Analysis: Spell Categories

[Saph]

Was building a sorcerer character, and came up with an idea. The problem with spontaneous casters (or any character that has a limited list of abilities) is that it's easy to run into a situation where none of your spells work. This means that when you're picking spells, you want ones which are as versatile as possible.

So I tried dividing the spells into categories. The idea is that when you're thinking about adding a spell to your spell list, you check to see how many functions it fills. The higher the number, the more versatile the spell.

Here's the list I've got at the moment:

• Damage: Elemental
• Damage: Non-elemental
• Defence: Avoid (anything that protects you by making you harder to hit)
• Defence: Absorb (anything that protects you by letting you soak up attacks, such as DR or energy resistance)
• Offensive Buff (anything that makes the recipient better at killing stuff)
• Mobility
• Status-inflict: Blind
• Status-inflict: Knockdown
• Status-inflict: Weaken (a blanket category for spells that drain the target's attack or defence power somehow)
• Status-inflict: Incapacitate
• Fire Through Allies (for when you're in the back rank)
• Fire Into Grapple (many nasty monsters have Improved Grab)
• No-Save ( . . . and good saves . . .)
• No-SR ( . . . and spell resistance, too)
• Multiple Target (anything that hits several enemies at full strength))
• Battlefield Control
• Other

The 'Other' category is for uses that aren't on the list, but which come up often enough to be worth counting. For instance, Glitterdust can also illuminate hidden or invisible enemies, which you'll run into fairly regularly. On the other hand, it's going to be a pretty weird adventure where you suddenly find yourself in need of Erase.

Note that this only measures versatility, not power. Levitate and Fly both boost your mobility, but Fly does a vastly better job of it, even counting its higher level. So this assumes that you're only looking at good spells to begin with.

So let's have a look at how some popular spells score on this system.

First, Glitterdust:

• Status-inflict: Blind
• Fire Through Allies (you can use it from the back rank)
• No-SR (very nice)
• Multiple Target
• Other (also works to illuminate invisibles)

Second, Grease:

• Status-inflict: Knockdown
• Fire Through Allies
• No-SR (Conjuration spells are great)
• Fire Into Grapple (use it to help an ally escape)
• Battlefield Control

Both of these spells fill five categories, which suggests they're both very versatile spells. Which they are, two of the best spells in the game, in fact.

How about damage spells?

Magic Missile:

• Damage: Non-elemental
• Fire Through Allies
• Fire Into Grapple
• No-Save

Fireball/Lightning Bolt:

• Damage: Elemental
• Multiple Target

Here, Magic Missile seems far more versatile. You can shoot it in just about any situation, while Fireball and Lightning Bolt are much more limited. Again, this matches my experience - it's rare to be in a good situation to use the second two spells.

So if you're trying to figure out if your spell list covers enough bases, you can go down the list and see how many categories your spells fill.

Thoughts, suggestions?

- Saph

[Riffington]

while Fireball and Lightning Bolt are much more limited. Again, this matches my experience - it's rare to be in a good situation to use the second two spells.

I agreed with the entire post until this point.

[Person_Man]

Well, WotC should hire you to write 4th ed expansions, because what you've written looks a lot like what they're aiming for. Simple, understandable, consistent descriptions. Presumably, they'd eliminate the "No Save" and "Save but Screwed Anyway" spells. And they'd add a paragraph of fluff text (clearly labeled as "Descriptive Text: Has no bearing on rules"). But beyond that, it looks pretty solid.

I, for one, prefer brief and highly accurate spell descriptions that fit into distinct categories. It makes gameplay much easier, it makes balance much easier ("Hey, you can't write Moonbow to do d8 points of damage per level, Fireball only does d6), and it eliminates many rules arguments.

[Solo]

Nice post.


I am working on a core sorcerer build, the one I'm using in the Monk Balance Test, infact, with a few adjustments to make up for shortcomings I have found in the playtest.


Here is the spell list, which, I believe, covers all the main bases:

9:
Dominate Monster
Time Stop
Prismatic Sphere

8:
Greater Prying Eyes
Greater Shadow Evocation
Mind Blank

7:
Spell Turning
Arcane Sight, Greater
Limited Wish

6:
Disintegrate
Dispel Magic, Greater
Shadow Walk

5:
Feeblemind
Wall of Force
Telekinesis
Mind Fog

4:
Enervation
Greater Invisibility
Resilient Sphere
Dimension Door

3:
Fly
Slow
Stinking Cloud
Dispel Magic (swap out for Explosive Runes)

2:
Resistance to Energy
Alter Self
See Invisibility
Shatter
Invisibility (swap out for Detect Thoughts or Glitterdust)

1:
Protection from Evil
True Strike
Magic Missile
Grease
Shield

We've got no save spells, no SR spells, defensive buffs, offensive spells, utility spells, force effects, fun spells (Explosive Runes) and many, many save or X spells. I think this will make for a very versatile sorcerer.

