Factotum Spells

[Black_Zawisza]

I'm building a Factotum right now, but I've been looking through core and splatbook spells and it's been a b**** trying to pick ones that are useful and versatile without breaking the game. I'm L9 right now, which gives me four spells up to 3rd level. Does anybody have any suggestions?

PS: Prestigitation seems to me like a good one to pick. Am I right?

[JaronK]

Ghoul Glyph. Remember that you can cast it as a standard action (spell likes are always standard unless the spell would be faster, see Rules Compendium and Monster Manual) so you can write it on your shield or something and then move into their square (it stops when you move a total of 5', but if you start next to them it'll trigger before it erases itself). No save paralyze, single target, once per day.

Alter Self. Always amazing.

Shrink Item. Hilarity ensues!

If you're using Iajuitsu Focus, Grease can be well worth it.

JaronK

[Boci]

Depends on what the other casters in the group are doing but I would go with:

Haste: useful buff spell for the whole party.
Swift invisibility: get away for when you don't want to spend 3 inspiration points.
Alter self: Do I need to explain?
Glitterdust: Mark invisible creature, -20 to hide and will save or be blinded.
Greace: Even without IF, you should make the balance check on a natural 1. Enemies? Not so much.

[true_shinken]

What people tend to forget is that all Factotum's spells can only be cast once. So I tend to choose those with large durations. Primal Instinct is a favorite - 2nd level spells that adds +5 to initiative for 24 hours.

[nargbop]

You are a weak caster, so you can't really afford to cast anything that allows a save or spell resistance.
Primale Urge and Primal Hunter are good spells to have Eternal Wands of... use both and you get Uncanny Dodge all day or until someone dispels it.
When you are high enough level for the Creation spells, you can start crafting vegetable poisons ( black lotus is good ). I don't know if there are rules for the Craft (poisonmaking) DCs, but your DM would be wise to require them.
Wraithestrike is always good.
You will want to use a Ring of Spell-Storing for your offensive spells. Don't waste slots on a fireball.

[raitalin]

You are a weak caster, so you can't really afford to cast anything that allows a save or spell resistance.

Not really, your caster level is your factotum level and your DCs are based off your primary stat (and Factotums can be very SAD). You also get the ability to ignore SR later, which makes SR: Yes, No Save spells incredibly awesome.

Grease, Alter Self and Glitterdust are all good.

[mucat]

I'm building a Factotum right now, but I've been looking through core and splatbook spells and it's been a b**** trying to pick ones that are useful and versatile without breaking the game. I'm L9 right now, which gives me four spells up to 3rd level. Does anybody have any suggestions?

PS: Prestigitation seems to me like a good one to pick. Am I right?

You say you're building the character and trying to pick spells...so I wanted to make sure you understand that you don't have to permanently pick spells like a sorcerer would. You can change your spell-like abilities each day.

This thread is still a good resource for you, to suggest useful spells...but don't worry that you're making an irrevocable decision or anything.

[Fizban]

True_shinken's got the idea: you want long duration spells that you can't afford to get items of, either because they're not always useful, or too high of a level. Primal Instincts, Overland Flight, Protection From Evil (stops mind control), Protection From Energy, Greater Magic Weapon, and so on. Shorter duration spells that can save your butt if you know they're coming include Forceward, and Ray Deflection, or Ruin Delver's Fortune for any bad situation. Once you've got those covered, you can bring the one shot tricks like Wraithstrike and Sniper's shot, but those are best used in wand form. It's a good idea to coordinate with your party's arcanist to see what spells they don't have available that you can jury rig, and what spells would compliment theirs or free up some slots for better stuff. They might have a two spell combo they'd like to do, but can't pull off without quicken spell: you can help out by providing the second half.

Don't forget that you aren't limited to a bunch of low level spells: you get one spell of your highest level available, and all the rest can be up to one less than that. Actually, checking your post I see that you've got it a bit wrong. You have one 3rd level spell, and two more spells of up to 2nd. Considering that availability, I'd bring something like Ray of Dizziness, Wraithstrike, and Ray of Stupidity. That's a no-save slow, a full attack that won't miss, and either an insta kill on an animal or a very unhappy Wizard. If RoS is too cheesy and you need damage, try Sonic Weapon for +1d6 on every attack. If RoS isn't too cheesy, cheese it out by using Cunning Insight to add your int bonus to the int damage roll.

Raitalin also makes a great point: being able to bypass SR on spells that already don't allow a save is great. Ray of Dizzyness can be stopped by SR and touch AC, but soon you'll be able to ignore SR, and you can boost attack to beat touch AC.