Anthrowhale
2023-12-23, 03:29 PM
I wanted to do some high level analysis of the top-10 spells per level threads (See 0 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?657743-Top-10-cantrips),1 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?657825-Top-10-level-1-spells-at-ECL2-amp-20),2 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?658094-Top-10-level-2-spells-at-ECL-4-amp-20),3 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?658251-Top-10-level-3-spells-at-ECL6-amp-20),4 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?658751-Top-10-level-4-spells-at-ECL-8-amp-20#post25846144),5 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?659463-Top-10-level-5-spells-at-ECL-10-amp-20),6 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?660156-Top-10-level-6-spells-at-ECL-12-amp-20),7 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?660357-Top-10-level-7-spells-at-ECL14-and-20),8 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?661013-Top-10-level-8-spells),9 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?661419-Top-10-level-9-spells#post25892758), as well as attacks (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?661892-Systemic-analysis-of-top-10-attack-spells-across-levels), defenses (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?662260-Systemic-analysis-of-top-10-defense-spells-across-levels), and other (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?662703-Systemic-analysis-of-top-10-other-spells-across-levels) spells). Thank you to everyone who helped with the threads---I learned quite a bit in the process, even in the midst of debates.
For this thread, let's quantify: Where to top-10 spells come from? and How good are the top-10 spells?
Spell source
10 levels with 10 spells per level works out to an even 100 spells which is convenient for calculating percentages. Let's count a spell as only 'half' if it's appearing either when introduced or at ECL20. If you do that, what are the top spells comprised of?
By class: 1 Any, 17.5 Bard, 24.5 Cleric, 5 Corrupt, 19.5 Druid, 1 Beguiler, 0.5 Dread Necromancer, 20 Domain, 0.5 Paladin, 1 Ranger, 3.5 Sorcerer Only, 58 Wizard, 2 Wu Jen only
Wizard is a clear winner followed by Cleric, Druid, then Bard. Archivist is plausiby comparable to Wizard even without whacky means of divine spell access. The few Sorcerer only spells are very typically top-10 material. 90+% of spells are on the core Bard/Cleric/Druid/Wizard lists. Bard is a bit stronger than I realized, and this gives a real quantification to the relative power of the Wizard list over others.
By school: 11.5 Abjuration, 18 Conjuration, 6.5 Divination, 3.5 Enchantment, 7.5 Evocation, 6.5 Illusion, 8 Necromancy, 33 Transmutation, 5.5 Universal
Transmutation dominates followed by Conjuration then Abjuration. Enchantment is the only school with fewer then Universal. The few Universal spells are often top-10 material. All 8 (9 with Universal) schools are represented so specialization likely loses access to important things.
By modifier: 1 Acid, 1.5 Air, 4.5 Calling, 3 Cold, 1.5 Compulsion, 7 Creation, 1.5 Death, 1 Earth, 8 Evil, 1 Figment, 0.5 Fire, 1.5 Force, 3.5 Good, 1.5 Healing, 1.5 Language-Dependent, 5 Mind-affecting, 0.5 Pattern, 1 Phantasm, 3 Shadow, 2 Sonic, 0.5 Summoning, 3.5 Teleportation, 0.5 Water
Evil dominates Good. Cold dominates Fire. Calling dominates Summoning. About half the spells have modifiers.
By book: 1 Anauroch, 3 BoED, 4 BoVD, 2 CA, 0.5 CC, 0.5 CoR, 1 CoV, 3 CM, 0.5 CS, 3.5 Dragon, 2.5 Dragon Magic, 1 Epic Handbook, 1 Forge of War, 4.5 Frostburn, 1 LEoF, 1 MoE, 1 MotW, 37 PHB, 1 PHBII, 2 RotD, 0.5 RoE, 26 SC, 1 Serpent Kingdom, 1 Tome and Blood, 3.5 Web
The PHB dominates followed by the Spell Compendium. All the other spells are spread all over, with perhaps Frostburn standing out the most. This is perhaps by construction, since Spell Compendium absorbed and replaced many spells spread across these sources. It's notable how few Dragon spells there are---not a significant source of brokenness in general despite common fears to the contrary. Perhaps 10% are from unupdated 3.0 sources.
Capability
The niche ranking system (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?314701-Person_Man-s-Niche-Ranking-System) provides a way to quantify the amount of capability across a rubric. This was done originally by class, but we can think of a generic spellcaster with access to the top 10 spells/level and then ask: how well could they fill the niches? Using the analysis below, I get "26" which is near parity with a wizard or archivist (both 28) in terms of capability. Thus the 100 spells here, are comparable in effectiveness to the ~2500 wizard spells at filling niches. What follows is necessarily a bit subjective, so feel free to suggest alternatives in the comments.
To avoid repeating things for each category, note that Suffer the Flesh, Consumptive Field, and Greater Consumptive Field allows caster level escalation to ~45 conservatively, that Mindworms can pay for application of metamagic feats, and Substitute Domain, Anyspell, Greater Anyspell, Limited Wish, Greater Shadow Conjuration, and Miracle allow access to a broader array of spells.
L1 Entangle
L2 Kelpstrand
L2 Obscuring Snow
L3@ECL20 Anticipate Teleportation
L4 Wall of Sand
Entangle gives a long range lockdown option wherever plants are available.
Wall of Sand block LoE at medium range, greatly slows anyone going through it, and in tight environments can straight up suffocate enemies. It's also nicely shapeable.
Kelpstrand is a close range option initiating a powerful grapple to multiple opponents on a touch attack. This also combos well with Wall of Sand to block all movement leading to a powerful no-save suffocation for anything that breathes.
Anticipate Teleportation steals time from anyone trying to teleport in nearby.
Obscuring Snow blocks targeting of you and allies.
I'll go with '2' here (like Beguiler, Psion, Mystic), but we could debate '1' (like Druid, Cleric, Wizard). The niche is filled efficiently and effectively at early levels, but a dedicated BFC but the '1' classes have more options at higher levels.
