Protection/Magic Circle against X. It's so good and so underrated, at least at my table it is.
Blade Tutor's Spirit.
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Overall it probably doesn't get overlooked as a great buff spell, but it certainly is overlooked as "the best 3rd level spells". Heroism. Heroism is amazing at shoring up accuracy deficiencies for 3/4 BAB classes and TWF builds, as well as be a blanket boost to all saves. And the duration means it can last for multiple combats, potentially an entire dungeon with an extend rod.
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Try Anticipate thoughts if you are looking for a personal spell.
For a fun group buff that is off-the beaten path, but still actually useful go for Contagious Zeal..
At low levels, if you're a bard, psychic caster or a druid, give your barbarian
Feather Step
I'm not sure what level you are so I stuck with a couple low level examples. Let me know if you want a couple of higher levels ones.
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Try Anticipate thoughts if you are looking for a personal spell.
For a fun group buff that is off-the beaten path, but still actually useful go for Contagious Zeal..
At low levels, if you're a bard, psychic caster or a druid, give your barbarian
Feather StepI'm not sure what level you are so I stuck with a couple low level examples. Let me know if you want a couple of higher levels ones.
Im looking for "Buffs less used". Things that people swear by and will stand by that they believe is good. No real level cap, just what you find fun.
Good Hope = Heroism for the whole party, and it affects damage. I picked it on my bard at 7th, and i still cast it every fight now that we're level 13, and the campaign is starting over with new level 1's. So I made a cleric of Milani so I can get it at level 5. It's that awesome. Add Encouraging Spell as a feat to make it +3, and get a rod of Extend. Then also cast Moment of Greatness to take that +3 and make it a +6 for each party member once per fight.
Personally, I think the best buff in the game that isn't a spell is Aura of Justice. Paladin's Smite Evil to everyone in the party.... it's pretty hawt.
Mount, augments a party's land movement. Also good to cast in a group of goblins as they fear horse's!
Also makes for a solid method of improvised trap disarmament. Shadow Conjuration is also great for duplicating Phantom Steed while bypassing its long casting time. If you've got overland travel to do and can't teleport, it's one of the best options out there.
longstrider greater it not only buffs your landspeed, but it buffs any other modes of travel you might gain. It's also hours per level meaning there's little reason after a certain level to not have this on yourself at all times via a metamagic extend rod.
Hero's Feast removes poison, removes disease, grants temp hp, a morale bonus to attacks and some saves, all which lasts for 12 hours, oh yeah and it's food and drink.
Allfood who needs to dig or smash things when we can eat our way out of here? The first time I saw this spell used this way, we had a gate we needed to get through and had recently passed by a bunch of destitute NPCs. The CG ranger gathered up said NPCs and convinced them to eat part of the gate for us....
Seconding contagious zeal, my game's warpriest likes it as a way to buff the party with his swift casting from fervor.
If you’ve got an archer or, even better, archers in your party they will love your Abundant Ammuntition (unless your GM is lax about resource tracking I suppose).
My main is a inquisitor so not sure how applicable this will be for you but as a archer I found them extremely useful:
Level 1: Litany of sloth is nice when you are a archer backed into a corner. Heightened awareness is my go to on characters. of course divine favor.
Level 2: stricken heart paired with armor of spell storing. Bloodhound paired with pheromone arrows.
Level 3: Greater magic weapon, honestly get a bow with a +1 x,y and z..this will give you more + damage. Communal resist energy..while not a "buff" I've seen this break encounters
Seconding contagious zeal, my game's warpriest likes it as a way to buff the party with his swift casting from fervor.If you cast with fervor, it only affects you. It's in the fine print for fervor.
Yes, but the target of the spell (the warpriest) can share the benefits pnce per round. The spell still only targetted the war priest.
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I will try this once more. With swift casting from fervor the warpriest targets themself with contagious zeal, which is a spell with a single creature for a target. Contagious zeal has this as part of it's effect: " Once per round, the target can select one other creature to gain this bonus as well. "
Coffee is essential.
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Good Hope is arguably the best buff spell in the game. Not sure it counts as niche though.
Not that Good Hope is even remotely a "niche spell", but in what universe is Good Hope a better buff spell than Haste?
On the original topic: Silent Table is the perfect tool for sneaking around, basically the audio-equivalent to Invisibility. Unlike with Silence, you can still cast spells inside!
Sadly rather expensive but one of the coolest spells in the game is Invoke Deity. I don't even care about the mechanical effects, the fire aspect says "Your hair ignites into flames"!
Songbird is a cute little spell that's not only super flavorful, but can boost save DCs!
Shared Training shares teamwork feats for a fairly long duration, might be especially useful for a Hunter.
For those that like to use Prestidigitation to stay clean, Fastidiousness is basically the pre-active version.
