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I have been running mods out of Dungeon recently and something is nagging me about the design of NPC wizards. Rings of Protection and Bracers of Armor/Mage Armor have been ubiquitous for a long time, but I see a new trend: precast False Life. This isn't necessarily the fault of the adventure writers, maybe it's just an indicator of the way the game is now. It's real minor but it nags at me in a way I can't explain just right.
False life is like magic missile: a low-level spell that it's hard to do without. In Dungeon, mage armor is that way, too, you'll notice. How many PC wizards take fireball right away at 3rd level? Some spells are fairly esoteric; others have immediate combat applications that are easy to apply, require little bookkeeping, and directly enhance the caster's survivability. False life is one of the latter.
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False life is like magic missile: a low-level spell that it's hard to do without. In Dungeon, mage armor is that way, too, you'll notice. How many PC wizards take fireball right away at 3rd level? Some spells are fairly esoteric; others have immediate combat applications that are easy to apply, require little bookkeeping, and directly enhance the caster's survivability. False life is one of the latter.
Spells that are 'a given' reduce a wizard's overall versatility. Because False Life and Mage Armor 'must be taken' merely to increase survivability those are spell slots that could have been used for something more thematic and unpredictable. This is a reason clerics were changed so that they could cast heal spells spontaneously. Maybe what bothers me about this is NPC wizards are given these formulaic choices only to prolong a combat encounter. Versatility is not important for an NPC likely to survive only one encounter. PC wizards otoh must be choosier and more versatile in general because they must survive multiple encounters. Strangely none of my players have ever used False Life before.
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Strangely none of my players have ever used False Life before.
I think False Life has only ever seen one casting at my table ever, and it was a Necromancer NPC casting it. I don't really think it is terribly useful for PC casters as, in my games anyway, wizards seldom get hit because the types of people who play wizards are usually smart enough to know how to avoid situations in which they are likely to be hurt.
I've seen False Life come into play a fair amount. But I have a group that takes time to scout, research, and buff, if possible. They hit dungeons like a swat team, and often scout multiple doors in a hallway so they can choose a "room 2" or even "room 3" if "room 1" is cleared and buffs are still running.
Yes false life has been under used in my group also when I was DM. Right now I am getting a chance to be a player and running a wizard. Anytime I know I am going against another spellcaster I cast false life. It helpful when you get fireballed yourself. I never have as part of my regular spell selection I just put that Scribe scroll feat to use and have two scroll handy. That is what makes wizards great. They have their regular spells and possibily a plethra (sp?) of scrolls to unleash.
Of course, if you play against NPCs with mage armor and false life and such always pre-cast, you are likely to develop tactics to take down or bypass the buffs first thing. So, you'll see PCs leading the first round of combat with a dispel magic, etc.
I think the game has evolved in such a way that most experienced players and DMs have developed a kind of combat doctrine. Sort of like styles of play in chess or military standard operating procedures--as one tactic proves effective, other people pick up on it and incorporate it, and soon everyone in the culture does things this way as a matter of course. It can stifle creativity, though.
I rarely use false life when I play wizard characters for the simple reason that I generally play as a specialist for the extra spells and to give my wizard a theme. I almost invariably choose necromancy as a prohibited school, which takes that spell off my spell list. Pre-cast mage armor is definitely a regular thing, though, at least until I get ahold of some high bonus bracers of armor.