You get one spell.

[Delcor]

My group's next campaign will be set in Ptolus (by Monte Cook). I plan on playing a Harrow-Elf Rogue.

Harrow-Elves get the following Spell like Abilities:
1/Day: Mage Hand, Detect Magic, Prestidigitation, and Ghost Sound.
AND one 1st or 2nd level spell of the players choice.

So, I wanna make this choice wisely as it is the defining racial feature of the Harrow-Elf. So I ask you playgrounders:

What spell would you take if you were playing a rogue?
(it can be divine or arcane)
The following restrictions apply:
It MUST be core (DMG or PHB1) don't argue that that is dumb.
Don't argue the rogue is dumb, you won't convince me to change class.

Go crazy.

[Eldariel]

Alter Self. Disguise? Got it. Any type of mobility (climb, flight, swim, burrow, you name it)? Got it. Thick hide for combat? Got it. The best do-it-all spell in the game.

Other decent options include Grease for enabling sneak attack (Balancing creatures are flat-footed unless they have at least 5 ranks in Balance) + escape artist + making people drop weapons or Invisibility or Silence for obvious reasons (Silence doubles as an offensive tool to disable mages without a save too).

[gkathellar]

But Rogues are so dumb, guy, why are you playing a Rogue? :smalltongue:

Alter Self is, as the previous poster points out, basically the most varied 1st-level spell, and fits thematically with most Rogues.

[AmberVael]

If you plan on having much social interaction, another good option to consider would be Suggestion. On the bard list, it's 2nd level, so that counts, right?

Alter Self is awesome though, not sure any other spell is going to beat that.

[Silva Stormrage]

Ya alter self is the best spell your going to find. It can give flight, natural armor, burrowing speed, swim speed. Anything really, and it has a pretty long duration too. AND it gives you a bonus of disguise checks.

[Piggy Knowles]

You're really not going to see better options than Alter Self or Silence.

However, other spells that are good for a rogue-type include...

1. Detect Thoughts. Great for casting through doors, as it takes a full foot of stone to block, and can really help you scouting, by telling you the number of intelligent minds in a room before entering.

2. Shatter. Because the Open Lock skill is for babies.

3. Augury. Less useful if it's only once a day, but still insanely useful for a rogue, especially if, as an SLA, you don't have to pay the material component. Find out if actions will yield good or bad results. Nice choices of actions include "opening this chest," "going inside this room," and "sneak attacking the mayor."

4. Tongues. It's a Bard 2 spell. Super useful if you're a social rogue.

5. Haste. Only if you want your DM to hate you. The Trapsmith gets this as a level 1 spell, but it technically meets your pre-req of being a PHB/DMG only spell. If you can get it at first level, then by all means do so. Doubling the total number of attacks your party can produce is just crazy good, even without all of the other buffs Haste provides.

But again, Alter Self and Silence are probably the best two you can possible choose. Don't forget that Alter Self can let you go down a size category, too, giving you +4 to skills like Hide.

[Delcor]

Wow these are a lot better than my original plan of Spider Climb

Alter self question:

What are some humanoid HD5 or less that have a burrow/climbspeed using the MM1 or MM2 only?

I got fly/swim speed covered

[AmberVael]

Check this out. (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=343.0)

[Piggy Knowles]

In the MM/PHB, unfortunately there are no non-templated humanoids that I know of with climb or burrow speeds. However, some of the environmental variants found in Unearthed Arcana and the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/environmentalRacialVariants.htm) have climb speeds (the Jungle Goblin comes to mind).

[JaronK]

Damn, my go tos for those are not MM1 or 2 (I tend to ignore climb speed in favor of Air Mephling's perfect fly speed, and burrow is handled by Earth Mephling).

JaronK

[Darth_Versity]

Shame its core only or Heroics would be an obvious choice. But core only I would go for Detect Thoughts, Invisibility or Mirror Image.

[HalfDragonCube]

In Dungeonscape the is a PrC that grants Dispel Magic as a first-level spell. Dispel Magic is technically core, but I'm not sure whether it would count. Also, what is the caster level for your free SLA? Some spells are much better with more duration/damage dice, etc.

If you can get it at a decent caster level, then it would be very useful against magical traps that you would have great difficulty with otherwise, so check that with your DM.

[Urpriest]

Alter Self gives you access to Troglodytes, with +6 natural armor and three natural attacks to sneak attack with, if you're looking for a nice combat form.

[Drelua]

You've probably already gotten much better suggestions, but what about Scorching Ray? That's level 2, and you can add your sneak attack damage to it, though I'm not sure if you could add it to more than one ray. I assume your caster level is equal to your character level? If so, once you get to level 11 that's 18d6, 30d6 if you can sneak attack with all three rays. Maybe not the most powerful option, but I think it'd be pretty cool.

[Piggy Knowles]

In general, for core, I'd say that the best general forms are probably...

1. Kobolds. +1 natural armor, small size (so +1 AC, +1 attack, +4 to a lot of excellent rogue skills), 30' land movement, and a racial bonus to search. If your DM uses the Races of the Dragon web enhancement, you even get three natural attacks. You can get a lot of mileage out of the kobold.

2. Troglodytes, as mentioned. +6 NA and claw/claw/bite is hard to beat. A bonus to your hide skill and Multiattack as a racial bonus feat is just icing on the cake.

3. Locathah. 60' swim speed, +3 NA.

In Core alone, it's still better than just about anything. But outside of core, you've got way more options...

The Skulk gives you insane bonuses to Hide and Move Silently. The Crucian gives you the equivalent of wearing full plate, minus all the nasty armor check penalties to all your skills. The Avariel gives you a 50' fly speed and a bonus to all the relevant perception skills (Listen, Search and Spot). The Varag has a 60' base land speed, and gets Spring Attack as a racial bonus feat.

[mootoall]

Elf? Alter Self shenanigans? Helloooooooooooo Faerun! Check out the Otherworldly feat from ... some FR supplement. Gives Elves the Outsider type, letting your Alter Selves kick ass.

[HalfDragonCube]

Elf? Alter Self shenanigans? Helloooooooooooo Faerun! Check out the Otherworldly feat from ... some FR supplement. Gives Elves the Outsider type, letting your Alter Selves DM kick your ass.

Fixed that for you. Although YMMV, most DMs with hit you over the head with the nearest rulebook if you try that.

[Acanous]

second the call for caster level. Invisibility is nigh useless if it's only going to last a minute. Alter Self is a good choice, regardless.