Some hidden spells which could make your wizardry better

[Lactantius]

Searching for more thematic spells and archetypical stuff, I found some flavorful (and powerful) spells in some niche sourcebooks.
Especially the dragonlance spells are wonderful refreshing and full of iconic sorcery.

Here some spells I like (which I cannot post wholly, u know legal stuff):

Arcane Staff (lesser/normal/greater): spell level 3/5/7.
basically, you can store your spells within your mwk. quarterstaff (and ONLY quarterstaves, no other weapons). The spells keep stored until triggered. You can store:
- lesser arcane staff: spell levels equal to your spellcasting-ability-Mod, only level 1 & 2 spells;
- arcane staff: spell levels equal to your CL, up to 4th level;
- greater arcane staff: spellcasting-ability-mod + CL, up to 6th level.

You cannot have more than one arcane staff at the same time.

Confluence, Sor/Wiz2, Div:
you can divine if a familiar creature or object was on the spot where u cast this spell (3 ft/CL), and if, when that has been.
After all, a thins real diviners should be able to to.

Lightining Lance, Sor/Wiz4, Evoc:
ranged attack roll to evoke a lighting lance which deals 3d6 impact damage and 1d6 electricity damage per CL (max. 10d6); Fort 1/2 for the electr. damage.
The sellling stuff: you get another lance at each level 10, 15 and 20.
Although there is save for half damage and spell resistance applies, this spell sounds way cooler and stronger than an orb.

Historic Vision, Sor/Wiz1, Div:
Basically, this spell tells you how old an object or creature touched is and how long it has been on its current location.
This sounds so much like a scholastic lorekeeper/sage spell, cheap at level 1!

Past-Seeing, Sor/Wiz4, Div:
You can see and hear into the past of the object or creature, to a maximum of one week into the past per caster level. You must know which moment to look for, though it can be vague. The caster can view and hear the target and surrounding environment (approximately 10 ft. radius), and the vision continues for a period of time up to one minute per caster level. Only the caster experiences the visions, which include both sight and sound but no other senses.

<insert the name of a famous wizard of Krynn>'s Wheel of Flame, Sor/Wiz6, Evoc [fire]
A damage spell at 6th level? Sounds like a waste, doesn't it?
No, this spell is interesting and again, iconic.
A circle of multihued flames springs to life, radiating outward in every direction (60 f-t radius burst). The flames consume everything within range. Targets within the wheel of flame must make a successful Reflex save each round or take 1d6 points of fire damage, increasing by 1d6 each round (so 2d6 points of fire damage on the second round within the wheel, to a maximum of 15d6 points on the 15th round if the spell’s duration permits). A successful Reflex save results in the target taking half damage. As well, each creature that takes damage must make a second Reflex save each round to avoid catching on fire. Once cast, the wheel of flame is stationary. The caster is unaffected by his own spell, allowing him to walk through the flames untouched.
1 round/level, SR applies, ref half, fire-based spell. I can see searing spell giving it huge potential. But even in the basic version, it sounds good.
All in all it rewards longer battles. So, either the battle is long by itself or you stretch the length by casting battlefield controls first.

Suppress Magic, Sor/Wiz4, Abjur
Some special version of dispelling magic items. This version does not work with caster level checks but with will saves instead. the interesting thing is that ALL magic items in a 10-ft-radius spread are affected for 1 round/level. Sounds like a Mini-AMF to me. And at least, spell focus (abjuration) is good for something.

Trace Magic, Sor/Wiz2, Div
Works like a deluxe version of detect magic and with the part of lingering auras. You can trace those lingering auras and "follow their path." Sounds pretty good to hunt or track down casters. The duration of the lingering effect depends on the aura strength.
Another tool for diviners!

Truth-Testing, Sor/Wiz2, Div
To a certain degree the arcane kind of zone of truth. Doesn't reveal the truth, but it shows if someone is deliberately lying.

Geedlee's Electrinc Loop (PGtF):
Faerûnspecific spell which gets never mentioned. The damage is moderate (1d6/2 lev), but the real cool thing is that it give a mini-area-stun-effect for 1 round.
Is there any better 2nd level spell which can create one of the strongest debuff condition?
What's the deal with glitterdust and blinding, if you can shut down the enemies wholly?

[The-Mage-King]

...Where's Arcane Staff from? That sounds like it has some potential, so..

[Kuulvheysoon]

Yeah, more information would be nice on some of these. You know, source, saves, SR: yes/no, etc...

And the Flame Wheel spell (Raistlin's?) still isn't that great. Now, if it did 15d6 in the first round and the down from there, it might have some possibilities...

And neither is Trace Magic. By the time you have a spare slot for it, or even a scroll, the BBEG wizard likely teleports away, leaving you with a dead end.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Wheel of Flame is truly terrible! By the time you get it, combat should be over in the first 3 rounds. 6d6 for 6th level spell is not worth it, especially over 3 rounds.

