Spell Mastery - good choice for Wiz 18 or 20? Which spells?

[Taluron]

IMO, the best use for Spell Mastery is an "escape package".

Choose spells which do not require material or focus components and it does not matter if your encarcerated w/out books or components.

Attack: Magic Missile, Word spells, Explosive Runes
Defense: Shield, Blink or Blur, Explosive Runes
Movement: Teleport or Dimesion Door or Phase Door, Phantom Steed or Expeditious Retreat
Evasion: Alter Self or Disguise Self, Blink, Greater Invisibility
De-containment: Knock, Dispel Magic or Greater Dispel Magic, Charm Person or Charm Monster
Any covered or non-covered areas: Limited Wish or Wish

Lower level slots without specific purpose can be filled with metamagic'd MM's. Or if you have the feat from LEoF that allows spliting of slots, lots of standard MM's.

A group of Spell Mastered spells such as this makes containing a wizard completely dependent of depriving him of spell prep time. Let him prepare spells and you'll find it distinctly difficult to hold one.

Fabricate can be extremely useful as well to someone w/out his spell books or component pouch. It's material component is, well, what's lying around here?

 

[Darmanicus]

I'd seriously consider taking 1 - 3 summons spells. There are a huge amount of creatures you can summon which can cast spells and have innate abilities or special qualities.

It's always nice to have allies, even if it is only for 18 - 20 rounds.

 

[Quartz]

If you've got a level or two in the Archmage prestige class, you can use your lower level slots for Arcane Fire. But Wish and Limited Wish still seem to me to be automatic choices.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I'm a little surprised nobody's suggested Drawmij's instant summons. It, like the wish spells, can prevent you from ever being without your spellbook, and with no XP cost.

 

[Stalker0]

Don't forget to put a little sign on your wizard that says, "DM, you now can take my spellbook."

 

[Taluron]

Like you don't start out with such a sign...

 

[Cheiromancer]

A wizard I once played picked the feat at 5th level... Spell Mastery (Scorching Ray, Locate Object, Arcane Sight, Polymorph, Teleport). Yes, that's legal.

That's interesting. I take it your wizard came across these spells at some time, and studied them, but did not necessarily write them in a spell-book?

A wizard can also add a spell to her book whenever she encounters one on a magic scroll or in another wizard’s spellbook. No matter what the spell’s source, the wizard must first decipher the magical writing (see Arcane Magical Writings, above). Next, she must spend a day studying the spell. At the end of the day, she must make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell’s level). A wizard who has specialized in a school of spells gains a +2 bonus on the Spellcraft check if the new spell is from her specialty school. She cannot, however, learn any spells from her prohibited schools. If the check succeeds, the wizard understands the spell and can copy it into her spellbook (see Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook, below). The process leaves a spellbook that was copied from unharmed, but a spell successfully copied from a magic scroll disappears from the parchment.

If the check fails, the wizard cannot understand or copy the spell. She cannot attempt to learn or copy that spell again until she gains another rank in Spellcraft. A spell that was being copied from a scroll does not vanish from the scroll.

In most cases, wizards charge a fee for the privilege of copying spells from their spellbooks. This fee is usually equal to the spell’s level × 50 gp.