Favored Soul Spells

[Physiker]

One of my players, a Favored Soul at level 15, asked me which spells I would suggest.
I told her that I would go for buff spells because her spell DC's are not that good. But I honestly aren't very familar with the cleric spells.

Which spells would you recomend for her ? I allow the Complete Books without Complete Psions and the PHB I and II.

She would definitely perfer damage spells even if the are not as good as the wizard spells. But as I mentioned her Spell DC's are ridiculous.

Hope you can help me out here.

[Theroc]

Which spells does she already have? And which slots is she selecting spells for?

[Ahnehnois]

Mark of Doom (PHBII, level 3) is a spell that causes the target damage each time they attack with no save or SR. It's probably overpowered as written, but you could change it without neutering it.

Bleakness (PHBII, level 4) is a spell that creates a negative energy damage area with no save or SR, but it is evil so may not be viable. Ravenous Darkness (CC, Level 7) is kind of similar and not evil.

Meteoric Strike (PHBII, level 5) grants a melee attack extra damage; the save is only for splash damage. So does Blade of Blood (level 1). Favored Soul is a melee class so if Cha is bad I'm assuming melee capabilities are decent.

Spiritual Weapon (PHB) is decent and wis-based.

Blashphemy/HolyWord/etc. (whatever alignment is) allows no save for most effects and is 7th level. Destruction deals 10d6 damage if the target *makes* its save.

Spell Compendium spells that are probably from a complete book but I don't know which:

Blood to Water (7th) 2d6 con damage, fort save only halves.

Radiant Assault (7th) 1d6 damage/level (max 15) plus 1d6 rounds of dazed, save only halves damage and reduces dazed to dazzled.

Earth Reaver (5th) deals 7d6 damage, no save or SR, save negates being knocked prone.

Moon Bolt (4th) deals 1d6 Str damage/3 caster levels and comnveniently maxes at 15th. Fort only halves so still crippling.

Negative Energy Aura (4th) similar to aura spells above.



***

Obviously there are a million excellent heals, buffs, and utility spells that the character should take; I'm just suggesting offensive spells that work with low save DCs.

[Physiker]

Thanks for the respond.

She gets 5,6,7,8 level slots at 16 which she reached last session.
And I would let her change some of her spells too because the are nearly useless and haven't been chast a single time.
For example Greater Bestow curse.

She has a good Cha mod but the Spell DCs are based on Wisdom which is only average.
She can't or better won't cast evil spells due to her chaotic neutral allingment, which tends heavily towards a chaotic good or even a neutral good allingment.

I'd like to present her some good spells which she can use quite often, so far she only uses her healing spells, the restoration spells and disple magic a lot.
She uses flamestrike as a damage spell against which not even the minions would fail the reflex save but at least she does some damage.
Her other damage spell is harm which does a decend damage and I think was a good choice.

Edit:
As far as I remeber she asked me if Discern location, Dimensional lock and Fire Storm were good choices. But afer reading them I think that all three of them are quite a wast as Spell known. The first both are Scroll spells if she want's to have them with her the third one is the big brother of flamestrike but I would not use a Level 8 spell for that.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Mark of Doom is amazing at shutting down single BBEG types with a large full attack routine that they rely on. In any other case, it's not that overpowered. Solid choice, though.

I like Fell the Greatest Foe, a level 3 buff for round/level, touch range. Target does +1d6 melee damage / size smaller than the enemy he's attacking. On a small TWF rogue against a giant or dragon, that could add up like crazy, for example.

Recitation is a common favorite buff. Also Mass Conviction.

Delay Death keeps people from dropping, as does Close Wounds.

Blackfire or Darkfire...I forget... is like a better version of Produce Flame.

Ring of Blades is level 3 and does damage to all adjacent each round, not an awful choice for a melee Favored Soul.

The Curse of Impending Blades and the Mass version don't rely on saving throws.

Unfortunately, there aren't many good blasting spells for a cleric aside from Radiant Assault and Flame Strike. I like Darkbolt, but that's Darkness domain only. Best "damage spells" for a cleric are buffs to do more damage with melee or ranged attacks.

(All spells mentioned if not from PH are Spell Compendium)

[Starbuck_II]

Originally Posted by StreamOfTheSky

Blackfire or Darkfire...I forget... is like a better version of Produce Flame.

Drawback, duration rd/level. So less time.

