The worlds worst 1st level spells

[daremetoidareyo]

There’s a list of the most OP spells. But let’s look at the other ones. The spells that no one would actually use.

[Doctor Despair]

Power Word Pain, because it means the spell exists canonically in your campaign and will guarantee death for you and everyone you love before level 2.

[InvisibleBison]

Detect Undead seems like it's strictly inferior to detect evil - the latter can do everything the former can, and also other things, and has the added advantage of requiring stronger undead to trigger the overwhelming aura stun effect, which means it's less likely to happen.

Virtue is of questionable utility as a 0th level spell, but it's 1st level for a paladin, which drops it straight into useless territory.

[Yael]

Shrugs and throws True Strike into the pile.

[Doctor Despair]

Detect Undead seems like it's strictly inferior to detect evil - the latter can do everything the former can, and also other things, and has the added advantage of requiring stronger undead to trigger the overwhelming aura stun effect, which means it's less likely to happen.


Detect Undead is just more specialized than Detect Evil, not strictly inferior. Living creatures can ping to detect evil and give false positives if your goal is just to tell if things are undead.

[Silva Stormrage]

Shrugs and throws True Strike into the pile.


True strike is great, just not by itself. Arcane Fusion, Quickened True Strike or other options make it actually useful to exist.

Just from core, Animate Rope and Erase from the Wizard/Sorc list and Magic Stone from Cleric are spells that I honestly have never seen or heard about being used and are just... bad...

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Before about level 4, summon monster I and even II are basically useless, given how long they take to cast and how long they last. After that, they're okay for summoning celestial badgers for utility (burrow) purposes, I guess, but only barely, and not for anything else at all, really.

The same goes for summon nature's ally I, but at least summon nature's ally II beats the rest out if only because it lets you summon dire badgers, which are much better than regular (celestial) badgers.

I guess they're okay for springing traps, if you don't mind spending all of your low-level spells when you already know the traps are there.

Mount is so much better than all of the above that it's ridiculous.

[Biggus]

There are some very niche spells I can't imagine anyone preparing unless they specifically knew they were going to need them. Erase, Magic Aura and Hold Portal come to mind.

[Kurald Galain]

And then there's the spell Poisoned Egg, which poisons... an egg. With a DC 11 poison that deals 1 dex damage, wooo. Still, WTF does this even exist?

[Beni-Kujaku]

I'll concur with Poisoned Egg and submit Anarchic Water. Not only is holy water massively underpowered, anarchic water does not affect undead, only lawful outsiders, which is not the kind of enemy you're encountering before mid-level, at which point 2d4 damage in melee is laughable. Oh, and it also has a 25gp costly material component. Because of course it does. I mean, a pint of oil does basically the same damage (1d3 for 2 rounds) without restriction, without attack roll, and only costs 1sp. And it has other uses. Alchemist's fire does the same thing with more damage...

[sleepyphoenixx]

There are some very niche spells I can't imagine anyone preparing unless they specifically knew they were going to need them. Erase, Magic Aura and Hold Portal come to mind.

Magic Aura should be a staple for anyone who wants to use stealth. Without it any player character will light up like a christmas tree under Detect Magic and similar effects.
I'd hardly call that useless.

It's also very useful to disguise cursed items as something benign and useful, but that's more of a DM thing.

[noce]

Honorable mention to Favorable Sacrifice, that was initially printed as a first level Cleric spell.
The updated version in Spell Compendium is Cleric 3, which renders it even WORSE.

[H_H_F_F]

Death Grimace [BoVD] is fun, but if we're talking usefulnesses- can be easily replaced by a knife, a pen, a marble, a feather... basically, it's cool but has no functionality.

Detect incarnum is technically useful, but I'd be surprised if anyone here has ever seen it used.

Hexblades have light, prestidigitation and read magic as a 1st level spells, and they're spontaneous casters - so you'd have to pick it as one of your very limited spells known. Naturewatch (significantly worse deathwatch) is first level for rangers.

Beget bogun is useless because of the other requirements for making a bogun.

[Kurald Galain]

The Rouse spell wakes people up, but given its narrow range and area of effect, you could achieve the same effect by shouting loudly.

Lesser Deflect gives an AC bonus as immediate action, but it's a tiny bonus and has to be called before the attack, and doesn't stack with the exceedingly common rings of protection. All in all that's almost always a waste of your action and spell slot.

