Your Favorite Fun/Creative Spells

[shadow_archmagi]

So, fireball. It burns things. Biig whoop.

Wall Of Stone+Stone Shape (or fabricate), on the other hand, means instant anything at all so long as it's made out of rocks. Chairs, fortifications, whole houses... ACME 10 ton bricks to drop onto foes... creepy statues...

What spells do you use in your games for perhaps unintended consequences?

[monty]

Silent Image. Possibly the most versatile first-level spell ever, even without Shadowcheese Mage. If you can't use it in a given situation, you're not being creative enough. Well, unless your opponent can see through illusions.

[Xuincherguixe]

Really when you have power limited only by your imagination, your imagination is the limit.

This is kind of the principle behind the Batman Wizard.

That being said... how about silent image over the roof of the dungeon. Suddenly it looks like the sky has opened up, and something giant and terrible is flying down at terrific speed, and it wants to kill the monsters. This works best if there's actually somewhere you want to lead the monsters too. Or, you give them the option to surrender and you'll spare their lives.

Rock to Mud -> Mud to Rock is always a good combination. Though there's the problem of that it doesn't work on cut stone. If there were some way you could make your own mud though it could be potentially game breaking.

Even if you just get the monsters feet, they can't move. Hit them with a cloud kill. Or just stand back and throw rocks (generated by your mud!) at them till they die. This would probably even work against magic immune enemies since your not technically casting a spell on them. You're casting it on the mud they're covered in.

[Starscream]

I second Silent Image. Illusion spells in general are limited only by the creativity of the caster.

Prestidigitation has many uses. It's probably my favorite cantrip.

Unseen Servant is likewise very fun.

Imagine fighting a dragon who is unaware that as the two of you duke it out several Unseen Servants are behind it, unheard over the battle and filling your bag of holding with the contents of its hoard (they can each lift 20 lbs or 1000gp at a time). As you run low on HP the bag flies to your hand and you teleport the heck out of there.

[rokar4life]

well, my favorite use for silent image is to create an illusion of an incarnation of an enemies deity, and making him/them suicide/mass suicide.

also jump is a lot of fun.

[DaltonTrigger]

I had a group of players that had disassembled, relocated, and reassembled a trap that shoots a gout of flame flamethrower style. I, being the party wizard, used Silent Image to lure a bunch of monsters into it by making an illusionary Me on the other end of the hallway. They came after "me", tripped the wire, and got flamethrower to the face.

[Tyrmatt]

Mage Hand and Ghost Sound. I've used these two to get out of having a knife at my throat though only because my DM was so impressed at my reasoning. I sounded a knock at the door of the room we were in and the attacker turned away to look at the door. Then I used Mage Hand to propel a knife from the rogues belt on the table into the back of his head. The DM asked me to prove that this was possible.
I actually did the calculations of force and accelleration based on the weight of the knife. Turns out it's REALLY easy to kill a person :/
My DM ruled it as fair enough since the guy was just a mook. I knew that trick would never work on a more plot important enemy. And really, the rogue was supposed to wriggle his way out of the ropes after the guy left the room and we would fight our way downstairs. In essence, I bought a free surprise round with that trick :p

[DaltonTrigger]

I think that you're not supposed to be able to deal damage with Mage Hand. If I was DMing I wouldn't allow it.. or if I did, it wouldn't go beyond the power of Ray of Frost

[Bayar]

Although it is a metamagic feat, invisible spell is just awesome !

Summon invisible monsters !
Cast invisible grease and watch the enemies fall down like random !
Cast invisible invisibility and then debate on the actual effect !

[Athaniar]

Mud to Rock is an interesting spell, with interesting potential. Just make sure your opponent is drenched in mud (using a trap is a good way), then cast your Mud to Rock, and hope that the guy has a bad Reflex save.

EDIT: Then you could make money by calling your statues-with-squishy-cores modern art. Flawless!

[shadzar]

Stone shape + invisibility

-Walk through the open doorway.
-Stoneshape the opening into a wall
-Make the new portion invisible so it looks as it did
-Stand there and watch bad guys run toward you and go SPLAT into the wall.

:smallbiggrin:

Oh and stone to flesh (reverersible)

Transmute a bunch of wall space or floor space into flesh just to disgust people!