L1@ECL2 Protection from Evil: Immune Charms and Compulsions, AC+2
L1 Instant of Power: Save+4(Enhancement)
L1 Snowsight allows allies to see through snow, as per L2 Obscuring Snow.
L1@ECL20 Conviction: Saves+5(morale)
L2 Heroics provides any bonus fighter feat.
L2 Linked Perception provides a large bonus to
L2 Bladesong makes bladed weapons have an extra touch attack/round to daze
L3@ECL6 Disobedience. Understand but need not obey charms/compulsions
L3@ECL20 Greater Magic Weapon. Boost to hit, damage, and AC via the Defending property.
L3@ECL20 Greater Mighty Wallop. Boost bludgeoning melee damage.
L3 Venomfire. Natural poison also does d6/level acid.
L4@ECL20 Bloodfreeze Arrow. Paralyze people at long range.
L4@ECL8 Dweomer of Trasnference: immune to new spells
L4@ECL20 Favor of the Martyr: immune to many conditions
L4 Sheltered Vitality: Immune ability damage/drain
L4 Polymorph provide allies desirable forms for whatever capability they need.
L6@ECL20 Empyreal Ecstasy: Immune new mind-affecting, half damage from melee&ranged attacks
L6 Energy Immunity
L7@ECL20 Planar Bubble: planar trait based immunities
L8 Polymorph Any Object provide allies even more desirable forms for whatever capability they need.
L9 Astral Projection: Kill fake me instead of me.
+L5 Magic Jar which allows many personal-only spells to be cast on allies.
The are many strong attack and defense options here.
This looks like a '1' (similar to Wizard, Cleric, Favored Soul), particularly when expoiting Magic Jar buffing. Level 2 (Druid, Wu Jen, Bard) seems notably weaker.
L2@ECL4 Alter Self
L2 Heroics
L2@ECL20 Substitute Domain
L3 Anyspell
L4@ECL8 Polymorph
L6 Greater Anyspell
L7@ECL20 Limited Wish
L8 Polymorph Any Object
L9 Miracle
L9 Shapechange
That's quite a few options to enable access to other abilities (spells, feats, natural abilities, Ex abilities, Su abilities, etc...) deeply covering any curiosity uses.
Definitely a '1' due to incredibly broad spell access. This would be a '0' if that was available.
L1@ECL2 Color Spray: Will or helpless for low HD, mind-affecting.
L1@ECL2 Heartache: Will or helpless for 1 creature, mind-affecting.
L4 Wings of Flurry: 30' AoE refl or daze
L5 Plane Shift: touch will or go elsewhere
L6@ECL20 Heaven's Trumpet: 120' AoE fort or paralyze 1d4 rounds
L7 Amber Sarcophagus: touch attack for suspended animation
L7 Crown of Despair: passive will or paralyzed, mind-affecting
L7 Holy Word: Autodeath for HD <= caster level - 10
L8 Polymorph Any Object: change to object, Fort(object)
L8 Frostfell: Mass Flesh to Ice or save for 20d6 frostburn
L8 Unearthly Beauty: Continuous 30' passive will or die.
These spells are very strong attack spells, particularly if you can generate a decent save. Even if you can't, it doesn't matter at high level where Holy Word where Rod[Chain] Sanctum Amber Sarcophagus come into play.
Plausibly a '1': Level 1 is like Cleric, Sorcerer, Psion while level 2 is like Bard, Beguiler, Favored Soul. The list has a bit of a hole amongst L2/3 spells, but is very strong at higher levels.
L1@ECL2 Charm Person: Humanoid is a friend, mind-affecting
L2@ECL4 Suggestion: creature takes suggestion, mind-affecting.
L2@ECL4 Command Undead: Undead is friend.
L4@ECL20 Fugue: AoE creature attacks nearest
L5 Magic Jar: take over enemy bodies
L6 Dream Casting: creature is friend, mind-affecting
L9 Mindrape: rewrite history so creature is friend, mind-affecting
There's a good selection here which in combination with diplomacy can make creatures do fairly arbitrary things.
I'll go with '1', but you could argue for 2. Level 1 is like Beguiler, Cleric, Wizard while level 2 is like Bard, Favored Soul, Wu Jen.
L9 Gate: What can't you do with up-level minions?
L9 Miracle: What can't you do with any L7- spell?
L9 Teleport Through Time: What can't you do with time travel?
L9 Shapechange: One spell that solves virtually all problems.
L9 Genesis+L7 Planar Bubble: Crazy immunities and x10 actions.
L8 Greater Arcane Fusion + L4@ECL20 Celerity + L4@ECL20 Favor of the Martyr: infinite actions on demnd.
L4@ECL20 Celerity + L4@ECL20 Favor of the Martyr + Twin Spell: infinite actions on demand.
L5@ECL20 Unfettered Heroism + Primal Scholar 5: infinite L5- spells recharge.
There's tons of broken stuff here.
Definitely a '1', since the top-10 list is better at "game changer" than any fixed list.
L1@ECL2 Protection from Evil: Immune Charms and Compulsions, AC+2
L1@ECL20 Conviction: Saves+5(morale)
L1 Lesser Vigor for hit points.
L1 Resurgence to redo any save.
L2@ECL4 Lesser Restoration for ability damage.
L2@ECL4 Arcane Turmoil.
L3@ECL10 Heroics[Martial Study[Iron Heart Surge]] to end many effects.
L4@ECL8 Restoration for ability/level drain.
L4@ECL8 Last Breath for curing death.
L4@ECL8 Polymorph: to a type immune to condition
L4@ECL20 Favor of the Martyr: immune to many conditions
L4 Sheltered Vitality: Immune ability damage/drain
L5@ECL10 Greater Dispel Magic.
L6@ECL12 Heal for many effects.
L8 Polymorph Any Object: Even more form-based immunities
L9 Disjunction for comprehensive demagicking.
