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<blockquote data-quote="Veep" data-source="post: 6745438" data-attributes="member: 6793297"><p><strong>Originally posted by Nausicaa:</strong></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Paragon Tier Spells</strong></span></p><p></p><p><strong><strong><u>A little disclaimer</u></strong></strong></p><p>[sblock]This handbook is purposefully written for Controller Wizards: most damaging-only spell will get a worse rating, because they simply lack control (unless they are very strong, for example Chain Lightning or Flaming Sphere). If you plan to play a blaster-evoker wizard, damage based with low control, double-check powers before selection. </p><p>I actually wrote in the power description if a spell deals more damage than another one, but i have not checked each description twice. If you find that a blasting-evoking-damaging power needs an higher rating, please, write a little note about it.</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><strong><u><strong>Advices</strong></u></strong></p><p>[sblock]<u>Take them with a grain of salt.</u> Divided into 2 simply sections: controllers and blasters.[/sblock]</p><p></p><p>I will write, next to all powers, the descriptors, the defense targeted and if it can be enlarged <strong>(E)</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Level 13 Encounter Advice: </strong>Controllers: Dark Gathering, Prismatic Burst and Mesmeric Hold. Blasters: Blackening, Pyre, Prismatic Burst, Thunderlance and Twisted Lightning<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong><strong><u>Level 13 Encounter Spells</u></strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Arcane Arrows (D 381) </strong></span><em>Autohit, Force</em>: bad damage, bad targeting. Autohit doesn't make this power better.</p><p></p><p><strong>Arcane Chastisement (D 382) </strong><em>Will, Charm, Psychic</em>: nice out of turn attack, better against solo or elites, which have more than one attack. The familiar kicker doesn't make this power stronger. <strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Better</span></strong> for would-be single target strikers, since it has good DPR and out of turn easy trigger: this power vaguely resembles a Ranger power.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Blackening Pyre (HoS)</strong></span></p><p><em>Fortitude, Fire, Necromancy, Necrotic, Shadow, Zone, E</em>: VERY good damage, nice for movement exploiters and with good slide attached. A good power for everyone but <strong><span style="color: #00ccff">great</span></strong> for blasters</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Dark Gathering (HoS) </strong></span><em>Will, Nethermancy, Psychic, Shadow, Zone, E</em>: large area, good effect, psychic damage and friendly zone created. On par with prismatic burst, probably even <strong><span style="color: #ff9900">better</span></strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Earth Brute (AP)</strong></p><p><em>Reflex, Conjuration</em>: a nice single target power, since it can push enemies around for the entire round. It has some tactical and positional issues, though.</p><p></p><p><strong>Entangling Force (AP)</strong></p><p><em>Reflex, Force, E</em>: overall quite decent, it is nice to punish enemy movement. The wand kicker is ridiculous. </p><p></p><p><strong>Frostburn (PHB) </strong><em>Fortitude, Evocation, Cold, Fire, E</em>: decent damage for blasters and large area. Probably Thunderlance is better also for them, though, especially since zone damage has been nerfed.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Hold Monster (HoFL)</strong></span></p><p><em>Will, Enchantment, Charm</em>: a bit "meh"... Bad range. Restraining is nice but it's nothing exceptional at level 13. Mesmeric Hold trumps this power in every possible way: better targeting, damaging, psychic keyword. Perhaps this spell should have stayed back in 3.5. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Illusory Assailant (AP) </strong></span><em>Illusion, Psychic</em>: quite similar to earth brute in usefulness, it gets the psychic keyword, though, and the damage is much bigger. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Mesmeric Hold (PHB) </strong></span><em>Charm, Enchantment, Psychic, Will</em>: free targeting, psychic and charm keyword, immobilized condition is strong, enchantment keyword. A really nice choice.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mirror Sphere (HoFL)</strong></p><p><em>Will, Illusion, Psychic</em>: a nice power in the line of Dragon 381 charms, except that now the target fully loses its next round. An errata, though, changed this power to affect only the next attack and this made this power generally less useful than before and surely inferior to prismatic burst. The addition of the miss effect for half damage to itself... overall it doesn't change the rating. Nice but surely inferior to other spells.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Orbmaster's Umbral Assault (AP)</strong></span></p><p><em>Will, Illusion, Necrotic, Zone, E</em>: i don't like the "blind if you are in the zone" effect. The kicker, though, makes this power <strong>good</strong> for orb of imposition users. Burst 3 friendly blindness is a very nice effect. However, i think that Prismatic Burst is simply superior.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Prismatic Burst (PHB) </strong></span><em>Will, Evocation, Radiant, E:</em> It really deserves to fight with Dark Gathering for the throne of the best power of level 13. Now it has been buffed by the addition of Evocation keyword and by the addition of a really good miss effect. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Thunderlance (PHB)</strong></span></p><p><em>Reflex, Thunder, E</em>: decent control effect and an unfriendly large blast. This is basically the big brother of Thunderwave and it has the same strengths and the same limitations, but sports a really large forced movement effect also on miss. <span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Better</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"></span>for blasters, since it is the highest damage power</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Twisted Lightning (HoFL)</strong></span><em> Reflex, Evocation, Lightning</em>: you can easily avoids your allies and hit for fine damage. Overall very nice since you can twist the "wall" line as you want and the damage can be really high.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Wake of Fire (D 388)</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"></span><em>Reflex, Fire, E</em>: good damage, but the blast is too little for the power being really effective.