Eldariel
2010-12-02, 02:58 AM
Have you heard of "Spontaneous Domain Casting" from PHBII? Allows you to spontaneously convert spells to domain spells. You could also make yourself a bit stronger a blaster; there's Searing Spell-feat in Sandstorm which allows you to penetrate Fire Resistance and ½ of Fire Immunity for +1 spell level. You could also Divine Metamagic something like Twin Spell, Energy Admixture or Empower Spell to have some fun and make things go Boom.
Unfortunately Web Archive is acting up but once it works, try this (http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=605481); that webpage is a list of Cleric Ranged Attack spells (in other words, the array you have access to before Domains). It's actually rather expansive making me unconvinced you need Domains for that particular purpose.
EDIT: Alright, got it. Too bad the formatting is atrocious (I didn't make it...), but here you go:
Level 1 Spells
Light of Lunia [SC]: 1d6 damage on multiple rays, ranged touches. Deals double damage to evil outsiders and undead, so useful there. Also provides light 30' out. You can fire both Rays the same round for effective double damage, making it quite efficient at 4d6 for level 1 slot vs. Undead or Evil Outsiders. Can't be fired the turn you cast the spell. Free action afterwards tho.
Lantern Light : 1d6 on a ray each turn, 1 ray/2 levels for 1 round/level. Has an abstinence component.
Both have their uses. Lantern Light can be fired immediately, and Light of Lunia is more a provisional thing that you cast before combat. Neither one really scales to do a lot of damage. Light of Lunia bursts a bit better, but really only shines against specific opponents. 10 min/level is a long duration.
Level 2 Spells
[B]Spiritual Weapon [PHB]: The core choice, also in a few domains. not 1d8 force damage + 1 per three caster levels. Quite mediocre damage but it doesn't take actions for it to keep attacking and it lasts round/level, so it's quite useful in that regard. Switches target with Move Action.
Sound Burst [PHB]: 1d8 damage sonic attack that is resisted by spell resistance, and fortitude save prevents them from being stunned. Mostly it's useful for the Stun; the damage is negligible and it's only 1 round Stun to boot.
Deific Vengeance [SC]: 1d6 per two caster levels up to 5d6, or 1d6 per caster level up to 10d6 if the target is undead. Autohits one enemy too! Decent against Undead targets.
Frost Breath [SC]: A cone that deals 1d4 per two caster levels up to 5d4, with a 1-round Daze on failed save. It's alright though the damage is still a bit low. It's nice with Spellwarp Sniper [CSco] for the auto-Daze though.
Light of Mercuria [SC]: Same as Light of Lunia, except 2d6 damage to normal opponents and 4d6 to weak ones. A bunch of ranged touch attacks again.
Alicorn Lance [Silver Marches Web (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20020719a)]: A useful spell: 3d6, and a free Faerie Fire on a ranged touch attack. No save.
Lava Missile [SerpKing]: Kind of like Magic Missile, it always hits for 1d4, plus one missile more every two caster levels (maximum 5). It's fire damage. Unfortunately, has a save for half.
Boneblast : Evil spell that breaks bones. 1d3 Con damage with a save for ½ (rounded down). Meh, too little.
[b]Desiccate [Sand]: 1d6 per two caster levels up to 5d6, and makes target dehydrated! Fort for ½ damage and negates the dehydration. Plants and water elementals take 1d8 per level up to 10d8, while earth elementals take 1d4 per two levels. Dehydration is effectively fatigue; very strong. Anything short of Heal is hardpressed to cure it too so nice (Hydrate-spell from Sandstorm works but it's rarely available).
Knife Spray [DotF]: A really crappy 3.0-only cone spell that does 1d6 + 1/level up to 1d6 + 5 damage. Meh. Reflex for half.
Spores of Vrock : Does damage to things around the caster, a 1d8 immediately, and 1d2 each round for 10 rounds. Then harmlessly covers the target in vines. Fort negates; would be nice if you didn't need to wait FOREVER for it to do its thing. As it stands, way too slow to work in combat.
[b]Darkbolt [LoM, Evil]: Touch attack for 1d8 per two levels up to 5d8, with Fort-or-Stun on hit. Quite useful
Sun Bolt [Shining South]: Does 2d6 damage with doubling vs. Undead, Oozes, Fungi, Molds and Slimes, with Blind for 1 round on a failed Reflex-save. Does triple damage vs. light sensitive undead like Vampires. Quite good with the secondary.