The above acquires the necessary abilities as early as possible then jettisons them in favor of immunities. Some of the immunites can't be applied retroactively or are personal-only, and so not listed above (see Meat Shield). Note that many personal-only spells can be applied to creatures via Magic Jar. Further access can be acquired if situationally necessary via spells like Substitute Domain, Miracle, or minion spellcasters.
Level 2 seems good. Level 1 is Cleric, Favored Soul, Mystic, while level 2 is Archivist, Druid.. It fills the niche well, but is perhaps not the most efficient way of doing so.
L1@ECL2 Protection from Evil: Immune Charms and Compulsions, AC+2
L1@ECL20 Conviction: Saves+5(morale)
L1 Nerveskitter: Init+5
L1 Instant of Power: Save+4(Enhancement)
L2@ECL4 Alter Self: Alter Self[Crucian] for AC+8
L2@ECL20 Wings of Cover
L2 Heroics[Defensive Fighter feats]
L2 Bladesong: daze adjacent foes with bladed weapon.
L3@ECL6 Disobedience: Know, ignore, or fake Charms and Compulsions
L3@ECL6 Heart of Water: Escape Artist+5, Freedom of Movement when needed
L3@ECL20 Greater Magic Weapon: AC+5 via Defending weapon
L3 Primal Instinct: Init+5(competence)
L4@ECL8 Polymorph: Even more natural armor.
L4@ECL8 Dweomer of Trasnference: immune to new spells
L4@ECL20 Ruin Delver's Fortune: Saves+Cha, Evasion, immune poison
L4@ECL20 Favor of the Martyr: immune to many conditions
L4 Sheltered Vitality: Immune ability damage/drain
L5@ECL20 Surge of Fortune: Make any save
L5@ECL20 Unfettered Heroism: boost saves
L5@ECL20 Skin of the Steel Dragon: High SR
L5 Power Leech: boost stats
L6@ECL12 Antimagic Field: immune to all Spell/SLA/SUs
L6@ECL20 Empyreal Ecstasy: Immune mind-affecting, half damage from melee&ranged attacks
L6 Energy Immunity
L7@ECL20 Planar Bubble: planar trait based immunities
L8 Polymorph Any Object: Even more form changing immunities
L8 Mystic Shield: immune L6- spells, magic weapon properties
L8 Moment of Prescience: massive save bonus as a free action
L8 Project Multiple Images: I'm not really there but I can cast spells.
L9 Astral Projection: Kill fake me instead of me.
L9 Hide Life: Immune damage and spell effects rendering you dead, dying, or disabled.
There's an exceptioinally huge laundry list here of immunities (to almost everything) and resistances.
A strong '1': it fills the niche extremely well, plausibly better than Cleric, Druid, and Favored Soul.
L2@ECL4 Alter Self: extra natural attacks.
L2@ECL20 Wraithstrike: melee attacks are touch attacks.
L2@ECL20 Hunter's Eye: +d6/3 levels sneak attack.
L2 Heroics: any offensively helpful fighter bonus feat.
L3@ECL20 Greater Magic Weapon: +5 to hit and damage
L3@ECL20 Greater Mighty Wallop: Bludgeoning weapon damages as colossal.
L3 Venomfire: Poison also does <level> d6 acid damage.
L3 Shivering touch: 3d6 dexterity damage.
L4@ECL8 Polymorph: extra attacks.
L5@ECL20 Surge of Fortune: Automatic 20 on attack roll.
L6@ECL12 Heal: damage undead
L8 Polymorph Any Object
L9 Shapechange
As an example, Polymorph[Kelvezu]+Venomfire+Hunter's Eye+Greater Mighty Wallop+persistent Wraithstrike+Bladesong+Greater Magic Weapon on a small executioner's mace made out of Riverine is just brutal. At caster level 45, you do: 8d6(base)+5(enhance)+5(str)+8d6(Kelvezu SA)+15d6(Hunter's Eye SA)+45d6 acid(Venomfire)+poison. That's ~38(base)+80.5(SA)+157.5(acid)+poison ~= 276 damage+poison---and you can iterate, two-weapon fighting, and potentially use cleave/great cleave.
A strong '1': it fills the niche extremely well after lower levels. Other level 1s are Druid, Duskblade, Totemist while level 2s are Barbarian, Bard, Fighter.
L2@ECL4 Alter Self: Avariel for wings or sea elf for fins.
L2@ECL6 Heroics[Shadow Jaunt]: Teleport 50' with LOS/LOE
L3@ECL6 Heart of Water: Freedom of Movement on demand
L4 Polymorph: Even more mobile forms
L5@ECL10 Teleport: 100s of miles
L5 Plane Shift: anywhere
L6 Gemjump: party goes to precast gem.
L7@ECL20 Planar Bubble: nuke planar obstacles
L8 Polymorph Any Object: more and longer forms
L8 Project Multiple Images: no need to actually be there in person.
L9 Shapechange: absurdly flexible forms
L9 Gate: to anywhere
L9 Astral Projection: to anywhere
L9 Teleport through Time: to anywhen
Overall, this seems like pretty good mobility relatively early on.
Probably a '1'---handles mobility about as well as a Cleric, Druid, or Wizard. Definitely better than level 2 with Bard, Monk, Ranger.
L1@ECL2 Charm Person: make humanoid friends
L1@ECL20 Improvisation: 4x Skill +level/2
L1@ECL20 Loresong: Skill +4+level/2, persistable.
L2@ECL4 Command Undead: make undead friends
L3 Glibness
L4 Surge of Fortune: skill check 20
L5 Magic Jar: take over NPC
L6 Dream Casting: make friends at infinite range
L8 Moment of Prescience: +25 to opposed skill check
Loresong seems like a real keystone since it is persistable and escalates with caster level. That alones gives you effectively 26 ranks in a skill at caster level 45. Real ranks (23) and Improvisation (22) escalate this further. Moment of Prescience can sometimes add another +25, and Surge of fortune can set up a 20 on the skill roll. Adding that together you get 113 ranks, well capable of epic diplomacy into the fanatic range.