[Story]

I believe Electric Loop was reprinted in the Spell Compendium.

Edit: It's on page 78.

The main problems with the spell is that it has close range and requires two saves. In comparison, Web and Glitterdust have medium range, uncapped number of targets, multiround duration, ignore spell resistance, and require 0 and 1 saves respectively. Electric Loop is a joke.

[Lactantius]

Some of the Dragonlance-spells you can find in the Towers of High Sorcery, some in the DL Campaign Setting.
I'm reluctant in copy&pasting those spells since I don't wanna violate copyrights.

Electric Loop: I don't see close range as a problem. Most important spells have such a range and even then, combats happen in tight spaces :)
The problem with the save: will save vs stun at ECL 3 is a good bargain. Even later, you can affect targets with low will saves. I mean, better than Fort, eh?
And at last, it's a level-2-spell.

Wheel of Flame: maybe it's just me, but in our games fights take longer. Always. Maybe because we don't play at such a high op level, maybe because our party consists of 3 characters.
And hey, this is the iconical "i wave my staff and create a firestorm all around me, channeling more and more and more...
I can see other applications than fights with many rounds. Like, wizard all alone. Party split. Beatsticks down (so, wizard alone again).
If we look closer, now we know why Raistlin invented this spell lol. Caramon got down ^^

Trace Magic: teleport and stuff is mid-level upwards available, and even then not standard movement of all enemies.
And we talk about a 2nd-level-spell here with open applications.

[The-Mage-King]

Would you mind just listing where the spells are from? It's more effort to go digging for books if we don't know which they're from, after all.



EDIT: Ah, I just noticed the "Dragonlance" part in the OP. Apologies for coming off a bit rude.


Still, it wouldn't hurt to put (Dragonlance CS) and the like on the spells.

[DarkWhisper]

Would you mind just listing where the spells are from? It's more effort to go digging for books if we don't know which they're from, after all.

Some I knew (and hence, know whether to find):

Dragonlance: Towers of High Sorcery
Arcane Staff-line, p. 44
[R]'s Wheel of Flame, p. 49
Suppress Magic, p. 50
Truth-Testing, p. 53

Dragonlance Campaign Setting
[D]'s Lightning Lance, p. 105

Dragonlance: Age of Mortals
Trace Magic, p. 76

[Rubik]

To the OP: You do realize that "you" is not spelled with one letter, right? Please respect the rest of us enough to actually TRY to write properly.

[Silva Stormrage]

Wheel of Flame is truly terrible! By the time you get it, combat should be over in the first 3 rounds. 6d6 for 6th level spell is not worth it, especially over 3 rounds.

Ya I don't think its that bad. If anything it can be a really efficient way of killing enemies. Trap them in an entangle or similar spell and then sit back as that spell roasts them alive. I personally like it, also its a cool spell for a villain as well.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Ya I don't think its that bad. If anything it can be a really efficient way of killing enemies. Trap them in an entangle or similar spell and then sit back as that spell roasts them alive. I personally like it, also its a cool spell for a villain as well.

But that's a 6th level spell, plus whatever was used to trap them. Why not just trap them and then use a cloudkill (5th level spell) or even just a crossbow or the rest of the party?

[Silva Stormrage]

But that's a 6th level spell, plus whatever was used to trap them. Why not just trap them and then use a cloudkill (5th level spell) or even just a crossbow or the rest of the party?

Cloud kill moves and isn't effective against a wide variety of creatures? (Okay yes fire resistance is common but its not as common as poison immunity) And its much much more quicker than using a crossbow... And are you seriously saying that a way to potentially end a fight with 2 spells is too much? Most games don't function like that. I am not saying its the best spell ever, but its not bad. If you can force someone to stay in the area (Or simply prevent them from attacking you if its a confined area such as from invisibility or etherealness) it can deal 120d6 at CL 15 which averages out to 420 damage.

Its still a blast but its a pretty good one for specific scenarios. I could see a wizard of mine preparing it a couple times if he knew he could use it.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Again, the problem is that damage is done over 15 rounds, making it much less effective versus fire resistance and fast healing. I'd rather drop another control spell or some sort of buff to mop up the encounter then something that may kill in a minute and a half

[Rubik]

Again, the problem is that damage is done over 15 rounds, making it much less effective versus fire resistance and fast healing. I'd rather drop another control spell or some sort of buff to mop up the encounter then something that may kill in a minute and a halfWell, in a way it's better than Energy Wall or Wall of Fire. Granted, those are lower level, but they deal very little damage in comparison.

