[3.5] Broken spells, again

[Cicciograna]

Spells are probabily the most broken piece of D&D: various threads have enumerated such spells and the reasons that makes such spells broken. I have prowled many of these threads and taken notes about which Core spells are mentioned and why. I noticed that there are many ambiguities: spells that someone considers broken are perfectly safe for another, and apparently innocuous spells are pointed to as potentially dangerous for the game.
I ranked then each mentioned spell with a letter, trying to describe and classify its "breaking power"; the ranking system I used is the following:

• A - these spells pose little problems: they can cause some minor hassle, but they do not outright break a game; plus, they're very situational, and not many player would pick and prepare them constantly.
• B - such spells can cause problems, but there are some mitigating factors that limit their effectiveness, such as costly material components, long casting times, decreasing effectiveness with level, etc.
• C - these spells are potentially capable of breaking many situations, from combat to social interactions; their versatility, combined with low or nenexistent costs, makes them primary choices for every casters.
• D - these spells break the game, no matter how used: they can completely screw economics, making WBL table useless; kill every opponent in one round, no matter how strong; give arbitrarily high buffs to players; solve every social situation in a matter of minutes.

After every voice, I added a brief description about possibile abuses of the spell; there are many blank spots, however, and I admit that this is due to my ignorance of obscure rules and tricks that could transform an apparently innocuous spell (or one in line with other spells of same power) in a potential bomb: every addition is gracefully accepted.

{table]Spell|Degree|Possible misuse
Acid Fog|

B

|Heavy battlefield control
Alarm|

A

|Suspension breaker and cheap warning system
Alter Self|

C

|Can greatly enhance stats; common Polymorph misuses
Animal Growth|

C

|Transforms animals in killing machines; Druids can abuse it to enhance their animal companions
Antimagic Field|

C

|Can shutdown magic items
Arcane lock|

B

|Open Lock cannot breach it
Astral Projection|

D

|Save game spell
Awaken|

B

|-
Baleful Polymorph|

C

|Save or lose
Black Tentacles|

C

|Heavy battlefield control
Blasphemy|

C

|If CL is pumped high enough, can paralyze opponents with no save
Blindness/Deafness|

B

|Save or suck
Blink|

C

|Apart from boni in combat, the ability to pass through walls can be exploited
Charm Monster|

C

|Excessive character/monster control
Charm Monster, Mass|

C

|Excessive character/monster control
Charm Person|

C

|Excessive character/monster control
Cloudkill|

C

|Heavy battlefield control
Color Spray|

B

|Save or suck/die
Contact Other Plane|

B

|Can foil hidden plans and screw DM's works
Contingency|

B

|If abused can make any Wizard immortal
Control Winds|

B

|Heavy battlefield control
Creeping Doom|

B

|-
Deep Slumber|

C

|Save or lose
Detect Snares and Pits|

A

|Steals a class ability
Dispel Chaos/Evil/Good/Law|

B

|Many powerful effects in a single spell
Divination|

C

|Can foil hidden plans and screw DM's works
Dominate Monster|

C

|Excessive character/monster control
Dominate Person|

C

|Excessive character/monster control
Elemental Swarm|

B

|-
Enervation|

C

|Suck and suck
Entangle|

B

|Heavy battlefield control
Entropic Shield|

B

|-
Fabricate|

B

|Can screw economics
Fear|

B

|Save or lose
Feeblemind|

C

|Can shutdown a caster
Find the path|

C

|Bypass dangers and crucial points in various situations
Finger of Death|

C

|Save or die
Flesh to Stone|

C

|Save or die
Fly|

C

|Makes caster immune to non flyers
Forcecage|

B

|Effectively shuts down one or more enemies
Foresight|

B

|-
Freedom of Movement|

C

|Completely frustrates hindering attempts
Gate|

D

|Gives way to infinite Wish loops; same issues of Summon X spells
Ghoul Touch|

B

|-
Glitterdust|

B

|Save or suck
Grease|

B

|Save or (heavily) suck
Hold Monster|

B

|Excessive character/monster control
Hold Monster, Mass|

B

|Excessive character/monster control
Holy Word|

C

|If CL is pumped high enough, can paralyze opponents with no save
Imprisonment|

C

|Save or die
Iron Body|

B

|-
Irresistible Dance|

C

|Die or die
Knock|

A

|Renders Open Locks almost useless and then more
Mage’s Disjunction|

D

|Can frustrate months and months of adventures by permanently destroying all magic items
Mage’s Magnificent Mansion|

