Always being prepared (as a spellcaster)

[Yora]

Since the last thread was hijacked by a six page discussion if deities know everything when you ask them with Contact other Plane, lets give this another try:

Tier 1 classes (basically all prepared full casters) are fequently expected to win any encounter, because they have spells to handle every imaginable situation. But you can only prepare so many spells at a time, you expend some with every encounter, and you can usually cast only one spell per round.
So I believe the idea that a wizard or cleric always wins is flawed, which means that either I just don't know how you realize the full potential of these classes, or the claim is just plain wrong.

I see how chain gating is perfectly valid by RAW and that shapechange is really good. But not every party is level 17+ and it's a very common claim that few campaigns ever reach 10th level.

So supposed I am a 6th or 12th level wizard or cleric and about to explore an old ruin with my party. How do I prepare to be able to handle anything that we might encounter? (For the sake of the argument, let's not get into planar shepard of dal quor or nightstick DMM, let's stick to stuff that actual dms would allow their players to do.)

[Reaver225]

Invest in quite a few different scrolls to read to up your number of spells available?

[Kalaska'Agathas]

As a Wizard, I would take the Spontaneous Divination ACF, and then the feat Versatile Spellcaster. This allows you to spontaneously cast any divination you know in place of another spell of equal level you have prepared. This then allows you to qualify for Versatile Spellcaster, which lets you spontaneously convert two of your divinations into one spell (of all the spells that you know) of one level higher. Therefore you have access to all the spells in your spellbook, all of the time.

I also seem to recall a feat which worked like Versatile Spellcaster, except backwards, allowing you to convert a spell of one level into two spells of a lower level - combine that feat with the above trick for maximum efficiency.

Beyond that, Shadowcraft Mage is excellent for allowing you to convert one spell (Silent Image) into another spell from either the school of Evocation or into a Conjuration (Creation or Summoning, if I remember correctly), and can be entered at level seven (again, if I remember correctly).

[Yora]

As a Wizard, I would take the Spontaneous Divination ACF, and then the feat Versatile Spellcaster. This allows you to spontaneously cast any divination you know in place of another spell of equal level you have prepared. This then allows you to qualify for Versatile Spellcaster, which lets you spontaneously convert two of your divinations into one spell (of all the spells that you know) of one level higher. Therefore you have access to all the spells in your spellbook, all of the time.

I also seem to recall a feat which worked like Versatile Spellcaster, except backwards, allowing you to convert a spell of one level into two spells of a lower level - combine that feat with the above trick for maximum efficiency.

Beyond that, Shadowcraft Mage is excellent for allowing you to convert one spell (Silent Image) into another spell from either the school of Evocation or into a Conjuration (Creation or Summoning, if I remember correctly), and can be entered at level seven (again, if I remember correctly).
Maybe I don't actually want to know how people do that... :smalleek:

That game doesn't sound at all like the game I played the last 10 years. :smallbiggrin:

[AmberVael]

It's really easy to look at the number of prepared spells for a cleric or wizard and think "oh, well, they can run into more varied problems than they could possibly prepare for." Because I mean, they do have a limited number of slots, and for each slot you could probably name at least one type of problem they could run into.

The thing is though, if you pick the right spells, you don't have to prepare specifically for every encounter- you can prepare spells that will be useful in a broad array of encounters.

For example, if your 6th level wizard picks up, say, Haste, so long as they run into a combat encounter in which the other party members can contribute (hardly a stretch of the imagination) that spell will be useful. That's a pretty broad range of encounters.

You can further enhance your versatility by using certain powers that allow for more spontaneous casting (Alacritous Cogitation feat, the near identical amulet, spontaneous divination, etc), or by preparing a wide variety of spells (about one each) and then recalling them as needed with a pearl of power or the like. Or, if you have a little bit of prep time, you can just leave a spell slot blank and use 15 minutes to prepare whatever you might need (which is great for utility spells, not as good for combat specific spells. It's rare you'll have 15 minutes prep for combat).

You're never going to be prepared for every encounter (well, at lower levels at least), but if you prepare for a broad spectrum with a wide variety of spells, you can be useful in every encounter, though not necessarily tailored specifically to that encounter.

