Cool Spell Combo's

[MadScientist]

I thought it would be fun to have thread dedicated to cool spell combinations. Here's mine:

Darned if you do darned if don't (Cleaned up for Eric's Grandma.)

Works for a Druid lvl 3.

Round 1- Cast Briar Web(MotW)
Round 2- Cast Summon Swarm

Creatures who fail their save and are entangled in the Briar web take 1d4+1/caster lvl damage if they take any action. Creatures in a summon swarm take 1d4+1/3 caster lvls if they take any action other than fighting off the swarm(this damage is reduced to 1 if they spend a full round action fighting the swarm).

Direct the swarm to attack creature(s) entangled in the Briar Web. If they stand still the swarm does damage. If they try and fight off the swarm the Briar Web does damage. If they try to escape the briar web(strength or escape artist check DC 20), or perform any other action the poor creature(s) take damage from both!

Since this combo is a low level one even the modest amount of damage inflicted by Summon Swarm and Briar Web can add up quickly. I've found this combo is especially lethal on spell-casters who usually lack the strength or dexterity to escape the web quickly and are slowly killed by the swarm if they do nothing or by the web and swarm if they try to cast spells. It also forces them to make concentration checks to even get their spells off.

So what cool spell combos have you seen in your games?

 

[Leopold]

Cleric/sor combo

rock to mud by sorcerer
blade barrier by cleric


dies nasty all things...

 

[Hypersmurf]

Note that there's no major problem with simply staying put.

You take damage from the Blade Barrier in round one, but as long as you don't move after that, you quite happily sit there chest-deep in mud among the spinning blades, enjoying at least half cover and taking no more damage...

Could be quite relaxing, really.

-Hyp.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

How about Mind Fog + Weird.

The Mind Fog slaps a penalty on your foe's will save.

Weird requires a will save or die.

This combo can take out groups of even high-level critters. It works best if you're (3.0)Hasted, or have an epic slot for the Quickened Mind Fog.

 

[fba827]

Divine Power and then Spiritual Weapon... your spiritual weapon will have the benefit of the increased BAB rather than your standard BAB.

(it was an unintended side-effect just the other day )

 

[Hypersmurf]

The Mind Fog slaps a penalty on your foe's will save.

Weird requires a will save or die.

Three notes...

A Quickened Mind Fog is a 9th level spell, so you don't need an epic slot...

The effect lasts for 2d6 rounds even after people leave the cloud, so it's not really necessary to Quicken/Haste the combination.

But...

... Mind Fog is Will Negates, and has a DC 4 lower than Weird anyway. Either your opponents have good Will saves, in which case they'll probably beat the Mind Fog... or they have poor Will saves, in which case you may as well just Weird them and be done with it...

-Hyp.

 

[Pax]

I lost a character to this recently in a PbP arena:

Quickened Haste
-and-
Prismatic Wall
-and-
Bigby's Forceful Hand.


Put the wall behind them (relative to you) ... and use the Hand to bull-rush them THROUGH it. Sucks to be THEM, heh. The saddest part is ... it's a one-round instakill.


Smurf: then, instead of Quickening the Mind Fog ... HEIGHTEN it. All the way to 9th level. >8)

 

[Hypersmurf]

Smurf: then, instead of Quickening the Mind Fog ... HEIGHTEN it. All the way to 9th level. >8)

Yeah, but the benefit still isn't that great.

Let's say you have 32 opponents.

If their chance of beating your 9th level Will Save spell is 25%, then Weird will kill 24, Mind Fog + Weird will kill 30.

If it's 50%, then Weird will kill 16, Mind Fog + Weird will kill 24.

If it's 75%, then Weird will kill 8, Mind Fog + Weird will kill 12 (and leave two Mind-Fogged but alive).

... assuming they fail every Fort Save.

Let's compare that to casting Weird twice :

25% -> 30 dead.
50% -> 24 dead.
75% -> 14 dead.

Almost identical. I doubt you'd call casting Weird twice a "cool combo"... and yet it yields pretty much the same result as Mind Fog plus Weird.

Meh.

-Hyp.

 

[Pax]

True. I was just commenting on Heighten being better than Quicken.

Then again, IMO, Heighten should be worth more than JUST a spell level increase for saves "too" .... +1 level, for +2 DC, would be much more fair. IMO anyway.

 

[Cyraneth]

How about a simple (low-level) combo? And this one's even a favorite among sorcerers.

Protection from Elements (fire) + Fireball; or
Protection from Elements (electricity) + Scintillating Sphere

That way, you can safely cast two fireballs at ground zero, as the protection spell can absorb 12 points of damage per level, while the fireball eats 6 points per level. An efficient way to clear out all the pesky critters that rush up to annoy the sorcerer or wizard's spellcasting.

Higher level wizards can add a quickened fireball to the combo, just to make sure.

- Cyraneth