D&D: Five of the Worst 1st-Level Spells
1st-level spells are everyone’s friend. But not these. These are some of the worst 1st-level spells in D&D.
1st-level spells are the bread and butter of D&D. They’re the only spells that every character is guaranteed to get. And by and large, it’s hard to go wrong with a 1st-level spell, because they’re all sort of tuned to be a little newbie friendly. This makes sense since they’re the spells every newbie will grapple with first.
But that doesn’t mean they’re all amazing. By and large, these are some of the worst 1st-level spells in the game.
Witch Bolt
Witch Bolt is one of those spells that sounds very cool until you try to actually use it. It’s a spell that’s all about shooting your enemies with lightning and keeping the lightning going round after round like you’re living out your best Sith lord life.
Sadly, the reality is, this spell asks way too much of you. First of all, it takes an attack roll to do damage that’s only just okay, a single d12 is no better than a cantrip. And sure, it has the promise of working round to round, but it takes your action to keep it up, as well as your Concentration, and you lose the spell entirely if your target moves more than 30 feet away from you.
Arms of Hadar
Arms of Hadar is another one of those spells that promise a power fantasy, “call upon the power of a dark and hungry star” that then just sort of fumbles the execution of a little. It is an aoe, but is one that’s dependent on you getting close as a Warlock, which isn’t necessarily where you want to be. And for your action, you can do, by and large, less damage than you otherwise might and can strip away the ability to take reactions.
If your targets fail their saves. But if they don’t, then you’re still in just as bad a spot. And something like Thunderwave would not only do more damage but sweep your targets away from you (assuming they fail) for about the same effect.
Earth Tremor
Earth Tremor is a great spell for teaching players about friendly fire. This spell does even less damage than Arms of Hadar, but it might knock a creature prone instead, making it even easier to accidentally catch your party in the blast, making them more vulnerable to a follow-up attack.
Jump
Jump is one of those spells that aren’t quite sure what it wants to do. It runs up against the restrictions of the movement rules in D&D pretty hard.
So in a nutshell, the Jump spell triples your jumping distance. Which is great, because that means you can jump really far. Except if you actually do try and move that far, it will cost you to do so.
Because you don’t gain any additional movement speed, so if you get a jump of, say, 45 feet, you can’t move any further than your actual speed, which is typically 30. So you don’t really get to take full advantage of the spell. Maybe you might avoid the occasional attack of opportunity, but is it really worth a 1st-level spell slot to do that?
Cause Fear
Cause Fear sounds like it could be pretty good. But all it actually does is inflict the Frightened condition on a creature and give them a save every round until they break it. All that means is they get disadvantage to attacks and that they can’t willingly move closer to you.
But they aren’t forced to run away, like with other spells. Low-level class features repeatedly outperform this. It inconveniences a creature without even taking them out of the fight like a Tasha’s Hideous Laughter might.
What are your picks for worst 1st-level spells?