[Batcathat]

And then there's the spell Poisoned Egg, which poisons... an egg. With a DC 11 poison that deals 1 dex damage, wooo. Still, WTF does this even exist?

That reminds me of the poisoned apples in Elder Scrolls Oblivion (maybe in other ES titles too?), I really loved the idea of them, but I don't think I ever actually used one.

[noce]

The Rouse spell wakes people up, but given its narrow range and area of effect, you could achieve the same effect by shouting loudly.

Except, the Sleep spell explicitly states that normal noise doesn't wake up affected creatures.
And even a creature normally sleeping should make a listen check (with a penalty) to hear you shouting, while Rouse works automatically.

This is not to say that Rouse is a good spell, but it's strong enough in its niche that a Wizard could prepare it if he expects to encounter creatures that use the Sleep spell.
Also, it's part of the known spells of every Beguiler, and I personally have put it to good use against a bunch of Jackalweres and their sleep gaze.

[Dimers]

Before about level 4, summon monster I and even II are basically useless, given how long they take to cast and how long they last. After that, they're okay for summoning celestial badgers for utility (burrow) purposes, I guess, but only barely, and not for anything else at all, really.

The same goes for summon nature's ally I, but at least summon nature's ally II beats the rest out if only because it lets you summon dire badgers, which are much better than regular (celestial) badgers.

I guess they're okay for springing traps, if you don't mind spending all of your low-level spells when you already know the traps are there.

Mount is so much better than all of the above that it's ridiculous.

If you don't like summon I, you must really hate animate fire / animate water, which require a source material, restrict the movement of the summoned creature, don't allow different kinds of summons, and require concentration to maintain. While still having a 1-round casting time and max duration of 1 round per level.

I loathe bane and would never use it. It's so incredibly piddling when it even sticks at all. Blaze of light is even worse -- smaller area, not party-friendly, doesn't penalize fear saves. Unnerving gaze is worse still, but at least that has the excuse of usually being a cantrip.
Beckon person: humanoid only, mind-affecting, save yes, SR yes, doesn't prevent spellcasting, requires a Truespeak check, and isn't likely to last more than two rounds unless you really crank your skill modifier.
Combined talent: Affects a single skill check ... not a single skill, a single check ... that someone else in the party can already do better. I just can't imagine a bard actually taking this as a spell known.
Death grimace: Oooooorrrrr you could do exactly the same thing without a spell slot.
Ghost pipes: +2 to Perform checks only, only in conjunction with bardic music effects. Again, what bard would actually take this?
Iron scarf: Just use a crossbow, seriously.
Know direction: Like virtue mentioned above, this is questionable as a level 0 spell, but one PrC gets it as a level 1. Ditto resistance.
Luminous gaze: Light like the level 0 spell, and party-unfriendly dazzling, both centered on you, for a whopping round per level.
Mage burr: Relies on the (single, limited type) target already screwing themselves up. And a save negates anyway.
Reaving aura: You don't need a spell to make unconscious stabilized creatures resume dying. You need a small knife.

[sleepyphoenixx]

This is not to say that Rouse is a good spell, but it's strong enough in its niche that a Wizard could prepare it if he expects to encounter creatures that use the Sleep spell.
Also, it's part of the known spells of every Beguiler, and I personally have put it to good use against a bunch of Jackalweres and their sleep gaze.

That's what scrolls are for. A spell with no save, no SR and that doesn't benefit from CL? Scroll!

At 25gp a piece there's very little reason not to pack any halfway-useful 1st level spell you can get your hands on, no matter how situational it is.
Even more so when you get Scribe Scroll for free (though Rouse in particular is probably not worth scribing yourself, at least without a Blessed Book).

I was certainly happy enough to have one the one time half the party failed their save against a Hiss of Sleep.
10ft radius may not be a lot but it still beats walking over and waking them by hand.

[H_H_F_F]

If
Death grimace: Oooooorrrrr you could do exactly the same thing without a spell slot.
Reaving aura: You don't need a spell to make unconscious stabilized creatures resume dying. You need a small knife.

Death grimace:
to be fair, changing the eye color of your victim and stuff like that can't be done otherwise. That's why when I mentioned it in my comment, I said it's fun, but yeah... it's useless as hell.

Reaving aura:
It's the [action] economy, [but still, even so, this spell is really] stupid!

