Compilation of PHB-Only caster tricks/combos

[Elder Inheritor]

Is there one anywhere?


My examples:
• Using Summon spells for moving, controllable "walls"
• Summon multiple Howlers (Summon Monster IV gets a single one) to bog down enemies (even high-Reflex foes, after a few inevitable failed saves) with penalties (much like negative levels, though it affects foes immune to negative energy)
• Summon multiple Achaierai (Summon Monster V gets a single one) for automatic AoE damage higher than equal spell level typed blasting spells, or a bunch of viper snakes (Summon Monster I/Summon Nature's Ally I gets a single one) to proc Fort saves against Con damage until the foe goes down
• Have folks eat a Heroes' Feast (which grants immunity to poison), then lock down foes so the Wizard can use Cloudkill (without harming an ally)
• Using Plane Shift as an offensive spell
• Casting Shrink Object on a Wall Of Iron to use a 5th slot once and a 3rd slot once every week or so, instead of using multiple 5th slots and expending unnecessary amounts of money
• Druid casts Faerie Fire, Wizard casts Fog Cloud; this can be done by level 3 and remains effective until at-will tactical teleportation (i.e. Dimension Door SLA) becomes common
• Metamagic rods... (Extend spell with almost everything that isn't Duration: Instantaneous or Concentration) (Empower spell with Acid Arrow or Scorching Ray for a lot longer, easily avoiding grabbing a high level damage spell as a Big Red Button; also, great with some Summon spells) (Silent spell makes you free to wear armor, since you really don't care about armor check penalty when you can avoid the need to use skills altogether)
• Using a scroll for a spell that has a long casting time (1 minute or more)
• UMD and wands so everyone has Cure Light Wounds
• Going with ranged instead of melee to get easily-targeted full attacks
• Using readied actions carefully (like making a charge against a spellcaster, or avoiding a charge, or avoiding a spell, or using Aid Another to give an ally a +2 untyped bonus to their saving throw)
• Have a companion Bull Rush an enemy into a Web, or a Grease, or a Fog Cloud, or even just into the threatened area of the melee folk
• Polymorph a rogue into a hydra and have the familiar flank for a lot of sneak attack damage
• Charm Monster on a called Planar critter
• Have the Druid cast Poison to potentially reduce the target's Fortitude, then cast a spell such as Destruction/Disintegrate/Finger Of Death/etc.
• Using spells that aren't usually made to affect the environment in order to bust down dungeon walls, or to create your own
• Polymorph your Bard into the enemy, use Aid Another to help the Bard's Disguise check shoot into the stratosphere, and then have him cast Glibness; sometimes even the Rogue and Fighter can sit back and relax with the Big 3, and let the support caster (alone) happily win the day (this is also a great way to have the group make money on the side, simply have the Bard go take care of all the devious plots while the rest turn into business tycoons)
• Using Aid Another to boost social skill checks; many groups don't even realize this is a thing, and have all the players make their own checks instead of just granting the best a +2 for each other group member
• Have your Paladin cast Divine Favor, Magic Weapon, Bless, etc. (all level 1 spells) so he can Power Attack for an extra 3 (or more) points; +6 damage is nothing to sneeze at (or +18, with Spirited Charge and a lance)
• Dispel Magic on enemy magic items can be just as helpful as dispelling buffs, since suppression is temporary
• Cast Polymorph and then Invisibility on the Monk, get the Bard (or Cleric) to cast Silence on 'em, and watch as enemy casters get grappled and possibly can't cast any spells (Invisibility Purge, Dispel Magic, and Dimension Door all have verbal components); alternatively, you can just use Silence + Black Tentacles, but I'm of the mindset every character should be used whenever possible, and Black Tentacles are a lot flashier (since they aren't invisible, they'll likely draw a lot more attention)
• Cast Polymorph on the critters you Summon; the fiendish monstrous centipedes and spiders and scorpions have high HD for their CRs (for example, bone devils can be summoned 2 levels early with this)
• At higher levels, Bear's Endurance is basically "Greater False Life", with a much shorter duration but a much higher benefit (gives +2 HP per HD to each target), out of the same spell slot level; alternatively, use Mass Bear's Endurance instead
• Ask your game master if you can cast Protection From Evil on an evil enemy, allowing that "Will negates (harmless)" to be just "Will negates", and protecting people from that enemy's influences; even if it doesn't grant any bonuses or penalties, granting immunity to evil mind-control to everyone using only one spell slot can be nice (if allowed)
• Casting Magic Circle Against Evil, then getting the Fighter to Bull Rush any evil called enemy into the circle so you can focus on whatever else is around; plus, this becomes a great way to amp up tension as your party uses readied actions to prevent the enemies from breaking the circle

[Rerednaw]

Hurm. Here's a classic:
Web. Take a full round action to break out.
Add Stinking Cloud. Move actions only.
Doh.

Seriously there are tons of these...try the wizard archives, if they are still alive.

[Inevitability]

Mount gives you a great meat shield at low levels. If you're lucky, it can even last multiple combats.