</p><p></p><p>[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><strong>Level 15 Daily Advice:</strong> Prismatic Beams, Slumber of the White Court. Blasters: Ball Lightning, Blast of Cold (not cone), Stonewrack</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Level 15 Daily Spells</u></strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Ball Lightning (AP) </strong></span><em>Conjuration, Lightning</em>: overall a nice power. Deals a little less damage than Flaming Sphere because it doesn't have an aura, but the action management is much lighter. And finally we have a flying conjuration (specifically written in the power text). The slow is nice because it's clever: if you manage it decently you can keep a creature slow-locked.</p><p></p><p><strong>Bigby's Grasping Hand (PHB) </strong><em>Reflex, Evocation, Conjuration, Force</em>: not a too shabby power. Remember to avoid sliding effects while the hand grab a target. The secondary damage is a bit conditional, but the hands cannot be physically attacked and this is nice. Remember to grab a soldier or a skirmisher, not a brute. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Blast of Cold (PHB) </strong></span><em>Reflex, Cold</em>: huge cold damage, large friendly area and immoblized. A simple, yet powerful, solution for those who doesn't like difficult spells.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Cone of Cold (HoFL)</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"></span><em>Fortitude, Cold, Evocation</em>: very large unfriendly area (very difficult to use correctly), deals half the damage of Blast of Cold, the special is quite useless and doesn't make you pop minions. It is saved by total failure for the simple fact that the immobilize and (little) cold ongoing damage is an effect. </p><p></p><p><strong>Enervation (HoS) </strong><em>Fortitude, Nethermancy, Necrotic, Shadow</em>: slowing and weakening single target. The penalty can become pretty harsh, especially if coupled with all your nethermancy features, but the power it's not the great by itself</p><p></p><p><strong>Evard's Dreadful Mist (AP) </strong><em>Will, Psychic, Fear, Zone</em>: the initial power isn't really bad, but for successive attacks you have to consider that your line of sight is blocked too, unless you burst or blast enemies, so you get bad penalties to hit. Psychic and fear are nice keywords, though.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mental Maelstrom (HoFL)</strong></p><p><em>Will, Illusion, Psychic, Zone</em>: overall a strange power. Sliding makes it better than visions of avarice, as the free sliding in the zone... but it is really depending from your party, if your party manage to keep them near the zone. My advice is that it is can be nice only if you have an heavy pushing/pulling party, since the zone is quite little and can't be moved. Overall not this great.</p><p></p><p><strong>Otiluke's Resilient Sphere (PHB)</strong></p><p><em>Reflex, Evocation Conjuration, Force</em>: you can get sequester that does a similar thing. 100 damage at level 15 aren't that much (2-3 rounds of constant attacks) and you have to have a good hit ratio to maintain the sphere. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Prismatic Beams (PHB)</strong></span></p><p><em>All defenses, Evocation, Fire, Poison</em>: each attack is separate and gets bonus damage (this power probably deals much more damage than Blast of Cold). Simply the best choice in the level, since it is also ally friendly. Now it's a blast, but it's a big dazing power with an huge damage attached. It's still on par with Slumber of the White Court.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Serpents of Flame (D 388)</strong></span><em> Reflex, Fire, Polymorph</em>: a great choice for blasters, gives a great OA option and if the target wants really to attack you he'll pay it harshly. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Shunt Between Worlds (DMA 2009) </strong></span><em>Will, Psychic, Teleportation</em>: "the destination must be on solid ground" >.< No other comments. The damage is nice but the targeting is horrible and this addition ruins all the fun.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Slumber of the Winter Court (HoFL)</strong></span></p><p><em>Will, Enchantment, Charm</em>: unconscious if you hit, unconscious if you miss. This is Sleep #2 and is incredibly better than it. The dazed+slowed initial condition is much more subtle than it seems. When you hit you can bring your enemy with you for a successive barbecue with friends or for an easy questioning with hot daggers and other friendly tools. When you miss you can simply slay them easily. </p><p></p><p><strong>Soul Puppets (D 372-HoS)</strong></p><p><em>Will, Charm, Necrotic, Necromancy, Shadow</em>: a power comparable to blast of cold. The new version in HoS also wrecks undead.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Stonewrack (AP)</strong></span></p><p><em>Reflex, Zone</em>: large area, very big damage, nice proning effect on moving in the zone. Overall a very nasty effect.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Summon Chainbearer (AP)</strong></span></p><p><em>Summoning</em>: the damage isn't great, but this summon is the perfect mate for your defender. Plus it has threatening reach and very high defenses.</p><p></p><p><strong>Summon Stormstone Fury (D 385) </strong><em>Thunder, Summoning</em>: this is a very dangerous summoning, because it will often hit more than one of your friend when he will shoot in the fray. Still, 1d12 aoe thunder damage at will is nice.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Summon Vrock (D 385)</strong></span><em> Poison, Summoning</em>: this, instead, is underwhelming, The summon is very mobile but the damage is insubstanstial, and the intrinsic penalty is very high.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Vertigo (AP)</strong></span></p><p><em>Will, Illusion</em>: a really funny effect, makes the battlefield a funny OA feast. I'd take this power only if i had a party full of strong MB attackers or HBO users. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Wall of Ice (PHB) </strong></span><em>Cold, Conjuration</em>: walls are always tactically rewarding solution. This blocks line of sight and is difficult to remove. A nice choice</p><p></p><p>[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><strong>Level 16 Utility Advice:</strong> Clever Escape, Fly, Stoneskin, Spectral Vision</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Level 16 Utility Spells</u></strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000"><strong>Beneficient Tranformation (HoFL)</strong></span></p><p><em>Daily</em>: this power has multiple uses. The resistance part is quite meh, the fly, climb or swim speed is surely nicer, as tremorsense. Overall it is better to know what your target has and then use the power... Stealing enemy abilities in "blue mage style" is always nice, though.