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View Full Version : Spell compendium - Yay or nay?



Soepvork
2007-05-11, 06:59 AM
I was considering buying the SC, but I was wondering if it was worht it or just a waste my money. I don't have any of the Complete books, but we have most of them in my group...

Dhavaer
2007-05-11, 07:01 AM
If you ever wish to play a caster, this book is for you. 'Caster' in this context is anyone who can cast spells, not just Cleric/Druid/Sor/Wiz.

Saph
2007-05-11, 07:02 AM
I like it. It's a lot more convenient to have the spells in one book than to page through half a dozen trying to remember where greater mage armour was originally printed. Plus some of the spells are updated.

I'd say it's worth it if you play spellcasting characters heavily.

- Saph

Emperor Tippy
2007-05-11, 07:27 AM
I like it. It's a lot more convenient to have the spells in one book than to page through half a dozen trying to remember where greater mage armour was originally printed. Plus some of the spells are updated.

I'd say it's worth it if you play spellcasting characters heavily.

- Saph


Its one of the best books that I have ever used in 3.5. Its so good that if I didn't already have a copy I would actually pay for it.

Morty
2007-05-11, 08:02 AM
Totally worth it. Of course, you have to filter good spells from junk and crap, but you have to do that with core and all splatbooks anyway. It's a must-have for everyone who likes to play casters.

EagleWiz
2007-05-11, 08:15 AM
Well if you play noncasters dont get it. A ranger dosent need it, a palladan dosent need it, a bard..... well maby. Sorcerer/Cleric/Druid/Wizard Needs it. Just for the lightning arc spell.

ArmorArmadillo
2007-05-11, 08:32 AM
Bottom Line: It's exactly what's promised; lots and lots of new spells.
Generally the first and most often thing I open when I'm building any character who casts spells.

And this isn't just for cheese casters: the greater options really helps you create a flavorful sor/wiz/druid spell list.

Suzaku
2007-05-11, 08:38 AM
Now can Rhino Charge and Smite Evil stack?

Yvian
2007-05-11, 09:19 AM
Yea. A must have for every spell caster, and fewer books to break your back. If I am looking at core +, that would be one of the books.

PinkysBrain
2007-05-11, 09:48 AM
Now can Rhino Charge and Smite Evil stack?
Sure, all flat damage bonuses are multiplied ... only bonus damage dice are not.

Dark_Wind
2007-05-11, 02:49 PM
Now can Rhino Charge and Smite Evil stack?

Yes, our Pally does it all the time.

I love the SpC. It's a must have for full casters, and even the half casters get quite a few neat spells that actually makes their spellcasting somewhat worth it.

Piccamo
2007-05-11, 02:56 PM
Well if you play noncasters dont get it. A ranger dosent need it, a palladan dosent need it, a bard..... well maby. Sorcerer/Cleric/Druid/Wizard Needs it. Just for the lightning arc spell.

There are good spells for ranger and paladin as well. It turns their casting from a useless annoying bit of extra book-keeping to being somewhat helpful sometimes.

TSGames
2007-05-11, 03:02 PM
Yay.
I dislike 10 character limits with great intensity.

ken-do-nim
2007-05-11, 03:26 PM
Just remember that there are spells in there that are unbalanced. But that's no different from the Player's Handbook. There may be a tad more though. I haven't meticulously gone through it.

Dark_Wind
2007-05-11, 03:36 PM
Just remember that there are spells in there that are unbalanced. But that's no different from the Player's Handbook. There may be a tad more though. I haven't meticulously gone through it.

Wraithstrike and energy transformation field come to mind immediately.

On the whole, though, there isn't too much cheese.

ken-do-nim
2007-05-11, 03:43 PM
Wraithstrike and energy transformation field come to mind immediately.

On the whole, though, there isn't too much cheese.

Mass resist energy at only level 3 for clerics comes to mind, as do most of the new ray spells. Most glaring might be ray of stupidity. Intelligence damage, yay! So pretty much any encounter with a monster of type animal is ... over. Then there's ray of dizziness. Any monster who relies on multiple attacks, like say ... a dragon ... is out of luck. There's also some new clerical 4th level spell moon something or other that can do ridiculous amounts of strength damage.

I can't wait to check out energy transformation field!