[Eldariel]

This is really too broad a topic to cover in a single guide. It really amounts to "everything you can do in Core". Well, some of the obvious ones:
- Stack Explosive Runes on an item. Throw it. Have someone fail to AOE Dispel on it. Watch things go boom with no-save force damage.
- Shrink Item boulders. Throw them into any antimagic fields or such you may encounter. In general, efficient thrown weapons.
- Cone hat shrunk to make it wearable. Walk into an antimagic effect? It expands to cover you and breaks line of effect.
- Telekinesis (Violent Thrust) a bunch of really large weapons. Since the number of projectiles is capped at 15, you have 25 pounds per object - though you get more damage out of really large objects (Colossal Greatswords are 6d6 each). Bonus points for casting Greater Magic Weapon on each in the morning. Can be kept in a Bag of Holding which can be collapsed to make them all appear simultaneously.
- Bullseye Lantern + Pyrotechnics. A targetable blinding 120' Cone.
- Planar Binding something. Use Moment of Prescience. Now you pretty much autowin the Charisma-check to compel services regardless of bonuses or penalties.
- Contingency trigger of talking. Talking is a free action that can be taken out of turn order. You now have a Contingency you can activate whenever you're flat-footed. And if you have Foresight, you're never flat-footed.
- Share Spells allows casting Contingency on your Familiar. This allows you to maintain two simultaneous Contingencies.
- Cast Forcecage on an enemy. Leave them to rot.
-> Forcecage + Acid Fog. Leave them to rot, literally.
-> Add Dimensional Lock. And add Time Stop to do this without them being able to act. Ready an action to Forcecage them again if they e.g. use Disintegrate or Rod of Cancellation.
- Arcane Sight allows detecting enemies with buffs or magic items on them. It works through walls and ignores all sorts of concealment. In short, always have Arcane Sight active; it allows you to detect almost everyone worth detecting within 120'.
- Greater Prying Eyes is True Seeing with bonuses without expensive material components.
- Shapechange into a form with good abilities - Choker has an extra Standard Action for instance. Then Polymorph Any Object into any really powerful form. You now have the cool ability and great base stats.
- Get Polymorph Any Object cast on you twice. The second one has permanent duration. You can purchase castings relatively cheap since it has no components (provided you can find someone with 8th level spells).
- Craft Simulacrums of creatures with good Spell-Likes. Those are not level-dependent so they're full power. E.g. Avoral (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/avoral.htm), or more generally most Outsiders, come with good spell-likes.
- Scry a target. Teleport to them. Kill them. Teleport out.
- Astral Projection duplicates your items. Remove them from your person, then end the Projection. Now you have two sets of your items.
- Astral Projection and go somewhere. Do stuff. If you die, you return to your original body and nothing happened.
- Animate Dead a Hydra into a Zombie. Normally Zombies can only take a single standard action preventing them from doing full attacks. Hydras always full attack though and they are capable of standard action charging.
- Animate Dead a Pyrohydra into a Skeleton. It's now immune to both, cold and fire.
- Phantom Steed gives you 240' fly speed mount for hours/level. Just what it says on the tin but worth mentioning; that's almost as fast as the fastest of Dragons.
- On level 5, cast Extended Rope Trick. You can now rest in relative safety for the 8 hours and prepare spells with an hour to spare.
- Leave spell slots open, you can prepare a spell you didn't expect to need in them in 15 minutes.
- Mindless creatures lack the mental prowess to generally figure out that an Illusion is an Illusion. Thus they can easily be trapped within e.g. an Illusionary cage barring some really strange commands.
- Command Undead has no HD limit. Just Command any amount of mindless undead you encounter; they're yours for the keeping.
- Grease can be targeted at enemy's feet to make them flat-footed (unless they have 5 ranks in Balance) and denied Dex bonus to AC and potentially prone needing checks to move. It can also be cast on enemy object to make those difficult to keep handy, or an ally to escape grapple.
- Ray of Enfeeblement (or more generally, strength damage) can make an enemy lose AC or even fall over due to carrying capacity.
- Shatter vs. most mundane opponents allows you to break their rather valueless weapons and make them much easier to take out. Storm Giant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/giant.htm#stormGiant)-level opponents are still rocking non-magical gear, and the difference between their Sword and Slam is tremendous.
- Alter Self allows you to assume the form of e.g. a Trogdolyte, with +6 Natural Armor and multiple Natural Attacks. It also gives you various skill bonuses and movement modes (not flight in Core for humanoids, however).
- If you're an Outsider, you get martial weapon proficiencies. Bonus point for Tieflings/Aasimars though the level adjustment is still a pain. This also opens up Outsider Polymorph forms very early, including the likes of Cornugon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/devil.htm#hornedDevilCornugon).
- Have Bard Inspire Courage on you to increase your HD and thus the level of forms you can assume.
- Ready an action to cast the AOE version of Silence when an enemy tries to cast a spell. No save, interrupts casting and leaves around the handy Silence field.
- Tie spells castable on objects to rocks, sticks or other throwables. You can use Ammunition, but even magic Ammunition has a 50% chance of being broken on a miss; on a hit it always breaks.
- Destroy ground underneath your target to drop them wherever.

[Elder Inheritor]

Web+Stinking Cloud

That is indeed a classic, but one I was unaware of until just now. :smallcool: Awesome.


Mount gives you a great meat shield at low levels. If you're lucky, it can even last multiple combats.

Have the fighter ride it, you control it, and give the fighter free full attacks (with +1 from higher ground) at the cost of ride checks; then have it flank with the rogue for +2 to attack rolls and sneak attack... Or just use the horse as a wall. I love the versatility of one of some of the simplest, lowest-level spells. Great one to point out, thank you lots!


This is really too broad a topic to cover in a single guide. It really amounts to "everything you can do in Core". Well, some of the obvious ones:

It isn't everything you can do in core, if limited to the PHB only (with creature stats from Summon and Calling spells and using the Craft feats for magic items). I was really just looking for ideas I could use to get my creative juices flowing and do more than buff/control/etc., since the guides I've seen talked about the utmost useful spells and didn't talk about wacky uses for the powerful spells or powerful uses for combining some less-than-optimal spells.



