For an Arcane Trickster in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, the best level 1 spells are those that amplify their roguish strengths, focusing on utility, deception, and combat control. These often come from the Illusion and Enchantment schools, allowing the rogue to outmaneuver opponents, infiltrate secure locations, or manipulate situations to their advantage.
Arcane Tricksters gain access to spells at level 3, drawing from the wizard spell list. Their unique subclass features allow them to learn spells from any school, but two of their three initial spells (and most subsequent spells) must be from the Enchantment or Illusion schools. This focus aligns perfectly with a rogue's typical playstyle, emphasizing stealth, subterfuge, and misdirection over raw damage or direct combat.
Top Level 1 Spell Choices for Arcane Tricksters
Several level 1 spells stand out as excellent choices for an Arcane Trickster, providing versatile tools for various scenarios. These spells directly enhance an Arcane Trickster's ability to scout, deceive, escape, and set up advantageous combat situations.
| Spell Name | School | Primary Arcane Trickster Use Cases | Key Synergy with Rogue Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charm Person | Enchantment | Social Manipulation: Gaining trust, de-escalating conflicts, gathering information. | Diplomacy, deception checks, avoiding combat. |
| Disguise Self | Illusion | Infiltration & Deception: Impersonation, creating false identities, bypassing security. | Stealth, infiltration, creating alibis, escaping detection. |
| Silent Image | Illusion | Distraction & Cover: Creating diversions, illusory walls, obscuring vision. | Setting up advantage for Sneak Attack, breaking line of sight, creating escape routes. |
| Silvery Barbs | Abjuration | Reactionary Control: Forcing enemies to re-roll, granting allies advantage on attacks/saves. | Protecting allies, guaranteeing successful rogue attacks (e.g., Sneak Attack), denying critical hits. |
| Sleep | Enchantment | Area Control: Incapacitating multiple low-hit point enemies without a saving throw. | Neutralizing threats quietly, creating opportunities for easy takedowns or escape. |
| Tasha's Hideous Laughter | Enchantment | Single-Target Control: Incapacitating a key enemy, rendering them prone. | Removing a dangerous foe from combat, setting up easy Sneak Attack opportunities. |
Detailed Breakdown of Prime Level 1 Spells
Each of these spells offers unique tactical advantages that perfectly complement an Arcane Trickster's skill set:
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Charm Person: This spell allows an Arcane Trickster to make a Humanoid target friendly towards them.
- Practical Insights:
- Social Engineering: Use it to gain information from a reluctant guard, bypass a bouncer, or extract secrets from a noble.
- De-escalation: Turn a hostile encounter into a conversation, buying time or avoiding combat entirely.
- Misdirection: Charm a witness to create a diversion or point suspicion elsewhere.
- Limitation: The target knows they were charmed after the spell ends, so careful planning for the aftermath is crucial.
- Practical Insights:
-
Disguise Self: A classic illusion spell, Disguise Self allows you to change your appearance, including clothing, armor, weapons, and even a single item in your hand.
- Practical Insights:
- Infiltration: Impersonate a guard, a servant, or a specific individual to gain access to restricted areas.
- Escape: Change your appearance rapidly to throw off pursuers, blending into a crowd.
- Establishing Alibis: Create a false identity for a specific mission, ensuring your true identity remains hidden.
- Social Engineering: Appear as someone trustworthy or intimidating to influence conversations.
- Practical Insights:
-
Silent Image: This versatile illusion creates a visual image of an object, creature, or other visible phenomenon that is up to a 15-foot cube. The illusion is purely visual and makes no sound.
- Practical Insights:
- Distraction: Create an illusory monster or a sudden event to draw guards away from a patrol route.
- Cover: Summon an illusory crate, wall, or thick fog to hide behind, providing an effective means to gain advantage for Sneak Attack or break line of sight.
- Misdirection: Make it appear as though a door is blocked, or a path is clear when it is not.
- Creating Opportunities: Project an image of a valuable item to lure enemies into a trap.
- Practical Insights:
-
Silvery Barbs: A powerful reaction spell that forces a creature you can see within 60 feet to re-roll a successful attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, and then allows you to give advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw made by a creature of your choice.
- Practical Insights:
- Defensive Utility: Deny a critical hit against you or an ally, potentially saving a character from being knocked unconscious.
- Offensive Enhancement: Ensure an enemy fails a crucial saving throw against an ally's powerful spell, or guarantee a hit (and thus Sneak Attack) on your turn or an ally's.
- Mitigation: Force an enemy to re-roll a successful perception check when you're trying to sneak, ensuring your stealth.
- Note: While not from the Illusion or Enchantment school, Arcane Tricksters can learn one spell from any school at level 3, making Silvery Barbs an exceptional "any school" choice.
- Practical Insights:
-
Sleep: This spell causes creatures in a 20-foot radius sphere to fall unconscious, starting with those with the lowest current hit points. There's no saving throw initially; unconscious creatures can be woken by damage or an action.
- Practical Insights:
- Non-Lethal Neutralization: Quickly and quietly deal with groups of weak enemies (e.g., goblins, cultists) without combat.
- Setup for Takedowns: Unconscious creatures are prone and automatically fail Strength and Dexterity saving throws, making them easy targets for a coup de grace or for allies to finish off.
- Bypassing Encounters: Put guards to sleep to walk right past them.
- Consideration: Its effectiveness diminishes significantly against higher-HP targets.
- Practical Insights:
-
Tasha's Hideous Laughter: This enchantment causes a single creature to fall prone and become incapacitated from fits of laughter. The target repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns.
- Practical Insights:
- Single-Target Control: Lock down a dangerous enemy spellcaster or melee combatant, taking them out of the fight temporarily.
- Sneak Attack Setup: Since the target is incapacitated, attacks made against them by creatures within 5 feet have advantage, making it easy to land your Sneak Attack.
- Escape Route: Incapacitate a pursuer to create distance and flee.
- Practical Insights:
Synergy with Arcane Trickster Features
The chosen level 1 spells significantly enhance the Arcane Trickster's core rogue abilities:
- Sneak Attack: Spells like Silent Image (for cover/distraction), Tasha's Hideous Laughter (for advantage on incapacitated targets), and Sleep (for easy takedowns) directly facilitate the conditions needed for Sneak Attack.
- Cunning Action: The mobility and bonus action utility of Cunning Action (Dash, Disengage, Hide) combine powerfully with spellcasting. For instance, you could use Silent Image to create a diversion and then Hide with Cunning Action.
- Magical Ambush (Level 9): While a later feature, starting with strong enchantment and illusion spells prepares you for this. Magical Ambush makes it so if you are hidden from a creature and hit it with a spell attack, the creature has disadvantage on any saving throw it makes against the spell on that turn. This makes spells like Tasha's Hideous Laughter even more potent.
Choosing the right level 1 spells is crucial for an Arcane Trickster, setting the foundation for a character adept at stealth, subterfuge, and magical trickery. The best selections enhance their roguish capabilities and provide versatile solutions for a wide array of challenges.