I like Darkbolt, but that's Darkness domain only. Best "damage spells" for a cleric are buffs to do more damage with melee or ranged attacks.

(All spells mentioned if not from PH are Spell Compendium)

I perfer Darkbolt in Book of Vile Darkness: it has a completely different effect. Not the same spell.

[pawsplay]

I wouldn't rule out DC-based spells, although they should obviously make up a smaller part of the arsenal. If you can target Greater Bestow Curse on a high Fort, low Will monster, that's a good thing. The feat Spell Focus might shore up one or two speciality spells, also Heighten Spell, and don't overlook Wis boosting items once Cha is taken care of.

Ring of blades, summon monster, death ward, and searing light are all generally useful. Divine favor is good for wading into battle. Harm and blade barrier are very solid spells; even if they make the save on harm, that's 75 damage. Blade barrier is especially nice if you can set up a combo with a teammate, either a wizard or sorcerer with telekinesis or shoving hand or fighter/barbarian type who bullrushes.

Summon monster VII can summon a Huge elemental, or 1d3 Large elementals or chaos beasts, or 1d4+1 hound archons.

[Physiker]

Thanks for all the spell proposals.

If I remember her Wis stat correctly it is 12. She has Spell focus Necromancy allready which brings her to a Spell DC of 12+Spell level for necromancy spells. I don't think that there are any monster with such low saves with a CR of 16.
At the moment Wis boosting Items are not an option, as she has to fullfill the meat shield to and is wearing an amulet of natural armor.

Summon monster would be an option, but the wizard does this some times and I don't know if she wants to copy him.

Book of vile darkness is not awailable for player characters as is Spell compendium. But I will search the complete books for the spells you mentioned.

Highten spell would take her a full round action to cast, and since she tends to be at the front she probably loses all these spells.

Her Cha is 19 so now she could take care of Wis but the next boost is at level 20 so that will take a while. And I don't think that she will buy tomes for wis.

[Shin Okada]

This is not a spell suggestion but..

You are allowing Complete Mage, right? If so, IMHO, the first feat she should take is Rapid Metamagic in Complete Mage. Now she can apply metamagic feats without extended casting time.

With plentiful of spells per day, she can cast a lot of metamagiced version spells.

For a Sorcerer type casters, taking Heighten Spell is often much better than taking Spell Focus. She can heighten her lower level Save or XXX spells to increase save DC on the fly. Empewer, Extend, Persistent & Quicken will be useful for sure. If she still like to nuke opponents, taking Spell Energy Substitution (Acid) can be an interesting option. Using Rapid Spell to cast Summon Monster X or other 1-round spells is a good trick.

[Physiker]

Yes, Complete Mage is allowed, but she didn't take that feat and I'm not sure if she has the spellcraft ranks to take it at level 18.
I'd let her trade Spell focus with Highten Spell if she wanted.
But again I gess the saves are not that impressive.
She could get a Spell DC of 19 with a Level 8 spell.
That still is not very helpfull against most challenges.

Your other suggestions are all quite feat heavy, and thus to late for her build.

The only way I see is using spells without saving throws or harmless spells.

I think Spell focus is the only feat she took for casting the rest are all combat orientated. Ironically she attacked only two times in the last encounter, in the first round with a normal charge attack and in the last round with harm. The rest of the fight she had to heal the rogue and herself.

[gwcummings]

She should at least buy a wisdom boosting ioun stone. Better still, you can follow the rules in the Magic Item Compendium and allow her to combine her amulet of natural armor with a periapt of wisdom or you could allow her to buy a headband of wisdom or something similar (see pages 233 and 234).

[Physiker]

Good point. Would be ok for me, perhaps she finds the time to give her amulet away for at least 8 days.

[Shin Okada]

Or, if her arms slot is empty, she can use Periapt of Wisdom (throat) and Crimson Dragonhide Bracers (arms). MIC shows Crimson Dragonhide Bracers +1 only. But you can find better versions (up to +5 enhancement bonus to NA) in Drraconomicon.

[pawsplay]

I forgot to mention a good all-purpose favored soul maneuever: cast owl's wisdom before you start throwing DC-based spells! No non-standard item slotting required.

[Dross]

Cometfall L6 (SC & CD) REF for 1/2 and not be knocked prone. Plus the area of effect is now covered in rubble slowing movement.

Summon Monsters is okay to soak up a little damage.