Best Water/Ice/Cold spells of each level

[Douglas]

I'm planning to give a special customized magic item to a cleric in one of my games soon, and part of its abilities will be to act as a runestaff except without the arcane or class list restrictions. The cleric in question has the healing and water domains, and healing is already taken care of by a PrC, so I want this magic item to focus on a water theme. Ice and cold are close enough to be acceptable. It will have one (maybe two, I'll have to look at pricing and other abilities) spell of each level 0 through 9. What spells should it have?

What are the best water, ice, or cold themed spells of each spell level, from all spell lists? Non-cleric spells are preferred because the character already has free access to cleric spells, though a really good cleric one might still be worth it for having it spontaneously. All Pathfinder and 3.5 is allowed for sources.

[Lateral]

Heart of Water is a pretty good one.

[AmberVael]

Hmmm. Interesting question. I think you'll mostly be drawing from the Druid list here, they get most of the interesting water spells, at least.

Frostburn and Sandstorm are decent sources for this kind of thing. You might think Stormwrack is the place to look, but most of its spell require being around or in water, which is typically a bad assumption. It does have Red Tide, which is a pretty heavy hitting nauseate attack, but at 8th level... you can do better. There is also Mudslide, which is a 6th level spell. I find it more interesting for all the mud it creates than its mechanical effects though (10ft of mud is a pretty hefty amount).

Personally, a couple of my favorites from the Druid list are Blizzard (Frostburn, level 5 [Cold] spell that allows the conjuring of sudden, combat ending storms) and Flashflood (Sandstorm, level 8 [Water] spell- while its combat applications are not the best, the massive volume of water it produces can be used for interesting effects, and it's great for environmental devastation. Possibly not the most optimized spell, but a very fun one.)

Drown and Mass Drown are notable save or die type water spells, from Spell Compendium.

Tsunami, of course, is one of the few 9th level spells I'm aware of with such a tag (SC). It's mostly a damage spell, but can also be battlefield control, and has the minor advantages of not being subjected to Evasion (fort save) and having an unusual damage form (bludgeoning). Bad news is, it's concentration.

Wall of Water is an interesting spell. It can work as battlefield control, by preventing enemies from moving around just like any other wall, but people can try and pass through it. Thing is, if they try, they usually get stuck due to having to make a swim check to move at all (especially poor fighter types with heavy armor). Better yet, you can intentionally drop the wall on top of people when you cast it, sticking them in such a situation without their choice. It's a cleric spell already though, from Sandstorm.

Blood to Water is interesting, but a cleric spell (2d6 con damage, fort for half). Given that you have save or dies at the point you get it (it's a 7th level spell), it's not quite as enticing.

Beyond these, there are some less mechanically effective spells... Tidal Surge (damage and bullrushing), Extract Water Elemental (damage, but if they die, you make a water elemental), Swim/Mass Swim.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Going for only non-Cleric spells here, since he can just prepare those normally.

1- Snowsight, Frostburn (point out Obscuring Snow from that same book)
2- Kelpstrand, Spell Compendium (or Creeping Cold, cast it with a Lesser Rod of Extend)
3- Sleet Storm or Icelance, Spell Compendium
4- Ice Storm
5- Call Avalanche, Frostburn
6- Freezing Fog, Spell Compendium
7- Control Weather is all I can come up with.
8- Frostfell, Frostburn
9- Iceberg, Frostburn

[Emperor Tippy]

Ice Assassin of course. Even without using it for deity cheese it's still a great spell.

[DeAnno]

The pinning against the wall (possibly a wall you made yourself) effect of Flashflood actually is fairly useful in combat since it prevents both moving and attacking. Also if there is other lethal stuff on the battlefield either just because (or because your wizard did it) Flashflood is great for pushing people into it.

[Douglas]

Heart of Water is a pretty good one.
The discharge effect is useful, the rest not so much. It's a possibility.


It does have Red Tide, which is a pretty heavy hitting nauseate attack, but at 8th level... you can do better.
Hmm, not bad, but a bit indiscriminate and I'm not sure how well the player would like the fluff.


