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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nifft" data-source="post: 5383727" data-attributes="member: 6562">I personally hate the new sleep spell. 4 HD total? That means it's only useful in fights where you probably don't need it. I much prefer color spray in 3.5e. Mmm. This is both right and wrong, and very DM-dependent.First off, area damage is something only a Wizard can do well. If you need to clear a room of kobolds, fireball is your best option. Direct damage -- especially area damage -- is very useful from level 5 through 12. Below that you're about as useful using a crossbow or Reserve feat, above that you're better off just ending the fight with a big nasty control spell (either a save-or-die, or a denial spell like solid fog).Secondly, slow is excellent against multi-attackers, but irrelevant against a bunch of low-level foes in close quarters (e.g.: a room full of kobolds).Third, some Wizards will never need dispel magic. Its utility totally depends on the DM throwing buffed antagonists against you, or enemy spellcasters. At 5th level I'd scribe a scroll of dispel magic, and then don't prepare the spell until you have used the scroll.Fourth, magic missile can automatically hurt things which are otherwise quite difficult to hurt, like insubstantial monsters in shadowy illumination (e.g. Shadows). Some of these insubstantial things drain ability scores or impose negative levels, so a long fight may indeed kill someone, even if you've got two healers. It counters and dispels mirror image, it ignores displacement, and it shoots through schools of energy resistances. It's honestly kind of broken, since it's the only 1st level attack spell which improves after 5th level... at 5th level it's pretty balanced against lesser acid orb, but by 9th level it outclasses the alternatives. Yeah, grease on a choke-point is incredibly effective at low levels (before everything learns how to fly). If you manage to cover a staircase, you've hosed any number of melee opponents.Cheers, -- N</blockquote>

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