The most obnoxious spells?

[SangoProduction]

I was introduced to a Final Fantasy D20 system, based on Pathfinder. Which is funny because the original FF games was based on D&D. So neat to see it come around again.

Anyway, so first thing I did was take a look at the dedicated illusionist class... which also seems to be the mind control class as well... with "Unnatural Lust" being a notable first level spell... OK then. Anyway.

So, there's a Cantrip called Timer (https://www.finalfantasyd20.com/magic/spells/t/timer/), which sets an alarm to go off at some time within 2 hours per caster level. My mind immediately went to the most obnoxious uses.


"You served me the wrong food!"
Leaves the establishment
Casts timer to trigger in 5 minutes
Next turn: Casts timer to trigger in 5 minutes
Next turn: Casts timer to trigger in 5 minutes
Next turn: Casts timer to trigger in 5 minutes
Next turn: Casts timer to trigger in 5 minutes
Until you hear the timer go off.

Which then got me thinking, what are some even more obnoxious spells?
I've heard of some D&D memes about people using Message to read inappropriate poetry directly to random people's ears. And it has no saving throw. Not even the (harmless) one. And also as a cantrip it can be done without pause. So... yeah, probably more than a little unasked for.

Anyone got some more?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Fireball, when you're next to the enemy and the party mage has no concept of 'friendly fire.' Or way too good of a concept of it.

[AvatarVecna]

I was introduced to a Final Fantasy D20 system, based on Pathfinder. Which is funny because the original FF games was based on D&D. So neat to see it come around again.

Anyway, so first thing I did was take a look at the dedicated illusionist class... which also seems to be the mind control class as well... with "Unnatural Lust" being a notable first level spell... OK then. Anyway.

So, there's a Cantrip called Timer (https://www.finalfantasyd20.com/magic/spells/t/timer/), which sets an alarm to go off at some time within 2 hours per caster level. My mind immediately went to the most obnoxious uses.



Which then got me thinking, what are some even more obnoxious spells?
I've heard of some D&D memes about people using Message to read inappropriate poetry directly to random people's ears. And it has no saving throw. Not even the (harmless) one. And also as a cantrip it can be done without pause. So... yeah, probably more than a little unasked for.

Anyone got some more?

"Portal Beacon" is an interplanar communication spell. It communicates very specific information, but it's got no chance to resist and no range limit (although the affected creature needs to be on one of the two planes the portal connects, I think?). There's some troll potential there.

When in doubt, custom Bestow Curse. Just curse them to fart wherever they go, or something.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Thunderhead is a level 1 spell that creates a small storm cloud above the target's head that deals 1 point of electricity damage every round unless it makes a successful Reflex save for that round. It's pretty great with metamagic, given adding negative levels or ability damage is potentially doable, and they stack up very fast. Surprisingly deadly when Persisted.

[redking]

Surprisingly deadly when Persisted.

Doesn't look like you can persist this spell to me. Did you mean extend?

As for obnoxious spells, plenty of that in third party products. Shivering Touch is obnoxious. Actually, Frostburn has a number of obnoxious spells, like Ice Assassin.

[Khedrac]

Fireball, when you're next to the enemy and the party mage has no concept of 'friendly fire.' Or way too good of a concept of it.

It's more obnoxious when it's the party's healer (homebrew class) that drops the fireball (thankfully from a wand) on the party when ambushed and all the ambushers have evasion and make their saves...

We had two leads to follow up on our current adventure so half the party did one, half the other. Both leads had a combat encounter "designed for" the entire party sprung on the group actually present. Thanks to the healer, the group with no healing took far less damage than the one with...

[SangoProduction]

By "obnoxious," I did mean things that would be annoying to sit through as a character. Which is notably different from being deadly.

[Kurald Galain]

Pathfinder has low-level spells called Depilate, Itching Curse, Wizened Appearance, and for some reason, Poisoned Egg. They do pretty much exactly what their name indicates.

[Troacctid]

By "obnoxious," I did mean things that would be annoying to sit through as a character. Which is notably different from being deadly.
Obnoxious for the character is certainly not the same as obnoxious for the player, but I don't think either of them is necessarily correlated with deadliness. Certainly there is overlap between them though. Allow me to present a helpful Venn diagram.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/467192850862571522/1003239026981097563/6ogrh7.jpg

[AvatarVecna]

Nauseating Breath. 3rd lvl spell, unfriendly, 30 ft cone, no SR, Fort save vs nauseated 1d6 rounds.

Holy Word and its friends. 7th lvl spell, unfriendly (technically), 40 ft burst, yes SR, no save, just debuffed. This "obnoxious" is if the CL was high enough to paralyze you for 1d10 minutes, but not high enough to kill you.

Heaven's Trumpet. 7th lvl spell, friendly, 120 ft burst, yes SR, Fort save vs paralyzed 1d4 rounds.

