Your favorite unusual spells

[krissbeth]

It's not a combat spell but I'm quite looking forward to using Mark of the Outcast at some point. I already know which bane of the party's existence I want to use it on...

 

[Asmo]

I forget the name. Maybe 'Vile Revenge' or something. It is in the Book of Vile Darkness. It is the spell that rips off the victim's hand and the hand begins to choke the victim! That is hardcore!

That´s hands off...err...down, the coolest spell I ´ve ever heard of! Wicked!

Asmo

 

[Nifft]

Not a spell, but rather a psionic power: time hop -- the most fun and useful power my Telepath had -- best when used on doors, locks, tables...

Cheers, -- N

 

[Felon]

Vortex of Teeth (Druid 4, Sorc/Wiz 4) has one of the best illustrations ever, and it's not a terrible spell either. It makes a 40' radius 20' high cylinder of magical force piranhas that eat everything for 3d8 damage/round @ rds/lvl. The best part? Entangle also just happens to have a 40' radius....

Has a nice little safe zone in the middle so a caster can spin it around himself. No save against the damage either. Man, this would be a really great spell if the damage scaled with caster level at all.

 

[I'm A Banana]

BoVD has some AWESOME spells, a lot of them cribbed from d20 Call of Cthluhu. Soul's Treasure Lost obliterates your most precious posession. Similarly, and more insidiously, Love's Pain actually targets the loved one of your target, damaging them...hehehee. Mindrape sounds utterly unpleasant.

I like the Death Urge power from the XPH, since making my enemies kill themselves is so much more fun than having to kill them myself.

Clutch of Orcus: if it kills your target, their steaming heart appears in your hand. Delicious! Heartclutch is similar.

Distort Summons is pretty unpleasant for the druid or good cleric or conjurer: suddenly, the critter that appears is evil and he won't obey your commands!

 

[Felon]

BoVD has some AWESOME spells, a lot of them cribbed from d20 Call of Cthluhu. Soul's Treasure Lost obliterates your most precious posession. Similarly, and more insidiously, Love's Pain actually targets the loved one of your target, damaging them...hehehee. Mindrape sounds utterly unpleasant.

I like the Death Urge power from the XPH, since making my enemies kill themselves is so much more fun than having to kill them myself.

Clutch of Orcus: if it kills your target, their steaming heart appears in your hand. Delicious! Heartclutch is similar.

Well, BoVD has awesome-sounding spells. Their effects are actually pretty lousy for their level. Clutch of Orcus, for instance is just a hold person that requires concentartion to maintain. It originally only did 1d3 damage per round, so the chance of actually getting that heart was pretty low. At SC raised to d12, but it's not as good as just throwing hold person and then following it up with a coup de grace.

 

[TheCrazyMuffinMan]

Command.

1. Cleric in back casts it, saying "Approach", and getting in position with his move action.
2: Party gets in position for maximum effectiveness, if possible.
3. The target approaches you on his turn, getting AoO'd by everyone in between, and advancing as much as possible in order to approach you.
4. ???
5. Profit.

Success is limited by the dice, but highly probable (assuming I'm not missing anything).

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Vitrification, from Arcana Evolved. The name is cool. The victim turns to glass.

Paper Tigers, from Eldritch Sorcery (Necromancer Games). You take origami tigers and they become real. Then they bite!

Familiar Pocket, originally introduced in Tome and Blood. Both for the chuckle factor (Hey, is your pocket your "familiar"? Or just what's in it?) and the shear cowardice that spell caters to (I wanna familiar! At no risk! Wah.).

 

[I'm A Banana]

Well, BoVD has awesome-sounding spells. Their effects are actually pretty lousy for their level. Clutch of Orcus, for instance is just a hold person that requires concentartion to maintain. It originally only did 1d3 damage per round, so the chance of actually getting that heart was pretty low. At SC raised to d12, but it's not as good as just throwing hold person and then following it up with a coup de grace.

Psychological balancing factor.

I'm more about the cool factor than the power factor when it comes to magic spells for my villains. Both is ideal, but I'm not going to ignore something that lets the local evil villain utter a few words and then be holding the steaming heart of a maiden in love just because it'd be more EFFICIENT to hold person + coup de grace.

I mean, if you can't be stylishly villainous, what's the point?

 

[Felix]

Nystul's Magic Aura
"Why no, officer, I'm not carrying anything magical." Because who really bothers to Identify everything when a cursory sweep of Detect Magic tells you what to loot.

Illusory Script
The world's best offensive utility spell. It creates a days-lasting Suggestion-inflicting item that can be used as many times as you can put it in someone's hands.

Leomund's Tiny Hut
Should really be "Leomund's Heavy Weapons' Camouflaged Bunker". The best defense against being targeted by anything or anyone.