C

|Safe haven where to rest and recover
Magic Jar|

C

|Excessive character/monster control
Magic Mouth|

A

|-
Magic Weapon, Greater|

B

|Kills the necessity (and costs) of magic weapons
Major Creation|

B

|Can screw economics; can create poisonous substances; can create anti-osmium bombs
Major Image|

C

|-
Maze|

B

|Can shutdown an enemy; in combo with Feeblemind is devastating
Mind Blank|

C

|Can obliviate Enchantment altogether
Minor Creation|

B

|Can screw economics; can create poisonous substances
Miracle|

D

|Similar issues to Wish
Mount|

A

|-
Nightmare|

C

|Can potentially screw up a caster, denying him the ability to refresh spells
Overland Flight|

C

|Kills the risks of travel
Permanency|

C

|Powerful spells can be permanencied; the XP cost is a limiting factor, however
Phantasmal Killer|

A

|Save or die
Phantom Steed|

B

|-
Planar Binding|

C

|The summoned creature can have very powerful abilities; binding is not so hard as it seems
Planar Binding, Greater|

C

|The summoned creature can have very powerful abilities; binding is not so hard as it seems
Planar Binding, Lesser|

C

|The summoned creature can have very powerful abilities; binding is not so hard as it seems
Polymorph|

D

|Can grant enhanced physical abilities without effort; Druids combining their Polymorph effects with Natural spell are unstoppable
Polymorph Any Object|

D

|Common Polymorph misuses, aggravated by the sheer power of this spell
Power Word Stun|

C

|Save or die
Prismatic Sphere|

C

|Save or suffer/suck/lose/die
Prismatic Spray|

C

|Save or suffer/suck/lose/die
Programmed Image|

C

|-
Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law|

C

|Many powerful effects in a single spell
Protection from Energy|

C

|Can obliviate Evocation altogether
Prying Eyes|

B

|-
Prying Eyes, Greater|

B

|-
Ray of Enfeeblement|

B

|Save or suck
Rope Trick|

B

|Safe haven where to rest and recover
Scrying|

C

|Can foil hidden plans and screw DM's works
Scrying, Greater|

C

|Can foil hidden plans and screw DM's works
See Invisibility|

B

|-
Shadow Conjuration|

C

|A single spell that can duplicate an (almost) entire School
Shadow Conjuration, Greater|

C

|A single spell that can duplicate an (almost) entire School
Shadow Evocation|

C

|A single spell that can duplicate an (almost) entire School
Shadow Evocation, Greater|

C

|A single spell that can duplicate an (almost) entire School
Shapechange|

D

|Common Polymorph misuses, aggravated by the sheer power of this spell
Shrink Item|

B

|-
Silent Image|

B

|-
Simulacrum|

C

|One or more actual duplicates of the caster? Yes please!
Sleep|

B

|Save or die
Solid Fog|

C

|Heavy battlefield control, offers no save
Status|

A

|-
Stinking Cloud|

B

|Heavy battlefield control
Stone to Flesh|

B

|-
Summon Monster I-IX|

B

|Summoned creatures provide additional muscle and can be heavily buffed
Summon Nature’s Ally I-IX|

C

|Summoned creatures provide additional muscle and can be heavily buffed; Druids cast this spontaneously and can combo it with Animal growth
Teleport|