[Silva Stormrage]

Again, the problem is that damage is done over 15 rounds, making it much less effective versus fire resistance and fast healing. I'd rather drop another control spell or some sort of buff to mop up the encounter then something that may kill in a minute and a half

Uh, frankly unless the subject has fire resistance 30 or evasion and high reflex saves its going to die from that. If it gets hit with all the damage from being trapped or something.

Damage is not as good as control yes yes that is well agreed upon. But there are situations where damage IS necessary and useful and this is a pretty good damage for total damage over several rounds.

[Lactantius]

Maybe it's just me, but I find the "rinse&repeat-tactics" of control only very boring.
Sure, fog spells, tentacles, glitterdust, clouds and web are very nice to cast. But personally, I want to utilize the signature ability of wizards called flexibility.
Sticking to only one kind of tactic is the opposite, that's why I mix in damage spells.
But I don't want this thread drift into another discussion whether damage spells suck or not.
Just one sentence: I think that damage spells are as effective as control spells if you consider the bazillions of scenarios a wizard could come into. battlefiled control only is way too narrow since I had so many situations where I couldn't count on party support, but that's just me.

[eggynack]

Just one sentence: I think that damage spells are as effective as control spells if you consider the bazillions of scenarios a wizard could come into. battlefiled control only is way too narrow since I had so many situations where I couldn't count on party support, but that's just me.
Just a couple of sentences, as that is what you used: Battlefield control does different things at different times. A solid fog can be used to capture an entire group of enemies, allowing for an escape, or half the enemies for divide and conquer tactics, or you can stack a black tentacles on top of that and deal damage, or whatever. There're a ton of uses, and other BFC spells are the same way, if not more so. BFC spells are not narrow. Blasting, which does only one thing, blasting, is narrow. If you don't have party support, then you're relying on your blasting spells to take the enemy from full to zero, and if they don't, then you're completely and utterly screwed.

Edit: Also, I get that it's subjective, but how is blasting less boring than controlling stuff? Blasting is just blasting, and is basically going to do about the same thing every time. BFC's, by contrast, are heavily tactical and rely on planning to a great degree.

[ithildur]

Electric Loop vs Web//Glitterdust... Surely you jest. Even in crpg's where spell selection is extremely limited no one uses Geedlee's.

Arcane Staff does sound interesting at least.

[Lactantius]

@eggynack: still, all those spells do the same thing: hinder the opponents from reaching and attacking you, lock them down or crete a parity on the battlefield. Don't get me wrong, I use that stuff too (and I like it), but yet, it is this "one thing" of divide & conquer. Besides divine & conquer, I wanna do other things, too. Like, killing. :smallamused:

@ithildur: I'm not joking. No one could tell me why it is bad to get a stun ability at ECL 3. Check for the next stun spells, they are very rare.
Stun is not only powerful that one round it lasts. It leads to dropped weapons, dropped material components etc. which costs the opponent his actions, again. While he is stunned, he is fully sneakable,
And again, it is not a real "web/Glitterdust vs electric loop."
I would memorize both with my daily spells.

The Arcane Staff is just a deluxe-version of spell-storage and therefore, a great tool to get some spontaenous casting ability since you outsource some spells into the staff (ideally, in downtimes).

[eggynack]

@eggynack: still, all those spells do the same thing: hinder the opponents from reaching and attacking you, lock them down or crete a parity on the battlefield. Don't get me wrong, I use that stuff too (and I like it), but yet, it is this "one thing" of divide & conquer. Besides divine & conquer, I wanna do other things, too. Like, killing. :smallamused:

See, that's why you start preparing freezing fog instead of solid fog at a certain point. Also, you could maybe just pop a black tentacles into the mix. The thing of it is, you're acting like these battlefield control spells are single use and single minded, when they can really be exceptionally useful in just about every possible situation. Moreover, if there's a situation in which a particular BFC is non-applicable, the solution isn't to prepare blasting. The solution is to prepare a different non-blasting spell that would be applicable.

By contrast, you're acting like blasting spells are these versatile chunks of wonderment, when they're actually highly narrow and single minded. They essentially only have a direct impact on the battlefield if they kill an enemy, and wizard blasting spells tend to be low impact, so they generally won't kill an enemy. What you really need to do is prepare a pile of spells that are applicable in a broad set of situations. I can't really imagine that many situations where a polymorph or a stone shape, or a silent image wouldn't be able to help.

[DarkSonic1337]

At CL3....I'd still go with color spray (now SCULPTED :))

Having to get past two saves is way too much of a hassle. In this case, the stun is NOT the main feature of the spell, merely a very nice perk that occasionally gets tacked onto the sub par damage.

I'd personally never pick it up as a sorcerer. I might pick it up around CL6 as a Wizard but...TWO SAVES. Only thing that is gonna fail is that super brute baddie, who with my luck will have stun immunity anyway.