[Squash Monster]

Pretty good list, but I think your battlefield control category is too broad.

I'd divide battlefield control into the following:

Re-arrangement: for spells that move combatants around. Examples are the Transposition spells and any of the dozens of Evocations that send things flying.

Discouragement: for spells that make a certain area of the battlefield inhospitable. Includes things like Wall of Fire.

Binding: spells that make moving through an area very hard. Includes Web, Grease, Solid Fog, Black Tentacles and other classics. Walls are a subset of this.

[Chronos]

In what category would you put summons? What about healing?

(Keeping in mind, of course, that "Summon Monster N" can fill multiple categories, too... Summoning a unicorn can fill in for healing, for example.)

[Solo]

Keep in mind this seems to be for sorcerers... no healing or summoning unicorns for them.

[Chronos]

Keep in mind this seems to be for sorcerers... no healing or summoning unicorns for them.

Well, Break Enchantment might fall into the broad category of "healing", and unicorns are in fact on the Summon Monster VI list.

And there's still the straightforward use of summoning lions and tigers and bears (oh my) to do boring Big Dumb Fighter stuff.

[Solo]

You're thinking Summon Nature's Ally IV

[Sir Giacomo]

Hi,

very interesting thread.

Probably I would use an approach with less categories, according to the situations that a sorcerer faces over the course of his/her adventuring life. And it should be made certain, that more or less at all levels 1-20 there are spells to cover this:

1) Defense from physical attacks
a) Melee
b) Missile

2) Defense from magic attacks (more important, the higher the level)
a) Spells
b) Supernatural abilities (e.g. ghost attacks)

3) Escape pods and reset buttons (like dimension door & up)

4) Research capacity (knowledge actually wins most battles....)
a) by affecting others (enchantment spells)
b) divination spells

5) Attack
a) Normal foes (i.e. those without special resistances, including SR and good saves)
b) Foes only affected by certain attacks (including too high hp-monsters)

6) Buff and utility

Now some key spells can fit nicely into several categories, like a charm person (attack, defense if cast before enemy attack, research), but may be not applicable in all cases (e.g. charm person- non-humanoids or passed save of the opponent which you may not find out quickly enough). Basically, deciding between no-save and no-SR and SR/save spells is not deciding between different categories imo, but deciding between different effectiveness in the same category.

Concerning Solo's solid core sorcerer spell list, I would probably prefer haste to slow (including to automatically dispel enemy slow spells), and also add more teleporting capacity. But it's up to personal tastes - will also think on a core sorcerer list.

- Giacomo

[Solo]

As Shadow Walk covers long distance travel and transplanar movement, I find it a better investment than both Teleportation and Plane Shift.

Not great, but it's one spell that does it instead of two.

While Haste is a good spell, it's benefits do not fully apply unless you're teammates are going to be standing around whacking things with full round actions, which the opponents may not let happen.

Slow, on the other hand, you can pretty much always use as it is a Will save, but not mind affecting spell.

[Saph]

The list's meant for arcanists in general. Primarily sorcerers, but it's also got some use for wizards (as in, to help them decide what to prepare in the morning when they don't know what they're going to face that day).

I'd divide battlefield control into the following:

Re-arrangement: for spells that move combatants around. Examples are the Transposition spells and any of the dozens of Evocations that send things flying.

Discouragement: for spells that make a certain area of the battlefield inhospitable. Includes things like Wall of Fire.

Binding: spells that make moving through an area very hard. Includes Web, Grease, Solid Fog, Black Tentacles and other classics. Walls are a subset of this.

Re-arrangement could be mostly covered by Mobility and Knockdown, I think. Discouragement and Binding seem fairly similar; in both cases you're limiting your opponents' mobility, just in slightly different ways.

In what category would you put summons?

In general, there isn't much point in sorcerers and wizards investing in the Summon Monster spells; clerics can do it just as well (which negates the point of playing an arcanist in the first place), and druids can do it better.

