Spells that confer bonuses without being cast.

[Jay R]

Reading the Dragon Magic, I discover that Burst of Glacial Wrath confers resistance to cold 5, and that Haze of Smoldering Stone give resistance to fire 3, just from learning them, independent of actually casting them.

[There are also some that grant competence bonuses to specific skills.]

These can't be the only ones. What other spells confer benefits just from knowing the spells?

[Zaq]

I do not recall the details, but I think there are a couple in some of the later Eberron books. Try looking in Magic of Eberron, Faiths of Eberron, and so on.

[Thurbane]

The ones I've been able to find are:

• Adoration of the Frightful (DM); +1 competence bonus on Diplomacy checks
• Burst of Glacial Wrath (DM); resistance to cold 5
• Call of the Twilight Defender (DM); +1 competence bonus on Knowledge (nature) checks
• Haze of Smoldering Stone (DM); resistance to fire 3
• Mind of the Labyrinth (DM); +1 competence bonus on Bluff checks
• Vision of the Omniscient Eye (DM); +1 competence bonus on Spot checks

I wasn't aware this was even a thing before now. As far as I can tell, it only seems to exist in Dragon Magic...

"Mindset" spells:

• Aspect of the Werebeast (RoE); while prepared, shifting duration increases 1 round
• Doppelganger Transformation (RoE); while prepared, +2 bonus on Bluff and Disguise Checks, +2 save vs. sleep and charm effects
• Furnace Within (RoE); while prepared, +1 fire damage on natural attacks and attacks with metallic melee weapons
• Insidious Suggestion (RoE); while prepared, +2 bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate checks
• Wild Instincts (RoE); while prepared, +1 insight bonus on Listen and Spot checks (+2 if you are a shifter)

[sreservoir]

Races of Eberron has a handful of these and introduces the Mindset descriptor for them. I don't think any other book uses that descriptor, though...

[Thurbane]

Just had a look and you are correct: however, Mindset spells seem to be slightly different, in that you only get the bonuses while the spell is prepared, rather than simply learning it...

[Zanos]

Reading the Dragon Magic, I discover that Burst of Glacial Wrath confers resistance to cold 5, and that Haze of Smoldering Stone give resistance to fire 3, just from learning them, independent of actually casting them.

[There are also some that grant competence bonuses to specific skills.]

These can't be the only ones. What other spells confer benefits just from knowing the spells?

It's important to remember that, IIRC, only spellcasters with limited spells known(such as sorcerers and bards) can actually benefit from the passive components of these spells.

[Jay R]

It's important to remember that, IIRC, only spellcasters with limited spells known(such as sorcerers and bards) can actually benefit from the passive components of these spells.

I didn't know that. Could you point me to where that is written? I was planning to use a couple of these for my wizard, so I need to see the exact wording.

[Zanos]

I didn't know that. Could you point me to where that is written? I was planning to use a couple of these for my wizard, so I need to see the exact wording.

Page 60 in dragon magic:

The following new spells are suitable for use in any campaign where the influence of dragons and draconic creatures is felt across the world. Characters gain an extra benefit by learning some of these spells, as noted in the “Special” entry after a spell’s description. This benefit applies to any character who has a list of spells known, such as a bard, sorcerer, warmage (see Complete Arcane) or favored soul (see Complete Divine), but not to characters who prepare spells from a class list or a spellbook, such as a cleric or wizard. It applies as long as the spell remains on the character’s list of known spells. If she later removes the spell (for example, if a sorcerer swaps it for another spell of the same level), she loses the benefit, too.

[Gemini476]

Worth noting is that while the Warmage is called out as an example, it doesn't actually get any of the spells without spending Advanced Learning on them. In other words, it's not something that you'd get for free.

There is a slight weird thing to this, though: a spontaneous arcane caster who goes Rainbow Servant 10 will get Adoration of the Faithful and Vision of the Omniscient Eye, meaning that they secretly get... a +1 competence bonus to Diplomacy checks and Spot checks. Yeah, that's nothing that'll matter much.