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So I have a Siege Mage I am playing in a seafaring/piratey type campaign that will involve alot of ship combat. Are there any wizard spells in particular that will help our ship be awesome, or help us in ship based combat, or help us get out of sticky situations?
Currently I am level 7(effective wizard level 6). I already have Track Ship as a spell to help us hunt down ships we find in cities, but I feel like we need some protections/speed boosting for our ship
Most weather control spells are higher level than you can yet cast.
Gust of wind would probably be helpful. You might want to talk to your GM about researching a spell.
I would look for spells with ranges of long or see text. This is one of those campaigns where mages and archers can really dominate, prepare accordingly.
Craft Construct is a really nasty trick for turning the ship into a construct that can fly, submerge and burrow. This requires Craft Wondrous Item and Craft Magic Arms and Armor so it isn't something done on a whim, but having the ship itself attack can be a nasty surprise.
Fly or Beast Shape (the first kind of sucks, but you can get better fly speeds later on) for aerial scouting, because the higher you get, the further away you can see ships. Forget the crows' nest! Commune with Birds for the same reason, if you can get it.
Touch of the Sea for obvious reasons, also Water Breathing for the same. Ride the Waves at higher levels finishes up this path. Whispering Wind if you end up needing to talk between ships. Summon Monster. Silent Image.
If the ship is considered a construct could it then be the target of spells such as invisibility, mage armour, stoneskin etc? If so then craft construct would be the best a way to go.
web might be useful to patch holes
grease might be useful to use on enemy ships if they get in range.
Well, we're talking siege mage here, so let's talk about some of those.
@Decimus: You can turn a ship into a construct, but it requires Craft Construct, CL 13, and 65,000 gp.
Level 1:
Abundant Ammunition: Cast it on a box of expensive, alchemical catapault bombs, then reuse them.
Level 2:
Make Whole: Patch holes. Web is useless for this.
Reloading Hands: Fire every round!
Flaming Sphere: Let it sit on the enemy deck, where it just keeps burning
Telekinetic Volley: Since a ballista is just a colossal crossbow, this lets you shoot ballista bolts by touching them as they lie in a pile on the deck.
Level 3:
Greater Magic Weapon: For ballistas.
Skeleton Crew: Undead without the [Evil] tag
Level 4:
Wall of Fire: If you cast it right in front of a ship, it stays put, scouring fire over everything on the other ship as it passes through.
Greater Magic Siege Engine: Buff up your catapults.
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Salvage is a great spell to get a scroll of if you can find one. DC 18 caster level check and you can recover a very nice prize from your enemies.
Skeleton Crew will allow you to put those same enemies to work bringing your new prize back to port for sale or refitting. Unseen Crew works for shipwrecks, or if you want to avoid necromancy.
Black Tentacles can be extremely effective in ship to ship combat, since it can cover a large portion of the enemy deck, and with a metamagic rod (or the feat) you can make it long range. Invest in Freedom of Movement (ring or friendly cleric) and Dispel Magic to counter enemy wizards learning your tactics.
Hydraulic Torrent and its little brother, Hydraulic Push are good for knocking enemy pirates into the ocean.
Wall of Fire place in front of the enemy ship's sails can be devastating as they sail through it and don't have sufficient time to stop or turn.
Wall of Lava and Wall of Force are useful for similar reasons. Also Prismatic Wall, the big winner. Basically wall spells big or small wreck ships is what I'm getting at.
If you want to get up close and personal with an enemy ship, using Passwall to open a hole in the enemies' hull might be worth thinking about.
Skeleton Crew is 4th for wizards. Still, that is next level, and it lasts for a week from the get go.
Even the lowly unseen servant can be very handy for maintenance and repairs -- and they don't have to breathe, so they can do (some) underwater stuff more easily than a living crew can.
Zero:
Flare, Ghost sounds, Mending, Message, Prestidigitation.
1st:
Endure elements, Shield (mainly for Magic Missile protection), Grease, Comprehend languages, Magic missles, Silent Image, animate rope, Feather Fall, Jump.
2nd:
Protection from Arrows (great for ships wizards), Fog cloud, Darkness, Gust of Wind, Minor image, Alter self (way to gain swim speed 30), Levitate, Make whole, Spider Climb, Whispering wind,
3rd:
Dispel magic, Sleet storm, Stinking cloud, Tongues, Fireball (vs ship sails), Wind wall, Major Image, Gental Repose (food storage), Fly, Haste, Slow, Water Breathing.
some CRB suggestions.
My druid has found Aqueous Orb to be a fantastic "pirate / weather" themed spell. Pick up those stupid enough to step foot on your ship deck uninvited and when you've got a full orb, drop them over the side.
Look in the Skulls and Shackles player's guide. There is a whole advice section on spells there. It doesn't hit all of them, but it is very informative on what spells work well when attacking other pirate ships. YMMV of course.
