Good spells for Staff-like wand?

[YASD]

For role-playing reasons my wizard ended up taking the discovery of Staff-like wand, and now I am wondering what wands to use it with.

The problem is that by this point (level 12), there are already a decent number of 'free' low level slots for general buffs, and higher level wands ramp up in cost pretty quickly. There is also the action economy to consider in using wands for lower level spells.

So far all I can think of are scorching ray, resist energy (possibly communal), and maybe false life.

Does anyone out there have experience or suggestions for other wands?

[Jeff Morse]

magic missile and protection from evil I have used alot.

[Imbicatus]

Ear Piercing Scream: 5d6 and a daze is good.
Vanish: 5 rounds of invisibility can be great.
Floating Disk. The Fighter gets on it and you move them about to get full attacks with a height bonus.
Hydraulic Push: Move nasty melee things away from you and put out fires when needed.

[Ascalaphus]

Scorching Ray is decent too.

[PSusac]

Heightened magic missile.

Heightened fireball etc.

The point being that since you are breaking the level limit on the spell, you might as well bring it all the way up to level 15.

Your saves will suck, but hey, you are basically a sorcerer as far as low level spells go.

[Poldaran]

PSusac wrote:

Your saves will suck

Not with Staff-Like Wand. With that, Intensified Fireball will still have a save based on your Int score(and any save boosting feats). I mean, it'll suck as much as any third level spell's save would, but much better than the normal wand's save.

Also, I'm working on a list of spells of my own for SLW use and I'm currently favoring Enervate, Dimension Door and Dispel Magic. I've also got an Intensified Lightning Bolt on there for RP reasons(it just fits the character).

That said, if it weren't for crafting and a GM who is willing to work with me to make the crafting timely, I'd be sitting at over 100,000g in wands alone.

[YASD]

These are some good spells, ear piercing scream and fireball in particular look like a good spells for spamming. DD might be good, but I am not sure how often it would be necessary to cast it more than the one time memorized (let alone spammed). Conversely, I think enervation gets props just for being a good spell since it is save:none and getting negative levels for 7 hours doesn't do it, probably <level> hour duration will not.

@Psusac, I think you mean intensified spell (if you want to raise the damage cap), but said feat will not work on magic missile. Heightened would raise the save (and the cost exponentially).

[Kydeem de'Morcaine]

Basically any spell that the caster level or save DC makes a significant difference in whether or not you want to use it.

Since it uses your caster level, casting stat, and feats - you can craft the want at minimum caster level.

If it would require a metamagic to make it effective, it gets expensive quickly. Maybe a +1 metamagic would be ok, but I wouldn't go more than that.

So first and even second level spells are great.
Magic Missile
Earpiercing Scream
Glitter Dust
Scorching Ray
Etc... are all good candidates.

However, It's not as good as it seems at first in most campaigns. Usually by level 11+ a wizard doesn't want to waste an action a level 1 or 2 spell in most fights. They seem to end the day with many/most of their level 1 and 2 spells never used. So having wands for more of them didn't really help all that much.

Though, in some campaigns, it can be a life saver. If your campaign/group/GM is the polar opposite of the "15 minute workday" and you get 15 moderately serious encounters in a day before you can re-prep... Well then you are probably desperately wishing you had some more spells (even low level ones) in the multitude of combats.

The other reason I was considering it (my wizard retired before I got to that level) was for special/unexpected circumstances.

• Some times you might be in a situation that calls for a lot of X and you didn't know about it ahead of time.
  
• Unexpected fight against a wave of 'whatevers' that have high resistance to everything but acid. I happen to have a wand of acid arrow.
  
• Fight at a state dinner where we don't have all our gear. I've got wands of mage armor and magic weapon to use on all the group.

[Imbicatus]

It's also great for anything that is an opposition school spell and you wouldn't want to use two spell slots to prepare it.

Another good one: Mount

It's good free long-term transportation for the party, and at high enough caster level, it's the arcane version of create food.

[Poldaran]

YASD wrote:

DD might be good, but I am not sure how often it would be necessary to cast it more than the one time memorized (let alone spammed).

It's not so much for spamming as it is for having in reach to use while grappled.

[Mysterious Stranger]

A wand of mage armor would allow you to buff the party monk all day long for very little cost.

[PSusac]

@Poldaran "I mean, it'll suck as much as any third level spell's save would..."

Yep that's what I meant.

@Imbicatus I like the whole opposition school idea, assuming necromancy and enchantment are the favorite opposition schools -

Necromancy wands - False life, enervation, Blindness/Deafness, are probably good choices.

Enchantment Wands - Hold Person (made by a cleric to save money), Charm Monster, Suggestion

They are not uber choices, but they are nice to have in your pocket. I suppose it depends how much free cash you have laying around.

[Gregory Connolly]

Alarm, Ant Haul & Mage Armor, nice duration and 15gp/charge is a good price
Ray of Enfeeblement, 1d6+5 Strength penalty will hurt and higher DC helps a lot on this one
Infernal Healing, someone else can do this easier with CLW but at 40gp/charge it could save you if you get separated
Snapdragon Fireworks, gives you something to do with your move actions for 12 rounds for 15gp/charge
Toppling Magic Missile, if you are gonna spend an action on Magic Missile getting to trip whoever you are casting at is worth the extra 75gp/charge
Intensified Burning Hands, this is a swarm killer wand at 90gp/charge, a good deal

[Gregory Connolly]

One last bit of advice, do not advertise to your good aligned buddies that you bought about 3 gallons of unholy water making the wand of Infernal Healing!

[Poldaran]

PSusac wrote:

@Poldaran "I mean, it'll suck as much as any third level spell's save would..."

Yep that's what I meant.

Blasters build around third level spells all the time. It's not that bad.

[PSusac]

Fair enough.

[Mirrel the Marvelous]

Gregory Connolly wrote:

One last bit of advice, do not advertise to your good aligned buddies that you bought about 3 gallons of unholy water making the wand of Infernal Healing!

That's only ONE of the possible ingredients. If there are any Demon hunters in the party, they should be fine with the other ingredient.