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What is the most powerful spell?
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<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7212215" data-attributes="member: 58172"><p>6th-level spells are up. But I am still sorting thru them.</p><p></p><p>Now we reach the spells of the Master Tier. The Archon. The Archwizard.</p><p></p><p>6th level has a few gems, like Mass Suggestion, Heal, and True Seeing.</p><p></p><p>But almost half of the spells are unworthy of a 6th-level spell slot, and many are fiddly. Sometimes the intricate fiddliness makes it more difficult to realize that the spell is substandard.</p><p></p><p>Guards and Wards is like buying a junkyard for the one part that you thought might be handy ... but that effect is a low level spell anyway. Weak and undesirable. A burglar breaks into your home, and your alarm responds by making the hallway foggy? Really? Comes with 1st-level Arcane Lock? Really? You are better off, customizing your own lair in your own way, one detail at a time, with barriers and traps that actually work. This is for your lair. Make it cool!</p><p></p><p>Many spells can be done by a lower level spell.</p><p></p><p>Irresistible Dance is only a mild upgrade to 1st-level Hideous Laughter adding one turn before making a save.</p><p></p><p>Programmed Illusion is comparable to the 1st-level Magic Mouth, with a 3rd-level audio-visual, but its predetermination hinders the flexibility of improvised creative uses: possibly worth a 2nd-level spell, or merge its programmability into Major Image as an option.</p><p></p><p>Circle of Death is comparable to the 3rd-level Fireball, and Freezing Sphere is about a 5th-level upgrade to it.</p><p></p><p>Create Undead makes fragile pets that are unlikely to survive at this level: not much better than 3rd-level Animate Dead.</p><p></p><p>5th-level offers Wall of Force! After that, breachable wall spells are kinda pointless. Some walls are little more than a damage hazard for allies to push hostiles into, but such hazards exist at lower levels, and of course, the hostiles can push the allies into it too.</p><p></p><p>Some spells are appalling. Find The Path ... but only to a place whose location you already know. Unbelievable! A best case scenario has Find the Path as a Less Useful 1st-level ritual: a noncombat traveling utility if being forced to detour or escaping a labyrinth.</p><p></p><p>Move Earth ... but only loose soil, not stone, but too slowly to affect creatures. Perhaps this spell can only make a glacis mound for cover, bury a nonhostile structure, expose bedrock for a foundation of a structure, dig a canal, run a cemetery, or do decorative landscaping for your lair. In this case, quantity doesnt really increase quality, and it remains least useful as a 1st-level ritual. Maybe it works better in a separate design space, as a kind of magic item creation, much like the magic shovel.</p><p></p><p>Generally, 6th-level disappoints the mage who finally advances to a significant threshold level.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Not.Worth.A.6th-Level.Spell.Slot.By.An.11th-Level.Arch.Wizard.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Note. I added a new category called Setup. The spells in this category are less useful because of extensive setup requirements, but the effects themselves are useful. It includes rituals. If helpful, I will add this category to earlier spell levels.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 7212215, member: 58172"] 6th-level spells are up. But I am still sorting thru them. Now we reach the spells of the Master Tier. The Archon. The Archwizard. 6th level has a few gems, like Mass Suggestion, Heal, and True Seeing. But almost half of the spells are unworthy of a 6th-level spell slot, and many are fiddly. Sometimes the intricate fiddliness makes it more difficult to realize that the spell is substandard. Guards and Wards is like buying a junkyard for the one part that you thought might be handy ... but that effect is a low level spell anyway. Weak and undesirable. A burglar breaks into your home, and your alarm responds by making the hallway foggy? Really? Comes with 1st-level Arcane Lock? Really? You are better off, customizing your own lair in your own way, one detail at a time, with barriers and traps that actually work. This is for your lair. Make it cool! Many spells can be done by a lower level spell. Irresistible Dance is only a mild upgrade to 1st-level Hideous Laughter adding one turn before making a save. Programmed Illusion is comparable to the 1st-level Magic Mouth, with a 3rd-level audio-visual, but its predetermination hinders the flexibility of improvised creative uses: possibly worth a 2nd-level spell, or merge its programmability into Major Image as an option. Circle of Death is comparable to the 3rd-level Fireball, and Freezing Sphere is about a 5th-level upgrade to it. Create Undead makes fragile pets that are unlikely to survive at this level: not much better than 3rd-level Animate Dead. 5th-level offers Wall of Force! After that, breachable wall spells are kinda pointless. Some walls are little more than a damage hazard for allies to push hostiles into, but such hazards exist at lower levels, and of course, the hostiles can push the allies into it too. Some spells are appalling. Find The Path ... but only to a place whose location you already know. Unbelievable! A best case scenario has Find the Path as a Less Useful 1st-level ritual: a noncombat traveling utility if being forced to detour or escaping a labyrinth. Move Earth ... but only loose soil, not stone, but too slowly to affect creatures. Perhaps this spell can only make a glacis mound for cover, bury a nonhostile structure, expose bedrock for a foundation of a structure, dig a canal, run a cemetery, or do decorative landscaping for your lair. In this case, quantity doesnt really increase quality, and it remains least useful as a 1st-level ritual. Maybe it works better in a separate design space, as a kind of magic item creation, much like the magic shovel. Generally, 6th-level disappoints the mage who finally advances to a significant threshold level. Not.Worth.A.6th-Level.Spell.Slot.By.An.11th-Level.Arch.Wizard. Note. I added a new category called Setup. The spells in this category are less useful because of extensive setup requirements, but the effects themselves are useful. It includes rituals. If helpful, I will add this category to earlier spell levels. [/QUOTE]
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