Best spell ever?

[randomhero00]

Yeesh, I can't even guess...

edit: sorry, I can't believe I forgot to mention...the best spell ever in a sense that it will deal with bad guys (without necessarily killing them for lawful-good but thats okay too) and it will deal with bad guys in the most efficient way possible.

edit DnD 3.5

[hamishspence]

In what sense- coolness? Brokenness? Versatility?

Ice Assassin (Frostburn) is pretty breakable.

[Nepenthe]

Prestidigitation.

It really depends on how you define "best."

[Grinner]

It also depends on the game in question.

[Thrawn183]

In before Mind Rape responses.

[olthar]

sleep or color spray.

Sleep gets more baddies, but color spray at least does something past level 4.

[erikun]

Holy Word (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/holyWord.htm), especially with caster-level increases. Nothing quite like instant-death without a save (and no target limit) to get rid of opponents.

If we're talking about usefulness, then there is also Anyspell, Wish, Miracle, Shapechange, Gate, and most of the illusion school.

There is also psionics: Astral Construct, Energy Ray, Expansion, Hustle/Lion’s Charge, Psionic Charm, and Vigor are powers that you'll get use out of throughout the campaign. There's also Schism and stuff like Metamorphosis.

[Malimar]

I'm a fan of 3.5's Apocalypse From The Sky, myself.

[cattoy]

Remove Disease. Because in most games, penicillin hasn't been discovered yet.

[Sith_Happens]

the best spell ever in a sense that it will deal with bad guys (without necessarily killing them for lawful-good but thats okay too) and it will deal with bad guys in the most efficient way possible.

Okay, the last few posters seem to have not noticed this part. Now, with that definition of "best" in mind...


Prestidigitation.

...Seconding this.:elan:

[nedz]

Tie them bad guys up, and then repeatedy Haste them until they die of old age. Can also be used to buff your, once youthful, party.

Ed: Oh its 3.5 now is it ? Wasn't when I posted this. Why isn't this in the 3.5 sub-forum then ? /rant

The above works in 1E and 2E, though Haste is crazy good in 3.0 too. Haste in 3.5 is still very solid though so I'll stick with it. I mean there are crazy powerful high level spells, but as spells available mid-game go Haste is hard to top.
The other good one is Silent Image, though its generally useless at high level.

[Siegel]

White Fire

--------

Red Court Genocide Heart Rip Out Spell

[navar100]

What ever spell my character casts at the moment I cast it. Why else would I cast it?

[AshesOfOld]

Fireball.

Just kidding. Holy Word sounds totally broken. But from core, maybe Mass Charm monster or hold monster? Or confusion?

[NikitaDarkstar]

Magic Missile and it's big brother Force Missile. Why? Apply a few meta-magics to it and you'll see why.... (Nothing beats killing a great wyrm red dragon with magic missile, nothing.)

Fireball and it's absurd cousin Meteor Swarm are pretty hilarious too... especially if you apply the searing feat. "Yes I did just kill the fire elemental with a fireball, got a problem with that?"

And lets not even get into the druids spell list...

[AgentofHellfire]

Magic Missile and it's big brother Force Missile. Why? Apply a few meta-magics to it and you'll see why.... (Nothing beats killing a great wyrm red dragon with magic missile, nothing.)



...Energy Transformation Field. :belkar:

Find a way to either reduce the XP cost or affix it to an object or the like, and you can kill a Great Wyrn Red Dragon with it...and the hundreds of missiles hitting it.

[NikitaDarkstar]

...Energy Transformation Field. :belkar:

Find a way to either reduce the XP cost or affix it to an object or the like, and you can kill a Great Wyrn Red Dragon with it...and the hundreds of missiles hitting it.

Considering my DM tends to handwave XP costs.... I do think it might be time to whip up a spellcaster again.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Glitterdust blinds everyone in a 10ft radius spread. Evard's Black Tentacles shuts down medium or small sized foes pretty well, and Solid Fog will stop anything in its tracks for a few turns, if placed right. (and they don't have wind/teleportation magic)

[Tavar]

Summon Demon of the Third Circle is pretty boss.

The re-written Total Annihilation (http://forums.white-wolf.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=56307), Dragon Breaks Reality (http://forums.white-wolf.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=56208), and Rune of Singular Hate (http://forums.white-wolf.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=58404) are also pretty sweet.

