warmage - what spells would be good for replacing what?

[animewatcha]

About to try the warmage ( and if DM is okay with it, rainbow servant, yay ! ). He is willing to replace some of the spells on a case by case basis. One of those 'sit down with the DM' kind of the things. The swapping out being something like a conjuration spell for a different conjuration spell. I was wondering which of these would be good for swapping out and for what kind of spell on 'equal footing'. Copy and pasting list from a 'certain dnd website' so some spells may be repeated or missed ( if missing, please let me know ).


0th
acid splash
disrupt undead
light
ray of frost

1st
Accuracy
Acid Orb, Lesser
Burning Hands
Chill Touch Necromancy
Cold Orb, Lesser
Electric Orb, Lesser
Fire Orb, Lesser
Fist of Stone
Hail of Stone
Magic Missile
Orb of Acid, Lesser
Orb of Cold, Lesser
Orb of Electricity, Lesser
Orb of Fire, Lesser
Orb of Sound, Lesser
Shocking Grasp
Sonic Orb, Lesser
True Strike

2nd

Blades of Fire
Blades of Fire
Continual Flame
Fire trap
Fireburst
Fireburst
Flaming Sphere
Ice Knife
Ice Knife
Melf's Acid Arrow
Pyrotechnics
Scorching Ray
Shatter
Whirling Blade

3rd

Fire Shield
Fireball
Flame Arrow
Gust of Wind
Ice Storm Evocation
Lightning Bolt
Poison
Ring of Blades
Ring of Blades
Sleet Storm
Stinking Cloud

4th

Blast of Flame Conjuration
Blast of Flame Conjuration
Contagion Necromancy
Evard's Black Tentacles
Orb of Acid
Orb of Cold
Orb of Electricity
Orb of Fire
Orb of Force
Orb of Sound
Phantasmal Killer
Shout
Wall of Fire

5th

Arc of Lightning
Arc of Lightning
Cloudkill
Cone of Cold
Fire Shield, Legion's
Fire Shield, Mass Evocation
Fireburst, Greater
Fireburst, Greater
Flame Strike
Prismatic Ray

6th

Acid Fog Conjuration
Blade Barrier Evocation
Chain Lightning Evocation
Circle of Death Necromancy
Disintegrate Transmutation
Fire Seeds Conjuration
Otiluke's Freezing Sphere
Tenser's Transformation

7th

Delayed Blast Fireball
Earthquake
Finger of Death
Fire Storm
Mordenkainen's Sword
Prismatic Spray
Sunbeam
Waves of Exhaustion

8th


Horrid Wilting
Incendiary Cloud
Polar Ray
Prismatic Wall
Scintillating Pattern
Shout, Greater
Sunburst

9th

Elemental Swarm
Implosion
Meteor Swarm
Prismatic Sphere
Wail of the Banshee
Weird

[Grod_The_Giant]

As a general rule? Pick your 2-3 least favorite damaging spells at each level and trade them for BFC or defensive spells-- that still fits the theme, if you ask me. So at 1st level, you might lose Hail of Stone for, oh, Wall of Smoke.

For more of my opinions on the matter, check out my revised spell list here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?323460-The-Warmage-%28Fixed-List-Caster-Project%29-3-5-PEACH&p=16725350#post16725350).

[Troacctid]

It depends. Are you trying to add power, or are you trying to keep the overall power level the same?

[animewatcha]

My group is one in which a combined web and black tentacles can screw over massively. Even for casters. They are also of belief of DD spells like fireballs are big time for BBEG. I want to add power, but not too much. Be able to combine like web and tentacles, but 'aim' it to where I don't become too OP. Instead of enveloping all 10 enemies at once. Say only 4 until they get used to me being the class.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I have to say, the Warmage list is actually a lot better than it's given credit for. Sure, it's mostly direct damage, but there's some solid stuff on there:

1st
Okay, there really isn't anything here. Accuracy is the only non-personal buff, and it's not very good.

2nd
Pyrotechnics: blinding, concealment, and ability debuffs, all in one spell-- top-not BFC.
Shatter: Tons of utility. Instantly destroying objects never goes out of fashion.

3rd
Gust of Wind: Not great BFC, but not useless either. Gets more fun with Shape Spell.
Ice Storm: I'm not a fan, but people always seem to like this one. Damage and lockdown never hurts, I suppose.
Sleet Storm: Excellent BFC spell-- sort of a combined fog cloud and grease, with an impressive range and area.
Stinking Cloud: Great area save-or-lose

4th
Black Tentacles: Everyone loves this spell
Shout: The damage is crap, but deafening an enemy spellcaster is a nice touch.

5th
Cloudkill: Sweep minions or deal Con damage to actual threats-- even if they make their save.
Prismatic Ray: Better-than-even odds of being a save-or-die/lose.

6th
Acid Fog: Solid Fog is still great BFC, even late.
Circle of Death: Weee kill everything
Disintegrate: Was that a ten foot thick adamantium wall? Not anymore!
Freezing Sphere: Damage isn't too hot, but it's a heck of a nasty thing to use on a swimmer! Without actually looking, I suspect there are plenty of creatures out there (especially things with class levels) that physically cannot make those checks to escape-- and there's no save to not get frozen.

7th
Earthquake: Huge area of effect, with some nasty side effects (Ref or die! Hey, what was that one save you didn't care about boosting because it's only HP damage?)
Finger of Death: Classic kill spell
Prismatic Spray: See everything I said about the Ray

8th
Prismatic Wall: A high-level BFC classic

9th
Implosion: Mass murder 101
Prismatic Sphere: Top-notch defense

If you put those spells on a sorcerer, you'd call it a pretty competent BFC/SoD loadout. There are also plenty of good ways to expand your list-- Sand Shaper, Mage of the Arcane Order, Wyrm Wizard, Exalted Arcanist... while directly altering your list is, of course an improvement, it's really not necessary.