EDIT - Typos. Lots of typos.
PH only spells? Gah, every wizard I play, I research new
spells ASAP. It feels great to drop a 'positive energy
burst' instead of a fireball when your friends are
surrounded by undead. (And my DM even allowed it to heal 1
point per die to living creatures! Sweet, I was just
looking for truely friendly friendly fire.)
Also, I don't understand most players' concentration on
combat spells. Magic is for doing what only magic can do.
Let the warriors dish out most of the damage.
EDIT - I was whining about the limited number of spells,
but since I started this post, I've read Thanee's post on
that subject.
(My most important question to DMs from now on before
playing a Wizard : how much time and cash will I have to
scribe spells? If they won't guarantee me the ability to
exceed a Sorcerer, then I won't play a Wizard.)
1 - Charm Person, Chill Touch, (Erase), Identify, Magic
Weapon, Mage Armor, Shield, Truestrike
2 - Alter Self, Arcane Lock, Detect Thoughts, Fog Cloud,
Glitterdust, Rope Trick, Summon Monster II, Web
3 - Dispel Magic, Fireball OR Lightning Bolt, (Fly), Haste,
Magic Circle against Evil, Shrink Item, Summon Monster
III, Tongues
4 - (Animate Dead), Charm Monster, Mass Enlarge Person,
(Polymorph), (Remove Curse), Scrying
5 - (Break Enchantment), Cone of Cold, Cloudkill, Fabricate,
Teleport, Wall of Stone
6 - (Antimagic Shell), Geas/Quest, Legend Lore, Planar
Binding, (Stone to Flesh), Wall of Iron
7 - Limited Wish, Mordenkainen's Sword, (Plane Shift OR
Heightened Enlarged Disintegrate), Simulacrum
8 - (TWO OF: Clone, Greater Planar Binding, Moment of
Prescience, Polar Ray), Mind Blank, Polymorph Any Object
9 - (Gate OR Mordenkainen's Disjunction OR Prismatic
Sphere), Shapechange, Timestop, Wish
If you're going to take any great number of evocation
spells, get the Energy Substitution feat. Nothing says
'Booyah!' like an electric burst when your opponents have
maxed out their fire resistance. If your DM will allow it,
take a house rule feat, Positive Energy Substitution, so that
you can damage hordes of undead without affecting your
friends who are caught in the middle.
Take Spell Mastery for Scrying (to find whoever stole your
spellbook) and Limited Wish (since it can substitute for so
many other spells). Once you get Wish (and have XP to
burn), spend the XP for a Wish instead of a feat slot to get
Spell Mastery again. If your DM is nice, he'll allow the
5000 XP cost of wish to simulate three feat slots worth of
Spell Mastery. (The few items that grant feats have a base
cost of 4000 gp. Paying XP instead of gold, we get 4000/5 =
800 XP. Double to simulate a slotless item, to 1600 XP.
1600 goes into 5000 XP three times. Pay 6400 XP instead of
the minimum 5000 XP for the Wish to get four slots worth of
Spell Mastery.) Considering how many emergencies Wish can
get you out of, you want that to be one of your mastered
spells, of course, despite the XP cost. Remember that you
can always prepare a mastered spell, then scribe it in a
replacement spellbook WITHOUT casting it.
The explanatory text is rather long, because I also discuss
why I left out certain spells.
0-level spells - Prestidigitation, prestidigitation,
prestidigitation. Prepare it. Someone once called this
'very limited wish'. It really is that useful. The gather
and clean functions of this spell alone are worth the
training time to become a wizard. The soiling function is
great for confusing tracks, especially after first cleaning
away the scent of your passage. Though of course, I usually
research a 1st level version with (level) hours duration and
five foot cube area. If your short on clerics, or the
cleric is a boob who forgot to take Heal skill, cleaning out
wounds helps keep the DM from looking up the disease charts.
Every DM I've seen has also allowed Prestidigitation to get
rid of fleas, lice, etc. In a realistic campaign, the
wizard can become EVERYBODY'S friend this way.
0-level spells - Acid Splash or Ray of Frost. Great when
combined with sneak attack. Give a wand of Ray of Frost to
your 'Use Magic Device' rogue friend. Kill people with
barely a mark on them, and no weapon for evidence.
0-level spells - Detect Poison. Very good for checking loot
for booby traps. The NPCs you take out DO booby-trap their
stuff, don't they? Don't you? Also great for checking the
bags and bags of food on your wagon after you defeat an
assassin. (Did he mess with our stuff before coming after
us?) Also, it's dangerous to handle poison without this
spell for double-checking.
0-level spells - Detect Magic. Also great for loot.
0-level spells - Disrupt Undead. Cannot be combined with
sneak attack unless you have a very generous DM or you use a
wish. Still worth it for maybe making undead bane items
later if you don't have any Summon Monster spells. (Why is
Summon Monster an undead bane prereq when it can't
summon undead?)
