what are your favorite abjuration and evocation spells?

[big teej]

just as it says on the tin.

what are your favorite, go to abjuration and/or evocation spells?

I'm making a wizard and doing my best to restrict myself to these 2 schools.


I'm focusing largely on abjuration spells, evocations are there as a supplement.

please include source and page number.

have at it.

[gomipile]

For Abjuration, all of the Magic Circle against X spells.

For Evocation, Forcecage, Magic Missile, and Fireball.

[legomaster00156]

Pre-epic, I assume. I am partial towards the Protection from (alignment) and the upgraded Magic Circle against (alignment) spells. I also like Resist Energy and Protection from Energy. Then there's good ol' Dispel Magic. Explosive Runes. Break Enchantment. Spell Turning. Prismatic Wall. Imprisonment. Mage's Disjunction. Prismatic Sphere.
From Evocation we have Magic Missile, Scorching Ray, Fireball, Lightning Bolt/Arc, Chain Lightning, Burning Hands, Floating Disk, Darkness, Daylight, Shout, Wall of Fire/Ice/Force, Fire Snake, Sending, Contagious Flame, Hellfire Ray, Forcecage, Mage's Sword, Prismatic Spray, Polar Ray, Stormbolts, Sunburst, Meteor Swarm, Ride the Lightning, and Winds of Vengeance.

[big teej]

I can't help but notice people are ignoring the "source and page" part. :smalltongue:

[legomaster00156]

Pathfinder SRD, Sorcerer/Wizard spells. :smallwink:

[big teej]

Pathfinder SRD, Sorcerer/Wizard spells. :smallwink:

dnd, not pathfinder. :smalltongue:

[legomaster00156]

You never said that, and I play PF primarily, so I list PF spells.

[big teej]

You never said that, and I play PF primarily, so I list PF spells.

well... I've never had to specify before... my understanding as far as this forum is concerned is you need to specify when you are using pathfinder, not when you arn't.

[Hirax]

Friendly fire, page 27 in Exemplars of Evil. Stops all ranged attacks, can be cast as an immediate action.

Mystic shield, page 171 in Empire of Shade. Takes away the magical properties of all weapons striking you, making you immune to non-serren wood weapons when combined with ghostform. Also stops all spells of 6th level or lower, but only ones that aren't yours.

Skin of the steel dragon, page 58 in Champions of Valor. 10+CL spell resistance as an immediate action, for 3/cl rounds. Not great, but I figured I'd make sure it didn't get overlooked.

[Aegis013]

Abjuration -
Arcane Turmoil and Karmic Aura from Complete Mage
Anticipate Teleportation from SpC

Evocation -
Banned for specialization. Every time.
I'd probably have to go with Vortex of Teeth SpC, though.

[KillianHawkeye]

I'm playing my first Wizard. Right now he's a level 5 Abjurer.

So far my favorite abjuration spells are luminous armor (from Book of Exalted Deeds) and protection from arrows. I just got dispel magic and explosive runes, but I haven't gotten a chance to use them yet since they're both kinda situational.

[Essence_of_War]

Some of my fave low level Evocations:

1st:
Persistent Blade (Spell Compendium) - at low levels the rogue will be pleased

2nd is replete with good choices:
Seeking Ray (PHB2) - strictly better than scorching ray until your CL is high enough for additional rays.
Frost Breath (SpC) - damage (meh) + reflex save or daze. Sign me up.
Ray of Ice (SpC) - great.
Scorching Ray (SRD) - a very useful spell.
Battering Ram (SpC) - I love forced battlefield movement!

3rd:
ManyJaws (SpC) - Often WAY better than fireball. Really wants to be extended!
Greater Thunderclap (SpC) - forces 3 saves. All of them have a useful "or suck" effect. Really wants to be sculpted!

Edit:
If you like abjurations, I'd try to dip at least 1 warrior-ish level to qualify for abjurant champion. It's worth it.

[Eldariel]

Anti-Magic Fields are fun. Anti-Magic Rays too, though they're rather impractical in the end due to the amount of defenses they allow. And for all the headache it causes, there's always something gleeful about casting Disjunction. Greater Dispel Magic (chained) is also hilarious, and then there are the variants from auxillary sources like Reaving Dispel, Wall of Dispel, etc.

Unfortunately, stuff like Spell Turning isn't all that amazing though the effects of that line are pretty cool.

