[Super Genius Games] Iconic Spells?

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

Heya folks!

So I'm trying to compile a list of what Pathfinder spells are considered the most "iconic" by the players. I'm not talking about the most used spells, or the most powerful, but those that have a long history of popularity and the ability to define and mold a spellcaster's image.

Fireball is a given. I'd say the same is true of magic missile, blade barrier, sleep, and web. Any other votes?

[Malfus]

Hold/Dominate Person/Monster. Iconic Enchantment Spells.

[Bardess]

Shocking grasp, fly, shapechange.

[Kyras Ausks]

silent image

[Kolokotroni]

fly. the image line of spells, teleport, black tentacles, disintegrate, dispell magic, meteor swarm, flesh to stone, divine might, cure x wounds, heal, banishment, charm person, suggestion, dominate x, scry

[R. Hyrum Savage]

Flamestrike. :)

[VRMH]

Cure Light Wounds.
Resurrection.
Mage Armor.

[Jackissocool]

Mage armor is definitely one, as VRMH suggested. The image spells are iconic. Entangle is pretty iconic for druids. The create pit spells, while recent additions, have become somewhat iconic. Maybe they don't quite fit, but they would be interesting.

Have you considered iconic psionic powers? Metamorphosis, energy ray, precognitiion.

[DungeonmasterCal]

I would think the various "hand" spells that have been carried over from the 1e days would be fairly iconic. Also cloudkill, (I would've said cone of cold, as well, but it doesn't seem to appear on any of the lists I could find).

[Isuru]

Some standard utility spells, read magic, detect magic and more advanced versions, even identify, legend lore, etc. Also arcane mark, for flavor more than anything.

Definitely the Light and Darkness line of spells, including dancing lights.

The "protection from X" spells.

Grease, Invisibility, Lightning Bolt, Haste/Slow.

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

Thanks folks, these are all useful data points!

Anyone else?

[Alzrius]

I'm amazed that no one has said this: wish.

Moreso than any other, the wish spell (and it's divine counterpart, miracle) is the apex of spellcasting. The most powerful spell in the game, it's also a spell with open-ended capabilities, something that's rare in Pathfinder...and also something that's too-often misunderstood.

I've talked to many players and GMs who think that the guidelines given about how powerful wish is (e.g. "Duplicate any sorcerer/wizard spell of 7th level or lower, even if it belongs to one of your opposition schools.") are an absolute, and that that's all that wish can do (essentially making it a glorified anyspell), especially in light of an ever-expanding set of spells from Paizo and third-party publishers.

That's not the case - wish is capable of doing more than just duplicating other spells; it's the spell that can, to a finite but not-insignificant degree, reshape reality itself. Limited wish is similiar to this, save for being more, well, limited. Miracle is likewise having your god take a direct hand in remaking the world around you (though unlike wish, which is limited in terms of the power it has, I think of miracle's limitations as being a function of your god not wanting to change the universe too much, due to divine politics).

You want an iconic spell? As you wish.

[Azazyll]

Prismatic anything. Power Word anything. Symbol of anything. Love those spells, and I always looked out for 3.x books that gave me more options, especially at lower levels.

+1 for black tentacles. And chain lightning.

[Jeremiziah]

They've been mentioned, but Fly, Dispel Magic, and Black Tentacles.

Oh, and Entangle, for some Druid love.

[Matthew Winn]

Really? No one's said Scorching Ray?

[poizen37]

Protection from Evil is spell that has changed in function over editions, but has always been pretty definitive of gygaxian gaming as far as I'm concerned, even though I rarely cast it.

[Bardess]

And feather fall. Definitely.

[Jackissocool]

Ooh! Color spray, and maybe the other pattern spells. To make a truly badass heavens oracle. Plus, who doesn't love color spray? (other than waves of goons)

[Purple Duck Games]

I would suggest anything that Tricky Owlbear covered in his Behind the Spells series.

[Alzrius]

Purple Duck Games wrote:

I would suggest anything that Tricky Owlbear covered in his Behind the Spells series.

Don't forget the web series, which can be found here (there are more if you click on the "older entries" link at the bottom).

[Stockvillain]

Magnificent Mansion.

Instant safehouse for the whole party. Been a classic part of the spell list since forever.

[Jackissocool]

Charm person, please. I want to be a master manipulator. My rakshasa sorcerer aches for it.

[Endzeitgeist]

Black Tentacles. Horrid Wilting. Bless. Rope Trick. Fog Cloud. Cloudkill. Sunburst. :)

[LMPjr007]

Cone of Cold, Teleport, Sleep,

[Jeremiziah]

Ah, yes. Teleport. Pretty iconic, that. So iconic I didn't even think of it! I guess I almost think of it as just "part of the wizard". Although the same could be said for Fly.

