What 3rd-level spells should any Wizard prepare?

[drunkmoogle]

Fireball, Haste, Slow, and Stinking Cloud.

I leave Dispel Magic to the clerics, as I have better spells to toss around. Haste is a great boost to both casters and melee characters, Slow neuters the multiple attacks most low-will characters have, and Stinking Cloud is my pick for battlefield control.

And... uh... Fireball.

 

[Shin Okada]

This is a hard question as spell choices for 5+ level wizards are almost indefinite.

But if you say "memorize", I don't recommend something does not need saves. When a wizard has at least above average wealth, he can make a lot of scrolls. Most situational spells and spells without saves should better be wrote into scrolls, than to be memorized (Who does not maka a scroll of Dispel Magic or two?). His slots should be left for something he can use his intelligence score as advantage.

So, I say Fireball or Slow.

Deep Slumber is not bad, too. But this spell affects on relatively smaller number of creatures comparing to the first 2 spells. Hold Person is good too but as Cleric can use this spell, a party wizard should better have other spell for tactical variety. Suggestion is language dependent and I found so many things does not understand common. Lightning Bolt is strong but in so many cases "burst" is better than "line".

 

[the Jester]

It really depends on the group's makeup and mission. Is there a cleric who can take care of the dispels? I voted for fly, suggestion and lightning bolt.

 

[EvilGM]

Haste gives your side the edge in close battles.

Suggestion for numerous reasons.

Stinking cloud for battlefield control.

There are a lot of nice 3rd level spells that all wizards should have in their books (in addition to those above): Fly, Tongues, Dispel Magic, Shrink Item, Fireball or Lightning Bolt

 

[Nail]

Just to give this thread a bit more juice: I'd like to talk about spells that have been mentioned that are actually terrible choices, given the purpose of this thread. And boy-howdy, have there been a few:

• Deep Slumber: Ouch! This is would be a terrible choice for the non-specialist, general purpose, wizard's memorized spell list. Range is only close, and the limit is only 10 HD....and by 7th level (EL 7+), things are gonna have more hit dice. Moreover, many challenges at this level are unaffected by this type of magic. Sorry: bad choice. There are far better ones for the purpose of taking out an enemy or two.
  
  
• Gaseous Form: a decent spell...for only a very few contigencies. This isn't a great "escape spell" unless the stage is set just right. You gain DR 10/magic...but at this level, things may very well have magic weapons. You can pass thru cracks...but at a move of 10ft (no run), bad guys will get quite a few swings at you while yer workin' on that. And, meanwhile, you can't cast any spells or attack in any way. Result: a good spell, but just not useful enough in enough settings to make it a good "all-around" spell.
  
  
• "Open Slot" Generally speaking, its a bad idea for your highest level spell slots. Sure the flexibility is nice...as long as you have the warning and ample time to prepare. A Wiz 7 simply doesn't have enough slots of his highest level to waste them on open slots. When he needs a 3rd level spell (his highest!), he needs it now.
  
  
• Arcane Sight Wah? This spell, given a Wiz 7, lasts 7 minutes. That's simply not enough time to be useful as an "advance detect" sort of spell. IOW, your Wiz 7 doesn't have this up and running all the time. Instead, this is a spell you use when you already know something's up...and frankly, it's not all that helpful in a battle. During combat, you'd also like your allies to see what you can see; Gitterdust (2nd level!) or Dispel Magic is by far a better spell for much of what Arcane Sight would do. The rest can be taken care of (out of combat) with a Detect Magic.
  
  
• Haste: I think people are picking it because of what it did in 3.0e. Have you looked over the spell since then? Bottom Line: +30 speed, +1 attack, +1 AC, and an extra attack with a full attack action. That's good, true, but it's not good enough. Those bonuses are useless to spell casters, like wizard and clerics....and in an average party, that's half the party members! Also: While your casting Haste, you could have been casting some of the real bread-and-butter of the Wiz/Sor 3rd level spell list: Fireball, Fly, Slow, Stinking Cloud, and Summon Monster III, to name a few. Okay, I'm reaching a bit on this one.......

Responses?

 

[Scion]

hey nail

as I stated in my first post I picked: haste, slow, summon monster 3.

Slow is good all around for various combats, but some battles it wont help with.

Summon monster 3 is just good for every type of situation that might come up.

Haste however, it works in situations where the others arent of much help.

First of all, it works on the whole party. Big buffer! Along with that it grants extra mobility, extra ability to hit people, extra ac, and an extra attack at times. Everyone gets something from it. The caster types can move around more if they need to and avoid more attacks, those who like to attack (even the cleric fits in here) has better defenses and better attacking power.

All around it is just a good spell. Mainly because everyone gets some sort of boost out of it and it works in situations where slow would not be nearly as effective (having both means that for a single battle, if it is really big, you can swing things incredibly in favor of your party.. whereas having two slows memorized would not necissarily do so).

And, most importantly, it makes your summon monster better

 

[Shard O'Glase]

I went with slow and I also like GMW at 7th its only +1 but 1 level more and its a +2 that lasts for 8 hours. I really like this in the golf bag style games I've been in, it allows the players to focus on 1 weapon for imporvements but buff up a non imporved DR penetrating weapon on the fly. So 8+ I like this spell.

And by the way maybe its just my games but any 1 round cast spell is virtually useless at these levels. They seem to make they guy who is already a high priority target the virtually guaranteed target for that round. If some spellcaster is chanting for entire round I'm expecting something impresive and I want to stop that, and if it ends up that the spellcaster not only survives but makes his/her concentration check and the spell summons some punk SM3 monster that most CR appropriate threats don't even consider a speedbump its just sad.

Like I said maybe its how we play our games but 1 round cast time spells should be bad assed in comparison to other spells of that level and at least with the SM line they aren't.

 

[ForceUser]

Dispel Magic is the only slam dunk; the rest are too situational. That said, every wizard should be toting around a wand of fireballs. When all else fails, apply damage. Repeatedly.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Not enough love for Fireball, surprisingly. It's absolutely the key wizard spell at that level doing what only wizards (yeah OK and druids but not at that level) can do - mass take out.

Fireball - When you absolutely, positively gotta kill every mutha-er inna room.

 

[RuminDange]

I voted for:
Fireball Got to have a good damage to lots of things spell. And fireball tends to be the most common.
Blink or Displacement either of these tend to be very good at defense for a spellcaster. I've seen a Blink spell drive a 36th level PC crazy, since as a Rgr/Sorc/Arcane Archer he never took things like dispel magic so he could never attack the BBEG and he was alone after the BBEG tore up the other PC helping in with a critical from a very very bad sword and sneak attack.
Dispel Magic or Fly If you have a cleric or not having dispel magic can make a big difference, if you have scrolls or a wand of dispel magic, then I'd go with Fly.

RD