Sculpt Spell Shenanigans/Optimization?

[Yorae]

I happened to read that someone suggested in another thread using sculpt spell on Whirling Blade to great effect.

I think I see some retraining in my gish's future...

Can anyone think of some other great uses for sculpt spell (other than not blowing up your teammates with bursts, of course)?

As a side note, since Sculpt requires a prereq of one other metamagic feat, what's another one that would be handy for a gish? I thought about Extend, but he's already an Abjurant Champion (free extending on abjurations), so that's somewhat wasted.

[dextercorvia]

Caltrops has a pretty limited area normally, but Sculpt really helps it shine.

It's a tight squeeze, but if you are surrounded at low levels the 4 10' cubes on a Color Spray can be a life saver. Similarly for Grease.

Legion of Sentinels from the PHBII also benefits from an area increase.

[FMArthur]

Stinking Cloud (3rd level) and Evard's Black Tentacles (4th level) are a couple of really powerful disabling spells that unfortunately make it difficult for party beatsticks to actually clean up the enemies caught in them because of their big circular AoEs. Sculpted into 10ft cubes, they provide manageable, precise zones that can be placed around allied combatants. Generally any large AoE spell that lasts several rounds, disables but isn't likely to kill, and will interfere with allies that move in to kick them while they're down is a fantastic candidate for Sculpt Spell.

Sculpts Spell makes any battlefield control caster much more teamwork-friendly with little cost. Other candidates are spells whose power is only held in check by their limited AoEs.

Also, Sculpted Cloud of Bewilderment is basically a superior version of Stinking Cloud with -1 to its save DC, coming out of the same spell slot.

[CockroachTeaParty]

Sculpt spell is an awesome metamagic feat, but it can get a bit vague when it comes to certain things. Was there ever an errata that clarified it?

For instance, do the 4 ten foot cubes have to be touching each other, or could you spread them out within the limits of the spell's range? What about spells like Color Spray that have a set distance for their range? Normally a 15 ft. cone, would a Sculpted Color Spray's 4 ten foot cubes have to be within 15 ft. of the caster?

[Draz74]

Grease is supposed to be this amazing low-level battlefield control spell ... my Wizard was pretty disappointed when he actually used it in combats. The biggest issue with it was the tiny area of effect -- a foe just has to get 5 feet of movement, somehow, to break free of the area of effect.

Sculpted Grease? Much harder to escape.

[FMArthur]

I always just assumed the 10ft cubes could be placed anywhere in the spell's range.

The thing I'm most confused about and with the biggest impact is whether you decide on the shape when you prepare it or when you cast it.

[dextercorvia]

The 10' cubes can be placed anywhere in the Range. Spell Areas are still restricted by their Range -- which is why I said that Sculpted Color Spray is a tight fit. As for the preparation question, I have always assumed that (like a shapable spell) you could pick at the moment of casting.

[Cruiser1]

Sculpt Spell makes nukes one might disregard at first suddenly work well, such as Greater Fireburst (SpC). Greater Fireburst does up to 15d10 damage in a 5th level slot (much better than blasting spells like Fireball, Cone of Cold, or Orbs). The downside is it targets everything within 15 feet of you, which may hit allies or require you to get close to enemies. However, Sculpt it to say a 120 foot line, and suddenly it's like a sniper rifle doing up to 150 damage. :smallbiggrin:

[Divide by Zero]

The thing I'm most confused about and with the biggest impact is whether you decide on the shape when you prepare it or when you cast it.

I would assume that, just like any other spell with variable parameters, you decide when you cast it.

[dextercorvia]

Sculpt Spell makes nukes one might disregard at first suddenly work well, such as Greater Fireburst (SpC). Greater Fireburst does up to 15d10 damage in a 5th level slot (much better than blasting spells like Fireball, Cone of Cold, or Orbs). The downside is it targets everything within 15 feet of you, which may hit allies or require you to get close to enemies. However, Sculpt it to say a 120 foot line, and suddenly it's like a sniper rifle doing up to 150 damage. :smallbiggrin:

Fireburst and its big brother Greater Fireburst, are effect spells, not area spells, therefore they aren't candidates for Sculpt spell.

Also, the portion of the Area which extends beyond the Range is lost. So, even if it was an area spell, it would still not extend 120'.