[Yora]

What particularly confuses me (read: annoys me) is the claim that by the virtue of true seeing simply existing, all illusions are useless.
True seeing lasts 1 minute/level, twice that much if extended, but that's still just about 30 minutes. Since it also costs 250 gp (in addition to the cost of extra scrolls), you just can't walk around with the spell active all the time. You have to know or at least strongly suspect that there is something around that is hidden by an illusion.
If you're under attack by what seems to be enemies affected by greater invisibility, yes then it really is the time to get true seeing out immediately. But that still gives the attackers two rounds to act unseen and to the other party members they are still invisible. And they have a lot of time to get into position and get their weapons and spells ready. So one of the PCs can see you after the second round of combat. That really is not "greater invisibility is completely useless".

[Kalaska'Agathas]

Maybe I don't actually want to know how people do that... :smalleek:

That game doesn't sound at all like the game I played the last 10 years. :smallbiggrin:

Well, you asked how to always be prepared :smallbiggrin:

I will admit, getting into tricks like that makes the Sorcerer next to useless, which means they may not be appropriate for all parties.

As far as being prepared by other means, have a Bard (preferably your Bard) roll a Bardic Knowledge check to hear the legends about the dungeon you'll be entering - is it full of fire based monsters, traps, and other hazards? Was it created by a Necromancer? These can give you ideas of what you might be facing and allow you to prepare accordingly.

Also, as Vael says, there are an awful lot of spells which are pretty generally applicable, so preparing them is rarely a waste (I'm thinking things like Web, or Haste, or Color Spray at lower levels).

[Diarmuid]

I think the issue here is one of foundation.

Many of the claims of "A wizard or cleric will always win" assume that the character is always using divinations to determine what threat they're going to run into to achieve their current goal, and then can prepare accordingly.

I think you're more looking at a more practical "adventuring wizard or cleric" who doesnt have all that time to study and prepare.

[Yora]

I don't think divinations work as well as they are claimed either, but the last thread got completely hung up on the question if deities can see into the future with 100% accuracy.
Which I think is beside the point, as you would need a lot of questions to know everything you could want to know.

[faceroll]

Between Teleport & Arcane Eye, you can save weeks of travel time and get a pretty good idea of the layout of a dungeon at 30feet/round. Arcane Eye can also be modified with stuff like True Seeing, etc. So you can remotely map any part of a dungeon that has an entrance of a 1inch diameter or greater with a 4th level spell. That right there is very cool. You also have dimension door at level 7, so you can port into just about anywhere in the dungeon with your fully buffed kill squad, having all the appropriate protections since you just scouted out what you're teleporting to. If you have only 2 4th level spells (no specialization, no domain, no elf generalist, no really high int score), you can always pop a rope trick, crawl up into it, rest for an hour in your hewards fortifying bedroll, get your spells back, prepare them in an hour, port out. The enemy is going to have to be pretty canny to figure out what's going on. If you want to do it really well, buff to the hilt before going in, have the cleric put up a silence spell, cast two rope tricks, hide the corpses in one rope trick, use prestidigiawesome to clean up the mess, and no one in the complex will be any wiser.

At level 6, you've got access to mindsight through mindbender. That gives you 100ft of seeing anything with an int score. In most complexes, that's pretty freakin awesome.

As mentioned above, spontaneous divinations are easy to do (though I think would likely fall into the category of "sane DMs wouldn't allow it"), and through them, spontaneity of all spells.


(For the sake of the argument, let's not get into planar shepard of dal quor or nightstick DMM, let's stick to stuff that actual dms would allow their players to do.)

Here's the issue right here: by RAW, wizards and clerics get these things. They just happen to be SO GODDAMN INCREDIBLE, actual DMs are like "no thanks bro, that is too good." Part of T1 being incredible are their ability to get those abilities. When you decide that things that make T1 are too good, and start removing them, then of course they're going to start looking like T2, T3, or even T4, depending on how much you remove.

[Diarmuid]

SNIP...
If you have only 2 4th level spells (no specialization, no domain, no elf generalist, no really high int score), you can always pop a rope trick, crawl up into it, rest for an hour in your hewards fortifying bedroll, get your spells back, prepare them in an hour, port out.
/SNIP

This is a common interpretation that I dont quite understand. In the Spells description of the Wizard class, it clearly defines that the Wizard has "daily allotments" of spells and the requierment for being able to prepare your "daily allotment" is getting a good night's rest and having an hour to prepare.

