Saeviomagy
Adventurer
Plane Sailing said:
Well, one of the biggies is that it doesn't appear to protect against spell-like abilities, which most monsters use in lieu of real spells.
What 7th-level spells should any Wizard prepare?
- Thread starter dcollins
- Start date
Well, one of the biggies is that it doesn't appear to protect against spell-like abilities, which most monsters use in lieu of real spells.
Prismatic Spray - Many times it won't do much, but it is still a fun spell to use - and occasionally has spectacular results.
Greater Teleport - Long range mobility is a good thing.
Reverse Gravity - No SR or save (basically), shapeable area, good range. Removes creatures from the fight and holds them up in the air for you to pick off at your leisure. Great spell. I think many people don't understand the power of this spell (hint: limit the area's height so they don't hit a solid object)
Ethereal Jaunt and Limited Wish are handy at times, but I would not prepare them daily.
Greater Teleport - Long range mobility is a good thing.
Reverse Gravity - No SR or save (basically), shapeable area, good range. Removes creatures from the fight and holds them up in the air for you to pick off at your leisure. Great spell. I think many people don't understand the power of this spell (hint: limit the area's height so they don't hit a solid object)
Ethereal Jaunt and Limited Wish are handy at times, but I would not prepare them daily.
Elder-Basilisk
First Post
My votes:
Finger of Death, Mage's Magnificent Mansion, and Summon Monster VII
Why?
Finger of Death is a very good spell for removing living enemies from the field. There's usually a moderate chance that it'll remove them completely, and if it doesn't, it still does a reasonable amount of damage--especially at level 16+ (3d6+16=average of 27). It's not as good as Destruction but it's pretty close.
Mage's Magnificent Mansion is the ultimate in home security. It can't be scried, can't be teleported, and can't be entered without your permission. As a 16th level mage, you undoubtedly have powerful enemies. This spell limits their options when attacking you. That's easily worth a 7th level spell slot for a 16th level wizard.
Summon Monster VII is a very good and flexible spell. For battlefield damage, a celestial elephant trampling will inflict more damage than anything except a firestorm--and more than a firestorm if it survives for more than a few rounds. Elementals are good meat shields Djinni, Avoral, bone devils, and babau all have a lot of uses and even its multiple lower level options (1d3 celestial polar bears or Bralani Eladrin, giant constrictor snakes, or celestial dire lions, or 1d4+1 hound archons, celestial brown bears, bearded devils, etc. are very useful options.
As for the competitors:
Limited Wish is very useful but the 250xp cost makes it hard to justify having it prepped every day. It's very good but not something you want to cast on a daily basis.
Forcecage is even more expensive. Useful but too much of a corner case to keep prepped all the time.
Prismatic Spray has some potential good effects but is too random for my liking. Sure, it could turn your foes to stone or send them to hell but it could also do 20 points of fire damage, save for half. Not so impressive.
Spell Turning has too short a duration to be useful when you're not expecting trouble. It's handy if you are, there are quite a few other nice buffs you could use. Ones with more general utility.
Reverse Gravity seems a bit too dependent upon the situation. Flying foes are more common at 16th level than undead/constructs. Good spell, but I don't know as I'd prep it every day.
Finger of Death, Mage's Magnificent Mansion, and Summon Monster VII
Why?
Finger of Death is a very good spell for removing living enemies from the field. There's usually a moderate chance that it'll remove them completely, and if it doesn't, it still does a reasonable amount of damage--especially at level 16+ (3d6+16=average of 27). It's not as good as Destruction but it's pretty close.
Mage's Magnificent Mansion is the ultimate in home security. It can't be scried, can't be teleported, and can't be entered without your permission. As a 16th level mage, you undoubtedly have powerful enemies. This spell limits their options when attacking you. That's easily worth a 7th level spell slot for a 16th level wizard.
Summon Monster VII is a very good and flexible spell. For battlefield damage, a celestial elephant trampling will inflict more damage than anything except a firestorm--and more than a firestorm if it survives for more than a few rounds. Elementals are good meat shields Djinni, Avoral, bone devils, and babau all have a lot of uses and even its multiple lower level options (1d3 celestial polar bears or Bralani Eladrin, giant constrictor snakes, or celestial dire lions, or 1d4+1 hound archons, celestial brown bears, bearded devils, etc. are very useful options.
As for the competitors:
Limited Wish is very useful but the 250xp cost makes it hard to justify having it prepped every day. It's very good but not something you want to cast on a daily basis.
Forcecage is even more expensive. Useful but too much of a corner case to keep prepped all the time.
Prismatic Spray has some potential good effects but is too random for my liking. Sure, it could turn your foes to stone or send them to hell but it could also do 20 points of fire damage, save for half. Not so impressive.
Spell Turning has too short a duration to be useful when you're not expecting trouble. It's handy if you are, there are quite a few other nice buffs you could use. Ones with more general utility.
Reverse Gravity seems a bit too dependent upon the situation. Flying foes are more common at 16th level than undead/constructs. Good spell, but I don't know as I'd prep it every day.
