3.5 Unusual Spell Selection Help?

[SMWallace]

Long story short, I'm going to be the utility and strategic defense for my group. I currently have access to spells on the Sorcerer/Wizard list levels 1-4, though I'll be quite a bit stronger before I really need to take the role to its fullest, so suggest other stuff too. Basically, this is not your usual game; it's sort of a survival game, where we have to venture out from the one safe location for various purposes while avoiding being found and/or slaughtered by some beings who are much more powerful than us and don't like us making a mess. So, since everybody else has the tactical combat covered, I thought I'd take some debuff spells to help out in fights and focus my spells more around the stuff we need to keep us alive outside of whatever appropriate-challenge scenarios we happen to get into, whether that be out of combat (setting camp) or in (getting the hell out of dodge when/if the inappropriate challenges find us).

So what are good things on the Sorcerer/Wizard list for avoiding detection, making retreat from superior opponents easier, increasing travel speed, keeping communication lines open, setting up a safer place to sleep, etc. etc.? I know I'm looking for the optimal choices in a subsection of the spells (mostly Abjuration and the "weaker" part of Transmutation, I imagine) that is inherently considered suboptimal, but it's what I'd like to do with the character, so... Yeah. List some good spells for this and their sources? Thanks in advance!

[Namfuak]

Rope trick is good for hiding, Expeditious retreat is good for speeding up the BSF or if you are alone, Glitterdust can reveal hidden enemies and blind your persuers, Black Tentacles will slow them down or stop them, Grease can make them slip around, Darkness or Daylight can be useful if it makes it more difficult for your pursuers to see you.

[SMWallace]

Ah, Black Tentacles and Rope Trick are good choices, yeah. Expeditious Retreat... Depends on how often I may use it, but it's a smart idea. I'm not so sure about Glitterdust, Grease, or Darkness just because our pursuers will probably have gigantic Saves compared to the DCs I can pull off and spells or SLAs to counter things like Darkness (though then again, I suppose depending on the circumstances trading off my standard action to force them to do the same might actually be worthwhile).

Any more ideas, and maybe higher-level selections? I do need good low-level choices, but I probably won't need to be independently capable of saving my party from the inappropriate challenges until I have 6ths or 7ths.

[Darrin]

So what are good things on the Sorcerer/Wizard list for avoiding detection


Heroics (Spell Compendium, Sor/Wiz 2) to pick up Martial Study: Cloak of Deception. Swift action greater invisibility until the end of your turn. Only works once per encounter, but still pretty useful, as you don't have access to swift invisibility outside of UMDing a wand.

Deceptive Facade (Complete Mage, Sor/Wiz 3). In 3.x there's a lack of low-level glamers that can change the appearance of objects or creatures outside of disguise self (which only works on the caster), and you don't have access to seeming (Sor/Wiz 5) or veil (Sor/Wiz 6).

Blacklight (Spell Compendium, Sor/Wiz 3). Darkness that's impenetrable to both normal vision and darkvision. The spellcaster can see just fine, though. Ask your DM if ghost lantern (Complete Mage, Sor/Wiz 3) will allow your companions to see through blacklight.




making retreat from superior opponents easier


The obscuring mist/fog cloud line of spells is your usual go-to spell for this. Some others:

Cloud of Bewilderment (Spell Compendium, Sor/Wiz 2). Stinking cloud's smelly little sister, only a 10' cube but still a devastating debuff for anything that fails the fort save.

Dark Way (Spell Compendium, Sor/Wiz 2). Can completely block off a corridor or bisect a room.

Swift Fly (Spell Compendium, Sor/Wiz 2). Good get out of ganking free card. It's personal, so doesn't really help the rest of the party, but you can get around that with some Glyph Seals (1000 GP, MIC).

Wall of Chains (BoVD, Sor/Wiz 3). The description doesn't say if it blocks LOS, but can be used to isolate opponents or waste time chopping through the wall.



increasing travel speed


Mount and alter self might have you covered here. Leomund's spacious carriage (Cityscape, Sor/Wiz 4) offers more stylish accomodations.



keeping communication lines open


Spymaster's Coin (Complete Scoundrel, Sor/Wiz 2). Give it to your companions to let you see/hear their location. If you can get someone on the other end to cast the spell as well and give you their coin (via Spell Storing, Glyph Seal, Skull Talisman, etc.), you can set up two-way communications for several hours.

Enduring Scrutiny (Complete Mage, Sor/Wiz 3) can trigger a notification of a particular event... duration is day/level, so you can stack up multiple notifications to handle different events. With enough castings, you could set up some sort of crude binary code.



setting up a safer place to sleep


Hard to beat rope trick. Leomund's tiny igloo (Frostburn) isn't too bad if you need something more structural.

[SMWallace]

When I said "avoiding detection" I more meant stuff that would prevent us from being found outside of encounters, rather than during. Avoiding Divination pre-Mind Blank and stuff along those lines. Other than that, you suggested some very good spells! Stuff that fails entirely on a Save is probably out of the question and I made a personal agreement not to use Alter Self, but the other stuff looks really useful. Thanks!

[FearlessGnome]

If you are still going Sorcerer rather than Wizard I would recommend Wings of Cover. The few spells sorcerers have exlusive access to include some that are pretty neat.

[gorfnab]

Regal Procession (Spell Compendium) - functions as Mount/CL. It's supposed to be used for party transport. However, I like to use it as "Wall of Horse". It's great for blocking corridors or cluttering up the battlefield. If your enemy knows you travel by horse just have the extra horses head off together in a random direction. If your DM allows you to get away with some physics this spell could also be used to cause small ships to list or sink due to the weight of horses with tack and regalia.

[Pathagaron]

Depending on the enemies:

Enervation (4) and Ray of Exhaustion (3) are both good debuffs from the PHB that rely on ranged touch attacks instead of saves
Dispel Magic (3) works wonders if your enemies use a lot of buffing spells even if you they have a few caster levels on you

For emergencies, Dimension Door (4) can get you and your allies a bit of space to either reengage or run
Nondetection (3) and Misdirection (2) can help against scrying

Haste (3) and the animal transmutations (Bull's Strength etc. 2) are buffs that your party members might like to have

All of these are from the PHB with their Sorcerer / Wizard level in parentheses

[Darrin]

When I said "avoiding detection" I more meant stuff that would prevent us from being found outside of encounters, rather than during.


I figured as much, but other than nondetection, I'm kinda at a loss when it comes to "scry-n-die" stuff. Near as I can tell, if a wizard wants to use divination to find you, there's not much you can do about it until you can get ahold of mind blank, which is outside of most PC budgets until very late in the game.

Hmm. Try Otiluke's impressing field (Complete Mage, Sor/Wiz 4). If you suppress divination, this forces whoever is divining you to pass a caster level check.



Avoiding Divination pre-Mind Blank and stuff along those lines.


There are some item-based defenses against divination (Ring of Mind Shielding in the DMG, Spellblades in Magic of Faerun), but you kinda have to know what sort of divination you're up against to have any chance of avoiding it. Planar Motes (300 GP, Complete Scoundrel p. 119) can be used to mask your alignment, but in most campaign worlds, the White Hat/Black Hat situation is usually pretty obvious. The motes also fade after about 10 days, so not a permanent solution.

[SMWallace]

I know I can't have it till next level and it covers a pretty small area (though plenty for the party to rest at least), but would Mage's Private Sanctum hide a meaningful enough amount of information to be worth using, or is it too limited in function?

EDIT: ... Wait, isn't any amount of area outside the Range of a spell totally useless? Am I misiniterpreting the rules, or is this spell utterly useless on account of being limited by the Range?