C

|Kills the risks of travel; makes most encounters trivial
Teleport Object|

C

|-
Teleport, Greater|

C

|Kills the risks of travel; makes most encounters trivial
Teleportation Circle|

C

|Kills the risks of travel; makes most encounters trivial
Temporal Stasis|

B

|-
Time Stop|

C

|Completely screws action economy; easily and massively abused
Transformation|

B

|-
Trap the Soul|

C

|Save or die
True Seeing|

C

|Can obliviate Illusion altogether
Wail of the Banshee|

B

|Save or die
Wall of Force|

C

|Heavy battlefield control
Wall of Iron|

C

|Gives a permanent benefit at negligible cost; in combo with Fabricate can screw economics
Wall of Stone|

B

|Gives a permanent benefit at negligible cost
Web|

B

|Heavy battlefield control
Weird|

C

|Save or die, on multiple targets
Wind Wall|

B

|Completely shields caster from one type of attack; the sweeping wind can be creatively used in other ways
Wish|

D

|Can be used in infinite loops, and if it can be accessed freely it breaks the game[/table]

Feel free to suggest additions or changes to this table.
Enjoy.

[Psyren]

I don't see Maze as a D. By the time you get 8th-level spells, being able to shut something down for 10 minutes without a save isn't gamebreaking, especially when it (a) has multiple ways out (planar travel or simply making the check) and is (b) subject to SR.

[Cicciograna]

I don't see Maze as a D. By the time you get 8th-level spells, being able to shut something down for 10 minutes without a save isn't gamebreaking, especially when it (a) has multiple ways out (planar travel or simply making the check) and is (b) subject to SR.

It's a typo indeed. I originally marked it as a B (and not C due to the high level), but messed a bit with my table. Fixing it.

[Glimbur]

Enervation doesn't offer a save. Miracle is better than wish because it has uses that don't cost XP. I'd argue magic missile should be an A or not on the chart at all, it's just so little damage that it's not worth casting despite the no save/no attack roll aspect.

[Godless_Paladin]

Rope Trick, the equal of Alarm?

And some of your comments don't make sense. What class ability does Knock steal? Open Lock is a skill, not a class ability, and further the ability to open Arcane Locks is not something that Open Lock allows you to do, period.

If anything, Arcane Lock should be bothersome because it prevents an Epic Rogue from using Open Lock to gain passage to an Arcane Locked door as a Permanent level 2 spell. And yet Arcane Lock isn't even on the list!

[Cicciograna]

Enervation doesn't offer a save. Miracle is better than wish because it has uses that don't cost XP. I'd argue magic missile should be an A or not on the chart at all, it's just so little damage that it's not worth casting despite the no save/no attack roll aspect.

Thanks for Enervation. So it's just a "Suck".
I agree that Miracle is better than Wish, but in my opinion both have about the same breaking power. Moreover, I chose to use a very broad ranking system because otherwise could rise questions about particular spells: on a 1-10 scale, I'd put Miracle something as one or two points over Wish, but there are many cases where different interpretations could lead to different ranks, and thus to disappointment.

Rope Trick, the equal of Alarm?

Should I move it to C, or Alarm down to A?

[Godless_Paladin]

Should I move it to C, or Alarm down to A?

I dunno about the exact ranks, I'd have to weigh all of those spells in the balance, but that just immediately caught my eye as "X != Y" at first glance. Those things are not equal. Alarm is pretty easy to counteract by a variety of means. Rope Trick, on the other hand, has never been so simple. Further, Rope Trick has a lot of extra utility besides just providing a place to rest.

[ScionoftheVoid]

Enervate is more accurately "just suck" since it doesn't allow a save, it only requires a touch attack. It can also kill enemies.

The Charm spells are generally rather narrow in their target or are easily avoided by the time they are obtained, through naturally high saves, immunity to the effect or hired help to counterspell/raise saves/give immunity using their own spells. Useful if you need to get information from a commoner, or to stop an angry mob, but not so much for getting the king's court to listen to you. I'd say this puts them down to a B, apart from possibly Charm Person.