Waking up at 6AM, prepping spells, casting them all, and then sleeping again doesnt reset your "daily allotment". D&D isnt NWN or BG where you can just hit the "rest" button and get your spells back assuming you arent disturbed.

[Quietus]

I also seem to recall a feat which worked like Versatile Spellcaster, except backwards, allowing you to convert a spell of one level into two spells of a lower level - combine that feat with the above trick for maximum efficiency.

I would really like to know the name of this feat.

[LordBlades]

So supposed I am a 6th or 12th level wizard or cleric and about to explore an old ruin with my party. How do I prepare to be able to handle anything that we might encounter? (For the sake of the argument, let's not get into planar shepard of dal quor or nightstick DMM, let's stick to stuff that actual dms would allow their players to do.)

Just for the record, I don't think nightsticks&DMM (high level practical optimization, I've played such clerics more than once and probably quite a few other people have too) belongs in the same kettle of fish with Dal Quor Planar Shepherd (which is largely TO).

More specifically to your point: Are the characters pressed by time? Do they know beforehand they will explore these ruins (as in they don't just stumble upon them)? I'll assume no and yes and 12th level.

The character casts some divination spells in the days before they visit the ruin:

Wizard: casts CoP (let's not go into details about what exactly can or can't the spell do, but I assume he would get some manner of useful information out of it, like how many casters, what kind, something of the most powerful creature and, if possible, what kind of weak creatures inhabit the ruins as well) Then he would try to scry on anyone he's managed to find out about. If the strong creatures all make their saves, the weak ones probably won't and best case scenario the wander around. Also, you can try and make a quick visit to the general area of the ruins (within 1 mile) via Teleport, and use Prying Eyes and Arcane Eye to look around.

Cleric: Cast Divination and then Commune and ask about creature types of the strong foes, whether they're spellcasters and the like and also what kind of dangers he should be prepared against (stuff like energy drain, petrification, fear effects etc.) Try to scry on anyone the divination mentions if possible.


Next day prepare your spells to counter what you have found out, and fill the rest with general purpose must-have spells (like Polymorph, Solid Fog, Dimension Door etc.)

It's much harder at level 6 since the only divinations of level 3 and below are Augury and Omen of Peril but at that level the range of possible situations is much smaller, so you usually do just fine with some generic BFC and buffs

[faceroll]

This is a common interpretation that I dont quite understand. In the Spells description of the Wizard class, it clearly defines that the Wizard has "daily allotments" of spells and the requierment for being able to prepare your "daily allotment" is getting a good night's rest and having an hour to prepare.

Waking up at 6AM, prepping spells, casting them all, and then sleeping again doesnt reset your "daily allotment". D&D isnt NWN or BG where you can just hit the "rest" button and get your spells back assuming you arent disturbed.

Oh yeah, duh, silly me. You still have that 8 hour limit. Heward's Fortifying Bedroll just lowers the rest time from 8 hours to 1 hour.

I think it was a little different in 3rd edition. Still get those rules mixed up.


I would really like to know the name of this feat.

Sounds like a Dragon feat.

[Diarmuid]

It's not 8 hours...it's spells per day. "Daily Allotment" isnt "Allotment per 8 hour rest peroid".

[iDesu]

I would really like to know the name of this feat.

Arcane Manipulation. It's found on Page 6 of Lost Empires of Faerun.

[Fouredged Sword]

There is some lack of clarity about what resets your spell count. Some reading of the spell recovery rules suggest that arcane spells refresh after 8 hours of complete rest independent of days, others just have the 8 hours of rest as needed to trigger the once per day spell recovery.

the wording is fuzzy enough to muddy the waters and then you mix in some of the wording on some magic items that exist to help wizards recover spells easier and you get even more alternate readings.

