Post/Author/DateTime	Post
noheat 07-25-06, 11:22 AM	What are the best individual and/or party buffing spells that are spell level 4 or lower. Any spell caster type any wizards book.
Sir Gummibaerchen 07-25-06, 11:29 AM	You could just look into the optimized artificer threads, there are a slew of them in there IIRC. I'm without links ATM but google is your friend.
Medicelious-Melharmonac 07-25-06, 12:15 PM	recititation - +3 (if same diety) to hit, saves, ac (+2 otherwise) Luck bonus All allies AKA not yourself.
lostone 07-26-06, 10:48 AM	Divine Power is nice, even granting iterative attacks if BAB increases enough. There is one in LM I can't recall the name of, but for every critter that dies in the radius you get a bonus to strength and caster level. It was mentioned along with a pot of boiling water and an anthill. :devil: Greater Mighty Wallop from Races of the Dragon is stupidly powerful, anyone with a bludgeoning weapon deals far more damage with it. Up to 5 size categories more damage, so it is easy to see a paladin or fighter dealing damage with 6 or more dice being rolled.
Nazrat 07-26-06, 09:45 PM	I'm playing a cleric/runecaster in my current campaign who focuses on buffing and party support duties. One of the spells that I use frequently has already been mentioned (Recitation). Here are some other good ones I find myself using over and over... Prayer - +1 Luck bonus to pretty much everything for the members of your party! -1 on everything for the bad guys, no save, no SR! If you're going the Divine Metamagic route, its not a bad spell to Persist early on (even if you're missing out on half its effectiveness by not catching the bad guys in it.) Greater magic weapon - Chain it for more fun! Lasts for hours, and grants everyone's weapons a nice enhancement bonus! Magic Vestment - Using the Heirophant's Divine Reach ability allows it to be chained. Again, it lasts for hours and gives everyone's armor a nice enhancement bonus! Recitation (SpC) - Like a purely combat oriented version of prayer. It gives luck bonus, but only to Saves, AC and Attack, so its better in some ways, and worse in others. I cast a persisted one every morning. Too bad all the party members follow a different god! Mass Aid (SpC) - Morale bonus to attack and temporary hitpoints for everyone! Cast it before the big fight. Mass Conviction (SpC) - Significant morale bonuses to saves! Lasts for a long time and only gets better as you level. Stacks with Recitation. Blessing of the Righteous (PhB2) - Adds holy damage to all melee and ranged attacks made by your party! I cast this one in the morning and persist it. Righteous Wrath of the Faithful (SpC) - Gives all your party members an extra attack (which doesn't stack with haste, unfortunately), plus a +3 morale bonus to attack (which DOES stack with haste) and damage. (Nice because it also stacks with Recitation. This is another good one to persist if you have the turning attempts for it. If not, it makes a good round 1 spell.) Heroes Feast - Just a great spell. You should cast it every morning as long as the party isn't being hurried by plot or circumstances. Some of its bonuses are redundant, but the temp HP and the immunity to poison are awesome. Stalwart Pact (SpC) - A great spell to cast on the party in your downtime. It kicks in whenever they drop below half HP, and grants them DR, a luck bonus to saves (which is kind of redundant with the one granted by Recitation, but its good if they don't have recitation up) and yet more temporary HP. Renewal Pact (SpC) - Another good one to cast on everyone in your down time. It might trigger a little too easily for the price, but hey, you'll more than likely be making your saves with all the other buffs and equipment you have by the time you can cast this! This is just a little insurance in case you ever roll a one. It immediately casts Panacea(SpC) on you if you are effected by any of the 1.2 million conditions it can cure. I like to play my persistent cleric buffer a little bit different than the standard "Pump yourself up to ridiculous levels of power using personal spells and then try to kill everything single handedly." This is mostly because I hate the idea of having all my usefulness shut down by a single Dispel Magic at the beginning of the day. If I buff the group, the bad guys are going to have to dispel ALL of us, and there aren't many efficient ways to do that. (I realize I could do the same thing far better by playing an artificer, I know, but Eberron material isn't allowed in our campaign!) Plus, keeping the party alive and hitting things probably ends up doing far more damage per round than I could do single handedly, even if I did use all my turning attempts to buff myself.