[Jack_Simth]

There are some very niche spells I can't imagine anyone preparing unless they specifically knew they were going to need them. Erase, Magic Aura and Hold Portal come to mind.
I routinely drop Magic Aura on every spellcaster. At days/level, you cast it on your items in rotation so you don't light up like a Christmas tree under Arcane Sight or Detect Magic (both of which can be made permanent, at 11th and 9th, respectively). It's a necessity for anyone concerned about stealth vs. spellcasters.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

You have to look at spells a bit more closely to notice, but a number of spells' components make their effects basically pointless, since the components (often the material components) are basically capable of performing the spell effects on their own, without magic, yet are consumed by the spell, destroying them.

Alarm, for instance, creates noise in the area of effect, but the fine silver wire and bells listed as the material components can do that on their own, but they're not subject to dispelling, nor are they destroyed when used manually.

I'm surprised endure elements doesn't require you to don heavy clothes to protect against cold, or remove them and use a frilly parasol to protect against heat.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Alarm, for instance, creates noise in the area of effect, but the fine silver wire and bells listed as the material components can do that on their own, but they're not subject to dispelling, nor are they destroyed when used manually.

The wire and bell setup will only protect from one direction. Alarm protects an area.
W&B will only trigger if something runs into the wire (avoidable with a reflex save on top of trapfinding according to Dungeonscape). Alarm will trigger whenever a creature enters or touches the area.
W&B takes craft:trapmaking to set up - with the skill result directly affecting search/disable DCs and the reflex save. Wizards don't often max that skill.
W&B stop functioning after it triggers once. The Alarm spell works for its entire duration (or even permanently).
W&B is only audible with a -5 listen check. Alarm offers a mental alert option that works at a distance of up to 1 mile.

So no, a wire and bell can not do what Alarm does on their own. Not even close.
They may be enough sometimes and Alarm certainly isn't worth casting every day, but that's a different matter.

[Kurald Galain]

since the components (often the material components) are basically capable of performing the spell effects on their own, without magic, yet are consumed by the spell, destroying them.
Sure, but material components are stupid and I've never met a GM that did not completely ignore them (except for the expensive gemstones on Raise Dead and the like).

[Metastachydium]

CheatDrac?


Sure, but material components are stupid and I've never met a GM that did not completely ignore them (except for the expensive gemstones on Raise Dead and the like).

That reminds me: Summon ComponentCM.

[Seward]

There are some very niche spells I can't imagine anyone preparing unless they specifically knew they were going to need them. Erase, Magic Aura and Hold Portal come to mind.

Erase has been useless since First Edition. Totally agree.
Ditto hold portal. An iron spike works better.

Or to quote Varsuvius "Hold Portal, a spell that holds doors shut for a few minutes. And I might add a spell so inherently without merit that I shudder to think what sort of malaise I might have suffered when I decided to inscribe it into my tome".

In first edition, your starting spellbook was random. You might in fact get stuck with Erase and Hold Portal instead of Sleep or Unseen Servant.

Magic aura though, that is a niche spell, not useless. I've seen it used to block or foil normal ways of detecting threats or locate a magic item, I've seen it used to pass off nonmagic items as magic, and to conceal a magic item by casting invisibility first, then magic aura to screen the illusion magic from detect magic (not a strategy that works vs see invisible et-all, but can be effective at lower levels). I've even seen it once to try to pass off a normal magic item as an artifact (because it did NOT radiate magic yet had clearly supernatural properties). It's in the category of undetectable alignment or mislead, people who like those spells and have good reasons to use them sometimes use magic aura to create or eliminate magic.



Just from core, Animate Rope and Erase from the Wizard/Sorc list and Magic Stone from Cleric are spells that I honestly have never seen or heard about being used and are just... bad...

Once, and only once, in 40 years of various editions of D&D, Animate rope saved the day. The guy who had it mostly used it for party tricks, but something happened at a party....

Honestly though I had a baby sorcereress with unseen servant and tenser's disk set up elaborate flaming oil traps in baby levels. If she'd been "animate object" themed rather than "telekenetic" themed I could have used it the same way. A spell you would only take for flavor/theme reasons normally.