I only skimmed the list (I'll look more closely later, it seems interesting) but the Dominate line has the same problems but worse due to the levels they are obtained, I'd say they amount to a C in social situations though anyone canny enough to use it on melee bruisers (who are not Outsiders, Undead, Constructs, Vermin or Plants) could bring it up to a D in combat with a bit of forward planning and organisational skills.

I look forward to reading this later, good work.

Edit: Partially ninja'd.

On Alarm and Rope Trick, I would suggest you move Alarm down to A and possibly move Rope Trick up to C as well. It is really difficult to do anything to someone inside a Rope Tirck. At low levels it is effectively invincibility and invisibility, at high levels foes can see it easily enough but they still have to wait for you to come out and Teleport can thwart even that at times.

[Cicciograna]

Enervate is more accurately "just suck" since it doesn't allow a save, it only requires a touch attack. It can also kill enemies.

The Charm spells are generally rather narrow in their target or are easily avoided by the time they are obtained, through naturally high saves, immunity to the effect or hired help to counterspell/raise saves/give immunity using their own spells. Useful if you need to get information from a commoner, or to stop an angry mob, but not so much for getting the king's court to listen to you. I'd say this puts them down to a B, apart from possibly Charm Person.

I only skimmed the list (I'll look more closely later, it seems interesting) but the Dominate line has the same problems but worse due to the levels they are obtained, I'd say they amount to a C in social situations though anyone canny enough to use it on melee bruisers (who are not Outsiders, Undead, Constructs, Vermin or Plants) could bring it up to a D in combat with a bit of forward planning and organisational skills.

I look forward to reading this later, good work.

Thanks for the suggestion. However, I'm the first to admit that this list is FAR from perfect: when I wrote it, I hoped for many suggestions and corrections, so I thank you in advance for every change you'll suggest.

[Tharck]

There is no save to Irresistible Dance.

[ShriekingDrake]

This is great!! Very well done. I'll look it over more carefully and lend some comments.

It would be nice to follow it up with a similar table for spells from the Spell Compendium, PHII, etc.

Jack-'o-Lanterns abound the town; it's my favorite season.

Edit: What about Poison, shouldn't that at least be an A or B?

[Eldariel]

Baleful Polymorph is a simple save-or-die (with slightly softer "die" as you're still alive, just permanently irrelevant, unless the caster wants -4 on the save which is just pointless). While mostly better than Finger of Death, it's not C since it has far less in terms of the beneficial Polymorph uses that make the rest of the school so insane. Seems like a fair B to me.

[Cicciograna]

This is great!! Very well done. I'll look it over more carefully and lend some comments.

It would be nice to follow it up with a similar table for spells from the Spell Compendium, PHII, etc.

Jack

I'm not familiar with spells from other sources, as in my games, both as a player and as a DM, I sticked to Core. Any additions are welcome, however.

[Coidzor]

I'm not following why Magic Mouth would be broken even to the extent of registering as an A.

[Godless_Paladin]

I also don't see how stuff like "Alter Self" or "Planar Binding" or "Blasphemy" can possibly be in the same boat as stuff like "Summon Monster I" or "Protection from Energy."

I mean, damn, Alter Self is so broken they had entire threads, handbooks, and compendiums for literally just that one spell on the CO boards. It was also one of the leading tactics on the "break the game as hard as you can as a level 5 caster" thread that had some rather harsh testing standards across various difficult adventures, as opposed to just duels (that is to say, out of something like 50 entries with access to pretty much any source only a small handful of casters succeeded, and one of the most overwhelmingly successful tactics was "I just cast Alter Self").

Protection from Energy? Not so much.

I'm sorry, but your ratings just seem all over the place without a great deal of rhyme or reason.

[Emmerask]

Very nice list, haven´t looked over everything in detail yet but amf
should be a B because it has many mitigating factors:

-It is centered on you with an extremely small radius

-it is an emanation effect, can easily be blocked

-except if you are a cheater of mystra and one other prc if I recall correctly you can´t cast from inside it(no not even instant conjuration spells), being a caster this makes you pretty worthless for the rest of the fight.

