Best 4th level or lower sorc/wiz spells to persist

[Crake]

Ok, so if I had a means to persist 4x4th level sorc/wiz spells at level 14, what spells would the playground recommend? Any official books are fine. I'm looking for spells that would be good to persist for general daily use for a scholar throughout his day, not necessarily something for adventuring (so utility/defensive spells)

[Slipperychicken]

Scholar's Touch (Sorc/Wiz 1) lets you read a book by touching it; one per round of duration. At that point, you don't read books, you read libraries. See if you can combo this with cross-class Autohypnosis ranks to gain perfect recall of every book you touch.

[Crake]

Scholar's Touch (Sorc/Wiz 1) lets you read a book by touching it; one per round of duration. At that point, you don't read books, you read libraries. See if you can combo this with cross-class Autohypnosis ranks to gain perfect recall of every book you touch.

Holy... wow.. that... wow. yep. That's definitely on the list

The character has eidetic spellcasting, so I think crossclass autohypnosis it quite fitting

[Andezzar]

You must have some serious metamagic reduction going on. As of 3.5 (Complete Arcane) Persistent spell adds six to the spell's level. At level 14 you most likely only have Level 7 spell slots.

Bite of the werewolf: bonuses to physical stats + Natural Armor + Blind-fight + bite attack is not so bad.

Darkvision, Mass has a fixed range of 10 ft. so it can be persisted.

[Crake]

You must have some serious metamagic reduction going on. As of 3.5 (Complete Arcane) Persistent spell adds six to the spell's level. At level 14 you most likely only have Level 7 spell slots.

Bite of the werewolf: bonuses to physical stats + Natural Armor + Blind-fight + bite attack is not so bad.

Darkvision, Mass has a fixed range of 10 ft. so it can be persisted.

Ultimate Magus :smallwink: (6th level spells on wizard side that I can use to drop a persist from my sorc side which can do up to 4th level spells, then rest for 8 hours and refresh my wizard casting if I really need those 6th level spells while performing academic research)

Bite of the werewolf probably not great for use in library, although darkvision could be useful for when the lights in the library eventually go out because everyone's gone home

[Andezzar]

Bite of the werewolf probably not great for use in library, although darkvision could be useful for when the lights in the library eventually go out because everyone's gone homeThe CON bonus would maybe keep you awake longer, STR Bonus would improve climbing up to the top shelves. DEX is for dodging falling books :smallwink:

[kardar233]

Friendly Fire (EoE) may allow you to redirect books that fall on you, and Ruin Delver's Fortune can help you save vs exhaustion from staying in the library too long, vs falling books or vs going mad by accidentally reading the Necronomicon/Twilight.

[Raendyn]

I think someone already made a List (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=12944) about that.

[ericgrau]

It can't be persisted, but you can extend spell and recast it enough to get it up for 8 hours a day: Amanuensis (Spell Compendium). It's a cantrip that turns you into a xerox machine. It's capable of 250 words per minute, which is the length of the classic standard manuscript page. Or 2 pages in a typical book. So you might manage 2-9 books in an 8 hour (480 minute) day. Or if presented a 1 page message you could make 3 copies in 3 minutes. It works on spellbooks too, but you must pay the usual costs.

[Andezzar]

It works on spellbooks too, but you must pay the usual costs.No it does not:
The spell copies only nonmagical text, not illustrations or magical writings (such as the text of a spellbook, a spell scroll, or a sepia snake sigil).

[Ryulin18]

Later on, I highly suggest persisting a contact spell. All the fun you can have with being a constant voice in the ear of a god / demon.

[Crake]

Later on, I highly suggest persisting a contact spell. All the fun you can have with being a constant voice in the ear of a god / demon.

A persisted contact other plane spell could be hilarious in an exam... hmm, I think written exams would have to take place in antimagic fields. Practical exams on the other hand would require a thorough dispel magic followed by possibly an analyze dwemer or arcane sight screening to make sure you're clear of magic before entering.

[Spuddles]

A persisted contact other plane spell could be hilarious in an exam... hmm, I think written exams would have to take place in antimagic fields. Practical exams on the other hand would require a thorough dispel magic followed by possibly an analyze dwemer or arcane sight screening to make sure you're clear of magic before entering.

I've been thinking about this sort of thing lately. It basically boils down to "Yes, let us test this mage on how well he can not use magic."

[TuggyNE]

I've been thinking about this sort of thing lately. It basically boils down to "Yes, let us test this mage on how well he can not use magic."

While this admittedly fits quite poorly with the 3.x caster philosophy of "magic ALL the things!", quite a number of works emphasize that wielders of magic must know when to avoid using magic, so that would actually be fairly sensible. (I'm thinking Discworld witches, Aes Sedai testing procedures, and Anachronauts (http://www.pixelscapes.com/anachronauts/) here.)

[Spuddles]

PF has caster academies/guilds/monasteries that require skill checks, called exams, to progress through their ranks. I continue to wonder what the policies are regarding a familiar using aid another, drinking a potion of fox's cunning, or using a ring of +skill.

[Slipperychicken]

I've been thinking about this sort of thing lately. It basically boils down to "Yes, let us test this mage on how well he can not use magic."

They need to test the caster's proficiency in specific areas, and pre-buffing might skew the result. A Magic Tattoo spell, for example, could skew caster level, and other buffs could mess with spells/day.

Pre-buffing in some cases would be like bringing a calculator into a lower-level math test. You might do multiplication with a calculator in the real world, but that doesn't help your teacher evaluate how good you are at it. Obviously some tests might approve pre-buffing (perhaps with rules for approved and banned buffs?), but not all of them.


Allowing some magic items, like a Ring of Wizardry, would simply skew results heavily in favor of rich kids who could afford them.

[Andezzar]

They need to test the caster's proficiency in specific areas, and pre-buffing might skew the result. A Magic Tattoo spell, for example, could skew caster level, and other buffs could mess with spells/day.

Pre-buffing in some cases would be like bringing a calculator into a lower-level math test. You might do multiplication with a calculator in the real world, but that doesn't help your teacher evaluate how good you are at it. Obviously some tests might approve pre-buffing (perhaps with rules for approved and banned buffs?), but not all of them.


Allowing some magic items, like a Ring of Wizardry, would simply skew results heavily in favor of rich kids who could afford them.Hmm how about every candidate gets buffed with every conceivable spell/ability? You will artificially inflate the test results, but you could still make a comparison between the various performances.