0-level spells - Mage Hand. Not as good as unseen servant,
but often you need to load your 1st level slots with more
important stuff.
0-level spells - Mending. Make Money Fast. Okay, make
money slow. But still, there's only so much dry-cleaning
via Prestidigitation you can get paid for in one town, and
you have to make money to pay for your adventuring somehow,
right?
1 :
Alarm - I almost put this on the list. But many times, it's
best to let the wizard sleep through night fights if they
aren't bad so he can prepare spells properly the next day.
Let your familiar sleep during the day and stay awake at
night. Have the Craft (trapmaking) rogue string tripwires
attached to the metal cans that hold the spare chain links
for repairing the warrior's chain shirt.
Charm Person - Awesome for interrogation.
Chill Touch - Hey, look, I'm no longer unarmed!
Color Spray is better than sleep in many instances, but
still becomes useless too quickly.
Endure Elements was on my 3.0 list, but it got nerfed.
Erase - I don't use this while adventuring. I make
money between adventures using this as a bleach spell.
Sure, it only does 'one or two pages', but it doesn't say
what size those pages are. I turn huge single sheets of
brown paper into white paper with this spell. Some
cloth-makers like to start with pure white cloth before
dyeing, also.
That's definately a house-rule usage of 'erase', but the
spell is so weak for 1st level, that I've never had trouble
talking a DM into allowing it.
Expeditious Retreat - Very nice buffing spell for first
level characters. Without the house-rule 'bleaching' effect
from Erase, pick this instead.
Identify - Necessary for loot. NPCs (or even fellow PCs)
might try to rip you off. I despise how this spell got
nerfed (only IDs one functioni, ever), but most DMs ignore
the nerf.
Mage Armor - I'm not sure about this one, since I usually
just cope with the arcane spell failure chance from leather
armor or, at high levels, a better replacement. It's nice
to make bracers of armor with this later, but you can get a
little more protection out of magicked leather armor without
a specific spell prereq if you're willing to live with a
small arcane spell failure chance.
Magic Missile - Not worth it at low levels. Only worth it
at mid levels because it hits almost anything. If I had
more than eight 1st-level choices, I'd put it on the list.
Magic Weapon - Use with poisoned crossbow bolts and
truestrike (see below) for sniping BBEGs, since non-magic
weapons may bounce off some of them. What do you mean,
poison usage is evil? And a sword isn't? Bull crap. It's
more evil to allow the BBEG to continue killing people, IMO.
Obscuring Mist is a great battlefield control spell, but I'd
rather wait for Fog Cloud at 2nd level.
Shield doesn't last long enough, but it's great to later
make an item that stops magic missiles and helps your AC a
little.
Sleep becomes too useless too quickly. Buy it on scroll.
Though I will admit to having cast two sleep
spells, along with the other wizard in the group, to take
down a bunch of camping orcs so the rest of the group only
had to take on a few. A small swarm of 1st level barbarian
orcs is about the only time it's worth it.
Summon Monster I is not on my list because Summon Monster II
etc can simulate it, and the duration is crippling. Good
for setting off traps when tossed logs won't, though. And
you don't have to feel too guilty since the summoned
creature always reforms on it's home plane, unhurt.
Truestrike is there because of it's great sniping potential.
Actually use the 1/4 mile range of a heavy crossbow.
From that far away, who's going to see you to return fire?
Especially when you can fire a crossbow from a prone
position. This is GREAT against BBEGs who don't live
underground.
Note that truestrike falls under 'doing what only magic can
do'. Who else can one-shot-one-kill from 1/4 mile at 1st
level? (And heavy crossbow will often do enough damage to
kill CR 1 threats. When you meet higher CR threats,
hopefully you'll be able to afford to upgrade your crossbow,
or at least buy poison.)
There are lots of other 1st level spells I like, but we were
asked to keep it down to eight 1st-level spells.
2 :
Alter Self - natural armor and/or strength. And disguise.
Arcane Lock - One of the must-have spells. Wonderful for
keeping party thieves out of your stuff. A properly
constructed spell book can even be locked with this. Too
bad you can't get rid of it without Dispel Magic.
Otherwise, it'd be nice for sleeping in inns. Put this on a
set of manacles for prisoners. You can open them any
time, no one else can.
Continual Flame - Great way to make money - pay 50 gp for
material components, sell for 90 gp - but it's too hard to
find buyers for full value. Your group needs this spell,
but it's easy to buy castings from other wizards.
Detect Thoughts - Another interrogation must-have. Also,
it's basically a 'detect creatures'. Your paladin with
'detect evil' will find the mindless undead this spell
doesn't, but you still need to be wary of constructs and vermin.
Fog Cloud - Good battlefield control spell. If you're very
careful, your victims might think it's natural weather.
