Versatile Spells

[Rolzup]

Having discovered the joys of Resiliant Sphere in our games of late, I found msyelf wondering about verstaile spells.

Resiliant Sphere can be used in a lot of ways, see. Imprison a foe, block a door, protect yourself or an ally while healing, give yourself some time to think and/or cast spells while your airship is crashing....

Lots of stuff. As opposed to, say, Fireball...which is generally only good for Blowing Thigns Up Real Good.

I have to admit, I've little experience with playing spellcasters. So I know that there's a lot similarly versatile spells that I'm ignorant of. What are some of your favorites, and in what ways have yuo sed them?

 

[Canaan]

Telekinesis: lets you fly, levitate, bull rush, move heavy things, keeps a fighter from attacking you in melee, etc.

Wall of force for the reasons you mentioned with Resilient sphere, but with greater area.

 

[shilsen]

Shatter. There's no end to the options for a creative player with it.

Wall of Ice/Stone.

 

[Thanee]

Prestidigitation, the mother of versatility.

Limited Wish ...

Bye
Thanee

 

[VirgilCaine]

Glitterdust. Other 2nd level spells have larger areas, but they don't work on everything.

Hypnotic Pattern, Scare, and Web are nice, but Undead, Oozes, Vermin all are immune.
Web is situation dependent, so you might not even be able to use it sometimes.

Magic Missile.

 

[Heckler]

Baleful Transposition (SC)

Move your slow arse tank into the fight.

Dude runs away, bring him back.

Surrounded...swap places with the cleaver.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Pyrotechnics.

Target their Fort save or their Will save. Long range and one of the biggest areas of effect in the game (120ft radius IIRC). If you use the Fort save smog you guarantee to obscure their line of vision whether they save or not.

(I think that for flexibility resilient sphere outdoes wall of force considerably, since WoF can only be a plane... not very good for trapping people except in dungeons (and a literal reading of the spell might even prevent it sealing off a corridor completely). The trapping and protection aspects of resilient sphere work equally well in any situation (albeit with a save for trapping an individual, but that seems fair).

Summon Monster when you are high enough level to get monsters with special abilities e.g. creatures that can heal you if you are a wizard.

Suggestion - (especially if cast as a silent spell). There are all kind of reasonable suggestions you can come up with.

Telekinesis - as already mentioned, plus my favourite is grappling enemy spell caster. At a thousand foot range, no less

 

[Glaurung]

Alter Self. Fly, breathe underwater, change your appearance, etc.

 

[Dog Moon]

Magic Missile.

How is Magic Missile versatile?

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Silent Image...and the chain of spells that spins off it.

With a great imagination and a DM willing to actually make illusions useful (somewhat hard to find) a dedicated illusionist can fit in any situation.

No hide skill....create a tree you are standing in the middle of.

Enemy escaping on horses...create an illusion of a predator jumping from behind cover to startle the mounts.

Need to keep someone trapped for awhile...create an illusion of a cage liquid acid or fire or scalding hot iron bars to keep someone occupied for awhile (just pick something that would discourage someone from touching the bars).

Bandits on the horizon....create another 10 heavily armed knights in your party to discourage an attack.

DS