Warmage_Smurf 07-26-06, 10:21 PM	For a Sorcerer or Bard, you can't go paste Ruin Delver's Fortune (Spell Compendium, level 4). Combine it with Metamagic Effect (Incantatrix), cast it 3 times, persisting it each, and you've suddenly gotten your Charisma bonus added to all your saves, as well as Evasion and Immunity to Fear and Poison. Not bad for a single spell.. In addition, the temp hitpoints option of the spell, as well as it's casting time of "immediate" ensure that you can cast it just before you get hit in battle, which can save your life many a time...
Endarire 07-27-06, 02:20 AM	Unfortunately, Warmage_Smurf, a single spell, even one with multiple functions, can only have one function active at a time. -EE
SigmaJargon 07-27-06, 05:57 AM	I can't believe nobody has mentioned Favor of the Martyr yet. It has to be one of the most powerful defensive buffs around, and it is only a 4th level spell! Even better, with FotM active, you can cast Celerity and Born of Three Thunders spells without worrying about becoming dazed. Other spells that are awesome for buffs: Lightfoot - (You provoke no AoO's from movement) Sadism - (The more damage you deal the more you get out of it) Wraithstrike - (All melee attacks are touch attacks. Crazy broken) Bite of the X - (Wererat and Werebear get special mention as being powerful. Huge boosts to physical stats and natural armor, plus natural attacks) Lion's Charge - (Pounce plus other charge related buffs like Rhino's Rush and damage boosts equals a death machine.) Also, consider having Death Pact and/or Fortunate Fate active. If you happen to get dropped, these will save your bacon. One more spell bears mentioning, a spell which I consider to be the king of offensive buffs: VEMONFIRE. 'Nuff said.
Warmage_Smurf 07-27-06, 08:49 AM	Unfortunately, Warmage_Smurf, a single spell, even one with multiple functions, can only have one function active at a time. -EE This is a generally correct statement however, in the case of Ruin Delver's Fortune, it specifically states "You can cast this spell multiple times. Each time you do, choose a different benefit." So, the Metamagic Effect trick still works wonders :)
Warmage_Smurf 07-27-06, 09:23 AM	I can't believe nobody has mentioned Favor of the Martyr yet. It has to be one of the most powerful defensive buffs around, and it is only a 4th level spell! Even better, with FotM active, you can cast Celerity and Born of Three Thunders spells without worrying about becoming dazed. Other spells that are awesome for buffs: Lightfoot - (You provoke no AoO's from movement) Sadism - (The more damage you deal the more you get out of it) Wraithstrike - (All melee attacks are touch attacks. Crazy broken) Bite of the X - (Wererat and Werebear get special mention as being powerful. Huge boosts to physical stats and natural armor, plus natural attacks) Lion's Charge - (Pounce plus other charge related buffs like Rhino's Rush and damage boosts equals a death machine.) Also, consider having Death Pact and/or Fortunate Fate active. If you happen to get dropped, these will save your bacon. One more spell bears mentioning, a spell which I consider to be the king of offensive buffs: VEMONFIRE. 'Nuff said. Bite of the X are wonderfull spells, but the only problem is the physical changes they imbue in you - depending your dm, it may result in you losing the ability to cast spells with V and S components
Gryftir 07-27-06, 09:43 AM	Lost Empires of Faerun contains several of my favorite spells. One of the best is Triple strike (not the full name, which slips my mind, but it's not hard to find). Grants 2 extra attacks. I love improvisation from the SpC. 1st level bard spell that basically gives you a pull of luck. Can be persisted. Great on a skill build, especially a chameleon build, since you can easily get high caster levels. The best buff is of course the consumptive field (and consumptive field, greater, but my character can't get that yet). Gives you temporary hp, strength, and caster level boosts, based on creatures failing fort saves while at low hp. The version in the SpC makes it clear that the strength bonuses keep piling on. Heroics gives you fighter feats that you meet the preqs for. Multiple castings can give you whole feat trees.
jameswilliamogle 07-27-06, 09:48 AM	Bite of the X are wonderfull spells, but the only problem is the physical changes they imbue in you - depending your dm, it may result in you losing the ability to cast spells with V and S componentsAlthough it doesn't say so in the spell description themselves. It still shouldn't be a problem once you have Natural Spell at 6th level.
aod318 07-28-06, 01:29 PM	You need a feat, but it is open to Wizard, Cleric or any evil caster; Necrotic Empowerment, level 8. +8 enhancement to Dex, Int, Wis, +8 NA, +5 Fort saves and 100 temp hp. Makes me wish the War Weaver was a 10 level PRC.