Level 2. Level 1 is Bard, Beguiler, Factotum, while level 2 is Favored Soul, Sha'ir, Sorcerer. This is the first skill-focused ability. The spells here do offer persistent Loresong as a baseline which effectively allows characters to reach full-ranks in a skill, even if it's cross class. Overall, I'm going with level 2, but you could make a strong argument for level 1 (or lower at medium/high levels.
L0 Launch Item: alchemical damage
L2@ECL20 Hunter's Eye: +level/3 d6 sneak attack to ranged attacks within 30'
L3@ECL6 Fireball: 10d6 AoE at long range
L3@ECL20 Love's Pain: 10d6 at infinite range, mind-affecting
L4 Wings of Flurry: d6/level AoE in 30' radius (+daze)
L4@ECL20 Bloodfreeze arrow: +2d6 cold (+paralyze)
L8 Frostfell: 20d6 if you save shapeable AoE in medium range
Note also that there are several devastating touch range spells (Shivering Touch, Plane Shift) that can be made into ranged attacks via Ocular Spell/Reach Spell.
Caster level escalating damage only goes out to range 30'. Anyspell[Sniper's Shot] could change that for 1 round but spell damage is otherwise capped. One special cases here is Love's Pain since it's effectively infinite range once you can target it effectively via Mindrape. Used optimally, you'll hit a target with many castings in as short a time as possible.
Level 2. Psion, Wizard, Warmage are level 1, while Wilder, Rogue, Ranger are level 2. There are some solid unusual options but a Warmage is typically better at ranged damage.
L0 Detect Magic: See magic in 60'
L0 Read Magic: Mostly useful for spellbooks but occasionally elsewhere.
L1@ECL20 Improvisation: 4x Skill +level/2
L1@ECL20 Loresong: Skill +4+level/2, persistable.
L2 Linked Perception: +2/ally in 20' to listen/spot
L4 Surge of Fortune: skill check 20
L5 Contact Other Plane: tap the deities for knowledge
L8 Moment of Prescience: +25 to opposed skill check
L8 Project Multiple Images: Medium range perception, no LOE required
L9 Teleport Through Time: Go back in time and watch it happen
Persistable Loresong again creates a powerful baseline for skill use, aided further by Improvisation, native ranks, and potentially Moment of Prescience. Surge of Fortune also pairs with Contact Other Plane to avoid the downside of COP use. Teleport Through Time is a hail mary approach to learning stuff.
Plausibly a 1. Level 1 is Archivist, Cleric, and Wizard while level 2 is Bard, Druid, Favored Soul. The combination of spells here beats any other caster list and can make up for cross-class ranks.
L0 Detect Magic: See magic in 60'
L1@ECL20 Improvisation: 4x Skill +level/2
L1@ECL20 Loresong: Skill +4+level/2, persistable.
L2 Linked Perception: +2/ally in 20' to listen/spot
L4 Surge of Fortune: skill check 20
L4@ECL8 Polymorph: reduce size
L8 Moment of Prescience: +25 to opposed skill check
L8 Project Multiple Images: Medium range perception, no LOE required
L8 Polymorph Any Object: lasts longer.
L9 Shapechange: Fine form
Persistent Loresong, Linked perception, and native ranks can easily push Spot/Listen checks into the 60s. Using a fine form, persistent Loresong, and native ranks can similarly place hide in the 60s.
Level 2 seems reasonable although you could argue for level 1. Level 1 is Beguiler, Factotum, Rogue while level 2 is Bard, Druid, Wizard.
L0 Detect Magic: See magic in 60'
L1@ECL20 Improvisation: 4x Skill +level/2
L1@ECL20 Loresong: Skill +4+level/2, persistable.
L4@ECL8 Polymorph: reduce size
L4 Surge of Fortune: skill check 20
L7@ECL20: Greater Shadow Conjuration[Phantasmal Thief]: rob someone endlessly.
L8 Moment of Prescience: +25 to opposed skill check
L8 Project Multiple Images: can disappear at will
L8 Polymorph Any Object: lasts longer.
L9 Shapechange: Fine form
Sleight of Hand can be made very high via Persistent Loresong, and maybe adding in Improvisation. Phantasmal Thief enables the theft of any object not held or worn.
Level 2 seems reasonable although you could argue for level 1. Level 1 is Bard, Beguiler, Rogue while level 2 is Cleric, Druid, Wizard. The early skill bonuses give parity to dedicated classes and later options are amazing.
L3@ECL6 Animate Dead: zombie time
L4@ECL8 Animate with the Spirit: good zombies with SLAs.
L4@ECL8 Lesser Spirit Binding: lots of SLAs.
L5@ECL10 Lesser Planar Binding: lots of SLAs
L6@ECL12 Spirit Binding: even more SLAs
L6@ECL12 Planar Binding: even more SLAs
L7@ECL14 Simulacrum: Fragile minime
L7@ECL20 Greater Shadow Conjuration many possible disposable minions with SLAs.
L7 Body Outside Body: Several disposable minimes.
L8 Greater Planar Binding: Yet more SLAs
L8 Project Multiple Images: alt-yous
L9 Gate: Epic monster madness
L9 Astral Projection: Alt-yous can die without consequence
Summoning starts with L3 Animate Dead and becomes broken powerful by the time L9 Gate comes around, particularly if epic monsters are available.
We'll go with level 2, although you could argue for level 1. Druid and Spirit Shaman are level 1 while Cleric, Psion, and Wizard are level 2. Low level summons are weak/nonexistent, but the variety power and scope of mid and high level summons exceeds any class list.
L0 Detect Magic: See magic in 60'
L1@ECL20 Improvisation: 4x Skill +level/2
L1@ECL20 Loresong: Skill +4+level/2, persistable.