Venomous Volley [DR330]: A cone of 1d6 damage per two caster levels up to 5d6 spell with a Reflex for Half. Hit targets (regardless of save) take -4 on Fort-saves vs. Poison so good with e.g. Poison Spell [Drow of the Underdark] and any melee touch spell, or the spell "Poison" from PHB.
Cloud of Knives [PHBII]: It's a Persistable spell that deals damage every round. You can launch one each round as a *free action*. It only does 1d6 damage + 1 per three levels, maxing at +5, but that's still free damage.
Cloud of Knives is a good base spell to persist, Darkbolt if you are evil, Frost Breath for cones, Alicorn Lance just on level 3 (Faerie Fire is nice), and a billion spells for Undead & Outsiders. Sun Bolt is good against Oozes and the like, and Desiccate has a nice debuff combined with decent damage while absolutely wrecking Plants and Water Elementals.
Level 3 Spells
Searing light [PHB]: 1d8/two levels, 1d6/level to Undead and 1d8/level to light sensitive Undead. Very mediocre outside Light Sensitive Undead and even there, only ~10 more damage than Fireball while being single target.
Darkfire [SC]: It's persistable. 1d6/2 levels up to 5d6 damage per flame, one flame per turn. The spell is unclear whether it takes an action to launch the fire; the fact that you have to throw it suggests it does but the spell does not specify it taking any other actions than casting. If it does not take an action, the spell is excellent. Otherwise, it's mediocre; makes you a Warlock.
Energy Vortex [SC]: 2d8+2/level (maximum 40) damage in a 20ft burst around you, if you allow it a chance to damage yourself; otherwise half that. Get high enough spell resistance, or energy immunity to the type you're dealing and it works out. As a bonus, deals any element of damage.
So yeah, great combo with energy immunities or SR but as it requires high caster level and Spell Resistance is the only decent defense (well, I suppose Spell Immunity or Lesser Globe of Invulnerability might work), it's a bit risky. Still, 2d8+40 is about the same average as 11d8, so it's definitely a good bunch of damage in an AoE for a level 3 spell (unfortunately, Reflex Half).
Light of Venya [SC]: Same as Light of Mercuria and Light of Lunia, except it also can be used to heal instead (1d6+Caster Level with cap on 10, per ray). 12d6 damage to Undead or Evil Outsiders effectively, which is decent. That's about it for this though. 10 min/level is a long duration so free extra burst in the beginning of a fight.
Slashing Darkness [SC]: 1d8/2 levels to maximum of 5d8. Big yawn; just doesn't do much for a level 3 spell. Heals undead. Again, yawn.
Energize Potion [SC]: Costs a potion, deals maximum 3d6 damage for a level 3 slot...yeah, don't bother.
Sword Stream [DotF]: 1d8+1/level (max 10) damage to creatures in a 5' line. Yeah, no.
Clutch of Orcus [SC, Evil]: 1d12 damage per round and target is paralyzed. Requires Concentration and they get a new Fort-save each round to stop the spell. Meh. It does put their smoking heart to your hand if this kills them tho so points for style.
Mystic Lash [MoF, Evil]: 1d8 per two levels up to 5d8 damage dealing whip which you can either wield as a weapon, or let it attack on its own once per turn (1 round/level). Every hit requires Fort save vs. stunned. Nice spell, if very evil, and much more long-term than bursty.
Holy Storm [SC] (and variants): -4 to observation skills and ranged attacks in the area, and 2d6 damage (double to Evil Outsiders) per turn to creatures of opposing alignment. Meh, it's a long duration spell so it has its uses but as it doesn't hinder movement, it's hard to keep people in it.
Rockburst [ShS]: is interesting because it has tactical use on the battlefield, so that's one you should keep a scroll of, but for actual damage, its pretty low...
Ring of blades is okay, it does damage to all the creatures around you... put it on a scroll, its only useful if you are in a war situation where you are going up against a lot of mooks... in that situation, persist it and run around the battlefield dealing death to loads and loads of mooks!
Spiritual Charger is interesting, in that it's critical hit can deal triple damage, and it is a ranged attack, not a ranged touch attack... if you have divine power (and thus have a high bab) up, you might want to consider it... it doesn't have a saving throw... its of limited utility...
Furnace within: this is a nice spell.. have it prepared and you get + 1 fire damage all day, until you cast it. Not bad! It does a good bit of damage too, and, unlike most fire spells... actually damages stuff and sets combustibles on fire! woohoo! Turn yourself into a nice little fireball!