There is also Mudslide, which is a 6th level spell. I find it more interesting for all the mud it creates than its mechanical effects though (10ft of mud is a pretty hefty amount).
Yeah, the mechanical effects on that aren't worth that level of spell slot.


Personally, a couple of my favorites from the Druid list are Blizzard (Frostburn, level 5 [Cold] spell that allows the conjuring of sudden, combat ending storms) and Flashflood (Sandstorm, level 8 [Water] spell- while its combat applications are not the best, the massive volume of water it produces can be used for interesting effects, and it's great for environmental devastation. Possibly not the most optimized spell, but a very fun one.)
I'm looking more for combat spells, and not ones that force a draw, which is essentially what Blizzard does.


Drown and Mass Drown are notable save or die type water spells, from Spell Compendium.
Those are good possibilities. Even though they're essentially a minor variation on a type of spell clerics already get (save-or-die), they do have the unusual feature of being stoppable at -1 hp for live capture.


Tsunami, of course, is one of the few 9th level spells I'm aware of with such a tag (SC). It's mostly a damage spell, but can also be battlefield control, and has the minor advantages of not being subjected to Evasion (fort save) and having an unusual damage form (bludgeoning). Bad news is, it's concentration.
No, the real bad news is the 5000 gp material component.


Wall of Water is an interesting spell. It can work as battlefield control, by preventing enemies from moving around just like any other wall, but people can try and pass through it. Thing is, if they try, they usually get stuck due to having to make a swim check to move at all (especially poor fighter types with heavy armor). Better yet, you can intentionally drop the wall on top of people when you cast it, sticking them in such a situation without their choice. It's a cleric spell already though, from Sandstorm.
Updated in Spell Compendium, victims can ignore the swim check by just walking along the bottom at half speed. Probably not really worthwhile.


Blood to Water is interesting, but a cleric spell (2d6 con damage, fort for half). Given that you have save or dies at the point you get it (it's a 7th level spell), it's not quite as enticing.
Yeah, between the level and being on the cleric list I don't think this one's worth it.


Going for only non-Cleric spells here, since he can just prepare those normally.

1- Snowsight, Frostburn (point out Obscuring Snow from that same book)
The Snowsight/Obscuring Snow combo is too much of an on/off trump card deal. Against foes that don't have a counter, it auto-wins; against foes that do, it does very little. This is a dynamic I really don't want to introduce for anything that isn't really common like flight.

2- Kelpstrand, Spell Compendium (or Creeping Cold, cast it with a Lesser Rod of Extend)
Kelpstrand is a good one, I think I'll probably use it.

3- Sleet Storm or Icelance, Spell Compendium
For Sleet Storm, I think he's already got enough vision denial with just the cleric list. Icelance is a good one, though.

4- Ice Storm
Seems kinda weak to me.

5- Call Avalanche, Frostburn
The damage is subpar, and I could see the burying effect getting annoying for both sides. Probably won't use this one.

6- Freezing Fog, Spell Compendium
Great spell, one of the best fogs.

7- Control Weather is all I can come up with.
Doesn't seem like it would come in useful often enough.

8- Frostfell, Frostburn
Turn to ice, save for d6/level, in a large selectable area. Nasty.

9- Iceberg, Frostburn
A quite respectable damage spell, especially notable for the lack of a save in the center.


Ice Assassin of course. Even without using it for deity cheese it's still a great spell.
Even without targeting deities, it's much cheesier and more headache-inducing than I want to deal with.

Let's see, so far we've got:
Level 0:
Level 1:
Level 2: Kelpstrand
Level 3: Heart of Water, Icelance
Level 4:
Level 5:
Level 6: Drown, Freezing Fog
Level 7:
Level 8: Red Tide (maybe), Frostfell
Level 9: Mass Drown, Iceberg

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Maybe throw in Summon Nature's Ally (water elementals only), or Conjure Ice Beast from Frostburn, since readily available summons often come in handy.

Chill Metal could be useful if you make opponents voluntarily drop a weapon it's cast on.

Cone of Cold and Orb of Cold are some decent direct damage choices for those empty levels.

[Draz74]

What, no Shivering Touch mention yet? :smallamused:

[Urpriest]

The Heart of Winter from Frostburn is basically this item, without the water theme. Maybe grab some things off it for ideas?

