If you could cast one spell per level in real life what would you pick?


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion

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Look around your house.

Look at your shower.

Look at your sink.

Look at your clothes hamper.

If you're not saying unseen servant you picked the wrong spell and are lying to yourself.


Yqatuba wrote:
SLAs don't need any components right? So you could cast wish/miracle with no diamond.

Not to derail the topic, but a couple of queries.

1. Wish still has the "can be twisted" limitations, so would I really still want this spell?

2. Miracle is having a deity intervene in a way to suit your needs as long as the deity supports it. How would you rule this if we applied it to the real world?


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0 - Prestidigitation (Great utility spell with lots of different useful effects. I specially like the ability to alter the flavor of food - suddenly it becomes much easier to stick to your diet.)
1 – Unseen Servant (You basically get a slave, but without any of the moral implications. You never have to clean, do the dishes or mow the lawn again.)
2 – Make Whole (Repair everything from torn clothes, to a broken down car. Depending on your reading of the spell, it might even be used to restored damaged antiquities or works of art. Imagine how much bank you could make, by touring various museums and restoring damaged paintings, without any risk for the artwork.)
3 – Heroism (Good, long lasting bonus to nearly any check you would actually have to make.)
4 – Imbue with Flight (You may not be able to fly yourself, but your car can.)
5 – Teleport (Instant travel. Nuff said.)
6 – Age Resistance (Seems like an obvious long-term investment.)
7 – Mage’s Magnificent Mansion (Magical, extra dimensional mansion, fully staffed and without the property taxes.)
8 – Polymorph Any Object (Self-explanatory.)
9 – Shapechange (Want to fly? Become a dragon. Want to kill your enemies? Become a dragon. Want to pick up hot chicks? become a dragon. Want to run for prisident? Why not do that, as a dragon.)


Cavall wrote:

Look around your house.

Look at your shower.

Look at your sink.

Look at your clothes hamper.

If you're not saying unseen servant you picked the wrong spell and are lying to yourself.

A problem that is trivial to solve with money.

Better to pick a means of generating wealth that nobody will question. Use that wealth to solve most mundane problems by means nobody will question.

The easy answer here is being able to predict the stock market. You don't even need 100% accuracy. Just good enough to match, say, Warren Buffet.

Perhaps slightly less accurate if you want to remain anonymous while still generating wealth.


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Volkard Abendroth wrote:
Cavall wrote:

Look around your house.

Look at your shower.

Look at your sink.

Look at your clothes hamper.

If you're not saying unseen servant you picked the wrong spell and are lying to yourself.

A problem that is trivial to solve with money.

Better to pick a means of generating wealth that nobody will question. Use that wealth to solve most mundane problems by means nobody will question.

The easy answer here is being able to predict the stock market. You don't even need 100% accuracy. Just good enough to match, say, Warren Buffet.

Perhaps slightly less accurate if you want to remain anonymous while still generating wealth.

I love unseen servant as a spell. However not as my only 1st level spell. I can hire a maid.


Taking a different approach to this, and mainly because I'm terrible at making decisions, here's what my selections would look like if I were limited to a single school of magic.

Abjuration:
0 - resistance
1 - endure elements
2 - recentering drone
3 - protection from energy
4 - freedom of movement
5 - life bubble
6 - antilife shell
7 - antitech field
8 - nine lives
9 - freedom

Conjuration:
0 - summon instrument
1 - unseen servant
2 - lesser restoration
3 - symbol of healing
4 - minor creation
5 - teleport
6 - heal
7 - resurrection
8 - trap the soul
9 - create greater demiplane

Divination:
0 - sift
1 - kreighton's perusal
2 - augury
3 - aura sight
4 - divination
5 - commune
6 - find the path
7 - vision
8 - moment of prescience
9 - foresight

Enchantment:
0 - daze
1 - keep watch
2 - zone of truth
3 - suggestion
4 - aura of the unremarkable
5 - greater forbid action
6 - mass suggestion
7 - waves of ecstacy
8 - demand
9 - overwhelming presence