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Aaarghcane maaaaargh,
Spaaaargh,
Abundant Aaaarghmunition,
Aaaarghgressive Thundercloud,
Daaaarghness,
Darrrghvision,
And than kind of proper pirate spells.
Edit: i see Duiker beat me to it:)
Look for long-range spells. You won't be able to use medium or short range spells until you're already very close to the other ship, and in range of their archers and siege engines.
Fireball is very handy to take down enemy sails and crews at long range, allowing your ship to close. But it's not the only long range spell.
Any spell that allows you to summon underwater monsters is huge at sea -- they can attack hulls from underwater where the enemy crew are unlikely to be able to get at them. And anything that allows long lasting summons lets you send something scouting or tagging after enemy ships at very long ranges. Charm monster might be worth considering for this purpose.
Spectral hand, don't get on the other ship to touch them.
Water walking as an offensive spell. In a campaign I was in, we encountered a dragon turtle. We had cannons, so his only advantage was being underwater with all that entails. The wizard jumped in, touched him with waterwalking, made the SR check, and poof! Now he is instantly on top of the water regardless of what he wants.
See also casting it using Spectral hand, and for use on any variety of aquatic creatures. As well, once they are out of the water they start suffocating unless they are amphibious, and since it lasts 50 minutes as soon as you can cast it it pretty much kills them.
I suppose they could stick their heads underwater if they tried (it's probably a GM call sort of thing), but that is a clever and interesting offensive use of a utility spell.
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Spectral hand, don't get on the other ship to touch them.
Water walking as an offensive spell. In a campaign I was in, we encountered a dragon turtle. We had cannons, so his only advantage was being underwater with all that entails. The wizard jumped in, touched him with waterwalking, made the SR check, and poof! Now he is instantly on top of the water regardless of what he wants.
See also casting it using Spectral hand, and for use on any variety of aquatic creatures. As well, once they are out of the water they start suffocating unless they are amphibious, and since it lasts 50 minutes as soon as you can cast it it pretty much kills them.
Nice trick. One problem: Water Walking is not on the wizards spell-list.
If you have other ships to coordinate with Whispering Wind would be useful. Tiny Hut is perfect to conceal you and your siege engine from return fire.
Most important spell: Enhance Water (Rum)
Look for long-range spells. You won't be able to use medium or short range spells until you're already very close to the other ship, and in range of their archers and siege engines.
Rod of Reach is cheap (lesser = 3,000 gp) 3/day Medium -> Long metamagic.
/cevah
I would like to make a case for lightning bolt...My witch wrecked a pirate ship with it. The nice thing about it is on ships people tend to line up more due to preparing for boarding actions and due to the limited space available on ships.
Look for long-range spells. You won't be able to use medium or short range spells until you're already very close to the other ship, and in range of their archers and siege engines.
Fireball is very handy to take down enemy sails and crews at long range, allowing your ship to close. But it's not the only long range spell.
Any spell that allows you to summon underwater monsters is huge at sea -- they can attack hulls from underwater where the enemy crew are unlikely to be able to get at them. And anything that allows long lasting summons lets you send something scouting or tagging after enemy ships at very long ranges. Charm monster might be worth considering for this purpose.
totally, extend spell and range spells metamagic feats. Fireball on the enemy sails from 400 yards, for the win. Also, Euphoric cloud, at the front of a vessel. It sails through the cloud: everyone on the deck gets to inhale and trip out. Whee! Nevermind that pirate ship, there are faeries everywhere! *falls overboard* (also, stinking cloud or any other loud based magic, just as effective, they're stuck on a ship, everyone who passes through the cloud gets hit.) And also, now that I mention it, Blood in the Water, in case some pesky boss npc gets knocked overboard. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/b/blood-in-the-water Because nothing says O noees! like a bunch of frenzied bloodthirsty sharks. Also, because sharks are cool.
Another cool spell might be Thunderfire, with range metafeat. Only really useful if your gm is allowing cannons (or in this case using them against you). Cast that on enemy cannoneers, and giggle if they accidentally explode. It's a shot in the dark, but hey, doubling their misfire chance might help if its an extended engagement, or it might save your crew if they accidentally misfire on a broadside. Well, they'd have to misfire twice for it to blow up, but nonetheless, they won't hear the deckmaster yelling "fire! Fire damn you!" if the gunnery crews all go deaf. Anyway kinda situational, but there are a bunch of firearm based spells that could be used to target enemy cannons or buff your own cannoneers to prevent the same.
Also, multiple use spell: Hydrolic Torrent. Your ships sails catch fire? Torrent. The enemy is about to board, and you're close enough to where they're coming across: Torrent. You feel like a bastard, and the enemy is passing you on a broad side- torrent across their deck, then Blood in the Water afterward. I mean, not as effective as a fireball, but way more sadistic, and you don't have to worry about burning the goods. Raisse is on track with this. Not to mention, all the wall spells. Wind wall, firewall, etc. If the spell remains static on an enemy deck, place it at the rail and laugh as it effects everyone gathering there for a volley on your crew.