Dark_Wind
2007-05-11, 03:53 PM
Mass resist energy at only level 3 for clerics comes to mind, as do most of the new ray spells. Most glaring might be ray of stupidity. Intelligence damage, yay! So pretty much any encounter with a monster of type animal is ... over. Then there's ray of dizziness. Any monster who relies on multiple attacks, like say ... a dragon ... is out of luck. There's also some new clerical 4th level spell moon something or other that can do ridiculous amounts of strength damage.

Ack, I forgot about ray of stupidity/ It's an auto-kill vs. animals (goodbye dinasaur encounter).

Fax Celestis
2007-05-11, 03:55 PM
I thought Ray of Stupidity was a penalty and therefore couldn't reduce below 1?

Emperor Tippy
2007-05-11, 03:57 PM
One of the most powerful spells in D&D is in that book. The 9th level wizard spell programmed amnesia. With it you can take over the entire world in about 2 weeks without anyone realizing it. Even the people who do exactly what you want them to.

ken-do-nim
2007-05-11, 04:02 PM
I thought Ray of Stupidity was a penalty and therefore couldn't reduce below 1?

Negative; it's int damage.


One of the most powerful spells in D&D is in that book. The 9th level wizard spell programmed amnesia. With it you can take over the entire world in about 2 weeks without anyone realizing it. Even the people who do exactly what you want them to.

Ooh, I'll check that one out too tonight.

Dark_Wind
2007-05-11, 04:56 PM
One of the most powerful spells in D&D is in that book. The 9th level wizard spell programmed amnesia. With it you can take over the entire world in about 2 weeks without anyone realizing it. Even the people who do exactly what you want them to.

You think that's bad? Check out mindrape from the BoVD.

The Glyphstone
2007-05-11, 04:59 PM
Wraithstrike isn't really that broken. It's powerful, but it's also only really useful for gishes (cause it's personal range), and they have issues of their own. The brokenness comes when you make, say, an item of continuous wraithstrike - and then you might as well add continuous True Strike too, because you're already abusing the rules.

The_Snark
2007-05-11, 05:04 PM
You think that's bad? Check out mindrape from the BoVD.

Yeah. Not only do you know their entire life history now, you can rewrite it to better suit you. Or just leave them insane. And it's a standard action to cast. The only disadvantage is that you can't set a trigger like with Programmed Amnesia.

Assay Spell Resistance and Owl's Insight have problems too. Overall, though, it's a handy book, even for paladins and rangers.

Emperor Tippy
2007-05-11, 05:04 PM
I let people make all the items of continuous true strike that they want. It only activates once.

The broken item is the use activated item of truestrike.

Dark_Wind
2007-05-11, 05:08 PM
Assay Spell Resistance and Owl's Insight have problems too.

The way I see it, if Druid's can get a crazy high insight bonus to their primary casting stat, then Wizards should, too. It's only fair. I want my +10 insight to INT spell! [/Wizard Bias]

Honestly, though, the book really is good, even if it has a couple of overpowered spells. What book doesn't, after all?

Emperor Tippy
2007-05-11, 05:13 PM
You think that's bad? Check out mindrape from the BoVD.

The only advantage to mindrape is the standard action. Otherwise Programmed Amnesia is better.

It gives you total access to their mind and you can add multiple "builds" at once each wit ha different triggering condition. So you rebuild a guy from the ground up to think he is a spy working for you and has been his whole life. Make him a true zealot who will do whatever you say (easily done). Now make what is essentially a copy of his current mind but remove the part about you editing him. Leave this as a self updating regular build, it in effect backs up his mind. Key this build to a different triggering condition


Now use a permanent telepathic bond with him. Whenever you want something send the triggering word and he si all the sudden the loyal zealot who does whatever you want. Then send the other triggering condition which restores him to normal.

Its like giving a guy multipel personality disorder and having the regular personality not know about the one that does whatever you want.

Cruiser1
2007-05-11, 05:32 PM
One of the most powerful (or most broken, depending on your viewpoint :smallwink:) spells in the Spell Compendium is Revivify, a 5th level Cleric spell that let's you True Resurrect someone (i.e. no XP loss) for only 1000 gold. The only limitation is that it must be cast within one round of the person's death, but most of the time the Cleric can get to a fallen companion within one round. Note this means a Wizard 13 can True Ressurect for just 300 XP by casting Limited Wish (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/limitedWish.htm) and duplicating Revivify (you don't even have to pay 1000 gold there, because Limited Wish covers any material component worth 1000 gold or under).