[Yora]

The character casts some divination spells in the days before they visit the ruin:

Wizard: casts CoP (let's not go into details about what exactly can or can't the spell do, but I assume he would get some manner of useful information out of it, like how many casters, what kind, something of the most powerful creature and, if possible, what kind of weak creatures inhabit the ruins as well) Then he would try to scry on anyone he's managed to find out about. If the strong creatures all make their saves, the weak ones probably won't and best case scenario the wander around. Also, you can try and make a quick visit to the general area of the ruins (within 1 mile) via Teleport, and use Prying Eyes and Arcane Eye to look around.

Cleric: Cast Divination and then Commune and ask about creature types of the strong foes, whether they're spellcasters and the like and also what kind of dangers he should be prepared against (stuff like energy drain, petrification, fear effects etc.) Try to scry on anyone the divination mentions if possible.


Next day prepare your spells to counter what you have found out, and fill the rest with general purpose must-have spells (like Polymorph, Solid Fog, Dimension Door etc.)

I think those are very acceptable uses of divination: If you know you're about to attack or infiltrate a fortress, you should get an idea of the places layout and the guards that are in place. If you bribe an informant, have the intel supplied by your employer, or use divination spells really doesn't make much of a difference.

What I have a hard time to get my head around is when someone asks "What if the evil wizard casts x or the blackguard tries y?" and the reply is "I don't have to worry about that, because spell y makes me immune to that."
If you know you're charging into a well guarded fortress, throwing a freedom of movement before you go and be protected for 1 to 2 hours is not that great a stretch, that seems like a very sensible precaution. If you're fighting a red dragon, protection from fire for everyone is also a no-brainer.
Using Commune or some other divination to learn that the evil sorcerer has a preference to kill everything with lightning or summons demons a lot seems well within the limitations of such spells and allows you to protect yourself from lightning and maybe prepare dismissal twice.
But it all works only if you already have a good idea what you're expecting. The band of barbarians includes three sorcereres who wear the same fur clothing and carry spears like all the others? Suddenly those fireballs and lightning bolts really hurt.

You can use divinations to learn a lot about your opponents which helps you to expect what you might need in regard of spells. But it still has a very high degree of uncertainty.

[erikun]

The way I see it, not all encounters deal with combat. Yes, the wizard is not that much better than a sorcerer when you are limited to only dungeon crawling, but then again, a wizard isn't going to prepare useless spells when dungeon crawling either. They are going to prepare their spells geared for combat, and unless you happen to run into a large group where everything has Evasion + Freedom of Movement + high reflex saves, all prepared spells will have some use.

Let's take a look at the general Wizard vs Sorcerer in a standard dungeon. Assume both have made roughly the same spell selection - the versatile, the Save-or-Suck, targetting different saves. How is the Wizard better?


Feats. The wizard gets bonus feats, which can be spent on item creation, and can learn the extra utility spells that don't need to be prepared. Even if they don't, they still get Scribe Scroll for free. Don't think you'll be using Knock or Clairvoyance anytime soon? Then scribe a scroll or craft a wand and prepare something more useful. The sorcerer needs to spend twice the gold for the same utility, or stick a nigh-useless spell in their limited spells known.
Scouting. Faceroll pointed this out very well: a wizard can teleport past traps and obstacles, can remain invisible while exploring, and can scout remotely through spells. They can then teleport home, rest, and come back properly prepared. Learning something like Arcane Eye is little more than a handful of gold and a single spell slot for the wizard; it is considerably more expensive (either in gold or in known spells) for the sorcerer to do the same.
More spells. A wizard, even without encountering a single scroll throughout his career, has more known spells than a sorcerer. A specialist wizard has basically the same number of spell slots as a sorcerer. The sorcerer may end up with a few more lower-level slots, but the wizard has slots an entire level higher than the sorcerer half the time.


Most of this holds up in the Cleric/Favored Soul comparison too.

Of course, once we move out of the dungeon, the divide only gets more obvious. Want to spend some downtime practically? The wizard gets item creation, Fabricate, conjuration for construction, permanent illusions, scrying protection, various traps, and anything else they run across. The sorcerer either needs to give up their important spells known for this or expend valuable equipment to do so.

Suddenly running across a social encounter? The wizard has Charm Person, Detect Throughts, Comprehend Languages, Tongues, Locate Object...

Want to check up on that dungeon you are about to explore? The wizard has Scrying, Prying Eyes, and Contact Other Plane.

