Foresight: Worst 9th Level Spell?

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

How often does one get surprised, anyway? In other words, every once in a while an enemy gets the drop on you in a major way, and if you have moment of prescience up, you survive.

Uh, no. You probably survive the first charge by the first enemy - that + CL to your Armor Class being particularly useful.

It is useless against the other 6 creatures with him, however, and cannot be applied to an initiative roll or to a Spot roll that you have already failed.

MoP is useless against surprises.

And, if you're playing "right," surprise happens more and more often as you get higher in level because attacking from ambush becomes the only really effective way to counter a powerful group (either your own party or your targets).

 

[Plane Sailing]

For some threads that have discussed foresight in the past:

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=79903&highlight=foresight (specifically about foresight)

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=89518&highlight=foresight (about over/underpowered spells and includes foresight)

Cheers

 

[Saeviomagy]

Moment of prescience is a level lower and far superior as a "spidey sense." To put it bluntly, foresight sucks.

Except for the fact that foresight stops the PARTY from being surprised.

If the GM is being a git about it, then you need to cast it on someone else to get party protection - but the "when cast on another" part of the spell is clear: Not only do YOU get at least a surprise round action (because otherwise you wouldn't be able to perform the actions listed), but if your action consists of warning the other individual, then the warning comes early enough for that individual to act on it.

Frankly, I'd say that the spell is going to hand out an automatic surprise round to the party whenever they are about to be attacked, with the added knowledge of exactly what the attack consists of.

So if the attack consists of a evil guy timestopping and then releasing a furious assault, it'd be well within possibility for a well-prepared party with the use of foresight to gather around the wizard and then have the wizard teleport them to a safe locale, totally ruining the assault.

I'd say THAT makes it a 9th level spell.

 

[Eremite]

The way I've DMed the spell is to provide the wizard with fairly detailed warnings of what offensive and defensive preparations he needs to make prior to an encounter.

Of course, this doesn't seem to be in complete accord with the RAW but it certainly makes it a 9th level spell.

 

[Li Shenron]

I actually find Foresight to be a lovely spell, exactly because it gives the DM the chance to help out the party in a very free way. Clearly, it fits very well only a gaming group where the DM has an important role beside being a simple referee. For the groups which hate surprises and want to keep everything predictable and under control, the spell's only fixed use is very weak indeed.

 

[noeuphoria]

If I was DMing that spell, I might be inclined to give the foresighted player a little "snapshot" of what the NPC's/enemies were planning to do. Something like "Ok, on your initiative, you have a vision of the enemy wizard shooting a green ray that reduces your cleric into ashes. You also see a rogue turn visible behind you, and begin stabbing you in the kidneys. Lastly, you see the orcish barbarian charge you, trip you onto the ground, and stab you with his greatsword." Basically, you just told them the actions the npc's were planning to take that round. These might change based on your party's actions, but at least you know the wizard has disentigrate and there's an invisible rogue hopping around.

 

[VirgilCaine]

The way I've DMed the spell is to provide the wizard with fairly detailed warnings of what offensive and defensive preparations he needs to make prior to an encounter.

Of course, this doesn't seem to be in complete accord with the RAW but it certainly makes it a 9th level spell.

In 1e, it used to be essentially "Hand the player the module."

 

[Elrik_DarkFury]

I personally prefer the Cone of Oblivion spell from relics and rituals .

________________
The Wizard

 

[BSF]

Huh, imagine if Agar had Foresight up and running in Piratecat's latest update in his Story Hour. How would that have changed the combat so far?

Moment of Prescience wouldn't have been terribly useful by comparison.

Yeah, the spell is written pretty poorly. It is also a spell that has an effect that a lot of people might not like. If this were HERO, it would be a power with a Stop sign discussing the impact of allowing it in your game.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Huh, imagine if Agar had Foresight up and running in Piratecat's latest update in his Story Hour. How would that have changed the combat so far?

OTOH Foresight might warn Agar that he really, really wants to cast that same spell anyway.