Scimitar of Sand spell..

[Thespianus]

Scimitar of Sand is a spell from Sandstorm, a Wiz/Sorc spell that creates a, well, Scimitar of Sand in your hand:

A Scimitar of Sand allows you to make melee touch attacks with the Scimitar, the damage is 1D6 + 1/2 caster levels, and if you hit, the opponent have to make a Fortitude save or become Dehydrated, which - if I understand Sandstorm right - is basically Fatigued.

Oh, and the spell lasts for 1 minute / level.

It's a level 2 spell: A weapon, touch attacks AND a slight de-buff.

Granted, you can't use your strength modifier for the attacks, but.. well , it's a Scimitar: You get a 18-20x2 crit range, and Improved Critical(Scimitar) should work to increase the crit range if you want to go nuts with something like Telling Blow.

Is it just me, or does it seem like a great 2nd level spell for, say, an arcane Rogue? True, the scimitar isn't valid for Weapon Finesse, but then again, you get touch attacks.

[tyckspoon]

I'd actually dispute that it gets a scimitar's crit range. It's described as looking like a scimitar, but it doesn't actually have something like the line in Flame Blade that says 'you wield this as a scimitar'. Which, incidentally, it's otherwise pretty much the same spell. Scimitar of Sand is a little better, with the potential debuff and a harder-to-resist damage type, but I think its biggest advantage is that the Sorc/Wiz spell list is generally a bit easier to access than the Druid list.

[Thespianus]

Good point about the crit range.

I just found a Blade of Pain and Fear spell in Libris Mortis, which does pretty much the same thing, but a failed Will save renders the target Frightened.

Sounds like two spells that go nicely together for a TWF character. ;)

[Keld Denar]

Its a nice one to UMD for a Rogue, yes. Being 2nd level and having a duration of 3 minutes on a Wand means its cheaper and won't crap out on you in a long combat like Ice Axe will. The DC will be low from a wand, 13, but thats more of a bonus candy than the meat and potatoes of the spell.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Personally, I'd just go for Wraithstrike. You can get much better damage output that way.

Scimitar of Sand is basically Shocking Grasp with a slight debuff to it, and reflavored so that it isn't lightning.

[Thespianus]

Personally, I'd just go for Wraithstrike. You can get much better damage output that way.

Scimitar of Sand is basically Shocking Grasp with a slight debuff to it, and reflavored so that it isn't lightning.

Don't you pretty much have to Persist Wraithstrike in order to get much mileage from it? It's a level of cheese that some DMs I know will frown upon greatly...

Anyway, I thought it seemed very cool, but I now see that Blade of Pain and Feat is even better. :)

[Zaq]

Personally, I'd just go for Wraithstrike. You can get much better damage output that way.

Scimitar of Sand is basically Shocking Grasp with a slight debuff to it, and reflavored so that it isn't lightning.

It's worth mentioning that you can't full attack with Shocking Grasp, but if I'm not mistaken, Scimitar of Sand offers no resistance to so doing. It's not quite as relevant when you first get them, of course, but once a Rogue hits full-on blender mode? Yeah, I'd say it makes a small difference.

No argument about Wraithstrike, though.

[Fax Celestis]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/flameBlade.htm

It's really not all that different.

[Person_Man]

I agree with Fax et al. Not that different from Flame Blade.

Also, I've played around with various builds that focused on touch attacks. Flame Blade, Flame Dagger, Fire Lash, Scimitar of Sand, Spectral Weapon, Wraithstrike, Master Thrower, etc. They're great for the first gaming session. And then you suddenly started encountering a large number of creatures with high touch AC. High Dex, inexplicable levels of Monk or Psychic Warrior, magical protections, etc. I don't blame the DMs. They want to make the combat fun and balanced.

My recommendation for any Skill Monkey or high Charisma melee class is to invest in UMD and then keep wands or scrolls with useful spells like this one, but only pull them out for boss fights. Focus on builds that are fun to play, and keep the mechanically strong bazooka's in your backpack for when you really need it.

[Thespianus]

I'm playing an Unseen Seer on a Rogue/Wizard chassis. I'm thinking I should pick it up and use it from a Spell Slot, just to have it handy.

But, you have a point. It might be fun the first couple of times, but will probably grow old fairly quickly.

[Fouredged Sword]

Now I want to make a character who is an Archivest/warblade/bloodstorm blade who uses fell drain flame sword and the bloodstorm blade throw at everything ability to deal a negative level to everything in sight.

For 1min per caster level.

3rd level spell slot with feats.

So something like archivest 10/warblade 1/bloodstorm blade 5/ Archivest 4

Not the most optimuim of characters, but still a powerful one trick pony with some decent spellcasting backup.

[Person_Man]

I'm playing an Unseen Seer on a Rogue/Wizard chassis. I'm thinking I should pick it up and use it from a Spell Slot, just to have it handy.

But, you have a point. It might be fun the first couple of times, but will probably grow old fairly quickly.

Yup. That's the ultimate beauty of playing a caster or similar build. You can acquire a wide variety of different things, and rotate your tactics according to the situation and whatever seems fun to you.