[Lonely Tylenol]

Reverse Arrows (SpC 175) literally ended my involvement with my last campaign. The DM kept forgetting I'd use it (even though I'd remind him of the spells I'd cast on myself whenever I believed trouble to be near, and had a list on hand of the effects at all times), so he'd keep running us through all these smug "gotcha" moments where we open doors only to have a bunch of arrows loosed into our heads and chests, which obviously never went well. Then, one day, after a handful of poisoned arrows got sent back, he created a steel plate that served as chest-high cover for the guys that ambushed us, which I couldn't tell was magical with active Detect Magic and a 43 Spellcraft check, but would bounce all my spells and spell-like effects back at me. Then the party Bard cast through the wall with a magic missile, and when I pointed out the discrepancy, he looked at me with a straight face and said, "the wall only targets AoEs." (I was a blasty-buffer.)

Later that night, he exploded at me for pointing out Feather Fall was an immediate action and the Bardbarian could save his own life if he were to yell the name of the only spell he'd ever cast on his way down (he didn't), and correcting the DM when he tried to tell me otherwise.

I left amid angry accusations of metagaming.

Anyway, the spell was fun to use. I imagine Ray Deflection (SpC 166) would be, too.

Dragonskin (SpC 73) was among my favorite self-buffs.

I also like Combust (SpC 50), Fireburst/Greater Fireburst (SpC 94) and Firebrand (SpC 93) for different reasons: The first lets me strangle things with fire; the second lets me mark my territory in fire; and the third lets me cleanse everything in the room with fire. I never got to the level where I could use Greater Fireburst and Firebrand with that particular wizard, but I once swatted a young copper dragon out of the sky with Spectral Hand and an empowered Combust (literally felling the poor thing in one blow), and Fireburst was always my "Panic Button" spell, for when I felt like I was being overwhelmed by tiny blighters and needed to make some personal space.

[legomaster00156]

well... I've never had to specify before... my understanding as far as this forum is concerned is you need to specify when you are using pathfinder, not when you arn't.
Unless stated otherwise, 3.5 and PF are generally considered interchangable.

[Lonely Tylenol]

Unless stated otherwise, 3.5 and PF are generally considered interchangable.

In that case, couldn't you have just said "SRD" instead of "Pathfinder SRD"? I mean, it looks like pretty much all of the spells you listed are core SRD spells anyway.

[legomaster00156]

In that case, couldn't you have just said "SRD" instead of "Pathfinder SRD"? I mean, it looks like pretty much all of the spells you listed are core SRD spells anyway.
No, because a good couple of those spells are PF-specific.

[Lonely Tylenol]

No, because a good couple of those spells are PF-specific.

Then those spells aren't interchangeable, and deserve a mention as being PF-only (whereas the others belong to both systems).

[Yora]

Abjuration is easy: Dispel Magic!

Best spell in the whole game.

[mint]

Last I played a wizard, we mostly fought other casters. Mostly wizards, often a bit lower level or exotic "summoned" creatures.
Some of the spells I used and liked, all from the SpC:

Level 2
Dissonant Chant - surprisingly good when you first get it if you fight a lot of casters (which I did).
Ethereal Chamber

Level 3
Eradicate Earth
Great Thunderclap

Level 4
Dispelling Screen - in a campaign where you face of against a lot of casters, this is super fine.
Thunderlance
Wingbind - i like it because it hurts and has higher DC than earthbind.
Sword of Deception - hoot saves.

Level 5
Moonbow
Zone of Respite
Symbol of Spell Loss - remember about the

Level 6
Greater Anticipate Teleportation - fun with Zone of Respite. Get warning 3 turns out, start casting zone of respite (2 turns). Teleport fails.
Greater Sign of Sealing

Level 7
Radiant Assault - kind of amazing.
Hide from Dragons

[Psyren]

What's fun about psionics is that these schools were mostly combined. It makes thematic sense to me, and helps them stand up in usefulness to conjuration.

[Little Brother]

I'm a fan of divination, so I love Mindblank(I really shouldn't have to tell you where it is)

For evocation, I believe Explosive Runes is, though not actually sure. Basically, for evocation, mo' DAKKA=better.

[ericgrau]

All these are Player's Handbook. I think Spell Compendium has some good alternatives to fireball to change energy types and some improved magic missiles but I'm too lazy to check for you. All the SpC "abjurations" I try to think up are actually transmutation or illusion so I dunno what it has there.

Abjuration: [get most level 1s on scrolls], magic circle against evil (efficient multi-buff + no more domination), stoneskin (expensive tho), repulsion (what, abjuration has battlefield control too??), spell turning, prismatic wall, protection from spells, mind blank, prismatic sphere. Hmm, for practicality I'd say the magic circle has to be my favorite. It's available early and it gets everyone around you for a long time. Tell your party to delay their rings and cloaks for it.

