[PF] Utilizing creative spells

[Spore]

Greetings playground,

I am currently playing an Haunted Lore Oracle and have a few spells of which I am honestly not certain HOW or WHEN to use.

Minor Image - Silent Image gets praised to cloud 9 and back and this one can even make sounds, but how do I use this?
Obscuring Mist - mainly to get rid of ranged spellcasters and archers, right? Anything else?
Tongues - what CAN I actually communicate with? My DM said a cursed halfling with a wolf head doesn't count as it cannot form syllables. Despite her having languages.
Stone Shape - this one I can actually get behind. But is making stone domes and creating walls from the ground reserved for Wall of Stone?
Legend Lore - this sucks but can I get ANY mileage out of it? We're looking for legendary items as the matter of fact but still our hints are vague at best so I would be forced to cast for several weeks

Paragon Surge - any neat tricks with that one? My character is some sort of buffer with decent Cha (and thus DCs) as well as Knowledge checks. Still, I can't think of nonggame breaking choices that are worth the 2 spell slots/actions in fight. I am content for using this to get the Remove x spells.

[Spore]

No one?

http://gi134.photobucket.com/groups/q89/QWMWXIB0B2/Stickman_Okay_Sad_Face.jpg

[incarnate236]

Silent Image: Never used personally because I banned Illusion in my build (possible mistake) but off the top of my head; distract a guard to set up a surprise attack or sneak by, create a double of your self to try and bluff the enemy into attacking the wrong one, mislead your pursuers when trying to flee, intimidate your opponents by making them think you are double your number

Obscuring Mist: Hurts ranged, provides cover for hide checks, use to set up ambush by placing rogues in the mist and providing a false line of attack to your mage.

Stone Shape: Make doors when in need of an escape, bridges, create rough terrain, disrupt an opponents balance, cause a cave in/ ceiling collapse (Knowledge Architecture/Engineering Required)

[Karoht]

Paragon Surge - any neat tricks with that one? My character is some sort of buffer with decent Cha (and thus DCs) as well as Knowledge checks. Still, I can't think of nonggame breaking choices that are worth the 2 spell slots/actions in fight. I am content for using this to get the Remove x spells.Non-gamebreaking and Paragon Surge? Hmmm...
I agree that having the Remove X spells through Surge is definitely an option. And if you're going to take the Spell Focus > Eldritch Heritage pair to get access to Arcane spells, well, you already know about those.
Channel Smite is the kind of thing I don't want to waste a feat slot on perminently, but on occasion is very awesome.
Spell Perfection [Paragon Surge] and Quicken Spell are worth having. Swift action Paragon Surge, Standard action cast whatever you want. Not gamebreaking per se, just extreme utility.

In the event you need to Dispel Magic against a target which you know to have buffs active, Paragon Surge to pick up Destructive Dispel or Dispel Synergy. One stuns (sickens on a successful save) the other drops all saves by -2 on the target. It's one of those odd feats that is situationally awesome, but not necessarily something you want to invest in.

You could use Paragon Surge to pick up Revelations you don't already have through the feat Extra Revelation. Not sure how that helps you specifically, but there it is. For example, you might not want Automatic Writing or Whirlwind Lesson or Focused Trance. Since they are situational, you could access them via Paragon Surge on demand.

@Stone Shape
Useful any time you want to walk through a Stone Wall. Or just make a small hole, peek in, and then let the Ranger/Gunslinger/Blasty caster shoot in. Good wand material though, but handy to have on your list anyway.

[Slipperychicken]

A simple google search for "dnd uses for silent image" returns many similar threads. You should do that. In particular, I like this use:


Wizard: I wanna cast silent image.

DM: Okay, what does it look like?

Wizard: *looks* ...It looks like "an opaque globe of shimmering, multicolored light" has just enveloped the party.

DM:...You mean like a prismatic sphere?

Wizard: Yup.

DM: Hmm...I wonder how they'll see through that...

Wizard: They need to touch it. :D

DM: >_<

...The adventurer's escaped; they were allowed to run away without further harm. :P

[FabulousFizban]

obscuring mist grants concealment. Throw it over the rogue so he can sneak attack everything. Also good for hiding hazards and covering escapes

[FabulousFizban]

see if your DM will allow you to use tongues to communicate with social animals such as wolves or birds.

I've never known anyone to use minor image, sorry. There are just better spells at that level. People use silent image and then major image later on.

As slipperychicken said, the key with illusion spells is to get inventive and create things enemies won't want to interact with and thus don't get a save.

[NightbringerGGZ]

Minor Image - The uses are dependent upon how creative you can be with it. An illusion that makes noise is pretty versatile, and my GMs often grant circumstance bonuses on various checks if a good illusion is created.

Obscuring Mist - Vanish, cast this spell, then immediately remove the effects somehow to make a Darkwing Duck appearance!

Tongues - You can speak with anything that can speak. That cursed Halfling was physically incapable of speech, but if it could somehow speak an actual language then your GM ruled poorly. If you had guessed the right language, it would have understood you (barring another curse / effect).

Stone Shape - Walls / Domes and other protections work just fine, you just have a lower amount of stone you can affect with a single cast.

Legend Lore - The spell leaves what you learn up to GM fiat, which basically makes it worthless. It could come in hand if your party is absolutely flummoxed by any clues left by the GM, but in my experience most GMs won't just give you the answers unless they already wanted you to know about / find the "legend" in question.

Paragon Surge - I see a lot of people using it to pick up Improved Eldrtich Heritage (Arcane) to basically have any arcane spell they want on an Oracle or Sorcerer.

[Spore]

Legend Lore - The spell leaves what you learn up to GM fiat, which basically makes it worthless. It could come in hand if your party is absolutely flummoxed by any clues left by the GM, but in my experience most GMs won't just give you the answers unless they already wanted you to know about / find the "legend" in question.

Well, that is true but our DM is the kind of DM that hides the information in his world and let's us look for it until we find it. We have several relics connected to the main plot line which may as well count as being part of a set of artifacts so I see room to argue with the DM. But I guess I have to look after myself here.


Paragon Surge - I see a lot of people using it to pick up Improved Eldrtich Heritage (Arcane) to basically have any arcane spell they want on an Oracle or Sorcerer.

As we lack a prepared arcane caster, this opens up soooooo many things. *stares off into distance* The possibilities...!

Sadly I need to be level 11 for it but soon the arcane power of the world shall be mine *cackles madly*

[Arc_knight25]

Actually Obscuring Mist stops the rogue from SA. If a creature has concealment of any kind(even the 20%) you can't get SA.

So that is a plus if your ambushed by a bunch of rogues, pop that and they can't SA.

Stone Shape, "Oh, look there is a hole in that stone wall now."

Minor Image is great for a decoy.

[Spore]

My party consists of Barbarian, Druid and Sorcerer. And I guess my personal backstory will net me many roguish enemies (since my personal quest is to uncover an ancient treasure with the aid of an artifact stolen from a thieves' guild and made for espionage).