[arguskos]

I like the cantrip Stick. It makes stuff stick to other stuff. For example, use it to stick a sign on the back of the gnome that reads "Barbarians suck!". Try using Stick to plant Alchemist's Fire or Acid in certain places that you can then shoot with a bow, breaking the vials and triggering a dead-fall.

Oh, and the classic: use Light on someone's eyeballs. At best, you now look awesome. At worst, they're blind. (Try it on the druid's animal companion for laughs).

[Eldan]

Well, apart from Cantrip and Illusions, our Mindbender was fond of using his Telepathy for only one purpose: sneaking up on guards and then yelling
"I AM YOUR GOD!" into their minds.

[Cespenar]

Buy (or craft) a colossal-size Repeating Heavy Crossbow and a heap of True Strike scrolls. Then, shoot people at as far as 720 ft. with no penalty for... 6d8 damage? Nice at low levels, at least. Should one-shot most people below level 3-4.

[Evilfeeds]

ACME 10 ton bricks to drop onto foes...

Offtopic, but I believe the default ACME weighting has been standardized to 16 tons. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW0QNW4jKnY)

[Gauntlet]

Rather than craft the colossal crossbow and all, couldn't you just buy some Colossal crossbow bolts and use Launch bolt (0-level spell in the SpC) to fire them?

on-topic, Phantom Steed is surprisingly good, and Silent Image is always great- my personal favorite is illusions of Prismatic Wall/Prismatic Sphere. Nobody's going to test that thing if they have a decent Intelligence.

[Zergrusheddie]

Well, apart from Cantrip and Illusions, our Mindbender was fond of using his Telepathy for only one purpose: sneaking up on guards and then yelling
"I AM YOUR GOD!" into their minds.

I played a Beguiler and dropped into Mindbender just for the telepathy. It was mostly used for scouting situations, but the DM wanted me to play a Trickster type character because I was a Gnome Beguiler.

I managed to stalk a random guy and telepathically tell him that his parents never loved him, that he wasn't really going insane, that his wife was cheating on him, and that he would eventually have a statue made of him. The statue thing was just to get him confused of why a voice in his head was telling him such things. The DM rolled to see if the Guy-on-the-Street was someone important and it turned out to be the mayor. He later would hang himself in his office. The funny thing is that the DM was planning to have a very small side mission where we have to follow someone into a cave to see any "evil activity" and it would turn out to be the mayor's wife cheating on him, so he had his suspicions anyway. He of course had a statue made of him over his grave to memorialize him. Orthos the Beguiler went from True Neutral to Chaotic Neutral that session...

[Zhalath]

Our Dm gave 0 level spells unlimited uses. My halfling sorcerer proceeded to use mage hand for everything.

"You want an ale?"
"My character mage hands it over."

"I pickpocket from the roof with mage hand."

"You see a trigger."
"I'll mage hand it."

After getting Tenser's floating disk, or something similar, I just floated around on that and used mage hand.

[Gnorman]

Our Dm gave 0 level spells unlimited uses. My halfling sorcerer proceeded to use mage hand for everything.

"You want an ale?"
"My character mage hands it over."

"I pickpocket from the roof with mage hand."

"You see a trigger."
"I'll mage hand it."

After getting Tenser's floating disk, or something similar, I just floated around on that and used mage hand.

With this kind of utility, I honestly wonder why every wizard (or to a lesser extent, sorcerers) in D&D isn't just fat as all hell.

[Bayar]

With this kind of utility, I honestly wonder why every wizard (or to a lesser extent, sorcerers) in D&D isn't just fat as all hell.

They burn calories when casting spells.

[Gnorman]

They burn calories when casting spells.

How strenuous of an activity is that, though? A few words, a few gestures, and boom! MAGIC!

Caloric use and thermodynamics don't really apply here.

Besides, it's much funnier to imagine every wizard as a hideously obese guy in a gigantic robe, threatening to break his own floating disc underneath his considerable bulk. Folds of fat all spilling over the side.

It's just too funny not to do.

[The_JJ]

I had a friend get inventive with chemistry classes, elemental wall, and alkali metal during a sea based campaign.

