Do you see Circle of Death used much?

[Plane Sailing]

It doesn't have to mention the caster is immune. The spell only affects creatures up to 9 HD, and you have to be 11th level to cast it....

I think he was contemplating someone casting it from a scroll when they were lower level, FWIW.

It is interesting to see that so many people have had the same experience (or lack of experience!) of seeing the spell in practice though.

As lukelightning implies - it sounds like it ought to be a great spell, but in practice... when would you use it?

 

[pawsplay]

My NPC lich used it when the characters were 8th-9th level.... It killed two party members. That sure woke them up!

As noted above, the HD cap makes it very situational. Great for NPC masterminds, not so great for PCs.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I've not seen it used.

The best use for it that I can think of offhand would be a 9th level party's wizard casting it from a scroll in the midst of battle. The PCs are immune and the enemy might not be 9 HD. But, stilll a subpar spell.

 

[pawsplay]

It works almost as well as dispel magic versus summon monster spells...

 

[Someone]

I think I've seen it used once, but almost counts as not as it was a unusual party. The HD cap makes the spell almost worthless, I think.

 

[chriton227]

It's one save or die roll that you can even come back from with a raise or resurrection.

Raise Dead (and Reincarnate) won't help, since Circle of Death still has the "Death" descriptor and as a result is a "Death Effect". Resurrection works just fine, but it also works on Finger of Death and Disintegrate, as well as most of the other "Save or Die" effects (as long as remains of some sort, even the dust from disintegrate, are available).

I've never seen Circle of Death used in any game I've been in, by the time you can get it, the vast majority of your opponents are immune to it. I'd much rather take Disintegrate instead.

 

[Voadam]

The 500 gp gem is the big inhibitor for me from wanting to use it.

 

[lukelightning]

The 500 gp gem is the big inhibitor for me from wanting to use it.

Yeah, it's the 500gp PLUS the HD limit. I wouldn't want to waste 500 gp just to find out the baddies are all 10th level warriors...

 

[moritheil]

I've never seen it used in play, for pretty much the reasons described above.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I almost saw it used in play when a 13th-level Necromancer attacked a party of PCs ranging from 7 to 9, but they ran away before she could cast it.