[ericgrau]

Sleet storm and wall of ice hands down for 3 and 4.

Sleet storm is way more than a fog, they can't really be compared to eachother. It's more like, that half of the encounter over there is shut down, kk thx. They will stumble out of it one at a time into your party shooting gallery.

If you need something for 0 there's ray of frost. It's not much on its own, but there are ways to (ab)use it. Freeze things, charge a draconic reservoir spell, chill your drink, etc.

[Fax Celestis]

6th: extract water elemental, SpC.

[Tokuhara]

6th: extract water elemental, SpC.

Love this spell. DM banned it when I killed his Bandit King with it

[AmberVael]

Oh, just combat spells, huh? That's kind of a bummer. Weeeell...


2. Numbing Sphere. It's like burning sphere, except cold. And instead of dealing a bit of damage, it deals dexterity damage! Low level, move action to direct around, deals dex damage for a combat duration... very amusing when you've got spells to keep people in place. Like, say, kelpstrand.

4. Ice Web. It's Web. But ice. Deals a 1d6 damage per round. BUT!
It has one clause- creatures with the Cold subtype can pass through it unheeded.
Enter Mantle of the Icy Soul- a cleric spell. Costs XP, but it is instantaneous and bestows said subtype to anyone you touch. It does mean fire vulnerability, but carefully planned, you could have an entire party immune to your web (and cold too) that your enemies cannot avoid. If you can't use that to your advantage though, don't bother.

5. Flesh to Ice. It's Flesh to Stone, except themed to your tastes- and also, one level lower! You can use it to utterly destroy enemies via the usual types of shenanigans, or to store them until needed.

6. Freezing Glance. You can completely immobilize someone. In fact, you can immobilize one someone per round, and there's not even an action listed for doing so. And it's a will save! It's a gift that keeps on giving.

[Fax Celestis]

Also as the frost, PHB-II. Drd/sor/wiz 7.

Kelgore's grave mist, PHB-II. Sor/wiz 2.

Aquatic escape, CScn. Drd 1.

Blackwater tentacle, Stormwrack. Drd/sor/wiz 5.

Jaws of the moray, Stormwrack. Drd/sor/wiz 2.

Megalodon empowerment, Stormwrack. Drd 8. This is actually a really terrifying spell in the hands of any zilla, if only for the BAB=CL clause.

[Douglas]

What, no Shivering Touch mention yet? :smallamused:
Too infamously broken.


The Heart of Winter from Frostburn is basically this item, without the water theme. Maybe grab some things off it for ideas?
You mean the Iceheart? I couldn't find an item named "Heart of Winter" in there. I took a look, but nothing it had really struck me as a great idea.


Sleet storm and wall of ice hands down for 3 and 4.

Sleet storm is way more than a fog, they can't really be compared to eachother. It's more like, that half of the encounter over there is shut down, kk thx. They will stumble out of it one at a time into your party shooting gallery.
Seems I didn't pay enough attention to the movement impairment the first time I read it. On second review, that is pretty significant.

If you need something for 0 there's ray of frost. It's not much on its own, but there are ways to (ab)use it. Freeze things, charge a draconic reservoir spell, chill your drink, etc.
Yeah, not many options for level 0. I'll probably just go with Ray of Frost and Create Water.

6th: extract water elemental, SpC.
The fluff is nice, but single target d6/level with save for half isn't very impressive for a 6th level slot, and the elemental isn't that impressive even if you get a huge one.

2. Numbing Sphere. It's like burning sphere, except cold. And instead of dealing a bit of damage, it deals dexterity damage! Low level, move action to direct around, deals dex damage for a combat duration... very amusing when you've got spells to keep people in place. Like, say, kelpstrand.
Nice one.


4. Ice Web. It's Web. But ice. Deals a 1d6 damage per round. BUT!
It has one clause- creatures with the Cold subtype can pass through it unheeded.
Enter Mantle of the Icy Soul- a cleric spell. Costs XP, but it is instantaneous and bestows said subtype to anyone you touch. It does mean fire vulnerability, but carefully planned, you could have an entire party immune to your web (and cold too) that your enemies cannot avoid. If you can't use that to your advantage though, don't bother.
Interesting, and a respectable spell even without the cold subtype combo. Maybe a little light for level 4, but I don't have anything else on that level yet.


