The Book of Superior Cantrips for Wizards

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M.T. BLACK

Introduction

In the world's greatest roleplaying game, wizards are rightly celebrated for their flexibility. With hundreds of spells to choose from, they give players far more options than any other class.

All spells are not Equal

However, not all spells are created equal. The gaming community quickly realized that, within any particular level, there were a few "must have" spells, but also plenty of spells that almost no-one would sensibly choose. These neglected spells are either too weak or too niche to be worthy of attention.

Fixing the Problem

This document is the start of an attempt to create a spellbook where every spell presents a compelling and viable option. I want to make it hard for players to choose their next spell, because all the alternatives are exciting! I also want to make sure there is at least one excellent spell from each magical school for each level. I've started with cantrips, but will expand into other levels if the feedback is good.

My approach is to take two or three really good spells from each level as my core. You can't really exclude minor illusion and nor can it be improved upon. With these core spells, I've updated the text to address a few common corner cases, but otherwise left it alone. I've also created several original spells that don't have an obvious counterpart in the core rulebooks.

In the rest of the cases, I've taken some of the less popular spells and improved them so they become as compelling as the more highly regarded spells. Sometimes this simply involved tweaking damage, duration, or range, but sometimes more radical surgery was required. In some instances, I found combining elements of two weaker spells ended up with a single spell of the appropriate power. I suspect that approach will be controversial!

Weaker Spells

You might wonder how I identified "weaker spells." Aside from my own experience, I drew heavily upon the work of respected game critics such as Treantmonk, TheBigHouse, and ArcaneEye. I also found useful a poll on D&DBeyond which asked wizard players to nominate their favourite cantrips. There were nearly 10,000 responses, and the resulting data is illuminating.

Balancing the new Spells

The great challenge with this project is to maintain an appropriate power balance. In seeking to buff up a weak cantrip, for example, I don't want to create a spell that should actually be level 1 or higher. I assure you I have been very mindful of this.

My starting point is the guidance given in the core rulebooks, which are worth revisiting here. The normal damage limit for a cantrip that affects a single target is 1d10, which assumes half damage on a successful saving throw or a missed attack roll. If it is all-or-nothing, that damage cap increases by 25% to 1d12. If the cantrip targets multiple creatures, the damage cap is 1d6, increasing to 1d8 for all-or-nothing spells.

If the cantrip does additional debuffs or other affects, that should decrease any damage inflicted. Exceptional range or area of effect does the same. For example, the most common cantrip range is either 30 or 60 feet. Fire bolt has an impressive range of 120 feet, which is why (I believe) its damage is 1d10 rather than 1d12.

With spells that don't do damage, balancing becomes a little trickier. In many instances, I compared the effect to something similar in a first level spell, and made sure the cantrip was much weaker. But this is far from an exact science.

Spell Names

With regards to spell names, I've adopted what is known as a "Vancian" approach, after the celebrated author, Jack Vance. I take a lot of delight in the wordplay this involves, and it seems to me that clever wizards would not have pedestrian names for their spells. For consistency, I've taken the liberty of renaming even the standard spells I've used largely without change.

You might wonder about the proper nouns attached to some of the spells, such as Aldoin, Caelan, and Rahela. These are from my World of Iskandar campaign setting, and I do hope you'll take a moment to learn more about it.

Open Game License

Please note that this game content is published in compliance with the Open Game License. All content herein, except elements of the System Reference Document, are designated product identity and copyright M.T. Black.

Art credit: Daspai (Kritika)

Spells

The Admirable Flaming Dart

Evocation cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

You hurl a mote of fire at a creature or object within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d10 fire damage. A flammable object hit by this spell ignites if it isn't being worn or carried.

This spell's damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).

Tip

This cantrip can target invisible creatures, but you suffer the usual penalties for doing so.

Aldoin’s Uncanny Strike

Divination cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You touch a creature and grant it a prescient insight into a creature's defences. Once before the spell ends, the target has advantage on an attack roll of its choice. The spell then ends.

The Amazing Iridescent Mantle

Abjuration cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You touch a creature and a veil of shimmering, luminous colors wraps itself around their body until the spell ends. When the target takes damage, it can roll a d8 and reduce the damage by that amount. The spell then ends.

This spell’s protection increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).

The Bubble of Hideous Vitriol

Conjuration cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

You hurl a bubble of acid at a point you choose within range. Each creature in a 5-foot-radius sphere centered on that point must make a successful Dexterity saving throw or take 1d8 acid damage.

This spell’s damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).

Caelan’s Noxious Fog

Conjuration cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

You extend your hand toward a creature you can see within range and a cloud of toxic gas appears around them. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 1d12 poison damage.

This spell's damage increases by 1d12 when you reach 5th level (2d12), 11th level (3d12), and 17th level (4d12).

Eion’s Vexatious Whisper

Enchantment cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

You point your finger toward a creature within range and whisper a disconcerting word. The target hears the word and must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the target must immediately move 5 feet in a random direction away from you. If the target is unable to move away from you, it falls prone. Constructs, undead, and creatures that cannot hear are immune to this effect.

Tip

You can use this cantrip to force enemies to trigger opportunity attacks. You can also push them into hazards, such as pits and fires.

Emrika’s Mordant Wyrd

Necromancy cantrip

Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take in response to being damaged by a creature within 60 feet of you that you can see
Range: Self
Components: S
Duration: Instantaneous

You gesture toward the creature that damaged you and fill it’s mind with a distressing vision of mortality and doom. The creature must make an Intelligence saving throw. It suffers 1d10 psychic damage on a failed save or half as much on a successful one. It also becomes immune to this spell for 24 hours. A construct or an undead is immune to this effect.

