Absolutely Essential Arcane Spells .... although Non-Core.

[Machine_Kiss]

On nearly every D&D message board on the net, you see threads and lists along the lines of "Ultimate Sorceror's Spell List" and "Absolutely Essential Wizard Spells". Via these opinion & experience driven threads, you gain community insight as to what arcane spells are the most popular, most effective, & most versatile for both Wizards and Sorcerors.

Usually, you get hammered over the head with a ton of the usual dumb, damage-dealing stand-bys (Magic Missile, Fireball, etc.).

You also see the standard, good spells that can be creatively abused into cheese or mega-cheese (Polymorph Any Object, Fabricate, Alter Self, etc.)

And then you also run across more esoteric, under-appreciated spells that really shine in the hands of a creative rules-mangler (Silent Image, Magic Jar, etc.)

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The purpose of this thread is to see if there are any more absolutely essential (and perhaps, abuseable) arcane spells out there that need to be spotlighted. The catch? The spells have to be from an official WotC D&D publication besides the PHB!

Meaning all spells are legal from the splat books, Forgotten Realms supplements (FRCS, MoF, Underdark, RoF), D&D/Wizards Web Site spells, and all the supplementary books like Savage Species, Miniature's Handbook, MotP, CW, Dracominocon, etc.

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Even if you wish to spotlight a spell that really has a narrow, but strong utility, feel free to pontificate. The reason for this thread is that the usage and rules-mongering of all the PHB spells has been discussed to death ... and the hundreds of other official D&D spells published seems to get little airplay. Yet there is a treasure trove of kick-ass spells out there that really need to see the light of day. So many in fact, even a straight-level Sorceror should have an absolute ton of spell selections to pick spells from and should squelch any kvetching about lack of sorcerly options.

I'll post some later tonight. Oh .... and please, let's limit it to arcane spells for the interim. Maybe we can do a divine spell angle later on.

[da_chicken]

I take the easy one: ghostform from T&B.

[Josh_Kablack]

Improvisation from Song and Silence. (Bard 5)

It gives the caster a +2 per level luck bonus to an attack roll, skill tjeck, or ability tjeck. You could split it over a couple of rounds like they suggest, or you could be an idjit and use it as a 5th level True Strike, but really, the point is that the wizard can now use Limited Wish to avoid any chance of backlash from Contact Other Plane and just about automaticly win any of those opposed Cha tjecks for calling critters and the Bard can do crazy things to items which have Break DCs.

It is a really narrow cheese, especially for a 5th level spell,
but being able to add +20 to +30 to rolls within a set where the highest DC in the rules is 40 (pushing over a Wall of Iron in 3.0) does occasionally push the boundries of the system.

[Oberoni]

I'll go with Nybor's Stern Reproof and Nybor's Wrathful Castigation from Magic of Faerun.

Why are they so cool? Two saves.

You have to make a Fort saving throw against either of these enchantments, or you die. Then, if you make that, you have to make a Will saving throw or get stunned for a while, and take penalties to a lot of your rolls.

Failing either one sucks, although obviously, failing the Fort save sucks more--but forcing your opponent to make two saves a spell or stop fighting is just amazing.

[Psifon]

I'm going to go for one per level:

0 - Dancing Lights: Make a humanoid "fire elemental" like figure to scare the goblins.

1 - Kauper's Skittish Nerves - Gives you a +5 to your initiative for 1 min/level

2 - Craft Magic Tattoo - Gives you a +1 to you caster level.... per tattoo if your DM allows such stacking.

3 - Blindsight - MoF version, last one hour per level. Has more combat applications than I can name.
3 - Shrink Item (I know this is a second 3rd level but I couldn't leave it out). So broken it makes DM's cry.

4 - Ghrus Thoth's Metal Melt - both a great combat and utility spell.

5 - Simbuls spell matrix (and related spells) - Gives you free acess to the quicken spell feat, and does GREAT things when you make in persistant

6 - Probe Thoughts - solves so many problems

7 - Greater Arcane Sight - One of the all time best high level combat buffs in IMO.

8 - Discern Locatin - The spell you cast between probe thoughts and greater teleport.

9 - Chain Contingency - did you know that you can cast this on your familiar along with contingency and a simubl's spell matirx etc, to allow both yourself and your familiar to cast SEVERAL spells in a round? I figured it up to 20 spells in a round between the two of you (assuming the right feats of course).

[Josh_Kablack]

Lion's Charge from Savage Species - a nerfed Haste that's actually still frequently worth casting on your fighter buddy.

[Username17]

Ice Assassin from the WotC web features.

You pay some experience to make a copy of a creature which is in most ways just as good as the original. And it flawlessly obeys you. And it has a link to the original such that it always knows where the original is and what it is thinking.