Glitterdust - Detect invisible AND blind? Sweet! And it
looks nice, too.
Knock - Another I hated leaving off my short list. Get a
wand.
Magic Mouth - Anti-pick-pockets, and a great replacement for
1st level Alarm. I wanted to put this on my list, but
Arcane Lock just barely edged it out. I'm not sure that was
a good choice. You can do things like add an arming
'command word' to a magic mouth, as well as a disarming
word, and roll a ball around corners to yell out warning of
skeletons or other threats.
Mirror Image - Another I hated pruning off my list. Force
your attackers to waste attacks that otherwise might have
killed you. Or at least force them to waste an area attack
on you.
Once you get a reputation for using this
spell, start using Silent Image to make copies of yourself
(missing with crossbow bolts, naturally) to draw enemy fire
while you hide.
Protection from Arrows - I wanted to put this on my list --
it's great for your warrior friend who likes to wade into
groups of crossbow-firing humanoids -- but alas, I can only
pick eight.
Rope Trick - Safe camp site. There are certainly better
spells for general adventuring, but when you need a safe
camping spot, you really need a safe camping spot.
Shatter - The wizard's sunder. Too bad I don't have room
for it.
Spider Climb - I had not noticed this moved to 2nd level.
Almost worth my short list. Most definately worth boots, or
maybe a wand.
Summon Monster II - The Summon Monster spells are way too
handy for general utility. The best specialist to play is a
conjurer, since he can always summon creatures to cover his
weaknesses.
Web - More battlefield control. Better than Hold Person in
some ways. Great way to catch a falling comrade if
something is nearby to anchor the web to.
Again, there were lots of other second level spells I wanted
to put on the list. I didn't bother with buffing spells
because that was usually the cleric's job when I've played.
If Fox's Cunning affected skill points, I'd keep it up constantly,
but since it doesn't...
3 :
Daylight - Not enough room on the list for this. Great for
dispelling darkness, but dispel magic will do the same thing
50% of the time, on average. Get a 2/day item. Not a
scroll, unless you're sure you'll always be outside the
darkness you need to bring down.
Dispel Magic, Remove Curse, Break Enchantment - If it's not
obvious why these spells are on my list, I think we've been
playing in very different games. It is acceptable to get
Remove Curse and Break Enchantment on scrolls instead of
learning them. 1/day items would be even better.
Fireball - The classic wizard spell. I prefer others,
myself, but if you don't take this spell, others will look
at you like some sort of retarded cripple. "What do you
mean you can't throw a fireball? I thought you were a
wizard!"
Fly - Cast this on the foolish warrior who wants to go after
a dragon. Don't bother with this spell if your campaign has
winged elves and you have Alter Self. If the duration of
Polymorph weren't nerfed so badly, I'd say just wait to turn
into a dragon. Those critters can FLY.
Also use Fly to drop very heavy loads (see Shrink Item,
below) of flaming oil on invading armies. If you're high
enough, even ballistas won't hit you. If you're worried
about missing, cast Truestrike.
Flame Arrow - In combination with Fly, this is GREAT for
dropping a barrel of arrows on an invading army, but I don't
have enough slots on my list to choose it. If the campaign
has winged elves for me to emulate with Alter Self, I'd take
this spell instead of Fly.
Gaseous Form - Wonderful for escape and evasion, too bad I
don't have enough slots to put it on my list. It's a
substitute for Spider Climb, Fly, Protection from Arrows,
and, in fog or smoke, Invisibility. Also, it makes you
immune to poison. If the first hit from a dose of poison
makes you worried about surviving it a minute later, cast
this spell. If you're not too worried about people laughing
at you, learn this instead of Fireball. After all, when you
use Shrink Item to fire trees and oil barrels from your
crossbow, fireball isn't a must-have.
Get a switchable item of gaseous form. Float up among the
clouds, change back to drop ordinance, then turn gaseous
again before you saplt. How many people worry about flying
spies when they look up at the clouds?
Haste - The classic buffing spell for wizards. Even with
the nerfing, it's good if you have lots of friends. This is
another spell where people will look at you funny if you
don't take it.
Magic Circle against Evil - Block domination, bonuses are
okay, and absolutely necessary for Planar Binding. Planar
Binding says nothing about matching the alignment of the
Magic Circle spell with the alignment of the creature you
want to call.
Magic Weapon, Greater - I wanted to wait for this spell, but
instead I had to put Magic Weapon on the 1st level list. In
my experience, many DMs like to throw high-DR monsters at
1st level characters.
Shrink Item - Great way to preserve bodies (use the
'cloth-like composition' option), nice long duration.