This spell's damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).

The Invocation of the Obedient Flame

Evocation cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

Tapping into elemental forces, you create one of the following effects on a non-magical fire you can see within range that fits within a 5-foot cube:

Extinguish it.
Cause it to double in volume for 1 round.
Cause it to speak a hissing, crackling message of 25 words or less.
Cause it to take on a particular shape for 1 round.
Cause it to change color for 1 round.

You can also use this spell to ignite an inanimate, flammable object you can see within range that is not being worn or carried, such as a pile of wood, a pool of oil, or a piece of paper.

Jasper’s Excruciating Discharge

Evocation cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 15 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous

Lightning springs from your finger to deliver a shock to a creature you can see within range. The target must make a Dexterity saving throw, and has disadvantage if it is wearing metal armor. On a failure, the target takes 1d8 lightning damage, and it can't take reactions until the start of its next turn.

The spell's damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).

Rahela’s Remarkable Lights

Evocation cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a pinch of bone ash)
Duration: 1 hour

You create four torch-sized lights within range, which hover in the air for the duration. These lights can be any color or shape, and each one sheds dim light in a 10-foot radius. As a bonus action, you can move the lights up to 60 feet to a new spot within range, though each light must be within 20 feet of another light.

As an action, you can cause all four lights to coalesce on a point within range and erupt in a prismatic explosion. All creatures within 10 feet of the explosion must make a successful Constitution saving throw or suffer 1d6 points of radiant damage. The lights are extinguished by this event.

This spell’s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).

Sable’s Vivid Phantasm

Illusion cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S, M (a tiny yellow zircon worth 1 sp)
Duration: 1 minute

You create a sound or a static image of an object within range that lasts for the duration. The illusion also ends if you dismiss it as an action or cast this spell again.

If you create a sound, its volume can range from a whisper to a scream. It can be your voice, someone else's voice, a dragon's roar, beating drums, footsteps, or any other sound you choose. The sound continues unabated throughout the duration, or you can make discrete sounds at different times before the spell ends.You can use this cantrip to mimic the voice of another person and speak complex sentences with it.

If you create an image of an object, it must be no larger than a 5-foot cube. An object is a discrete, inanimate item like a window, door, sword, book, table, chair, or stone. A corpse is an object. The image can't create sound, light, smell, or any other sensory effect, and nor can it move in any way. Physical interaction with the image reveals it to be an illusion, because things can pass through it. For example, snow falling on the image of a treasure chest would appear to pass through the lid and disappear. You cannot create the illusion of empty space.

A creature cannot take cover behind the image; instead, it can be obscured by the image. A creature fully hidden by the image of a 5-foot wall, for example, would be completely obscured.

If a creature uses its action to examine the sound or image, the creature can determine that it is an illusion with a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check against your spell save DC. If a creature discerns the illusion for what it is, the illusion becomes faint to the creature.

Tip

Following are some example uses for this cantrip:

Create the sound of footsteps going down another corridor to throw off pursuers.

Create a monstrous growling from within a room to discourage people from entering.

Create a pile of gold coins in a room to distract a monster.

Create the illusion of ground over a hole as a trap.

Create an illusory wall across the corridor to slow down pursuers.

Create an illusory replica of the object you just stole.

Create a distracting sound (such as a wolf’s howl) when trying to sneak past someone.

Many other things..!

The Useful Chimerical Hand

Conjuration cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 minute

A spectral, floating hand appears at a point you choose within range. You do not have to be able to see the point. The hand lasts for the duration or until you dismiss it as an action. The hand vanishes if it is ever more than 30 feet away from you or if you cast this spell again. It cannot take damage.

You can use your action to control the hand. You can use the hand to manipulate an object, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item from an open container, or pour the contents out of a vial. When the hand touches something, you are aware of the tactile sensation but it is never painful. You can move the hand up to 30 feet each time you use it. It is the size of your own hand and can squeeze through a space as narrow as one inch.

The hand can't attack, activate magic items, wield a shield, or carry more than 10 pounds.

The Rune of Objective Ensorcellment

2nd-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (crushed citrine and silver dust worth at least 10 gp, which the spell consumes)
Duration: 4 hours

You trace a glittering rune on a nonmagical, inanimate object that weighs no more than 20 pounds. The rune becomes invisible to all but the spellcaster a few moments later.

If the object is a weapon, it becomes a magic weapon with a +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls until the spell ends. If the object is not a weapon, the spellcaster chooses one of the following magical effects:

The item takes on a new shape of your choice while retaining the same weight and volume.
The item disappears into an extradimensional space, reappearing when the spell ends.
The item is replaced by an exact replica of itself made of either crystal or a base metal.
When a creature of a type you nominate touches the item, the creature must make a successful Dexterity saving throw or suffer 2d6 fire damage.
The spell repairs all breaks and tears in the item and also removes rust and other discoloration from it. This rejuvenation persists after the spell ends.
The item explodes at a time you choose before the spell ends. Every creature within 5 feet of it must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 2d6 bludgeoning damage.

Except where specified, the item returns to normal after the spell ends. You cannot apply multiple effects to the item at the same time.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can transform one additional object for every spell slot above 2nd.

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. System Reference Document 5.1 Copyright 2016, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.