So, long story short, my character (level 11 Conjuration Wizard) found a custom item that allows him to add any 5 spells to his spellbook. The rules for it are:
-Spells can be from ANY list
-No Early Access (If the spell is on the wizard list already, can not take it at a lower level)
-The spells must be a 1st level, a 2nd level, a 3rd level, a 4th level and either a 5th or 6th level.
I am looking for the best non wizard spells. The campaign is a custom setting that is highly lethal with tough enemies and a lot of potential mistakes leading to death.
Thus far I am thinking
1st - I'll Omen
2nd - Barkskin
3rd - ???
4th - ??? (Possibly something from Paladin/Ranger?)
5th or 6th - Heal
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Spite is a useful spell for interrupting a full attack (assuming you have frigid touch) or perhaps for hitting back with vampiric touch. Freedom of movement is good if no one else in the party has it, or death ward or restoration similarly. Plant growth would be good for making friends perhaps.
What are his opposition schools though?
Due to Opposition Research, the only opposition school is enchantment. So that would make Ill Omen take 2 slots to prepare, though he may just end up crafting a higher CL wand. (Perhaps worth noting that crafting partially charged wands is allowed). May or may not be worth it for a wizard that doesn't specialize in save or die/suck spells, though nothing preventing him from using a few of them.
I'm dubious that you'd find ill omen useful that often. As a standard action (whether from a spell or wand) from an 11th level spellcaster it seems weak, though it'd be great if you have a minion. Quickened it might be worthwhile but probably not yet at a cost of 2 5th level spell slots - maybe in a couple of levels when 5th level slots matter less. If you don't want to invest in the future like that then grace or cheetah's sprint might be useful for getting out of the way sometimes.
I've had to do a similar search once my fire wizard took levels in pathfinder savant.
The best non-wizard spells I've identified so far are.
Longstrider, Greater (3rd)
See Through Stone (3rd)
Stay the Hand (4th)
explosion of rot (4th)
Spiritual Ally (4th)
King’s Castle (4th)
Bard’s Escape (5th)
live oak (6th)
IMO the clear winners from the list are longstrider, stay the hand and live oak, but it really depends on your play style. I've left off the obvious line of cure spells, but you may get more mileage out of cure light wounds since its useful and will continue to be useful even at high levels.
edit: I noticed the no early access clause and removed some suggestions that I realized appear as wizard spells.
More information is needed before decent advice can be given. Knowing what other spell casters are in your part and what type of spells they have would be helpful. There are a lot of cleric spells that are good for buffing the party. Since you are a conjuration wizard I assume you summon a lot of creatures. If you have a cleric already casting those buffs they are not going to be that helpful. If on the other hand you do not have access to them they would be extremely useful.
Ok, so to give some more information. It is a primarily 2 person game, though we regularly have a rotating npc companion, they are not consistent, so for all intents and purposes consider this a 2 person game.
That being said, I am a Conjuration (Teleportation) Wizard, Opposition Enchantment, I have a Faerie Dragon Familiar (So free use of any Wizard/Sorcerer wands, unfortunately would exclude Ill Omen). My spell list generally consists of buffs, summoning, and conjuration BFC spells, along with a few reliable blast spells (mainly Battering Blast with a couple of Lesser Maximize rods).
My fellow party member is an Archer Warpriest, his spell list focuses mostly on buffs and healing.
Im going to list everything else I can think of that is relevant:
-Since there are only 2 of us, the DM is generous with gold and crafting rules, so we have access to more magical items than normal for our level, though not absurdly so.
-We mostly fight single powerful enemies (the overall goal is to learn about and avoid 12 very powerful enemies until we are strong enough to fight them, then we need to kill each of them, followed by the 13th which is the big bad)
-The campaign has very little outdoors or nature themed parts to it. (it mainly takes place in a series of extradimensional haunted mansion type areas (most of the maps and some monsters are pulled from the 3.5 Heroes of Horror splatbook) with an occasional graveyard/giant mausoleum setting, we have also learned that there are catacombs and maybe a couple of other subterranean areas)
-We know that a couple of enemies we will fight are going to be a dragon and a full power Beholder (with all Eye Stalks and its 150ft Anti-Magic Cone)
Some things I am looking for in general (not necessarily limited to this extra spell selection) are
1. At higher levels when Damage reduction starts becoming more common, how to keep summons relevant? I am considering taking Greater Magic Fang for when I summon something like a T Rex. Also looking at more Combat Maneuver and SLA focused summons.