Pretty well known by now, but Tears to Wine must not be missing from a thread like this.
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Good Hope is arguably the best buff spell in the game. Not sure it counts as niche though.Not that Good Hope is even remotely a "niche spell", but in what universe is Good Hope a better buff spell than Haste?
On the original topic: Silent Table is the perfect tool for sneaking around, basically the audio-equivalent to Invisibility. Unlike with Silence, you can still cast spells inside!
Sadly rather expensive but one of the coolest spells in the game is Invoke Deity. I don't even care about the mechanical effects, the fire aspect says "Your hair ignites into flames"!
Songbird is a cute little spell that's not only super flavorful, but can boost save DCs!
Shared Training shares teamwork feats for a fairly long duration, might be especially useful for a Hunter.
For those that like to use Prestidigitation to stay clean, Fastidiousness is basically the pre-active version.
Pretty well known by now, but Tears to Wine must not be missing from a thread like this.
Oh wow, i didnt know about shared training. If a bard takes it with song of the peoples revolt, then they dont have to use bardic performance to share their feat just a spell slot. Which is 100x better in my book.
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In my current game, the fave buff is Strong Jaw. At least, it's the fave buff for my Hunter to use on her boar, a dragon PC, and a dragon ...familiar? Companion? I'm not sure, one of the other players is taking a drake into battle with him.
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Not that Good Hope is even remotely a "niche spell", but in what universe is Good Hope a better buff spell than Haste?
If you have Lesser Metamagic Rod of extend, Good Hope lasts 2 min/lvl, so you can prebuff. At 7th lvl, 2 castings of Good Hope lasts 28 minutes, which can be enough to clear out a small dungeon. I'm not saying Haste isn't good, just that Good Hope is better, IMHO.
I liked to use Deadly Juggernaught with my Rage Prophet against mobs. When it worked, man it was beautiful. I almost maxed it out a couple of times.
I also liked to use Stunning Barrier, Greater.
They are both short duration buffs, but I got great mileage out of them.
Recently come across Rags to Riches. At first glance it doesn't seem too amazing but it provides a scaling insight bonus to skill checks (assuming you have a properly named masterwork tool). But hidden real benefit is that it increases the enhancement bonus of any item by 1.
Almost right.
The benefit +1 to the enhancement also applies to DR bypassing.
Applied to a +2 weapon, it makes it +3 and bypasses cold iron and silver while Greater Magic Weapon +3 does not.
/cevah
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Recently come across Rags to Riches. At first glance it doesn't seem too amazing but it provides a scaling insight bonus to skill checks (assuming you have a properly named masterwork tool). But hidden real benefit is that it increases the enhancement bonus of any item by 1.Almost right.
The benefit +1 to the enhancement also applies to DR bypassing.
Applied to a +2 weapon, it makes it +3 and bypasses cold iron and silver while Greater Magic Weapon +3 does not.
/cevah
These can stack. Start with a +1 weapon with another +1 in special effect (e.g. Flaming, Fortuitous, whatever). Cast Greater Magic Weapon +3 and you have a +3 weapon with a special effect. Cast Rags to Riches and you then have a +4 weapon with a special effect that also bypasses cold iron and silver. This is why every high level cleric wants a metamagic Extend Rod and Pearls of Power.
Whenever I make a build, one of the things I always consider is whether I can find a way to make the True Strike spell viable for the build, typically by finding a way to decrease the action economy involved. Finding a way to bypass the "personal" target limitation of the spell is also important.
True Strike applies to combat maneuvers. For that reason alone, it is amazing.
Since I haven't seen anyone bring this up yet, Paragon Surge is also amazing. It is one of those mechanics for which the amount of potential shenanigans are just huge. If you have an Alchemist and a Half Elf in your party, it is an excellent strategy.
How about Ears of the City?
This is a major time saver, as you get to do Xd4 hours of Diplomacy (Gather Information) in X rounds instead. Apply to a diplomancer, and you get all sorts of info quickly. Wish I had it earlier in my Skulls & Shackles game.
Recently did an Extended one to a 13th level PC and wound up with 26 rounds of info gathering. Add in buffs for the Diplomacy skill, and we got a lot of info. Had trouble coming up with sufficient questions for the GM.
/cevah
My players recently discovered that one, keeps me on my toes. But they have the druid wearing eyes of the eagle be the subject, since you cab substitute perception.
Same players have been comboing ashen path and obscuring mist. Quite powerful.
Honeyed Tongue (paladin 1, bard/inquisitor/mesmerist/skald 2) can give Ears of the City a +5 competence bonus that lasts far longer than that spell.
/cevah
Alternatively you can cast this spell before making a Diplomacy check to gather information, gaining a +5 competence bonus on the check.
/cevah
If the spell honeyed tongue is excluded because you aren't actually talking to anyone then how is diplomacy a valid skill roll in the first place?