There is another thread that tried talking about this, but became a war over Magic Initiate/Druid/Shillelagh/Spell Componants. So I'm starting a new thread that is focused on purely the four new domain spells the cleric can choose at level 17.
What spells would you choose for 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th? Knowing that they can never be changed in the future.
Here are some of my thoughts:
1. Since you cannot change these out, make them something you can use every day. For instance Contingency is a great spell. But you only need to cast it about once a week. Otherwise it's just a dead spell taking up space. Whereas Mass Suggestion can be used every day, in and out of combat.
2. You don't play in a vacuum. I keep seeing suggestions for Simulacrum, Clone, Wish, and such as spell. But like in point 1, how often are you going to be casting these? And more importantly, wouldn't that 17th wizard you know ALSO have these spells? Just give them a day's heads up and the gold for components and I'm sure they would cast some of these for you. By 17th level, they will have, at minimum, acquired over a dozen spells that are not in their every day rotation, not counting spell books found and scrolls bought. Leave the one-off spells to the Wizards that can cycle them in as needed rather then dedicating a permanent slot on your roster.
3. Beware of traps. For instance, 8th-level Demiplane is pretty awesome and useful. But you can get stuck in there if you don't leave in an hour. So you should also have 7th-level Plane Shift for a quick escape. But that means you give up Crown of Stars or Forcecage. So think about spells that work well on their own, but may require, or work better, if you also dedicate other resources.
I would think you would cast wish every day. Since you can use it to cast any spell of level 8 or lower. Any spell, from any spell list, with no components.
I think that's the big point here. Bards basically make these choices every time they get Magical Secrets. The decision really wraps around what spells the party already has access to and what spells the party are missing out on. I would personally opt for spells/functions that my party doesn't have available, not necessarily what would benefit my Cleric the most.
At 6th, Contingency is still attractive, even if the Spell used was simply Death Ward. If your Cleric goes down, there may not be other options to get you back up. Contingency+DW once per week would get better mileage than casting it on yourself with a 4th level slot every day, with many days likely never even triggering the Death Ward.
At 7th, I'd look hard at Magnificent Mansion if the party didn't have a comfy LR option. I'd also strongly consider Teleport if the party lacked long-range travel spells. Teleport at 7th would pair really well with your existing Word of Recall at 6th; pick up an associated object from your frontline location, WoR back to home base, then reliably return to the frontlines with Teleport, possibly after a night of resupply, rest, and recovery.
For 8th, I'd probably prefer to use my existing access to Holy Aura most days, so I'd pick anything handy that didn't require Conc.
9th has to be Wish to replicate all of the spells you were otherwise considering but didn't take. It's the ultimate Magical Secret, and once per day with ZERO component requirements for the replicated spell is the real treat.
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There is another thread that tried talking about this, but became a war over Magic Initiate/Druid/Shillelagh/Spell Componants. So I'm starting a new thread that is focused on purely the four new domain spells the cleric can choose at level 17.
What spells would you choose for 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th? Knowing that they can never be changed in the future.
Here are some of my thoughts:
1. Since you cannot change these out, make them something you can use every day. For instance Contingency is a great spell. But you only need to cast it about once a week. Otherwise it's just a dead spell taking up space. Whereas Mass Suggestion can be used every day, in and out of combat.
2. You don't play in a vacuum. I keep seeing suggestions for Simulacrum, Clone, Wish, and such as spell. But like in point 1, how often are you going to be casting these? And more importantly, wouldn't that 17th wizard you know ALSO have these spells? Just give them a day's heads up and the gold for components and I'm sure they would cast some of these for you. By 17th level, they will have, at minimum, acquired over a dozen spells that are not in their every day rotation, not counting spell books found and scrolls bought. Leave the one-off spells to the Wizards that can cycle them in as needed rather then dedicating a permanent slot on your roster.
3. Beware of traps. For instance, 8th-level Demiplane is pretty awesome and useful. But you can get stuck in there if you don't leave in an hour. So you should also have 7th-level Plane Shift for a quick escape. But that means you give up Crown of Stars or Forcecage. So think about spells that work well on their own, but may require, or work better, if you also dedicate other resources.
So what load out would you choose?
The idea being that you'd also take the Elven Accuracy feat so you'd have triple Advantage going most of the time.
I would think you would cast wish every day. Since you can use it to cast any spell of level 8 or lower. Any spell, from any spell list, with no components.
I think that's the big point here. Bards basically make these choices every time they get Magical Secrets. The decision really wraps around what spells the party already has access to and what spells the party are missing out on. I would personally opt for spells/functions that my party doesn't have available, not necessarily what would benefit my Cleric the most.
At 6th, Contingency is still attractive, even if the Spell used was simply Death Ward. If your Cleric goes down, there may not be other options to get you back up. Contingency+DW once per week would get better mileage than casting it on yourself with a 4th level slot every day, with many days likely never even triggering the Death Ward.
At 7th, I'd look hard at Magnificent Mansion if the party didn't have a comfy LR option. I'd also strongly consider Teleport if the party lacked long-range travel spells. Teleport at 7th would pair really well with your existing Word of Recall at 6th; pick up an associated object from your frontline location, WoR back to home base, then reliably return to the frontlines with Teleport, possibly after a night of resupply, rest, and recovery.
For 8th, I'd probably prefer to use my existing access to Holy Aura most days, so I'd pick anything handy that didn't require Conc.
9th has to be Wish to replicate all of the spells you were otherwise considering but didn't take. It's the ultimate Magical Secret, and once per day with ZERO component requirements for the replicated spell is the real treat.