Irian's Light is of limited use. It's basically a Searing Light that does a bit less damage to undead, can fire at multiple undead, and heals instead of harming people. Eh, unless I need the multiple targeting or the ranged healing, I'd go with Searing Light.
what is the winner at this level? DARKFIRE, if you persist it! That gives your cleric a ranged touch attack and a touch attack usable ALL DAY LONG! Woohoo! Next is Furnace Within, but you have to be a dwarf. good thing is, for many cleric builds, that is not a problem!
Level 4 Spells
Hypothermia, Moon Bolt, Divine Storm, Venombolt, Damning Darkness, Stars of Arvandor, shark bolt, boccob's rolling cloud, primal lightning, ice cloud, and bleakness
Hopefully some of those will be somewhat fireball-ish, cause the cleric is really needing something like that...
Hypothermia is nice, like Sound Lance, but can't be dispelled by silence and also fatigues the enemy... also has fortitude for half damage. Does less damage than Sound Lance, though.
Moon Bolt is nice in that it does *strength damage* and autohits, which is very, very nice.
Sound Lance: A good spell to put on a wand, great 'attack one enemy' spell, does 1d8 per caster level up to 10d8. not bad. An update to the 3rd level "Sonic Lance".
Divine Storm is an interesting concept, but is a bit low damage... its a spell that causes a certain area to continuously do damage to beings within it... useful as a deterrant to keep beings from entering an area you don't want them to go, which is nice battlefield control. Pity that its duration is concentration. It can be persisted, though, so if your cleric wants to create some no-mans-land, it will work for that, just do a few castings of that rather than your normal persistant stuff..
Venom bolt... here we go... a nice tactical spell that can affect a large group of beings... just try to do something to get them all in a line, and you'll be golden...its also got a nice secondary effect...
Damning Darkness: If you are evil, cast it on a stone or something and throw the stone in the middle of your enemies, and you have an anti-neutral and anti-good fireball that lasts quite a long time. Pity there isnt a good version of this with light at cleric 4. Celestial brilliance is sort of it, but that only works against undead and evil outsiders, which means its much too narrow for most use.
Stars of Arvandor are okay -- its a spell that, like snilloc's snowball, can do damage over time with multiple ranged touch attacks. Unfortunately, for a level 4 spell, the damage is *pitiful*.. even if you spend 3 stars a round. And its not really worth persisting like the 3rd level ones or other ones either...
Shark Bolt is just a silly spell. It has a description that lasts forever and doesn't seem to do ranged touch attacks, and the idea of floating sharks made of water is just kinda silly to me. Ehhh...
Boccob's Rolling Cloud... ahh... pay dirt... A NICE fireball alternative, that does loads of damage and of great types too!
Primal Lightning affects multiple undead, and deals good damage to them... but it ONLY affects undead... however, if you need a good undead damaging spell at this level, Primal Lightning is where its at.
Ice cloud can only be used on an existing cloud, and is really only good for flight-based encounters, or *maybe* making an existinc "cloud of ___" that's been cast more deadly.
Bleakness is a very evil spell that does 1d6 damage per round to living things, and helps undead... its great if you want to put undead in a room and have them be stronger while they are in the room, if you have it persisted... unfortunately, you can't have this effect *move with you*, which limits its offensive use being persisted. still, its a nice deterrant to have anything living not want to go into a particular area...
What wins here? Boccob's Rolling Cloud, hands down... the cleric finally has a major area of effect big damage spell that can be put on a wand... Muahahahah! Plus, it can be made by a wizard at the same level as a fireball, so it follows the same prices as, say, a wand of fireball... but a cleric can use it! Unfortunately, it, and the 5th level spell, Disk of Concordant Opposition, while great spells, depending on your DM, may only be available to clerics of Boccob. Check with your DM for answers. The cleric also has great spells to put on a wand at high level for blasting one enemy at a time -- hypothermia and sound lance. Finally, for a very evil cleric, bleakness has some nice tactical options...
Level 5 Spells
Flame Strike, Mass Inflict Light Wounds, Dragon Breath, Earth Reaver, Boreal Wind, Frostbite, flaywind burst, parboil, blight, Stonefire, Streamers, Spiritual Cavalry, Lava Splash, and Disk of Concordant Opposition.
Flame strike: What a wonderful core spell we have here. Finally something not from Dragon that can be considered a decent, high-damage fireball. 1d6/caster level up to 15d6.
Mass Inflict Light Wounds: Very low damage for this level, but it is an attack to use on mooks... I would use other, lower level spells to do the same thing, however.