Before a fight against a BBEG, especially a brute, cast this
on a few trees and fire them as crossbow bolts. (See
truestrike and magic weapon above.) When they break, the
spell should end. Even a remorhaz has trouble eating people
when it has several trees sticking out of it. There are
more refined ways to use that tactic. At minimum level,
this will affect only six cubic feet, so take a 48 (or less)
gallon barrel of oil, tie a burning rag to it, shrink it
into a 'cloth-like' composition, and load it inside a
special crossbow bolt that will tear it on impact.
For digging tunnels, the miners can spike small holes, stick
in your shrunken stuff, and, from a distance, shred it so it
expands and shatters the rock. Because you can cast this
spell days ahead of time, at high levels you can carry a
small block of clay, toss it down, and block a corridor to
deter pursuit. Or drop it on people. Won't hurt as much as
boulders, but it has more possible uses.
If you need to carve a lot off an object, shrink it down
first. Your DM will probably have the spell cancel as soon
as you take off one noticeable slice, though. Still,
smashing a rock instead of a huge boulder with a
sledgehammer is a good way to make gravel.
Summon Monster III - Celestial Bison. Moo.
Tongues - By this time, you're probably running into
creatures who you don't share a language with.
Vampiric Touch - Didn't this used to heal the user rather
than merely giving temporary hit points? Don't bother with
the current version of this spell.
4 :
Animate Dead - The wizard version of Raise Dead. If you can
get an amulet of the planes, or know anyone who does, turn
fallen comrades into undead, take them to the Heroic Domains
of Ysgard, destroy their undead form, and watch them benefit
from a True Resurrection the next morning. The clerical
Plane Shift can be simulated with Limited Wish, so you can
travel that way, also.
I know it's cheese, but I have carefully studied the books,
and -- by the books -- it works, because of the interaction
between True Resurrection and undead.
Animate Dead is also useful for evil wizards. Hide your
skeletons inside armor, hand them shields to protect you
with, and tell everyone they are 'minor golems'.
Charm Monster - Version of Charm Person with useful
duration. Get guides and 'friends', it's not just for
interrogation. Get diplomacy skill as a supplement.
Detect Scrying - By the time you cast this spell, it's too
late. Get an item. Also, it only alerts you if the scrying
sensor is within 40 feet. Get real. Whenever I scry, I
usually look down from a hundred feet or so to get an
overview.
Dimension Door - I want this on my list for escaping
grapples, crossing chasms, etc, but I have other things to
put in the fourth level slots, and Teleport does everything
Dimension Door does, but better.
Enlarge Person, Mass - Another great wizard party-buffing
spell. The first time your group gets waxed by the reach of
some ogres or giants, they'll really appreciate this spell.
For the ultimate cheese, make sure one of your allies has a
spiked chain.
Fire Trap - This is a very nice, relatively cheap way to set
up magical traps, but druids get it as a 2nd level spell, so
you should let them handle the job if you can. Only one
fire trap can be placed on one object, so you can't set up a
box with lots of fire-trapped corks to be forced out of
their holes. However, if each fire-trapped cork is in a
sturdy collar, which in turn is set into lipped holes in the
box ... BOOM.
Fire Trap has such a small radius, you can usefully put it
on the end of reach weapons. The spell can be put on
very small closures, so make some special crossbow bolts for it.
Invisibility, Greater - Wonderful buffing spell for your
rogue friend, but I don't have enough slots to put this in
the sample book. Learn if you skip Animate Dead, Polymorph,
or Remove Curse.
Polymorph - Nerfed too badly. Get an item. Take this only
as a substitute for Fly and Alter Self, if you can wait
until 7th level for these abilities.
Okay, it's still a good combat buffing spell. Take it.
WotC took one of the best wizard spells and reduced it's
duration until it's nearly useless for non-combat uses. (I
used to like turning into a dragon for their ability to
cover vast distances in a single day.) But at (level) minutes,
it's still long enough to be a terror in combat. Basically,
WotC took a powerful combat spell that was often used
instead out of combat, and nerfed it so that it's ONLY used
in combat now.
Okay, maybe it's not quite that bad. You can always change
into an umber hulk for tunnel digging.
Scrying - If you're not abusing -- er, using -- Scrying, you
deserve to be ambushed. Some nice DMs will allow Scrying to
optionally substitute for Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, which
is wonderful when you need to scout an area rather than find
a specific person.
Scrying is also a great way to find someone who has stolen
from you (though if you know nothing other than they have
your stuff, they'll probably get +5 on the Will save), so
you might want to take this as a mastered spell with the
feat Spell Mastery.
5 :
Bigby's Interposing Hand - Hey, look, it's kind of sort of
almost as good as the FIRST LEVEL Shield spell, except it
doesn't stop magic missiles. What was WotC thinking? If
you learn this spell, I WILL laugh at you.
Cone of Cold - Sad but true: you need a few direct attack
spells or people look at you funny. At least you can use
this to preserve foods. Also, freeze a portion of a pond,
then teleport it out to the desert and sell it.
