Our Top 10 Spells in Dungeons & Dragons 5e 

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

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 😄

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

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."

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Funniest thing is Monty beating Kelly to "Fireball".

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”

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

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.

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.

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

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

"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!"

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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"

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.

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

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

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...

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?)

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!

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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!

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?"

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)

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.

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

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.

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

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

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!

Absolutely love watching your videos, thank you for what you do ❤

Cool Video guys! Thanks for all your content!

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!

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.

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

Oh nice. Thanks for posting underneath video detail specs on what you're talking about.

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.)

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...

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

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.

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

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

I have to say for the challenge of doing a collective list you did an excellent job. I tend to play as a divine caster, so of course i have my differences on preferences. But you included a few of them as well.

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!

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.

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.

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

I would love it if you guys could make a video comparing aspects of different editions. Spells would be a great way to start a video series like that. My group of friends still play 3.5e from time to time. You very very briefly touched on this in one of your most recent videos by mentioning mechanics from 3rd (3.5?) And 4th edition. Also healing word and heat metal are my favorite spells

Video starts at 1:23

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

This video was so cool to watch! I loved it. I feel like it's total Dungeon Dudes nerd cred to try and predict what your choices would be -and go 'OF COURSE that's what he said' if I got it wrong.

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

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

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

I absolutely love that you added those little annotations lol. Do this more!!!!

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

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! 👌⚔️🛡️

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.

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!

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!

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.

Hey, do a video on either the Tortle race or on two-weapon fighting!! Everything I know on how to play DND came from your videos. You guys are great!

healing word is a bonus action heal spell. its literally the reason i took a level into bard for my warlock!

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.

Great video guys!

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!

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.

10/10 add literally answered my questions as I thought of them.

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.

Spike growth from one person and hunger of Hadar make a devious and devastating damage.

I love the "2-D" shirt Kelly! Keep the videos coming!

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.

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.

I've always liked stop time for 9th level as well. SOOO many clever uses for it.

I feel like you guys really need to do videos like this from a few years ago with all the most recent books.

Good work, love your vids)

Two top 10’s for the price of one? One list from each? Quality content, right here!

I'd have to take a bit longer than i feel like to pick out my list of favorite spells, but i do have one combo that i love, and have used to completely erase a creature from existence. Cast prismatic wall as an orb in the air, and then when the target creature gets underneath it, cast reverse gravity on them, and make them fly upward through all the layers of the orb twice, then drop reverse gravity and have them fall back through the layers again. Passing through the multiple layers of prismatic wall a total of 4 times by force, and then the added fall damage on top of it.

I once had a large party where almost everyone knew the minor illusion cantrip. They were tasked with clearing out a group of orcs from the area. They first killed the orc standing guard outside the cave and then quickly used a couple spells to light the surrounding area on fire. Then about 4 or 5 of them all cast minor illusion to make a shadow of a dragon on the ground, create a deafening roar, and making the ground rumble. The orcs came out, and saw their dead companion in a field of fire and the shadow of a dragon on the ground (as if it was flying high above). I had the orcs do a wisdom and an intelligence saving throw, and they failed on both. The orcs immediately started evacuating their home because they thought a dragon had just declared war on them. However, my party after seeing that they had an ogre among them, used command (saying the word betray) to make the ogre attack the orcs, which resulted in all of the orcs dying. Overall, a great use of a few pretty simple spells.

Baldur’s Gate 3’s polymorph is the definition of “look how they massacred my boy”

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 :)

Great Video!

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

“They won’t get you out of every situation.” *LAUGHS IN FIREBALL*