Hit me with your best Enchantment spells!

[Sunfall]

Hey there,

let me pick your excellent minds here for a moment:

I play a wizard in a heavily houseruled 3.25 setting. We have 1.5 years of downtime before the campaign resumes, so I get a decent amount of time to possibly research a few new spells (he's on spell level 5 at the moment). In a sudden onset of derangement, I gave him a specialization on Enchantments during character creation (it made sense at the time :smallredface:). Could have chosen better, but there we are. So I've scoured the PHB and the Spell Compendium for Enchantment spells, but there are only a few good ones to be had.

(Although the few that are there can be quite brilliant in their absurdity. I'm especially enamored with Mesmerizing Glare and Ray of Stupidity.)
This is where you come in: Which Enchantments do you like best? Which are useful, epic or even ludicrous enough to be entertaining? It doesn't matter where they come from, BTW; as long as they're in a book, I can probably have them - if they're homebrew or from Dragon Magazine, I can research them. :smallwink:

So, any ideas?

[Malroth]

Power word pain

[Urpriest]

Have you read TreantMonk's guide on this (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1204991)? It's not a list of good enchantment spells per se so much as a list of enchantment spells that don't have the weaknesses of other enchantment spells, which could help your versatility.

[Emperor Tippy]

Feeblemind. Make your Will saving throw or your Int and Cha are now 1.

That is pretty much the best 5th level Enchantment spell in the game.

[Lostbutseeking]

I'm quite fond of Freezing Glance from Frostburn, that it isn't mind-affecting is just a very large bonus.

[Sunfall]

@Malroth: Looks good... I think the lesser Power Words in general are worth a glance.

@Urpriest: Wow, thanks! This looks tremendously helpful!

@Emperor Tippy: We're aware of Feeblemind. However the GM is still debating whether to allow it as-is as we're under the impression that for a level 5 spell it's rather powerful. So maybe I'll get it on a higher level. (Fun fact: In previous campaigns there was a gentleman's agreement in effect, that when players didn't take the spell, neither would NPCs have it :smallcool: )

@Lostbutseeking: Hmmm, nice... Level 6, though, so for later.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Power Word: Pain, Ray of Stupidity, Ray of Dizziness, the Rebuke line of spells (SC), Hold/Charm/Dominate Person/Monster

[Urpriest]

@Emperor Tippy: We're aware of Feeblemind. However the GM is still debating whether to allow it as-is as we're under the impression that for a level 5 spell it's rather powerful. So maybe I'll get it on a higher level. (Fun fact: In previous campaigns there was a gentleman's agreement in effect, that when players didn't take the spell, neither would NPCs have it :smallcool: )


Feeblemind isn't all that powerful. Finger of Death is another 5th level spell. Feeblemind is just Finger of Death with a different saving throw, switching the Death tag with the Mind-Affecting tag. While Will saves are often lower than Fort saves, Feeblemind on a big bruiser-type won't necessarily help since a lizard-brained creature might still keep fighting.

[Sunfall]

What, no funny homebrews? Anyone? :smallbiggrin:


@ Biffoniacus_Furiou: Already got those, thanks :smallsmile:

@ Urpriest: Strange... I have Finger of Death as a lvl 7 spell here. But beside the point, a spell like Feeblemind given to an NPC would most likely be a dealbreaker for the group, what with the -4 penalty :smalleek: on spellcasters' saving throws and all that. And it's comparatively hard to heal (not with Greater Dispel or Remove Curse or some such), because we don't have a divine caster in the group. So I'm thinking of just getting rid of it altogether, keeping the agreement I mentioned before intact.

[Platymus Pus]

Kiss of Unrequited Love (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/bastion-press/kiss-of-unrequited-love) :smallamused:
I like the flavor of it

[ericgrau]

I like charm and dominate for re-usability of the target, and they have a ton of role-playing fun too. Otherwise heroism. Yeup, a +2. Reason being is that by itself a single target save-or-X SR-yes in combat, with a wide variety of immune foes is pretty bad. Feeblemind not only isn't broken, it's terribly weak. You are seriously way better off with a barbarian and a greatsword who can drop the foe in 2 rounds much more reliably; or magically supporting such allies. Now being tricky & sneaky with compulsion enchantments OTOH, that's awesome and a lot of fun if your DM doesn't immediately nerf it. A nerf is a bad idea since it takes a fair amount of work to pull off and enchantment doesn't have much else, but it happens.

The symbol spells are pretty evil too but more-so in the hands of a DM. It's harder for adventurers to set up a location based trap for foes without questionable cheese to remove the location-baseness.

Irresistible dance is a bit humorous and has no save, so it's nice.

