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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zimbel16" data-source="post: 2959911" data-attributes="member: 41600">Both1) It would be difficult to cast a LV 6 spell as a LV 10 caster. At LV 11, though, this would be easy - so your main point stands.2) Animus blast also has a worse area of effect and a weaker range.3) At the point that you can cast Animus Blast, the seketons (or the zombies, for that matter) will be irrelevant except in very strange situations.4) With creating your own magic items (i.e. using the provided formulas), a +49 spellcraft is not difficult to get. Even without doing so, it's pretty easy for a Wizard to get into the 40s by the early 20s.Now to answer your question:Both are true.As a LV 6 spell, your suggested combination is far better than, say Summon Monster VI, at least in a number of situations. After all, the Zombies remain under your control after the combat ends, and each zombie may be a CR of up to 6.Animus blast is a weak Epic spell - you pay an outragous cost for a nearly meaningless side-effect on a weak primary effect. Unfortunately, most of the epic spells given are weak.What are epic spells good for?1) They can (sometimes) pierce antimagic.2) At high levels, you may be able to get better save DCs for your death-type magic spells (or anything that ends an encounter).3) Certain defensive spells (Ex: Epic Mage Armor) are very good. Note that its cost is a fraction of what you'd need for a simular magic item.4) Effects you can't get in any other manner. Ex: Safe Time, Eclipse5) Rules abuse. Go for a single nice effect with Permanent duration and as many negative modifiers as you can pile on - Your DC should be in the range of 0, which makes the costs very low.What are they bad for?1) Dealing damage. As an example, if you want to deal damage, you're far better off pumping feats into additional spell levels, and using quicken/maximize/Empower/... to maximize your damage output. 2) Multiple simultaneous effects. You're typically better off quickening the second effect.3) Almost anything you can get from normal spells with metamagic feats at that same level.</blockquote>

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