L4 Surge of Fortune: skill check 20
L8 Moment of Prescience: +25 to opposed skill check
L8 Polymorph Any Object: High Intelligence form
Persistent Loresong, native ranks, improvisation, and Surge of Fortune could all potentially be used here, although you'll need somethings like Planar Touchstone[Catalogs of Enlightenment[Kobold Domain]] to be able to disarm difficult traps.
Level 3 seems appropriate here. Level 1 is reserved for classes which get the trapfinding class feature with relevant skills like Beguiler, Rogue, and Factotum. Level 2 is for characters that can find and at least avoid traps like Archivist or Cleric. Level 3 is for classes that can spam minions like Wizard or Druid.
For this thread, let's quantify: Where to top-10 spells come from? and How good are the top-10 spells?
Spell source
10 levels with 10 spells per level works out to an even 100 spells which is convenient for calculating percentages. Let's count a spell as only 'half' if it's appearing either when introduced or at ECL20. If you do that, what are the top spells comprised of?
By class: 1 Any, 17.5 Bard, 24.5 Cleric, 5 Corrupt, 19.5 Druid, 1 Beguiler, 0.5 Dread Necromancer, 20 Domain, 0.5 Paladin, 1 Ranger, 3.5 Sorcerer Only, 58 Wizard, 2 Wu Jen only
Wizard is a clear winner followed by Cleric, Druid, then Bard. Archivist is plausiby comparable to Wizard even without whacky means of divine spell access. The few Sorcerer only spells are very typically top-10 material. 90+% of spells are on the core Bard/Cleric/Druid/Wizard lists. Bard is a bit stronger than I realized, and this gives a real quantification to the relative power of the Wizard list over others.
By school: 11.5 Abjuration, 18 Conjuration, 6.5 Divination, 3.5 Enchantment, 7.5 Evocation, 6.5 Illusion, 8 Necromancy, 33 Transmutation, 5.5 Universal
Transmutation dominates followed by Conjuration then Abjuration. Enchantment is the only school with fewer then Universal. The few Universal spells are often top-10 material. All 8 (9 with Universal) schools are represented so specialization likely loses access to important things.
By modifier: 1 Acid, 1.5 Air, 4.5 Calling, 3 Cold, 1.5 Compulsion, 7 Creation, 1.5 Death, 1 Earth, 8 Evil, 1 Figment, 0.5 Fire, 1.5 Force, 3.5 Good, 1.5 Healing, 1.5 Language-Dependent, 5 Mind-affecting, 0.5 Pattern, 1 Phantasm, 3 Shadow, 2 Sonic, 0.5 Summoning, 3.5 Teleportation, 0.5 Water
Evil dominates Good. Cold dominates Fire. Calling dominates Summoning. About half the spells have modifiers.
By book: 1 Anauroch, 3 BoED, 4 BoVD, 2 CA, 0.5 CC, 0.5 CoR, 1 CoV, 3 CM, 0.5 CS, 3.5 Dragon, 2.5 Dragon Magic, 1 Epic Handbook, 1 Forge of War, 4.5 Frostburn, 1 LEoF, 1 MoE, 1 MotW, 37 PHB, 1 PHBII, 2 RotD, 0.5 RoE, 26 SC, 1 Serpent Kingdom, 1 Tome and Blood, 3.5 Web
The PHB dominates followed by the Spell Compendium. All the other spells are spread all over, with perhaps Frostburn standing out the most. This is perhaps by construction, since Spell Compendium absorbed and replaced many spells spread across these sources. It's notable how few Dragon spells there are---not a significant source of brokenness in general despite common fears to the contrary. Perhaps 10% are from unupdated 3.0 sources.
Capability
The niche ranking system (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?314701-Person_Man-s-Niche-Ranking-System) provides a way to quantify the amount of capability across a rubric. This was done originally by class, but we can think of a generic spellcaster with access to the top 10 spells/level and then ask: how well could they fill the niches? Using the analysis below, I get "26" which is near parity with a wizard or archivist (both 28) in terms of capability. Thus the 100 spells here, are comparable in effectiveness to the ~2500 wizard spells at filling niches. What follows is necessarily a bit subjective, so feel free to suggest alternatives in the comments.
To avoid repeating things for each category, note that Suffer the Flesh, Consumptive Field, and Greater Consumptive Field allows caster level escalation to ~45 conservatively, that Mindworms can pay for application of metamagic feats, and Substitute Domain, Anyspell, Greater Anyspell, Limited Wish, Greater Shadow Conjuration, and Miracle allow access to a broader array of spells.
L1 Entangle
L2 Kelpstrand
L2 Obscuring Snow
L3@ECL20 Anticipate Teleportation
L4 Wall of Sand
Entangle gives a long range lockdown option wherever plants are available.
Wall of Sand block LoE at medium range, greatly slows anyone going through it, and in tight environments can straight up suffocate enemies. It's also nicely shapeable.
Kelpstrand is a close range option initiating a powerful grapple to multiple opponents on a touch attack. This also combos well with Wall of Sand to block all movement leading to a powerful no-save suffocation for anything that breathes.
Anticipate Teleportation steals time from anyone trying to teleport in nearby.
Obscuring Snow blocks targeting of you and allies.
I'll go with '2' here (like Beguiler, Psion, Mystic), but we could debate '1' (like Druid, Cleric, Wizard). The niche is filled efficiently and effectively at early levels, but a dedicated BFC but the '1' classes have more options at higher levels.
L1@ECL2 Protection from Evil: Immune Charms and Compulsions, AC+2
L1 Instant of Power: Save+4(Enhancement)
L1 Snowsight allows allies to see through snow, as per L2 Obscuring Snow.
L1@ECL20 Conviction: Saves+5(morale)
L2 Heroics provides any bonus fighter feat.
L2 Linked Perception provides a large bonus to
L2 Bladesong makes bladed weapons have an extra touch attack/round to daze
L3@ECL6 Disobedience. Understand but need not obey charms/compulsions
L3@ECL20 Greater Magic Weapon. Boost to hit, damage, and AC via the Defending property.
