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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James McMurray" data-source="post: 4513519" data-attributes="member: 743">Miscellaneous Spells in Combat:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ghost Sound: make them think enemies are coming</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Light: As above</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Light: cast it on something they're carrying to negate their ability to hide</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mage Hand: it doesn't matter who is carrying what gear, because the party wizard can move potions and similar small objects around the battlefield at will</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mage Hand: great for when the combat includes a trap and you can't get to the deactivator switch</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Presitidigation: Put out the light sources. Best at higher levels when everyone has Goggles of Night or something else to help with the darkness.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Prestidigiatation: make the rogue's blade invisible. That should be worth a bonus to his bluff check</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Feather Fall: your warrior mage can grab someone and carry them both off a cliff, using FF to survive. Not spectacularly powerful, but could be fun.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Disguise Self: Whose orders will they follow when you and their Leader look and sound the same (sound requires Bluff for disguise).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Levitate: not being in melee range of your enemies is some good.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Arcane Gate: who needs your enemies near a hazard to push them onto it? This plus an action point thunderwave can drive all sorts of people off cliffs, into fires, etc.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">(Mass) Fly: see Levitate, but better</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mordenkainen's Mansion: Fight going badly? Jump in and then Planar Portal home. I didn't include anything that was obviously combat oriented but didn't deal damage, but those all break your "spells = powers = damage" paradigm as well.</li> </ul>Out of Combat spells with no cost:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">All of the cantrips</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Many damaging spells can affect the envronment in interesting ways</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Jump: very love level pseduo-flight. Great for some kinds of skill challenges</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dimension Door: nuff said</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Disguise Self: You'll probably want a feat to train in Bluff, but looking like someone else can have amazing benefits with planning</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Invisibility: sustains as a standard, but I doubt anyone will argue that being unseen isn't worthwhile.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Levitate: not quite flight, but can help a lot in skill challenges or with obstacles</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Wall of Fog: with the proper environmental conditions this might not even be seen as magic, and can cover an attack or retreat pretty well.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Blur: you have to stay 5 squares away, but this invisibility spell doesn't need to be sustained</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Arcane Gate: like dim. door, but for as many people as can run through it in five minutes</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Resistance: there are many times you might take damage that don't involve combat</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">(Mass) Fly: yep, it's good</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Greater Invisibility: less restrictive than blur, and easier to sustain than the lower level version</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mordenkainen's Mansion: Long rest anywhere? Yes, please.</li> </ul>Spell with negligible cost:Any rituals several levels lower than you has a cost that is as close to 0gp as you can get when compared to what you find at that level.I didn't look beyond the PHB, and didn't call out each ritual and what level their price becomes near-meaningless. It's definitely nowhere near the swiss army knife that past edition's mages have been, but a dislike of that is easily remedied by playing those editions. "One man does all if he survives a few levels" is the opposite of the 4e design goal, which is more akin to "let's let everyone have fun all the time."</blockquote>

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