• NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.

5th level mage spell and experience with permanency

Wall of Force.

At the current you have a general utility spell, an offensive spell, a buff spell and hence the one spell missing from the suite is a defensive spell.

And what a defensive spell. Wall of Force gives you invinicible protection against all manner of goons, with only Passwall and Disintegrate being able to destroy it (oh all right, and Mordenkainen's Disjunction, but this isn't an issue for the time being): meaning that, since Passwall is rarely memorised and hardly ever encountered in monsters, foes of equivalent power pose no threat.

Furthermore, Wall of Force enables you to make full use of Ghostform. Some DMs disallow it as abusive, but a hemispherical Wall of Force on the ground can allow you to move out of the Wall, through the ground and pop up and cast spells. If wounded, you can withdraw back: if hasted, you can move out and back all in your action.

Finally, as a utility spell it is not to be underestimated. If you're being chased by foes above your level, instead of spiking the door or using Arcane Lock, slap a Wall of Force in the way. Instant defense. In buildings, you can use it to segregate opponents, breaking a strong encounter into two weak ones.

It is, without doubt, the one to go for.

Failing that, consider Feeblemind or Dominate. I don't know if you many spells which attack Will saves, but these both strong in this department: if you tackle arcane spell users, take them former; otherwise, the latter is more useful.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Hammerhead said:
Resistance? That only provides a +1 Resistance bonus to your saves. At 9th level, you should have far more than that in a Cloak of Resistance or something similar.

Well, that would use up an item slot. This +1 you get totally free...
 

Thanee said:
House Rule: We play Permanency, so that the spell has to be specifically targeted to be dispelled, and does not simply vanish (but rather be suppressed like a magic item), when affected by a targeted dispel on you or an area dispel.

Does anybody else do this as well? I've been thinking about doing the same thing.
 

Spells cast on you cannot be dispeled, so even if it's played by the book, it would be worth it. I gave everyone in our party Resistance, I will Give our Barbarian/Dragon Disciple a Greater Magic Fang, and I also have Detect Magic and See Invisibility. Wall of force would also be a good option.

Once you get to 6th level spells, a must have is Summon Monster. Celestial Dire Bears alone are worth that one.
 

XP cost to make resistance permanent: 250
XP cost to make a +1 vest of resistance: 40

Basically you give up extra xp to save a little gold, an item slot (though vest is hardly used anyway) and a feat. Given how useful Craft Wondrous Item is, I think the circumstances where I'd rather use permanency are very narrow.

This isn't to say permanency isn't useful for some things. I just don't think resistance is a good choice. :)

Also, the SRD only lists magic fang as a permanency option, not greater magic fang... didn't check the errata though.
 

Jondor_Battlehammer said:
Spells cast on you cannot be dispeled, so even if it's played by the book, it would be worth it.

Actually, spells you cast on yourself can be dispelled, but there is a special restriction...

This application of permanency can be dispelled only by a caster of greater level than the character was when the character cast the spell.
 

IanB said:
Basically you give up extra xp to save a little gold, an item slot (though vest is hardly used anyway) and a feat. Given how useful Craft Wondrous Item is, I think the circumstances where I'd rather use permanency are very narrow.

Yup. Permanency is useful when you don't have the time or gold to create a simple magic item. It can be useful for making some cash to, such as applying spells to those that wish to purchase your services.
 

A little stone to be stashed away in your pocket that does not use up any item slot of resistance +1 costs 80 XP (and some amount of gold and time to be created) then. :D

Bye
Thanee
 

Thanee said:
House Rule: We play Permanency, so that the spell has to be specifically targeted to be dispelled, and does not simply vanish (but rather be suppressed like a magic item), when affected by a targeted dispel on you or an area dispel.

I have to add, that the caster level restriction to dispel a permanent (via permanency) spell, only applies to actually dispelling it (targeting the permanent spell specifically with a dispel), but not to suppressing it.

The spell will be suppressed for 1d4+1 rounds, exactly like a magic item, but does not have to be specifically targeted with a dispel - as a magic item does - to be suppressed this way.

Bye
Thanee
 

Hammerhead said:
Resistance? That only provides a +1 Resistance bonus to your saves. At 9th level, you should have far more than that in a Cloak of Resistance or something similar.

I was thinking it would be useful to put on your familiar, they usually don't have very many items anyway, and helping their saves is always a good thing.
 

Into the Woods

Remove ads

Top