Seeking inspiration

[Greenfield]

I'm running a Bard 9/SandShaper 1/ Sublime Chord 5 who has just earned his first 7th level spell.

We're in 3.5, and are using PHB, PHB II, the Completes, Sandstorm, Stormwrack, Frostburn, and Spell Compendium.

The character is a party animal, and his magics to date have focused more on the social aspects of play than on combat.

Any suggestions for his first (and so far only) 7th level spell?

(For those who don't know, Sublime Chord is from Complete Arcane, and lets him select Wizard/Sorcerer spells or Bar spells.)

 

[MarkB]

Just going by the PHB, Greater Shadow Conjuration is very flexible, allowing you to use summoning or creation spells as illusions.

Then again, if you really just want to cut loose every now and then, Prismatic Spray is the ultimate disco light-show.

 

[Samloyal23]

Remember the deaf character from Heroes who used sound to create effects? Or Orpheus from Greek mythology? He could make rocks, trees, and rivers dance with his music. How about a spell that takes advantage of the sounds of the desert?

 

[Greenfield]

Remember the deaf character from Heroes who used sound to create effects? Or Orpheus from Greek mythology? He could make rocks, trees, and rivers dance with his music. How about a spell that takes advantage of the sounds of the desert?

Great idea, thematically. Any specific spells come to mind?

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

As 7th level spells go, I'm partial to Simulacrum. Use it on yourself to create a herald/avatar to serve you, and duplicate a few really cool monsters you defeat (I recommend Beholders).

Other possible useful suggestions:

Combat
-Antimagic Ray
-Bite of the Werebear if you already mix it up in melee.
-Finger of Death when you need to be serious.
-Delayed Blast Fireball for the lolz.
-Forcecage

Non-Combat
-Awaken Undead
(In the Spell Compendium) if you happen to already do anything with undead, otherwise pass.
-Ice Castle will not fit your Sandshaper flavor but it's rediculiously impressive. Expensive focus though.
-Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion would last you 30 hours at your level.

Utility
-Would you be punished for using Limited Wish?

 

[Greenfield]

Well, Force Cage costs 1,500 per pop, so it's useful but expensive.

Limited Wish is a different kind of "expensive", but affordable for what it is.

Magnificent Mansion is a neat spell, but we have a slightly weaker version already in play: Our version, called Grand Estate, does the same thing, in terms of structure, supplies, servants etc, but creates it all as a Force construct in your current plane, rather than being an extra-dimensional space with an invisible opening. Ours is a level lower, and was adopted because we didn't like the spells that simply remove challenging aspects of play, such as night encounters.

Delayed Blast Fireball would be funny, since he can't cast Fireball. The Sublime Chord thing gives him Wiz/Sorc spells starting at 4th, but he doesn't have access to Wiz/Sorc one through three, unless they also happen to be Bard spells.

Bite of the WereBear would be just too funny, considering that he has a 9 Strength, and is as far from a melee combat enthusiast as one could imagine. That one's worth considering for the humor factor alone.

Finger of Death is nasty, but my character is kinda angsty about spells like that. Because the Sandshaper class requires a Touchstone feat linked to "City of the Dead", and because we've been dealing a lot with spirits, gods and demigods of death, his home village asked him not to come home. He's just too comfortable around such things, or as a village elder put it, "Death follows you like a faithful hound, and you call it to your side for comfort." In short, lose the psychic/mystical link to the necropolis, lose the "Oh we had dinner with Vandos, the Celtic collector of souls" stuff. So, for story reasons he'd rather avoid any necromancy spells.

Awaken Undead has a similar problem.

Anti-Magic Ray might be the one, though Simulacrum also has some promise.

One oddity I'm going to abuse, just for giggles, is the Sandshaper ability to craft small items out of sand. They only hold form for a short time, but if I hit them with Transmute Sand to Glass, they're sustained. I'm thinking glass arrowheads, just for the style points.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I gotta ask.... Have you used Awaken Sand yet? How did it go?

 

[Greenfield]

It was funny. Last game we observed that the Druid had his tiger, the Barb/Wiz had a cohort, the Priest has a cohort, the current DM's character *is* the cohort of his main charatcer, and that mine was the only miniature on the field that wasn't with someone.

Then during play we found a situation where having the Awakened Sand construct would be really helpful, and the DM agreed that we could find a stretch of sand large enough... But the casting time is 24 hours and we were on a timetable.

Not sure what the various DMs would do with a sand construct made from the crushed bone found on the banks of the river Styx, but I'm glad we're not finding out. If you recall, the spell works on sand "or other similar substance".

In any case, with three of the PCs having the Leadership feat we're a sizable mob already. And I'm painfully aware that, having just earned my 15th level my PC could take Leadership as well. With a Charisma score that's 10 points higher than our barbarian prince, and a couple of levels on him as well, I'd put our "great leader of men" to shame in that arena.

But that would make our "mob" issue even worse, and I really don't want to play two characters at once.

But yeah, the sand construct would be a nice addition.