[UserClone]

RE: magic missile - There is a reason that Force Missile Mage is high on my list of favorite PrC's.

However, the finest of all magics has got to, got to , got to be silverbeard.

[Eldan]

RE: magic missile - There is a reason that Force Missile Mage is high on my list of favorite PrC's.

However, the finest of all magics has got to, got to , got to be silverbeard.

That. It's such an awesome spell.

[Jay R]

"Yes I did just kill the fire elemental with a fireball, got a problem with that?"

That should be as impossible as doing damage to a human with a fist.

[Siegel]

oh wait i totally forgot

Raise Bread

[Pie Guy]

That should be as impossible as doing damage to a human with a fist.

Except humans aren't made of fists, fists are just the manipulation of an appendage we use for hitting things.

A fist elemental would be immune to fists.

[UserClone]

True, Chuck Norris is immune to fists.

[VeliciaL]

I'm a big fan of polymorph, especially its incarnation in the Warcraft 'verse. There are few things more satisfying than turning your enemies into sheep.

For D&D specifically, I'll ditto UserClone and say Magic Missile, and by extension the various incarnations of Missile Storm. Silly elemental casters, that is what offensive magic should really look like. (This opinion is purely subjective.)

[randomhero00]

True, Chuck Norris is immune to fists.

I call "Godwin" as you used Chuck Norris in a debate. :D

[Calanon]

Karsus' Avatar, anyone disagreeing with me has clearly never seen a thread dedicated to finding a by RAW way to kill a god :smalltongue:


Oh, how the mighty heroes have fallen! Stripped of their weapons, they lie dead. (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Karsus's_Folly)

[Emmerask]

Since this is not in the 3.5 subforum...

The best spell there ever was or is is from a little known System called Dark Eye.

Reversalis Revidum, the spell completely changes around the spell that is cast in conjunction with it.

A Fireball would becomes an iceball, A spell that would put someone to sleep now wakes him etc etc.
The possibilities are endless :smallsmile:

[DeltaEmil]

Since this is not in the 3.5 subforum...It is in the D&D 3e/3.5e/d20 subforum.

[Inferno]

Wall of Stone

Silent Image

You control the battle.

[AngelisBlack]

Combust is nice for being a good damage spell for metamagic abuse as well as being slightly sarcastic on its saving throw. "Oh no, the save isn't for the damage, its for not catching fire afterwards for 1d6."

But in other situations, Assay Spell Resistance. Because spell resistance sucks when it actually works against your spells.

[Malachei]

Shapechange.

[Emmerask]

It is in the D&D 3e/3.5e/d20 subforum.

was moved here after my post ^^

[Siegel]

It is in the D&D 3e/3.5e/d20 subforum.

It wasn't before - i wonder why it got moved

[Hirax]

Binding chain of fate, from Waterdeep. Sure, it allows SR and a will save, but if the spell succeeds the target is:
-Immobilized
-AMFed
-Dimensionally anchored
-Unable to change forms

The name is awesome too.

[Calanon]

Wall of Stone

Silent Image

You control the battle.

Fireball Light the battlefield on fire...

Wall of Force (Or Forcecage... either one works... But seriously, wall of Force is cheaper...)

Chain Shatter (Take away the mundanes little weapon)

Violate Chain Lightning It really takes the fight out of a party...

I control the battle field in a slightly more comedic and destructive way :smalltongue:

[Water_Bear]

+1 for Prestidigitation.

Do you need to bathe but you're in the middle of the desert? Prestidigitation.
Eating bland food but don't have any spices available? Prestidigitation.
Found some awesome Boots but they're Lime Green? Prestidigitation.

Prestidigitation, putting the Can back into Cantrip.

[Soulean]

Polymorph any object

At 100' per caster level imprison just about anything within a stupidly thick wall. This spell is limited by your imagination. Build an iron castle with a standard action. PAO a giant rock and drop it onto the antimagic field character.

Or do the even more retarded changing into other creatures thing and survive anywhere.

[soulchicken]

Limited Wish:

As a sorc, any 6th or lower spell you don't know, any 5th or lower Divine spell.