Want to break the game? Picking up Lesser Planar Binding + Magic Circle against Evil is a lot easier when you don't need to devote a good chunk of your character build to it.



Basically, the difference isn't that a wizard with a handful of spells is superior to a sorcerer with those same spells. It's that a wizard with a handful of spells can easily get an entirely different handful of spells to deal with a seperate situation, while the sorcerer must spread themselves incredibly thin attempting to cover everything, or just be good at one thing (say, combat) and still not end up any more impressive than a wizard focusing on doing that for the day.

[faceroll]

There is some lack of clarity about what resets your spell count. Some reading of the spell recovery rules suggest that arcane spells refresh after 8 hours of complete rest independent of days, others just have the 8 hours of rest as needed to trigger the once per day spell recovery.

the wording is fuzzy enough to muddy the waters and then you mix in some of the wording on some magic items that exist to help wizards recover spells easier and you get even more alternate readings.

Yeah, "daily" isn't really defined, and there are issues with being on planes without days or even time.

Here's what makes me think it's 8 hours + 8 hours rest + 1 hour study (essentially new spells every 17 hour period):

"Recent Casting Limit/Rest Interruptions

If a wizard has cast spells recently, the drain on her resources reduces her capacity to prepare new spells. When she prepares spells for the coming day, all the spells she has cast within the last 8 hours count against her daily limit."

The only spells that count against a daily limit are those cast in the past 8 hours.

So today is Friday. Yesterday was Thursday, tomorrow is Saturday. We have rested for 8 hours yesterday, and after our cereal, we studied for an hour. We prepare our daily spells. We cast our daily spells, following by 8 hours of rest. We have rested 8 hours, so we have met the condition for 8 hours of rest. We also haven't cast spells in the past 8 hours, so there's nothing to count against our daily limit. We now spend 1 hour to re-prepare our spells.

Or something like that. Personally, I think 24 hours makes far more sense with the "Daily" interpretation, but it's not supported in the rules due to the quoted clause above. IMO.

I dunno, I'm confused about it.


I think those are very acceptable uses of divination: If you know you're about to attack or infiltrate a fortress, you should get an idea of the places layout and the guards that are in place. If you bribe an informant, have the intel supplied by your employer, or use divination spells really doesn't make much of a difference.

What I have a hard time to get my head around is when someone asks "What if the evil wizard casts x or the blackguard tries y?" and the reply is "I don't have to worry about that, because spell y makes me immune to that."
If you know you're charging into a well guarded fortress, throwing a freedom of movement before you go and be protected for 1 to 2 hours is not that great a stretch, that seems like a very sensible precaution. If you're fighting a red dragon, protection from fire for everyone is also a no-brainer.
Using Commune or some other divination to learn that the evil sorcerer has a preference to kill everything with lightning or summons demons a lot seems well within the limitations of such spells and allows you to protect yourself from lightning and maybe prepare dismissal twice.
But it all works only if you already have a good idea what you're expecting. The band of barbarians includes three sorcereres who wear the same fur clothing and carry spears like all the others? Suddenly those fireballs and lightning bolts really hurt.

You can use divinations to learn a lot about your opponents which helps you to expect what you might need in regard of spells. But it still has a very high degree of uncertainty.

If situations are uncertain, there are a handful of spells that can keep you quite safe. Since you only need 3 stats, your dex should probably be pretty high- 14 or so. At least as high as the enemy casters. With war wizard, you've got improved initiative. Nerveskitter gets you another +5. You have +11 to your initiative check. You're ver likely going somewhere near the top.

Depending on your level, the terrain, and the opposition,you're going to want to open with a solid fog, wall of stone, wall of iron, web, or black tentacles. Black Tentacles are good against anything medium sized (like most casters). Solid Fog covers everything else. This lets you trade your action to remove the actions of at least one enemy, though likely more, giving your team time to get into position, cast spells, or take out a divided opposition.