Magic stone though. To quote my level 2 archer after being given a handful of them before entering the second half of Mad God's key. "These things....they make undead explode!" You give them to either a strong dexterous martial when expecting undead, it will be a lot more effective than his javelin and sometimes his greatsword, especially versus skeletons. The other way I've seen them used (generally with a wand) is to burn a few charges to let a strong martial have a throwing weapon he can use for iterative attacks or rapid shot, because it's a free action to draw it and you can use them without loading them into a sling. Basically +1 javelins in a can without having to find gloves of endless javelins, with bonus damage vs undead, that scales with strength so more powerful than a bow with a raging barbarian (and 750gp for the wand is similar in price to a decent masterwork composite longbow and a lot less awkward in social situations). Also friendly to TWF, because it's a light weapon (unlike gloves of endless javelins) and again, free action to draw more. Sometimes in baby levels it's a way to load up with a magic weapon that lasts 30 minutes, instead of 1-2 minutes, again usually if you have a character both strong and good at throwing things.

Normally the level range where magic stone is useful is pretty low, where you're trying to beat "use a crossbow or javelin" damage or facing a specific threat challenging for a low level party. It gets replaced with magic items eventually.

Alarm
Any spell that lasts hour/level can fill and open slot (or more rarely be taken as a late spont caster pick) and cast right before you sleep with zero opportunity cost. Also lots of GMs rule it can't be disabled by a rogue. It's a very frustrating spell if you are trying to sneak into the enemy stronghold and are incapable (or unwilling to use resources) to dispel it and the mental version isn't defeated by silence. Assuming you notice it at all, but detect magic et-all is a good idea when sneaking into anywhere that has worthwhile xp/loot, especially if you don't have a trapfinder. I routinely take Alarm in my spellbook on any wizard who didn't ban abjuration.


Sure, but material components are stupid and I've never met a GM that did not completely ignore them (except for the expensive gemstones on Raise Dead and the like).

I am the kind of guy that will sometimes take Eschew Materials for thematic reasons even if the typical mechanical effect is I save 5gp and 2lb carrying capacity by not having a spell component pouch (plus more likely to be confused for a monk or something by not having a visible spell component pouch I guess). Such characters work all the damn foci for common spells into their jewelry or outfit somehow, because that feat ignores foci for reasons that baffle me.

And yes, the time I played a 1st edition illusionist and we washed up on a desert island after a shipwreck, I became vastly less useless when the party druid agreed to wildshape into a sheep so I could get some fleece (all of the phantasmal force chain of spells used that component). Material components are ignored, except when they aren't. I figure it is the same idea of how you can't wear plate mail at a formal ball, or carry a greatsword into the presence of a king. Occasional limits that keep things interesting, and sometimes encourage you to blow some WBL or other resources to be not affected by that limit.

I've also seen disarm and sunder used on component pouches and holy symbols in play. Most memorable I've done personally, level 12 was in Pathfinder, when the monk tripped the BBEG cleric and my oracle did a quickened silence and a pilfering hand to get his (only) holy symbol. Once that happened we all just ignored the cleric to kill minions, because being next to THAT monk's full attack with no verbal components or holy symbol to do channeling effects meant the cleric was going to be dead (standing up and running away isn't an option when the monk can just trip you again with an aoo, and heavy armor = no tumbling).

[H_H_F_F]

CheatDrac?

I was going to mention cheat, but that particular spell has been busted open by daremetoidareyou on the disciple of mammon Iron Chef round.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Erase has been useless since First Edition. Totally agree.

It has a niche use for parties without trapfinding to destroy Glyphs of Warding and similar things, but that's about it.
Yeah, you can do that with SM 1 too, but that's not exactly stealthy.

Even for a rogue/wizard it's probably more reliable at the lower levels than trying the DC 28 check to do it with disable device.
A 5th level rogue has what, a +12 or so? Assuming you buy skill points in DD at all.

It's actually better than Dispel Magic for this specific purpose since the CL check is a fixed DC 15 and it's 2 levels lower.

[Kurald Galain]

I suppose in a setting where books are expensive enough that you'd want to wipe and reuse them, Erase has its place. That place just isn't in an adventuring party.

[Seward]

It has a niche use for parties without trapfinding to destroy Glyphs of Warding and similar things, but that's about it.

That does seem to be the intended use. Also 1st edition D&D had some rather lethal cursed scrolls and maybe you might use it like you would clear mines from a battlefield if you identified it, to prevent some schmuck from being turned into a grease puddle by mistake.