Dragon Breath: OH DEAR LORD, THIS IS PERSISTABLE. nice nice *nice*... a 5th level spell slot and 7 turn attempts to be able to breathe a 15 foot cone of fire (1d8/2 levels up to 10d8, reflex save for half) once every 1d4 rounds? SOLD!! ... I found an interesting combo with this in Dragon 308. There is a cleric 3 spell, also persistable, called "Deadly Spray", that lets you use lightning bolt spells and breath weapons either as the line or as a cone, increasing their tactical utility... with this spell, and using dragon breath as a bronze, black, or blue dragon, you can use cone or line, your choice... VERY nice... unfortunately, you need a feat to be able to get this spell, but the DM might waive that..
Earth Reaver: A good, easy to get spell thats a 'point at a spot and creatures in a 20 radius spread take damage' spell, making it a nice fireball-type. Solid, and a bigger radius than flame strike. Both are good. This doesnt scale.
Boreal Wind: A good scaling spell that does many 1d4 per caster level of damage, and lasts more than one round, continuing to do that damage to any creatures in the area of effect.
Frostbite: A powerful "do lots of damage to one creature" spell... but needs clarification, it says fortitude half, but the text description doesn't mention that. also, though powerful, it doesnt scale. It does ability damage, though.
Flaywind Burst: Good direct damage cone spell, more pure damage than Dragon Breath, and scales better per level than that. Only one big attack, though. Doesnt scale as much or do as much damage as flame strike or disc of concordant opposition.
Parboil: Almost exactly like Frostbite, and offers an insight into what Frostbite should read like... Frostbite should probably read that creatures inside take half ice damage and no ability damage... Parboil and Frostbite are two sides of the same coin, great non-scaling spells that have a chance to do a large amount of ability damage.
Blight: Useful only for attacking plant creatures if used as an attack spell. Good at that, though. 1d6/level up to 15d6.
Stonefire: Burns away stone and does damage to things near to it... eh... tactically good, if you need to cause a cave in, but not for direct damage.
Streamer: This is okay if you have Divine Power up to get a full BAB, since it isnt a touch attack spell -- its useful to make enemies either stop doing anything, making you get free hits in on them, or do them direct damage via the streamers. I wouldnt use it if I didnt have Divine Power up, though, and only if I can get at least two streamers on one thing...
Spiritual Calvalry: A better version of Spiritual Charger, can also knock prone and trample... if I had divine Power up, I would consider using this. I think this is better than Streamer.
Lava Splash: The other side of the coin to Boreal Wind. Both are good. They do about the same thing.
Disk of Concordant Opposition: The only spell other than Flame Strike at this level to do 1d6/caster level up to 15d6. Nice.
Winner: This one depends a bit on what you want to do... Some of the spells scale, some of them don't. In my opinion, most of the scaling ones are probably ultimately better, since they retain their utility. Its surprising that the spells that do the highest damage that scale the most is the core spell. Hmmm... I would suggest sticking with the 1d6/caster level up to 15d6 as well as the ones that do something else, like ability damage or knocking something prone. However, persisting Dragon Breath gets you a WHOLE LOT, and that should definitely be done! Especially if you can persist Deadly Spray and then choose the breath of a Bronze Dragon, for example.
Level 6 Spells
blade barrier, mass inflict moderate wounds, bolt of glory, cometfall, ice flowers, lucent lance, mass frostburn, mass dessicate, whirl of fangs, cloud of the achaierai, thousand needles, Fiery vision, and serpent storm.
Lets see how these look.
Blade Barrier is a good spell that does stuff similar to knife spray and sword stream, but actually REALLY GOOD damage this time, instead of being crappy, and plus, it has more description of the spell, so it can help you figure out how the other spells work.
Mass Inflict Moderate Wounds: Eh, okay, but doesnt deal enough damage to be really good.
Bolt of Glory: Hell yea, scales up to 15d12 damage against the right thing! WOOHOO, talk about all that damage!
Cometfall: A higher level version of Flame Strike, as near as I can tell. As such, that is a good thing.
Ice Flower: Like Earth Reaver, but scales! Woohoo!
Lucent Lance: NICE spell... not just does damage, but also gives a secondary effect... which is important at this level.. it needs a focus of a crystal rod to be cast, so what do you do? Simply put Continual Flame on that crystal rod! does 1d6 per caster level up to 15d6 in bright light, and 1d4 per caster level up to 15d4 in shadowy light...
Mass Frostburn: Only 3d12 + 1/level up to 20... eh, useful for curing cold subtype, but not much else
Mass Dessicate: Good if you want your enemies to be dessicated, which is always useful, but it doesnt do much damage by this level.
