Help Me Fill Out a Generalist's Spellbook

[Ziegander]

Specifically, an Elf Generalist's Spellbook with Aerenal Arcanist and Collegiate Wizard (a total of 14 + Int 1st level spells and 6 spells per level thereafter). Before considering purchased scrolls to add more spells to your repertoire, what are the most powerful and most generally useful spells you would fill your spellbook with using only your base spells known gained per level?

[Bakkan]

A couple pieces of information would be very helpful in answering this question. First, are you interested in spells at all levels or are you building this character at a particular level. For instance, if you wanted him to start at level 1, sleep would be in my repertoire, but if you're starting at 10 it definitely wouldn't be.

Second, there are thousands of spells out there, many of them garbage but many of them awesome, so it would help to know what kind of wizard you want to build. You're a generalist, but all that means is that you can fill many different roles. Do you want to be a damage dealer? A battlefield controller? A party buffer? Something else? It's possible have spells that cover all these roles but you only have so many rounds in a combat, so a little focus is better than none at all.

[Ziegander]

A couple pieces of information would be very helpful in answering this question. First, are you interested in spells at all levels or are you building this character at a particular level. For instance, if you wanted him to start at level 1, sleep would be in my repertoire, but if you're starting at 10 it definitely wouldn't be.

I'm interested in working on a spell list for a 20th level character, but one that feels organic. So Sleep should probably be on there. It should be a list that is designed to be playable at all levels, not designed purely for the most efficient use at 20th level.


Second, there are thousands of spells out there, many of them garbage but many of them awesome, so it would help to know what kind of wizard you want to build. You're a generalist, but all that means is that you can fill many different roles. Do you want to be a damage dealer? A battlefield controller? A party buffer? Something else? It's possible have spells that cover all these roles but you only have so many rounds in a combat, so a little focus is better than none at all.

I want to be a generalist not only in build, but also in play. I want to have some ability to cover as many roles as possible. Some buffing and and damage dealing is well and good and can be quickly covered by a handful of strong spells, but battlefield control, mobility, calling, and utility are the primary concerns here.

This is what I've got so far:


1st Level - Alarm, Magic Missile, Nerveskitter, Shock and Awe, Sleep, 12 other spells

2nd Level - Alter Self, Locate Object, Quick Potion, 9 other spells

3rd Level - Arcane Sight, Dispel Magic, Haste, Magic Circle, Sleet Storm, Stinking Cloud, 6 other spells

4th Level - Black Tentacles, Celerity, Dimension Door, Polymorph, Scrying, Solid Fog, Vortex of Teeth, 5 other spells

5th Level - Contact Other Plane, Lesser Planar Binding, Permanency, Teleport, Wall of Force, 7 other spells

6th Level - Contingency, Greater Dispel Magic, Planar Binding, 9 other spells

7th Level - Control Weather, Forcecage, Greater Teleport, Plane Shift, Reverse Gravity, 7 other spells

8th Level - Discern Location, Greater Planar Binding, 10 other spells

9th Level - Foresight, Gate, Mage's Disjunction, Shapechange, Time Stop, 7 other spells

[Nohwl]

i think i might have some overlap in spell choices, but here's a list to get you started. you'd probably want to go through this to make sure it doesn't have a bunch of spells targetting the same save and to make sure that i didn't pick a spell that's kind of redundant.

1st

color spray
magic missile
summon monster 1
grease
dawnburst
nerveskitter

feather fall
wall of smoke
hail of stone
enlarge person
mage armor
identify

true strike
karmic aura
bloodwind
sleep
ray of enfeeblement
silent image

shield
benign transposition



2nd

glitterdust
wraithstrike
alter self
summon monster 2
mirror image
web

rope trick
create magic tattoo
fog cloud
heart of air
detect thoughts
gust of wind
shatter


3rd

haste
slow
shivering touch
heroics
explosive runes
summon monster 3

sleet storm
phantom steed
shrink item
greater magic weapon
heart of water
haboob


4th

celerity
orb of fire
polymorph
freedom of movement
evards black tentacles
solid fog

enervation
summon monster 4
greater mirror image
dimension door
heart of earth
lesser globe of invulnerability


5th

teleport
summon monster 5
greater blink
lesser planar binding
wall of stone
cloudkill

lightning leap
transmute rock to mud
contact other plane
heart of fire
shadow evocation
magic jar


6th

contingency
summon monster 6
true seeing
planar binding
freezing fog
disintegrate

freezing glance
eye of stone
antimagic field
greater anticipate teleportation
greater dispel magic
superior resistance


7th

plane shift
summon monster 7
simulacrum
forcecage
waves of exhaustion
elemental body

control weather
reverse gravity
energy immunity
energy absorbtion
greater teleport
choking cobwebs


8th

mind blank
maze
polymorph any object
greater celerity
avascular mass
summon monster 8

ottos irresistable dance
greater planar binding
moment of prescience
clone
dimensional lock
discern location


9th

shapechange
gate
timestop
wish
genesis
ice assassin

foresight
maw of chaos
prismatic sphere
summon elemental monolith
mindrape
shades


i'm probably missing something important, so check for that too.