Basically in any edition of D&D it was easier to just set it off (if not stealthy, glyphs of warding aren't terribly dangerous usually) or perhaps cast silence first then set it off. If you can ID the glyph the party often has a member likely to take minimal or no damage or have a spell available that counters the effect that is ALSO useful for something else).

I suppose a very dedicated wordomancer themed sorcerer might take it (erase, explosive runes, symbol spells, maybe some feat or other to get glyph of warding on his list) etc and find it useful. A wizard could put it in his spellbook, leave a first level slot open and maybe find a use once in his career to bring it in after 15 minutes of study for an especially dangerous effect that he didn't think he could dispel. But honestly, Animate Rope seems like it would get more action in normal play, as a utility spell, especially if for some reason you banned conjuration and didn't have access to summon spells or unseen servant.

Dammit. Now I want to make a wordomancer sorcerer. "Yes, I dabble in making magic with words". "So you are a poet?" "Not exactly" Curse you all!

[sleepyphoenixx]

I suppose a very dedicated wordomancer themed sorcerer might take it (erase, explosive runes, symbol spells, maybe some feat or other to get glyph of warding on his list) etc and find it useful. A wizard could put it in his spellbook, leave a first level slot open and maybe find a use once in his career to bring it in after 15 minutes of study for an especially dangerous effect that he didn't think he could dispel. But honestly, Animate Rope seems like it would get more action in normal play, as a utility spell, especially if for some reason you banned conjuration and didn't have access to summon spells or unseen servant.

Yeah, i wasn't thinking of it as a spell you'd prepare just in case. Let alone take as a sorcerer or bard.
But if you know you're going to sneak into the temple or some other place with divine casters preparing an Erase or two will probably help you save a 3rd level slot (for when they inevitably notice you anyway, as those things tend to go).

So it's not entirely useless, just very, very niche. :smalltongue:

Animate Rope isn't something i'd prepare either, but scribing a CL 2 scroll (so you can actually use it) for an untyped +2 if it ever comes up is decent enough.
Not exactly a power option or the most useful skill, but a near-free +2 is a near-free +2. It's not like anyone actually takes ranks in Use Rope.

If nothing else that, silk rope and Cat's Grace let anyone with 14 dex reliably seat a grappling hook 60ft away when taking 10.

[AvatarVecna]

Portal Beacon is an odd duck. It's close range and targets a portal/gate to another plane. The ffect is that up to six creatures anywhere on the same plane will know the distance/direction to the portal for 1 hour/CL, or until they cross a Planar boundary involving a plane the portal doesn't touch. This is extremely niche for PCs, since if one of them got close to the portal, the party is going to remember where it is going forward, but maybe if you scattered the party far across the plane and need them to regroup?

The main use I've found for this: it has no range limit for informing people of the portal location, and it's SR No/Save No. This is a way of forcing information on somebody. It's a trolling spell, for taunting the party. The villain is doing villainous stuff somewhere unexpected (like murdering the king in his sleep), makes a small temporary portal, casts Portal Beacon as a "Villain Was Here" nose tweak to the heroes, and teleports out.

If you can think of a better use for this spell, I'm all ears. I'm sure there's something useful for the ability to deliver info from any distance without a chance to resist, but the information given is so specific that it's essentially useless.

[Jack_Simth]

Portal Beacon is an odd duck. It's close range and targets a portal/gate to another plane. The ffect is that up to six creatures anywhere on the same plane will know the distance/direction to the portal for 1 hour/CL, or until they cross a Planar boundary involving a plane the portal doesn't touch. This is extremely niche for PCs, since if one of them got close to the portal, the party is going to remember where it is going forward, but maybe if you scattered the party far across the plane and need them to regroup?

The main use I've found for this: it has no range limit for informing people of the portal location, and it's SR No/Save No. This is a way of forcing information on somebody. It's a trolling spell, for taunting the party. The villain is doing villainous stuff somewhere unexpected (like murdering the king in his sleep), makes a small temporary portal, casts Portal Beacon as a "Villain Was Here" nose tweak to the heroes, and teleports out.

If you can think of a better use for this spell, I'm all ears. I'm sure there's something useful for the ability to deliver info from any distance without a chance to resist, but the information given is so specific that it's essentially useless.
Could be used as an idiot code. If I have a set of N portals, and I give a listing of folks a cheat sheet in advance, I can send any of those pre-arranged messages by tapping the portal.