Evocation:
0 - dancing lights
1 - burst bonds
2 - pilfering hand
3 - tiny hut
4 - emergency force sphere
5 - cleanse
6 - contingency
7 - grasping hand
8 - telekinetic sphere
9 - miracle

Illusion:
0 - ghost sound
1 - disguise self
2 - invisibility
3 - major image
4 - minor phantom object
5 - dream
6 - greater shadow enchantment
7 - simulacrum
8 - greater shadow evocation
9 - shades

Necromancy:

0 - sotto voce
1 - restful sleep
2 - false life
3 - speak with dead
4 - animate dead
5 - possess object
6 - major curse
7 - waves of exhaustion
8 - clone
9 - astral projection

Transmutation:
0 - mending
1 - monkey fish
2 - rope trick
3 - glibness
4 - imbue with flight
5 - awaken
6 - cyclic reincarnation
7 - ethereal jaunt
8 - polymorph any object
9 - time stop

Dark Archive

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Yqatuba wrote:

Mine would be

0 prestidigitation
1 comprehend languages
2 locate object
3 fly
4 Improved Invisibility
5 Major Creation
6 heal
7 teleport w/o error
8 polymorph any object
9 wish

Summon Monster IX is pretty good for a 9th level choice, with the astral deva, ghaele azata and trumpet archon having a ton of useful spell-like abilities and / or clerical spells. At-will remove disease, for the astral deva, could be pretty darn handy for eliminating some incurable lifelong diseases, for instance, and save you the necessity of having heal on your own personal list.


Did I say mythic time stop? I should have said mythic time stop.


Hmmm...these would change depending on my mood that day...but right now I'm thinking...

0 - Mage Hand
1 - Comprehend Languages
2 - Make Whole
3 - Fly
4 - Divination
5 - Telekinesis
6 - Heal
7 - Greater Teleport
8 - Clone
9 - Gate

Earlier today it would have been
0 - Spark
1 - Produce Flame
2 - Scorching Ray
3 - Fireball
etc
etc
etc

Because sometimes you really just need to light a deserving @$$ on fire.


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If I got them at will, then all that mattered would be my level nine choice, either wish or miracle to imitate other spells. If they can't be used that frequently, than I don't know how I'd ever choose. Assuming the first scenario, though, it would be highly entertaining to use wish to imitate low level spells, like cure light wounds for a paper cut, or magic missile to kill flies. (Though I'd probably show off by mending a paper cut with something unnecessarily powerful, like heal or regenerate.


0 - Prestidigitation
1 - Magic Missile
2 - Invisibility
3 - Fly
4 - Age Resistance
5 - Raise Dead
6 - Heal
7 - Greater Teleport
8 - Summon Monster 8
9 - Wish


0 - Prestidigitation
1 - Crafter's Fortune
2 - Share Memory
3 - Life Bubble (yay Ranger list!)
4 - Truespeak
5 - Heal (yay Adept list!)
6 - Treacherous Teleport
7 - Mass Fly
8 - True Prognostication
9 - Create Demiplane, Greater


Curses, foiled again. "Contingency" and "Cyclic Reincarnation" are both level 6 spells... hmm...


No one has picked "Implant Urge" for level 1 ??

Seems massively useful to me....


PossibleCabbage wrote:
Curses, foiled again. "Contingency" and "Cyclic Reincarnation" are both level 6 spells... hmm...

Limited wish or wish could handle both of those.