5. Flesh to Ice. It's Flesh to Stone, except themed to your tastes- and also, one level lower! You can use it to utterly destroy enemies via the usual types of shenanigans, or to store them until needed.
A nice save-or-"die".

6. Freezing Glance. You can completely immobilize someone. In fact, you can immobilize one someone per round, and there's not even an action listed for doing so. And it's a will save! It's a gift that keeps on giving.
Ouch. I may have to think about house ruling the action cost on it, but it's a good one any way you look at it.

Also as the frost, PHB-II. Drd/sor/wiz 7.
Too likely to cause friendly fire, I think.

Kelgore's grave mist, PHB-II. Sor/wiz 2.
Hmm. The fatigue is nice, but I don't think it can compete with Kelpstrand and Numbing Sphere.

Aquatic escape, CScn. Drd 1.
:smallamused: Amusing, but I don't think they'll be dealing with underwater stuff often enough to be worth it.

Blackwater tentacle, Stormwrack. Drd/sor/wiz 5.
Evil descriptor, good character. Not a bad spell, but doesn't fit.

Jaws of the moray, Stormwrack. Drd/sor/wiz 2.
The association with water is a bit too indirect for that one, and there's no one in the party who would really get good use out of it.

Megalodon empowerment, Stormwrack. Drd 8. This is actually a really terrifying spell in the hands of any zilla, if only for the BAB=CL clause.
A moderately nice buff, but the prohibition on spellcasting really hurts and the character in question doesn't have the stats for self buffing to work well.

Ok, updated list:
Level 0: Ray of Frost, Create Water
Level 1:
Level 2: Kelpstrand, Numbing Sphere
Level 3: Heart of Water, Icelance, Sleet Storm
Level 4: Ice Web
Level 5: Flesh to Ice
Level 6: Drown, Freezing Fog, Freezing Glance
Level 7:
Level 8: Red Tide (maybe), Frostfell
Level 9: Mass Drown, Iceberg

[Fax Celestis]

The fluff is nice, but single target d6/level with save for half isn't very impressive for a 6th level slot, and the elemental isn't that impressive even if you get a huge one.

It's d6/lev untyped damage and caps at 20 dice. It works better in larger battles: finish off someone already injured, get a minion, stomp faces. Still, if you think it's not good enough for a 6th, why not shove it down to 5th or 4th? You are the DM.

[AmberVael]

Here's an odd one I feel like I should bring up. For whatever reason, it doesn't have the water descriptor, but it probably should.

4. Murderous Mist, spell compendium. It creates a boiling steam cloud that is a moving area effect spell, like Cloudkill. It deals a mere 2d6 damage... but permanently blinds people. And the save versus blinding is, interestingly enough, a reflex save.

[Douglas]

It's d6/lev untyped damage and caps at 20 dice. It works better in larger battles: finish off someone already injured, get a minion, stomp faces. Still, if you think it's not good enough for a 6th, why not shove it down to 5th or 4th? You are the DM.
True, having the damage untyped is an advantage, but I'm not sure it's enough to make up for being just damage (and only d6/level) on a single target with save for half. I could drop it down a level or two, but I'd prefer to avoid getting into tweaking spell levels. If I do it once, it sets a precedent that could be a hassle to deal with if players start requesting tweaks for other spells.


Here's an odd one I feel like I should bring up. For whatever reason, it doesn't have the water descriptor, but it probably should.

4. Murderous Mist, spell compendium. It creates a boiling steam cloud that is a moving area effect spell, like Cloudkill. It deals a mere 2d6 damage... but permanently blinds people. And the save versus blinding is, interestingly enough, a reflex save.
That is rather odd that it doesn't have the water descriptor, and permanent blind on an AoE is quite powerful.

I was looking through Dragon Magic while building a dragon, and just noticed Burst of Glacial Wrath. Looks like a decent candidate. Just damage, with save for half, but AoE and safe for live capture. Seems like sort of a half-and-half between Iceberg and Mass Drown.

