Swapping Beguiler Spells -- Help a player homebrew!

[grae]

Whew! Now in the correct forum...

Hey folks. So I'm playing a kobold beguiler, and I've been given permission to play around with my spell list. My guidelines are this: 1) I may add one to three flavorful spells per spell level, and 2) I may swap spells out for spells of the same spell level. Spells added must be in flavor for either the beguiler or my particular character.

I just want to get more sets of eyes on this to make sure that I am not ridiculously unbalancing myself (for better or worse), although among my choices I could use some help picking the best.

I'll start with cantrips through level 3 spells...

Cantrips (6 + 2 flavor*)
Dancing Lights
Daze
Detect Magic
Ghost Sound
Message
Read Magic
Caltrops*
Silent Portal*

Level 1 (14 + 3 flavor*)
Charm Person
Color Spray
Comprehend Languages
Disguise Self
Expeditious Retreat
Hypnotism
Obscuring Mist
Silent Image
Whelm
Appraising Touch*
Instant Locksmith*
Distract Assailant
Cheat*
Nerveskitter
Improvisation
Instant Diversion
Sticky Floor

Level 2 (19 + 2 flavor*, needs to be whittled down by 5)
Blinding Color Surge
Blur
Daze Monster
Detect Thoughts
Fog Cloud
Glitterdust
Hypnotic Pattern
Invisibility
Knock
Minor Image
Mirror Image
Misdirection
See Invisibility
Silence
Spider Climb
Stay the Hand
Touch of Idiocy
Vertigo
Whelming Burst
Chain of Eyes
Ray of Stupidity
Delusions of Grandeur
Reflective Disguise*
Wall of Gloom
Snake's Swiftness
Spymaster's Coin*

Level 3 (19 + 2 Flavor*, needs to be whittled down by like half...)
Crown of Veils
Deep Slumber
Dispel Magic
Displacement
Glibness
Halt
Haste
Hesitate
Hold Person
Inevitable Defeat
Invisibility Sphere
Legion of Sentinels
Major Image
Nondetection
Slow
Suggestion
Vertigo Field
Sign of Sealing
Unluck
Mesmerizing Glare
Miser's Envy
Ray of Dizziness
Cone of Dimness
Shadow Binding
Suspended Silence
False Gravity
Shadow Phase
Snake's Swiftness, Mass
Heroism
Tongues
Puppeteer
Treasure Scent*
Zone of Silence
Mind Poison
Dragonskin
Sense of the Dragon
Tormenting Thirst
Haboob
Whispering Sand*

[Aolbain]

Wrong forum I believe.

[ddude987]

This should be moved to the homebrew forums but I'll give some input anyways

color spray probably will not be helpful after 3rd level so I wouldn't take it, unless you can retrain it in which case swap it out at level 4 or 5. Looking at the spells you have selected I would say that this new spellist isn't unbalancing or broken in any way.

[Gem]

As a note, you might want to look into runestaffs as well. Depending on what you're doing, there's plenty of lower-level spells that very effectively target fort saves. Crushing Grip is a favorite of mine, though that's a full round action.

[Crake]

As a note, you might want to look into runestaffs as well. Depending on what you're doing, there's plenty of lower-level spells that very effectively target fort saves. Crushing Grip is a favorite of mine, though that's a full round action.

You'll have to get your DM's permission to be able to UMD runestaves though, so make sure beforehand.

[grae]

Yeah, right now I'm just trying to get my spells known list down. We have a lot less control (so far anyway) over our magical item complement, and we're just about level 4 now.

[Gem]

You'll have to get your DM's permission to be able to UMD runestaves though, so make sure beforehand.

Sorry about the tangent, but isn't UMD Runestaves explicitly RAW? Seems a bit cheesy at times, but it's stated that

Use a Wand
Normally, to use a wand, you must have the wand’s spell on your class spell list. This use of the skill allows you to use a wand as if you had a particular spell on your class spell list. This use of the skill also applies to other spell trigger magic items, such as staffs.

Unless Runestaffs aren't spell trigger? They certainly aren't spell completion.

To actually be helpful, I'd definitely drop Daze Monster and Stay The Hand on level 2, both of those stop being useful very quickly (from my experience). I'm surprised your DM is letting you take Chain Of Eyes, given that it's not only higher-level, but also Divine. Still, it's a fun spell. Delusions of Grandeur is another one of those Save-or-suck-a-little, but it's fun if you consider the out of combat applications. This one's up to you, but I don't think I'd miss it terribly. 's all I've got so far.

[grae]

Re: runestaves, it does seem that beguilers can use them RAW with UMD.

Daze Monster can definitely go... not sure why I didn't cut it before, since it has the HD cap. Probably I was just concerned about having some kind of single target spell at that level.

Stay the Hand seems like it could be useful all the way up, since it's a rare Immediate Action spell. I'm also really squishy (CON of 9, STR of 6... rolls...). Is there a particular reason you see it getting worse with age? It seems like the only Immediate spells I get are Instant Diversion and maybe Celerity at L4.

Chain of Eyes is a Level 2 Divination Sorcerer/Wizard spell per the Spell Compendium -- it's Level 3 for clerics and Level 4 for druids. It does sound really fun.

Delusions of Grandeur is definitely more for out of combat fluff than in combat usefulness, although my DM is pretty good about role playing in combat, so I could see it being used to non-numerical good effect there. It just seems so fun! And 10 min/level.

What about getting rid of Blur or Mirror Image? I know that they stack, and being able to cast Blur on a party member as a buff could be useful, but they seem to some extent redundant. And what are opinions of Snake's Swiftness? Ray of Stupidity I could still pick up with Advanced Learning.

[Gem]

Stay the Hand targets humanoids only, and lets them redirect their attack. But you get hesitate at spell level 3, which only needs to target a living creature, and totally removes their action. Plus, it's persistent, allowing a save every turn until you've shaken it off. The only thing Stay The Hand has over it is medium range, but I'd still much rather use hesitate.

[grae]

I did miss that Hesitate is an immediate action too. The only other difference I see is that Hesitate has to be cast at the start of the enemy's turn, but you can cast Stay the Hand after they decide to target you. Still makes Stay the Hand a lot less appealing. Thank you.

[Gem]

Sure. Carrying on, Touch Of Idiocy is generally useful, but Ray of Stupidity seems by far the superior option, since it's actually capable of int damage. I think you could drop it without problem.

Snake's swiftness is a spell I wasn't aware of yet, but it's certainly interesting. Later on it loses a lot of value, but especially in ambush scenarios, it seems worth having.

I'm not a huge fan of blur myself, but it's definitely a spell with some uses. I think you do get an improved version a few levels on, and there is some overlap with mirror image.

If you're feeling really adventurous, you could drop see invisibility. You can locate invisible creatures' general location with spot or listen checks, and once that's done you can glitterdust them to totally reveal them to your party. Glitterdust isn't a divination either, which actually makes it more reliable, in some ways. This is only a maybe, though, and, honestly, probably a bad idea. But fun, if it works.