And multiple castings permit a digital code.

[Bucky]

If you can think of a better use for this spell, I'm all ears. I'm sure there's something useful for the ability to deliver info from any distance without a chance to resist, but the information given is so specific that it's essentially useless.
It's a level 1 spell that can send a prearranged signal to specific people over arbitrary distances, using an existing portal as a focus. The message is that the spell was cast at all, not the portal's location which serves only to help confirm the sender's identity.

If you want to send an encoded message by repeated castings, you don't need multiple portals, only multiple targets. For example, you can form a 156-person text receiver. Group them into 26-person positions, assign each member of the position a different letter, and target one person from each position to send a six letter word.

[Seward]

Think signal flags. Through most of history people have used stuff that could be heard a long way (horn, drum, a piercing whistle etc) or highly visible (banners, flags, usually by raising or lowering them, rockets in China sometimes and much later in the west and hand signals at short range for silent communication) to give coded information "attack, retreat, etc". Mostly these were simple common things you might want to tell somebody, just as a dog has different barks to signal different situations, but not language.

It is pretty easy to use a spell like Portal Beacon for that. Also Dancing Lights, Ghost Sound et all at shorter ranges, maybe pyrotechnics or the image spell line at longer ranges. (I've seen people also "signal" with a fireball, although most often that was done by aiming it at a target worth killing to kick off an assault). At strategic ranges there isn't a lot, so portal beacon could be pretty interesting that way. I've also seen the Insignia line of spells used to do "if you receive the spell suddenly I'm under attack" to people who split up for shopping or gather information in a city, while leaving the caster somewhere everybody knows how to get to. (Insignia of Alarm is intended for that and does a better job of it, the other spells work, if you're willing to waste the resource)

Language methods came much later (Age of Sail had signal flags that could spell out stuff letter by letter but was so slow that it was only done when nothing else could serve. Morse code was 19th century "texting", limited by a tech that could only produce binary signals that varied only in duration. Sign Language has a symbol for each letter but mostly uses words and shorthand phrasing rather than spelling everything out).

In D&D you'd use something like message, ventriloquism, magic mouth, whispering wind, sending, dream and similar spells for that. Morse code with one spell per dot or dash is a bit heavy on resource burn except for the most bored high level sorcerer.

[AvatarVecna]

Could be used as an idiot code. If I have a set of N portals, and I give a listing of folks a cheat sheet in advance, I can send any of those pre-arranged messages by tapping the portal.

And multiple castings permit a digital code.

"If I have a set of N portals" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Access to a bunch of holes between planes in close proximity to each other is gonna be rough to get.

Maybe parsing makes it more useful, I guess? Like, if we read "Target: one interplanar gate or portal" as "target: one [interplanar gate] or [portal]" instead of "target: one Interplanar [gate or portal]", we can then use the precedent from the Hold Portal spell to say you can use Portal Beacon on any door.

Because otherwise, it's hard to use this spell for sending complex coded messages unless you can spam interplanar travel spells. And "this spell can be abused if you can spam gate" is technically true, but it feels like maybe you've got another way you could get that info to those people. :smalltongue:

[Seward]

Because otherwise, it's hard to use this spell for sending complex coded messages unless you can spam interplanar travel spells. And "this spell can be abused if you can spam gate" is technically true, but it feels like maybe you've got another way you could get that info to those people. :smalltongue:

Or are in the Planescape setting or something similar where such portals are just part of the environment. The Demonweb pits in first edition had a layer filled with portals to other planes that Lolth was trying to corrupt. I now imagine some drow mook whose job it is to signal to expeditionary forces in those dimensions when Lolth's home dimension was under attack.

"You used your one action to cast Portal Beacon. Really?"

Reinforcements start pouring in from all the gates in following rounds.....

The ghost of the dead mook smirks. Lolth will true rez him later once these pests are killed.

Interplanar communication is actually tricky. The best way I have seen done is Transport Via Plants, where you have everybody in another plane carry a potted plant of appropriate type, and have the druid be a messenger traveling between plants to keep everybody on task. (this was actually a villain doing it, a druid BBEG with a lot going on...it also let him be absent when plot appropriate which was convenient at times, although there was a pattern to it that PCs could discover if they tried hard enough and take advantage of)


The Rouse spell wakes people up, but given its narrow range and area of effect, you could achieve the same effect by shouting loudly.

