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Message: <blockquote data-quote="uzagi_akimbo" data-source="post: 1514169" data-attributes="member: 15945">"I'd say Shatterfloor would be better - because it has the secondary benefit of some (limited, but presentnonetheless) non-combat applications, especially bridge removal."Two more benefits to Shatterfloor - a) its save is Will - based (so Evasion becomes useless) and b) it has sonic-based damage, few people/things carry resitances to that. It also is a 15' spread (not a cone as mentioned previously ) and has medium range. Another advantage - in the area of effect, ground movement speed is halved ( which makes it great to block lines of charging, too). A definite favourite of mine" Given it's CotSQ, and that's clearly a Realms product - if he can get ahold of a copy of Magic of Faerun, he'll do far better with Firebrand - for thehigher damage cap o the one hand, and the MUCH more flexible AoE on the other (it's much easier to catch multiple - even ALL - enemies in a Firebrand, without hitting party members, than it is with a Fireball).It's only drawbackis in being 4th level instead of 3d. Then again ... how many 4th level attack spells ARE there? "Firebrand is 5th level arcane, unfortunately, but one of the best damage spells around - especially against large monsters. True, you can only hurt any target once per _spread_, and overlapping spreads from Firebrand do not give extra damage, but with creative targeting you can hit different squares occupied by one creature with several seperate spreads.....Personally I would recommend getting Dimension Door, Polymorph (one of the ultimate tool spells - just think Rust monster, Ooze, Hags - have you ever trie d to turn an ally into an Annis Hag ? Nasty ! - snakes, spiders... basically it's the "leatherman-tool" of spells ), Dispel Magic, Shatterfloor, Magic Missile Scorching Ray and Invisibility - anything else is fluff.A cantrip to recommend is Acid Splash (MoF) which is pretty handy to eat through a lot of thin materials (few things have more than 2 HP and hardness gets ignored for acid) . Mestil's Acid Breath  (MoF) is another pretty good attack spell.As for the LFJ (Lutzaen's Frequent Jaunt ) mentioned above - please take note that while it allows multiple dimension doors, the jumps are only "close" instead of "long" range, and the spell lasts for only 1 round/2 levels, which means 4 to 5 jumps at your current level. Usually, if trying to escape from a  pressing opponent/matter, one does want to get more distance that just 50 or 60' - just about charge range for most opponents.As for feats - with regard to metamagic I would recommend getting "Energy Substitution", "Silent Spell" and - very nice - "Transdimensional Spell" from Unapproachable East, which allows to incorporeal/ethereal/shaodwed and even extra-dimensional targets without miss chance at the same time as corporeal ones, at a mere level+1 increase - basically this feat turns any attack spell into a (force) effect one, and can be an absolute lifesaver. "Empower Spell" is a matter of taste, but maybe handy.  "Spell Penetration" looks like another nice pick, given the setting and its infamous denizens - Drow, who of course have spell resistance...If you want darkvision cheaply and rather permanently - get yourself a 'hairy spider' familiar (page 27, FRCS), which confers 'darkvision' to its master - often overlooked.....</blockquote>

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