Useless arcane or divine spells

[hero4hire]

Unless you actually know the rules.

I mean honestly. I can't think of a single way in which bears endurance wins out on this one.

That would be Hit Point Increase 1d10+10 max compared to a flat 20 pts at 10th level or flat 40 pt increase at 20th level.
Of course False Life has way more duration, but I dont dungeon crawl, so short duration spells don't pose to much of a problem in my game.
Bear's Endurance also enjoys a bonus to Fort saves and comes in handy when Combined with Item Creation.

And, IMHO an average of 15 to 16 extra HP at higher levels is negligable.


OH! and I do know the rules....Your views may vary.

 

[Li Shenron]

Well, some 3ed spells I am quite sure to have never seen used by the PC:

Inflict Minor Wounds
Virtue
Erase
Gust of Wind
Magic Mouth
Phantom Trap
Sepia Snake Sigil
Illusory Script
Gentle Repose
Secret Page
Fire Trap

Some of them are useful as traps, but as such the players never really need them. There is effectively some possible usefulness for every single spell (including Inflict Minor Wounds which I think it's really the least of all ) but clearly some spells are very limited. However I have seen players use things like Arcane Mark, Open/Close or Magic Aura to some effect.

 

[hero4hire]

Li Shenron reminded me...I hate Find Traps. I'd rather it just worked like the various Detect spells then rely on Search checks for a Cleric.

 

[Gez]

Changing the sand's color would help you win all the sandcastle competitions on the beach. So it's not useless.

 

[LizardWizard]

Some spells (including sepia snake sigil , hallucinatory terrain , guards and wards etc.) are vastly more useful to NPCs than to PCs.
Most nearly useless spells are grouped at level 0, but some still can be employed in times of great need.

 

[Buttercup]

How is changing the color of sand more practical than being able to zap nasty attackers?

Perhaps you work for a contractor that specializes in colored cement walls and walk-ways?

This thread actually calls to mind something I've been thinking about for a while. It seems to me that adventurers greatly underuse 0 level spells. A non adventuring wizard might have no interest in and no use for magic missile, but would be delighted to have 30 or more cantrips in his spellbook. Changing the flavor of food, mending, mage hand-ing things--all of these would be quite useful for the stay at home wizard. In fact, I would think that anyone intelligent enough to be able to learn them would want to know a cantrip or two. Hmm. Seems to me that I've seen a feat that allows just this. Can't remember the source though.

 

[Gez]

Magical Training, FRCS, allows to cast, IIRC, daze, mage hand, and prestidigitation.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Some book had a spell that existed to stop bleeding wounds from costing you HP. Obviously no one pointed out to the writer that Cure Minor Wounds does the same thing, AND you get 1 HP back.

 

[jmucchiello]

This is a no-brainer. The worst spell I've ever seen was in the Tome of Magic for 1e AD&D. It was called (and someone will correct my spelling) Hornung's Guess. This 1st level spell could tell you the order of magnitude of the number of things you could see. So the field commander looks to the wizard and says "How many enemy troops are filing through the trees?" and the wizard casts this spell and responds "Well, between 1000 and 9999 troops and that doesn't include any of the troops I can't see because the trees are in the way."

Utterly braindead and useless. I'll bet the commnader can make a better guess. The only possible upside to the spell was that it was a wild spell so the wizard might cause a wild surge casting it. The Hornung's Guess elemental would be a useful result....

 

[glass]

OH! and I do know the rules

Apparently except for the rule that hp from Bear's Endurance go away when the duration expires.


glass.