Sejs
First Post
Voted:
-Limited Wish: this one is obvious, should be memorized all the time because it can do just about anything you need it to.
-Plane Shift: this is the next step up on the escape line of spells. teleport is great and all, but there are some things that absolutly require plane shift to get away from, or otherwise deal with. Generally when they happen you don't have the luxury of swapping out a spell so that you can replace it w/ PS.
Honorable Mentions(great but not a -required- memorize):
-Greater Scrying
-Greater Teleport
-Magnificent Mansion
-Project Image
-Summon Monster 7
-Limited Wish: this one is obvious, should be memorized all the time because it can do just about anything you need it to.
-Plane Shift: this is the next step up on the escape line of spells. teleport is great and all, but there are some things that absolutly require plane shift to get away from, or otherwise deal with. Generally when they happen you don't have the luxury of swapping out a spell so that you can replace it w/ PS.
Honorable Mentions(great but not a -required- memorize):
-Greater Scrying
-Greater Teleport
-Magnificent Mansion
-Project Image
-Summon Monster 7
Marimmar@Home
First Post
Greater Teleport is always good to have, rest at home, have a nice breakfast and then return to the dungeon, a must have for any wizard with style.
When your companions complain about having to sleep in a moist cavern with monsters attacking every other second, mage's mansion comes in very handy.
And as always, force cage is an excellent divide and conquer spell. No save is always nice against monsters at these levels. The high number of hit dice monsters tend to have later in the game pushes their saves through the roof.
~Marimmar
When your companions complain about having to sleep in a moist cavern with monsters attacking every other second, mage's mansion comes in very handy.
And as always, force cage is an excellent divide and conquer spell. No save is always nice against monsters at these levels. The high number of hit dice monsters tend to have later in the game pushes their saves through the roof.
~Marimmar
Malin Genie
First Post
Limited wish, greater scrying, vision and then either grasping hand or summon monster VII for combat.
I think transport and information-gathering are getting more and more important relative to combat by the kind of level where 7th-level spells are being thrown around and most wiz/sors will already have lower-level combat/blast spells which can be metemagicked if more power is needed, rather than wasting 7th-level spell selections on damage dealing.
I think transport and information-gathering are getting more and more important relative to combat by the kind of level where 7th-level spells are being thrown around and most wiz/sors will already have lower-level combat/blast spells which can be metemagicked if more power is needed, rather than wasting 7th-level spell selections on damage dealing.
dcollins
Explorer
Thanks for the responses. Current ordered results (within 50% of top in boldface):
42 Limited Wish
36 Teleport, Greater
22 Spell Turning
19 Forcecage
16 Prismatic Spray
14 Finger of Death
13 Reverse Gravity
10 Delayed Blast Fireball
10 Mage's Magnificent Mansion
10 Summon Monster VII
9 Scrying, Greater
8 Mage's Sword
8 Waves of Exhaustion
7 Banishment
6 Hold Person, Mass
5 Plane Shift
4 Arcane Sight, Greater
4 Ethereal Jaunt
4 Grasping Hand
4 Invisibility, Mass
3 Power Word Blind
3 Project Image
2 Control Undead
2 Control Weather
2 Shadow Conjuration, Greater
2 Statue
1 Insanity
1 Instant Summons
1 Sequester
1 Simulacrum
1 Vision
0 Phase Door
0 Symbol of Stunning
0 Symbol of Weakness
0 Teleport Object
42 Limited Wish
36 Teleport, Greater
22 Spell Turning
19 Forcecage
16 Prismatic Spray
14 Finger of Death
13 Reverse Gravity
10 Delayed Blast Fireball
10 Mage's Magnificent Mansion
10 Summon Monster VII
9 Scrying, Greater
8 Mage's Sword
8 Waves of Exhaustion
7 Banishment
6 Hold Person, Mass
5 Plane Shift
4 Arcane Sight, Greater
4 Ethereal Jaunt
4 Grasping Hand
4 Invisibility, Mass
3 Power Word Blind
3 Project Image
2 Control Undead
2 Control Weather
2 Shadow Conjuration, Greater
2 Statue
1 Insanity
1 Instant Summons
1 Sequester
1 Simulacrum
1 Vision
0 Phase Door
0 Symbol of Stunning
0 Symbol of Weakness
0 Teleport Object
3 Spell slots:
Forcecage
To either trap a single enemy, or give you room to breathe while you keep out multiple enemies.
Teleport, Greater
Because every now and again, you need to be somewhere now, and its worth having at hand.
Open Slot
This gives you the opportunity to put anything you need here given 15 minutes. C'mon dcollins, put "Open Slot" on your polls as an option for what wizards can do with their spells!
Forcecage
To either trap a single enemy, or give you room to breathe while you keep out multiple enemies.
Teleport, Greater
Because every now and again, you need to be somewhere now, and its worth having at hand.
Open Slot
This gives you the opportunity to put anything you need here given 15 minutes. C'mon dcollins, put "Open Slot" on your polls as an option for what wizards can do with their spells!
Similar Threads