Choices are So hard. It’s like trying to choose your favorite puppy.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Mine would be

0 prestidigitation
1 comprehend languages
2 cure light wounds
3 cure disease
4 make whole greater
5 scrying
6 heal
7 reserection
8 clone
9 wish


0 — Prestidigitation
1 — Cure Light Wounds
2 — Invisibility
3 — Adjustable Disguise
4 — Scry
5 — Teleport
6 — Heal
7 — Form of the Dragon II
8 — Nine Lives
9 — Wish


Wonder what you guys that picked Greater Invisibility with a 1 round/lvl Duration over Invisibility with 1 min/lvl Duration are up to, considering the only Advantage you got is being able to attack someone without becoming visible :)

0 Mage Hand
1 Unseen Servant
2 Tears to Wine (actually don't need to go any further, but for completion's sake...)
3 Conjure Carriage (assuming it translates to nice cars instead of horse and carriage)
4 Overland Flight
5 Mage's Private Sanctum
6 Heroe's Feast
7 Resurrection
8 True Prognostication
9 Interplanetary Teleport


I'm surprised no one has chosen permanency for level 5.

Scarab Sages

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0th: Prestidigitation: It's prestidigitation. What more do you need?
1st: See Alignment: It's kinda broken IRL. Wanna know if you should trust this stranger that just walked up to you? PING!
2nd: Locate Object: I mean... c'mon."Where are my keys?" Oh, I have a spell that instantly tells me.
3rd: Voluminous Vocabulary: As long as you know the language, it's like tongues but better.
4th: Greater Celestial Healing: I actually just like the idea of the spell. Plus, it's Good Aligned. What's not to like?
5th: Telekinesis: The ultimate in every-day utility. Need to move a piano? Telekinesis. Need to move the sofa? Telekinesis. Need something high up? Telekinesis.
6th: Telepathy: Because communication is important, and sometimes you really want private communication in a crowded circumstance.
7th: Greater Teleport: The ultimate movement ability.
8th: Moment of Prescience: We're assuming I can cast these spells at-will, which means... why not just get +X to anything whenever I see fit or need it? Works really well with my 9th level spell choice:
9th: Foresight. I know it sounds weird, but the ultimate "You're never surprised and always know the best course of action to avoid danger" is too good to pass up. Sure, wish etc. is nice, but you're still human. This basically makes you Spiderman.

I also noticed that I love divination spells for IRL stuff. Is that weird? Should there be more wizards with divination spells prepped as NPCs?


Prof. Löwenzahn wrote:
8 True Prognostication

Ooh, true prognostication would be lovely in the real world. That would probably edge out moment of prescience for my diviner. Speaking of which, true creation easily wins out over trap the soul for my conjurer.


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A great thread question. Thanks for posting!

0: Prestidigitation (literally a life-changing spell)
1: Endure Elements (Global Weirding suggests that this is a wise choice)
2. Detect Thoughts (I just can't resist this)
3. Suggestion (my manipulation spell, I didn't want domination spells for the obvious moral conundrums and temptations, also pathfinder rulings on the obviousness of magic kind of ruin the stealthy use of enchantments and illusions)
4. Tongues (convenient for world travel, higher education, and watching foreign movies)
5: Commune (helps anticipate and solve problems, plus kinda neat for its implications in the real world)
6. Heal (I'm in the USA so affordable health care is a bit of a priority)
7. Greater Teleport (combine with Google Maps for travel or escape)
8. Polymorph Any Object (perhaps the most versatile spell in the game after miracle/wish; seems like I could always have money by changing paper permanently into paper bills. Good attack spell to have, difficult to prosecute me for using. Possibly allows defeating death by polymorphing into a younger body.)
9. Miracle (Honestly, I may have a god complex)

I feel like Fly is a trap choice. Nothing gets you identified by the government, captured, and experimented upon or forced into black ops work like Flying through the air or other flashy public spells. I'll avoid the mutant camps, thanks. I suppose you could just get shot out of the sky by fighter planes too.

Similarly, Mage's Magnificent Mansion looks like a great idea, but I feel like you'd end up with lots of problems with zoning, property taxes, and being outed as a mutant. It's like when Daniel Dae Kim was a villain on Angel.

Invisibility is tempting as an escape spell, but greater teleport will serve that function.

Watch out for material components: Alter Self has a material component of a piece of the creature you'd like to become! Ew!


Amazing how many people chose lists without some heavy duty healing in them.

Heal and remove disease are extremely important spells and can serve as your source of income. (Plenty of rich people would pay huge sums for those spells.)