These spells will likely be on top of the handful of particular spells you picked out when you scouted out the dragon, aboleth, beholder, or CoP'd about sorcerers being in the dungeon. Beholder means get ray deflection. Dragon means get invisibility to dragons and energy resistance. Aboleth means buff saves and put up protection from evil to prevent enslavement. Enemy sorcerers means get stuff that breaks LoE, dispels magic, or can detect invisibility. Just knowing monster types can help a lot. Outsiders have all good saves, SR, teleport effects, and resistance/immunity to multiple energy types, but HD about equal to CR, d8 HD, and relatively low con scores (compared to giants, etc). Preparing for outsiders means dimensional anchor, dismissal, protection from X, and buff spells so party damage dealers can deal quickly with them.

With access to dimension door and teleport, you can leave the dungeon at any point, getting between 680ft and 900+ miles away from the enemy as a standard action. If everything goes to hell, you have one heck of an exit strategy; something most classes don't have. Does that mean one less spell? Yes, but it also gives you far more leeway in having the wrong spells prepared.

Are these sure fire 100% always work options? Absolutely not, but then, without ridiculous stuff like DMM, incantatrix (persisting stuff by level 8), binding succubi and nightmares, using dominate humanoid to assemble a team of level 10 fighters, and so forth, you can still seriously push combat in ways you want.

And this is without getting into the issue of saves. If you're using vanilla monsters from the MM or NPCs from various books, things like Grease and Glitterdust have disgustingly high chances of working. A shaped Grease is good against CR15 monsters. That's insane. A 2nd level spell slot can shut down a CR15 encounter (caveat: you've got a competent damage dealer on your side).

I dunno, I'm sure you've heard all this stuff before. Always being prepared definitely requires using divinations to get advance notice, though. I'm DMing for a Batman Ultimate Magus (level 11) who has access to a library that lets him copy ANY SPELL HE WANTS into his spell book, when he has some down time, and is also using versatile spell caster to turn two low level slots into a high level one (so he can cast 6th level spells despite being a 5th level wizard). And you know what? His lack of divinations means he always has the wrong spells prepared. He constantly falls back on stuff like invisibility, fly, grease, black tentacles. And that stuff really helps the party out. Despite having a bunch of spells prepared for social interaction and having to fight swarms of undead, he can still pull it off thanks to friggin 1st through 3rd level spells and a couple party members with high strength.

[tyckspoon]

If you're under attack by what seems to be enemies affected by greater invisibility, yes then it really is the time to get true seeing out immediately. But that still gives the attackers two rounds to act unseen and to the other party members they are still invisible. And they have a lot of time to get into position and get their weapons and spells ready. So one of the PCs can see you after the second round of combat. That really is not "greater invisibility is completely useless".

That is indeed highly inefficient! So don't do it. See Invisibility is a mere 2nd level slot, lasts 10 min/level so an Extended one at those levels should cover your active looking-for-trouble time, and can even be made Permanent. Then when you spot your invisible foes, you paint them with Glitterdust or Faerie Fire (available at 25gp/shot as an alchemical item in Complete Scoundrel.)

[Larpus]

Yeah, "daily" isn't really defined, and there are issues with being on planes without days or even time.

Here's what makes me think it's 8 hours + 8 hours rest + 1 hour study (essentially new spells every 17 hour period):

"Recent Casting Limit/Rest Interruptions

If a wizard has cast spells recently, the drain on her resources reduces her capacity to prepare new spells. When she prepares spells for the coming day, all the spells she has cast within the last 8 hours count against her daily limit."

The only spells that count against a daily limit are those cast in the past 8 hours.
Actually, by that piece of RAW, the allotment is only 8 hours of rest + 1 hour study + minutes to spend it all; after all, it only counts "spells cast in the last 8 hours", if you were asleep for 8 hours, then I guess you didn't cast anything in the last 8 hours.

In fact, expanding on that, it only means that the maximum amount of full spell slots you can have is 3/day, supposing you somehow prepare instantly and have no need to sleep (Warforged?).

That said, it does contradict the "daily allotment" part, which seems to indicate that a Wizard, just like a Cleric, can only prepare that number of spells each day; however ignoring the "daily allotment" part, it does sort of justify why Elves are supposed to be good Wizards, as they sleep less and as such can get more spell slots per day or at least do it faster.

[faceroll]

Actually, by that piece of RAW, the allotment is only 8 hours of rest + 1 hour study + minutes to spend it all; after all, it only counts "spells cast in the last 8 hours", if you were asleep for 8 hours, then I guess you didn't cast anything in the last 8 hours.