Level 0: Ray of Frost, Create Water
Level 1:
Level 2: Kelpstrand, Numbing Sphere
Level 3: Heart of Water, Icelance, Sleet Storm
Level 4: Ice Web, Murderous Mist
Level 5: Flesh to Ice
Level 6: Drown, Freezing Fog, Freezing Glance
Level 7:
Level 8: Red Tide (maybe), Frostfell
Level 9: Mass Drown, Iceberg, Burst of Glacial Wrath

[Urpriest]

You mean the Iceheart? I couldn't find an item named "Heart of Winter" in there. I took a look, but nothing it had really struck me as a great idea.


Ah yes Iceheart, my mistake.

[Ernir]

1st level: Ice Slick from Frostburn.

It's already on the Cleric list, but being sort of the Cleric version of Grease, I think it's worth mentioning.

[AmberVael]

Okay, so I read through a list of all level 1 and level 7 spells. Here are the notable Cold/Water spells I found. All of them are in the spell compendium, except as noted otherwise.

1. Animate Water. You make a small water elemental. It lasts as long as you concentrate.

1. Lesser Orb of Cold. Like Orb of Cold, but no effect and less damage. Still, one of the better level 1 damage spells.

1. Winter Chill. Touch attack, deals 1d6 damage and fatigues on a failed fort save.

1. Cloudburst. This one actually managed to get some real interest from me, though it's not particularly awesome in combat. Still... it has a huge radius (100ft!) a notable duration (10 minutes/level) and has quite a variety of effects to its name- extinguishes fire, decreases damage from fire spells, hampers vision, and puts a substantial penalty on ranged attacks and listen checks. Still, it beats out a lot of other spells on this level...

7. Ice Claw. It's a claw. Of ice. It grapples people. It's really too high of level for its effect. That said, it's grapple mod isn't so terrible. Caster Level + Casting Mod +7.

7. Whiteout. Frostburn. It's like Blizzard, really, but it has a target. Still, very likely to end combat for everyone.

7. Waterspout. Giant water tornado. Deals damage, picks people up, shakes them around a bit, throws them back out. It's not amazing, but it lasts a while, causes havoc, and only needs a move action to get directions, so you can get some good mileage out of what it DOES do, at least.

Also, just for giggles, and to show you what kind of options I'm leaving out...

7. Raise the Ice Forest. Find a snowy area. No, not just any snowy area, a REALLY snowy area. With your mighty mastery of magic, you may summon forth from the ice... trees! Just, plain old trees. Nothing fancy. And they're magic trees... permanent duration. They can be dispelled. Don't try building a log cabin out of these, folks.

[Douglas]

1st level: Ice Slick from Frostburn.

It's already on the Cleric list, but being sort of the Cleric version of Grease, I think it's worth mentioning.
Good find.


Okay, so I read through a list of all level 1 and level 7 spells. Here are the notable Cold/Water spells I found. All of them are in the spell compendium, except as noted otherwise.

1. Animate Water. You make a small water elemental. It lasts as long as you concentrate.
Meh. Sort of decent at very low levels, but rapidly fades to irrelevance.


1. Lesser Orb of Cold. Like Orb of Cold, but no effect and less damage. Still, one of the better level 1 damage spells.
Good damage for a level 1 spell. I'll put it in for now, but level 1 spells cap too low for the damage to remain good so I'll swap it if a good non-damage spell comes along.


1. Winter Chill. Touch attack, deals 1d6 damage and fatigues on a failed fort save.
Fatigue is such a minor debuff.


1. Cloudburst. This one actually managed to get some real interest from me, though it's not particularly awesome in combat. Still... it has a huge radius (100ft!) a notable duration (10 minutes/level) and has quite a variety of effects to its name- extinguishes fire, decreases damage from fire spells, hampers vision, and puts a substantial penalty on ranged attacks and listen checks. Still, it beats out a lot of other spells on this level...
An interesting fluff spell, but not that great effects. Plus, the fire-happy party wizard wouldn't like it.