Then the three mages use create and shape to out with a functioning submarine, with potassium tipped torpedos.

[Starscream]

Besides, it's much funnier to imagine every wizard as a hideously obese guy in a gigantic robe, threatening to break his own floating disc underneath his considerable bulk. Folds of fat all spilling over the side.

So, Discworld type wizards? They love their big dinners.

[Greengiant]

How strenuous of an activity is that, though? A few words, a few gestures, and boom! MAGIC!

Caloric use and thermodynamics don't really apply here.

Besides, it's much funnier to imagine every wizard as a hideously obese guy in a gigantic robe, threatening to break his own floating disc underneath his considerable bulk. Folds of fat all spilling over the side.

It's just too funny not to do.

My wizard when I'm not DMing and playing with my friends is 5'2'', 340 lbs, horribly lazy, and a compulsive liar, add in str 8, and int 22, it's just hilarious.

[chiasaur11]

So, Discworld type wizards? They love their big dinners.

Well, Ridcully does too, and he and Rhincewind manage to stay in shape.

Mainly due to running in fear on the part of the latter, but still.

[Ceric]

Our druid used Heat Metal on the frying pan to make scrambled eggs. That was a fairly useless campaign--we just ran around a lot. :smallbiggrin:

[Zhalath]

With this kind of utility, I honestly wonder why every wizard (or to a lesser extent, sorcerers) in D&D isn't just fat as all hell.

My halfling worked out with immovable rods. :smallamused:

[Kurald Galain]

What spells do you use in your games for perhaps unintended consequences?

+1 for Silent Image, and indeed the entire illusion line that comes with it.

Any telekinesis effect, too.

[Farlion]

With this kind of utility, I honestly wonder why every wizard (or to a lesser extent, sorcerers) in D&D isn't just fat as all hell.

Well Farlion here was up and running away from most danger anyway, so yeah, exercise enough. Besides, the barbarian in our group always bullied me around, stealing my food, so poor Farlion didn't have too much to eat either.

To the Spell: Illusions. The limit is your imagination.

Run away from a horde of goblins, take the bridge over a mile deep canion. Turn the bridge invisible and use silent image to place another one, just 5 feet to the left of it.

Result: Lemmingoblins!

Cheers,
Farlion

[Bayar]

How strenuous of an activity is that, though? A few words, a few gestures, and boom! MAGIC!

Caloric use and thermodynamics don't really apply here.

Besides, it's much funnier to imagine every wizard as a hideously obese guy in a gigantic robe, threatening to break his own floating disc underneath his considerable bulk. Folds of fat all spilling over the side.

It's just too funny not to do.

Somatic components, lad.

Want to cast fireball ? Flex your muscles.
Cast silent image ? Do a push-up.
Casting genesis ? Prepare for a Rocky style montage.

[Quietus]

Somatic components, lad.

Want to cast fireball ? Flex your muscles.
Cast silent image ? Do a push-up.
Casting genesis ? Prepare for a Rocky style montage.

Next thing you know, you'll have Wizards casting Lightning Bolts from their behinds, to the tune of whatever bad song they played on those old "Buns of steel" videos.

[Radar]

Next thing you know, you'll have Wizards casting Lightning Bolts from their behinds, to the tune of whatever bad song they played on those old "Buns of steel" videos.
"Le Petomane" wizard? :smallconfused:

Also this (http://www.thenoobcomic.com/index.php?pos=305).

As for the spells: Prestidigitation is all around utility spell. Wood and Stone Shape are also high on my list. Why bother with picking a difficult lock? Make a hole in the door. :smallbiggrin:

[Chronos]

It's good to see some of the old classics here (Prestidigitation, Silent Image, Mage Hand), but my favorite is still Reverse Gravity. Mobility trap, heavy artillery, perpetual motion machines, floating castles, you name it.

Another one nobody's mentioned yet is Shrink Object. I think its intent was to let you carry big, bulky objects around (like the Far Side cowboy with a piano in his back pocket, instead of a harmonica), and it's good for that, but that's only the beginning. Take souvenirs. Get obstacles out of your way. Throw Colossal darts, or boulders, at people. And it lasts for days, so you can get plenty of use out of it on adventures using last week's spell slots.