[Deophaun]

Moreover, if there's a situation in which a particular BFC is non-applicable, the solution isn't to prepare blasting. The solution is to prepare a different non-blasting spell that would be applicable.
Sometimes not possible. Aside from wall of stone/wall of salt, I think every spell that functions inside an AMF is a blasting spell (and even those walls won't depending on how your DM chooses to interpret the instantaneous conjuration clause).

[eggynack]

Sometimes not possible. Aside from wall of stone/wall of salt, I think every spell that functions inside an AMF is a blasting spell (and even those walls won't depending on how your DM chooses to interpret the instantaneous conjuration clause).
Maybe. I tend to make a small exception for orbs, because I think they're pretty sweet, and they get bonus points for having debuff rider effects. I suppose I can amend the claim to something like, "You should never blast, unless it's an orb, because orbs are cool." I would say that orbs (note that I'm defining "orbs" as basically any instantaneous conjuration spell, but I'm also defining basically any instantaneous conjuration spell as "orbs", because orbs are the best) can fill a role that most non-blasting wizard spells can not, while other blasting spells can't make such a claim to nearly the same degree.

[Lactantius]

I still dont see the world-shaking difference between a black tentacle lockdown, a soldi fog lockdown, a freezing fog (plus some dmg/round) lockdown..... see the point?
Universally, they do the same kind of action.

Well, and dealing damage as wizard: as long as we stick to the assumption that other people will do the killing stuff, yes, then damage spells are not the most effective way to use your magic.

But since we keep stoic on this assumption, this point is moot.

Electric Loop:
Sure, you must overcome to saves, but reflex seems a more successful obstacle to get by. Color Spray is a valid alternative, good catch. 5 HD is a bit problematic tho, but in very low level games, it contributes.
Electric Loop stays a bit longer on the useful side, especially with scaling INT which increases our Save DC a bit.
Reflex and Will 18-20 is still a factor at mid levels (not for boss types, yep, but that's not what this spell is made for).

Some other pearls:
Ruby Ray of Reversal, PGtF/SpC, Level 6
I'm undecided with this spell. I like its multi-purpose and the alternative to undo magic and stuff with dispel magic only.
But then again, it is too specialized to memorize it daily. Maybe a good spell to put into a runestaff? Or access it with uncanny forethought?

Sending:
Another evocation spell we would miss if we ban that school. It sounds so unimpressive that it is overseen pretty much. I must admit that I realized its importance by reading the OotS. I don't know how often they used Sending there :)

Reciprocal Gyre (CA-Version, since SpC hit the nerf-hammer too hard):
Similar type of spell like Ruby Ray of Reversal. Very specialized, but impressive in its own league. I like the idea that you deal the more damage, the better the enemy caster is buffed. Gets more effective if you have certain builds and associated feats like MS/Io7V with spell focus and GSF (abjuration).

[Zeb]

Reciprocal Gyre Gets more effective if you have certain builds and associated feats like...

Really shines against those DMM Persist clerics with spellblades of dispel and greater dispel.:smallbiggrin:

So what if you hit the die cap just twin, repeat or have a couple casters hit the one target.

[Lactantius]

Yes, I can see Reciprocal Gyre working in higer level campaigns against humnaoid opponents which make use of buff-arrays.

In conjunction, greater arcane sight should be used before to see which enemy got which spells active.

By the way, I wonder what the difference is between greater arcane sight and analyze dweomer for such a case.
analyze dweomer does the same thing like greater arcane sight.
Let's compare in details:
Greater Arcane Sight does reveal all magic auras and - with concentration - shows one targets number of active spells, power and so on.
Analyze Dweomer does show all spells on a number of creatures and objects (number = one per caster level).
Concerning objects, you have a mass-identify ready.
Concerning creatures, you instantly see and realize all active spells upon the enemy.
One smaller disadvantage of analyze dweomer is the required focus. But spening once 1500gp to mass identify and to have a combat divination seems fair enough.

So, did I miss something or is Analyze Dweomer just better in any ways than greater arcane sight.
One last thing to mention: you save one spell level with analyze dweomer (6 vs. 7).

[CyberThread]

Shalantha's Delicate Disk 6th level spells Lost Empires of Faerun

A single spell up to 5th level is stored in a magical disk that cost about 200gp as a focus, and you can store any spell you want in it, or have another caster store a spell in it. Take a standard action to break the disc , be it by throwing, setting up a trap for a rock to land on it, or just in your hand. And as long as the target is valid for the spell, t works.


Just that simple, and very cheap compared to some choices for scrolls and potions without item creation feats or crafting times.

[Story]

It's a bit overshadowed by Glyph Seals (MiC) though.

[Deophaun]

It's a bit overshadowed by Glyph Seals (MiC) though.
Glyph Seals are limited to harmful spells, while the delicate disk could include buff and utility spells.