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Clever Escape (AP) </strong></span><em>Daily, illusion, Teleportation</em>: a very nice power, similar to a reversed version of wizard's escape. If i remember correctly this spell is classical in the wizard spell list. At very least it eats an attack.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Dancing Shadows (HoS) </strong></span><em>Encounter, Nethermancy, Shadow</em>: jumping partial concealment.. Mmm.. ok, i guess. I don't think it will save lives most of the times, but it's not so horribly bad</p><p></p><p><strong>Dimension Switch (D 380-HoFL)</strong></p><p><em>Encounter, Teleportation</em>: very similar to the ardent level 2 utility Dimension Swap, it is much more useful for you than for your leader. The HoFL version didn't change the power.</p><p></p><p><strong>Displacement (PHB) </strong><em>Encounter</em>: a reroll without penalty for enemies. Watch out that if you have more than 1 enemy near you, you provoke OA from the other enemy when you use this power.</p><p></p><p><strong>Flame's Protection (D 388) </strong><em>Encounter, Fire</em>: this is the encounter version of Fire shield. A nice power that strongly disincentive attacking but lasts only a round and has placement issues.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Fly (PHB-HoFL)</strong></span></p><p><em>Daily</em>: this is nearly always your best bet. Flying is cool and fun and gets you far from melees enemies who want to crunch your robe. The HoFL version didn't change the power.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Greater Invisibility (PHB) </strong></span><em>Daily</em>: finally the range is decent and it has sustain minor. Still, casting requires standard action. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000"><strong>Phantom Mask (AP-HoFL)</strong></span> Daily, Illusion: another nice disguising power, this can actually cover all your party. The DC changed to 15, but it's not that great issue</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Phase Shift (AP) </strong></span><em>Daily, Polymorph</em>: a daily power wasted to gain an effect that lasts only eont? Completely wasted. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Soul Harvest (HoS)</strong></span></p><p><em>Daily, Healing, Necromancy, Shadow</em>: the trigger is hard to get but the effect is quite nice. Overall, though, this power remains very situational, just because the randomness of the trigger. </p><p></p><p><strong>Spatial Lock (D 375)</strong></p><p><em>Daily, Zone</em>: a nice power, hindering the most common type of movements in epic tier. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Spectral Vision (AP)</strong></span></p><p><em>Daily, Illusion</em>: this gets a blue for the fantastic effect, which can favorably change the shape of the terrain in your favor. If you DM cheats, and unfortunately there are many cheater-DMs, this power is <strong><span style="color: #ff0000">rubbish</span></strong>.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Stoneskin (PHB)</strong></span></p><p><em>Daily</em>: resist 10 to all damage. Put this on you or on your defender. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Summon Diamond Falcon (AP)</strong></span></p><p><em>Daily, Summoning</em>: this is like fly but doesn't occupy your minor action. I don't know why but DMs i met liked to target the falcon on OAs, making it eat 3-4 attacks. If your DM acts this way, this power becomes much stronger.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000"><strong>Words of Truth (D 381) </strong></span><em>Daily</em>: here's another noncombat power which makes the joy of roleplayers. I think that this power is a even a little too powerful (answer a question without a save is great)</p><p></p><p>[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><strong>Level 17 Encounter Advice</strong>: Controllers: Mass Charm, Charm of False Glory, Phantasmal Horror, Crushing Titan's Fist. Blasters: Dancing Flames, Combust, Furnace of Sand, Crushing Titan's Fist</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Level 17 Encounter Spells</u></strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Charm of False Glory (D 381) </strong></span><em>Will, Charm</em>: another great power in the charm line. It has some really fine perks: Huge bonus on hit, can target creature to enable stupid ally damage (the immobilize effect is offset by extra mobility). A really incredible power. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Combust (PHB) </strong></span><em>Reflex, Evocation, Fire, E</em>: high and large aoe fire damage, on par with Dancing Flames. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Crushing Titan's Fist (PHB)</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"></span><em>Reflex, Evocation, Force, Zone, E</em>: large zone + immobilization + difficult terrain. A lovely choice.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Dancing Bolts (AP)</strong></span><em> Reflex, Lightning</em>: bah, a bad choice. It seems nice on paper for the jumping feature, but actually if you stop hitting it stops dealing damage. A bad choice.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Dancing Flames (HoFL)</strong></span></p><p><em>Reflex, Evocation, Fire, E</em>: heavy damage for evokers, big area and miss half is really rare. If you want DPR take this. Probably even better than furnace of sand and surely much easier to use.</p><p></p><p><strong>Force Volley (PHB) </strong><em>Reflex, Evocation, Force</em>:friendly targeting + dazing + extra accuracy at the end of encounters (or VS solos). Not a too shabby choice.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Furnace of Sand (AP)</strong></span></p><p><em>Reflex, Fire, Zone, E</em>: nice area of blinding and good damage overall. Like acid mire but much more better.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gripping Chains (AP) </strong><em>Reflex, Force, E</em>: it loses the contest with furnace of sand. The damage is a little bigger but the effects are much worse.</p><p></p><p><strong>Horrific Shadow (HoS)</strong></p><p><em>Will, Illusion, Nethermancy, Psychic, Shadow, E</em>: CB 2 (3, basically) of psychic damage, and a strong disincentive against melee attacks + invisible. It could be worse, but it could be a lot better </p><p></p><p><strong>Ice Tomb (PHB) </strong><em>Reflex, Evocation, Cold</em>: you delete the target for one round. Phantasmal Horror is a step forward, but this power deals decent damage (nice for cold blasters).