I've seen the Explosive Runes thing before, and have seen people try to use it, but no GM I've ever seen let it happen. They made it simply be dispelled, or said it would only go off if an enemy read it. I don't know how common it is for the majority GMs to houserule this kind of thing, though.
I wish I could have used the Shrink Item trick for thrown weapons better; the one time I tried it, I said I was casting the spell on "Large-sized boulders" and the GM thought I meant the boulders thrown by "Large-sized giants". When I specified what I meant, the GM said, "Sorry, no. If you want more than 2d6 out of this, it will be against yourself, as the rock falls on your own head."
I like the shrunken cone idea quite a bit... But where are you getting a cone hat big enough to cover your entire body? Major Creation or something? Still, super cool idea, especially if you're flavored as an oriental wanderer. Especially a tropical Urskan Monk. :smalltongue:
Similar to the above mention for Explosive Runes, I've seen this one (many times, actually, just because a buddy of mine really loves the Telekinesis spell), and the GMs either let the wizards use only the weapons they found, or otherwise only weapons they were proficient with, "which does not include weapons meant for creatures bigger than you are" (according to one of those GMs, not the normal rules... I think).
The lantern idea is fantastic! I can't see a GM saying no to that, and at the same time, it's much better than Blindness/Deafness at the same spell level. You have my admiration for this one. :smallbiggrin:
Ooh! While it is much higher level than a Charm Monster, that is an exceptional use for Moment Of Prescience. Generally, Moment Of Prescience seemed a waste of an 8th-level spell slot, but now that I think about it, there may be other such examples where a planned use of Moment Of Prescience is decidedly worth it. Cool!
Avoiding surprise attacks is perhaps the #1 way to stay alive at high levels as a squishy, from what I've seen. Me likey the Contingency trick; thanks bunches! As for the note on the familiar, I find it slightly odd, since technically you could just share the spell you Contingency'd with your familiar anyway... But it does get around the "within 5 feet" nonsense.
Forcecage is perhaps the most broken spell for its level (as a Sorc/Wiz), and I love it. I think the only more powerful level 7 spell in general is a Holy Word cast by a Cleric with beefed up caster level... I can't believe I didn't mention Forcecage in my original post. I'm kicking myself now, for not thinking of it. Again, thanks!
While Arcane Sight is amazing, it's been surprisingly situational IME (all kinds of emphasis because I know it's been used to brilliant effectiveness in games I've not personally observed).
On the other hand, Prying Eyes and the Greater Version provide more information than a GM has time to go through at the table. They record so much at once that even when you replay an hour per round, the normal Prying Eyes takes several minutes to go through. These two spells have seen so much use (and been put to cleverer uses than they may have been actually intended, such as making them invisible or appear to be creatures, with the right spells) in the games I've observed that the party began naming specific eyes and sought vengeance on individual eyes with extreme prejudice.
Unless you use Shapechange to transform into a creature you can turn into with Polymorph or Alter Self, you're probably already breaking the game with it. That being said, it is a clever, slightly-more-acceptable way to get the permanent form of a creature than the latter mentioned double-PAO. The former one might even be reasonable enough that the GM will allow you to keep your spellcasting abilities after the change is made permanent... If PAO is allowed in the first place.
Simulacrum on outsiders is great! I've seen it used with a Ghaele Eladrin (it was the Thaumaturgist's Planar Cohort), and it was crazy powerful.
The only problem I have with Scry-And-Die is that if your foe has Detect Scrying, they can ready an action to kill you first. Unless you first use Time Stop, or something.
The "D&D Item Duplication Glitch" is hilarious! Though, I just realized that when you die, your enemies copies of my magic items. That seems doubly interesting if you use it to duplicate an artifact...
Technically a hydra can't standard-action charge, though they do get pseudo-Pounce, which is awesome. I like that quite a bit, and grabbing a zombie hydra looks like it would be better than using Polymorph on your buddy, unless Polymorph is banned (as it often is). This is definitely a golden idea, as is the skeleton pyrohydra.
Phantom Steed is super cool, and I love using it with Shadow Conjuration instead (1/3 HP and damage is not a big issue when the Run action makes the beastie too fast to get attacked)
Rope Trick is useful for even more than that, especially with a semi-lenient GM; I've even seen it used to cross terrain that would be otherwise impassable at that level (like climbing up walls without needing Animate Rope as a spell known).
I've seen the open spell slot thing before, but the slight issue I have with it... How often do you have 15 minutes free to prep a spell, but not 10 hours to reset your allotment?
Er... Do Mindless creatures actually care if there is an illusion? For example, wouldn't a lemur/ooze/etc. still smush against the illusory wall or whatever you create, in the attempt to get as close as possible to food/slaughter-able foes/etc.? If not, then it certainly is another reason to keep a Silent Image prepared.
Command Undead may not have a HD limit, but it does cost a spell slot for each creature every days. Still, it's funny that if an epic caster makes an epic-level unintelligent undead (and forgets to give it immunity to Command Undead through some means), you can control it with a 2nd level spell.
Grease is useful as a prepared spell in about 80% of situations. More so if you can find a way to get Eschew Materials, Extend Spell, Silent Spell, and/or Still Spell on it without requiring feats or higher-level spell slots. Great stuff.
Ray Of Enfeeblement gives a penalty, not damage. Even so, you just explained something that I didn't understand when I saw it being rated as excellent in guides. Thank you, again.
Holy shiznit! I knew Shatter was good already, without ever even [I]considering breaking weapons (since I assumed magical ones would be common with anything that actually used weapons). I only ever thought about using it on spellcasting component pouches and the other dozen possible uses I have written down somewhere. That's gotta be added to the list!
Alter Self and the other Polymorph spells are awesome. The note on the Planetouched is also helpful. I'm going to ask my GM if I could use one of those two races, even though they aren't in the PHB; in past games, this GM has pretended level adjustment doesn't exist, and made racial HD not count when determining ECL.
Inspire Greatness is the one that grants temporary HD, and that is by far the most genius idea I have yet seen to be used with it.
Just out of curiosity... Why not just use your action to cast Silence targeted on the enemy spellcaster? I don't really see a use for targeting empty space over having the area follow the enemy around, except maybe to keep them from bringing the AoE to you.
If rocks used as ammunition for a sling break when used, I think that is something a GM might houserule if you ask about it. Regardless, what is the advantage of casting a spell on a rock instead of ammo? I can understand it (sort of) with Continual Flame, but not really with any other spell around.
For destroying the ground beneath your opponents' feet, I recommend Disintegrate, followed by a Wall Of Stone over their head if they don't move out of the pit before your next turn.