-You are still subject to conjuration effects like orb spells

-if you sculpt it (if your dm allows it which is not guaranteed) so that you are able to cast you lose most of its protecting power

[Godless_Paladin]

Very nice list, haven´t looked over everything in detail yet but amf
should be a B because it has many mitigating factors:

-It is centered on you with an extremely small radius

-it is an emanation effect, can easily be blocked

-except if you are a cheater of mystra and one other prc if I recall correctly you can´t cast from inside it(no not even instant conjuration spells), being a caster this makes you pretty worthless for the rest of the fight.

-You are still subject to conjuration effects like orb spells

-if you sculpt it (if your dm allows it which is not guaranteed) so that you are able to cast you lose most of its protecting power

Don't underestimate the AMF.

Even if it does shut down your spellcasting, you don't have to do everything yourself. And it's not only the frail-without-magic types that cast it.

[Emmerask]

Don't underestimate the AMF.

Even if it does shut down your spellcasting, you don't have to do everything yourself. And it's not only the frail-without-magic types that cast it.

I´m not saying its a worthless spell I´m just going by the ops rating system

B - such spells can cause problems, but there are some mitigating factors that limit their effectiveness, such as costly material components, long casting times, decreasing effectiveness with level, etc.

C - these spells are potentially capable of breaking many situations, from combat to social interactions; their versatility, combined with low or nenexistent costs, makes them primary choices for every casters.

and I think I have named enough mitigating factors to qualify for a B

[Cicciograna]

I'm not following why Magic Mouth would be broken even to the extent of registering as an A.

I must confess that when I found it in the other threads I was puzzled. I can't imagine what sort of uses could this spell have to be menacing for a game, and indeed the "Possible misuses" section is empty. What do you think, should I remove it?

I also don't see how stuff like "Alter Self" or "Planar Binding" or "Blasphemy" can possibly be in the same boat as stuff like "Summon Monster I" or "Protection from Energy."

I mean, damn, Alter Self is so broken they had entire threads, handbooks, and compendiums for literally just that one spell on the CO boards. It was also one of the leading tactics on the "break the game as hard as you can as a level 5 caster" thread that had some rather harsh testing standards across various difficult adventures, as opposed to just duels (that is to say, out of something like 50 entries with access to pretty much any source only a small handful of casters succeeded, and one of the most overwhelmingly successful tactics was "I just cast Alter Self").

Protection from Energy? Not so much.

I'm sorry, but your ratings just seem all over the place without a great deal of rhyme or reason.

Hey, no problem here. Help me then: help me to give better ratings. I'm open to suggestions.

[Godless_Paladin]

Well I'll start by saying Alter Self is to level 2 spells what Polymorph is to level 4 spells. Especially if you are a type other than Humanoid...

I'll go on to say that somehow you gave the relatively innocuous Divination the same rating as the likes of Blasphemy and Alter Self, and yet Find the Path isn't mentioned. Is there some reason why?

Arcane Lock isn't on the list either, and I'd say it goes at least as far as slapping people who invested in Open Lock skills in the face than Knock down. You could have a +100 to Open Lock and never get through the door of the level 3 Wizard's house.

I don't really have time to rewrite the full list, though...

[Cicciograna]

Well I'll start by saying Alter Self is to level 2 spells what Polymorph is to level 4 spells. Especially if you are a type other than Humanoid...

I'll go on to say that somehow you gave the relatively innocuous Divination the same rating as the likes of Blasphemy and Alter Self, and yet Find the Path isn't mentioned. Is there some reason why?

Arcane Lock isn't on the list either, and I'd say it goes at least as far as slapping people who invested in Open Lock skills in the face than Knock down. You could have a +100 to Open Lock and never get through the door of the level 3 Wizard's house.