Shapechange is amazing. Anything you want to be.

For damage, the orb spells with no save no spell resist conjurations that can persist through AMF rocks. They are a touch high for metamagicking, but still, max'd or empowered is enough to make things feel you.

[Darth Stabber]

Shadow evocation and conjuration are amazingly useful. 1 slot can be whatever you need. You can use shenanigans to make them more real than reality on a passed save, but even without that using them for non damage spells is amazing.

Enervation is probably my all time favorite spell, definitely my favorite debuff. Multiple castings stack, and kill, no save, and loves some metamagical enhancement.

Entangle is tied with grease as the best BC spell at lvl one, and it rocks the party. Also like grease it stays fairly useful (I've been known to quicken it a time or two).

The other spell tied for my favorite is planeshift. Not the stongest, but it's just nice to have.

[Toy Killer]

I'm personally a fan of Baleful Transposition myself...

[Red_Dog]

In before True Creation Bomb...

Now than. This question really was best answered by navar100 as it is kind of why spells are so amazing. When cast at a right time any spell is ridiculous.

That beings said, I really am not sure what would be my favorite spell... I like AF&GAF myself as I like to think it is similar to abstract painting => Mixing paints on the fly in one furious cascade of cosmic effects... Potentially the chief reason why I like sorcs so much.

*by the by, for all you aspiring forcemages, fuse force missile, & AF that fuses force missile and a magic missile. Completely unoptimal, but fun. Screaming "Culster Missile!" is optional ^^*

Other than that, there really are to many of cool looking, amazing and fun things. Still Silent Persistent Image[if you can think it, it happens with in next 3 seconds minimum!], Summon Elemental Monolith[nothing like Huge creatures made of pure element to use in an argument], Fabricate Instant Works of art[provided you gots the skillz for it], I mean... waaay to much to put in one thread, let along a post ^^.

[Jay R]

Except humans aren't made of fists, fists are just the manipulation of an appendage we use for hitting things.

A fist elemental would be immune to fists.

Humans are made of flesh and bone, and a flesh and bone fist can hurt them.

Armor is made of steel, and a steel armor can hurt it. (In fact, that's how it's made.)

A wooden building can be damaged by a wooden club.

Spells are made of magic, and the right magic can dispel it.

The fact that something is made of X means that X is strong enough to hurt it, in certain circumstances.

The hard question is this: in what circumstances can fire hurt a fire elemental?

[mattsdelf]

Magic Missile and it's big brother Force Missile. Why? Apply a few meta-magics to it and you'll see why.... (Nothing beats killing a great wyrm red dragon with magic missile, nothing.)

I'm still not sure which meta-magics you mean to use. How would you optimize this? Looks really cool, I might have a caster specialize in this if you can explain it to me.

My favorite spell to cast is Magic Jar. First, it's really unlikely that anyone finds it, and so long as it stays near you, you're pretty safe. But mostly that you can use this for awesome. Giant or Ogre with class levels headed your way? Turn it into a weapon. Out of money? Take over a shopkeeper, and give all your new stuff to one of your party members. Only have one spell left? Take over something and be useful in the front line for the rest of the day. It has wide applications

[Aeryr]

Battletide from PGtF hands down one of the best spells of 3.5 ever so much greater than haste.

[Deox]

Magic Missile -

As previously stated, I love doing a Twinned Repeating Greater Arcane Fusion and inside are two magic missiles with metamagic out the wazoo (delay spell is also applied since all this is being done within a time stop).

[Roguenewb]

I love Arcane Fusion and Greater Arcane Fusion. They give me a solid excuse to play the only caster I ever want to play! Beyond that I love the ultimate "nope" spell, Wings of Cover (also, coincidentally) sorcerer only.

[AshesOfOld]

Humans are made of flesh and bone, and a flesh and bone fist can hurt them.

Armor is made of steel, and a steel armor can hurt it. (In fact, that's how it's made.)

A wooden building can be damaged by a wooden club.

Spells are made of magic, and the right magic can dispel it.

The fact that something is made of X means that X is strong enough to hurt it, in certain circumstances.

The hard question is this: in what circumstances can fire hurt a fire elemental?

Inside an airtight room :smallsmile: Fire eats up oxygen, killing both the fire and the elemental. And you.