[Eldariel]

Ooh! While it is much higher level than a Charm Monster, that is an exceptional use for Moment Of Prescience. Generally, Moment Of Prescience seemed a waste of an 8th-level spell slot, but now that I think about it, there may be other such examples where a planned use of Moment Of Prescience is decidedly worth it. Cool!

Mind, Initiative is a Dexterity-check. Whether it's opposed is arguable, but if it is, Moment applies there too. I usually prepare and cast it daily since going first is kinda huge.


Avoiding surprise attacks is perhaps the #1 way to stay alive at high levels as a squishy, from what I've seen. Me likey the Contingency trick; thanks bunches! As for the note on the familiar, I find it slightly odd, since technically you could just share the spell you Contingency'd with your familiar anyway... But it does get around the "within 5 feet" nonsense.

Ah no, I meant using the "Share Spells"-clause which enables casting spells with "Target: You" on your Familiar to cast a second Contingency and get around the 1 personal Contingency-limit.


Forcecage is perhaps the most broken spell for its level (as a Sorc/Wiz), and I love it. I think the only more powerful level 7 spell in general is a Holy Word cast by a Cleric with beefed up caster level... I can't believe I didn't mention Forcecage in my original post. I'm kicking myself now, for not thinking of it. Again, thanks!

Plane Shift is pretty nice (its normal mobility + being able to send enemies to e.g. Positive Energy Plane on a failed Will-save), Reverse Gravity destroys non-fliers, Summon Monster VII has a very decent list, Project Image allows combat with no chance of being attacked back, Limited Wish does anything. There's a lot of good seventh level spells, but certainly Forcecage is decent (though note the expensive material component).


While Arcane Sight is amazing, it's been surprisingly situational IME (all kinds of emphasis because I know it's been used to brilliant effectiveness in games I've not personally observed).

If DM doesn't forget to give monsters treasure, it's pretty reliable; almost everything higher up has at least a magic item in its hoard or tummy.


On the other hand, Prying Eyes and the Greater Version provide more information than a GM has time to go through at the table. They record so much at once that even when you replay an hour per round, the normal Prying Eyes takes several minutes to go through. These two spells have seen so much use (and been put to cleverer uses than they may have been actually intended, such as making them invisible or appear to be creatures, with the right spells) in the games I've observed that the party began naming specific eyes and sought vengeance on individual eyes with extreme prejudice.

Certainly. Same goes for PCs too though. You can actually keep one handy as a "True Seeing ball" at all times.


The only problem I have with Scry-And-Die is that if your foe has Detect Scrying, they can ready an action to kill you first. Unless you first use Time Stop, or something.

Well, you can always Quicken Teleport after Greater Scrying and do it in one round. Mind Blank negates the whole strategy, however.


Technically a hydra can't standard-action charge, though they do get pseudo-Pounce, which is awesome. I like that quite a bit, and grabbing a zombie hydra looks like it would be better than using Polymorph on your buddy, unless Polymorph is banned (as it often is). This is definitely a golden idea, as is the skeleton pyrohydra.

It can if it's restricted to a standard action each round. Which Zombies are. All Zombies can charge, but Hydra is one of the few creatures that gets a full attack that way. You can also manually cut its heads and let it sprout extras to double the number. So a 10-headed Zombie Hydra can have 20 heads.


I've seen the open spell slot thing before, but the slight issue I have with it... How often do you have 15 minutes free to prep a spell, but not 10 hours to reset your allotment?

A fair bit of time, I find. In the middle of a dungeon, you can often take 15 minutes but 10 hours will see more enemies appear or some guard unit find you. Same with any kind of quest in which you're operating under time constraints.


Er... Do Mindless creatures actually care if there is an illusion? For example, wouldn't a lemur/ooze/etc. still smush against the illusory wall or whatever you create, in the attempt to get as close as possible to food/slaughter-able foes/etc.? If not, then it certainly is another reason to keep a Silent Image prepared.

Unless they normally walk at walls. Generally a mindless creature with orders to attack attacks a target it detects to the best of its ability but if it loses track of its target it probably ceases to do so if it cannot chase. They generally use the same sensory organs as everything else; they just lack the reasoning to test if the illusion is a real obstacle, or to strategise otherwise. Thus, if you can block them with an Illusion they probably won't do anything special.


Command Undead may not have a HD limit, but it does cost a spell slot for each creature every [insert caster level here] days. Still, it's funny that if an epic caster makes an epic-level unintelligent undead (and forgets to give it immunity to Command Undead through some means), you can control it with a 2nd level spell.

You can always Extend it for twice the duration. It lasts so long you can easily afford to keep a horde around anyways though.


Just out of curiosity... Why not just use your action to cast Silence targeted on the enemy spellcaster? I don't really see a use for targeting empty space over having the area follow the enemy around, except maybe to keep them from bringing the AoE to you.

Targeted Silence offers a save.


If rocks used as ammunition for a sling break when used, I think that is something a GM might houserule if you ask about it. Regardless, what is the advantage of casting a spell on a rock instead of ammo? I can understand it (sort of) with Continual Flame, but not really with any other spell around.

Ah, generally they're just easier to move around. Silence can be cast on a rock too for instance.


For destroying the ground beneath your opponents' feet, I recommend Disintegrate, followed by a Wall Of Stone over their head if they don't move out of the pit before your next turn.