The spell would be better if it was Somatic only (because that's the main situation where it would be useful, when the ambusher is using silence, and that is a fairly common tactic). It would be much better if it was a swift or immediate action.

A level 5 beguiler might use it, as they get silent spell for free, have the spell on their list whether they want it or not and likely has a L2 spell slot free if caught in a dangerous silence ambush. I suppose the same kind of wizard who sets a mental alarm spell up could have a L5 spell slot free and prepare quickened rouse as he goes to sleep in his rope trick XD space, but that works better if he can silent spell it too, which makes it even more unlikely (requiring taking the feat and a L6 spell slot, or using a full rod of silent spell on quickened rouse when he wakes up from the alarm or some other esoteric ability) . I have a hard time thinking who else would be likely to have that spell available in the very rare case where it might matter.

[AvatarVecna]

Or are in the Planescape setting or something similar where such portals are just part of the environment. The Demonweb pits in first edition had a layer filled with portals to other planes that Lolth was trying to corrupt. I now imagine some drow mook whose job it is to signal to expeditionary forces in those dimensions when Lolth's home dimension was under attack.

"You used your one action to cast Portal Beacon. Really?"

Reinforcements start pouring in from all the gates in following rounds.....

The ghost of the dead mook smirks. Lolth will true rez him later once these pests are killed.

Interplanar communication is actually tricky. The best way I have seen done is Transport Via Plants, where you have everybody in another plane carry a potted plant of appropriate type, and have the druid be a messenger traveling between plants to keep everybody on task. (this was actually a villain doing it, a druid BBEG with a lot going on...it also let him be absent when plot appropriate which was convenient at times)

Interplanar...maybe. Honestly that's getting into DM interpretation though. The spell is silent on where the creatures receiving the message need to be, otherwise than saying they don't have to be present for the casting. But the knowledge given is distance/direction to the portal (meaningless information on its own if you're not on a plane the portal connects to), and the spell ends if you travel to a plane that portal is unconnected to. It's unclear if you can give the info to somebody on another plane at all (although maybe you can, it doesn't say you cant?), and there's at least some reason to think you can't give the info to somebody on a plane not connected to the portal (again, sort of reason).

If you're in a setting where the boundaries between planes are just naturally slippery and shaky and full of holes, it does get a bit easier to use.

[Jack_Simth]

"If I have a set of N portals" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Access to a bunch of holes between planes in close proximity to each other is gonna be rough to get.

Maybe parsing makes it more useful, I guess? Like, if we read "Target: one interplanar gate or portal" as "target: one [interplanar gate] or [portal]" instead of "target: one Interplanar [gate or portal]", we can then use the precedent from the Hold Portal spell to say you can use Portal Beacon on any door.

Because otherwise, it's hard to use this spell for sending complex coded messages unless you can spam interplanar travel spells. And "this spell can be abused if you can spam gate" is technically true, but it feels like maybe you've got another way you could get that info to those people. :smalltongue:

Don't Ring Gates, Bags of Holding, and Portable Holes quality?

[Seward]

Don't Ring Gates, Bags of Holding, and Portable Holes quality?

Well, you could signal to somebody hiding in a bag of holding or portable hole I guess. Depending on how you ruled it might work if you are all on the same plane. Is a rope trick a gate for portal beacon?

Only your GM can tell you for sure :)

Edit, finally looked up the spell. Where the recipients have to be to get the signal isn't clear, and what a portal definition might be isn't clear.

What is interesting is it lasts hour/level. Might be helpful for gathering the type of party members who wander off and get lost as they always know the way back to whomever is holding the magic item, or to the rope trick or whatever. Might even be the intention of the spell.

Could potentially have your scout or infiltrator carry an extradimensional-space item (familar pocket?) with the spell on it, you can always rescue him (or at least his storage device if that is what you used) if he suddenly stops reporting in. Could be handy for dimension-door rescues of your familiar sent off to scout. Share spell familiar pocket, cast portal beacon, dim door or even teleport to his exact X-Y-Z coordinates if you get alarm through the empathic link. Just don't let the familiar stray out of empathic link range without some way of knowing if your little dude is in trouble. Status spell could be used to know if your scout is in trouble for such a rescue too (my wife's cleric would cast status on the party members most likely to get into trouble while invisible or out of line of sight etc. Hmm, the rogue is invisible but seems fine. Oops he's bleeding out from that horrid wilting that just dropped but still nobody knows where he is on the battlefield. Time to use insignia of healing...)

