raise the temperature to Hot, and melt it, or go to a small town and set it to arctic cold in the middle of summer, and sell them food from your supplies because you ruined their crops. 9. HM to basically all of them, but for me particularly , Foresight is my pick, with advantage on basically everything, and attacks against me with disadvantage, the VALUE you get over a whole day just adds up. of course, it's a blatant target for dispel magic, and the GM will try to remove it if they can, but oh man, it's worth it.