If it's been more than a round since your ally's death, you can still True Ressurect them for 1000 gold. Wait until the battle's over, and cast Revenance, a 4th level Cleric spell, which temporarily True Ressurects them for free. Wait next to them until that spell wears off and they die again, and then immediately cast Revivify to bring them back permanently. Of course, a Wizard can do this too, by also duplicating Revenance with Limited Wish.

Aotrs Commander
2007-05-11, 05:52 PM
I definately say yay. Not having to cart round all the Completes, Libris Mortis and the Draconomicon is worth it just for that.

(Y'know, unless you were theoretically daft enough to write a conversion of Dragon Mountain and include at least one of virtually every base class and use most of the feats or something).

Viscount Einstrauss
2007-05-11, 06:04 PM
I'm not much of a caster player, but I've found it to be very effective while DMing when creating caster enemies. My caster players (all of them, not just the full guys) likewise love it. This is certainly up there with some of the more legendary supplements in 3.5.

As to programmed amnesia and mindrape- I have both books and a player (wizard) that's been salivating at using these in later levels. I'm just lucky that there's actually a second evil player in the group (cleric) that opposes him merely because both are too arrogant to ever team up. Though I feel very sorry for the other six players who picked good alignments...

Suzaku
2007-05-11, 08:36 PM
Sure, all flat damage bonuses are multiplied ... only bonus damage dice are not.


Yes, our Pally does it all the time.

I love the SpC. It's a must have for full casters, and even the half casters get quite a few neat spells that actually makes their spellcasting somewhat worth it.

I guess it's my fault for not stating it was rhetorical question -_-'.

Person_Man
2007-05-11, 08:56 PM
It's probably the most valuable book any full caster could own. Buy it.

Turcano
2007-05-11, 09:11 PM
One of the most powerful (or most broken, depending on your viewpoint :smallwink:) spells in the Spell Compendium is Revivify, a 5th level Cleric spell that let's you True Resurrect someone (i.e. no XP loss) for only 1000 gold. The only limitation is that it must be cast within one round of the person's death, but most of the time the Cleric can get to a fallen companion within one round. Note this means a Wizard 13 can True Ressurect for just 300 XP by casting Limited Wish (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/limitedWish.htm) and duplicating Revivify (you don't even have to pay 1000 gold there, because Limited Wish covers any material component worth 1000 gold or under).

If it's been more than a round since your ally's death, you can still True Ressurect them for 1000 gold. Wait until the battle's over, and cast Revenance, a 4th level Cleric spell, which temporarily True Ressurects them for free. Wait next to them until that spell wears off and they die again, and then immediately cast Revivify to bring them back permanently. Of course, a Wizard can do this too, by also duplicating Revenance with Limited Wish.

Keep in mind that a character brought back with revivify has only one hitpoint. If he gets hit again after you've resuscitated him, you've pretty much wasted the spell. But yeah, it could stand to be a higher-level spell.

Hamster_Ninja
2007-05-11, 10:34 PM
Revify sounds like it would make a great combo with contingency (provided you also contingency a heal)

Misplaced_Jedi
2007-05-11, 11:51 PM
There are good spells for ranger and paladin as well. It turns their casting from a useless annoying bit of extra book-keeping to being somewhat helpful sometimes.

I love Hunter's Mercy. Just icing on the cake, I know, but really, really tasty icing.

Cruiser1
2007-05-12, 03:21 PM
a character brought back with revivify has only one hitpoint. If he gets hit again after you've resuscitated him, you've pretty much wasted the spell.Actually a character brought back with Revivify has -1 hp, but is automatically stable. I think that's better than coming back with 1 hp, because they probably won't be targeted again, where you can finish the battle (assuming you're in one) and heal them afterward. Revivify is a good way to avoid XP loss when a character accidentally rolls a 1 against a "save or die" spell / effect / trap.

Turcano
2007-05-12, 03:25 PM
Actually a character brought back with Revivify has -1 hp, but is automatically stable. I think that's better than coming back with 1 hp, because they probably won't be targeted again, where you can finish the battle (assuming you're in one) and heal them afterward. Revivify is a good way to avoid XP loss when a character accidentally rolls a 1 against a "save or die" spell / effect / trap.

Yeah, I rechecked the spell description some time after that post, but never got around it editing it. Oh well.

puppyavenger
2007-05-13, 01:56 PM
Why hasen't noone mentioned the worlds priemer dragon killer,






SHIVERING TOUCH

Morty
2007-05-13, 01:59 PM
Because it's not in the Spell Compendium?