[Owen K. C. Stephens]

Okay folks, here is every Pathfinder spell someone considered "iconic." Anything to add? If not, I'd love to see people list the top 10 iconic spells form this list, in order, and if you want to vote against up to 2 spells as :not iconic enough to count."

Acid arrow
Acid pit/create pit/hungry pit/spiked pit
Animate dead
Antimagic field
Arcane mark
Banishment
Baleful polymorph/polymorph/polymorph any object
Black tentacles
Blade barrier
Bless
Burning hands
Charm person/charm monster
Clenched fist/crushing hand/forceful hand/grasping hand/interposing hand
Cloudkill
Color spray
Cone of cold
Cure ... wounds
Dancing lights/daylight/light
Darkness/deeper darkness
Detect magic
Disintegrate
Dispel magic
Divine might
Dominate person/dominate monster
Entangle
Explosive runes
Feather fall
Fire shield
Fireball
Flamestrike
Flesh to stone
Floating disk
Fog cloud
Fly
Grease
Guards and wards
Haste/slow
Heal
Hold person/hold monster
Horrid wilting
Identify
Instant summons
Invisibility
Legend lore
Levitate
Lightning bolt/chain lightning
Limited wish/miracle/wish
Mage armor
Magic aura
Magic missile
Magnificent mansion
Meteor swarm
Mirror image
Permanency
Prestidigitation
Prismatic sphere/prismatic spray/prismatic wall
Protection from chaos/evil/good/law
Read magic
Resurrection
Reverse gravity
Rope trick
Sanctuary
Scorching ray
Scry
Shapechange
Shatter
Shield
Shocking grasp
Silence
Silent image/major image/minor image/permanent image/persistent image/programmed image
Sleep
Spiritual weapon
Suggestion
Summon monster
Sunburst
Teleport
Time stop
True seeing
Unseen servant
Vampiric touch
Water breathing
Web

[Kolokotroni]

Top 10 of that list for me:
Fireball
Fly
Antimagic Field
Cure x wounds
Teleport
Time stop
Invisibility
Suggestion
Disintegrate
Explosive Runes

[Alzrius]

My top ten are (in no particular order):

Limited wish/miracle/wish
Invisibility/Greater Invisibility
Teleport/Greater Teleport
Antimagic Field
Detect Magic/Arcane Sight
Resurrection/Raise Dead/Breath of Life/True Resurrection
Prismatic Sphere/Prismatic Spray/Prismatic Wall
Dispel Magic/Greater Dispel Magic
Cure ... Wounds
Magic Missile

[Dark_Mistress]

When I think DnD spells these are typically some of the first ones to come to mind.

Animate dead
Baleful polymorph/polymorph/polymorph any object
Charm person/charm monster
Cure ... wounds
Fireball
Invisibility
Magic missile
Sleep
Summon monster
Web

[Aelryinth]

Fireball and Lightning Bolt.
Magic Missile and Sleep.
Charm Person and Monster.
Teleport and Dimension Door.
Fly and Dispel Magic.
Web and Mirror Image.
Wish.
Cure X Wounds/Disease/etc.
Invisibility and Detect magic.
True Seeing.
Raise Dead.
Power Word X, including Holy Word.

These are the most ICONIC spells from every version of the game, the ones that see lots of use over and over by almost every build, and are generally reinvented for every iteration of the game.

==Aelryinth

[Alexander Augunas]

Polymorph spells in general are iconic staples of fantasy. I'd give Baleful Polymorph (especially turning people into frogs) extra points.

[Realmwalker]

Animate Dead
Bless
Dancing Lights
Clenched fist/crushing hand/forceful hand/grasping hand/interposing hand
Charm person/charm monster
Explosive runes
Floating disk
Magic missile
Sanctuary
Summon monster

I'd love to see 0-9 of all the hand/fist spells it would make for a cool Sorcerer build.

[Dark_Mistress]

I am bored so for those keeping score this is the totals so far since the ask for the top ten post.

Fireball - 2
Fly
Antimagic Field - 2
Cure x wounds - 3
Teleport - 2
Time stop
Invisibility - 3
Suggestion
Disintegrate
Explosive Runes - 2
Limited wish/miracle/wish
Detect Magic/Arcane Sight
Resurrection/Raise Dead/Breath of Life/True Resurrection
Prismatic Sphere/Prismatic Spray/Prismatic Wall
Dispel Magic/Greater Dispel Magic
Magic Missile - 3
Animate dead - 2
Baleful polymorph/polymorph/polymorph any object - 2
Charm person/charm monster - 2
Sleep
Summon monster - 2
Web
Bless
Dancing Lights
Clenched fist/crushing hand/forceful hand/grasping hand/interposing hand
Floating disk
Sanctuary

So far other than Cure, Magic Missile and Invis we are mostly just making a new long list. :)

[Jackissocool]

Magic Missile
Fireball
Summon Monster
Invisibilty
Dispel Magic
Mage Armor
Fly
Entangle
Haste/Slow

[Anguish]

Man. I can do a top 21 list fairly easily. 10 is shaving it way too close to the bone; there are so many where "if I eliminate X then Y should go too". That process pretty quickly gets down to 0 because there are so many equally-iconic spells.