7. Ice Claw. It's a claw. Of ice. It grapples people. It's really too high of level for its effect. That said, it's grapple mod isn't so terrible. Caster Level + Casting Mod +7.
That's a pretty respectable grapple bonus, and the ability the grapple someone without tying yourself up to maintain it is pretty nice. Not sure if it's really worth a 7th level slot, but it's not bad and I don't have anything else listed for that level yet.


7. Whiteout. Frostburn. It's like Blizzard, really, but it has a target. Still, very likely to end combat for everyone.
Once of the more thorough "forced draw" spells. Not quite what I'm looking for.


7. Waterspout. Giant water tornado. Deals damage, picks people up, shakes them around a bit, throws them back out. It's not amazing, but it lasts a while, causes havoc, and only needs a move action to get directions, so you can get some good mileage out of what it DOES do, at least.
A decent mix of disable and damage, looks like.


Also, just for giggles, and to show you what kind of options I'm leaving out...

7. Raise the Ice Forest. Find a snowy area. No, not just any snowy area, a REALLY snowy area. With your mighty mastery of magic, you may summon forth from the ice... trees! Just, plain old trees. Nothing fancy. And they're magic trees... permanent duration. They can be dispelled. Don't try building a log cabin out of these, folks.
:smallamused:

I think I'll pass on that one.

Level 0: Ray of Frost, Create Water
Level 1: Ice Slick, Lesser Orb of Cold
Level 2: Kelpstrand, Numbing Sphere
Level 3: Heart of Water, Icelance, Sleet Storm
Level 4: Ice Web, Murderous Mist
Level 5: Flesh to Ice
Level 6: Drown, Freezing Fog, Freezing Glance
Level 7: Ice Claw, Waterspout
Level 8: Red Tide (maybe), Frostfell
Level 9: Mass Drown, Iceberg, Burst of Glacial Wrath

[Flickerdart]

There's gotta be some use for dispellable trees that we can think of. Gag chairs for playing pranks on guests?

[MesiDoomstalker]

There's gotta be some use for dispellable trees that we can think of. Gag chairs for playing pranks on guests?

Traps! Build a bridge made either completly out of magi-trees or the main weight bearing structures made out magi-trees then auto-succeed the dispel check to remove the trees when a enemey crosses it. Then facepalm when you remember that falling damage is horribly weak. But it would of been pretty funny.

You could do the same with any kind of collasable structure traps or as a way to spring traps that aren't directly related to collasping structures.

[Darrin]

Some additional spells to consider:

1st: Conjure Ice Beast I (Frostburn). Mostly for SA: cold aura, 1d6 cold damage in a 10' burst as a free action, no save.

1st: Kaupaer's Quickblast (online here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20050112a)). Free/swift action orb of cold/fire/electricity, auto-hits (Ref half).

1st: Snilloc's Snowball (Unapproachable East). Not the swarm version, this is essentially a reskinned produce flame.

2nd: Ice darts (Frostburn). Great way to clear out mirror images.

2nd: Kelgore's grave mist (PHBII). 1d6 cold damage + fatigue, no save.

2nd: Drifts of the Shalm (PHBII). Easiest way to create snow, handy if you're trying to use any of those Frostburn spells that assume snow is already there but don't actually create any (blood snow, etc.)

3rd: Conjure Ice Beast III (Frostburn). Huge centipede can engulf up to large creatures. 4x wolves with 4d6 cold aura damage, no save, is also nice.

8th: Icy claw (Dragons of Faerun). Medium-sized claw attacks on it's own (BAB = CL + Int/Cha bonus), with your HP, AC 25, DR 15/magic, bunch of immunities, damage = 1d6+15 plus 3d6 cold damage, improved grab (grapple bonus +10) and constrict = more claw damage, ignores concealment/invisibility/displacement/HiPS, and can be redirected to a new target as a free action.

9th: Ice assassin (Frostburn). Just like simulacrum or clone, but even more uberbroken.

[AslanCross]

5th Level: Ice Flowers. 1d6 damage per level to an area, max 15d6. Deals half cold and half bludgeoning damage (it basically explodes the ground with rapidly-expanding shards of frozen groundwater). From Spell Compendium.