Evocation: wall of force and wall of force. No save, trap or delay almost all foes, nearly indestructible, huge area. Other barriers cry themself to sleep at their inability to match a wall of force. But seriously it's frustrating trying to get other battlefield control to work so well 1/3-1/2 of the time. Besides that contingency and resilient sphere. I bet contingency would combine well with some abjuration. I'm not big on single SoLs, but resilient sphere is the best one. Likewise immunity is uncommon, it targets the most common low save, and it's available 3 levels earlier than finger of death, 2 levels before flesh to stone (both of which are subject to common immunities). Other people already nailed the other good evocations pretty well.

[darksolitaire]

Some of my favorite evocations spells, and their max damage:
1st: Arcane Bolt (Spellbook Archive (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20001001a)), 5d6+5
2nd: Combust (SpC, p.50), 10d8, Scorching Ray (PHB, p.275) 12d6.
3rd: Sound Lance (SpC, p.196), 10d8.
4th: Channeled Pyroburst (PHB2 p.106), 10d10.
5th Greater Fireburst (SpC, p.94), 15d10.
6th: Chain Lightning (PHB, p.208), 20d6.
7th: Delayed Blast Fireball (PHB, p.217), 20d6.
8th: Polar Ray (PHB, p.262) 25d6.
9th: Detonate (PHB2, p.109). Boom.

Don't play chess with your enemies, just remove them.

[Malachei]

My favorite evocation spells are Blacklight, Defenestrating Sphere, Howling Chain and Vortex of Teeth (all in SC). And, from SRD, Wall of Force and Contingency, of course.

And Invoke Magic (LoM) is just wonderful.

[Kol Korran]

Abjuration is easy: Dispel Magic!

Best spell in the whole game.

quoted for the shining truth that it is. every word. the most important spell in campaigns i DMed or played in.

Other Favorites of mine from Abjuration:
- Globe of Invulnerability, lesser. quite a nifty magical protection.
- Stone skin is also quite a good buff for melee guys.
- protection from arrows has proven a life saver for a mage in my game, more than once.
- resist energy mass (3rd level, Spell Compendium. i think it's also in complete arcane or complete mage...) has been very helpful as well many times.

[Randomguy]

Defenestrating sphere from spell compedium, for when you wish you had a high enough strength to hurl someone through a window.

Maw of chaos, from spell compedium page 140, deals tons of untyped, uncapped damage each round, forces concentration checks for casters and has a minor debuff. The only downside is it doesn't work on creatures with the chaotic subtype, so you'll have to use other spells against slaads and demons.

EDIT: Also moonbow, on spell compedium page 144, which is just begging to be metamagicked.

[CockroachTeaParty]

I'll second Anticipate Teleportation as my favorite abjuration spell, and this is coming from someone who's played a paranoid Abjurer before. Both AT and its greater version are fantastic spells with excellent durations. Just cast it every day, and laugh as anybody with the gumption to teleport near you buys you all kinds of time to buff, lay traps, or escape. It's almost like a lower-level Time Stop (that can be combined with Time Stop!). Excellent in games where you fight lots of outsiders or other spellcasters.

Also, I'm glad someone mentioned Invoke Magic from LoM. A 9th level Evocation that lets you use a... 5th(?) level or lower spell in an Antimagic Field. There's something awesome about saying:
"Magic doesn't work here? Well... mine... DOES!"

It's like a magical Iron Heart Surge.

[Rapidghoul]

Some of my fave low level Evocations:
Seeking Ray (PHB2) - strictly better than scorching ray until your CL is high enough for additional rays.
...
ManyJaws (SpC) - Often WAY better than fireball. Really wants to be extended!


I played an Evocation Focused Specialist (since I was the only Tier 1 in the campaign, I figured I'd nerf myself a little at least) and used these two ALL the time. Manyjaws, extended (a lesser metamagic rod will work) and using Sonorous Hum (SpC 197) to maintain the concentration for you for the whole spell is pretty nifty.

I also really like Reality Maelstrom (SpC 168) just for the coolness factor. Mechanics wise, it's not the best level 9 spell out there, but it's just depicts the power so well.

[DarthCyberWolf]

One of my favorite spells of all time is Iceberg.
Evocation, 9th level
Frostburn p101

I know it's evocation and not the most powerful spell (being up there with other 9th level spells) but I really do like it. :smallsmile:

[Essence_of_War]

I played an Evocation Focused Specialist (since I was the only Tier 1 in the campaign, I figured I'd nerf myself a little at least) and used these two ALL the time.

Isn't it funny how good seeking ray is? This may not be true in general, but I sure overlooked it over its friends/neighbors scorching ray and ray of ice until I actually started casting it and being so pleased with the result.