Scarab Sages

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I'll assume that my CL is as high as it needs to be, that I don't need material components (or at least, I can somehow make do with what is possible to get) that wish/miracle/et al are verboten, and (just to keep a lid on things) so are extraplanar travel and Mythic/Hero Point options.

Depending on which 0-9 class list I'm permitted to choose from....

Arcanist/Sorcerer/Wizard:
0th: mage hand
1st: charm person
2nd: create pit
3rd: fly
4th: warp metal
5th: major creation
6th: cosmic ray
7th: greater teleport
8th: polymorph any object
9th: meteor swarm

Cleric/Oracle:
0th: detect poison
1st: protection from Evil
2nd: calm emotions
3rd: bestow curse
4th: Chaos hammer
5th: flame strike
6th: heal
7th: resurrection
8th: greater remove radiactivity
9th: winds of vengeance

Druid:
0th: chameleon scales
1st: endure elements
2nd: burst of radiance
3rd: water breathing
4th: air walk
5th: fire snake
6th: stone tell
7th: control weather
8th: reverse gravity
9th: temporal regression

Shaman:
0th: create water
1st: remove fear
2nd: lesser animate dead
3rd: speak with dead
4th: ball lightning
5th: overland flight
6th: curse of the outcast
7th: greater restoration
8th: horrid wilting
9th: shapechange

Witch:
0th: mending
1st: comprehend languages
2nd: blindness/deafness
3rd: grasping tentacles
4th: discern lies
5th: baleful polymorph
6th: animate objects
7th: temporal divergence
8th: irresistible dance
9th: maze of madness and suffering

Psychic:
0th: prestidigitation
1st: magic missile
2nd: hideous laughter
3rd: major image
4th: telekinesis
5th: fabricate
6th: greater heroism
7th: walk through space
8th: form of the alien dragon II
9th: telekinetic storm


0: Bleed
1: Charm person
2: Invisibility
3: Vampiric touch
4: Scrying
5: Dominate person
6: Treacherous teleport
7: Mage's magnificent mansion
8: Polymorph any object
9: Eternity of torment

...what?

Scarab Sages

Sissyl wrote:
...what?

Let me tell you....

First of all wrote:

0: Bleed

Why waste an opportunity to break the laws of physics on something you could do with a knife?!?

Second of all wrote:

9: Eternity of torment

*swats Sissyl on the head with a rolled-up Torah scroll, a big heavy one stolen out of an NYC Hassidic synagogue's Closet*

No. NO. That is NOT a thing. We do NOT respond to this thread with spells they haven't yet published. Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities.

Silver Crusade

I just kinda skimmed, but I'm surprised no one has taken any of the shadow school spells. They really cover a lot of ground. Here's mine:

0 - Prestidigitation
1 - Comprehend Languages
2 - Detect Thoughts
3 - Major Image
4 - Dimension Door
5 - Shadow Evocation
6 - Greater Shadow Enchantment
7 - Greater Shadow Conjuration
8 - Polymorph Any Object
9 - Wish (more for duplicating other spells than for the more dangerous stuff)


Eternity of torment is from the Book of Vile Darkness. You gotta have something to motivate underlings.


*Thelith wrote:
I'm surprised no one has chosen permanency for level 5.

Someone did.

Davor wrote:
1st: See Alignment: It's kinda broken IRL. Wanna know if you should trust this stranger that just walked up to you? PING!

The vast majority won't be high enough level to have an aura.

I would be very concerned about anyone that was high enough level for this spell to work on.


I built my list with the mechanic that the OP put forth a little ways down page 1. Uses = (10 - spell level) per day. So a 0-level spell will only see 10 uses/day while a 9th gets 1/day.

Yqatuba wrote:
Let's say they are SLAs an all CL 20. Also they can be cast 10- spell level times per day (so the 5th level spell could be cast 5 times a day)

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32

Cavall wrote:

Look around your house.

Look at your shower.

Look at your sink.

Look at your clothes hamper.