I don't really have time to rewrite the full list, though...

Thank you for your kind help

[Tyndmyr]

Deep Slumber is a Save or Lose, not Save or Die.

Time Stop is a C, not a D. Yes, it can form part of effective combos, but it is not inherently broken in every use. It has a fairly limiting set of restrictions, and it's quite high level, so the abuse possible is, while powerful, not horrifically ridiculous.

Prismatic Wall should be added. It's a C, due to the horrifically powerful nature of it. Pretty hard to screw up the use of it.

Summon Monsters aren't terribly powerful as muscle, even if you buff them. Any power here is gained from use of their SLAs.

Phantasmal Killer is merely an A. Very situational, due to the long list of typing, and the dual saves and single target nature makes it rather ineffective as well. I would imagine few players would in fact use it constantly.

Blink is probably C. The ability to just keep going through walls is...invariably handy. The fact that it does that AND contributes to stacking miss chances is great. Plus, going through walls is a great way to get surprise rounds. It can easily be used to break an encounter or dungeon. Persisting it is always hilarious.

Nightmare should be added as C or D. It's a great way to hose any caster not immune to mind-affecting and who sleeps. With enough spell slots/scrolls, it forms an excellent means of scry and die that allows you to harry or kill a target with almost no risk.

[Aharon]

@Tyndmyr
I don't agree with the Nightmare assessment. I think we're talking about competent casters, sleeping in Rope Tricks?

Nightmare has Range: Unlimited, which, despite its name, is limited by planar boundaries, so sleeping in a Rope Trick is safe.

(Not to mention that, while the RAI is obvious, it lacks any RAW that makes this spell work without LoE).

[Godless_Paladin]

Phantasmal Killer is pretty tame, as save or loses go. Actually, save or dies in general are often overrated, they just really suck when a player gets hit by one and doesn't have the proper defenses up. But then, so does a critical hit from a scythe. Like crits, they are much more threatening to players than non-players.

I think the worst part is actually that Raise Dead and such don't work on someone who's died from a Death Effect.

Anyways, another issue that people have to consider when using a list like this is that how powerful something is is dependent on other elements in the game, and that changing one changes others. For example, if oozes were no longer immune to sneak attacks, Sneak Attack would be a better ability. Likewise, removing Knock would make Arcane Lock more formidable. And so forth.

Therefore, I would raise the question: What exactly is the proposed utility of this list? It is not a terribly practical matter to say "Well, spells with rating X or worse get banned," because that could have unexpected effects on the power of other spells (For example, Nightmare is scarier if people don't have Rope Trick, immunity to mind-affecting effects, will save boosters, dispels, a deadly turnabout mechanic for the caster, etc). The nerf bat is not a tool to be used hastily and without consideration of collateral damage.

[Tyndmyr]

@Tyndmyr
I don't agree with the Nightmare assessment. I think we're talking about competent casters, sleeping in Rope Tricks?

Nightmare has Range: Unlimited, which, despite its name, is limited by planar boundaries, so sleeping in a Rope Trick is safe.

Ideally, they would. So yes, a counter exists. However, if for any reason that counter is not used every night, bam. Plus, you've got hilarious combinations with any spell effect that makes someone sleep long enough to use it.

(Not to mention that, while the RAI is obvious, it lacks any RAW that makes this spell work without LoE).

The SRD does...I don't know if every source of it does. It clearly was intended to inherit from Scry though. So...any point in which you can use this spell results in hilarity. A DM can attempt to limit it...or they could attempt to use it on you. However, at any point in which it's actually used, it's pretty broken. Especially because you can just keep recasting while they sleep, until they fail the save.

[Aharon]

@Combo
Good Point. Curious: What effects would that be? I can only think of Sleep and Deep Slumber right now, and if you use these, the combo isn't that practical - if you already have them at your mercy, there are better ways to deal with them than casting nightmare.
Although it might have a niche use as a way to safely take an arcane caster prisoner.