[Yora]

quoted for the shining truth that it is. every word. the most important spell in campaigns i DMed or played in.
Yes, it is kind of situational, in the way that it is only relevant when your enemies use magical attacks or defenses. Which by the time you get 3rd level spells, is pretty much everyone.

And it's always better to be on the offense instead of reacting to what the enemy does, but the same thing goes for your enemies and with this one simple spell, you can completely screw their entire plan for an offense.

Dominate the fighter? I don't think so.
Hold person on the cleric? Not so fast.
Raise Sanctuary and start spamming summons? Sorry, but no.
Cast Stoneskin and just soak all the damage? Nice try.

You can even crash a flying carpet by rendering it inactive for 1d4 rounds. As long as you make the caster level check, the possibilities of ruining someones day are endless.

[BoutsofInsanity]

Alas, since I will be dming this character it means I will have to get up off my butt and stat out full casters. Joy.

[Eldariel]

Yes, it is kind of situational, in the way that it is only relevant when your enemies use magical attacks or defenses. Which by the time you get 3rd level spells, is pretty much everyone.

Everyone that's a relevant threat, at any rate. The only problem is reaching a caster level high enough to affect big bad's spells. Though even without, most magic items come at such a low caster level that one Chained Dispel Magic is going to knock most of magic equipment on a person out for 1+ rounds; plenty of time to end them.

[killem2]

I had no idea that arcane bolt existed. I'll be picked that up. I'm a focused specialist so, pretty unlikely they will reflex save against it in the early levels.

[Umbranar]

Evocation:

Magic Missile, Bigby`s grasping hand, Explosive Cascade, scorching ray.

Abjuration:
Magic Circles against X, Dispel Magics, Anti Magic Field (combined with archmage and abilitie to leave open spots). Resist Engery<-saved our party last game from a 10 headed pyrohydra and a 8 headed pyrohydro as they won initiative and we got hit by 18 firebreaths...doing no damage because of the 30 fire resistance.

[SamBurke]

well... I've never had to specify before... my understanding as far as this forum is concerned is you need to specify when you are using pathfinder, not when you arn't.

The forum's PF players have surged as of late; and besides, most PF spells are the same name as 3.5's spells (if nerfed/better balanced), so it'll help at least.

If you see any with funky names, though, then it's new.

[Snowbluff]

Abjuration -
Arcane Turmoil

Holy crap? Only second level? Can I use this for counterspelling?

[molten_dragon]

My favorite evocations are:

Wings of Cover (Races of the Dragon 119)
Wings of Flurry (Races of the Dragon 119)
Howling Chain (SpC 116)
The various Bigby's x hand spells that can grapple stuff

[Psyren]

*snip*

Not to mention that even against enemies whose buffs you can live with, a targeted dispel that strips multiple of them at once generates tempo advantage for your team. Even if you only take out two buffs, you're winning.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

My favorite evocation is Light. Seriously, that spell comes in very handy very often :). For abjuration there are many, but since I have a tendency to play gish characters (with actual armor and without strength penalty), Shield is the one I use the most.

[Optimator]

I can't help but notice people are ignoring the "source and page" part. :smalltongue:

:smallsigh: Spell Index (with page numbers!) (http://www.imarvintpa.com/dndlive/FindSpell.php)

[Feytalist]

Holy crap? Only second level? Can I use this for counterspelling?

As far as I'm aware, no. It's not mentioned in the counterspelling rules (only dispel magic is), and counterspelling is not explicitly mentioned in it's description.

Still a pretty nifty spell.

[Killer Angel]

Abjuration: Dispel Magic
Evocation: Contingency

'nuff said

[ericgrau]

Contingent dispel magic with the trigger of being under the effect of a harmful dispellable spell?

[ericgrau]

Alas, since I will be dming this character it means I will have to get up off my butt and stat out full casters. Joy.

People here love to make far more characters than they play. I bet you could convince somebody to post one up on mythweavers.

[Swooper]

How has no one said Ruby Ray of Reversal (SpC177) yet? Fantastic tool for a sorcerer.

[erikun]

I am a fan of Otiluke, and I think I'd get along great with him. Otiluke's Freezing Sphere (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/freezingSphere.htm), Otiluke's Resilient Sphere (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/resilientSphere.htm), and Otiluke's Telekinetic Sphere (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/telekineticSphere.htm) all have a handful of uses. He apparently also has an Otiluke's Dispelling Screen and Otiluke's Greater Dispelling Screen, both in the Spell Compendium (p.67) and Complete Arcane (p.117).