</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Mass Charm (HoFL)</strong></span></p><p><em>Autohit, Charm, Enchantment</em>: elegant overpowerness. Friendly area, no hit required, heavy sliding to re-unite them and make them kill by themselves. Extremely strong power, incredibly easy to use and probably gold for every wizard but surely gold for <strong><span style="color: #ff9900">enchanters and hard controllers</span></strong>, who didn't get an upgrade for the Charm of False Glory spell (but who cares?)</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Phantasmal Horror (HoFL)</strong></span></p><p><em>Will, Fear, Illusion</em>: not only you get your first encounter stun, but you also get a bonus damage. Still a strong power, even if single target. Overall now it is more useful even for non-illusionists since the cha-rider became a fixed +4... and for the miss effect.</p><p></p><p><strong>Shard of the Endless Avalanche (AP) </strong><em>Fortitude, Conjuration</em>: i like this power. Expecially if targets are aligned it becomes a very strong board controller. And its name is extra-cool.</p><p></p><p><strong>Soul Blight (HoS)</strong></p><p><em>Fortitude, Fire, Necromancy, Necrotic, Shadow, E:</em> decent damage, strong effect VS undeads, vanilla effect for a level 17 power. As for level 3 powers, this couple of HoS 17 encounters are workable, but you should look somewhere else for good powers.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Thunderous Transformation (D 382) </strong></span><em>Fortitude, Thunder, Teleportation</em>: this is a very damaging single target effect, since you can teleport the target in the air, after a save. The aoe effect is nothing more than a nuisance since it doesn't scale. Overall an underwhelming choice, unless you have an active familiar that is flying high and you <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>teleport the target there</strong></span> for a good laugh with you friends (20 squares are like 25 damage + 5d10). Better for the laugh, than for real power, though.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Wand Coupling (D 380) </strong></span><em>Reflex</em>: single attack good damage and pushing and if you wield a wand (even in offhand) you can couple an encounter spell from it: there are encounter-wands that couple wizard at wills. This spell is a great choice if you want high-dpr, even if i think that wielding a wand is generally a bad idea, since you need a good wand in the off-hand.</p><p></p><p>[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><strong>Level 19 Daily Advice:</strong> Controllers: Wrath of Battle, Summon Black Devourer. Blasters: Summon Angel Wretch</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Level 19 Daily Spells</u></strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Acid Wave (PHB)</strong></span></p><p><em>Reflex, Evocation, Acid</em>: it is hard not to hit at least 1 ally in a blast 5, and it deals the same damage as Combust.</p><p></p><p><strong>Cloudkill (PHB) </strong><em>Fortitude, Poison, Zone</em>: a larger version of Stinking Cloud (but not so larger as before) with extra damage tackled. It made the difference at level 5, now it's kinda nice but not overpowered.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Disintegrate (HoFL)</strong></span></p><p><em>Reflex, Evocatio</em>n: it was bad in the PHB, it is even more stupid now. Do you really want to waste a daily on this spell?</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Entombing Earth (D 372) </strong></span><em>Reflex, Necrotic</em>: another necrotic effect in dragon 372 line. It is Ice Tomb II, the revenge. Imho it could be even considered worse than ice tomb.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Evard's Black Tentacles (PHB)</strong></span></p><p><em>Reflex, Nethermancy, Necrotic, Zone</em>: it was nerfed badly in may 2010 errata, now it is an immobilizing aoe that deals necrotic damage. Again, probably blast of cold is better. </p><p></p><p><strong>Evard's Ebon Bindings (AP) </strong><em>Will, Charm, Psychic</em>: Finally a decent power in this bunch of fail that is (was before Wrath of Battle) level 19. Not a bad power at all, even if it is single target. <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Better</strong></span>, naturally, for orb of imposition users. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Feats of Destruction (D 388) </strong></span><em>Reflex, Fire, Zone</em>: fire damage (and not even that much fire damage) and an effect that can be utterly ignored by high level monsters. An underwhelming choice.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Oppressive Force (AP)</strong></span></p><p><em>Reflex, Force</em>: quite a meh power and pales in comparison with evard's bindings.</p><p></p><p><strong>Plague of Illusions (AP)</strong></p><p>Will, Illusion: the initial effect is very strong, but probably evard's bindings is, again, stronger. The miss effect is simply worse.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Summon Angel Wretch (D 380)</strong></span></p><p><em>Necrotic, Poison, Summoning</em>: extremely nice ongoing poison damage and a good single target and opportunity option. Plus, it is large and has good defenses. A very nice summon, even if the damage types are probably the worst in the game.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Summon Black Devourer (AP) </strong></span><em>Summoning</em>: often a better option for control than angel wretch, even if it deals much less damage. Grabs, prones enemies and has good defenses.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Summon Couatl (D 385)</strong></span></p><p><em>Lightning, Radiant, Summoning</em>: meh, it deals pityful damage and isn't friendly. The couatl is supposed to be one of the most intelligent monsters in d&d, isn't it?</p><p></p><p><strong>Summon Rockfire Dreadnought (D 385)</strong><em> Fire, Summoning</em>: a little better than the couatl for friendly-targeting, but the first two summons in the list are frankly better.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000"><strong>Summon Shadow Servant (HoS)</strong></span></p><p><em>Shadow, Summoning</em>: as for the level 5 daily, but you gain more advanced critters. The <strong>Shadow Wraith</strong> is a fine summon: self-sufficient, good CA aura, decent OA and weakening standard action. Not really bad. The <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Shadow Brute</strong></span> imho is better: a double save end immobilizing standard action (with a not-so-harsh condition attached) and the immediate reaction is far less hard to use than the level 5 shadow beast. <u>Attention</u>: at the current time the <span style="color: #ff00ff"><strong>Shadow Wraith</strong></span> has hp equal to your surge value: hoping an errata will fix this issue, the summon will be very frail and quite hard to use correctly.