Contact Other Plane - Good way to gather information, but
risky, and our list is too small. Get a 1/day (or 1/week) item
if you really need it.
Cloudkill - Wonderful extermination spell. My greatest fear
as a player is that truly evil NPCs will grow wise to the
uses of this spell. Wipe out 90% of your target town.
Fabricate - Oh yeah! Wonderful money making spell. Got a
bunch of followers? Got a bunch of hides from slain
monsters? Make everyone leather armor. Got some boulders
and trees? Make stone-tipped arrows, bows, and defensive
walls. Need to dig a trench in some stone? Take the time
to use that stone as the raw material for whatever.
Did you actually waste some skill points on some Craft
skills before you realized you'd die of old age before
completing a mighty masterwork composite longbow? (Only a
slight exageration by the book.) Use this spell instead.
If your DM won't allow you to make more than one object with
Fabricate despite it's hefty volume of effect, have
breakable sprues connecting the various objects. If you're
making a bunch of armor for an army, make a large roll of
chain mail for others to cut and join into chain shirts, or
make similar rolls of lammes for lammelar armor (D&D scale
mail or banded mail).
Feeblemind - Great way to make enemies who will hunt you
forever once they get fixed up. Some will hunt you down
merely because you scare them by using this on others. It's
almost a save-or-die spell. Because of the Will save, it's
not the mage-slayer it used to be. Don't learn unless you
first learn Bestow Curse to lower saves with.
Magic Jar - Too many things can go wrong. Use this only to
create an item to move into when your body dies.
Overland Flight - Why did WotC make this spell the same
level as TELEPORT? Are they nuts?
Passwall - Good infiltration spell, but our spellbook slots
are limited, so we'll need to depend on Teleport instead.
Also, the usage of this spell is somewhat specialized.
Permanency - Is there anything you can do with this spell
that you can't do with the Craft Wondrous Item feat? I'd
learn this only if the DM was EXTREMELY stingy with gold.
Small slotless misc items are the way to go. And if he's
that stingy, you can dominate local economies with the other
spells I'll discuss.
Planar Binding, Lesser - Won't fit on the list. Who cares
about carefully worded contracts? Call a bunch of lantern
archons until you find a few curious enough to stick around
and follow some friends of yours without a binding contract.
Tell them that the dismissal condition for their contract
is, 'go home whenever you feel like it'.
Rary's Telepathic Bond - Nice, but I've gotten too used to
groups that backstab each other. In groups that cooperate
well, you almost don't need this. It's nice to be able to
communicate over a distance, but tactical signalling can be
done with flaming arrows.
Sending - Usually the only reason to use this spell instead
of delivering a message in person via Teleport is because
Sending usually has a 95% chance of crossing planes. Not
good enough for our limited selection of slots.
Teleport - Dimension Door, but better. Escape grapples.
Make lots of money as a courier. Pretend to be in two
places at once, when actually you're in two places several
minutes apart.
Transmute Rock to Mud - I really really really like this
spell. Really. Even with WotC nerfing it to only dig ten
feet deep (it'll still bring down walls, guys), I like it.
Every 9th level mage of mine since 1st edition uses this to
build solid rock homes. (Rock to mud, pour in molds,
dispel. Granite is about ten times as strong as concrete,
maybe five times as strong as expensive modern concrete.)
Too bad I don't have room for it on my list. If your DM is
smart enough to disagree with WotC and say that Wall of
Stone is permanent rather than instant, learn this spell.
I'm tempted to dump Cone of Cold or Cloudkill for this
spell. If WotC hadn't nerfed it to ten foot depth, I would.
(So, I can still drop a cliff face on an army, but I can no
longer dig my own 'dungeon' with one casting of this spell?
Dang it, that makes me so bitter, I'm going to go do some
cliff-dropping.)
Wall of Stone - Have you noticed that this is an instant
spell rather than a permanent spell? Is WotC INSANE? I'll
build my own tower! Who needs dwarven workmen? I have
Knowledge (architecture and engineering)! Also, it
doesn't say what TYPE of stone the spell produces. Over a
period of days, make a huge pile of your favorite ore not
too far in the wilderness, cover with normal-looking rock,
do some blasting or Fabricate-carving so it looks like
you've done some digging, and sell your new mine to some
rich dwarves.
Make a wall of coal for fuel. Quartz for glass. Limestone
for lime, whitewash, and concrete. Even if you're limited
to granite, this spell will make you rich.
6 :
Analyze Dweomer - Almost a necessity with the nerfing of
identify, but we're on a budget, so let Legend Lore
substitute.
Antimagic Shell - Buffing spell for your monk friend. Or
more accurately, an ANTI-buffing spells for your foes.
Contingency - Very nearly a must-have, but we're getting
Limited Wish at the next spell level.
Disintegrate - Good multi-purpose spell. Massive damage
with no body to regenerate or to be brought back from the
dead. Also decent for digging. Great for disposing of
evidence. But there aren't enough spellbook slots.