In fact, expanding on that, it only means that the maximum amount of full spell slots you can have is 3/day, supposing you somehow prepare instantly and have no need to sleep (Warforged?).

That said, it does contradict the "daily allotment" part, which seems to indicate that a Wizard, just like a Cleric, can only prepare that number of spells each day; however ignoring the "daily allotment" part, it does sort of justify why Elves are supposed to be good Wizards, as they sleep less and as such can get more spell slots per day or at least do it faster.

Actually, the only way of getting around the 8 hours rest/sleep rule I know of is Heward's Fortifying Bedroll. Warforged and elves still need to sit still and not do anything (seriously, no skill checks, no movement, nothing) for 8 hours. The 1 hr prep time has the same constraints as resting. The Bedroll works 1/day, but a character can't gain its benefits more than once in a 48 hour period.

[opticalshadow]

the wording for daily is almost as stupid as monks not being able to punch. we took this one by RAW deffinition. dailiy refers to a time frame of 24 hours as a word in our deffinition. so in our games you need a day to pass, from the time you wake up there needs to be a 12 hour cycle of time to pass before you can rest for 8 hours to get your spells back.

atleast thats just how we did it. you can try to muck up the rules, but it does specify daily, and while it doesnt define that word, it still is a word with its own deffinition.

[NichG]

People make a big deal about picking the perfect spell selection using divinations, but some spells are just going to be good in any situation. You really do get a good chunk of spell slots, so as long as you fill them with spells that are universally useful, you're pretty good to go.

Energy Immunity is 24 hours in duration and can cover one of five types decided at casting. It's a good bet you'll deal with something that does energy damage during the day.

Orbs: good damage, no SR, and a side effect. Damage isn't optimal, but its good as a backup.

Web, Solid Fog: Unless its incorporeal, it'll be inconvenienced for a few rounds.

Polymorph: Situation you can't deal with? Turn into something that can, again chosen at the time of casting.

Summon Monster/Planar Binding/Gate: As above, but four hands are better than two.

Illusions: Make it look like whatever you need (at time of casting), or for some of them emulate any spell of another school. A big wildcard if you're optimized to use them (e.g. Shadowcraft Mage).

Limited Wish: Now you're bringing out the big guns. If you can somehow ignore the xp component, you'll never be missing that spell you need

There are a couple other tricks to getting spells at need. One thing you can do is to intentionally leave spell slots blank, which allows you to prepare spells into them later in the day (takes an hour IIRC, but good for environmental challenges that aren't actively hunting you).

[faceroll]

Orbs: good damage, no SR, and a side effect. Damage isn't optimal, but its good as a backup.

I'm not sure I really agree with orbs "as back up". You get them at level 7, and they only do d6/lvl damage, and require a touch attack. Their damage is negligible vs anything you can hit with a touch attack (15d6 damage vs. purple worm? worthless), and things that their damage would actually hurt tend to be much harder to hit. They also do elemental damage, and by the time you are using 4th level spell slots as "back-up", they're resisted by just about everything, further removing their usefulness.

For "backup", I'd rather have (a second preperation of) Ruin Delver's Fortune, Dimension Door, Improved Invis, Black Tentacles, Arcane Eye, Polymoprh, Ray Deflection, Greater Mirror Image, Celerity, Assay Spell Resistance, Defenstarting Sphere, or a second level spell with split ray on it.

[dextercorvia]

For the sake of this, let's take a Silverbrow Human 6th level (non-focused) Specialist Conjurer. Assume 18-20 Int. Banned Schools: Necromancy, Enchantment. (What can I say, I like Evocation sometimes.)

Feats: Scribe Scroll (B), Metamagic School Focus(H), Extend Spell, Sculpt Spell, Fell Drain(B), Practical Metamagic: Fell Drain

Spells Prepared: 5/5/4/3

3rd
Stinking Cloud
Fell Draininng Frost Breath
Slow

2nd
Sculpted Glitterdust (MSF)
Alter Self (extended with lesser rod)
Sculpted Fell Draining Hail of Stone (MSF)
Rope Trick (extended with lesser rod)

1st
Mage Armor (extended with Lesser Rod)
Mage Armor
Wall of Smoke
Sculpted Grease (MSF)
Enlarge Person

[NichG]

I'm not sure I really agree with orbs "as back up". You get them at level 7, and they only do d6/lvl damage, and require a touch attack. Their damage is negligible vs anything you can hit with a touch attack (15d6 damage vs. purple worm? worthless), and things that their damage would actually hurt tend to be much harder to hit. They also do elemental damage, and by the time you are using 4th level spell slots as "back-up", they're resisted by just about everything, further removing their usefulness.

