At High Epic: What is the best use of Permanent Emanation?

[Melcar]

I've been looking at the permanent emanation feat, and I was unsure of how to best use it? I seem to remember it coming up in different char op conversations, but the utility never seems to be clear to me. I remember one particular, which was a heightened, widened, selective temporal repair, but honestly I dislike that spell, because of how things like timestop work in 3.X vs how it worked in 2nd ed.

So I'm looking for the best uses of this feat, considering every official source, at level 30-40... This is mainly mean as an exercise in theory-crafting, but it might see use, if its cool, and fits either an NPC or PC of mine at that level.

Thanks in advance!

[ElderDarren]

I personally enjoy Eye of the Hurricane as my go-to. Although the consumptive field spells are probably better in theorycraft.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Assuming you can pick a metamagic version of a spell that you can cast, Antimagic Field with Selective Spell. You get to ignore it, but for purposes of any and all effects you don't create you're in an AMF, and so is anyone near you. Combine with a Starmantle Cloak and every weapon that strikes you (including natural weapons) is automatically destroyed.

[Melcar]

Assuming you can pick a metamagic version of a spell that you can cast, Antimagic Field with Selective Spell. You get to ignore it, but for purposes of any and all effects you don't create you're in an AMF, and so is anyone near you. Combine with a Starmantle Cloak and every weapon that strikes you (including natural weapons) is automatically destroyed.

What about your magic items? Would they be affected by the Selective Spell feat too? Or would they deactivate withint the AMF?

[Anthrowhale]

Assuming you can pick a metamagic version of a spell that you can cast, Antimagic Field with Selective Spell. You get to ignore it, but for purposes of any and all effects you don't create you're in an AMF, and so is anyone near you. Combine with a Starmantle Cloak and every weapon that strikes you (including natural weapons) is automatically destroyed.

It doesn't affect you, but AMF directly affects spells with selective spell providing no exception to this.

But the obvious fix is to use Initiate of Mystra which specifically makes your spells work in an AMF. Your items will however still be suppressed and note that epic spells can bypass AMF directly.

If you want your items to work, there is AM-Ray on yourself (suppresses magic affecting you), Initiate of Mystra (allows you to cast spells on you), Mystic Shield (suppresses all magic on weapons targeting you), and Starmantle (which zeros weapon damage).

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

What about your magic items? Would they be affected by the Selective Spell feat too? Or would they deactivate withint the AMF?

"You can modify an area spell so that it does not affect one designated creature within it's area. All other creatures in the spell's area are affected normally."

Your attended items are always an extension of your character, so they benefit from Selective spell causing the AMF to not affect you.

If the AMF doesn't affect you, it also won't affect your spells, because if it did then it would be affecting you in some way, which it can't.

You're still within the AMF's area, so you're still counted as being in the AMF when determining the effects of anyone else's spells or abilities.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Permanent Emanation (Heightened Silent Image) on a shadowcraft mage? At the very least, you can use it to emulate a miracle spell and have it basically be whatever emanation you want, whenever you want.

[edit] Note that using the acorn of far travel/(un)hallow trick gives you similar benefits for non-emanations (and for several of them at once). And you don't even need an epic feat for it. All it needs is two spells and Sculpt Spell.


Find or plant an oak tree somewhere, preferably on a plane that is timeless with regards to magic. Cast a Sculpted (un)hallow spell so that it affects some of the tree's canopy. Tie the acorn of far travel (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040710a) spell to it. Now all the acorns in the AoE are affected by the spell, so you can give acorns out to whomever you like. (You can only have one AoFT spell in effect at once; this doesn't preclude you from affecting multiple acorns with the same spell.) Now use Sculpt Spell to make a bunch of line-shaped (un)hallow spells pointing straight up. Now each of these (un)hallow spells has a different spell attached to it, such as haste, polymorph, magic circle against evil, death ward, etc. Now you count as being under the tree's canopy while you hold the acorn, and all these spells are in effect under the tree. If you want more than one at a time, just make sure you occupy more than one 5' space, and make sure good spell combos are all next to each other below the tree's canopy.

[Anthrowhale]

Your attended items are always an extension of your character, so they benefit from Selective spell causing the AMF to not affect you.
Do you have a citation for this?


If the AMF doesn't affect you, it also won't affect your spells, because if it did then it would be affecting you in some way, which it can't.
I don't know anything rules saying your spells are a part of you.

[Rebel7284]

At those levels, you can also develop an epic spell to make AMF not affect your spells/items.

[Melcar]

Do you have a citation for this?

I don't know anything rules saying your spells are a part of you.

That was my thoughts exactly... Even though I have played 3.X for 19 years, I still get some of the finer details wrong... but it seems counter intuitive that magic, which affects magic, would affect at person...

Selective spell says that you can modify an area spell so that it does not affect one designated creature within it's area... however AMF says that an antimagic field suppresses any spell or magical effect used within, brought into, or cast into the area, but does not dispel it...

It would seem that an AMF does not indeed target a creature, and thus selective spell does not function in conjunction with AMF...

Selective spell would work against a fireball or similar spells, which does have creatures as targets... I would argue that selective spell does not work for spells that target other spells or magical effects... just like dispel magic targets magic and not creatures... But I could be wrong naturally...

[Anthrowhale]

That was my thoughts exactly... Even though I have played 3.X for 19 years, I still get some of the finer details wrong... but it seems counter intuitive that magic, which affects magic, would affect at person...

There's one caveat I know---AMF does cause incorporeal undead (or incorporeal more generally if using the Rules Compendium) to wink out. Hence Selective[You] AMF could have an observable effect if you happen to be incorporeal [undead]. Other than that, yep.