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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheSword" data-source="post: 7414849" data-attributes="member: 6879661">I respectfully disagree. To use your analogy it’s like saying that just because not many people drive a Skoda doesn’t mean it isnt a viable car. It may not be an obvious choice or very well marketed but it does its job.Guides in general are there to optimize wizards for adventuring and when there are hundreds of spells to choose from some are going to be more useful than others. The red and brown listings mean Treantmonk wouldn’t select them for one of his god wizards (or for any wizard in a smaller number of cases) but the reality is that some of these spells have their uses.Let’s take for instance the Arcane Lock spell. It’s 1 action to cast, has 25gp material component and is a 2nd level abjuration. It is inspired I would imagine by the LOTR chapter in Moria where Gandalf seals one of the doors to the orcs so they can’t pass through. It buys them a little time and then the Balrog brushes aside the abjuration slowing the orcs through. Now is that a good concept for a spell? I would say so yes. Is 25gp a fair cost? Yes probably as its permanent until dispelled which is very useful in some circumstances, for instance defending your base. Now because it is not obviously useful to a typical adventuring wizard it doesn’t get a good rating in the guide, but does that mean there is no value to it in the game? It is also worth considering that a lot of spells are driven by taste or theme which means people would happily accept a little less mechanical effect as long as the spell is cool. Lastly some spells can be driven by story aims, or be predominantly used by NPCs (for instance a lot of the spells in Princes of the Apocalypse are designed for the elemental cults)Ironically in our last session with my Way of the Wicked group, the party witch (transmuter wizard) used arcane lock to seal the doors of the chapel to the guards of a fortress they were infiltrating as they were discovered. That saved them from being attacked by a dozen or so guards that would certainly have overwhelmed them and it gave them chance to find the other way out. Essentially it saved the party.These are not cars without breaks. They’re cars that people don’t like.</blockquote>

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