Fyermind
2014-02-23, 03:27 AM
I've had a hard time finding a really good compilation of all the gems floating around for spell-stitching SLAs so I thought I'd give it a stab. Please throw suggestions (and sources) at me.
I'll start off with the criteria. Good spells for spell stitching will generally fal into one of these categories:
Spells not on your class list
Spells with expensive material or XP components
Spells you can use every day
Another important factor is spell level. Some spells show up as much lower level spells on certain lists. Trapsmith gives of Wall of Stone at level 3 and dimension door at level 2. By the time you are rich enough to afford spell-stitching, you are probably running out of useful level 2 spells. Dimension door becomes a gem.
By Level:
6-
Animate Dread Warrior (Unapproachable east, wizard): Turn every humanoid you ever beat into a minion at more or less full power with no limit. This is a little cheesy. They do suffer some drawbacks. By this time I find myself having to seek out humanoid targets usually, so it's not always my first choice. You are negating a hefty XP cost though, and it is an unparalleled option if you can leverage it.
Awaken Undead (Spell compendium, Deathbound domain): My personal favorite. Awakened undead recover their extraordinary abilities like fast healing, pounce, poison, spellcasting, and the legion devil's +4 to hit for every legion devil within 60'. They also get feats, skills, and other goodies. This spell costs a decent amount normally, but since it affects as many undead as you can cram into a small space, you don't need to stitch it if you can take some downtime with a seventh level scroll.
Curse of Lycanthropy (Complete divine, Pestilence domain) this spell god updated in the spell compendium, but the resulting update is unrelated to the original spell. Beg your DM. Lycanthropes are great fun as undead. Also, now your whole party are lycanthropic fleshrakers. You're welcome internet.
5-
Revive Undead (Spell compendium, deathbound domain): avoid those pesky costs. Kill your minions and revive them to reduce their HD and control more minions. Great for minions who will never see combat.
Magic Jar (Players handbook, wizard): It's a great spell that clerics and dread necromancers usually have a hard time getting, but no longer. It also has a costly focus that is pretty essential to how it should work. Talk with your DM before you take this to work that out. It might just kill you the moment you cast it. Don't leave that up to your DM in the moment.
Storm Touch (Magic of Eberron, wizard): 9d6 damage per touch, 1 touch per caster level. Channel it through your natural attacks if you have them alongside a full unarmed attack sequence. This is very good melee damage for those who want it. The stunning rider effect is decent. That said, damage is probably the worst use of this opportunity.
Symbol of Pain (Players Handbook, cleric/wizard) Cast it every day on something portable. set up your base with them. Love them. You are avoiding a 1000 gp material cost per casting even though everyone and their uncle can probably cast this and the effect isn't that great.
4-
Planar Binding (Players Handbook, Demonologist from Book of Vile Darkness): It's not that expensive and it is on the Wizard/sorcerer list and the dread necromancer list, but not the cleric list. The key value here is that it is normally a sixth level spell. This is a downtime spell though, so it should probably be left alone if you are of 11th level or higher.
Bestow Greater Curse (Spell compendium, Demonologist from BoVD): It's just here at a lower level. Lower levels are cool, and bestow greater curse is awesome, but if you are a high enough level to cast it normally, that's a much better option.
Liquid Pain (BoVD, Wizard): This spell has a one day casting time, but my recollection is that SLAs still only take a standard action unless the spell they mimic is faster. (someone double check & source on this please?) Casting this a lot can alleviate XP costs for just about anything, which is great. If you like the idea of magic item crafting, this is a great downtime spell to have.
Summon Giants (Frostburn, Disciple of Thyrm): This is a really bulky summon spell. It's is stunningly good for it's level, but lacks in utility what planar binding has to offer.
3-
Wall of Stone (Players handbook, Trapsmith from Dungeonscape): Utility downtime spell. Cast it every night to make yourself some shelter as you adventure. Use it in your free time to build a castle. Build bridges, battlefield control, whatever. Go crazy in your third level slot.
Phantom steed
Shivering touch (Frostburn, cleric/wizard) This spell has been dubbed the dragon killer. It is good. If you are a not a wizard or cleric, this might be worth picking up. It's still not that great as a once per day SLA. It has the same problems as Storm Touch.
Divine Power (Players handbook, runescarred berserker from Unapproachable east) It's effectively one or two combats per day, but it's a nice spell at a low level. If you are a melee combatant without a way to get full BAB, this could be a strong use of your SLA. It's certainly a low level slot for it.
Love's Pain (BoVD, Corrupt) Talk to your DM about corruption costs on SLAs. I'm not sure if it is ignored like most other costs. If it is, this is a really good one to have. Love's pain deals unstoppable damage to someone regardless of location provided you have someone for whom your desired target is their greatest love within medium range. Take hostages to a whole new level. Again it's a direct damage spell so ugh, but it's very good at what it does, and may circumvent the otherwise annoying intelligence damage.
2-
Dimension Door (Players handbook, Trapsmith from Dungeonscape): Spam it in all four slots if you want. Everybody finds themselves not where they want to be sometimes. Now you can do something about it.
Ghoul Glyph (Spell Compedium, Wizard) No save paralysis. Cast today benefit tomorrow. This is good. But it can't move, so it's a safe house or night time guarding spell.
Wings of Cover (Races of the dragon, sorcerer) Immediate action total cover. Yay. Also hard to get access to. And of course, total cover scales well by level.
Animate Dead (Players handbook, Deathmaster from dragon compendium) Avoid material component costs. Not too shabby.
1-
Bloodwind (spell compendium, sorc/wizard): If you've got natural attacks and usually like melee, this can be nifty. It scales with your natural attacks, so it doesn't get quite so useless.