Dispel Magic, Greater - Get this on scroll or other item or
you'll regret it. Not enough room in our spellbook to learn
it.
Flesh to Stone - Good way to suspend a dying person, good
way to take out an opposing wizard, but we don't have enough
spellbook slots. Get one-use items for people instead.
Geas/Quest - Ultimate contract enforcement, and a nice
replacement for capital punishment.
Globe of Invulnerability - Very nice but we're on a budget.
And your enemy will enlarge his buddy to throw boulders at
you.
Heroism, Greater - Another nice spell, but we're on a
budget.
Legend Lore - Knowing is half the battle. Learn it.
Permanent Image - Wonderful for disguises. Slap on your
monstrous friends so that they look and sound human. Put it
on decoys too. Too bad I don't have enough spellbook slots
for it.
Planar Binding - I'd prefer Lesser Planar Binding, but I
filled up my 5th level slots. See my comments regarding
lantern archons. There are lots of other uses, too.
Remember that these creatures are called, not summoned --
they are REALLY there, and don't disappear until they want
to go home.
Unless you want a bad off-world reputation, when a celestial
dies and leaves behind valuable items, call another
celestial to take their stuff (and body, if any) home.
I was thinking of using Limited Wish to simulate this, but
300 XP a pop is too expensive when you're being nice and
telling these celestials they can go home instead of helping
you.
Stone to Flesh - Not needed to break petrification if you
have Break Enchantment, but with the nerfing of Transmute
Rock to Mud, it's a decent way to both dig and feed an army.
If you can get Transmute Rock to Mud, Break Enchantment, AND
Planar Binding, skip this spell. (You can use Planar
Binding to call ordinary (outer planar) animals as food,
something you can't do with Summon Monster spells. Also,
there are several celestials you can call for help with food
problems.)
Summon Monster VI - Planar Binding is better unless you have
no time to prepare, or you want no-guilt cannon fodder. And
if you don't have time to prepare, you don't have the right
spells ready anyway, since you're a wizard.
Tenser's Transformation - Are you INSANE? That's a
barbarian's job, not yours. This is a 'if I die, I'm taking
some of them with me' spell. Good luck actually succeeding
when you can't cast spells. The BBEG will expend emergency
minions on you to slow you down, watch you drop dead when
the duration runs out and you lose the CON bonus that
temporarily propped up your hit points, and he will
justifiably spit on your grave and laugh. He'll probably piss
on your grave too just to be mean.
Without the loss of spellcasting, this would be a worthy
spell. Get an item with the 4th level cleric spell Divine
Power instead, it's superior.
True Seeing - Nice, but I'm on a budget. Do any 12 HD
celestials have this power? Call them up (Planar Binding)
and ask.
Wall of Iron - If you thought my ideas for Wall of Stone
were abuse, read the text for this spell. Follow up with
Fabricate to give your entire army of followers good armor.
(You DO have the Leadership feat, right?)
7 :
Banishment - Good way to send yourself home when stranded on
another plane, but Limited Wish can simulate the 5th level
cleric version. Oops, it's a 6th level spell now. Uh, use Plane
Shift.
Control Weather - Very nice for a navy fleet admiral. Good
for the wizard of an agricultural community. Otherwise,
we've got better uses for our limited spellbook slots.
Delayed Blast Fireball - A good way to make up for the
extreme lack of evocation spells on this list, but see
Horrid Wilting and Polar Ray (below). As soon as you get a
reputation for using this spell, very simple illusions
(glimmering red 'pearls') will scare the crap out of your
opponents.
Drawmij's Instant Summons - Nice, but you don't need it
often. Cast from scroll over a spare spellbook, or better
yet, a chest full of emergency supplies, and have your
cleric friend implant the gem under your skin where
jailers won't find it to confiscate it.
Ethereal Jaunt - Nice but you won't need it often. Use Plane
Shift instead.
Finger of Death - I'd rather learn a Heightened, Enlarged
version of Disintegrate. A 4th level cleric spell provides
immunity to death effects, and I think undead are immune,
too. Any killing spell that can't kill undead is worth
little to me.
Limited Wish - The emergency swiss army knife spell. Who
says wizards can't raise the dead?
When simulating other spells, don't forget to check the
clerical domain lists. If your DM has the psionics book,
and uses the default psi=magic option, check that source for
nifty powers. Any time you simulate a spell of lower level
than you are actually capable of (such as less than 5th
level clerical domain spell), simulate a Heightened and
Enlarged (or Extended or whatever) version instead. (By
default, Limited Wish gives you save DCs as a 7th level
spell even if you aren't simulating a heightened spell, but
you might still want to expressly Heighten in case of Minor
Glob of Invulnerability or the like.)