L3@ECL20 Greater Mighty Wallop. Boost bludgeoning melee damage.
L3 Venomfire. Natural poison also does d6/level acid.
L4@ECL20 Bloodfreeze Arrow. Paralyze people at long range.
L4@ECL8 Dweomer of Trasnference: immune to new spells
L4@ECL20 Favor of the Martyr: immune to many conditions
L4 Sheltered Vitality: Immune ability damage/drain
L4 Polymorph provide allies desirable forms for whatever capability they need.
L6@ECL20 Empyreal Ecstasy: Immune new mind-affecting, half damage from melee&ranged attacks
L6 Energy Immunity
L7@ECL20 Planar Bubble: planar trait based immunities
L8 Polymorph Any Object provide allies even more desirable forms for whatever capability they need.
L9 Astral Projection: Kill fake me instead of me.
+L5 Magic Jar which allows many personal-only spells to be cast on allies.
The are many strong attack and defense options here.
This looks like a '1' (similar to Wizard, Cleric, Favored Soul), particularly when expoiting Magic Jar buffing. Level 2 (Druid, Wu Jen, Bard) seems notably weaker.
L2@ECL4 Alter Self
L2 Heroics
L2@ECL20 Substitute Domain
L3 Anyspell
L4@ECL8 Polymorph
L6 Greater Anyspell
L7@ECL20 Limited Wish
L8 Polymorph Any Object
L9 Miracle
L9 Shapechange
That's quite a few options to enable access to other abilities (spells, feats, natural abilities, Ex abilities, Su abilities, etc...) deeply covering any curiosity uses.
Definitely a '1' due to incredibly broad spell access. This would be a '0' if that was available.
L1@ECL2 Color Spray: Will or helpless for low HD, mind-affecting.
L1@ECL2 Heartache: Will or helpless for 1 creature, mind-affecting.
L4 Wings of Flurry: 30' AoE refl or daze
L5 Plane Shift: touch will or go elsewhere
L6@ECL20 Heaven's Trumpet: 120' AoE fort or paralyze 1d4 rounds
L7 Amber Sarcophagus: touch attack for suspended animation
L7 Crown of Despair: passive will or paralyzed, mind-affecting
L7 Holy Word: Autodeath for HD <= caster level - 10
L8 Polymorph Any Object: change to object, Fort(object)
L8 Frostfell: Mass Flesh to Ice or save for 20d6 frostburn
L8 Unearthly Beauty: Continuous 30' passive will or die.
These spells are very strong attack spells, particularly if you can generate a decent save. Even if you can't, it doesn't matter at high level where Holy Word where Rod[Chain] Sanctum Amber Sarcophagus come into play.
Plausibly a '1': Level 1 is like Cleric, Sorcerer, Psion while level 2 is like Bard, Beguiler, Favored Soul. The list has a bit of a hole amongst L2/3 spells, but is very strong at higher levels.
L1@ECL2 Charm Person: Humanoid is a friend, mind-affecting
L2@ECL4 Suggestion: creature takes suggestion, mind-affecting.
L2@ECL4 Command Undead: Undead is friend.
L4@ECL20 Fugue: AoE creature attacks nearest
L5 Magic Jar: take over enemy bodies
L6 Dream Casting: creature is friend, mind-affecting
L9 Mindrape: rewrite history so creature is friend, mind-affecting
There's a good selection here which in combination with diplomacy can make creatures do fairly arbitrary things.
I'll go with '1', but you could argue for 2. Level 1 is like Beguiler, Cleric, Wizard while level 2 is like Bard, Favored Soul, Wu Jen.
L9 Gate: What can't you do with up-level minions?
L9 Miracle: What can't you do with any L7- spell?
L9 Teleport Through Time: What can't you do with time travel?
L9 Shapechange: One spell that solves virtually all problems.
L9 Genesis+L7 Planar Bubble: Crazy immunities and x10 actions.
L8 Greater Arcane Fusion + L4@ECL20 Celerity + L4@ECL20 Favor of the Martyr: infinite actions on demnd.
L4@ECL20 Celerity + L4@ECL20 Favor of the Martyr + Twin Spell: infinite actions on demand.
L5@ECL20 Unfettered Heroism + Primal Scholar 5: infinite L5- spells recharge.
There's tons of broken stuff here.
Definitely a '1', since the top-10 list is better at "game changer" than any fixed list.
L1@ECL2 Protection from Evil: Immune Charms and Compulsions, AC+2
L1@ECL20 Conviction: Saves+5(morale)
L1 Lesser Vigor for hit points.
L1 Resurgence to redo any save.
L2@ECL4 Lesser Restoration for ability damage.
L2@ECL4 Arcane Turmoil.
L3@ECL10 Heroics[Martial Study[Iron Heart Surge]] to end many effects.
L4@ECL8 Restoration for ability/level drain.
L4@ECL8 Last Breath for curing death.
L4@ECL8 Polymorph: to a type immune to condition
L4@ECL20 Favor of the Martyr: immune to many conditions
L4 Sheltered Vitality: Immune ability damage/drain
L5@ECL10 Greater Dispel Magic.
L6@ECL12 Heal for many effects.
L8 Polymorph Any Object: Even more form-based immunities
L9 Disjunction for comprehensive demagicking.
The above acquires the necessary abilities as early as possible then jettisons them in favor of immunities. Some of the immunites can't be applied retroactively or are personal-only, and so not listed above (see Meat Shield). Note that many personal-only spells can be applied to creatures via Magic Jar. Further access can be acquired if situationally necessary via spells like Substitute Domain, Miracle, or minion spellcasters.
Level 2 seems good. Level 1 is Cleric, Favored Soul, Mystic, while level 2 is Archivist, Druid.. It fills the niche well, but is perhaps not the most efficient way of doing so.