Probably I would use an approach with less categories, according to the situations that a sorcerer faces over the course of his/her adventuring life. And it should be made certain, that more or less at all levels 1-20 there are spells to cover this:

1) Defense from physical attacks
a) Melee
b) Missile

2) Defense from magic attacks (more important, the higher the level)
a) Spells
b) Supernatural abilities (e.g. ghost attacks)

3) Escape pods and reset buttons (like dimension door & up)

4) Research capacity (knowledge actually wins most battles....)
a) by affecting others (enchantment spells)
b) divination spells

5) Attack
a) Normal foes (i.e. those without special resistances, including SR and good saves)
b) Foes only affected by certain attacks (including too high hp-monsters)

6) Buff and utility

I've focused on combat spells because that's what sorcerers do best, and because it tends to be the most difficult part of most adventures. If you want a non-combat spontaneous caster, a Beguiler is probably going to be a better choice.

Research probably does deserve a category - the problem with this is that most research spells are fairly specific, so to make a decent researching sorcerer you'd need to devote several of your higher level spells known to it. Wizards do the research thing much better.

I'm not sure about your 1) and 2) divisions - most good spells that protect against melee attacks also work against ranged attacks. (Shield, Mage Armour, Mirror Image, Displacement, Invisibility, Stoneskin, anything that gives temp HP.) Only a few unusual spells like Protection from Arrows only work on one or the other.

Solo's list is pretty much what I was getting at; the idea is to go down your sorcerer's spell list and check to see how many bases you've got covered. It also encourages you to take spells like Disintegrate which do a lot of different jobs (rearrange the battlefield, get through obstacles, and also a good attack spell against constructs and undead).

- Saph

[Chronos]

...Huh. I guess they took unicorns off the list in 3.5. They were certainly there in 3.0.

In general, there isn't much point in sorcerers and wizards investing in the Summon Monster spells; clerics can do it just as well (which negates the point of playing an arcanist in the first place), and druids can do it better.

Well, I'm not saying that it's something that a wizard or sorcerer should build around, but it can be nice to have the capability in some situations. In addition to the obvious combat use, a summon can fly you past an obstacle, or dig a tunnel for you, or set off traps, or use various special abilities, and a single Summon Monster spell can potentially give you a lot of options, chosen at time of casting.

[Solo]

One thing I need to do about my build is figure a way to deal with incorporeal undead, for there are few ways for general purpose spells to counter them.

So far, I can use the force effect spells to deal direct damage, trap an incorporeal undead, or grapple it. Either way is a rather inefficient solution.

Given that this is usually the cleric's job, perhaps I shouldn't be too worried.

[Squash Monster]

Re-arrangement could be mostly covered by Mobility and Knockdown, I think. Discouragement and Binding seem fairly similar; in both cases you're limiting your opponents' mobility, just in slightly different ways.

I can see Discouragement and Binding being merged, since the main difference is that Binding spells are flat-out better. However, how are you justifying putting spells like Battering Ram and Teleport in the same category?

[Aquillion]

A few more possible categories:

Utility
Spells that have a significant use outside of combat. It can be nice to have some of these, even as a sorcerer; and spells that have dual-use both in and outside of combat (illusions, say; or shatter, or disintegrate) are particularly useful.

Versatile
Spells that are inherently versatile in a way not covered simply by encompassing multiple options from the list -- Prestidigitation, the Wish line, the Polymorph line, Gate, and most illusions or shadow XYZ-type spells would fall into this category. Generally, spells whose effects can vary extremely widely based on the decisions you make when casting (not just spells that are useful in many circumstances.) Extremely important to sorcerers, not just because they're more powerful but because they tend to make things more fun than just throwing the same spell over and over to get the exact same effect.

[Draz74]

Versatile
Spells that are inherently versatile in a way not covered simply by encompassing multiple options from the list -- Prestidigitation, the Wish line, the Polymorph line, Gate, and most illusions or shadow XYZ-type spells would fall into this category. Generally, spells whose effects can vary extremely widely based on the decisions you make when casting (not just spells that are useful in many circumstances.) Extremely important to sorcerers, not just because they're more powerful but because they tend to make things more fun than just throwing the same spell over and over to get the exact same effect.

This is the only reason I've found for a Sorcerer to take a Summon Monster spell. Summon Monster IV, V, or IX can get you quite a variety of other spells, in the form of spell-like abilities (on a Mephit, Hound Archon, Couatl, etc.).

It's also the reason that the Shadow Evocation and Shadow Conjuration lines of spells are my favorite Sorcerer spells of all.

[Saph]

However, how are you justifying putting spells like Battering Ram and Teleport in the same category?