If you're not saying unseen servant you picked the wrong spell and are lying to yourself.

Prestidigitation solves most cleaning issues. That's why I took Silent Image at level 1 - illusions in a world with no Spellcraft would be crazy useful.

Scarab Sages

Volkard Abendroth wrote:
*Thelith wrote:
I'm surprised no one has chosen permanency for level 5.

Someone did.

Davor wrote:
1st: See Alignment: It's kinda broken IRL. Wanna know if you should trust this stranger that just walked up to you? PING!

The vast majority won't be high enough level to have an aura.

I would be very concerned about anyone that was high enough level for this spell to work on.

You're confusing See Alignment with Detect Evil/Good/Law/Chaos.

See Alignment wrote:
When you cast this spell, select a single alignment (such as lawful good or chaotic evil). Creatures of that alignment glow with a ghostly radiance while they are within your vision. Though you can see this radiance, other creatures cannot. Spells and effects that obscure alignment, like undetectable alignment, also obscure the effects of this spell.

Nothing about having an aligned aura. If you're that alignment, you just glow with that alignment.


Loren Pechtel wrote:

Amazing how many people chose lists without some heavy duty healing in them.

Heal and remove disease are extremely important spells and can serve as your source of income. (Plenty of rich people would pay huge sums for those spells.)

Honestly, I think there'd be enough hassle involved with keeping yourself relatively unharassed that you'd might as well just build yourself to conquer the planet.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

0: Prestidigitation (Perfect hair, every day? Never need to do dry cleaning again? Hell yes.)
1: Comprehend languages (So incredibly incredibly useful. Especially for my Job. But also for not having to use subtitles when watching movies, or dictionaries when reading other languages, or ordering in restaurants, or travelling abroad)
2: Enthrall (Being able to make a concert hall full of people pay attention to you and feel good about you while doing it is the most amazing public speaking aid ever.)
3: Major Image (I'd make a fortune in special effects, and halloween would be the best thing ever.)
4: Greater Make Whole (Never have to worry about breaking my, anything, really. My Phone, my comp, no physical damage to technological items, or even just erosion of technology from the vagaries of time. I could make a fortune repairing stuff like space shuttles and high tech fragile scientific equipment too)
5: Life Bubble (Be able to breathe underwater? and avoid choking to death? Keeping my experience pleasant wherever I go? Yes, please).
6: Heal (never need to worry about blindness or a number of other issues ever again. So incredibly incredibly useful. I will never stay sick again. And neither will my loved ones.)
7: Greater Teleport (Go Wherever I want? For free? With no range limit or chance of missing? A free vacation every weekend? yeah. that is what I want, thanks.)
8: Polymorph Any Object (yes, I would like to Be able to turn any object into any other object, possibly permanently. That would solve so, so many problems.)
9: Wish (but if that's cheating, then either Regenerate, Or True Resurrection)


Hmmmm.... I think this is basically what I would go for. A mix of utility, reliable combat abilities, and shapechanging. I think I just need to fit in some sort of defensive ability, and then I'd be set. Protection from Arrows might work very well vs guns....

0 - Prestidigitation
1 - Magic Missile
2 - Make Whole
3 - Fireball
4 - Age Resistance
5 - Major Creation
6 - Heal
7 - greater teleport
8 - Form of the (Alien?) Dragon 3
9 - Shapechange


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Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

0th: prestidigitation (psychic, sorcerer/wizard)
1st: endure elements (cleric, druid, psychic, sorcerer/wizard)
2nd: levitate (psychic, sorcerer/wizard, witch)
3rd: voluminous vocabulary (cleric, psychic, sorcerer/wizard, witch)
4th: greater make whole (cleric, sorcerer/wizard)
5th: teleport (psychic 5, sorcerer/wizard 5, witch 5)
6th: heal (cleric)
7th: greater shapechanger's gift (sorcerer/wizard)
8th: create demiplane (cleric, psychic, sorcerer/wizard, witch)
9th: regenerate (druid)

Reasoning:

I think prestidigitation is an obvious one. Easy cleaning, adjusting the flavor of meals to match your tastes, just improves your quality of life so much.
Endure elements, every day is a lovely day, unless it's truly horribly hot or cold out. I could save so much money on air conditioning with this spell as well. A wonderful qualify of life enhancement.