For example. Polymorph Any Object work too, for instance. Also note, Limited Wish can replicate a long casting time spell in 1 standard action; useful for many lower level spells - stuff like Move Earth for example.


Few others:
- Cast Magic Jar. Steal a body. Cast Magic Jar again. Steal a second body. Move your soul to the second Jar. Move first body out of range killing the life force and breaking the first Magic Jar. Return to the first body - you now own it permanently (since Magic Jar does nothing to you upon ending if you're within another Magic Jar).
- Cast Major Creation. Create e.g. Black Lotus Extracts (a plant-based poison). Douse your enemies in in it. Profit.
- Lesser Planar Binding can get a Nightmare which can cast Astral Projection for you for days/level. So, you're welcome at level 9.
- Get 40 casting stat (or equivalent bonus; 36 Int + Luckstone and Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone suffices). Cast Contact Other Plane. Even on a roll of 1 on the Int-check, you can ask greater deities with no problem. There are no natural 1s on stat checks.
- Reverse Gravity + Prismatic Wall/Sphere. It's a classic! Of course, only works on non-fliers.
- Limited Wish to replicate Geas/Quest (SR does apply). It's a no-save effect that just makes someone do whatever you want, essentially killing them if you so desire. Limited Wish to get around the 10 min cast time.
- Disintegrate or Polymorph Any Object vs. Undead. They have poor Fort-saves and the ones that can affect Objects can affect them (though beware, Liches are immune to Polymorphing).
- Solid Fog + Ice Storm: People really can't move and take constant damage.
- Cloudkill + Wall of Stone: Lower level version of Acid Fog + Forcecage.
- Resilient Sphere on self: It's impossible to get through.

[Deophaun]

I've seen the Explosive Runes thing before, and have seen people try to use it, but no GM I've ever seen let it happen. They made it simply be dispelled, or said it would only go off if an enemy read it. I don't know how common it is for the majority GMs to houserule this kind of thing, though.
It's not even necessary to house rule. The dispel trick assumes that the runes are dispelled simultaneously, not sequentially. If it's sequential, the first dispelled rune will destroy the rest.

Which is why I prefer casting summon monster III and ordering a flock of fiendish hawks to carry and activate my explosive runes right on top of the target. RAW solid.

[Jack_Simth]

I like the shrunken cone idea quite a bit... But where are you getting a cone hat big enough to cover your entire body? Major Creation or something? Still, super cool idea, especially if you're flavored as an oriental wanderer. Especially a tropical Urskan Monk. :smalltongue:Wall of Stone to make it, Stone Shape to sever it from the ground. Or just a craft check.

[Elder Inheritor]

These are all great! I have been illuminated. Thanks once more, to each of you.

[Eldariel]

There's the whole world of Summon Monster. For more details, see e.g. Malconvoker Handbook (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2791.0) and The Summoner's Desk Reference (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?255219-The-Summoner-s-Desk-Reference-D-amp-D-3-5). Among things of note:
- Summon things to walk down hallways and trigger traps.
- Summon things with special senses (e.g. Fiendish Spider for Tremorsense) to detect stuff you have a hard time detecting.
- Summon lots of things to use Aid Another for rather significant skill, attack or AC bonuses. To this end you just want to maximize the number of things you can summon.

Note, if you want real Aid Another nonsense, you can always use a spell like Animate Object (not a Wizard-spell by default though) plus Permanency to get a ton of really small creatures that can all Aid Another you for massive bonuses; doubly so if you have some kind of AOE buffs. Refer to Nanobots (http://web.archive.org/web/20070402074736/http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=458721) for extreme (and not anymore Core-only) implementations of this idea.

Couple of noteworthy summons for their utility/casting. Note, spells are great from summons since while summon stats are usually lower than level appropriate enemies, many spells can inconvenience enemies even on successful saves, or attack weak saving throws with action advantage. SNA = Summon Nature's Ally, SM = Summon Monster

SNAII:
Dire Badger: Leaves behind a tunnel when it burrows.

SNAIII:
Thoqqua: Leaves behind a tunnel when it burrows, can burrow through solid rock.

SNAIV:
Unicorn: Superhealer. Cure Moderate Wounds, 3 Cure Light Wounds, Magic Circle Against Evil, Neutralize Poison, Detect Evil.

SNAV:
Janni Genie: Invisibility, Create Food and Water, Reduce Person, Telepathy for communication. A great scout. The spell unfortunately prevents it from using its Ethereal Jaunt.
Nixie: Charm Person 3/day.

SNAVI:
Huge Elementals: Air/Water Elementals' Whirlwind and Vortex in particular come onto their own with levels.
Pixie: You get Permanent Image so you can use these as out of combat utility. Also Detect Alignment, Dispel Magic, Detect Thoughts.

SNAVIII:
Noble Salamander: Fireball, Wall of Fire, Flaming Sphere, Dispel Magic. Sadly the spell prevents it from using its Summon Monster VII.

SNAIX:
Pixie: These get Otto's Irresistible Dance. It's just straight up "you lose" if the target is not immune to mind-affecting. Though of course, the Pixie has little to no survivability.
Unicorn, Celestial Charger: Basically, you get a 7th level Cleric. Not really all that, but some useful spells that are hard to find as a Druid otherwise.

SMIII:
Dretch: Stinking Cloud and Scare. While the save DC is low, Stinking Cloud alone is a 3rd level spell and you're left with a convenient body that can attack 3 times a turn or use Aid Another.

SMIV:
Lantern Archon: Brings about Magic Circle Against Evil and Aura of Menace as well as Aid at will for a lot of miscellaneous bonuses. As their light rays are touch attacks, those are actually surprisingly decent too. It also has Tongues for conversing with anything.