L1@ECL2 Protection from Evil: Immune Charms and Compulsions, AC+2
L1@ECL20 Conviction: Saves+5(morale)
L1 Nerveskitter: Init+5
L1 Instant of Power: Save+4(Enhancement)
L2@ECL4 Alter Self: Alter Self[Crucian] for AC+8
L2@ECL20 Wings of Cover
L2 Heroics[Defensive Fighter feats]
L2 Bladesong: daze adjacent foes with bladed weapon.
L3@ECL6 Disobedience: Know, ignore, or fake Charms and Compulsions
L3@ECL6 Heart of Water: Escape Artist+5, Freedom of Movement when needed
L3@ECL20 Greater Magic Weapon: AC+5 via Defending weapon
L3 Primal Instinct: Init+5(competence)
L4@ECL8 Polymorph: Even more natural armor.
L4@ECL8 Dweomer of Trasnference: immune to new spells
L4@ECL20 Ruin Delver's Fortune: Saves+Cha, Evasion, immune poison
L4@ECL20 Favor of the Martyr: immune to many conditions
L4 Sheltered Vitality: Immune ability damage/drain
L5@ECL20 Surge of Fortune: Make any save
L5@ECL20 Unfettered Heroism: boost saves
L5@ECL20 Skin of the Steel Dragon: High SR
L5 Power Leech: boost stats
L6@ECL12 Antimagic Field: immune to all Spell/SLA/SUs
L6@ECL20 Empyreal Ecstasy: Immune mind-affecting, half damage from melee&ranged attacks
L6 Energy Immunity
L7@ECL20 Planar Bubble: planar trait based immunities
L8 Polymorph Any Object: Even more form changing immunities
L8 Mystic Shield: immune L6- spells, magic weapon properties
L8 Moment of Prescience: massive save bonus as a free action
L8 Project Multiple Images: I'm not really there but I can cast spells.
L9 Astral Projection: Kill fake me instead of me.
L9 Hide Life: Immune damage and spell effects rendering you dead, dying, or disabled.
There's an exceptioinally huge laundry list here of immunities (to almost everything) and resistances.
A strong '1': it fills the niche extremely well, plausibly better than Cleric, Druid, and Favored Soul.
L2@ECL4 Alter Self: extra natural attacks.
L2@ECL20 Wraithstrike: melee attacks are touch attacks.
L2@ECL20 Hunter's Eye: +d6/3 levels sneak attack.
L2 Heroics: any offensively helpful fighter bonus feat.
L3@ECL20 Greater Magic Weapon: +5 to hit and damage
L3@ECL20 Greater Mighty Wallop: Bludgeoning weapon damages as colossal.
L3 Venomfire: Poison also does <level> d6 acid damage.
L3 Shivering touch: 3d6 dexterity damage.
L4@ECL8 Polymorph: extra attacks.
L5@ECL20 Surge of Fortune: Automatic 20 on attack roll.
L6@ECL12 Heal: damage undead
L8 Polymorph Any Object
L9 Shapechange
As an example, Polymorph[Kelvezu]+Venomfire+Hunter's Eye+Greater Mighty Wallop+persistent Wraithstrike+Bladesong+Greater Magic Weapon on a small executioner's mace made out of Riverine is just brutal. At caster level 45, you do: 8d6(base)+5(enhance)+5(str)+8d6(Kelvezu SA)+15d6(Hunter's Eye SA)+45d6 acid(Venomfire)+poison. That's ~38(base)+80.5(SA)+157.5(acid)+poison ~= 276 damage+poison---and you can iterate, two-weapon fighting, and potentially use cleave/great cleave.
A strong '1': it fills the niche extremely well after lower levels. Other level 1s are Druid, Duskblade, Totemist while level 2s are Barbarian, Bard, Fighter.
L2@ECL4 Alter Self: Avariel for wings or sea elf for fins.
L2@ECL6 Heroics[Shadow Jaunt]: Teleport 50' with LOS/LOE
L3@ECL6 Heart of Water: Freedom of Movement on demand
L4 Polymorph: Even more mobile forms
L5@ECL10 Teleport: 100s of miles
L5 Plane Shift: anywhere
L6 Gemjump: party goes to precast gem.
L7@ECL20 Planar Bubble: nuke planar obstacles
L8 Polymorph Any Object: more and longer forms
L8 Project Multiple Images: no need to actually be there in person.
L9 Shapechange: absurdly flexible forms
L9 Gate: to anywhere
L9 Astral Projection: to anywhere
L9 Teleport through Time: to anywhen
Overall, this seems like pretty good mobility relatively early on.
Probably a '1'---handles mobility about as well as a Cleric, Druid, or Wizard. Definitely better than level 2 with Bard, Monk, Ranger.
L1@ECL2 Charm Person: make humanoid friends
L1@ECL20 Improvisation: 4x Skill +level/2
L1@ECL20 Loresong: Skill +4+level/2, persistable.
L2@ECL4 Command Undead: make undead friends
L3 Glibness
L4 Surge of Fortune: skill check 20
L5 Magic Jar: take over NPC
L6 Dream Casting: make friends at infinite range
L8 Moment of Prescience: +25 to opposed skill check
Loresong seems like a real keystone since it is persistable and escalates with caster level. That alones gives you effectively 26 ranks in a skill at caster level 45. Real ranks (23) and Improvisation (22) escalate this further. Moment of Prescience can sometimes add another +25, and Surge of fortune can set up a 20 on the skill roll. Adding that together you get 113 ranks, well capable of epic diplomacy into the fanatic range.
Level 2. Level 1 is Bard, Beguiler, Factotum, while level 2 is Favored Soul, Sha'ir, Sorcerer. This is the first skill-focused ability. The spells here do offer persistent Loresong as a baseline which effectively allows characters to reach full-ranks in a skill, even if it's cross class. Overall, I'm going with level 2, but you could make a strong argument for level 1 (or lower at medium/high levels.