Levitate, very helpful, and not necessarily overt if you pretend to be moving it. Allows you to move things, float yourself up places, makes moving furniture a breeze. And, honestly, I feel like it would probably be pretty fun to lift yourself a little off the ground and push yourself around.

Voluminous vocabulary from Ultimate Intrigue acts a lot like comprehend languages, but lasts for eight hours automatically, allows you to actually speak and write it, and, well. There's so much out there that I can't understand because I don't speak the language. This would circumvent a lot of that, though the literal meaning element could definitely take some getting used to. And it can be used on animals and such too, which could definitely be interesting.

Greater make whole from the Technology Guide is just a great spell, specifically works on fixing technology as well as normal broken objects. Would make what you own last a good long time as long as it fits within the weight limits. Some furniture might not work, though dismantling it and repairing the parts might be possible...would be worth a shot.

Teleport, well, enough said. Greater teleport is better, but I had other plans for my 7th-level pick, and honestly it's probably more than good enough the majority of the time, though needing to physically see the location before going there would definitely make things trickier. Still...teleportation. Hard to go wrong with it.

Heal will remove any disease you might have, any poison you might be exposed to, cure at least some mental illnesses, and help deal with any repercussions caused by past diseases and the like. Also cures addictions and, well, all kinds of stuff. And if you're badly injured...this will do. It also deals with exhaustion and fatigue, so you probably don't need to ever sleep again. Truly an amazing spell.

Greater shapechanger's gift from Ultimate Wilderness is a great spell. A huge amount of versatility, it lasts for a decent length of time, giving you a near-perfect disguise, transforming into an animal, or assuming the form of something inhuman...unless the material component sticks around, in which case, animals and humanoids it is. Still great.

Create demiplane from Ultimate Magic is pretty amazing as a spell. Grants you your own extraplanar refuge, fill it with natural foodstuffs, add a floating castle to live inside of...I'm assuming that if I eject myself, I do return to the Material Plane since it would have been cast there and I wouldn't be stuck in the Astral or Ethereal Plane...though that is a bit of a risk. The other problem might be acquiring the focus, if I have to worry about focus components, but I think it should be possible to acquire with some effort, look into finding the right crafter. Does make me want greater create demiplane, but what I really wanted was...

...regenerate. Because some things heal can't tackle, and, barring dead, regenerate can definitely manage it. I mean, I could have taken it as a 7th-level spell, but I really love greater shapechanger's gift, so...


This seems like a lot of fun - it's interesting to see what people would say they would take.

0 - Prestidigitation - Good for so many different things.
1 - Enhance Water - Beer, right from your sink! Plus, eliminate any of that pesky lead or any other heavy metals that might be in it.
2 - Make Whole - It breaks, I fix it, any object up to 200 Cubic Feet (covers most cars, too).
3 - Tongues - I now speak and understand every language.
4 - Freedom of Movement - Nothing can stop me.
5 - Permanency - See below
6 - Heal - To fix every issue that can occur.
7 - Greater Teleport - Travel anywhere you like on the planet!
8 - Create Demiplane - I have more rooms in my house now, thanks to Permanency.
9 - Shapechange - to look like who or whatever I want for a couple hours a day.


0- Prestidigitation. Clean or color things, do very minor magic tricks, and flavor and warm/cool your food? No other cantrip even comes close. Your food is always the right temperature and you can make nutritious, filling crap you would otherwise have to choke down taste delicious. Plus if you mess up your car or the floor or ANYTHING you can snap your fingers and it's clean again.

1- Polypurpose Panacea. This is the first level spell I feel I'd always have a use for, although Endure Elements and Theft Ward both seem like practical options depending on the kind of life you lead.