Now, you are supposed to make a copy of one of your enemies and have it track your quarry down and mutually anihilate. What you actually do is save up your pennies until you can make one of these bad boys who is a copy of you, and has enough wang left over to make another copy of you - and so on.

So to recap:

You now have an unlimited supply of snowy servants, each evaluated at about CR 17.

They all obey you totally without question or possibility of mutiny.

They all know exactly what you want them to do at all times.

....


Right.

-Username17

[Jack_Lurch]

1 - Kauper's Skittish Nerves - Gives you a +5 to your initiative for 1 min/level

I'm a fan of this one as well.

-Jack

[User3]

This is an old thread I pulled from the archives. But with the advent of all the recent WotC books being published (Comp. Arcane, Frostburn, Shining South, Serp. Kingdoms, etc.), there should be some more top-tier spells to add to this list.

Note: Looks like Frank's earlier mentioning of Ice Assassin got republished in Frostburn.

So ... any other semi-broken spells in all the new books?

[Sma]

While it is boring blasting and only good for druis and clerics, I´m rather fond of Venomfire. Caster Level d6 acid damage for poisonous bites all day long. Combine with Summons, Poly or Spit Venom for extra fun.

[Naar]

Not precisely essential, but Cursed Blade (Assassin/Hexblade 4) from Complete Warrior is good for a laugh, since it's not immediately obvious that it's in effect until a healing spell does nothing, which tends to give players a surprise.

[RandomCasualty]

Superior invisibility is pretty nice as well.

[User3]

Not many folks I know like Superior Invisibility. It's duration is *WAY* too short. At mid-to-high levels, so many monsters have blindsight/sense, tremorsense, etc., that it's usefulness diminishes over time.

Besides, as the thread title states, we're looking for non-core spells, not core.

[Username17]

OK... lots of new crazy crap has come out since this thread was kicked around:

Eberron Campaign Setting:
You need:
Power Surge
Skill Enhancer
Item Alteration
... and you need to put them all on Staves. You can put them all on the same staff, if you'd prefer. This is very economical, because the Power Surge is the one that costs XP (45 per shot if you want to make sure that you can Power Surge Rings of Wishes)

Now, use Power Surge on your Power Surge Staff, giving it a couple of extra charges that last for a few minutes. Use those charges on your Skill Enhancer and Item Alteration staves, but save the last bonus charge to use on the Power Surge Staff again. Now, use your staff of Skill Enhancer to give yourself a bonus to UMD, then use the Item Alteration staff to make it a morale bonuse. Or an Insight Bonus. Or an Enhancement Bonus. Repeat until you have all four.

Now, repeat it again, only this time take a 1 on your Use Magic Device rolls and still walk away with a caster level of 28 for the purposes of activating all the staves (assuming a charisma of 10 and maximum base ranks at 12th level). Now all of your skill enhancers are lasting almost 5 hours and give +16 each.

Now repeat again, only this time your bonuses ar even bigger, and rolling a minimum UMD this time around leaves you with a caster level of 60 for the next go-round. And repeat again with your four +32 bonuses (that now last for 10 hours each)...

Yes, the Artificer is a Spell Dancer, at level 12. Infinite Charges on Magic Items used at Infinite Caster Level at Infinite Duration. Ramping up takes a couple of minutes, lasts forever, and cannot be dispelled by anything short of MDK - its actual cost is one charge off the Power Surge stick - so feel free to canibalize the rest of the charges off your sticks for XP. Find something to do with it (*holywordbiatch*), and you are in like Flynn.

---

Complete Divine:

Lots of the standard broketastics have been done to death. But did you realize that if you Extend Creeping Cold it does 4d6 on round 4, 5d6 on round 5, and 6d6 on round 6? It does. And that makes Creeping Cold an absolute must-have in any serious Druid's array. Not broken, but good enough to take note. Why Greater Creeping Cold exists is beyond me.

Note: Comet Fall is not broken as written. The errataed version is sucky at high levels.

Curse of Lycanthropy. Sure, you don't have the Pestilence Domain. But you can still duplicate this 6th level gem in any of a number of ways. And since it's a permanent effect that grants hit dice and feats, I don't think you can afford not to. The lycanthropy granted by this spell is not an instantaneous effect, and therefore does not cost ECL.

Doomtide: If you fail your save, you are dazed until you leave the cloud. If you are dazed, you cannot leave the cloud. This 4th level Cleric Spell is a mass death effect. Also, it is written in such a way that it is seemingly an exception in that it is not Mind Affecting - making it rock the house to an intense degree.

Dragon Breath: You can get a Sleep Cloud with no hit die limits. That's awesome.

Recitation: This is completely subject to Persistent Spell. Hilarity ensues.