[Ziegander]

Thank you very much, Nohwl! That is a fine spell list. I don't know what all of those spells do, or what books they are from, but a fine spell list nonetheless. Definitely very helpful.

[marcielle]

Remeber to constantly scoff at 'specialists' who lost entire schools of magic just because they didn't feel like a bit of rationing.

Also, Major Creation.

[Emperor Tippy]

Let's see, buy all the divination's and use Spontaneous Divination so that you never have to prepare them.



1st Level - Alarm, Magic Missile, Nerveskitter, Shock and Awe, Sleep, 12 other spells
Just buy all the various zero and first level spells. It's dirt cheap and a lot of them are situationaly useful. At higher levels you can just leave the slots empty and when you need that little trick, wait 15 minutes and then put whatever you need in the slot.


3rd Level - Arcane Sight, Dispel Magic, Haste, Magic Circle, Sleet Storm, Stinking Cloud, 6 other spells
Grab Phantom Steed, it's just about the best method of flight in the game.


4th Level - Black Tentacles, Celerity, Dimension Door, Polymorph, Scrying, Solid Fog, Vortex of Teeth, 5 other spells
Grab Resilient Sphere. It's a great defensive spell if you/the party are about to be attacked/suffer environmental problems. Just cast it on yourself and you are safe from most everything. It's also often more useful than Wall of Force as it can do a lot of the same things (such as blocking a door or hall in a dungeon) and lasts minutes/level while also being lower level.

Illusory Wall is highly useful even in higher level play. Hallucinatory Terrain is situationaly useful.

Shadow Conjuration can be nice as it can emulate a fair number of spells.

Greater Invisibility should be on your list as well, especially if you are going for organic growth.


5th Level - Contact Other Plane, Lesser Planar Binding, Permanency, Teleport, Wall of Force, 7 other spells
Break Enchantment, Mage's Private Sanctum, Cloudkill, Wall of Stone, Telepathic Bond (I recommend every party have permanent versions linking themselves, it's highly useful), Persistent Image, Fabricate, Passwall, Overland Flight, Telekinesis (least useful of what I've listed but still useful).


6th Level - Contingency, Greater Dispel Magic, Planar Binding, 9 other spells
Globe of Invulnerability, Analyze Dweomer, True Seeing, Legend Lore, Permanent Image, Shadow Walk can be useful (especially if you can convince your DM that Forbiddance doesn't block it), Undeath to Death, Disintegrate (don't use for direct attacks, it's a utility and battlefield control spell).


7th Level - Control Weather, Forcecage, Greater Teleport, Plane Shift, Reverse Gravity, 7 other spells
Sequester (great for preventing the tracking of stolen items and prisoners; remember unconscious people are always willing :smallwink:), Spell Turning, Magnificent Mansion, Phase Door, Simulacrum, Control Undead, Limited Wish.


8th Level - Discern Location, Greater Planar Binding, 10 other spells
Dimensional Lock, Mind Blank, Prismatic Wall, Trap the Soul, Moment of Prescience, Telekinetic Sphere, Greater Shadow Evocation, Screen, Clone, Create Greater Undead, Polymorph Any Object (great battlefield control and utility spell while also being a save or die, although I recommend using it as a direct attack spell less than as a utility spell. turning the air around a target to stone is a far better use much of the time than turning them into a pony), Temporal Stasis (total immunity to everything while under the effects of the spell, one trick is to use Animate Object to animate a wall and then hit it with Temporal Stasis; nothing can break that wall and the AO's duration doesn't expire thanks to TS.


9th Level - Foresight, Gate, Mage's Disjunction, Shapechange, Time Stop, 7 other spells
Shapechange covers Astral Projection (nightmare) and is one of the corner stones of a high level generalist as it can free up a ton of spell slots (don't prepare many teleports for example, Hound Archon's get it as an Su and you can load the party into a Portable Hole or Bag of Holding to bring them along), Prismatic Sphere (a great spell and with a little imagination it can be a shelter, vault, attack, and utility spell), Teleportation Circle (great for when you have to move a ton of people or goods, like an invasion or evacuation, rapidly. Combine permanent versions with permanent invisible prismatic spheres spread across the plane and you can rapidly be pretty much anywhere with no way to block or trace what you do (can even break through Weirdstones and Forbiddance effects), Shades (all conjuration spells of 8th level or lower, keep one prepared or on a scroll and you can rapidly field any conjuration spell that is situationaly useful), Weird would be useful except for the fact that everything is immune to Mind Affecting by this level, Soul Bind is practically a necessity (especially as it also prevents Wish and the like from making a res possible unlike many other res prevention methods), Wish (the reroll and Transport Travelers clauses are the two that make this a must have).

Those are the core spells. Giving a full list of all the useful and good to know/prepare spells from all sources is a very involved task, and one I don't feel like doing right now.

[Ziegander]

So between Nohwl and Tippy the core spells have been well covered. What options for a generalist are there outside of core that are too good to pass up?