Regardless...

disintegrate
dispel magic
explosive runes
feather fall
fireball
fly
invisibility
magic missile
sleep
teleport

[Kvantum]

Fireball
Magic Missile
Teleport
Cure ... Wounds
Fly
Invisibility
Resurrection/Raise Dead/Breath of Life/True Resurrection
Sleep
Wish/Miracle
Summon Monster

[Monkeygod]

No Summon Nature's Ally? I know its not as popular necessarily as its Monstrous cousin, but it's still a spell that is iconic.

Gate too.

Planar Ally/Binding.

Create Undead.

Plane Shift.

Weather Control.

[Bardess]

Shocking grasp
Burning hands
Fireball
Magic missile
Dancing lights
Feather fall
Magnificent mansion
"Hand/Fist" spells
Detect magic
Read magic

[Dark_Mistress]

Fireball - 6
Fly - 4
Antimagic Field - 2
Cure x wounds - 4
Teleport - 4
Time stop
Invisibility - 6
Suggestion
Disintegrate - 2
Explosive Runes - 3
Limited wish/miracle/wish
Detect Magic/Arcane Sight
Resurrection/Raise Dead/Breath of Life/True Resurrection - 2
Prismatic Sphere/Prismatic Spray/Prismatic Wall
Dispel Magic/Greater Dispel Magic - 3
Magic Missile - 7
Animate dead - 2
Baleful polymorph/polymorph/polymorph any object - 2
Charm person/charm monster - 2
Sleep - 3
Summon monster - 4
Web
Bless
Dancing Lights - 2
Clenched fist/crushing hand/forceful hand/grasping hand/interposing hand - 2
Floating disk
Sanctuary
Mage Armor
Entangle
Haste/Slow
feather fall - 2
Wish/Miracle
Summon Nature's Ally
Gate
Planar Ally/Binding.
Create Undead.
Plane Shift.
Weather Control
Shocking grasp
Burning hands
Magnificent mansion
Detect magic
Read magic

So far Fireball, Magic Missile, and Invis are the clear winners.

[Dungeon Grrrl]

Cutting down to just 10 is really hard. I ended up going with the spells that get mentioned in stories I hear over and over about different editions of the game. That means some spells that really do define how the game plays, like detect magic, didn't make the cut because we almost never talk about them, even though we cast it all the time, and it's one of the things that makes D&D/Pf feel different from other fantasy games.

Bless
Charm person/charm monster
Entangle
Grease
Hold person/hold monster
Invisibility
Lightning bolt/chain lightning
Scorching ray
Sleep
Summon monster

[Bob_Loblaw]

I’m hoping I know what you’re planning for the future and these are the ones I would love to see you play around with. I love the Bullet Points and I hope that’s where this is going. I bought most of the others so far. I want more!

1) Antimagic field
2) Bless
3) Clenched fist/crushing hand/forceful hand/grasping hand/interposing hand
4) Fireball
5) Floating disk
6) Magic missile
7) Prestidigitation
8) Sanctuary
9) Teleport
10) Unseen servant

[Dark_Mistress]

Fireball - 7
Fly - 4
Antimagic Field - 3
Cure x wounds - 4
Teleport - 5
Time stop
Invisibility - 7
Suggestion
Disintegrate - 2
Explosive Runes - 3
Limited wish/miracle/wish
Detect Magic/Arcane Sight
Resurrection/Raise Dead/Breath of Life/True Resurrection - 2
Prismatic Sphere/Prismatic Spray/Prismatic Wall
Dispel Magic/Greater Dispel Magic - 3
Magic Missile - 8
Animate dead - 2
Baleful polymorph/polymorph/polymorph any object - 2
Charm person/charm monster - 3
Sleep - 4
Summon monster - 5
Web
Bless - 3
Dancing Lights - 2
Clenched fist/crushing hand/forceful hand/grasping hand/interposing hand - 3
Floating disk - 2
Sanctuary - 2
Mage Armor
Entangle - 2
Haste/Slow
feather fall - 2
Wish/Miracle
Summon Nature's Ally
Gate
Planar Ally/Binding.
Create Undead.
Plane Shift.
Weather Control
Shocking grasp
Burning hands
Magnificent mansion
Detect magic
Read magic
Grease
Hold person/hold monster
Lightning bolt/chain lightning
Scorching ray
Prestidigitation
Unseen servant

[Alzrius]

D_M, your list seems to be missing a few. I've seen at least three entries now for limited wish/wish/miracle (those being me, Aelryinth, and Kvantum).

[Dark_Mistress]

Yeah likely I was more doing the list for myself but it was getting long and hard to keep track of and i started doing it half asleep the previous two.