Mordenkainen's Sword - A very nice 'summons'. You need pay
attention to it only to switch targets. Use it for
sundering, for ruining the spells of other wizards, or make
a lightsaber for your warrior friend.
Phase Door - This would be nice for wizards with the usual
big spellbooks, given the 'until used' duration, but since
we're on a budget, we'll have to depend on Teleport.
Plane Shift - Only learn this if you plan to do lots of
plane-hopping. Otherwise, use Limited Wish to simulate the
lower level clerical version.
One good use for plane shift is to visit the positive
material plane for healing. This is very dangerous unless
you have two such spells prepared. If someone is ready to
pop from too much energy before others are fully healed,
they should cut themselves and bleed off excess energy.
The Positive Material Plane is a really nasty place to take
undead, and the Negative Material Plane is a really nasty
place for everyone else.
Another good place to plane shift to for healing is the
Heroic Domains of Ysgard. As long as the injured people are
still alive, if they die there, they get a free True
Resurrection the next morning. This is also a good place to
practice combat. Beware of armies that might steal all your
equipment.
Prismatic Spray - Cute but too unpredictable.
Reverse Gravity - Way, way, way back (1st edition) when this spell
affected an area instead of a volume, it was awesome.
Cavorite, anyone? But now? Hey, there are much easier ways
to pump water uphill. Forget this spell. By the time you
can cast it, you can expect your foes to fly. It's only use
is for dismantling structures of stacked stone (rather than
ones made with Wall of Stone or carved from solid rock).
Simulacrum - If you don't take this spell, I will laugh at
you. Sure, it's costly, and the simulacra have to make
heavy use of temporary hit point magic to avoid costly
repairs, but you can make simulacra of other creatures.
You HAVE been saving souvenirs, haven't you?
Ask some of those outsiders you've been calling for tiny
samples. Offer to trade if you think you can trust them.
Plane shift to the abyss just to kill some demons and take
some samples to make simulacra with. (Don't try this in
the hells, the devils are organized, and will find you even
if you disguise yourself.)
Your simulcra of such creatures will be more fragile, and
will have a lower BAB, but will have all the other abilities
of the original. (Some outsiders have spell-casting ability
as a certain level of cleric, sorcerer, etc. That ability
should also probably be reduced. Also, I'd convert all 'at
will' abilities to '3/hour', but that's a house rule not
supported by the text of the spell.)
Make simulacra of creatures with Alter Self, Polymorph, or
alternate form ability, have them disguise themselves as
you. It's expensive to replace them, but it's more
expensive to replace yourself.
Instead of spending your hard-earned XP on magic items,
spend 1000 XP to make a simulacrum of yourself, and let it
slowly destroy itself making lots and lots of items, costing
more than 1000 XP in total. Eventually, you'll be able to
make simulacra capable of casting Limited Wish and Wish.
Spell Turning - Nice, but best in item form.
Summon Monster VII - If you have time to prepare, the only
thing this does better than Planar Binding is huge
elementals. Skip it.
Waves of Exhaution - Great against melee and missile
creatures (no save), nearly useless against spell-casters.
Useless against undead, constructs, and many others.
Easy to cure with Restoration or mostly cure with Lesser
Restoration.
8 :
Clone - You need this in case of death. Or you can create
an item that will use Limited Wish to simulate Raise Dead,
or better yet, Plane Shift you to the Heroic Domains of
Ysgard while you're still dying rather than dead. In fact,
make both items. Make them slotless and small, and have
your cleric friend implant them behind your sternum or
inside your skull. Make a set for him too since he's such a
nice guy.
I liked the 1st / 2nd edition version much better.
Everybody who wished for immunity to insanity, then cloned
themselves, please raise their hand.
Discern Location - Very powerful divination; your target
canot hide without a Mind Blank or the help of a diety. But
you won't use it often enough to have it as one of only four
8th-level spells. When you really need this spell, wish for
a scroll of it that's usable 1/day. Or if you don't have
wish yet, or don't have 5000 XP to spare, buy a scroll.
Horrid Wilting - Typeless damage, fortitude save means no
Evasion, looks very good. But it's useless against undead
and constructs.
Maze - Good way to protect one creature. You can look like
you teleported away when you're actually buffing yourself.
Because opponents can attempt an INT check every round to
escape, it's not very useful in combat. If stupid opponents
are giving you trouble at this level, you've got other
problems.
Maze isn't useful often enough to bother learning when we
have only four 8th-level slots. If you REALLY need to leave
an area for ten minutes to return later, use Rope Trick or
Teleport, or simulate them with Limited Wish.
Mind Blank - Immunity to scrying is nearly priceless,
especially at this level. Plus your mind is immune to
reading and influence. It even stops Wish and Miracle
from messing with your mind! Cast this every single day
until you can afford to make an item. If you don't NEED
this spell, I'm not sure how you got high enough level
to cast it.