[Zhalath]

Oooh, the StoneShape/WoodShape reminded me of another one:
disintegrate

Wish the halfling had gotten high enough level, because that would probably be the first thing he gets at that level.
I can visualize it now...

"You can't open the door with mage hand."
"Disintegrate."

"The rogue broke off the pick in the lock."
"I'll disintegrate it off."

"The barkeep is having trouble opening another keg of ale for you."
"Stand aside, I have disintegrate."

"You see some pretty women."
"Disinte-"
"No."

[theboredone]

Ok not so sure about desintegrate but my favorite is magic missile. Used right you can do nearly anything with this.

Stuck in a hallway with people chasing you?
Shoot the support beam and have the entire hallway fall in between you and them.

Need some thing opened?
Blast it.

Need something killed? It never misses.

[monty]

Ok not so sure about desintegrate but my favorite is magic missile. Used right you can do nearly anything with this.

Stuck in a hallway with people chasing you?
Shoot the support beam and have the entire hallway fall in between you and them.

Need some thing opened?
Blast it.

Need something killed? It never misses.

It also doesn't affect objects.

[theboredone]

Hmm. might have to think on that. My group used to play that as long as it didnt cause the destruction of a city or the universe magic missle could affect anything.

The logic was this. Magic will not destroy itself. so it will not do anything that causes its own destruction like say the desemation of the universe.

[Zhalath]

The logic was this. Magic will not destroy itself. so it will not do anything that causes its own destruction like say the desemation of the universe.

Qhat about antimagic field and dispel magic? Those are cases of magic weakening magic. Or disjunction, which is the destruction of magic.

[theboredone]

weakning yes. Destroying no. For dispel magic if i remember correctly to go with it all it was more of a counter redirecting ot just stopping the spell. I might be remembering afew things incoorectly it was a while ago. about 1-1.5 years. im looking for my notes from it right now.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hmm. might have to think on that. My group used to play that as long as it didnt cause the destruction of a city or the universe magic missle could affect anything.

The logic was this. Magic will not destroy itself. so it will not do anything that causes its own destruction like say the desemation of the universe.

The spell says pretty explicitly it doesn't affect objects.

You're also being absurd here. Magic is completely able to destroy magic. Disjunction does exactly that, in fact!

[monty]

Uncle says: Magic must defeat magic!

[theboredone]

Thank you I was mistaken. I apologize for any earlier rudness. I miss read the 3.0 edition rules of "Magic missle does not damage an object." to were you dont damage it but it can be moved and such. The things I said were wrong and I hope you forgive me.

[Zhalath]

Thank you I was mistaken. I apologize for any earlier rudness. I miss read the 3.0 edition rules of "Magic missle does not damage an object." to were you dont damage it but it can be moved and such. The things I said were wrong and I hope you forgive me.

Don't worry, just a little mistake.
I used to think it took a whole round to cast summon monster, and then some, so that you finish on the next turn. Oh wait...

[yilduz]

One of my favorite spells is Spider Climb. I don't really do a whole lot of interesting stuff with it, but it has been incredibly useful for my rogue/illusionist. One of the things I like about it so much, though, is its material component. In order to cast the spell, the subject must eat a spider. This character doesn't like spiders, he has kind of a phobia with them, so eating a spider to cast a spell that is often used to help him escape situations can be interesting.

I also like unseen servant. The campaign started on a cold, rainy night... so my character cast unseen servant and had it carry a blanket above his head until he got to where he was going.

[TheCountAlucard]

Besides, the barbarian in our group always bullied me around, stealing my food, so poor Farlion didn't have too much to eat either.No! Assert yourself, and become the Rapist! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O6rxb9XO1Y)

Technically not a spell, but... in the 3.5 game I run, the Warlock recently picked up the ability to Spider Climb. While it doesn't have a million-and-one uses, it's still something he frequently makes use of.

Also not a spell, but definitely creative... the Warlock contributed in the creation of some Dust of Dryness, and was given some as a sign of thanks. I was explaining to the player just what it did, and how when it was in marble form, it would instantly restore all that water upon breaking... and the player asked me what the AC was on a red dragon's mouth in mid-breath. :smallamused: