Haste is an excellent spell for dealing damage simply because it gives martial characters a buff.
Beyond that... fireball? Fly so the martials can get up to their foes? Cure spells might not be bad, both for party healing and use against undead.
While impressive, that particular Wand of Ball Lightning will cost you 57,000gp. Or 28,500 to craft. And have a save DC of 16. And electricity resistance 10 may nullify the attack hardcore.
Some staves are cheaper than that too.
Wands are not usually used for damaging spells, as the real-deal spells that come out of a caster's hands are much more potent. However Ball Lightning in particular could be useful in a large scale battle.
Some other highly potential wands are some that Azten mentioned. I'm a fan of one's that don't allow a saving throw, such as Scorching Ray and Enervation
Gah, how could I have forgotten Enervation? While not exactly a 'damage' spell, it still lowers the target hit point by 5-20 per hit dice!
Quick look at other spells reveals: Obsidian Flow(damage and battlefield control), Flame Strike(half fire damage, other half has no resistance), Holy Sword(on someone else's weapon), and Blessing of the Champion(on someone else that's lawful good).
While not necessarily the best damaging spell, I would like to call out Spike Stones and Spike Growth. They hurt quite a bit, especially if you can find a way to push the enemy unwillingly through the terrain (Hydraulic Torrent, Telekinesis, etc).
Other misc. candidates may include Blessing of Fervor and Channel Vigor. Both can grant pseudo-Haste, and do some other nifty things.
If you're looking for raw damage, battering blast is hard to beat. At high caster levels it deals 20d6 damage (or more), ignores all energy resistances, can crit for double damage, hits incorporeal creatures for full damage, and can bull rush AND knock multiple foes prone. It can also blast down doors and move objects.
It is probably the most versatile 3rd-level attack spell out there.
EDIT: The spell also qualifies for half the metamagic feats out there. One good one might be an intensified battering blast; it can still go into a wand and will do 40d6 damage at CL 20.
Intensified Batter Blast does seem like a really nice spell!
*writes down notes*
If you're looking for raw damage, battering blast is hard to beat. At high caster levels it deals 20d6 damage (or more), ignores all energy resistances, can crit for double damage, hits incorporeal creatures for full damage, and can bull rush AND knock multiple foes prone. It can also blast down doors and move objects.
It is probably the most versatile 3rd-level attack spell out there.
EDIT: The spell also qualifies for half the metamagic feats out there. One good one might be an intensified battering blast; it can still go into a wand and will do 40d6 damage at CL 20.
I don't see how. It's 1d6/2 caster level, which means the maximum is 7d6 (each ball), for a total of 28d6 at CL 20.
Protip: This spell has a duration of instantaneous, you can target people inside an Antimagic Field.
Add Merciful Spell and suddenly you have a way to beat down someone you don't actually want to kill. Toppling Spell for tripping, but I wouldn't count on it always working.
Protip: This spell has a duration of instantaneous, you can target people inside an Antimagic Field.
How is that supposed to work? AMF "suppresses any spell or magical effect used within, brought into, or cast into the area."
I suppose you can target people -- in the sense of "aim at" -- but you explicitly can't hit them or otherwise affect them since the ball of force winks out as soon as it enters the warded area.
If you're looking for raw damage, battering blast is hard to beat. At high caster levels it deals 20d6 damage (or more), ignores all energy resistances, can crit for double damage, hits incorporeal creatures for full damage, and can bull rush AND knock multiple foes prone. It can also blast down doors and move objects.
It is probably the most versatile 3rd-level attack spell out there.
EDIT: The spell also qualifies for half the metamagic feats out there. One good one might be an intensified battering blast; it can still go into a wand and will do 40d6 damage at CL 20.
I don't see how. It's 1d6/2 caster level, which means the maximum is 7d6 (each ball), for a total of 28d6 at CL 20.
Protip: This spell has a duration of instantaneous, you can target people inside an Antimagic Field.
Yeah, I miscalculated. Was thinking +5 dice rather than +5 CL worth of dice.
Still a helluva good spell!
Protip: This spell has a duration of instantaneous, you can target people inside an Antimagic Field.How is that supposed to work? AMF "suppresses any spell or magical effect used within, brought into, or cast into the area."