2- Locate Object. Lost something? You can find it, presto.

3- I think most people think of things like Fly here, but honestly the 3rd level spell I'd like to be able to cast is Nap Stack. I could sleep two hours a night and still be as healthy and well-rested as I'd be from 8, and I can sleep longer to be even better-rested. Getting enough sleep is hard in this day and age and there's always so much to do. Nap Stack every night lets you make sure you're always getting enough rest, night owl or no. Very good for your long-term health.

4- Divination. Augury's a good pick, but I like being able to peer a little deeper into the future when getting information/advice about something I'm considering doing.

5- Overland Flight. While I suspect Flight might be overrated, it could still be a handy ability to have at certain points in life, and this will last most of the day.

6- Heal. While I don't know if it would let me cure cancer, it's still one of the most potent healing forces available and something I'd want to have on tap should the worst ever befall people around me.

7- Greater Teleport. No more long car rides. No more bothering with airports. No range limits. No mishaps. All in all? Travel became a breeze and international friends and family are no trouble to hang out with.

8- Moment of Prescience. There's always SOMETHING I can use that for.

9- Miracle/Wish seems like the obvious one, but on the assumption that's cheating, Shapechange. There's a lot of interesting things one could do with polymorph and this lets me hit all of them at once and has a decent duration.


Not to burst your bubble, but this is the last sentence of the nap stack spell:

“Creatures can only enjoy the benefits of this spell once in any 1-week period.”


That's why you go with keep watch for all of your wakefulness needs.


I am a little surprised how few look at the Mental/Physical stat improving spells for second level. Fox's Cunning providing a +4 to INT, means you go from a likely 10 INT commoner to a 14 INT Math expert for 9 minutes per day 8 times a day.
Any of the Physical or mental stat boosters have short durations, but can make you an expert or master level Human in a task. Not sure if giving up Tongues, or major image for meta magic extended spell for 18+ mins per day is worth it though.

EDIT: +4 to CHA would be sweet for dating, and I would have the CHA to excuse myself every 8 minutes to reapply without it being weird =D


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A spell I haven't seen mentioned is Phantasmal Revenge, a spell that could eliminate active serial killers, decimate criminal syndicates, and perform surgical counterinsurgencies.

I'm also surprised not to see a lot of interest in spells like Seek Thoughts and Discern Lies, which could transform human relationships.

Commune--imagine the questions a panel of nobel prize winners could pose with Commune. Or imagine the value that you could get out of it by posing the big questions: "Is there a God?" Or for you simple pleasures folks, reflect that with twenty questions you could pick a winning lottery ticket out of a million possible numbers every week, or out of a trillion every other week.

If Wish is out, Summon Monster IX gives you access to diverse spells through creatures like Ghale and Trumpet Archons and Astral Devas.

Protection from Arrows would work against bullets, right? Probably worth the slot.


Hmm. I'll have to go through the list in more detail, but off the top of my head, I'd go for a lot of divination/telepathy types of spells, and become the world's most awesome investigative journalist.


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Ooh, here's a nice combination: symbol of healing and permanency. You should be able to toss out five permanent symbols every day, anonymously demonstrating their power and distributing them to hospitals around the world. Should provide a nice little boost to the capabilities of modern medicine.

Of course, the real winning move is to use wish to create a simulacrum of yourself, which then creates its own simulacrum, so you get an arbitrarily long string of simulacra who can then start spamming spells like true creation, resurrection, and cyclic reincarnation to overcome silly little problems like scarcity and death.

Silver Crusade

Guardianlord wrote:

I am a little surprised how few look at the Mental/Physical stat improving spells for second level. Fox's Cunning providing a +4 to INT, means you go from a likely 10 INT commoner to a 14 INT Math expert for 9 minutes per day 8 times a day.

Any of the Physical or mental stat boosters have short durations, but can make you an expert or master level Human in a task. Not sure if giving up Tongues, or major image for meta magic extended spell for 18+ mins per day is worth it though.