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thought Cage (HoFL) </strong><em>Will, Illusion</em>: single target save-end stun is nice, but the effect ends too easily in my opinion. The aftereffect is nice but nothing exceptional. A little better than his little brother Phantasmal Horror, but not much better.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Wrath of Battle (HoFL) </strong></span><em>Autohit, Charm, Enchantment, Fear, Psychic</em>: big burst area, friendly targeting sliding and hitting as usual as effect. Plus, if they miss with the attack, bam! psychic damage in the face. The big burst goes combo with other enchantment spells like mass charm, for example.</p><p></p><p>[/sblock]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Veep, post: 6745438, member: 6793297"] [b]Originally posted by Nausicaa:[/b] [CENTER][Size=4][b]Paragon Tier Spells[/b][/size][/CENTER] [b][b][u]A little disclaimer[/u][/b][/b] [sblock]This handbook is purposefully written for Controller Wizards: most damaging-only spell will get a worse rating, because they simply lack control (unless they are very strong, for example Chain Lightning or Flaming Sphere). If you plan to play a blaster-evoker wizard, damage based with low control, double-check powers before selection. I actually wrote in the power description if a spell deals more damage than another one, but i have not checked each description twice. If you find that a blasting-evoking-damaging power needs an higher rating, please, write a little note about it. [/sblock] [b][u][b]Advices[/b][/u][/b] [sblock][u]Take them with a grain of salt.[/u] Divided into 2 simply sections: controllers and blasters.[/sblock] I will write, next to all powers, the descriptors, the defense targeted and if it can be enlarged [b](E) Level 13 Encounter Advice: [/b]Controllers: Dark Gathering, Prismatic Burst and Mesmeric Hold. Blasters: Blackening, Pyre, Prismatic Burst, Thunderlance and Twisted Lightning[b] [/b][b][u]Level 13 Encounter Spells[/u][/b] [sblock] [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Arcane Arrows (D 381) [/b][/COLOR][i]Autohit, Force[/i]: bad damage, bad targeting. Autohit doesn't make this power better. [b][/b][b]Arcane Chastisement (D 382) [/b][i]Will, Charm, Psychic[/i]: nice out of turn attack, better against solo or elites, which have more than one attack. The familiar kicker doesn't make this power stronger. [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Better[/COLOR][/b] for would-be single target strikers, since it has good DPR and out of turn easy trigger: this power vaguely resembles a Ranger power. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Blackening Pyre (HoS)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Fortitude, Fire, Necromancy, Necrotic, Shadow, Zone, E[/i]: VERY good damage, nice for movement exploiters and with good slide attached. A good power for everyone but [b][COLOR=#00ccff]great[/COLOR][/b] for blasters [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Dark Gathering (HoS) [/b][/COLOR][i]Will, Nethermancy, Psychic, Shadow, Zone, E[/i]: large area, good effect, psychic damage and friendly zone created. On par with prismatic burst, probably even [b][COLOR=#ff9900]better[/COLOR][/b] [b]Earth Brute (AP)[/b] [i]Reflex, Conjuration[/i]: a nice single target power, since it can push enemies around for the entire round. It has some tactical and positional issues, though. [b]Entangling Force (AP)[/b] [i]Reflex, Force, E[/i]: overall quite decent, it is nice to punish enemy movement. The wand kicker is ridiculous. [b]Frostburn (PHB) [/b][i]Fortitude, Evocation, Cold, Fire, E[/i]: decent damage for blasters and large area. Probably Thunderlance is better also for them, though, especially since zone damage has been nerfed. [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Hold Monster (HoFL)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Will, Enchantment, Charm[/i]: a bit "meh"... Bad range. Restraining is nice but it's nothing exceptional at level 13. Mesmeric Hold trumps this power in every possible way: better targeting, damaging, psychic keyword. Perhaps this spell should have stayed back in 3.5. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Illusory Assailant (AP) [/b][/COLOR][i]Illusion, Psychic[/i]: quite similar to earth brute in usefulness, it gets the psychic keyword, though, and the damage is much bigger. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Mesmeric Hold (PHB) [/b][/COLOR][i]Charm, Enchantment, Psychic, Will[/i]: free targeting, psychic and charm keyword, immobilized condition is strong, enchantment keyword. A really nice choice. [b]Mirror Sphere (HoFL)[/b] [i]Will, Illusion, Psychic[/i]: a nice power in the line of Dragon 381 charms, except that now the target fully loses its next round. An errata, though, changed this power to affect only the next attack and this made this power generally less useful than before and surely inferior to prismatic burst. The addition of the miss effect for half damage to itself... overall it doesn't change the rating. Nice but surely inferior to other spells. [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Orbmaster's Umbral Assault (AP)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Will, Illusion, Necrotic, Zone, E[/i]: i don't like the "blind if you are in the zone" effect. The kicker, though, makes this power [b]good[/b] for orb of imposition users. Burst 3 friendly blindness is a very nice effect. However, i think that Prismatic Burst is simply superior. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Prismatic Burst (PHB) [/b][/COLOR][i]Will, Evocation, Radiant, E:[/i] It really deserves to fight with Dark Gathering for the throne of the best power of level 13. Now it has been buffed by the addition of Evocation keyword and by the addition of a really good miss effect. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Thunderlance (PHB)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Reflex, Thunder, E[/i]: decent control effect and an unfriendly large blast. This is basically the big brother of Thunderwave and it has the same strengths and the same limitations, but sports a really large forced movement effect also on miss. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Better[/b] [/COLOR]for blasters, since it is the highest damage power [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Twisted Lightning (HoFL)[/b][/COLOR][i] Reflex, Evocation, Lightning[/i]: you can easily avoids your allies and hit for fine damage. Overall very nice since you can twist the "wall" line as you want and the damage can be really high. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Wake of Fire (D 388)[/b] [/COLOR][i]Reflex, Fire, E[/i]: good damage, but the blast is too little for the power being really effective. [/sblock] [b]Level 15 Daily Advice:[/b] Prismatic Beams, Slumber of the White Court. Blasters: Ball Lightning, Blast of Cold (not cone), Stonewrack [b][u]Level 15 Daily Spells[/u][/b] [sblock] [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Ball Lightning (AP) [/b][/COLOR][i]Conjuration, Lightning[/i]: overall a nice power. Deals a little less damage than Flaming Sphere because it doesn't have an aura, but the action management is much lighter. And finally we have a flying conjuration (specifically written in the power text). The slow is nice because it's clever: if you manage it decently you can keep a creature slow-locked. [b]Bigby's Grasping Hand (PHB) [/b][i]Reflex, Evocation, Conjuration, Force[/i]: not a too shabby power. Remember to avoid sliding effects while the hand grab a target. The secondary damage is a bit conditional, but the hands cannot be physically attacked and this is nice. Remember to grab a soldier or a skirmisher, not a brute. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Blast of Cold (PHB) [/b][/COLOR][i]Reflex, Cold[/i]: huge cold damage, large friendly area and immoblized. A simple, yet powerful, solution for those who doesn't like difficult spells. [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Cone of Cold (HoFL)[/b] [/COLOR][i]Fortitude, Cold, Evocation[/i]: very large unfriendly area (very difficult to use correctly), deals half the damage of Blast of Cold, the special is quite useless and doesn't make you pop minions. It is saved by total failure for the simple fact that the immobilize and (little) cold ongoing damage is an effect. [b]Enervation (HoS) [/b][i]Fortitude, Nethermancy, Necrotic, Shadow[/i]: slowing and weakening single target. The penalty can become pretty harsh, especially if coupled with all your nethermancy features, but the power it's not the great by itself [b]Evard's Dreadful Mist (AP) [/b][i]Will, Psychic, Fear, Zone[/i]: the initial power isn't really bad, but for successive attacks you have to consider that your line of sight is blocked too, unless you burst or blast enemies, so you get bad penalties to hit. Psychic and fear are nice keywords, though. [b]Mental Maelstrom (HoFL)[/b] [i]Will, Illusion, Psychic, Zone[/i]: overall a strange power. Sliding makes it better than visions of avarice, as the free sliding in the zone... but it is really depending from your party, if your party manage to keep them near the zone. My advice is that it is can be nice only if you have an heavy pushing/pulling party, since the zone is quite little and can't be moved. Overall not this great. [b]Otiluke's Resilient Sphere (PHB)[/b] [i]Reflex, Evocation Conjuration, Force[/i]: you can get sequester that does a similar thing. 100 damage at level 15 aren't that much (2-3 rounds of constant attacks) and you have to have a good hit ratio to maintain the sphere. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Prismatic Beams (PHB)[/b][/COLOR] [i]All defenses, Evocation, Fire, Poison[/i]: each attack is separate and gets bonus damage (this power probably deals much more damage than Blast of Cold). Simply the best choice in the level, since it is also ally friendly. Now it's a blast, but it's a big dazing power with an huge damage attached. It's still on par with Slumber of the White Court. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Serpents of Flame (D 388)[/b][/COLOR][i] Reflex, Fire, Polymorph[/i]: a great choice for blasters, gives a great OA option and if the target wants really to attack you he'll pay it harshly. [b][/b][COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Shunt Between Worlds (DMA 2009) [/b][/COLOR][i]Will, Psychic, Teleportation[/i]: "the destination must be on solid ground" >.< No other comments. The damage is nice but the targeting is horrible and this addition ruins all the fun. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Slumber of the Winter Court (HoFL)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Will, Enchantment, Charm[/i]: unconscious if you hit, unconscious if you miss. This is Sleep #2 and is incredibly better than it. The dazed+slowed initial condition is much more subtle than it seems. When you hit you can bring your enemy with you for a successive barbecue with friends or for an easy questioning with hot daggers and other friendly tools. When you miss you can simply slay them easily. [b]Soul Puppets (D 372-HoS)[/b] [i]Will, Charm, Necrotic, Necromancy, Shadow[/i]: a power comparable to blast of cold. The new version in HoS also wrecks undead. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Stonewrack (AP)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Reflex, Zone[/i]: large area, very big damage, nice proning effect on moving in the zone. Overall a very nasty effect. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Summon Chainbearer (AP)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Summoning[/i]: the damage isn't great, but this summon is the perfect mate for your defender. Plus it has threatening reach and very high defenses. [b]Summon Stormstone Fury (D 385) [/b][i]Thunder, Summoning[/i]: this is a very dangerous summoning, because it will often hit more than one of your friend when he will shoot in the fray. Still, 1d12 aoe thunder damage at will is nice. [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Summon Vrock (D 385)[/b][/COLOR][i] Poison, Summoning[/i]: this, instead, is underwhelming, The summon is very mobile but the damage is insubstanstial, and the intrinsic penalty is very high. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Vertigo (AP)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Will, Illusion[/i]: a really funny effect, makes the battlefield a funny OA feast. I'd take this power only if i had a party full of strong MB attackers or HBO users. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Wall of Ice (PHB) [/b][/COLOR][i]Cold, Conjuration[/i]: walls are always tactically rewarding solution. This blocks line of sight and is difficult to remove. A nice choice [/sblock] [b]Level 16 Utility Advice:[/b] Clever Escape, Fly, Stoneskin, Spectral Vision [b][u]Level 16 Utility Spells[/u][/b] [sblock] [COLOR=#008000][b]Beneficient Tranformation (HoFL)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Daily[/i]: this power has multiple uses. The resistance part is quite meh, the fly, climb or swim speed is surely nicer, as tremorsense. Overall it is better to know what your target has and then use the power... Stealing enemy abilities in "blue mage style" is always nice, though. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Clever Escape (AP) [/b][/COLOR][i]Daily, illusion, Teleportation[/i]: a very nice power, similar to a reversed version of wizard's escape. If i remember correctly this spell is classical in the wizard spell list. At very least it eats an attack. [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Dancing Shadows (HoS) [/b][/COLOR][i]Encounter, Nethermancy, Shadow[/i]: jumping partial concealment.. Mmm.. ok, i guess. I don't think it will save lives most of the times, but it's not so horribly bad [b]Dimension Switch (D 380-HoFL)[/b] [i]Encounter, Teleportation[/i]: very similar to the ardent level 2 utility Dimension Swap, it is much more useful for you than for your leader. The HoFL version didn't change the power. [b]Displacement (PHB) [/b][i]Encounter[/i]: a reroll without penalty for enemies. Watch out that if you have more than 1 enemy near you, you provoke OA from the other enemy when you use this power. [b]Flame's Protection (D 388) [/b][i]Encounter, Fire[/i]: this is the encounter version of Fire shield. A nice power that strongly disincentive attacking but lasts only a round and has placement issues. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Fly (PHB-HoFL)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Daily[/i]: this is nearly always your best bet. Flying is cool and fun and gets you far from melees enemies who want to crunch your robe. The HoFL version didn't change the power. [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Greater Invisibility (PHB) [/b][/COLOR][i]Daily[/i]: finally the range is decent and it has sustain minor. Still, casting requires standard action. [COLOR=#008000][b]Phantom Mask (AP-HoFL)[/b][/COLOR] Daily, Illusion: another nice disguising power, this can actually cover all your party. The DC changed to 15, but it's not that great issue [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Phase Shift (AP) [/b][/COLOR][i]Daily, Polymorph[/i]: a daily power wasted to gain an effect that lasts only eont? Completely wasted. [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Soul Harvest (HoS)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Daily, Healing, Necromancy, Shadow[/i]: the trigger is hard to get but the effect is quite nice. Overall, though, this power remains very situational, just because the randomness of the trigger. [b]Spatial Lock (D 375)[/b] [i]Daily, Zone[/i]: a nice power, hindering the most common type of movements in epic tier. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Spectral Vision (AP)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Daily, Illusion[/i]: this gets a blue for the fantastic effect, which can favorably change the shape of the terrain in your favor. If you DM cheats, and unfortunately there are many cheater-DMs, this power is [b][COLOR=#ff0000]rubbish[/COLOR][/b]. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Stoneskin (PHB)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Daily[/i]: resist 10 to all damage. Put this on you or on your defender. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Summon Diamond Falcon (AP)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Daily, Summoning[/i]: this is like fly but doesn't occupy your minor action. I don't know why but DMs i met liked to target the falcon on OAs, making it eat 3-4 attacks. If your DM acts this way, this power becomes much stronger. [COLOR=#008000][b]Words of Truth (D 381) [/b][/COLOR][i]Daily[/i]: here's another noncombat power which makes the joy of roleplayers. I think that this power is a even a little too powerful (answer a question without a save is great) [/sblock] [b]Level 17 Encounter Advice[/b]: Controllers: Mass Charm, Charm of False Glory, Phantasmal Horror, Crushing Titan's Fist. Blasters: Dancing Flames, Combust, Furnace of Sand, Crushing Titan's Fist [b][u]Level 17 Encounter Spells[/u][/b] [sblock] [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Charm of False Glory (D 381) [/b][/COLOR][i]Will, Charm[/i]: another great power in the charm line. It has some really fine perks: Huge bonus on hit, can target creature to enable stupid ally damage (the immobilize effect is offset by extra mobility). A really incredible power. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Combust (PHB) [/b][/COLOR][i]Reflex, Evocation, Fire, E[/i]: high and large aoe fire damage, on par with Dancing Flames. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Crushing Titan's Fist (PHB)[/b] [/COLOR][i]Reflex, Evocation, Force, Zone, E[/i]: large zone + immobilization + difficult terrain. A lovely choice. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Dancing Bolts (AP)[/b][/COLOR][i] Reflex, Lightning[/i]: bah, a bad choice. It seems nice on paper for the jumping feature, but actually if you stop hitting it stops dealing damage. A bad choice. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Dancing Flames (HoFL)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Reflex, Evocation, Fire, E[/i]: heavy damage for evokers, big area and miss half is really rare. If you want DPR take this. Probably even better than furnace of sand and surely much easier to use. [b]Force Volley (PHB) [/b][i]Reflex, Evocation, Force[/i]:friendly targeting + dazing + extra accuracy at the end of encounters (or VS solos). Not a too shabby choice. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Furnace of Sand (AP)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Reflex, Fire, Zone, E[/i]: nice area of blinding and good damage overall. Like acid mire but much more better. [b]Gripping Chains (AP) [/b][i]Reflex, Force, E[/i]: it loses the contest with furnace of sand. The damage is a little bigger but the effects are much worse. [b]Horrific Shadow (HoS)[/b] [i]Will, Illusion, Nethermancy, Psychic, Shadow, E[/i]: CB 2 (3, basically) of psychic damage, and a strong disincentive against melee attacks + invisible. It could be worse, but it could be a lot better [b]Ice Tomb (PHB) [/b][i]Reflex, Evocation, Cold[/i]: you delete the target for one round. Phantasmal Horror is a step forward, but this power deals decent damage (nice for cold blasters). [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Mass Charm (HoFL)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Autohit, Charm, Enchantment[/i]: elegant overpowerness. Friendly area, no hit required, heavy sliding to re-unite them and make them kill by themselves. Extremely strong power, incredibly easy to use and probably gold for every wizard but surely gold for [b][COLOR=#ff9900]enchanters and hard controllers[/COLOR][/b], who didn't get an upgrade for the Charm of False Glory spell (but who cares?) [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Phantasmal Horror (HoFL)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Will, Fear, Illusion[/i]: not only you get your first encounter stun, but you also get a bonus damage. Still a strong power, even if single target. Overall now it is more useful even for non-illusionists since the cha-rider became a fixed +4... and for the miss effect. [b]Shard of the Endless Avalanche (AP) [/b][i]Fortitude, Conjuration[/i]: i like this power. Expecially if targets are aligned it becomes a very strong board controller. And its name is extra-cool. [b]Soul Blight (HoS)[/b] [i]Fortitude, Fire, Necromancy, Necrotic, Shadow, E:[/i] decent damage, strong effect VS undeads, vanilla effect for a level 17 power. As for level 3 powers, this couple of HoS 17 encounters are workable, but you should look somewhere else for good powers. [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Thunderous Transformation (D 382) [/b][/COLOR][i]Fortitude, Thunder, Teleportation[/i]: this is a very damaging single target effect, since you can teleport the target in the air, after a save. The aoe effect is nothing more than a nuisance since it doesn't scale. Overall an underwhelming choice, unless you have an active familiar that is flying high and you [COLOR=#0000ff][b]teleport the target there[/b][/COLOR] for a good laugh with you friends (20 squares are like 25 damage + 5d10). Better for the laugh, than for real power, though. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Wand Coupling (D 380) [/b][/COLOR][i]Reflex[/i]: single attack good damage and pushing and if you wield a wand (even in offhand) you can couple an encounter spell from it: there are encounter-wands that couple wizard at wills. This spell is a great choice if you want high-dpr, even if i think that wielding a wand is generally a bad idea, since you need a good wand in the off-hand. [/sblock] [b]Level 19 Daily Advice:[/b] Controllers: Wrath of Battle, Summon Black Devourer. Blasters: Summon Angel Wretch [b][u]Level 19 Daily Spells[/u][/b] [sblock] [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Acid Wave (PHB)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Reflex, Evocation, Acid[/i]: it is hard not to hit at least 1 ally in a blast 5, and it deals the same damage as Combust. [b]Cloudkill (PHB) [/b][i]Fortitude, Poison, Zone[/i]: a larger version of Stinking Cloud (but not so larger as before) with extra damage tackled. It made the difference at level 5, now it's kinda nice but not overpowered. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Disintegrate (HoFL)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Reflex, Evocatio[/i]n: it was bad in the PHB, it is even more stupid now. Do you really want to waste a daily on this spell? [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Entombing Earth (D 372) [/b][/COLOR][i]Reflex, Necrotic[/i]: another necrotic effect in dragon 372 line. It is Ice Tomb II, the revenge. Imho it could be even considered worse than ice tomb. [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Evard's Black Tentacles (PHB)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Reflex, Nethermancy, Necrotic, Zone[/i]: it was nerfed badly in may 2010 errata, now it is an immobilizing aoe that deals necrotic damage. Again, probably blast of cold is better. [b]Evard's Ebon Bindings (AP) [/b][i]Will, Charm, Psychic[/i]: Finally a decent power in this bunch of fail that is (was before Wrath of Battle) level 19. Not a bad power at all, even if it is single target. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Better[/b][/COLOR], naturally, for orb of imposition users. [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Feats of Destruction (D 388) [/b][/COLOR][i]Reflex, Fire, Zone[/i]: fire damage (and not even that much fire damage) and an effect that can be utterly ignored by high level monsters. An underwhelming choice. [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Oppressive Force (AP)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Reflex, Force[/i]: quite a meh power and pales in comparison with evard's bindings. [b]Plague of Illusions (AP)[/b] Will, Illusion: the initial effect is very strong, but probably evard's bindings is, again, stronger. The miss effect is simply worse. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Summon Angel Wretch (D 380)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Necrotic, Poison, Summoning[/i]: extremely nice ongoing poison damage and a good single target and opportunity option. Plus, it is large and has good defenses. A very nice summon, even if the damage types are probably the worst in the game. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Summon Black Devourer (AP) [/b][/COLOR][i]Summoning[/i]: often a better option for control than angel wretch, even if it deals much less damage. Grabs, prones enemies and has good defenses. [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Summon Couatl (D 385)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Lightning, Radiant, Summoning[/i]: meh, it deals pityful damage and isn't friendly. The couatl is supposed to be one of the most intelligent monsters in d&d, isn't it? [b]Summon Rockfire Dreadnought (D 385)[/b][i] Fire, Summoning[/i]: a little better than the couatl for friendly-targeting, but the first two summons in the list are frankly better. [COLOR=#008000][b]Summon Shadow Servant (HoS)[/b][/COLOR] [i]Shadow, Summoning[/i]: as for the level 5 daily, but you gain more advanced critters. The [b]Shadow Wraith[/b] is a fine summon: self-sufficient, good CA aura, decent OA and weakening standard action. Not really bad. The [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Shadow Brute[/b][/COLOR] imho is better: a double save end immobilizing standard action (with a not-so-harsh condition attached) and the immediate reaction is far less hard to use than the level 5 shadow beast. [u]Attention[/u]: at the current time the [COLOR=#ff00ff][b]Shadow Wraith[/b][/COLOR] has hp equal to your surge value: hoping an errata will fix this issue, the summon will be very frail and quite hard to use correctly. [b]Thought Cage (HoFL) [/b][i]Will, Illusion[/i]: single target save-end stun is nice, but the effect ends too easily in my opinion. The aftereffect is nice but nothing exceptional. A little better than his little brother Phantasmal Horror, but not much better. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Wrath of Battle (HoFL) [/b][/COLOR][i]Autohit, Charm, Enchantment, Fear, Psychic[/i]: big burst area, friendly targeting sliding and hitting as usual as effect. Plus, if they miss with the attack, bam! psychic damage in the face. The big burst goes combo with other enchantment spells like mass charm, for example. [/sblock][b][/b] [/QUOTE]
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