Saltray

[ATHATH]

Why haven't I seen this spell mentioned before? It's a Save or Lose against everything not immune to stunning (no [Mind-Affecting] or [Death] tags here!) as a LEVEL TWO SORC/WIZ/DRUID SPELL. If you cast it near a large body of salt water (*cough* Acorn of Far Travel *cough*), you get two bolts of doom that have no restrictions on being cast on the same target.

The only real black marks on it are the range (close) and school (Evocation). The pitiful damage isn't what you're casting this spell for, and even a 1 on the duration still eats up the target's turn, makes the Rogue do a happy dance, and makes the target drop whatever its holding.

[Zombimode]

It's a nice spell, but it offers a Fort save to resist the Stun effect which limits its usability. You have to pick your targets carefully.

[eggynack]

A single round of stunning does not a save or lose make. If it did, then, well, spending your round doing nothing but dealing a bit of damage and causing your opponent to lose would cause you to lose as well, given that you're spending your whole turn on this. At best, it's a save or suck. At worst, a weak blasting spell with a decent rider. All you're really doing here is trading actions with a single opponent on a one for one basis, and less than that given that you need to succeed on a ranged touch attack and your opponent to fail on the save, meaning that you're really trading one of your actions for your target's percentage action. Also, not sure where this occasionally multi-hit spell that's available to non-druids is coming from. I'm looking at the spell in the spell compendium, and it seems to be druid only, and lack any sort of multi-target power.

Anyway, point is, if you want a second level targeted save or lose/suck for a druid, kelpstrand and blinding spittle are right there in the same book. Really excellent spells when it comes to disabling an opponent, verging on broken. Sure, you miss out on the damage, but what you get in exchange for that loss is a pair of spells that actually do what you think saltray does, crushing enemies with a low level spell with limited room for interaction.

[ATHATH]

The version that I found is here: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040131a

1 round is the minimum duration; it stuns an opponent for 1d4 rounds.

[eggynack]

Well, that's certainly better. Still, given the SpC entry, a major reason for its lack of mention could simply be that it doesn't really exist anymore in that form.

[ATHATH]

Well, that's certainly better. Still, given the SpC entry, a major reason for its lack of mention could simply be that it doesn't really exist anymore in that form.
Which one was printed latest?

[eggynack]

Which one was printed latest?
Article was 2004, and spell compendium 2005. Also, the SpC just has general spell update precedence powers, as part of the book's nature.

[nyjastul69]

Which one was printed latest?

The article was published 1/31/04. The SC was published Dec. '05.

Edit: Ninja'd!

[ATHATH]

Article was 2004, and spell compendium 2005. Also, the SpC just has general spell update precedence powers, as part of the book's nature.
Ah. Nevermind, then.