Because Battering Ram sucks, and therefore isn't worth creating a new category for. I'm trying to keep the categories to a manageable number.

Versatile
Spells that are inherently versatile in a way not covered simply by encompassing multiple options from the list -- Prestidigitation, the Wish line, the Polymorph line, Gate, and most illusions or shadow XYZ-type spells would fall into this category. Generally, spells whose effects can vary extremely widely based on the decisions you make when casting (not just spells that are useful in many circumstances.) Extremely important to sorcerers, not just because they're more powerful but because they tend to make things more fun than just throwing the same spell over and over to get the exact same effect.

You're right, this is a good one; spells of the 'Duplicate X effect' type are very useful for a sorcerer, because they help with your main limitation (lack of spells known).

One thing I need to do about my build is figure a way to deal with incorporeal undead, for there are few ways for general purpose spells to counter them.

So far, I can use the force effect spells to deal direct damage, trap an incorporeal undead, or grapple it. Either way is a rather inefficient solution.

Eh, you've got three force evocations, disintegrate to take out the wall they're hiding in, and prismatic sphere as well. You're pretty well supplied. It's just that Dread Wraiths are so overpowered for their CR.

- Saph

[Solo]

Because Battering Ram sucks, and therefore isn't worth creating a new category for. I'm trying to keep the categories to a manageable number.

You only need one new category called "Suck".

Tenser's Floating Disk goes in there as well.

[Sir Giacomo]

Hi again,

@Solo, a request- could you please (the magic word ) list the sorcerer list for each level of the sorcerer? For instance, why did you choose shield over mage armour and protection from evil over obscuring mist at 1st level?

- Giacomo

[Draz74]

@Solo, a request- could you please (the magic word ) list the sorcerer list for each level of the sorcerer? For instance, why did you choose shield over mage armour and protection from evil over obscuring mist at 1st level?

I assumed he created this character at a higher level than 1, or just didn't bother to notate all of the spells he swapped out. Because yes, at first, level, Mage Armor is unquestionably better than Shield. (At higher levels, as you probably already realized, it's good to swap them, because Mage Armor is much more easily duplicated via items than Shield is.)

Even at level 1, though, I fail to see how you could want Obscuring Mist more than Protection from Evil. PfE is a great spell; it would be decent even if it just made you immune to Charm and Compulsion (such as NPC level 1 wizards casting Charm Person at you). And on top of that, it gives you a situational AC bonus and protection vs. summons. Obscuring Mist, on the other hand, is a half-decent spell in the hopefully-rare scenario that you are trying to escape the battlefield before your opponent kills you. Any other time, unless you have some kind of trick to see through it, it hurts you as badly as it hurts your opponents.

What other spells on his list surprise you?

[Reinboom]

I would put a category of 'revealing' on there (or... a better name for it).

Glitterdust, See Invisibility, Arcane Sight (sort of), Greater Arcane Sight (sort of), True Seeing, Greater Prying Eyes...

I would say that a sorcerer should have at least one of these.

[Draz74]

I am working on a core sorcerer build [...] Here is the spell list, which, I believe, covers all the main bases:

And here's mine that I made recently.

There are a couple holes in this list, which were intentional. I didn't bother with travel-related spells, such as Fly and Teleport, because this sorcerer's party includes a Travel Domain Cleric and an Elocator (and the tank can make herself Fly too). Together, those two can probably handle any mobility that needs to happen.

Also, Alter Self, Polymorph, Polymorph Any Object, Shapechange, and Gate are left out intentionally, since they aren't allowed in this campaign.

This guy has Spell Focus Conjuration and Greater Spell Focus Illusion.

Spoiler

Show

9th
Foresight
Weird - mainly for flavor, as it fits the character very well
Prismatic Sphere

8th
Irresistible Dance
Greater Shadow Evocation
Mind Blank

7th
Limited Wish
Greater Shadow Conjuration
Spell Turning

6th
Greater Dispel Magic
Disintegrate
Contingency - traded out for Veil - because Veil is fun, and Contingency can be duplicated by Greater Shadow Evocation

5th
Shadow Evocation
Prying Eyes - I'm actually not thrilled with this spell, but I needed a high-level Divination spell to qualify for Archmage
Persistent Image
Telekinesis

4th
Black Tentacles - traded out for Bestow Curse
Enervation
Greater Invisibility
Dimensional Anchor

3rd
Dispel Magic - traded out for Greater Magic Weapon
Haste
Stinking Cloud
Ray of Exhaustion

2nd
Summon Swarm - traded out for Resist Energy
Glitterdust
Mirror Image
Hideous Laughter - mainly for use in a Spell Storing weapon, not as an active use of an in-combat save-or-lose
Locate Object

1st
Color Spray - traded out for Protection from Law - fits the character better tha Protection from Evil
Mage Armor - traded out for Shield
Grease
Ray of Enfeeblement
Unseen Servant

Solo's list and mine are both pretty well rounded. They have 15 out of 34 spells in common, less than half, which is interesting (although some of the differences are trivial, such as Protection from Law vs. Protection from Evil).