SMVI:
Bralani Eladrin: CL6 Cure Serious Wounds 2/day, Lightning Bolt 2/day, Wind Wall (ruins archers' day, especially as a readied action)

SMVII:
Avoral Guardinal: CL8 Lightning Bolt 3/day, Dispel Magic/Hold Person/Aid/Blur/True Seeing/Magic Missile/Magic Circle Against Evil At Will.
Bone Devil: CL12 Wall of Ice at will (!!), Major Image at will, Fly at will (can be cast on others, note), Invisibility at will, Dimensional Anchor at will.

SMVIII:
Blue Slaad: Passwall, Telekinesis, Hold Person at will, Chaos Hammer 1/day
Lillend: Hallucionary Terrain, 6th level Bard casting.
Vrock: Telekinesis at will (throw swords at people), Heroism 1/day. Summon 3 to have them use Dance of Ruin for 20d6 damage in 3 rounds (note, you're affected as well if within 100').

SMIX:
Leonal Guardinal: Wall of Force, Polymorph at will. CL10 Heal 1/day, Cure Critical Wounds 3/day, Neutralize Poison 3/day, Remove Disease 3/day, Fireball at will. Very nice Protective Aura and convenient Roar as well (though the CL is low).


Other stuff:
- Polymorph and Alter Self require their own guides too. Polymorph (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=519) and Alter Self (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2811)
- Shapechange is absurd. With its supernatural abilities and the option to change form 1/round, you can replicate most spells in the game with spell-likes. Need Disintegrate? Turn into a Beholder. Need Etherealness? Turn into a Nightmare. Need Wish? Turn into a Pit Fiend. The options are nigh' limitless.
- Quickened True Strike. Perform Spirited Charge and Power Attack for full. Enjoy your massive damage bonuses with low chance of missing.
- If you have DMG prestige classes, Archmage with "Mastery of Shaping" can leave a hole for himself in an Antimagic Field. Doesn't protect him against spells but melee enemies trying to approach him will have to do so without magic (and if he's flying that cuts away great many opponents).
- As above, Arcane Archer can use "Imbue Arrow" (the only worthwhile ability in the class) to fire Antimagic Fields at enemy locations.
- Empower/Maximize False Life for more extra Temporary HP.
- Shield Other + Heal Mount on Paladin is a nice way to increase their own survivability.
- Symbol-spells can be cast on an item on your person you always keep hidden. Or you can just emblazon your clothes/armor in them and wear a robe. Or something thrown. Cast off the front of your robe, enemies eat a bunch of save-or-Xs.
- Giant Vermin with caster level boosters creates ridiculous combat monsters fairly early on. With Beads of Karma and Orange Prism Ioun Stone, a level 15 caster can create a Colossal Vermin.
- Control Winds can create a Tornado, particularly with two castings in basically any weather. It's also a standard action. Tornado (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/weather.htm#tornado) is a nasty customer.

[Elder Inheritor]

- Shapechange is absurd. With its supernatural abilities and the option to change form 1/round, you can replicate most spells in the game with spell-likes. Need Disintegrate? Turn into a Beholder. Need Etherealness? Turn into a Nightmare. Need Wish? Turn into a Pit Fiend. The options are nigh' limitless.
- Empower/Maximize False Life for more extra Temporary HP.



Uh... Since when do Pit Fiends have Wish as a supernatural ability? I don't even think they get it as an SLA...
Why Empower or Maximize False Life when you can just cast Bear's Endurance without the metamagic adjustments and still about as much HP out of it? I mean, I guess if you really need the longer duration...

[Particle_Man]

If you don't have other ideas in mind for domains, here is a nice low level core trick for clerics.

Normally SM I is not that useful at 1st level because critter doesn't last that long.

But if you take the law and good domains (for example) then the LG critter you summon will last long enough to be worth summoning.

I mean it is a bit niche but it is there.

Another advantage to the law and good domains is if you take Craft Arms and Armour you can make that axiomatic holy weapon to just crush a demon (or other CE foe) since the relevant spells are in core only found on the law and good domain spell lists (add bane (evil outsiders) and bane (chaotic outsiders) if you want to drive the point home on that weapon).

[Inevitability]

Uh... Since when do Pit Fiends have Wish as a supernatural ability? I don't even think they get it as an SLA...


They do get it as a SLA, though only 1/year.


Spell-Like Abilities
At will—blasphemy (DC 25), create undead, fireball (DC 21), greater dispel magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 pounds of objects only), invisibility, magic circle against good, mass hold monster (DC 27), persistent image (DC 23), power word stun, unholy aura (DC 26); 1/day—meteor swarm (DC 27). Caster level 18th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.

Once per year a pit fiend can use wish as the spell (caster level 20th).

[Eldariel]

Uh... Since when do Pit Fiends have Wish as a supernatural ability? I don't even think they get it as an SLA...


Ah yes, I forgot it was worded as it is. It's an SLA 1/year; I guess that only indeed does leave the Zodar, which is not a Core option. There's still plenty of incredible options though. Don't have the time to go into all of it here though.



Why Empower or Maximize False Life when you can just cast Bear's Endurance without the metamagic adjustments and still about as much HP out of it? I mean, I guess if you really need the longer duration...


Bear's Endurance doesn't stack with Con-boosting items which you'll probably have. Not to mention, False Life lasts all day while Bear's Endurance eats up a valuable action. In general though, should you expect damage you'll want multiple sources of bonus HP and all-day temporary HP is a valuable, low investment option to that end. It's not a huge amount but it's practically free; being a 2nd level spell you can Empower it by just making it 4th level and Maximize it with a Lesser Rod (for example, since applying non-Heighten Metamagic does not change the spell's actual level).

[Gusmo]

Greater dispel magic plus some sort of way to directly target the weapon are will destroy it. [quickened] Shatter works, but warriors often have good fortitude saves. A touch attack no save acid spell would be ideal, like scorching ray by an archmage with mastery of elements.