Cruiser1
2007-05-14, 02:00 PM
Here are some more interesting/powerful spells in the SC:

Blast of Flame: An AOE spell with no spell resistance! Sculpt Spell it to get a no spell resistance Fireball.

Heroics: Give anyone any Fighter bonus feat. Hey, it's a level 1 Barbatian with Spring Attack. Give yourself Dodge for an extra +1 AC. I'm sure there are many interesting ways to (ab)use this.

Light of Venya: Now your Wizard can heal! Heal 2d8 hp with a 3rd level spell (assuming you're non-evil). Who needs a Cleric?

Ray of Clumsiness: Do DEX damage with a Transmutation spell. Now you can take down Dragons if Necromancy is a barred school.

Voice of the Dragon: Allows you to cast Charm Person even if Enchantment is a barred school.

Superior Resistance: +6 to all saving throws from a single source is better than anything else you can do pre-epic.

Cruiser1
2007-05-16, 11:18 PM
One of the most powerful (or most broken, depending on your viewpoint :smallwink:) spells in the Spell Compendium is Revivify, a 5th level Cleric spell that let's you True Resurrect someone (i.e. no XP loss) for only 1000 gold. The only limitation is that it must be cast within one round of the person's death, but most of the time the Cleric can get to a fallen companion within one round. Note this means a Wizard 13 can True Ressurect for just 300 XP by casting Limited Wish (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/limitedWish.htm) and duplicating Revivify (you don't even have to pay 1000 gold there, because Limited Wish covers any material component worth 1000 gold or under).

If it's been more than a round since your ally's death, you can still True Ressurect them for 1000 gold. Wait until the battle's over, and cast Revenance, a 4th level Cleric spell, which temporarily True Ressurects them for free. Wait next to them until that spell wears off and they die again, and then immediately cast Revivify to bring them back permanently. Of course, a Wizard can do this too, by also duplicating Revenance with Limited Wish.

It turns out you can do even better than the above. :smallsmile: You can True Resurrect (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/trueResurrection.htm) someone for free, where you don't even have to pay 1000 gold or 300 XP. After the fighting's over, have the Cleric cast Revenance on the fallen, so they temporarily come back with no XP loss. Then link hands with them and cast Plane Shift (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/planeShift.htm) and go to Ysgard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ysgard). Wait a few minutes until Revenance wears off and they die again. Then wait until tomorrow morning when the plane automatically True Resurrects them.

The only minor downside is this takes longer than spending 1000 gold per person, and you have to cast a couple more spells to Plane Shift back to the Prime Material, and then Teleport (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/teleport.htm) back to where you were to begin with. But every thousand gold saved is another thousand toward your next piece of bought or crafted loot. :smallbiggrin:

BelkarIsAGod
2007-05-16, 11:33 PM
Indomitability rocks, especially if you're fighting someone wih a sphere of ultimate destruction. It means anything that would reduce you to below one HP would just take you to one. Ultimate wand spell!!!!!!:smallbiggrin:
This book is a must for spellcasters.

Body of war's good too, 'cause it turns you into a warforged titan.:smalltongue:

LotharBot
2007-05-17, 12:15 AM
Thoughts:

1) it's really cool that Rangers and Paladins get actually useful spells. They have a few swift-action self-only combat buffs that are really useful. Much better than, at level 15, finally getting access to your level 4 spells that are less powerful than spells the cleric has been casting since level 5.

2) if you're the DM, carefully consider the consequences of certain spells and be willing to disallow them. Assay Spell Resistance + Ray of Dizziness is a combo that will break most dragon fights (no more full attacks.) Had I realized their power sooner, I'd have nerfed ASR down to maybe a +2 or +4 bonus (+10 is absurd!) and/or given RoD a save.

3) This is a great book for any class that can cast spells. I highly recommend it. I ALSO recommend using your judgement, and being willing to forgo certain overly lame spells or combos. The spells weren't written together, and they're not exactly balanced, especially in conjunction with each other.

TheOOB
2007-05-17, 12:46 AM
Because I always feel like I must be contrary to everyone else, I for one place the spell compendium very low on my must buy list. Sure its a bunch of awesome spells, but thats all it is. It's not hard to hombrew spells, and you can find hundreads, even thousands of perfectly useable spells on the net (I've probally posted a dozen or more on these boards alone).

I'd much rather spend my money on something like tome of battle, stormwrack, heroes of horror, ect that give rules to add new types of elements to your games, rather then just expanding on old ones.