best spells for DMM:chain spell (possibly by divine magican)?

[Phaederkiel]

I want to build a cleric with chain spell and divine metamagic: Chain spell.
But I am not too sure which are the best spells to abuse chain spell.
If you could give me some pointers, I would be delighted.
Spell lvls 1-4 are of much higher interest for me than higher levels.
The cleric is a main cleric of a temple, so there are A LOT of temple guards which could profit from some buffs.

The Cleric would be a cleric of Bahamut, so his possible domains would be Cold, Air, Dragon, Luck, Protection, Nobility and Storm. I am somewhat torn between taking Protection and Nobility for my first domain. I fail to see any standout chainable spells in the other domains, or am I wrong somewhere?
So for my second Domain, I thought about the Divine Magican ACF, which would allow me to make my own domain of off-list chainables.
What would you say are good options here?

[ExLibrisMortis]

Command undead is a classic. You can chain some buff spells, like greater magic weapon, keen edge, and enlarge person (the last two are not cleric spells). I haven't heard of people using it for combat as much.


More stupid uses include lesser planar binding, which is technically a legal target for Chain Spell, though I wouldn't want to conduct simultaneous negotiations with twenty outsiders. Chained shatter lets you break all the things, and Chained make whole lets you fix them again (good for opening multiple locks at once, then putting them back together). Shield other can protect your party, but you might take a lot of damage--a decent strategy if you have regeneration, delay death and beastland ferocity, a fat stack of temporary hit points, or just good timing with self-heals.

With Reach Spell, things like polymorph become really nice, too.



Edit: Domain-wise, Divine Magician is good. The Protection domain has some nice spells, but towards the higher levels: mind blank and prismatic sphere. Nobility seems less useful, in my opinion. The Air domain grants you a pool of turning uses that can be useful to fuel DMM, so that's always a good choice.

[noob]

Chain magic jar to take 20 bodies at once.
I have no idea what that means or do.
Use it a second time and have 400 bodies.
Or maybe chain mind jar just put 20 minds in one gem which then can all try to possess stuff in which case it is really weird again.

[unseenmage]

War Magic Study (Dragon #309 page 44) let's you research war spell versions of regular spells that qualify.
It can be super cheesey and I don't actually know if there's any favorable interaction here.

[Phaederkiel]

I read through your suggestions, and i did some research of my own.
In the beginning i was somewhat appaled that there is no handbook for chain spells, but i now understand that there is a lot of controversy about what can be chained and what cannot.
Especially wether reach spell turns touch spells into actual rays (and thus removes the target condition) seems to be an issue.

So, for posteriority and hopefully some further review by the playground, I present my shortlist:
(list ordered by usefulness as perceived by me)
(I tried to go for spells that either are buffs, or grant no save, or are a definite win button if the opponent botches the roll)


Nerveskitter: Probably the best option, making your whole team go first.

Reduce person: a real fine buff, +2 Ac, +2 to ranged, + hide, -2 strength

Enlarge person: is what i will most probably take, since it is not only an okayish buff even if you do not have reachtrippers in your party, but it has also the flavour advantage. I can make bob the builder and his team larger for 5 minutes, which should help build the temple.

Backbiter: This is a very funny spell, and quite good, too. The next time the enemy attacks with the afflicted weapon, the weapon strikes him instead of his intended target. The saving throw is rolled by the weapon, IF it is magical.

Burning rage: +1 bonus on attack rolls, a +2 bonus to dmg, and dmg reduction 2/magic, 4 dmg taken per round. The boni are untyped, so this is somewhat good if your guys have enough hp to withstand the burn.

Kelgores fire bolt: its a burn spell, but a somewhat decent one on low lvl. 1d6/ clvl, reflex halves.

Charm person: it gives a save, but it can end an encounter completely.






snake's swiftness: Probably the best spell I have found on this lvl. Trades one standard of you against a lot of attacks by your friends. Has better reach than the unchained mass version.

shatter: is indeed good. Can sunder heaps of enemy weapons and other equipent. Can break the dungeon.
Destroys loot, as a downside.

Tasha's hideos laughter: if it is a strong spell against one opponent, it very probably is a very good spell if it has a small chance of hitting more than one guy.

levitate: good out of combat utility, if your party lacks a fly spell. awful in combat.

Curse of impending blades: a -2 to ac without a save. Nice, but not really worth either 4 turn undeads nor a spellslot, even if the action cost might be ok.





Miser's envy: I just adore this spell. Maybe unluck is a better save or suck, but this is oh so very funny. And it has potential to ruin even the lives of enemys not affected by the spell. Imagine you have a wizard and two ogres as enemys.
You now cast Miser's envy upon the ogres, and make them WANT the wizard's pants. The wizard would probably never be affected by anything targeting a will save, but he will be affected in the ensuing wrestling match.

Unluck: rolling twice, taking the worse result is just devastating. It offers a save, so it is not perfect, but it is a very large button indeed.

Haste: does not get helped in any way by chain spelling it, but is probably one of the strongest lvl3 buffs to snatch from the wizard's list. I am somewhat torn if I should put this into my domain or Miser's envy

Bands of steel: needs a mentioning, because it targets reflex saves. Not so hot otherwise, especially since cleric gets hold person natively at lvl 2.

Greater magic weapon: I will not put something in my valuable domain slots that i could have for free one spelllvl later, especially since at the level where i do not have GMW from my native list, it provides not that much more of a bonus than simple Magic weapon.




Enervation: a monstrous spell. I am not sure if a good cleric should cast it, but it is a perfect fit for chaining.




And here are some of the most interesting native cleric spells I found, again in order of perceived quality:


Ray of hope: The good news is, it gives +2 morale bonus on saving throws, attack rolls, ability checks, and skill checks.
The bad news is, it is from the books of exhalted deeds.

Magic weapon: is very simply a good cheap buff. Obviously it cannot improve your already magicked weapon the way GMW can, but it is on your list and costs very little to bring.

Incite: makes people unable to ready actions. If your group relys upon certain strategies, or if archers threaten to ruin your mage's day, this is a nice thing to try, even if it allows saves. It is a swift spell, so it only hurts your TU, not your action economy.

Inhibit: Delays enemy's actions until before you act again. Potentially a VERY strong use of one action. Allows save.

Blood wind: if you have a lot of monks, you now have a lot of archers. It's fun.





hold person: A strong Save or die at lvl 2. Definitevely stronger than Miser's envy if you can stick it to someone, but harder to stick to priority targets. Has the unfortunate clause that opponents can try to get out every round.

Insight of Good Fortune: giving all your guys the ability to roll something twice (has unfortunately to be decided beforehand) is just very good. Is also an amazing out of combat buff.

Curse of Ill Fortune: strong effect. But worse than hold person in most cases (has a longer duration, but hopefully your party will be able to finish off any held opponent before this becomes an issue).

Black Karma Curse: Backbiters lesser (much lesser) cousin. Still strong against stupid ogres, but allows a save, doesn't eat the ogres action, etc.





Dispel magic: Targeted dispel against each spell of more than one guy? chain spells problems completely circumvented? Yes, please.

shivering touch + reach spell: it's less than clear wether this works. If it does, though, it is brutal.

Close wounds: Is a nice spell, and can save a lot of bacon. Immediate Action means that you do not lose much in terms of action economy.