What spells to store?

[Nogard]

OK, heres the situation.

I have a character, 6th level, mostly combat oriented and not a caster. I have a ring of spell storing that will hold a whopping 3 spell levels (arcane or divine), and the opportunity right now to load it up with whatever spells i want.

So the question is, what 3 levels worth of spells should I take? Something that can be used in conjunction for added cheese would be nice. I know 3 lousy levels isn't much, but i''d like to have a trick to pull out of my sleeve when a nasty fight comes up.

Additionally, while i do expect some battles against tougher single monsters later on, its looking like the first few big ones are going to be as part of a larger army in a siege situation (we could be on either end of the siege, that hasn't been made clear yet).

What do the guru's of gaming that frequent these boards have for me?

[goat]

Fireball! Fireball!

Lightning Bolt!

Alter Self and cheese it up!

[Jack_Simth]

A lot of low CR opponents?

You want area-effect spells with large areas - Fireball, Lightning Bolt, and the like, that are liable to kill all the mooks they affect.

Single high CR opponents? Combat control type spells, save-or-suck spells; Slow, Web, Obscurring Mist, and the like.

Generic stuff?

As melee person, three Enlarge Person spells will do wonders - especially if you have a reach weapon. That 1d10 glaive at a five-foot reach goes to a 2d8 glaive at a 10 foot reach. That 2d4 Spiked Chain at 5 and 10 feet becomes a 2d6 Spiked Chain at 5, 10, 15, and 20 feet; does wonders for your AoO count.

You might want a "get out of trouble" spell - Invisibility and Expiditeous Retreat come to mind, as does Fly.

You might want some healing in there (Cure Serious WOunds will do 3d8+5).

What's your prefference?

[Nogard]

i was considering enlarge person, and i think you just cinfirmed that as a good choice.

Healing isn't necessary thats covered elsewhere.

I was really just looking at buffs at first, but i think you are right about battlefield control being a good way to go.

[martyboy74]

A nice (read: reeks cheddar) 3rd level save-or-suck spell is Shivering Touch from Frostburn. You could also put a Haste or Slow in; those are both very useful.

[ocato]

I would fill it with emergency buttons. Heals, flying, some sort of teleportish spell, maybe even a swiss army knife.

[Renx]

In addition to those already mentioned here:

Feather Fall, Expeditious Retreat, Divine Favour, Hide from Undead, Obscuring Mist, Sanctuary, Bless, Summon Monster I...

those from just the PHB.

Resurgence (additional saving throw against an ongoing effect), Divine Insight (5+CL bonus on a Skill check).

Still, you only have 3 spell levels (I'd much rather take a ring that stores 6, but only one of arcane/divine), so you'll have to decide according to your character. Bull's Strength/Cat's Grace/Owl's Wisdom or similar 2nd level effect might be handy. But if your party has a wizard, you can just load a fireball off her every night :P

Also, if you want a REAL worst-case-scenario spell, go with Dispel Magic.

//Edit1: Oh! If you're the party leader, Status kicks ass. 2nd level divine, PHB material, monitors position (distance+direction) AND condition(unharmed,wounded,disabled,staggered,unco nscious,dying,dead,etc) of one touched living subject per 3 levels. For 1hr/level. At caster level 10-12 that's a kickass party leader/tactician spell.

[Curmudgeon]

Alter Self can be the Swiss Army Knife of low-level spells if your character has experience with enough of the right creatures. You can gain forms to

• run
• fly
• climb
• swim
• burrow
• tank up (with natural armor)

See here for ideas.

Also, there's no cheesier low-level combat spell than True Strike.

[Ikkitosen]

Definitely Enlarge Person - you cast that, freeing your wizard's first action up to cast the spells you can't fit into your ring.

[Jack_Simth]

Oh, and a note:

A Ring of Spell Storing, by it's description, will only cast the spell back out at the minimum caster level possible for the spell. Additionally, as a command-word item, it's always a standard action to cast a spell out of the ring. You can't make much use out of any spell with a duration measured in rounds (except true Strike), spells that have casting times under 1 standard action (such as Featherfall), or spells where the effect is tied to the caster level.

Enlarge Person is great - 1 min/level - even at caster level 1, that'll last most combats. It also actually saves time, as you don't need to deal with the full-round casting time.

Web, likewise - minute/level, not overly dependant on caster level for the effects.

Sanctuary, at 1 round/level, not so much.

[Fax Celestis]

I'm a personal fan of the Mario Effect: ring of jumping + spell-storing boots +1 (which are storing Reduce Person). Jump on your foes, shrink them.

[Ikkitosen]

Sell the ring and buy a bunch of cheap 'spell storing' weapons for 1300g a pop (+1, 300g mstwk)--...

Minimum +1 enchantment, +1 for spell storing = +2, which costs 8000gp. +300 Mwk and whatever the weapon is = not cheap. Spell storing ammo is the generally accepted cheese for this since they cost 1/50th. One use only though.

[Ikkitosen]

unfortunately 'spell storing' only works on 'melee' weapons (there's a table listing 'melee weapon properties,' and another listing 'ranged weapon properties,' though it doesn't specifically say in the ability description 'melee only,' so one could argue the point), and the argument could also be made that one must be wielding in order to unleash it's potency ("...if the wielder desires...").

I completely missed the "needs a +1 first" bit, and had forgotten the 2x bonus for weapons bit--I suppose that's specifically for this sorta thing.

Still, if you've a bit of money, it can be useful. Targetted spells that take a standard action to cast only, but that still leaves you with a lot to work with--and the 'anybody can use, anytime' thing just makes it too tempting to pass up...

I'm just wondering what the rules say about using multiple tiny weapons--making spiked gauntlets by mounting 5 diminutive short spears on some gauntlet, for instance. It'd cost at leat 40,000, and 5 spells just to refill if you used 'em all, so it might not even be worth it, but it could definitely give the monk a little extra 'oomph' when he's punching someone, or a quick fix in the middle of a fight just by scratching himself a little.

First point: agreed. Was it always this way? There was a lot of conversation on this a long time ago now, so maybe it was once possible. I don't know.

Pricing: easy mistake to make tbh.

Lots in one: I think you can technically only wield one weapon per hand at a time, so they might be there but you cannot use them. Short of a better one, this is the argument I'd make as a DM!