For "backup", I'd rather have (a second preperation of) Ruin Delver's Fortune, Dimension Door, Improved Invis, Black Tentacles, Arcane Eye, Polymoprh, Ray Deflection, Greater Mirror Image, Celerity, Assay Spell Resistance, Defenstarting Sphere, or a second level spell with split ray on it.

By 'backup' I mean 'for some reason, its my job to damage this thing to death despite the fact I'm a wizard'. That could be, the rest of the party is dead or you're caught alone by assassins or whatever. Sometimes its good to actually have a way to kill 'any old thing'. Polymorph is good for that if you pick the right creature, but the rest of those spells aren't what I'd consider backup of this sort.

But okay, pack a super-metamagicked Hail of Stones if you really need to be sure the thing will just take the damage.

[Drachasor]

Part of the point of being Tier 1 is that you can define most of the terms of the conflict. Tier 3 and below have to deal with a lot of what the DM sets up. Tier 1's can completely avoid things with teleportation and other magics, they can use divinations to find out a lot more information (even if not everything), and they can then decide what THEY want the encounter to be like and plan accordingly. They can create and determine a lot of the rules of engagement, including when the conflict happens (and they always have multiple vectors of attack to choose from).

In random encounters, it is quite possible there's not a whole lot of setup they can do -- though they can still prepare a wide enough variety of Save or Lose spells to quite possibly end such combats in one or two rounds. Against the major enemy conflicts though, they can get a good-sized chunk of information, and have a host of options in planning on how to fight them.

"Always being prepared" might be a BIT of a misnomer. On the other hand, with their own potential demiplane, contingencies, divinations, variety of SoLs, and other options, it isn't TOO far from the truth.


By 'backup' I mean 'for some reason, its my job to damage this thing to death despite the fact I'm a wizard'. That could be, the rest of the party is dead or you're caught alone by assassins or whatever. Sometimes its good to actually have a way to kill 'any old thing'. Polymorph is good for that if you pick the right creature, but the rest of those spells aren't what I'd consider backup of this sort.

But okay, pack a super-metamagicked Hail of Stones if you really need to be sure the thing will just take the damage.

The best Wizard spells kill things with a failed save. That's basically unlimited damage. Ok, that's not true. The best ones kill things with no save chance. Ray of Stupidity on a Purple Worm takes it out in one shot -- no save and an easy touch AC to hit.

[sreservoir]

archivist (or druid, or anything prepared that can reliably get acorns) hathran with acorn of far travel is trivially doable at 8 without cheesing prereqs. all the spells, all the time!

(and they think hathran is a ±0 prc? feh!)

hm, that might count as cheese, actually.

[dextercorvia]

For the sake of this, let's take a Silverbrow Human 6th level (non-focused) Specialist Conjurer. Assume 18-20 Int. Banned Schools: Necromancy, Enchantment. (What can I say, I like Evocation sometimes.)

Feats: Scribe Scroll (B), Metamagic School Focus(H), Extend Spell, Sculpt Spell, Fell Drain(B), Practical Metamagic: Fell Drain

Spells Prepared: 5/5/4/3

3rd
Stinking Cloud
Fell Draininng Frost Breath
Slow

2nd
Sculpted Glitterdust (MSF)
Alter Self (extended with lesser rod)
Sculpted Fell Draining Hail of Stone (MSF)
Rope Trick (extended with lesser rod)

1st
Mage Armor (extended with Lesser Rod)
Mage Armor
Wall of Smoke
Sculpted Grease (MSF)
Enlarge Person

I wasn't thinking. This doesn't qualify for Practical Metamagic. Easy is a replacement if Dragon is allowed. Otherwise, you can get some mileage out of Azurin+Midnight Metamagic.