-Username17

[RandomCasualty]

1103087897[/unixtime]]Not many folks I know like Superior Invisibility. It's duration is *WAY* too short. At mid-to-high levels, so many monsters have blindsight/sense, tremorsense, etc., that it's usefulness diminishes over time.

Besides, as the thread title states, we're looking for non-core spells, not core.

No, not greater invisibility, superior invisibility from complete arcane. That's the one with a duration of 1 hour/level and beats blindsense and see invisibility as well as makes you give off no sound.

[MrWaeseL]

That's still a glamer, though...

Mine: Those size-changing spells from the Wu-Jen list from Complete Arcance. The "grow" one gives you a nameless +32 bonus on strength.

Lam's finger darts (sp?) from BoVD. I haven't read it, but apparently, this one does dexterity damage with no save.

Illusionary pit from CA, Fleshshiver from PGtF and Fanfare from Song & Silence: All stun with no save.

[User3]

putting a Chain Spell metamagic on a Fleshiver spell is hilarious. Because you really don't care if you get save throw penalties when targetting multiple foes. Primarily because of that sweet, sweet "no save" stun effect ... and of course, you get the damage effect as well.

There is also a spell in Frostburn, Serpent Kingdoms, or Shining South (or one of those recent ones) that does 3d6 DEX damage as a ray. Which of course matches up well with a Metamagic Rod of Maximize for 18 DEX damage. Which even at high levels, puts the kibosh on an assload of creature types.

[User3]

I like that spell from Serpent Kingdoms where you trade your ass powers(Su or Sp, I forget) for monster powers. Since its pretty easy to get powers like that for the tradin', I'd get that spell on a Spell-like(to bypass the long casting time since its supposed to be a story spell), then steal my enemiy's best powers.

Then I'd Flesh to Stone them, and cart them home and put them in my garden for future use. Sure, I might get screwed if someone casts a Chained Break Enchantment or Stone to Flesh on my garden gnomes(some of them real gnomes!), but I figure my enemies will generally hate each other as much as me, so it'd probably end up a battle royale where I get to watch and eat nachos.

For regular adventuring, I'd probably keep Tiny petrified fairies in my pocket so that I can steal thier powers every day.

What other monsters are easily carried in the pocket and have good powers?

[User3]

Hey K .. what (Sp) or (Su) powers are you trading in with that spell?

[User3]

Dude.

Power Leech. From Book of Vile Darkness.

Slap some caster level bonuses on that bitch, and extend it. Have some clerics on standby constantly healing the temporary ability score damage--or use it on a creature without an ability score. Who cares.

This spell is beyond nuts in 3.5E, where it is a legal spell to CHAIN. 20th level caster level, 20 targets, extended, that's an +800 bonus to one or more of your stats. It can get even higher than that. You'll really want a Red Wizard/Archmage build, though, so the bonus to your stats will last all day.

Good times... good times...

[MrWaeseL]

Unearthly Beauty from Book of Exalted Deeds. As a free action, everyone within 30ft has to make a save or die. There's no limit on the nuber of times pre round you can do it, however.

[Wrenfield]

Draconic Polymorph is in the Draconomicon book. It's a 5th level Wiz/Sorc improvement on Polymorph (it ups the HD limit to 20) and has a range of "personal".

The beauty of this spell comes into play with a Cleric who has the FRCS/PGtF Spell Domain. Via the Greater Anyspell spell and the Divine Metamagic/Persistant Feat combo, you can get a 24 hour duration out of Draconic Polymorph.

And if you are lucky enough to be a +0 ECL outsider race, you can assume the form of a Kelvezu and get a base 31 DEX, +8d6 Sneak Attack, flight speed, crazy-high natural armor bonus, etc.

Kelvezu 24 Hours per day ... nice.

[User3]

To Guest,

Assuming I was using that pimp spell from Serpent Kingdoms, I'd also get some cheapy abilities along the way to trade off. Since I don't remember if the spell gives you Su or Sp, here are the options:

Sp: The Complete Arcane has like six feats that each grant three different Spell-likes for one feat. Failing that, just be a gnome or take one of the many ass PrCs that grant Sp instead of spells(of course since I'd be trading ass powers for powers way beyond my level, this normally suicidal choice is thereby made broken).

Su: Several books have PrCs with full caster progressions and they also grant Turning, Bard Music, or Domains(many of which have crap Su abilities attached to them).

[Username17]

You're over thinking this. I'm pretty sure it's Supernatural abilties that you trade. I personally would trade my Supernatural Ability to have an empathic understanding with my raven in order to shoot disintegration eyebeams at will. I think that I would laugh while I was doing so.

-Username17

[Sma]

Supernatural it is.
And your not suposed to gloat

Sma