[Urpriest]

@ Urpriest: Strange... I have Finger of Death as a lvl 7 spell here. But beside the point, a spell like Feeblemind given to an NPC would most likely be a dealbreaker for the group, what with the -4 penalty :smalleek: on spellcasters' saving throws and all that. And it's comparatively hard to heal (not with Greater Dispel or Remove Curse or some such), because we don't have a divine caster in the group. So I'm thinking of just getting rid of it altogether, keeping the agreement I mentioned before intact.

Ah, looks like I had mixed up Finger of Death and the (much harder to apply, and Cleric anyway) Slay Living. Regardless, Baleful Polymorph is perhaps a better example of the fact that a 5th level spell should be able to do save-or-die. I agree that the -4 to spellcasters' saves makes it stronger than its competitors in that department, though.

[Psyren]

Feeblemind. Make your Will saving throw or your Int and Cha are now 1.

That is pretty much the best 5th level Enchantment spell in the game.

If you can get them to fail a will save though, you may as well just Hold Monster and have the rogue kill them.

[Emperor Tippy]

If you can get them to fail a will save though, you may as well just Hold Monster and have the rogue kill them.

Hold Monster doesn't come with a -4 on the will save for those capable of casting arcane spells. It also allows another will save every round. And can be ended by Dispel Magic, an Anti-magic field, or Protection from Evil.

Feeblemind is Instantaneous and can only be removed by Heal, Wish, Limited Wish, or Miracle.

It also makes the individual so stupid that they can't even understand language. This is like gold fish level smart.

It also disables all kinds of feats, class features, and racial abilities. Most of those monster special abilities? Their saving throw is Cha based.

It's a far better save or lose than Hold Monster. It also allows you to safely hold an enemy arcane caster captive without any real issue (granted, even for the non arcane casters I would like to see the escape attempts that they can manage with 1 Int).

[Psyren]

The -4 save is a good draw I'll admit, but other than that - they're not escaping if you slit their throat, and they don't get another round to try and break free if your BSF or summon finishes the job right away. Monster special abilities don't matter if they're mentally paralyzed/dead.

Feeblemind carries debilitating penalties, but it doesn't render them helpless, so it'll take you longer to seal the deal.

If you're just trying to capture them, I agree that Feeblemind might be better. though it'll make interrogating them pretty tough.

[Urpriest]

It also disables all kinds of feats, class features, and racial abilities. Most of those monster special abilities? Their saving throw is Cha based.

It doesn't disable the vast majority of class features, feats, and racial abilities. Actually, it doesn't disable any class features, feats, or racial abilities, it just makes the Int and Cha based ones harder to use.

It's a Will SOL with a -4 penalty. Since you're targeting good-Will stuff with it, that means that your advantage over just using a Fort SOL is 1/2 level +2 -4 - 1/3 level = 1/6 level -2, so you've got an advantage when your foes are under 12 HD, and after that you're likely breaking even unless you're targeting a Dragon or something. That said, it's still more potent against casters than its primary competition (Baleful Polymorph), since the latter varies in effectiveness depending on what the DM's opinion is on what sort of limbs you need for casting.

[Sunfall]

Wow, thanks, guys! I've completed my spell wishlist now.

@Platymus Pus: wow :smalleek:

@ericgrau: Our styles seem quite similar :smallsmile: I think that's one of the reasons why there are so few Enchantment spells - the fact that you can do so much with Charm and Dominate already. I like the Symbol spells, too, but I have others that I need more right now, so I'll keep those in mind for when the time comes to build my Evil Lair :smallbiggrin:

[Waker]

Entice Gift from BoVD and Draconomicon. Seriously, the spell is hilarious. You can make the BSF disarm himself, potentially cripple a cleric's spellcasting if they hand over their Holy Symbol and so much more. If you can't find a way to use this spell to your tactical/comedic advantage, you are playing the game wrong.

[Der_DWSage]

For some of the more amusing ones, you might look to the PHB2. Friend to Foe, despite not being all that great by itself, has a special place in my heart for being a distraction and humor tool. You might ask if you can take the Beguiler-only Overwhelm as well. (Essentially a save-or-die that doesn't kill, simply knocks you out with subdual damage.)

[The Trickster]

Miser's Envy is always a fun one for me;


When you cast this spell, you designate a target creature and a target object, both of which must be within the spell's range.
If the target creature fails its saving throw, it becomes consumed by a powerful desire for the object.
For the duration of the spell, the creature seeks to obtain the object (going so far as to attack anyone holding or wearing it).
Once the creature gains possession of the object, it protects the item greedily, attacking anyone who approaches within 30 feet or who otherwise appears to be trying to take the object away.
Dragons, due to their greedy nature, take a -4 penalty on their saving throws against this spell.