L0 Launch Item: alchemical damage
L2@ECL20 Hunter's Eye: +level/3 d6 sneak attack to ranged attacks within 30'
L3@ECL6 Fireball: 10d6 AoE at long range
L3@ECL20 Love's Pain: 10d6 at infinite range, mind-affecting
L4 Wings of Flurry: d6/level AoE in 30' radius (+daze)
L4@ECL20 Bloodfreeze arrow: +2d6 cold (+paralyze)
L8 Frostfell: 20d6 if you save shapeable AoE in medium range
Note also that there are several devastating touch range spells (Shivering Touch, Plane Shift) that can be made into ranged attacks via Ocular Spell/Reach Spell.
Caster level escalating damage only goes out to range 30'. Anyspell[Sniper's Shot] could change that for 1 round but spell damage is otherwise capped. One special cases here is Love's Pain since it's effectively infinite range once you can target it effectively via Mindrape. Used optimally, you'll hit a target with many castings in as short a time as possible.
Level 2. Psion, Wizard, Warmage are level 1, while Wilder, Rogue, Ranger are level 2. There are some solid unusual options but a Warmage is typically better at ranged damage.
L0 Detect Magic: See magic in 60'
L0 Read Magic: Mostly useful for spellbooks but occasionally elsewhere.
L1@ECL20 Improvisation: 4x Skill +level/2
L1@ECL20 Loresong: Skill +4+level/2, persistable.
L2 Linked Perception: +2/ally in 20' to listen/spot
L4 Surge of Fortune: skill check 20
L5 Contact Other Plane: tap the deities for knowledge
L8 Moment of Prescience: +25 to opposed skill check
L8 Project Multiple Images: Medium range perception, no LOE required
L9 Teleport Through Time: Go back in time and watch it happen
Persistable Loresong again creates a powerful baseline for skill use, aided further by Improvisation, native ranks, and potentially Moment of Prescience. Surge of Fortune also pairs with Contact Other Plane to avoid the downside of COP use. Teleport Through Time is a hail mary approach to learning stuff.
Plausibly a 1. Level 1 is Archivist, Cleric, and Wizard while level 2 is Bard, Druid, Favored Soul. The combination of spells here beats any other caster list and can make up for cross-class ranks.
L0 Detect Magic: See magic in 60'
L1@ECL20 Improvisation: 4x Skill +level/2
L1@ECL20 Loresong: Skill +4+level/2, persistable.
L2 Linked Perception: +2/ally in 20' to listen/spot
L4 Surge of Fortune: skill check 20
L4@ECL8 Polymorph: reduce size
L8 Moment of Prescience: +25 to opposed skill check
L8 Project Multiple Images: Medium range perception, no LOE required
L8 Polymorph Any Object: lasts longer.
L9 Shapechange: Fine form
Persistent Loresong, Linked perception, and native ranks can easily push Spot/Listen checks into the 60s. Using a fine form, persistent Loresong, and native ranks can similarly place hide in the 60s.
Level 2 seems reasonable although you could argue for level 1. Level 1 is Beguiler, Factotum, Rogue while level 2 is Bard, Druid, Wizard.
L0 Detect Magic: See magic in 60'
L1@ECL20 Improvisation: 4x Skill +level/2
L1@ECL20 Loresong: Skill +4+level/2, persistable.
L4@ECL8 Polymorph: reduce size
L4 Surge of Fortune: skill check 20
L7@ECL20: Greater Shadow Conjuration[Phantasmal Thief]: rob someone endlessly.
L8 Moment of Prescience: +25 to opposed skill check
L8 Project Multiple Images: can disappear at will
L8 Polymorph Any Object: lasts longer.
L9 Shapechange: Fine form
Sleight of Hand can be made very high via Persistent Loresong, and maybe adding in Improvisation. Phantasmal Thief enables the theft of any object not held or worn.
Level 2 seems reasonable although you could argue for level 1. Level 1 is Bard, Beguiler, Rogue while level 2 is Cleric, Druid, Wizard. The early skill bonuses give parity to dedicated classes and later options are amazing.
L3@ECL6 Animate Dead: zombie time
L4@ECL8 Animate with the Spirit: good zombies with SLAs.
L4@ECL8 Lesser Spirit Binding: lots of SLAs.
L5@ECL10 Lesser Planar Binding: lots of SLAs
L6@ECL12 Spirit Binding: even more SLAs
L6@ECL12 Planar Binding: even more SLAs
L7@ECL14 Simulacrum: Fragile minime
L7@ECL20 Greater Shadow Conjuration many possible disposable minions with SLAs.
L7 Body Outside Body: Several disposable minimes.
L8 Greater Planar Binding: Yet more SLAs
L8 Project Multiple Images: alt-yous
L9 Gate: Epic monster madness
L9 Astral Projection: Alt-yous can die without consequence
Summoning starts with L3 Animate Dead and becomes broken powerful by the time L9 Gate comes around, particularly if epic monsters are available.
We'll go with level 2, although you could argue for level 1. Druid and Spirit Shaman are level 1 while Cleric, Psion, and Wizard are level 2. Low level summons are weak/nonexistent, but the variety power and scope of mid and high level summons exceeds any class list.
L0 Detect Magic: See magic in 60'
L1@ECL20 Improvisation: 4x Skill +level/2
L1@ECL20 Loresong: Skill +4+level/2, persistable.
L4 Surge of Fortune: skill check 20
L8 Moment of Prescience: +25 to opposed skill check
L8 Polymorph Any Object: High Intelligence form
Persistent Loresong, native ranks, improvisation, and Surge of Fortune could all potentially be used here, although you'll need somethings like Planar Touchstone[Catalogs of Enlightenment[Kobold Domain]] to be able to disarm difficult traps.
Level 3 seems appropriate here. Level 1 is reserved for classes which get the trapfinding class feature with relevant skills like Beguiler, Rogue, and Factotum. Level 2 is for characters that can find and at least avoid traps like Archivist or Cleric. Level 3 is for classes that can spam minions like Wizard or Druid.