Spells vs. Undead?

[Tyger]

OK, just leveled up my wizard (Wizard 7 / Mage of the Arcane Order 3) to level 10. Looking over my new spell choices for this level up, I am in a bind about what to pick. We know we are going up against undead, specifically vampires, even more specifically Strahd from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. PLEASE NO SPOILERS!!!!

Any thoughts? So far, my level 5 spells are:
Hold Monster
Telekinesis

I'm thinking of Dominate Person for sure, but would really like some tips on that other freebie. Doesn't have to be 5th level, though the way our DM handles spells (you can not, ever, buy scrolls, we have found 1 scroll in our game thus far, and have not captured a single spellbook) its a good idea to take the highest level you can.

Sources available are: PHB, PHB II, and the SpC.

Our party is:
Me: Human Wizard / MoAA
Human Monk / Psychic Warrior
Shifter (were-wolf) Ranger
Elven Scout
Human Cleric

We're bumped into the basta... er... Strahd three times now, and he keeps escaping. So any tactical suggestions would be much appreciated too!

[VeisuItaTyhjyys]

Look in Libris Mortis and heroes of horror. There's enough sun-based powers in those books to annihilate virtually every undead in existance.

[Tyger]

Look in Libris Mortis and heroes of horror. There's enough sun-based powers in those books to annihilate virtually every undead in existance.

Note the sources permitted though... as above: PHB, PHB II, and SpC.

[Yami]

Dimensional Anchor (tm).

Bad guy keeps escaping? Demons keep teleporting about the battle field? With the new Dimension Anchor (tm) spell you can be guarenteed to shut down your foes transolcation capacity to nil.

(Spell slot not included. The sturgoen general kindly reminds you that we cannot be held responsible for spell failure do to Spell Resistance, armour penalties, concentration failure of any kind, or poor aiming.)

[Tyger]

Dimensional Anchor (tm).

Bad guy keeps escaping? Demons keep teleporting about the battle field? With the new Dimension Anchor (tm) spell you can be guarenteed to shut down your foes transolcation capacity to nil.

(Spell slot not included. The sturgoen general kindly reminds you that we cannot be held responsible for spell failure do to Spell Resistance, armour penalties, concentration failure of any kind, or poor aiming.)

Yeah, that one is on my list to grab, but in this case, its not that the bad guy is teleporting away, its that pesky Gaseous Form ability of his. We get him in a tight spot and he just turns to mist and out the window or down the cracks... *mutters about damned vampires*

EDIT: Don't mean to sound negative there. Sorry, these are both good suggestions, and do please keep them coming!

[Yami]

Well, if it's out the window, then I doubt Defenestrating sphere would help you much. a shame really, because I was looking foward to typing up that one.

Hmmm.... perhaps a spell to lower your enemies saves? If you can hit 'em with that hold monster you'll be set to just take 'em apart before they can flee.

or you could just grab Evard's Black Tentacles, becuase it's awesome, or stoneskin for defensive buffs. Sometimes you have to accept that your foe will evade you, and burn down the house about his ears.

I would suggest Enervation, as it's usually my first grab for level 4, but something makes me think it wouldn't be so helpful for you...

[Tyger]

Well, if it's out the window, then I doubt Defenestrating sphere would help you much. a shame really, because I was looking foward to typing up that one.

Hmmm.... perhaps a spell to lower your enemies saves? If you can hit 'em with that hold monster you'll be set to just take 'em apart before they can flee.

or you could just grab Evard's Black Tentacles, becuase it's awesome, or stoneskin for defensive buffs. Sometimes you have to accept that your foe will evade you, and burn down the house about his ears.

I would suggest Enervation, as it's usually my first grab for level 4, but something makes me think it wouldn't be so helpful for you...

Sounds like we have very similar taste in spells. Defenestrating Sphere was my first pick when I hit level 7. Damned fine spell! And Evard's gets a lot of use for us too, but its useless here, as he can just go misty. Stoneskin is out, just due to wealth levels. Lets put it this way, until the conclusion of this adventure, I have the wealth of a level 4 character, based on WBL. So the cost of the casting is just too high. And while Enervation is also a great spell, that I get a tonne of milage out of, healing the vampire is low on my list of things to do tomorrow. :smallbiggrin:

[tyckspoon]

Light of Venya, perhaps? 6d6 damage against undead and evil outsiders; share it with your familiar for four rays over two rounds for potentially 24d6 damage, which is more damage than you'll get from any other spell up until you can start Disintegrating things (although you may just wind up convincing Strahd to run away again.) Wrack's a good spell, although you and/or your DM might not like the (Evil) descriptor and undead are immune to it. Defenestrating Sphere is just fun, although you may have some trouble acquiring the appropriate focus.

If you have some space spare to buff the rest of your party, your PsyMonk might enjoy Girallon's Blessing and/or Blood Wind.

Edit: And since I took far too long to look those up and make sure of what they did, Wind Wall can solve your Gaseous Form problem... well, severely limit the vampire's options, anyway. Gaseous creatures cannot go through strong winds, so Wind Wall, Gust of Wind, Control Weather, and Control Wind (if you have access to them) could be used to control the gaseous vampire's movement for at least long enough for the party to prepare other movement spells that might let you follow the vampire back to its coffin. Resilient Sphere also works for that if you can manage to pitch it at the vamp before he gets out of the fight area.

Edit Edit: If you can manage to steal a little something from Strahd- a bit of his body works best, have your scout sneak up behind him and cut off some of his hair- you can try Scrying him to see where he goes while gaseous. Assuming you can get something suitable to use as a Scrying focus, anyway.