Low level caster tricks

[Ashtagon]

Feather Fall -- this affects all falling objects within a 10' cube, and gives them the mass of a piece of down. If you cast it on an object and can keep that object from ever reaching the ground, the spell remains in effect for up to 1 round/level. So even though your caster is occupied "playing with a floating feather," everyone inside that 10' cube is now immune to all missile fire.

Not quite. The spell affects "One Medium or smaller freefalling object or creature/level, no two of which may be more than 20 ft. apart". Which means if your enemies are more than 20 feet from you when you cast your spell, you can't possibly get this benefit. I'm not sure you can target a concealed object (such as ammunition) with this spell either, or even if the ammunition can count as a separate object while in another creature's possession, or even if you can target objects in another creature's possession.

 

[Jimlock]

This.

I was playing a wizard with the Abrupt Jaunt ACF (free mini-teleport). During the 1st or 2nd game, the party tank went down, flanked by bad guys. I was standing next to the cleric. Knowing that unconscious = willing (according to RAW), I told the cleric, "get ready to heal the fighter." Then Benign Transposition. Poof, fighter now on the ground next to the healer. My character? Stuck between two bad guys. All the players groaned about the wizard thinking he can tank like a fighter, until the first bad guy took a swing and I used abrupt jaunt to teleport out of the way.

I did get hit, but only once, and I kept retreating while the cleric got the fighter back up 100%.

It felt pretty good to not be a cleric and still find ways to save the allies. I was like, "I'm a different kind of wizard, guys. Watch out."

Throw in a little bit of Stay The Hand, and you've really got the ability to deny attacks and frustrate the Dungeon Mas... I mean, enemy.

nice...

i have an example of the mightier 2nd level "Baleful Transposition"

My party was in the forest of Shadowdale ready to confront a sky mage from Zhentil Keep...(Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land)...My character is disguised as a sharran cleric, while another two are diguised as zhent soldiers, and the last one plays a hostage that is supposed to be delivered to the sky mage...

The sky mage lands on the clearing, mounted upon his dragon-like beast... He patiently waits as we begin closing up...

Then, while all party members are at a distance of no more than 5 feet of each other, and about 120 feet from the sky mage... my character casts "Baleful Transposition" targeting the sky mage and our party's Psychic Warrior. The sky mage fails his save and they instantly swap positions. In the same surprise round, the cleric casts silence, and the party's Throwing master hits the mage and trips him, while 120 feet away... the Psychic Warrior... saddled upon the dragon like mount strikes for the first time the beast.....

By the end of the surprise round...the sky mage is 120 feet from his mount...prone...and in the midst of a silenced area...while three party members are standing adjacent to him, ready to finish him off...

I believe there is no need to go into the first round of combat....(hehehe...)

 

[Scott DeWar]

I do no know if the dm will allow reserve feats from complete arcane or mage-not sure which-but that is a good th9ng to have.

also, prestidigitation does great for an emergency crime scene clean up. Then follow it up with the skills of a ranger to hide spoor and you got it made.

casting prestidigitation on your self to match a shadow you might get a stealth bonus(circumstance)

 

[Rhun]

I do no know if the dm will allow reserve feats from complete arcane or mage-not sure which-but that is a good th9ng to have.

Some are extremely useful, others not so much.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I do no know if the dm will allow reserve feats from complete arcane or mage-not sure which-but that is a good th9ng to have.

Complete Mage, and they are really nifty. As Rhun said, not all are super useful, but there are enough worth any spellcaster atleast considering.

 

[Hunter99]

Nerveskitter is a pretty good spell for you or your party members.

Sleep always helps out in battles so it's good to have.

Greater Slide (SpC) has some interesting uses, although it is more situational than other spells.

 

[heromedel]

I dont know if most DM's would allow this but I once saw a player use mage hand to drop a blanket or cloth on an enemies head during the fight. Even though he easily threw the blanket off when it kept flying back towards him he starting wasting attacks swing at the blanket on occasions.

And even though most Dm's would say that mage hand cant attack with a dagger It could still be entertaining to see an opponent wondering why a dagger is floating at him.

I guess this only works on dumber enemies usually. But I know a player who just loves Mage hand and unseen servant.

 

[Andras]

Color Spray spam.
Ray of Enfeeblement
Glitterdust.
Icicle (FB, surprisingly useful; 4d6 area dmg @ 3rd level)
Resist Energy
Web
Escalating Enfeeblement (CMage)

I don't think my last wizard cast a single damaging spell in the first couple levels the last time I played one. He specialized in debuffing the enemy, especially with entanglement and str penalties