What spells are you bored with?

[JoeBlank]

I don't understand why everyone complains about magic missile. I can see where some might find it a little powerful for first level, but I don't get complaining about overuse.

MM is the basic arcane damage spell. I never hear anyone say "Your fighter attacks with his longsword again? Okay, but I'm getting bored of that attack."

Playing a sorcerer, if I could find a spell on my list that was helpful to the situation at hand I would use it. If not, I would attack with MM. Sort of like if the fighter sees the need for a bull rush, charge, or grapple then he would do that, if not he just attacks with his sword.

To answer the question, I guess I don't play enough to be bored with any particular spell. The idea of daily buffs bores me, but 3.5 took care of most of those.

 

[diaglo]

I don't understand why everyone complains about magic missile...

b/c you can't attack the Darkness without someone giggling.

 

[MerakSpielman]

But JoeBlank, when you build a fighter, you get to pick from a dozen different weapons to be your primary attack. Once you get bored with longswords, greatswords, etc..., you have plenty of choices for your new, first-level fighters to start out with.

Magic missile is so common, every single wizard has it, unless evocation is forbidden. There are no alternative first level ranged attack spells to choose from.

 

[Voadam]

Magic missile. I hate d4s. I dislike how much better it is than any other core 1st level damage spell (range, no miss, force for incorporeals, no save, no energy resistance).

Burning hands thankfully now has more punch until 9th level but shocking grasp is just left behind, even as a martial artist Eldrtich Knight I find myself thinking of it as a waste of a spell choice.

The lesser orb spells from T&B are a good alternative to MM but add a lot of dice rolling. Making them conj with no sr in the miniatures handbook was just over the top.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Detect Magic - every caster ends up with 0 level slots full of this. I'd much prefer it was a 'gimme' ability for spell casters, or something you could do with the spellcraft skill.

 

[the Jester]

Bull's strength, cat's grace, bull's endurance, eagle's splendor, fox's cunning. Not owl's wisdom, I can't recall ever having seen that one cast.

 

[DaveStebbins]

My problem with magic missile, fireball and most other evocations is that they take away from the classic heroic fantasy feel I'd like to have in my game.

When I think back to the classics of fantasy literature (insert your own list, but nothing done in the last two-and-a-half decades), I remember enchanters, necromancers, conjurers, etc.; but no one tossing fireballs.

So (start static-filled sounds of a recording which has been played too often) in the campaign I'm working on, I'm eliminating most evocations. I compensate wizards and sorcerers by letting them specialize in any other school for free (essentially, they all specialize with evocation as their opposition school - haven't figured out yet if I'll require a second opposition school per 3.5 rules). This gives the game a very different feel, without warping the rules beyond recognition. Since it is based upon an existing mechanic, I'm pretty sure it will balance out OK too.

So, yeah, I'm a little tired of the direct damage spells too. For me, it goes way back; I can roll up characters just fine, but if I roll a bunch of d6 for a lightning bolt and get higher than average damage, it's a red letter day and the bards sing of it for months. Seriously, I have sucked at rolling damage for those spells for well over twenty years. So, my current PC in a soon-to-be restarted campaign is a specialist conjurer with evocation as one of his opposition schools.

-Dave

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Detect Magic - every caster ends up with 0 level slots full of this. I'd much prefer it was a 'gimme' ability for spell casters, or something you could do with the spellcraft skill.

That's how I use it. Detect (and Read) Magic are just innate abilities all mages get. I rule that wizards and sorcerers are so attuned to magic they just get this ability for free. Though I rather like your Spellcraft idea. About time that skill got some use...

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

So (start static-filled sounds of a recording which has been played too often) in the campaign I'm working on, I'm eliminating most evocations. I compensate wizards and sorcerers by letting them specialize in any other school for free

I like this idea. Fits the flavor of my world (magic's banned or at least weakened by the gods after some old mages messed up the world terribly) more than my previous idea, which was ban magic altogether and use psionics instead. I think I'll do this...

 

[Will]

In 3.5 at least, I usually grab up all the spells I can under Permanency. Detect magic, see invisibility, arcane eye... Innate magic? Effectively, you betcha!

This sort of falls under the boredom factor, though, since the playing field shifts in fairly predictable ways.