@LoE
Huh? I used the SRD as a reference, and it doesn't say anything about LoE. It just says you need a connection to a person you don't have knowledge of.

Actually, I just now noticed that Scrying doesn't say anything about LoE, either

[ScionoftheVoid]

Magic Missile doesn't deserve a place that no other pure damage spell gets.

I would put Overland Flight as a B. You can still be hit by anything with a ranged attack or anything that flies itself and you probably can't outrun them without taking too many free hits to be efficient. Plus you're easy to spot for anything far bigger than you wanting a snack (most reasonably aged Dragons, Awakened Tyrannosauruses with jetpacks, Rocs).

I would personally place most Divination spells lower, they tend to be easily countered (Scry), not plot-breaking and otherwise fairly tame without large investment (Contact Other Plane) and should generally be expected by foes, so the only people who know the true plan are protected most, if not all, of the time.

I would place AMF as an A or a B. A Cleric in an AMF is actually worse than a Fighter, and Druids (the only caster who could benefit) don't get the spell. It is generally useless without Eldritch Theurge (Complete Mage, gains the ability attach a spell to an Eldritch Blast. An AMF centred on your opponent might actually have some use).

Otherwise the I just about agree, certainly within the rather wide bands you have given.

[Godless_Paladin]

What the... Magic Missile is on there? And it's a B?

OK, what?

Lemme see this... oh crikey, Eyebite is on there! The nerfed to hell and back for 3.5 Eyebite! The level 6 spell that targets a single Close range target, has a fortitude save to negate, and just sickens people! And it's... it's...

It's rated the same as Glitterdust, the level 2 area effect spell that gives people a will save versus blindness and completely illuminates would-be stealth users.

It's also rated the same as Contingency.

I am completely lost now. Can someone please explain to me why Eyebite is on there? Am I missing something?

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/eyebite.htm

The only half decent thing on there is the Move Action subsequent turns clause, and mind the duration's so short you really have to cast it like 1 round before the battle starts to get any benefit, and even then you're using up a 6th level slot to maybe Sicken a guy if you get the drop on him.

Now that I've actually looked over the whole list, I can't make heads or tails of the rating system.

[ericgrau]

Because an 11th level wizard might SoS a single CR 6 creature?

I don't think the single target save-or-X spells are all that good, particularily the will/fort ones. Weak things are often better killed by other means and strong ones make their save. Maybe they're better in duels, but idc about duels. A fireball hitting many targets, for example, is far, far better even with only partially killing the targets (better than partial chance of success vs. 1 target). And why is Otiluke's Resilient Sphere missing? At least it's a reflex save, which tends to be lower among monsters. The shadow spells are also pretty lousy, as the 2nd save, lower spell level and other misc. limitations make them much worse than 90% of the spells you can mimic with them. For that matter most of the C spells (except those mentioned) are merely very good. An encounter whose CR is too high, even with nothing but beatsticks in it, will still whoop you.

Most of the D spells, though there are few, seem to require highly abusive rules exploitation and require a reflex save vs. flying rulebooks. But that's open to 20 page thread discussion. Nevertheless, avoiding the more abusive applications or, if you can't do that, avoiding those spells avoids trouble. So what we've learned here is if you can't help abusing the game, then avoid polymorphs, time stop, wish, miracle and gate. Simple enough. I don't know enough about astral projection to comment.

[Tyndmyr]

@Combo
Good Point. Curious: What effects would that be? I can only think of Sleep and Deep Slumber right now, and if you use these, the combo isn't that practical - if you already have them at your mercy, there are better ways to deal with them than casting nightmare.
Although it might have a niche use as a way to safely take an arcane caster prisoner.

Doesn't have to be you casting the sleep is the thing. So, for the patient types, it allows you a fun ability in conjunction with scry.

This assumes that this and scry do not require LoE, which seems to be the standard interpretation.

For the bloody-minded, it's hilarious with stacked metamagic. At least until the DM decides that no, you can't just make people randomly die.