Thanks for putting up with this, and please, add your suggestions (remember the rules are of the schools Necromancy, Evocation, or Conjuration and of levels 1-6 on some list somewhere).
I'll start off with the criteria. Good spells for spell stitching will generally fal into one of these categories:
Spells not on your class list
Spells with expensive material or XP components
Spells you can use every day
Another important factor is spell level. Some spells show up as much lower level spells on certain lists. Trapsmith gives of Wall of Stone at level 3 and dimension door at level 2. By the time you are rich enough to afford spell-stitching, you are probably running out of useful level 2 spells. Dimension door becomes a gem.
By Level:
6-
Animate Dread Warrior (Unapproachable east, wizard): Turn every humanoid you ever beat into a minion at more or less full power with no limit. This is a little cheesy. They do suffer some drawbacks. By this time I find myself having to seek out humanoid targets usually, so it's not always my first choice. You are negating a hefty XP cost though, and it is an unparalleled option if you can leverage it.
Awaken Undead (Spell compendium, Deathbound domain): My personal favorite. Awakened undead recover their extraordinary abilities like fast healing, pounce, poison, spellcasting, and the legion devil's +4 to hit for every legion devil within 60'. They also get feats, skills, and other goodies. This spell costs a decent amount normally, but since it affects as many undead as you can cram into a small space, you don't need to stitch it if you can take some downtime with a seventh level scroll.
Curse of Lycanthropy (Complete divine, Pestilence domain) this spell god updated in the spell compendium, but the resulting update is unrelated to the original spell. Beg your DM. Lycanthropes are great fun as undead. Also, now your whole party are lycanthropic fleshrakers. You're welcome internet.
5-
Revive Undead (Spell compendium, deathbound domain): avoid those pesky costs. Kill your minions and revive them to reduce their HD and control more minions. Great for minions who will never see combat.
Magic Jar (Players handbook, wizard): It's a great spell that clerics and dread necromancers usually have a hard time getting, but no longer. It also has a costly focus that is pretty essential to how it should work. Talk with your DM before you take this to work that out. It might just kill you the moment you cast it. Don't leave that up to your DM in the moment.
Storm Touch (Magic of Eberron, wizard): 9d6 damage per touch, 1 touch per caster level. Channel it through your natural attacks if you have them alongside a full unarmed attack sequence. This is very good melee damage for those who want it. The stunning rider effect is decent. That said, damage is probably the worst use of this opportunity.
Symbol of Pain (Players Handbook, cleric/wizard) Cast it every day on something portable. set up your base with them. Love them. You are avoiding a 1000 gp material cost per casting even though everyone and their uncle can probably cast this and the effect isn't that great.
4-
Planar Binding (Players Handbook, Demonologist from Book of Vile Darkness): It's not that expensive and it is on the Wizard/sorcerer list and the dread necromancer list, but not the cleric list. The key value here is that it is normally a sixth level spell. This is a downtime spell though, so it should probably be left alone if you are of 11th level or higher.
Bestow Greater Curse (Spell compendium, Demonologist from BoVD): It's just here at a lower level. Lower levels are cool, and bestow greater curse is awesome, but if you are a high enough level to cast it normally, that's a much better option.
Liquid Pain (BoVD, Wizard): This spell has a one day casting time, but my recollection is that SLAs still only take a standard action unless the spell they mimic is faster. (someone double check & source on this please?) Casting this a lot can alleviate XP costs for just about anything, which is great. If you like the idea of magic item crafting, this is a great downtime spell to have.
Summon Giants (Frostburn, Disciple of Thyrm): This is a really bulky summon spell. It's is stunningly good for it's level, but lacks in utility what planar binding has to offer.
3-
Wall of Stone (Players handbook, Trapsmith from Dungeonscape): Utility downtime spell. Cast it every night to make yourself some shelter as you adventure. Use it in your free time to build a castle. Build bridges, battlefield control, whatever. Go crazy in your third level slot.
Phantom steed
Shivering touch (Frostburn, cleric/wizard) This spell has been dubbed the dragon killer. It is good. If you are a not a wizard or cleric, this might be worth picking up. It's still not that great as a once per day SLA. It has the same problems as Storm Touch.
Divine Power (Players handbook, runescarred berserker from Unapproachable east) It's effectively one or two combats per day, but it's a nice spell at a low level. If you are a melee combatant without a way to get full BAB, this could be a strong use of your SLA. It's certainly a low level slot for it.
Love's Pain (BoVD, Corrupt) Talk to your DM about corruption costs on SLAs. I'm not sure if it is ignored like most other costs. If it is, this is a really good one to have. Love's pain deals unstoppable damage to someone regardless of location provided you have someone for whom your desired target is their greatest love within medium range. Take hostages to a whole new level. Again it's a direct damage spell so ugh, but it's very good at what it does, and may circumvent the otherwise annoying intelligence damage.
2-
Dimension Door (Players handbook, Trapsmith from Dungeonscape): Spam it in all four slots if you want. Everybody finds themselves not where they want to be sometimes. Now you can do something about it.
Ghoul Glyph (Spell Compedium, Wizard) No save paralysis. Cast today benefit tomorrow. This is good. But it can't move, so it's a safe house or night time guarding spell.
Wings of Cover (Races of the dragon, sorcerer) Immediate action total cover. Yay. Also hard to get access to. And of course, total cover scales well by level.
Animate Dead (Players handbook, Deathmaster from dragon compendium) Avoid material component costs. Not too shabby.
1-
Bloodwind (spell compendium, sorc/wizard): If you've got natural attacks and usually like melee, this can be nifty. It scales with your natural attacks, so it doesn't get quite so useless.
Thanks for putting up with this, and please, add your suggestions (remember the rules are of the schools Necromancy, Evocation, or Conjuration and of levels 1-6 on some list somewhere).