I don't usually play spell casting characters but I am at the moment and I've been looking at a lot of the interesting spells that are out there. Most are pretty straight forward but I've come across a few that are a whole lot more powerful than they might seem at first glance.
Glyph of Warding was the first one like this that I found, the regular use of Explosive Runes is fine but the ability to cast another spell into the runes is what takes the possibilities into the stratosphere. With enough time and money, you could fortify an area with nearly any spell imaginable to either attack intruders or buff yourself with the touch of a button (perhaps literally).
Magic Mouth is another, I came across the description of how to use the spell to use it to program a computer (here) and there is really no end to the creative uses for this spell.
The main thing these spells have in common is that you can cast them anytime and they last until dispelled, along with very flexible trigger conditions. Are there other spells out there like this that I should take a look at?
Grease does not require concentration and even if they pass their save the area still counts as difficult terrain and halves their movement while they traverse it.
Silence automatically eliminates the ability to cast spells with verbal components within its area, no saving throw.
Bards have Magical Secrets, which lets them take Paladin spells BEFORE the Paladin can. Some of those spells are designed assuming they will be available at much higher levels.
Take a look at:
Blinding Smite, Crusader's Mantle, Find Greater Steed, Circle of Power and Destructive Wave
My favorite is Find Greater Steed, because any spell you cast on yourself also targets the Steed. While I am sure they meant things like See invisibility, Etherealness, there is a good argument to be made that it also applies to spells like Color Spray and Fear - a spell that grants you a magical offensive ability.
I think people have a tendency to forget paragraph three of planeshift. It's not exactly stellar because it involves both a to-hit roll and a save, but it's the reason that true strike exists...
With a flexible DM, any of the illusion spells are great value. Minor Illusion, Silent Image, and Major Image are all very flexible ways to mess with NPCs you don't want to kill, hide from the ones trying to kill you, and slow down the ones trying to kill your friends.
So you're saying the power for these spells lies in getting them into the hands of a non-Paladin at an earlier level? That makes sense, I can see some of these being quite powerful (like Circle of Power).
Find Greater Steed is more what I was thinking of since once you cast the spell the steed sticks around until dispelled or killed and doesn't require concentration. I came across this before when a Wizard in a previous game was looking for ways to abuse a Ring of Spell Storing by finding odd spells that could be cast into it then used by other character classes. Initially it was going to be a way to get us all to use Find Familiar but if you could find a Paladin to cast this into it we could all get some companions that are a whole lot more dangerous than owls. The ability to benefit from spells cast on you is another interesting quirk, especially when you aren't limited to Paladin spells. Haste on a Gryphon as well as a PC is fun, your suggestion of giving it offensive magical abilities is a neat trick too.
Grease does not require concentration and even if they pass their save the area still counts as difficult terrain and halves their movement while they traverse it.
Silence automatically eliminates the ability to cast spells with verbal components within its area, no saving throw.
Can you set a grease area on fire with a fire spell?
I mean, grease is flammable, right? How would you calculate the damage from that?
Grease does not require concentration and even if they pass their save the area still counts as difficult terrain and halves their movement while they traverse it.
Silence automatically eliminates the ability to cast spells with verbal components within its area, no saving throw.
Can you set a grease area on fire with a fire spell?
I mean, grease is flammable, right? How would you calculate the damage from that?
Grease is not flammable according to the spell, but Web is! That restrains them and then you can burn them for a turn. Drop this on someone in the middle and you can (hopefully) restrain them and burn them 5-foot square by 5-foot square.
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I don't usually play spell casting characters but I am at the moment and I've been looking at a lot of the interesting spells that are out there. Most are pretty straight forward but I've come across a few that are a whole lot more powerful than they might seem at first glance.
Glyph of Warding was the first one like this that I found, the regular use of Explosive Runes is fine but the ability to cast another spell into the runes is what takes the possibilities into the stratosphere. With enough time and money, you could fortify an area with nearly any spell imaginable to either attack intruders or buff yourself with the touch of a button (perhaps literally).
Magic Mouth is another, I came across the description of how to use the spell to use it to program a computer (here) and there is really no end to the creative uses for this spell.
The main thing these spells have in common is that you can cast them anytime and they last until dispelled, along with very flexible trigger conditions. Are there other spells out there like this that I should take a look at?
Grease does not require concentration and even if they pass their save the area still counts as difficult terrain and halves their movement while they traverse it.
Silence automatically eliminates the ability to cast spells with verbal components within its area, no saving throw.
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Bards have Magical Secrets, which lets them take Paladin spells BEFORE the Paladin can. Some of those spells are designed assuming they will be available at much higher levels.
Take a look at:
Blinding Smite, Crusader's Mantle, Find Greater Steed, Circle of Power and Destructive Wave
My favorite is Find Greater Steed, because any spell you cast on yourself also targets the Steed. While I am sure they meant things like See invisibility, Etherealness, there is a good argument to be made that it also applies to spells like Color Spray and Fear - a spell that grants you a magical offensive ability.
I think people have a tendency to forget paragraph three of planeshift. It's not exactly stellar because it involves both a to-hit roll and a save, but it's the reason that true strike exists...
With a flexible DM, any of the illusion spells are great value. Minor Illusion, Silent Image, and Major Image are all very flexible ways to mess with NPCs you don't want to kill, hide from the ones trying to kill you, and slow down the ones trying to kill your friends.
So you're saying the power for these spells lies in getting them into the hands of a non-Paladin at an earlier level? That makes sense, I can see some of these being quite powerful (like Circle of Power).
Find Greater Steed is more what I was thinking of since once you cast the spell the steed sticks around until dispelled or killed and doesn't require concentration. I came across this before when a Wizard in a previous game was looking for ways to abuse a Ring of Spell Storing by finding odd spells that could be cast into it then used by other character classes. Initially it was going to be a way to get us all to use Find Familiar but if you could find a Paladin to cast this into it we could all get some companions that are a whole lot more dangerous than owls. The ability to benefit from spells cast on you is another interesting quirk, especially when you aren't limited to Paladin spells. Haste on a Gryphon as well as a PC is fun, your suggestion of giving it offensive magical abilities is a neat trick too.
Yeah, cast Dragon's Breath on yourself while you've got your great steed and you can now blanket an area in acid!
Can you set a grease area on fire with a fire spell?
I mean, grease is flammable, right? How would you calculate the damage from that?
Grease is not flammable according to the spell, but Web is! That restrains them and then you can burn them for a turn. Drop this on someone in the middle and you can (hopefully) restrain them and burn them 5-foot square by 5-foot square.