Best Ray and Touch Spells in PFS?

[Kysune]

Hey all,

What's your opinion on what the best Touch and Ray spells available to use in PFS? Let us know what ones are your favorite and if you want even what ones you think totally suck. :)

I'll go first:

Favorite Touch Spell - Vampiric Touch
Favorite Ray Spell - Ray of Enfeeblement

[MrRetsej]

Hard to pick, but for Touch it's a tie between an Intensified Shocking Grasp and Calcific Touch. For Rays, few are as lovely as Enervation.

[Shinobikazuma]

Favorite Touch Spell: Intensified Shocking Grasp Maximized (120 DMG on Crit, Magus using 15-20 crit range :D)

Favorite Ray: Disintegrate

[Cao Phen]

Favorite Touch Spell - Cure Spells, ALL of them
Favorite Ray - Hellfire Ray, guarenteed half the damage will go through Resistances

[KestlerGunner]

Ranged: Enervation.
Touch: Slay Living.

[Hobbun]

Touch: Probably a cure spell or Vampiric Touch
Ray: Ray of Enfeeblement would have been a clear choice for me if it was not changed for PF, and especially with how ability damage works in PF. Now my choice would be Scorching Ray or Disintegrate.

[Lormyr]

Something I rarely see used that can shut a mid-level caster right down is empowered touch of idiocy. No save, just eat it and flail about feebly with your staff.

[Ryan Blomquist]

Ranged: Scorching Ray, with honorable mention to Disintegrate and Enervation. Scorching Ray is amazingly versatile; the damage scales well relative to caster level and its low enough level to be bait for metamagic to either do more damage or change the energy type. Disintegrate does a lot more and has great utility besides, but you have it for at most six scenarios of PFS play; not as attractive within the PFS metagame. Enervation would win this but for the changes between the 3.5e negative level and the PFRPG negative level. If negative levels still stripped spells known/spell slots, Enervation wins hands down. However, as it stands Enervation is only good as a setup spell for another save-or-suck, and 4th level slots are far too valuable to spend setting up another high level spell. Enervation also suffers from being a Necromancy, a school that is relatively easy for specialists to give up compared to the more attractive Evocation and Transmutation schools.

Melee: Frigid Touch. Its not even close. Its damage is minimal, but the selling point is the action denial from the staggered condition. No more full attacks means surviving at mid to high levels where monsters can dish out four or more attacks per round and a mobile magus (say, one with Spring Attack) can do naughty things with this, while a ground-and-pound magus can stand in melee and deny monsters their counterattack to extend his survivability and mitigate a softer AC. Better yet, as a spell with the [Cold] descriptor its also eligible for the amazing Rime Spell feat, which tacks on Entangle to the Stagger and slight damage. Its also a prime candidate for a Lesser Reach Rod, which vaults it to the best melee touch *and* the best ranged touch in PFS play. The only touch spell that comes close is Vampiric Touch, and Frigid Touch wins out by virtue of being lower level and providing a better secondary effect. The rest are either too high (Calcific Touch, Fleshworm Infestation) or don't do enough (Ghoul Touch, Frostbite, Chill Touch, Shocking Grasp, Corrosive Touch).