Three spells -- feat question

[Douglas Muir 406]

Okay, two questions.

1) What's the dang feat that lets a wizard memorize three spells without a spellbook? I can't remember its name, and I can't find it.

2) So, a 7th level evil wizard. Super paranoid. Not a Mythos Cultist himself, but works for one as a henchman. (He's just in it for the research opportunities.) He has this feat. He has a lot of worries -- discovery and capture by the local paladins, the fact that his boss is a maniac who'll happily sacrifice him to Yog-Sothoth if he thought it would advance his cause, worry that Yog-Sothoth (or anyway one of his spawn) may suddenly come knocking. Oh, and he has a stomach ulcer.

What three spells do you think he'd take?

Doug M.

[David knott 242]

Spell Mastery gives you the ability to prepare a number of spells (selected when you gain the feat) equal to your Int modifier without referencing your spellbook, so you would get exactly three spells only if you have an intelligence of 16-17.

And since the benefit of this feat begins with the words, "Each time you take this feat," you can take it more than once -- so if you are willing to blow all of your feat slots on this feat, you can pretty much do without a spell book.

[LordKailas]

I agree spell mastery is probably the feat you're thinking of.

as for what spells. I think its safe to assume that the only reason he would be caught without his spellbook is if he's been captured and imprisoned. So, it would make sense to have spells that would aid in escaping such a situation.

Spells like:
Alter Self / Invisibility
Knock
Dimension Door / Fly / Teleport

I will point out, if he's planning a contingency plan like this. He can probably also assume that his spell component pouch will also be confiscated / destroyed. In which case it would make sense to grab the feat eschew materials.

Edit: He might even consider taking the feats still spell and silent spell so that he can still cast these spells even when bound and gagged.

[Kayerloth]

In addition to what LordKailas has suggested I'd considering Read Magic to be able to decipher any magical writings (such as foreign spell book) and Gaseous Form which has no V component and would allow escape from many cells, flight and DR=10/magic without further metamagic feats needed.

[David knott 242]

A wizard can already prepare Read Magic without consulting a spell book, so it should definitely not be selected for Spell Mastery.

Also -- Note that Doug specified a 7th level wizard, so no spells above 4th level should be considered.

But if this wizard is worried that somebody might steal or mess with his spellbook, he should definitely consider learning the 1st level spell Secluded Grimoire.

[Kayerloth]

Ahh true, tripped up by older rules.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Yes, it's Spell Mastery! Thank you.

I don't think he'd take Knock when Dimension Door is on the table. And remember, he's got a lot of possible contingencies to plan for.

I think he'd probably take something like one escape spell -- Dimension Door is good here, but others are possible -- maybe one enchantment spell, like Suggestion or Charm Monster, and then one general utility type spell. Like, is there a 3rd-4th level spell that lets you create a wide range of objects?

He's paranoid and trying to cover a wide range of possibilities with just three spells. So... what three spells would cover a lot of ground?

Doug M.

[Lelomenia]

Lesser Geas. Dimension door. Both verbal only. Liberating command is also verbal, but has issues. Invisibility has a material component, but it’s basically an eyelash.

[avr]

Secluded grimoire is an alternate workaround to spell mastery.

Vanish, invisibility or disguise self are the sort of thing I might have as the 3rd spell.

Shadow conjuration is very versatile but it conflicts with dimension door for this wizards' one or two 4th level spell slots.

[OmniMage]

I don't think spell mastery is a good feat. I think it gives you mastery over too few spells. You might be without a spell book once or maybe twice in a campaign. So the feat comes into play only rarely. Too few to be worth it in my books.

Might I suggest a different feat? Its called "Preferred Spell" and can be found in the Advanced Player's Guide. You pick a spell and gain the ability to spontaneously cast that spell. You can sacrifice a prepared spell to cast your preferred spell. It can even do other things like apply metamagic feats without additional casting time (a sorcerer normally needs to take extra time to do so).

[Douglas Muir 406]

OmniMage wrote:

I don't think spell mastery is a good feat. I think it gives you mastery over too few spells. You might be without a spell book once or maybe twice in a campaign. So the feat comes into play only rarely. Too few to be worth it in my books.

It's for an NPC. The PCs are second level. Setup is, they've run across some Dark Tapestry cultists who should be way too powerful for them, but who are currently in disarray.

A full-power 7th level wizard could kill all the PCs with one well-placed Fireball. So, I'm nerfing this guy to the point where he can't just whack the PCs. His spell book has been lost or destroyed and he's burned up all his higher level spells. So, he has to deal with them some other way -- talk to them and negotiate (possible), maybe help them (possible -- he's evil and has no loyalty to his boss or the other cultists) or run away and try to organize a counterattack against them (also possible -- it all depends on the PCs' approach).

This is still a work in progress, but I'm wondering if any interesting spell combos bubble up.

Doug M.

[Val'bryn2]

Bite the Hand might be appropriate. He's paranoid about his boss, a cultist of outer gods. Could work to send summoned monsters back at the cultist. Mad Sultan's Melody would also be appropriate.

[Cevah]

Best low level protection against a lost/stolen/destroyed spellbook? A copy of the spellbook. Or even more than one.

Worried about loosing your spell component pouch? Have more than one.

Rather than Eschew Materials, go for False Focus. This opens up the cost limit from 1 gp to 100 gp. It can also help reduce costs for the wizard's spellcasting.

A better spell than Alter Self is Disguise Self. It lasts 10 times as long, and as the NPC is likely already a humanoid, the resulting disguise would be humanoid for both spells.

Another escape spell is Gaseous Form. At 3rd level, it opens up the 4th level slot for something like Shadow Conjuration.

Douglas Muir 406 wrote:

It's for an NPC. The PCs are second level. Setup is, they've run across some Dark Tapestry cultists who should be way too powerful for them, but who are currently in disarray.

A full-power 7th level wizard could kill all the PCs with one well-placed Fireball. So, I'm nerfing this guy to the point where he can't just whack the PCs. His spell book has been lost or destroyed and he's burned up all his higher level spells. So, he has to deal with them some other way -- talk to them and negotiate (possible), maybe help them (possible -- he's evil and has no loyalty to his boss or the other cultists) or run away and try to organize a counterattack against them (also possible -- it all depends on the PCs' approach).

This is still a work in progress, but I'm wondering if any interesting spell combos bubble up.

This NPC is a researcher, not an adventurer. His spell load should reflect that. If his spell mastery spells are geared towards research, then he cannot regain attack spells without his spellbook. Likewise, if the spellbook is geared to research, it won't have much attack spells.

Having access to the spellbook won't mean anything if all it has are research spells.

If his slots are already spent, the PCs keeping him from his spellbook will prevent him regaining spells.

/cevah

[Chromantic Durgon <3]

I would go

Disguise Self
Invisibility
Dimension door

OR

Disguise Self
Gaseous Form
Shadow Conjuration

The former relies on eschew materials and not being in a large prison complex. But if you get those two things, its a much more low risk combination.

Solves your issues much quicker. Dimension Door away, go invisible, move as far as you can, change your shape and you're away.

The latter is more reliable, and more versatile, but there it isn't as easy and click your fingers and you're gone.

I would avoid anything that requires them to fail a save (such as enchanting), as someone slightly paranoid in there own right. I can tell you the potential for them to make a saving throw would drive him loopy round the twist.

EDIT: that said, at level 7 I'd expect a wizard to have an int bonus higher than +3.

A four spell list of the former + Gaseous form would be pretty strong.