To comment more on Solo's list ... Personally, I tend to think Magic Missile, although it's useful in certain situations (e.g. when incorporeals show up and you're not ready for them) is easy enough to have in wand form, pretty cheap. Likewise Invisibility and See Invisibility in scroll form ... although hopefully, if you have Glitterdust you can use that instead of See Invisibility much of the time. Mind Fog seems sub-par and Dominate Monster seems overpowered IMO.

[Sir Giacomo]

Hmmm,

I am not saying the spell choice is a surprise. It is difficult to choose the spells for best effect.
Mage armour is better than shield in all levels. The only thing shield has ahead of mage armour is the protection vs magic missiles. Mage armour offers the same AC bonus, but at a much longer duration. The good thing about the two is that they stack, so it makes sense to take both. But choosing one of them? Mage Armour.

Protection from evil does not protect vs a charm person (since this is no mental "control"). At best it surpresses the effect (not sure about the effect right now). The AC and save bonus only applies vs evil creatures (quite a limitation) and the protection vs summoned creatures really only kicks in only at higher levels.
At low levels, I consider obscuring mist vastly superior since you gain concealment, which can really save your neck much more than a +2 to AC or saves ( you basically shut down all targeted spell attacks, stop all sneak attacks, and cut all other attacks by 20 or 50%, depending on the range).
You can also use obscuring mist for signaling effects (so it is highly versatile). And it affects an area, so you can protect the whole party with it, say vs enemy ranged attacks or ambushes.

- Giacomo

[Reinboom]

I am not saying the spell choice is a surprise. It is difficult to choose the spells for best effect.
Mage armour is better than shield in all levels. The only thing shield has ahead of mage armour is the protection vs magic missiles. Mage armour offers the same AC bonus, but at a much longer duration. The good thing about the two is that they stack, so it makes sense to take both. But choosing one of them? Mage Armour.

Note: Mage Armor is an armor bonus, and as such, does not stack with the armor you may be wearing or bracers of armor.

As a caster, +4 shield bonus is difficult to reproduce.

Protection from evil does not protect vs a charm person (since this is no mental "control"). At best it surpresses the effect (not sure about the effect right now). The AC and save bonus only applies vs evil creatures (quite a limitation) and the protection vs summoned creatures really only kicks in only at higher levels.

Suppressing the effect (as the spell does) is all you need to do until you kill the thing trying to charm you.

[Draz74]

I am not saying the spell choice is a surprise. It is difficult to choose the spells for best effect.

Yes.

Mage armour is better than shield in all levels. The only thing shield has ahead of mage armour is the protection vs magic missiles. Mage armour offers the same AC bonus, but at a much longer duration. The good thing about the two is that they stack, so it makes sense to take both. But choosing one of them? Mage Armour.

You didn't read my post, did you? Well, SweetRein already backed me up, but I'll spell it out again.

Let's pretend Mage Armor is a continual effect. Its duration is very good, so this is only a slight exaggeration. And let's pretend Shield will only last for one encounter, ever.

At low levels, Mage Armor is obviously better. I already said that in my last post.

By Level 10 or so, Bracers of Armor +3 is a fairly trivial price, 9000 gp. Bracers +4 is even affordable if you care much about your AC. At this point, which would you rather have?

Mage Armor: Let's see, I can save a bit of cash, and have +4 AC constantly. Not bad.
Shield: Let's see, I can spend a bit of cash, have +3 AC constantly, and then have +7 AC for any important battle, when I have a chance to buff myself. Oh, and a random protection vs. Magic Missile, too, on the side. And keep upgrading my +7 AC to higher numbers as I get more money.

Personally, I see the second option being much better. And no matter how much you want them to, Mage Armor and Bracers of Armor are just not going to stack.

