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View Full Version : Spell list for a non-blasty wizard? [3.5]



gomipile
2011-02-02, 05:20 PM
What would be a good spell list for an offensive arcane caster in 3.5, totally omitting any direct damage spells. Consider this as a list for a wizard to check off as he/she/other levels, so that all the spells are useful when he can first get them, and also useful at level 20.

Darklady2831
2011-02-02, 05:55 PM
I'll have a go at this.

1st Level: Color Spray, Shield, Feather Fall, Enlarge/Reduce Person, Expeditious Retreat, True Strike, Detect Secret Doors, Identify, Grease.

2nd Level: Glitterdust, Summon Swarm, Resist Energy, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Mirror Image, Ghoul Touch, Spectral Hand.

3rd Level: Dispel Magic, Hold Person, Summon Monster/Undead 3, Flame Arrow, Stinking Cloud, Haste, Slow, Heroism, Rage.

4th Level: Evard's Black Tentacles, Confusion, Charm Monster, Wall of Fire?, Fear, Bestow Curse, Enervation, Phantasmal Killer, Rainbow Pattern, Polymorph, Mass Enlarge/Reduce Person.

5th Level: Cloudkill, Dominate Person, Feeblemind, Hold Monster, Symbol of Sleep, Magic Jar, Symbol of Pain, Waves of Fatigue, Baleful Polymorph, Telekinesis.

6th Level: Greater Dispel Magic, Summon Monster 6, Analyze Dweomer, True Seeing, Mass Suggestion, Circle of Death, Eyebite, Symbol of Fear, Undeath to Death, Disintegrate, Flesh to Stone.

7th Level: Banishment, Spell Turning, Mass Hold Person, Power Word Blind, Symbol of Stunning, Forcecage, Prismatic Spray, Finger of Death, Symbol of Weakness, Waves of Exhaustion, Reverse Gravity.

8th Level: Prismatic Wall, Summon Monster 8, Trap the Soul, Mass Charm Monster, Otto's Irresistible Dance, Power Word Stun, Symbol of Insanity, Scintillating Pattern, Symbol of Death, Polymorph any Object.

9th Level: Prismatic Sphere, Gate, Summon Monster 9, Dominate Monster, Mass Hold Monster, Power Word Kill, Bigby's Crushing Hand, Weird, Energy Drain, Wail of the Banshee, Shapechange, Time Stop, Wish.

Tvtyrant
2011-02-02, 06:07 PM
Look up the Batman Wizard guide and Treantmonk's Guide to being a God. Both do pretty well at explaining none-damage wizards.

Gnorman
2011-02-02, 09:42 PM
If you're not going to blast (hallelujah, you've seen the light!), it's best to focus on battlefield control, buffing, and debuffing.

Crucial battlefield control includes positioning and pawn manipulation - summon monsters, and swap them around with teleportation magic to where they are most effective (note: can be party members as well, but summons are more fun). Benign Transposition, Dimensional Shuffle, Regroup, etc, are all great spells here. Give your heavy hitters their full attack schedules without having to chase down the enemy, and deny your foe the opportunity to hit the squishies. Build walls of chitin with monstrous centipedes. Block off key chokepoints with spells like Wall of Iron or Solid Fog. Divide and conquer.

Buffing? Pretty simple. Enlarge Person and Haste are your workhorses here - give your fighters reach and more attacks. Heroism gives them feats they might need for specialized tactics. Transmutation and Enchantment are your best buddies for this one.

Debuffing's easy: Glitterdust, Web, Stinking Cloud, Enervation, etc. High level necromancy is great for this; so is Enchantment until Mind Blank starts coming in to play. Conjuration has some nice area disablers.

Try to stay away from save-or-dies like Disintegrate or Finger of Death, as they concentrate a lot of your power into a hit-or-miss single target attack. Use area save-or-suck, or better yet, don't-save-just-suck spells. Cloudkill, for example, does not allow SR nor does it offer a save-negates for the Con damage - if they're not immune to poison, you will hurt them. Solid Fog offers no SR and no save - once they're in the cloud, they're pretty much locked down for a while.

ericgrau
2011-02-03, 08:40 PM
Generally battlefield control > area/multi debuffs > area/multi damage > status effect (not +X) buffs > single damage > single save-or-dies > +X buffs > summons > overly situational utility (but good on scrolls outside of combat). Hour/level or 10 min/level duration or immediate or swift casting time spells are a good way to burn up your low level spells, and are exceptions to the above priorities.