2. In general I am always looking for more consistent methods of keeping myself alive. I have all day See Invisibility, Darkvision, Protection from Arrows, Overland Flight and Extended Magic Circle vs Evil. I have +Saves and +Dex/Con items, along with a Ring of Invisibility and Cloak of Displacement (Blur). I also have my conjuration school powers which have saved my a** so many times. I have just gotten access to contingency (limited to 3rd level spells until next level) and would love advice on spell selection/triggers for that.
I've had to do a similar search once my fire wizard took levels in pathfinder savant.
The best non-wizard spells I've identified so far are.
Longstrider, Greater (3rd)
See Through Stone (3rd)
Stay the Hand (4th)
explosion of rot (4th)
Spiritual Ally (4th)
King’s Castle (4th)
Bard’s Escape (5th)
live oak (6th)IMO the clear winners from the list are longstrider, stay the hand and live oak, but it really depends on your play style. I've left off the obvious line of cure spells, but you may get more mileage out of cure light wounds since its useful and will continue to be useful even at high levels.
edit: I noticed the no early access clause and removed some suggestions that I realized appear as wizard spells.
Interesting suggestions, Bard's Escape looks like a potential rival for Heal as the 5th/6th level one. King's Castle also looks nice, though outside of summons we lack a true front line, so maybe a little less reliable. Stay the Hand is both enchantment and mind affecting, so its probably not going to be a viable option for me. Spiritual Ally uses my base attack (as a wizard) + my Wisdom, so also probably not viable. Live Oak probably will not see much use due to factors that you were unaware of when posting (very few outdoor segments)
Interesting suggestions, Bard's Escape looks like a potential rival for Heal as the 5th/6th level one. King's Castle also looks nice, though outside of summons we lack a true front line, so maybe a little less reliable. Stay the Hand is both enchantment and mind affecting, so its probably not going to be a viable option for me. Spiritual Ally uses my base attack (as a wizard) + my Wisdom, so also probably not viable. Live Oak probably will not see much use due to factors that you were unaware of when posting (very few outdoor segments)
for the most part I agree with your assessment. Spiritual ally is terrible as straight offensive spell. Even for a cleric who gets 3/4 bab and has high wisdom. The main advantage of it is that it "looks" like a summoned creature and will therefore get attacked like one and then be completely immune to said attacks. If monsters try to ignore it it still gets AoO, can flank and can make it harder to enemy casters to find a "safe" place to cast spells from. So, you should think of it as a really good illusion as that's it's best use. Bonus points if you actually summon things that actually are what your spiritual ally looks like.
If you want to keep your DM from metagaming this spell, just treat it like a summon that has an AC of 10.
DM: "The monster hits your summon 4 times for 23 damage each"
You: "okay"
DM: "uh... is it dead?"
You: "nope, it's fine"
Take Alchemical Allocation (2nd), even if you have to blow all your picks to get it. No matter what the rest of your party is. It's insanely versatile and powerful. Use it with a 1200 Potion of Barkskin by a 12th level caster to get all the benifits of Barkskin for yourself (though not your party) everyday. You can use it with any Elixir item for a variety of benifits, but most obviously various +10 to skill bonuses for an hour (Stealth, Acrobatics, Swim, Bluff, +20 Disguise, Climb+Survival in mountains), free metamagic from Concordance (use it to extend all your buffs!), and Shadow Walk from a 2nd level (though at your level you have teleport). It's even immortality if you get your hands on some Sun Orchid Elixir.
Hell, make Amplify Elixir your 3rd level pick and it's even better..
That is interesting, if a bit cheesy, though I don't know if that will fly considering extracts are not technically considered spells.
anti-life shell (druid,leric 6th) can be very usefull. specificly if you can barage the targets and make sure your alos safe from ranged attacks so pick control winds too ;).
stone tell can be a good divinition spell. (also find the path)
blessing of the salamandar should also be good, as it is usfull for mroethen one thing (fast healing 5, 20 fire resist, the +2 to cmd is a meh for level 5 spell)should hel psaving spell slots
spell resistance is also good as the last spell to buff yourslef.
also nice ones beside heal\harm are cleanse and greater command (creature+round \level)
If you don't get heal, definitely get restoration. If you do get heal then I'd still pick up one of those defensive buffs like freedom of movement or death ward - a warpriest cannot be counted upon to supply any of these when they could be preparing divine power instead.
Spite can be a 3rd level spell off the mesmerist list BTW.
I think at this point I am going with
1st - Ill Omen (honestly I just couldn't find anything better, the list of non-wizard first level spells that are relevant to me at this point in the game seems really small)
2nd - Barkskin
3rd - Arcane Concordance
4th - Freedom of Movement
5th/6th - Heal
I don't feel great about taking Ill Omen, but I haven't heard suggestions for or been able to really find anything I think will be more useful.