[Eldariel]

Some other ones:
- Use the Magic Aura-spell on all your buffs and items to leave you with nothing but some minor Illusion-auras making it really hard for the enemy to deduce your capabilities. Also can be used to sell magically produced goods as the real thing.

- Animal Growth is a really, really good spell. If you have any combat-trained animals (Druid's animal companion, anything summoned/Polymorphed, any plain bought/raised and trained things), cast it on all of 'em (you get a target per two caster levels at no cap, so minimum of 4 on CL9) and watch them trounce the opposition with their incredible defensive numbers, +3 to hit, massive damage bonuses, and superior combat maneuvers. Like, a pack of Dire Wolves (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/direWolf.htm) you've befriended through Wild Empathy/Speak With Animals-or-Shapechanging + Diplomacy/whatever are looking at +14 for 2d6+16 at +19 Trip-checks, and 57 HP, DR 10/magic, great saves, etc. And then flank + charge + higher ground bonuses, they can easily get up to +19 to hit and tripped opponents would further get -4 to AC. God forbid you get something like Dire Bear (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/direBear.htm)s, Elephant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/elephant.htm)s, Dire Tigers (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/direTiger.htm), Rhinos (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/rhinoceros.htm) or Tyrannosaurs (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/dinosaur.htm#tyrannosaurus). In an oceanic campaign, of course Giant Squids (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/squidGiant.htm) rule the roost.

Bonus points if you have an animal companion of the same type that can lead the pack, or you can Wildshape/Polymorph into the form; handling companions is a free action and Wildshape/Polymorph enables direct communication (otherwise you can use Handle Animal to order the alpha to attack as a move action, who should take care of the rest). Further, they can be equipped with Bardings (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#bardingMediumCreatureandLarge Creature) (Mw. Studded Leather Barding or Mithral Chain Shirt Barding has no downsides even for non-proficient users; War-trained animals are proficient so they can even use Fullplate Barding) and Handle Animal trained for various purposes. You can also buff them with at least Greater Magic Fang(s) for either all or each of their natural weapons, depending on your slots available. One reason to prefer Dire animals is that they have good Will-saves.

- Want a particular kind of creature? Teleport and Scry actually make it very easy to find creatures of any particular type and to make the necessary arrangements to secure their help, be it Command Undeading an Allip (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/allip.htm) or Diplomacying/Wild Empathying some Dire Bears.
- Spellcasters can cast spells as services (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#spellcastingAndServices) in their downtime for some free pocket change. Of course, there are many other ways to generate money as a spellcaster; e.g. Fabricating items, casting Wall of Iron and selling all the iron (you get such volumes as to easily make up for its casting cost and then some), Plant Growth/Control Weather/etc. to produce crop improvements, Create Food and Water + Prestidigitation to produce food and drink of any taste and style, Prestidigitation in general to do everything from cleaning clothes to altering how senses perceive any given thing, throw feasts in Magnificent Mansions, etc. And of course, Planar Binding Efreeti and making 'em grant you some Wishes (Charmed/Dominated if you so desire), but that's probably not something you should do in a real game.
- Instead of killing enemies, strive to disable them (Unconscious creatures are automatically willing (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#aimingASpell)) and Polymorph Any Object them into statues or whatever (or just cast the spell in the first place and have them fail the save). It's much harder for your enemies to come back to life to bother you if their soul is never sent to the afterlife in the first place. Stuff like Clone, True Resurrection (and lesser versions), Reincarnate and company only work if the target is dead. Raising your enemies as Undead is also a good way to stop them from coming back, provided you keep the undead dead alive.
- Magic Jar doesn't actually alter your creature type. Polymorph does. This enables you to Polymorph Any Object/Shapechange into an Undead (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#undeadType) or Construct (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#constructType) form, and then Magic Jar into a living body. Pick a body with Regeneration (optimally the Tarrasque (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/tarrasque.htm) since it has Regeneration that cannot be penetrated); Magic Jar prevents you from activating Ex/Su abilities of the body but Regeneration is always active so it's an automatic ability. Regeneration converts all damage dealt to you into nonlethal damage, while Undead/Construct types make you immune to nonlethal damage meaning all damage dealt to you just poof-vanishes. Mind, this is mostly a technicality and as you get natural and automatic abilities of the new body, you probably shouldn't get any type-related benefits of the normal type, but it just so happens the rules of the spell don't mention type or type-related effects at all.
- Shapechange abilities often use your Charisma-modifier (and your HD) for their save DC. Thus particularly a Sorcerer/Bard (using a Scroll) can really soup up e.g. Beholder eye lasers. Sea Hag (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/hag.htm#seaHag) allows you to daze someone for 3 days on a failed save (and just kill 'em on another). And nuke their strength. Nymph (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/nymph.htm) adds it to their saves and AC and blinds people permanently. Incorporeal Undead get Charisma to AC as well. Dread Wraith (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/wraith.htm#dreadWraith) in particular is quite nice. Here is a complete list of Su abilities you can access with it (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3689.0).
- Polymorph Any Object permanently (doublecast) into a form with higher Intelligence. Congrats, that Int is now yours to keep. E.g. Planetar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/angel.htm#angelPlanetar) is pretty low level and gives you an Int of 22 plus any bonuses. Certainly not bad. You can obviously do this for every party member.
- Cast Greater Shadow Evocation to produce Contingency if you don't have access to Evocation.
- Need to find a place? Cast Commune. Get a world map. Start splitting it in halves with yes/no questions until you've homed in on the target with sufficient precision to know where you need to go.
- Use Summon Monster VI to summon a Kyton (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/devil.htm#chainDevilKyton) and have it use Dancing Chains on your Spiked Chain Fighter's chain. 25' reach for a medium creature! Great for Tripping and the like. Well, provided the Fighter can wield those anyways (ask the DM).
- As a Gish, you can actually Shapechange into Kyton for the ability (it's Supernatural) and then Polymorph [Any Object] into any form of great strength (e.g. Cornugon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/devil.htm#hornedDevilCornugon) - Shapechange makes you an Outsider so you can do this) and enjoy the ability to make 4 chain attacks as a standard action, each as effective as your normal attack. There's no limit to the length of chains a Kyton can control either; and once they are used by a Kyton they're clearly weapons so Greater Magic Weapon should be castable. And you can have +6 enhancement +5 inherent to strength and +5 weapons from Greater Magic Weapon giving you like 42 Strength and +5 weapon. If you're e.g. 16 BAB 17 CL caster (using Beads of Karma during morning buffs to get CL 21 Greater Magic Weapon and company), you're looking at 16 BAB + 16 Str + 5 Weapon = +37 Chains, each at 2d4+21 damage at least. Granted, this is far from the most efficient use of Shapechange but it's a fun little combo.
- Shapechange into Choker for extra Standard Action each turn. Polymorph into a 12-Headed Pyro/Cryohydra (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/hydra.htm). They can attack with each head every time they attack. Proceed to invoke the death by 24 Bites. Arguably you could cast Haste for 12 Bites more. Of course, enhancing your heads as a Wizard is a bit tricky since you can't cast easily Greater Magic Fang and you can't cast non-Still+Silent spells as a Hydra in any case. You could keep a Nymph Simulacrum around and cast the all-weapons version of Greater Magic Fang (note, it's arguable whether native spellcasting is halved with the HD; spell-likes clearly aren't though), or just something over-the-top like a Planetar/Solar Simulacrums casting Miracles/Wishes to replicate Greater Magic Fang 12 times. Either way, the usual Strength-buffs do wonders here.
- Invisibility Sphere + Silence (cast on an object so you can cast it away when going gets real) to walk around making no checks as long as no hostile has See Invisibility or special senses.
- Polymorph for abilities like burrowing, attack from inside the ground to make counterattacking very inefficient. Alternatively, Polymorph into a burrowing form to combat annoying incorporeals/burrowers (just be careful with the soil types!). Shapechange offers a billion solutions of course. And you can Disintegrate the soil in target's location, or stay in the air to avoid engagements.
- Wish can be used with the transportation function to enter Dead Magic Zones/Forbiddance zones/Antimagic Fields/in general anything that normally blocks dimensional travel.
- Time Stop. Forcecage (barred version) or numerous Walls of Force (if DM reads Forcecage as disappearing in Antimagic Field even though it's composed of Walls of Force) to block the target but with small holes to enable line of effect, cast [Widened] Antimagic Field (optimally with a hole for yourself to cast spells) and hang around. Without magic, very few things can escape a solid cube of Walls of Force. Add any desired damage over time ability or something like Shapechanging into a form with Breath Weapon if you wish for the target to die, be disabled or whatever.
- Wall of Force can only be a flat, vertical plane. However, presumably the only point of reference for "vertical" is the caster so use flight and rotating to cast it in any angle you desire.
- Greater Shadow Evocation a Forcecage to bypass the price tag (tho only 60% success rate on a successful Will-save).