Honestly just a ton more spells of various kinds. The "obnoxious" comes from combining two things: first, it's an AoE; second, it's a "either you successfully resist, or you don't get to participate in this fight". Being an AoE gives you pretty good odds that, if you use it on a party, somebody is gonna roll low and end up sitting the fight out. Spells like this will ruin their day.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Doesn't look like you can persist this spell to me. Did you mean extend?
Hello, redking. I know you've been around awhile, but you must be new here. :p

No, really, it's not terribly difficult to make just about any spell Persistent, so long as the duration isn't already Permanent or Instantaneous. Reach Spell, for instance, or Ocular Spell. And those aren't the only options, either. There's a Faerun PrC that allows you to cast Personal spells on others under certain conditions (such as granting a bonus to AC), and there are other feats that grant said conditions to your spells, thereby making any Personal spell Persistable on others.


It's more obnoxious when it's the party's healer (homebrew class) that drops the fireball (thankfully from a wand) on the party when ambushed and all the ambushers have evasion and make their saves...Can't argue with that, but even without Evasion, it's still irritating when it's not something you've discussed previously.


By "obnoxious," I did mean things that would be annoying to sit through as a character. Which is notably different from being deadly.Don't think an effect can't be both!

Also, pretty much anything bestow curse and its greater version can do. Taking massive penalties to the skills you rely on to function, or losing your actions for a turn are both really irritating.

[Particle_Man]

Stinking cloud?

Charm Person/Dominate Person can be obnoxious - players usually hate losing player agency.

[Telonius]

Incite Riot (aka "Instant Bar Fight.") SR and Will negates, but it can turn any formal occasion into a brawl.

It can also completely wreck a formation. Happened to me (as DM). I had a flight of four juvenile Red Dragons attacking a town. The players were close enough to cast it. Juveniles don't have spell resistance, and two of the four failed their saves. No spellcraft, so they didn't know what hit them. All the unaffected dragons knew is that they just got sucker-punched by their siblings. Being hot-tempered Reds, they retaliated. So what was supposed to be a tough fight devolved into four dragons thrashing away at each other. The players (very intelligently) decided that when dragons are fighting each other, it's a good idea to let them. So they just stood back until only one dragon was left standing. What was supposed to be a tough fight turned into an easy victory.

[Venger]

Sending. No save, no sr, works from pretty much anywhere. Send people popup ads forever.

Mordenkainen's buzzing bee. A spell that exists just to annoy people.


There's a Faerun PrC that allows you to cast Personal spells on others under certain conditions (such as granting a bonus to AC), .
Spellguard of silverymoon.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Sending. No save, no sr, works from pretty much anywhere. Send people popup ads forever.


Had a 5e party that did that with a lich they killed (but didn't find the philactery) early on. Basically mocked her constantly. Especially once they found out she was a creepy stalker ex-"girlfriend" of someone they liked. She returned the favor a few times, but wasn't as witty.

[zlefin]

Illusory Wall. It has permanent duration and no component cost; so you can just leave illusory walls lying around to annoy people who you dislike.

As a figment, it remains as a translucent outline even once they know it's fake.


Arcane mark is another one; it's a cantrip, and permanent on object, or one month on a creature.

It has 0 range, so you need to be in their square, but it otherwise has no save, no SR, no touch attack. So you can just leave your mark in a very conspicuous place (or hide it).

Sure there are ways to remove it; but it will require a spellcaster to do so.

[redking]

By "obnoxious," I did mean things that would be annoying to sit through as a character. Which is notably different from being deadly.

Shivering Touch would be obnoxious if used on PCs as well. In fact, any broken spell that is useful for vexing NPCs is just as vexing for PCs.

[Tohron]

Shrink Item can be quite obnoxious. Good luck finding your keys after they've been shrunk 4 size categories. Any unattended objects up to 2 cubic ft./level are fair game, and if the bearer's will save is low, anything they have equipped is a feasible target.

[Wintermoot]

somewhat askew of topic:

2nd edition tome of magic had a 1st level spell called "Weighty Chest" and a 2nd level spell called "Frisky Chest".

Nominally, you were supposed to cast "Weighty Chest" on a treasure chest. When someone who wasn't you touched the chest, the chest would suddenly weight 10x the weight of the person who touched it. So a 200 lb fighter touches it, it weighs 2000 lbs.

Likewise, you were supposed to cast "Frisky Chest" on a treasure chest and, when someone who wasn't you went to open it, it would run away from them at twice the person's speed rate. (or something like that)

The obnoxiousness comes in that neither spell limited itself to an actual treasure chest, just whatever object you touched, attended or unattended.

Cue casting Weighty chest on the enemies armor, dropping them down like a literal ton of bricks unable to move. Cue casting it on the enemies boots causing the boots to carry them away at superspeed.