Protection from evil does not protect vs a charm person (since this is no mental "control"). At best it surpresses the effect (not sure about the effect right now).

the barrier blocks any attempt to possess the warded creature (by a magic jar attack, for example) or to exercise mental control over the creature (including enchantment (charm) effects and enchantment (compulsion) effects that grant the caster ongoing control over the subject, such as dominate person). The protection does not prevent such effects from targeting the protected creature, but it suppresses the effect for the duration of the protection from evil effect. [...] This second effect works regardless of alignment.

What's not clear here? OK, you're right that it suppresses the effect, not dispels it (my term "protects" was ambiguous, and did not claim one way or the other). But suppressing it will often last long enough to have a fight with the caster that was trying to Charm or Dominate or Suggest your party member. This is a very nice spell to have.

The AC and save bonus only applies vs evil creatures (quite a limitation)

Wow, I wasn't even remembering the save bonus. Cool! Whether this is "quite a limitation" or not depends completely on the campaign. I've played or seen plenty of low-level campaigns where all the foes were evil, except for the occaisional random encounter with animals. And anyway, this function (and the next one) are really just icing on the cake, when anti-Charm is the main function of the spell.

and the protection vs summoned creatures really only kicks in only at higher levels.

Huh? Why?

At low levels, I consider obscuring mist vastly superior since you gain concealment, which can really save your neck much more than a +2 to AC or saves ( you basically shut down all targeted spell attacks, stop all sneak attacks, and cut all other attacks by 20 or 50%, depending on the range).

Yeah ... it's decent protection. Problem is, it's protecting your opponents from your attacks or targeted spells or sneak attacks too. It hurts just as much as it helps.

You can also use obscuring mist for signaling effects (so it is highly versatile). And it affects an area, so you can protect the whole party with it, say vs enemy ranged attacks or ambushes.

These are good points in favor of obscuring mist, compared to PfE. But ... they're not enough in my book.

[Sir Giacomo]

Note: Mage Armor is an armor bonus, and as such, does not stack with the armor you may be wearing or bracers of armor.

As a caster, +4 shield bonus is difficult to reproduce.

A ring of force shield or a mithral buckler +x (and with fortification) can do the trick 24/7 at the higher levels you talk about.

Suppressing the effect (as the spell does) is all you need to do until you kill the thing trying to charm you.

You will only realise you have been charmed if you are told so convincingly, or if you make a spellcraft check. Otherwise, you will be surprised you thought someone was so nice before and now you are back to neutral or worse. Without spellcraft, you may actually think this is due to the other spell cast (protection from evil) from your ally and may act accordingly ("what have you done? My feelings for ENEMY XY are gone. I thought YOU were my friend").

- Giacomo

[Azerian Kelimon]

Y'see, Giacomo, a mithIl buckler with animated is much less useful than a shield, not to mention the sheer uselessness of tying up one of your ring slots. Meanwhile, Mage armor can be supplanted at a lower cost, and in an easier way. And let's not talk about Greate rmage armor, which makes it oozeless.

[Reinboom]

As a caster, +4 shield bonus is difficult to reproduce.

A ring of force shield or a mithral buckler +x (and with fortification) can do the trick 24/7 at the higher levels you talk about.

As was just stated, you are wasting slots here.
Where as, nearly nothing is wasted with normal armor, since you don't have to spend almost anything to reproduce Mage Armor and there are no high value slots being used.

You will only realise you have been charmed if you are told so convincingly, or if you make a spellcraft check. Otherwise, you will be surprised you thought someone was so nice before and now you are back to neutral or worse. Without spellcraft, you may actually think this is due to the other spell cast (protection from evil) from your ally and may act accordingly ("what have you done? My feelings for ENEMY XY are gone. I thought YOU were my friend").

- Giacomo

You cast PfE before being charmed, or, you cast it on an ally who has clearly been charmed.

[Chronos]

The AC and save bonus only applies vs evil creatures (quite a limitation)

In the typical campaign, the PCs are mostly good, which means that they probably won't be fighting against good opponents very often. And while there are a good many plausible opponents that are morally neutral, most of them have an Int of 3 or lower, and can therefore be easily outsmarted anyway. So the bonus vs. evil creatures might not apply all the time, but it does generally apply when it's most important.

and the protection vs summoned creatures really only kicks in only at higher levels.

I think Giacomo's point here is that, while the protection against summoned creatures works at all levels, the summoned creatures themselves are nothing to write home about at low levels. At first level, the best monster you can summon is something like a dog, and it only lasts one round, so it's basically a spell which requires a full round to cast and does 1d4+1 damage on a successful attack roll. Not too impressive, so I don't really care much if I have something to protect against that.