Moment of Prescience - Wonderful protection against
save-or-die effects.
Polar Ray - Sucky damage, single target, but NO SAVE. Cast
Truestrike first. Not many creatures are immune to cold,
but learn the Energy Substitution feat anyway.
Polymorph Any Object - If the maximum duration were
'instant' rather than 'permanent', this would be a must-have
spell. As is, it would still be must-have if not for our
limit of four 8th-level slots in our book. Need a mount?
Turn a friendly and trustworthy cat or dog into a smart
half-celestial horse. Or into a half-celestial unicorn,
though it would have to be a young one on account of it's
hit dice. Turn yourself into a dragon, though that might
last only a week.
Your DM might be nice enough to let you use this spell to
repair your simulacra. I'd say it could repair (caster
level) hit points of simulacra damage.
The more I look at the other 8th level combat spells, the
more I think this is THE combat spell for 8th level. Let
your friends and your simulacra army handle the small stuff,
and use this spell to turn the ceiling above the BBEG into
severely acidic sticky goop. Prepare this spell twice,
since it's a save-or-die that works against undead and
constructs.
Polymorph Any Object can substitute for several other
spells, but I'm leaving them on the lower level lists
anyway. You might be able to talk your DM into also letting
it substitute for Fabricate.
Considering the volume of effect for this spell, it becomes
THE tunneling spell once you're high enough level.
Since golems are immune to most spells but vulnerable to
ordinary fire, turn the floor under an iron golem into oil
and ignite. (Yes, it's cheesy, but the D&D designers left
golems vulnerable to non-magical fire. If you don't want to
be so cheesy, use acid instead.)
Prismatic Wall - Too easy to go around. With so few 8th
level slots, learn this only if one of your buddies can
consistantly toss enemies through this wall.
Shout, Greater - At first this seems like a good spell, but
it only damages certain types of objects, and creatures are
allowed fortitude saves, which means undead and constructs
are immune. Don't bother with this spell.
Summon Monster VIII - If you prepare ahead of time, this
beats Greater Planar Binding only for greater elementals and
colossal fiendish monstrous centipedes. It only beats
regular Planar Binding for those creatures, celestial
triceratops, fiendish dire tigers, gargantuan fiendish
monstrous spiders, and fiendish tyrannosaurs. Sure,
sometimes what you really need is a disposable brute, but
you can usually finesse around such situations.
Sunburst - Wonderful anti-undead spell. Typeless but sucky
(6d6) damage against most creatures. If this spell did not
allow a save, or at least required a fortitude save (yet
still affected undead and constructs) it'd be great. But as
is, I have visions of vampires with two rogue levels
congratulating themselves for learning Evasion. I'd rather
use Polymorph Any Object to turn a huge chunk of ceiling
into acid because of that.
Symbol of Death - Nice for traps, but constructs and undead
are AGAIN immune. What is the DEAL with 8th level spells
that don't harm constructs and undead?
Temporal Stasis - This looks like a nice spell, but undead
and constructs are (say it along with me, class) immune.
Fortitude saves are not nice for the spell-caster.
9 :
Astral Projection - Nice adventuring option, but I don't
think we need it often enough to learn it as one of only
four 9th-level spells.
Etherealness - With Plane Shift, why do we need this spell?
Gate - Better than Greater Planar Binding or Summon Monster
IX if you can eat the XP cost. Useful to move armies or
shield against horrendous attacks if you don't use the
calling function.
Mordenkainen's Disjunction - Don't use this to destroy an
artifact unless you have Moment of Prescience to help your
Will save.
Power Word Kill - Too bad undead, constructs, vermin are
immune. And anyone with Mind Blank or Death Ward.
Prismatic Sphere - The ultimate defensive bunker. Use
Limited Wish to simulate Permanency to make it permanent.
Shapechange - Hey look, I'm superman! Okay, a
half-celestial gold dragon using the gold dragon's alternate
shape ability...
Time Stop - Super haste. While you're the only one moving,
turn the floor under the BBEG into acid (I like Polymorph
Any Object) and put a bag of cayenne pepper and finely
ground glass over his head. He'll appreciate it, really.
Wail of the Banshee - Oh great, ANOTHER spell that undead
and constructs are immune to.
Wish - Wish for duplicates of other spellbooks you know
about.
Don't forget to wish for immunity to Feeblemind
and insanity. Don't forget that you can wish for magic
items with a market price of 25,000 gp or less. That's a
scroll of an 8th level spell, caster level 15, usable once
per day. (A once per day scroll should cost eight times
what a normal scroll costs, by the DMG guidelines. And I
would add Craft Wondrous Item to the usual prereqs.) Much
better than wishing for an 8th-level spell a single time,
right? You could also wish for a scroll of a 9th-level
spell reusable once per two days.
If you just removed the return character at the end of every line it would only be half as long.