I guess it's worth listing some of the totally gamebreaking stuff you shouldn't do, but should know exists (mostly so you or anyone else never accidentally/intentionally does it in-game):
- Polymorph into a Plant, Awaken (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/awaken.htm) yourself. You can even Maximize the Awaken for 18 Int or Maximize + Empower it for more. The real kicker is, every time you do this you get +2 HD and +1d3 Charisma though. There's no limit to how many times you can repeat this. Tho of course, it breaks the game so proceed with caution.
- Shapechange into a Shambling Mound (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/shamblingMound.htm). Repeatedly hit yourself with any generic lightning touch (could even have your familiar/team help). Walk around with +billion Con that you lose at the rate of 1/hour (almost certainly lower than the rate at which you can get more, technically allows reaching any amount desired). If DM treats these as bonus Con, you can then assume another shape and use your massive Con with some special ability with Con-derived saving throw (such as breath weapons).
- Wish has no limits on the price of the magic item it can produce. The only price limit is 25000gp and that's for mundane items. Go nuts.
- Wish for Lawful Evil Candle of Invocation, use it to Gate in an Efreet, Wish for 3 more Candles of Invocation, yadda yadda yadda. Don't do this in real games though. In general, Candle of Invocation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#candleofInvocation) is way too cheap for the Gate-functionality, and even the access to Cleric-spells of 2 levels higher is well worth the price tag. Then there's also the Morale-bonus. I have no idea what happened with the pricing of this item. If anything, it's more like an artifact, not a cheap under-10k thingy.
- Gate in a creature of up to twice your CL in HD (so up to 50 HD creature for Orange Prism Ioun Stone + level 20 character + Beads of Karma) for short duration service. Ask it to fail its save and lower its spell resistance. Dominate Monster it. Order it to return under its own power once the 1 round/level duration is over. Enjoy your new bitchunderling. Hell, Gate in a Solar and have it prepare and cast Gate and repeat!
- Gate in something really strong and order it to kill everything. This counts as creative use/combo, right? That spell is so ridiculously over the top that it can literally do everything in the game and single-handedly win encounters that would otherwise be TPKs. Like, Balors only have 20 HD. You can use it to get and control things stronger than Great Wyrm Dragons... Hell, why not just cast Time Stop, Gate in a bunch of things! Even if you control too big/strong things to control 'em, if said things have natural destructive tendencies, you can just Teleport out during your Time Stop and let things play out naturally. The fact that Gate actually has the short duration service-clause is stupid; that thing is way, way, way too good.