Fishbone said:
3.5 Haste got a pretty infamous nerfing if you ask me. Its progressed from being the absolute shiznite by doubling attacks to being a solid no-brainer pick for the partial actions to being a utility spell only picked when there are a lot of characters that really want to full attack. Lots of people don't even bother with it when it was almost always picked, or at the very least seriously considered, for well over 20 years.
Under certain interpretations of the 1e rules, haste was "everyone make a Sys Shock roll or die". I got 3 PCs that way one session. Heh.
Haste is still a must-have in 3.5e. Very much so, although the availability of Boots of Speed does work against it somewhat. (Also, check the number of melee characters in your group - a group of spellcasters doesn't need haste).
Fireball remains a very, very good spell. It's not great against 1 target, but is brilliant against multiple targets.
Faerie Fire is in 3.5e as well. PHB page 229. Druid 1.
mearls said:
It's funny how the game has changed with respect to spells. It used to be that almost every spell level had an instant win spell: sleep, web, and stinking cloud come to mind from my 1e days. Basically, you'd swap your instant win spell of level X for the instant win spell at level X+1 as you progressed.
Playing a magic user back in the day was much different than playing today's wizard. You'd stand at the back of the party, chucking darts and waiting for the one battle that you absolutely needed to win. Out would come your sleep spell, then the group would head back to the surface. It's crazy to compare playing my 1e MU to playing my 3e arcane casters.
It really is. One other thing: Wizards have gained power since 1e in a big way. They can actually *use* their big spells now.
In 1e, third-level and higher spells were very difficult to use.
Fireball? It incinerated the entire dungeon - including your PCs. No use. Almost wilderness only.
Lightning Bolt? Bounce. Crispy wizard (and party).
Haste? Entire party ages (and may die).
Ice Storm? At least you can cast it. For a flat 3d10 damage.
Cone of Cold? Aiming this thing was a problem in 1e. Standing in melee=bad, but cones require that sort of position to aim.
Cheers!