Hey Everyone,
Im just curiouse to see what u guys think are the best spells of D&D. Post away.
Being a high lvl sorcerer I kinda have alot. I hope you'll let me post them all?
Prismatic spray(saved me alot)
Teleport Greater
Summon monster 9
Boiling blood
Magic missle(saved me against white dragon...)
desintegrate(it works against golems unlike all other spells)
Summon undead horde(only in grave yards, and I only had scroll)
Power Word Stun...
Hold Monster
Dominate Monster
There are more but my DM has most of the books that deal with magic.
Mortikins Disjunktion. Its my favorit and I think its the best spell.
If I were a cleric...
Flame Strike. Preferably maximized. Holy and fire damage? Undead, meet your dooooooom!
Any "Cure" spells. Shouldn't really need a reason why.
Sound Burst.
True Seeing.
Destruction. The name says it all.
Implosion. This one too.
If I were a sorcerer/wizard...
True Strike. By far one of my favorite spells, excellent for when you need that critical shot.
Fireball.
Lightning Bolt.
Baleful Polymorph. Good for making "mountains" into "molehills." ;-)
Electrical Deluge. From "The Book of Eldritch Might", basically a ring of electricity going out 100-ft. :O
Transmute Rock to Magma. You just think that's solid ground...
Mordenkainen's Disjunction. Wow, a +5 Vorpal Greatsword of Doooooom? That's nice...
Time Stop. I love it when I use it, but how I sooooooo hate it when it's used against me.
Wish. This is metagaming, but how often do you give a single wish to a player and they become wide-eyed with fear? So awesome.
All my humble opinions.
Stalwart Pact: Clr5. Spell remains dormant until you lose half your hit points. Once triggered, you get up to 35 temporary hit points, DR 5/magic and a +2 luck bonus on saving throws. The best part? It only requires 250 gp of incense. Every party should have their cleric cast this on them. It's a literal life saver!
Stone Shape: Clr3, Sor/Wiz5. Need a door? Make one. Need to control the battlefield? Use it to funnel your opponents into a bottle-neck. This spell is just too useful.
Righteous Might: Clr5. You get big and a hefty bonus to STR and CON. You get a nice natural armor bonus & DR 5-15/evil (or good). It's like having enlarge, bull's strength and more... all in one spell.
Shield of Faith: Clr1. The almighty deflection bonus to AC - from +1 to +5.
Divine Power: Clr4. BAB=character level, +6 STR and 1 temporary hit point per caster level. Nice!
I'm sure there are more, but these are used all the time in our group.
Haste- Come on!
Harm- Ouch
Mordenkainen's Nightmare (Disjunction)- All right, tell me all the magic items you've got
Ray of Enfeeblement- No save, awesome damage, 1st level
Scorching Ray- No save, great for wands, excellent for rogues and wizards alike. Everyone should have one; they're on sale at Wal-Mart now, get yours today!
Magic Jar and Astral Projection (alone or in conjunction)- see Cernunos' thread
Displacement, Blur, Mirror Image, and similar spells- who needs AC?
Polymorph/Shapechange- Sooooo many uses....
Most of the "image" spells- Also super versatile, and by the time someone has interacted with it to get a save, it's already done its job of distracting them.
desintegrate(it works against golems unlike all other spells)
Just a minor correction, Gubbaffet: Disintegrate works against constructs in general, yes. But it doesn't work against golems specifically because of their magic immunity and Disintegrate respects Spell Resistance.
Still, it's definitely a favored spell of mine.
My own personal favorites (In no particular order):
Magic Missile - Low damage, but it almost /always/ does its thing.
Arrow of Bone - A 50gp Arrow of Slaying whenever you feel you need it. You're the archer's new best friend.
Assay Resistance - A +10 to caster level checks to beat SR is /always/ nice.
Project Image - In combination with Greater Invisibility, this can really work wonders for a spell slinger.
Greater Invisibility - Heck, this spell by itself works wonders for a mage's tactics.
Spell Resistance - As a mage (I have this through a PrC ability), it's nice to be able to offer this to my allies (and myself) to counter other spellcasters.
Disintegrate - 2d6 per caster level, people. C'mon!
Reverse Gravity - This spell is great for manipulating the battlefield, /and/ it ignores spell resistance! Watch the golem (or anything, really) slam into the ceiling, then dismiss it and watch it smash to the floor. Bwahahaha!
Scorching Ray . . . I recently played a 14th level character (Sorcerer/Cleric/Mystic Theurge) and I think that was my most common offensive spell. It was so useful that it let me use my higher level spells for utilities like fly and greater invisibility . . . although cone of cold did wipe out 50% of the enemy guards at one point, so, you know, that was handy.
My favorite spell of all time has to be Sympathy. More fun can be had with this spell then a barrel of monkeys and a scroll of Polymorph. Its uses are limitless! Need food? Cast Sympathy fish on a worm and put that on your hook. Group of bandits keeping you from crossing a bridge? Cast Sympathy on a rock and throw it down the gorge. Too much riff raff in your favorite bar? Cast Sympathy and Delayed Blast Fireball on a mug and throw it out the door. Bunch of snotty elves getting on your nerves? Easy, cast Sympathy on a wagon load of suet, come back a week later and enjoy watching 300 pound lardy elves fighting tooth and nail over the last scraps. “Oooo, I’m so fat, I’ll never again frolic in the dandelions, but it’s sooo good....hey you stop hogging it all!”
Seriously through, it is a very useful spell. A wizard/marshal character of mine (Rhondel) used Sympathy on some large scale traps and Move Earth (so true EP) to funnel an army of orcs towards them. Rhondel had what bowmen he had available hidden on the newly formed slopes to pepper the orcs as they were mired in the traps. This softened up the orcs a bit before they hit the front ranks.
Another favorite of mine is Iron Body. It’s pulled me out of some tight spots. Same character of mine befriended a phazem durring the campaign (I thought it was just a treshim for quite some time) that had been watching him for years. The phazem (Avondeli) knew Rhondel’s kids almost better then he did. Anyway, the two of them were stuck fighting some levietens and the phazem shape shifted into a manticore. Even manticores can be boged down by numbers however. We and the rest of the party were taking heavy fire and Avondeli was about to be taken down by the surrounding enemies. Ended up taking a round and casting iron body. Now the levietens weren’t fighting an ordinary manticore, they were fighting an IRON manticore. Needless to say, this turned the tide of battle.
People's favorite spells are always rather boring. I'm more interested by the spells that people hate/think are stupid.
Of course, my favorite spell is prestidigitation. Many players can't spell it right and some people can't even pronounce it (like one of my DMs)!
Some of the things I have used the spell on include making an Eberron lightning rail baggage carriage smell nice and cleaning all the blood off my barbarian friend's armor before we went to an important business meeting.