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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Grog" data-source="post: 920181" data-attributes="member: 6183">Okay, let's assume the wizard lets them flee. What happens when he scries the people who just broke in to his inner sanctum and finds them standing in the stairwell 100 feet or so away from him? Do you think he'll just stand there thinking, "Well, I'm sure they're just catching their breath - they're sure to run away soon. I'll just stand here and let my spells wear off"? Of course not. He's going to realize that they're still a threat, especially since they ran away before he even really hurt them, and take action before his spells wear off.Like I said, there's a big difference between running away because you're about to die, and running away to let spells wear off. If the wizard sees them fleeing his stronghold entirely, and running for the hills, he might be satisfied he's driven them off. You can't usually completely flee your opponent's stronghold and go back within a matter of a few minutes.Wizards are smart. A wizard is going to be just as aware of the duration of his buff spells as the party is - more so, actually, since he knows exactly what he cast and when. Any wizard stupid enough to let the party run out the clock on his buff spells would never have survived to get to a high enough level to cast all those buff spells in the first place.Sure, if the PCs meet a group of NPCs in the wild, it's an open question as to which group would detect the other first. But not many DMs set up a group of powerful NPCs as a random encounter. Those groups are usually used as major enemies, and as such, are probably fought in their own territory and/or know a lot about the party.NPCs don't always know the PCs are coming, but they often will.To my knowledge, you can't Rapid Shot with spells.So your wizard just spent a very significant amount of resources (feats and spells) to turn into a poor man's archer. That is far from the most effective use of your character. If I was playing in the party and I had a choice between my friend the wizarda) shooting his bow and doing 40 or so points of damage to one targetorb) casting a fireball and doing 35 or so points of damage to six targetsI know which I'd pick. Or, instead of fireballing, casting confusion and potentially disabling eight targets or so. Or, if we're up against one big monster, casting hold monster or disentegrate and potentially taking it out in one shot. All these are much more effective uses of the wizard's power. Not to mention that this wizard won't be able to create items, or metamagic, or whatever, as effectively as another wizard could because he took archery feats instead.Point being, if I want a wizard in my group, I'm not going to go looking for a wannabe archer.See through doors? See around corners? What are you talking about? There are no spells that you can make permanent that do that.And as for the spell lasting "a good many adventures," what happens if you get dispelled on the adventure right after you cast it? Will you pay another 1000 xp to make the spell permanent again? What if you get dispelled again? It's the uncertainty, more than anything, that makes permanency a bad spell. Sure, maybe your spell will last 10 adventures - or maybe it won't even last for one. IME, most players won't pay 1000 xp for something like that.</blockquote>

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