[sleepyphoenixx]

Edit, finally looked up the spell. Where the recipients have to be to get the signal isn't clear, and what a portal definition might be isn't clear.

MotP - where Portal Beacon is originally from - defines what a Portal is (p.21).
They're a specific category of magic item. The item creation feat for them is in FRCS, though PGtF updates it iirc.

Extradimensional spaces also don't count as planes, so the opening to one doesn't fit the definiton of "interplanar".

[Jack_Simth]

MotP - where Portal Beacon is originally from - defines what a Portal is (p.21).
They're a specific category of magic item. The item creation feat for them is in FRCS, though PGtF updates it iirc.

Extradimensional spaces also don't count as planes, so the opening to one doesn't fit the definiton of "interplanar".

Annoying. What's the cheapest portal one can make?

[Elkad]

Reaving aura:
It's the [action] economy, [but still, even so, this spell is really] stupid!

Proposed change.
"For CL rounds, you can use your swift action to (do the same effect)."

That puts it into "something my wizard might actually use", if only to keep something with Fast Healing down a little longer.

Another option would be
"gain 1 temp HP per creature affected, persisting for CL rounds"

I wouldn't do both though, it IS a 1st level spell.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Annoying. What's the cheapest portal one can make?

Base price is 50k gp and 4k xp for a one-way portal. Add half that cost to make it two-way.
10k gp and 800xp for a one-way portal that can be used 1/day. The actual lowest is 1k gp and 80xp for a portal usable once per tenday.
One use lasts for 1 round but has no creature limit.

You also need to be a 17th level caster, have Gate or Teleportation Circle and the Craft Portal feat (which requires Craft Wondrous Item).

For reference, a permanent Teleportation Circle has a market value of about 25k (mostly from converting the 4500 XP cost of Permanency).

[Jack_Simth]

Base price is 50k gp and 4k xp for a one-way portal. Add half that cost to make it two-way.
10k gp and 800xp for a one-way portal that can be used 1/day. The actual lowest is 1k gp and 80xp for a portal usable once per tenday.
One use lasts for 1 round but has no creature limit.

You also need to be a 17th level caster, have Gate or Teleportation Circle and the Craft Portal feat (which requires Craft Wondrous Item).

For reference, a permanent Teleportation Circle has a market value of about 25k (mostly from converting the 4500 XP cost of Permanency).

Can work with that. We're not actually using the portals for travel, they're just targets for the spell.

OK, so I'm building an HQ. I order up a number of the ultra-cheap versions (1 use per ten days, one-way).
Field operatives (and their handlers) get codebooks, ID'ing what small sets of them flagged means (with binary, you can encode prearranged messages reasonably efficiently).
With Portal Beacon being a 1st level spell, even apprentices can cast it.
Which means low-level followers can be used as handlers to pass simple messages to field agents, quite securely (even if someone gets a codebook, they can't do much with it - can't intercept messages, need to know the field agents to pass messages, need access to the portal array at HQ).

And just for giggles:
The portals are triggered by tokens hidden behind puzzles at various places in HQ.
...
And each one leads to a different dungeon cell (still in HQ).

[sleepyphoenixx]

Can work with that. We're not actually using the portals for travel, they're just targets for the spell.

OK, so I'm building an HQ. I order up a number of the ultra-cheap versions (1 use per ten days, one-way).
Field operatives (and their handlers) get codebooks, ID'ing what small sets of them flagged means (with binary, you can encode prearranged messages reasonably efficiently).
With Portal Beacon being a 1st level spell, even apprentices can cast it.
Which means low-level followers can be used as handlers to pass simple messages to field agents, quite securely (even if someone gets a codebook, they can't do much with it - can't intercept messages, need to know the field agents to pass messages, need access to the portal array at HQ).

And just for giggles:
The portals are triggered by tokens hidden behind puzzles at various places in HQ.
...
And each one leads to a different dungeon cell (still in HQ).

Nice one.
You can also use Portal-to-Portal Redirect (Und) to change the destination of a portal for 1 hour/level, so they're basically freely retargetable when you need them to be.