EDIT: +4 to CHA would be sweet for dating, and I would have the CHA to excuse myself every 8 minutes to reapply without it being weird =D

I mostly didn't go for those because they're a little more abstract and have a lot of questions when you start looking at real world use (if you increase your intelligence, can you still comprehend thing you figure out after the spell ends? Stuff like that). Plus, honestly, charm spells make a lot of that stuff superfluous. You can get your friends to do your math for you.

Keep Calm and Carrion wrote:
I'm also surprised not to see a lot of interest in spells like Seek Thoughts and Discern Lies, which could transform human relationships.

That's why I went with detect thoughts. Also, with shadow enchantment, you can just drop a zone of truth. Or, hell, pop dominate person and order them to speak the truth. Though I am reticent to mess with dominate spells unless in dire straits.

Quote:
Protection from Arrows would work against bullets, right? Probably worth the slot.

I stayed away from stuff like that partly because I don't plan on getting shot at, but mostly because HP are an abstraction, so having DR 10 is a nebulous concept at best.

Scarab Sages

Cavall wrote:

Look around your house.

Look at your shower.

Look at your sink.

Look at your clothes hamper.

If you're not saying unseen servant you picked the wrong spell and are lying to yourself.

Absolutely agree. If I got one spell, and one spell only to use, it would b e Unseen Servant.

Silver Crusade

Woran wrote:
Cavall wrote:

Look around your house.

Look at your shower.

Look at your sink.

Look at your clothes hamper.

If you're not saying unseen servant you picked the wrong spell and are lying to yourself.

Absolutely agree. If I got one spell, and one spell only to use, it would b e Unseen Servant.

Shadow conjuration gets you that, plus just about every other conjuration spell.


Hmmm, lets think.

0. Prestidigiation is far far too useful, even for just for making the small crude objects, imagine how many times you have tried to explain what something looked like and wished you had something to reference.

1. Linked Legacy. This on the condition that it imbues understanding and that making a scientific discovery would be represented by a knowledge check. Imagine the impact that this could have in science. Immediate shared understanding of complex problems. It should be able to massively increase the rate of discovery.
Beyond that, if recalling knowledge is a knowledge check this could be used to rapidly educate prospective students in advanced concepts in medicine and physics.
Imagine a doctor with this, encountering a trauma victim on a street he could grab a bunch of passers by and immediately share with them the knowledge of how to treat the patient.

2. Make whole, or Fox's cunning. I am not really sure which here would be good. Zone of Truth is pretty good. Cure moderate wounds would be valuable as well I think, lets you cure physical wounds 8 times a day vs the 4 from Heal.
I think just in terms of quality of life Make Whole would be good. If you cast it each day as many times as you could on different items things would basically never break.
Tears to wine is a close call here

3. Lesser Guardian monument is pretty cool. Put it in some key spaces in your house and never have to worry about stubbing your toe or paper cuts or a slip of the knife ever again.
Urban step is neat. Gaseous form is cool too.
Major image might edge out here a bit, just for awesome utility.
With healing magic I could ignore Lesser Guardian Monument and go Major Image.

4. Greater celestial healing, or greater claim identity from Antipaladin, or age resistance. I think Divination might be the best option here to be fair.

5. Fabricate

6. Heal

7. Greater Teleport

8. Polymorph Any Object.

9. I would go for Wish, not for the spell mimicry but for the stat bonuses. If I could make the money to get the diamonds, or if we can ignore the spell components, imagine the progress to be made if suddenlt all major scientists had a +5 int. That is assuming that the casting over 5 days on a single person actually works to add up to the +5.

If wish is cheating I would maybe go for create greater demiplane, interplanetary teleport is an interesting option. Summon monster IX is also intriguing.


Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

Not to burst your bubble, but this is the last sentence of the nap stack spell:

“Creatures can only enjoy the benefits of this spell once in any 1-week period.”

Is why I went with Lesser Restoration.

No matter how tired you get, be it from an all-nighters or running a marathon, Lesser Restoration will fully refresh you,

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