I suppose you can target people -- in the sense of "aim at" -- but you explicitly can't hit them or otherwise affect them since the ball of force winks out as soon as it enters the warded area.
Instantaneous: The spell energy comes and goes the instant the spell is cast, though the consequences might be long-lasting.
The fact is that the ball of force is not magical. You are using a spell to create it, but then it isn't magical anymore. It's just like a wall of stone that doesn't disappear or break when it's dispelled. This quality often is shared by conjuration (creation) spells, but for inexplicable reasons we have this spell as an evocation.
If you're looking for raw damage, battering blast is hard to beat. At high caster levels it deals 20d6 damage (or more), ignores all energy resistances, can crit for double damage, hits incorporeal creatures for full damage, and can bull rush AND knock multiple foes prone. It can also blast down doors and move objects.
It is probably the most versatile 3rd-level attack spell out there.
EDIT: The spell also qualifies for half the metamagic feats out there. One good one might be an intensified battering blast; it can still go into a wand and will do 40d6 damage at CL 20.
I don't see how. It's 1d6/2 caster level, which means the maximum is 7d6 (each ball), for a total of 28d6 at CL 20.
Protip: This spell has a duration of instantaneous, you can target people inside an Antimagic Field.
Yeah, I miscalculated. Was thinking +5 dice rather than +5 CL worth of dice.
Still a helluva good spell!
The first time I saw this spell I made the same error. It's nice, however, that there's no cap on the number of balls you can cast. You could, for example, cast a CL 30 battering blast for six balls (level 20 + spell specialization + spell perfection + trait + bead of karma + orange prism(?) ioun stone). It's a thing.
That spell is quite unlike any other 3rd level spell. However, since it's Sorcerer/Wizard/Arcanist only, I guess that's a limiting factor.
Protip: This spell has a duration of instantaneous, you can target people inside an Antimagic Field.
Antimagic Field's instantaneous spell duration exception is limited to Conjuration spells, which Battering Blast is not.
That spell is quite unlike any other 3rd level spell. However, since it's Sorcerer/Wizard/Arcanist only, I guess that's a limiting factor.Spell Trigger items are very easy to UMD on a Bard.
It's easy for anyone to do so. We're in a thread about wands, after all.
It does still make a good candidate for a wand, since the saving throw is nearly negligible. All the Reflex save determines is whether or not the targets fall prone. However, it will need a sufficiently high caster level to take full advantage of it, making the cost decently high.
This would be a rather devastating choice for an Arcane Trickster however...
True dat!
Protip: This spell has a duration of instantaneous, you can target people inside an Antimagic Field.Antimagic Field's instantaneous spell duration exception is limited to Conjuration spells, which Battering Blast is not.
Really? I was taught the wrong way then.
But here two another nasty spells: Irradiate.
Constitution damage is good.
Litany of Vengeance.
It's a buff (sort of).
Ah yes, that wonderful spell brought to us by Dungeons of Golarion: Battering Blast! Best force spell around, in my opinion. Worth the cost to upgrade and useful against most all foes.
Ah yes, that wonderful spell brought to us by Dungeons of Golarion: Battering Blast! Best force spell around, in my opinion. Worth the cost to upgrade and useful against most all foes.
Looks like I have a new blaster option...maybe...
It's a buff (sort of).
How? It is an instant effect, on a swift action. No other actions can occur for it to apply on. If it lasted a round, then everyone would have a round to attack and get the bonus. But instant? No one can hit at the same time.
The spell needs errata.
/cevah
It does, since it's ambiguous.
But one could argue that it's a permanent effect (i.e. anyone who hits that target now receives a +5 bonus on damage until they're dead).
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It's a buff (sort of).How? It is an instant effect, on a swift action. No other actions can occur for it to apply on. If it lasted a round, then everyone would have a round to attack and get the bonus. But instant? No one can hit at the same time.
The spell needs errata.
/cevah
It's also terrible for a wand, as the casting time increases to a standard action.
Speaking as someone currently playing a magus with wand wielder - shocking grasp (CL5) can be very handy for the right character.
For more general use, consider burning disarm (still has a useful effect when the save is made) or snowball (ditto).