Whirl of Fangs: An interesting take on Blade Barrier, with newer rules for it. Nice.
Cloud of the achaierai: Difficult component, but long lasting and causes confusion. Evil, of course.
Thousand Needles: Lasts a long time, gives a pretty big penalty for a while, but does low damage. Evil, of course.
Fiery Vision: THIS IS PERSISTABLE... hehehehe... another damage spell that you can have on all day! Woohoo, with persistant divine metamagic, you can BREATHE ELECTRICITY AND HAVE EYE RAY BEAMS ALL DAY LONG!!!
Serpent Storm: Nice fireball-ish spell that lasts a while, does 1d6 per 2 levels, presumably up to 10d6...
Persistant Fiery Vision + Persistant Holy Star + Persistant Dragon Breath = mobile artillery platform... dear god... I've made Godzilla... just need to polymorph into a Dragon Turtle...
Level 7 Spells
Distruction, Blood to Water, Holy Star, Wretched Blight, Righteous Smite, Plague, Pulse of Hate, and Righteous Burst. Let's take a look at these spells...
Destruction: Oooh, a save or die spell. Finally we have one of those! Use it against things that won't make a fortitude save easily.
Blood to Water: Nice for dealing constitution damage. It's been a while since we had a spell that dealt ability damage, and constitution is always nice.
Holy Star: A wonderful persistable spell! It can do lots of things, including an attack that can be done as a free action.
Wretched Blight: Does a LOT of damage... 1d8 per caster level up to 15d8 is nothing to sneeze at! evil, of course
Righteous Smite: I like the good version of this better than the evil version, Wretched Blight... The good version does 1d6 per caster level up to a massive 20d6, and, against some creatures, does 1d8 up to a heroic 20d8!! WOOHOO!! It's good to be good!!
Plague: You give something a disease unless they make a fortitude save. How delicously evil! It can do all sorts of ability damage, which is very useful.
Pulse of Hate: This very evil emanation is centered on you! And it can be persisted! there is a will save for it and spell resistance works for it, but it does 2d6 points of unholy damage per round specifically to enemies.
Righteous Burst: This is a very useful spell! It heals your allies a fair amount and damages your enemies for a good amount too! its a good spell that doesnt do a whole lot of damage or healing for the level, but its good that it does both.
What wins: Holy star or pulse of hate for persistable stuff, and the wretched blight or righteous smite set of spells for doing direct damage.
Level 8 Spells
earthquake, fire storm, bodak's glare, heat drain, lion's roar, and stormrage
Earthquake: Made for doing damage to structures, made for causing massive changes to landscape, or killing a lot of mooks... not great for direct damage of high level characters unless you can trigger something special as part of the story, as a DM may very well do.
fire storm: for creating a LARGE amount of flame that scales up to 20d6... nice nice spell. Finally something that goes up to 20d6 for a large area. Though, if you have lots of metamagic, some level-increased lower level spells may do more damage.
bodak's glare: very evil save or die spell that can create a bodak as the being raises. the enemy would need to make a fortitude save to resist.
heat drain: causes a big cold burst that only hurts the living thats centered on you that scales up to 20d6 that gives you temporary hit points . Not a bad spell, if you find yourself surrounded.
lion's roar: huuuuuuuuuge area of effect... this is made to use in the middle of a large scale battle, and it does a wonderful job in that case
stormrage: THIS CAN BE PERSISTED. woohoo!! this is an *awesome* spell, and is great to add to your list of attack spells that can be persisted. unfortunately, it will need a DM's ruling for speed and manueverability.. the old version said it gave you speed and manueverability as the fly spell, but the DM could just say that you cant fly with this, in which case you use one of your OTHER persistant spells to fly...
Level 9 Spells
implosion, miracle, and storm of vengeance, end to strife
implosion: a nice fortitude-save-or die spell
miracle: ahh, miracle. What is there to say but troll for the most powerful 7th level spells available to anything whatsoever and use it with that if you want an attack spell
end to strife: What a spell! It's not even an especially good spell or exalted spell or anything... just get your allies something that prevents them from being affected by mind affecting spells, like mind blank, and go to town, knowing that any enemy that tries to attack takes 20d6... its even persistable!! just have your wizard cast a mind blank on the greatest damage doer while you cast a persistant end to strife... he follows you around, killing everyone that doesnt attack that's your enemy!
EDIT: Rewrote the first three levels; will do the rest later. This is giving me a headache but I wanna save the compendium for future use anyways so it has to be done.
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