Rod of Sculpt Spell? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Rod of Sculpt Spell? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Lightblade
02-27-07, 08:07 PM My 10th level character has adventure access to a rod of sculpt spell, and has just enough money to buy one before the access goes away. (I didn't think i'd be anywhere close to being able to buy it, but City of Brass and Hellspike Prison changed that). He's about 5000 XP away from a level of sublime chord. What do people think about such an item, given a price tag of ~21K? Any experiences with them? Any spells that would be awesome to sculpt?
copper_wyrmling
02-27-07, 08:52 PM Sculpted Evard's Black Tentacles is fantastic. Glitterdust and Grease get a big boost from Sculpt. It's useful when throwing area-effect spells into melee (where you don't want to hit your party fighters), avoiding collateral damage in cities, and sometimes for getting line of effect (e.g. if they're hiding behind a wall, sculpt it to a cylinder, since you only need line of effect to the top of the cylinder).

If your GMs think you can sculpt Effect or Targeted spells that reference an area (examples of such Effect spells include the cloud spells and whirling blade, while Confusion affects "targets within an area") then obviously that opens up a lot of other possibilities. There's table variation on whether this works, though.

What sublime chord spells were you planning to take?
Lightblade
02-27-07, 09:35 PM Haven't put too much thought into the spells for Sublime Chord. Probably an Orb of Cold, Phantasmal Killer, and Arc of Lightning. Arc of Lightning is an "Area" spell, but it do you think judges would balk at shaping that?
KarmaInferno
02-28-07, 11:26 AM I would grab it in a heartbeat.

My warmage has the feat and uses it constantly.

Party members have this annoying habit of getting in the way of her spells.

:D

-karma
Rerednaw
02-28-07, 12:28 PM Lesser, standard or greater? 3/day?

I'm prejudiced in favor of ANY feat you can obtain in an item (ring of evasion anyone?).

I'm also a wizard with focus in conjuration so I already have the feat. I use Sculpt a great deal. Grease, Glitterdust, Web, etc...if I could get it 3x a day without a feat and have it not take a higher slot I'd do it in a heartbeat.

There are so many spells and situations it's great for. Battlefield control, pinpoint nuking, the list goes on.

Just my 2 cents.
Timlagor
02-28-07, 12:38 PM The Feat is outstanding. If you haven't got it then you shoudl definitely take the Rod (..though you don't mention what your other options are)
Lightblade
02-28-07, 01:55 PM The rod is a standard. A lesser i would have bought, no questions asked. I don't plan on taking Sculpt Spell as a feat; my feat slots are all-too-full at the moment. I'm just trying to figure out what spells would be worthwhile to sculpt. One possible slate of SC spells is Dimdoor, Orb of Cold, Phantasmal Killer, and Arc of Lightning. Of the 4, only Arc of Lightning is an area spell, and I could see a judge being unhappy about sculpting it, seeing as it talks about how to define the area in the spell. Cone of Cold is another choice for a 5th level spell, but it seems that the 60 foot range might be artificially constraining. (I suppose it's still better than short range for a couple of levels, though).
Lightblade
02-28-07, 04:28 PM One thing i forgot; I do have a couple of cost-reduction favors kicking around. I'm a primary caster with CWI for the stat-boost items, so i really can't think of a better use. 20% off a 20K rod seems to me like a good use of resources, unless it would be better spent on a wand (unlikely), ring (also probably not) or staff (possibly)? When have people cashed in their discount favors?
Timlagor
03-01-07, 08:58 AM My discount favours? Hahahahaha!

I'd think a Ring would probably be a good option. If you're not taking any spells that you would use it with then either take it and lend it to someone else or don't.
Lightblade
03-01-07, 01:19 PM You know, i'm not convinced I actually have more than one. It may just be the one I got in the last module, actually.
Cardinal Teplin
03-01-07, 01:27 PM Everyone says that sculpt spell is very worthwhile.

Once you get above 3rd or 4th level spells though, I'm not sure how many spells it would really usefully apply to.

I'm reasonably confident that if you have the rod you'd find good uses for it. Apart from low-level spells, I'm not quite sure what those uses would be though.
Japangirl
03-01-07, 01:30 PM A Rod of Sculpt Spell is pretty crazy awesome, and I would suggest getting it and counting your blessings that you have the money for it. As has been pointed out, Grease, Glitterdust, Fireball, Blast of Force, Blast of Flame, and other spells all benefit greatly from being able to exclude party members from the area. With a discount favor, the rod goes from being a really good purchase to an excellent purchase.

Remember that feats are presumed to be worth about 20k gold. So the rod with the discount is slightly cheaper than that, making it a bargain price :).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lightblade 02-27-07, 08:07 PM	My 10th level character has adventure access to a rod of sculpt spell, and has just enough money to buy one before the access goes away. (I didn't think i'd be anywhere close to being able to buy it, but City of Brass and Hellspike Prison changed that). He's about 5000 XP away from a level of sublime chord. What do people think about such an item, given a price tag of ~21K? Any experiences with them? Any spells that would be awesome to sculpt?
copper_wyrmling 02-27-07, 08:52 PM	Sculpted Evard's Black Tentacles is fantastic. Glitterdust and Grease get a big boost from Sculpt. It's useful when throwing area-effect spells into melee (where you don't want to hit your party fighters), avoiding collateral damage in cities, and sometimes for getting line of effect (e.g. if they're hiding behind a wall, sculpt it to a cylinder, since you only need line of effect to the top of the cylinder). If your GMs think you can sculpt Effect or Targeted spells that reference an area (examples of such Effect spells include the cloud spells and whirling blade, while Confusion affects "targets within an area") then obviously that opens up a lot of other possibilities. There's table variation on whether this works, though. What sublime chord spells were you planning to take?
Lightblade 02-27-07, 09:35 PM	Haven't put too much thought into the spells for Sublime Chord. Probably an Orb of Cold, Phantasmal Killer, and Arc of Lightning. Arc of Lightning is an "Area" spell, but it do you think judges would balk at shaping that?
KarmaInferno 02-28-07, 11:26 AM	I would grab it in a heartbeat. My warmage has the feat and uses it constantly. Party members have this annoying habit of getting in the way of her spells. :D -karma
Rerednaw 02-28-07, 12:28 PM	Lesser, standard or greater? 3/day? I'm prejudiced in favor of ANY feat you can obtain in an item (ring of evasion anyone?). I'm also a wizard with focus in conjuration so I already have the feat. I use Sculpt a great deal. Grease, Glitterdust, Web, etc...if I could get it 3x a day without a feat and have it not take a higher slot I'd do it in a heartbeat. There are so many spells and situations it's great for. Battlefield control, pinpoint nuking, the list goes on. Just my 2 cents.
Timlagor 02-28-07, 12:38 PM	The Feat is outstanding. If you haven't got it then you shoudl definitely take the Rod (..though you don't mention what your other options are)
Lightblade 02-28-07, 01:55 PM	The rod is a standard. A lesser i would have bought, no questions asked. I don't plan on taking Sculpt Spell as a feat; my feat slots are all-too-full at the moment. I'm just trying to figure out what spells would be worthwhile to sculpt. One possible slate of SC spells is Dimdoor, Orb of Cold, Phantasmal Killer, and Arc of Lightning. Of the 4, only Arc of Lightning is an area spell, and I could see a judge being unhappy about sculpting it, seeing as it talks about how to define the area in the spell. Cone of Cold is another choice for a 5th level spell, but it seems that the 60 foot range might be artificially constraining. (I suppose it's still better than short range for a couple of levels, though).
Lightblade 02-28-07, 04:28 PM	One thing i forgot; I do have a couple of cost-reduction favors kicking around. I'm a primary caster with CWI for the stat-boost items, so i really can't think of a better use. 20% off a 20K rod seems to me like a good use of resources, unless it would be better spent on a wand (unlikely), ring (also probably not) or staff (possibly)? When have people cashed in their discount favors?
Timlagor 03-01-07, 08:58 AM	My discount favours? Hahahahaha! I'd think a Ring would probably be a good option. If you're not taking any spells that you would use it with then either take it and lend it to someone else or don't.
Lightblade 03-01-07, 01:19 PM	You know, i'm not convinced I actually have more than one. It may just be the one I got in the last module, actually.
Cardinal Teplin 03-01-07, 01:27 PM	Everyone says that sculpt spell is very worthwhile. Once you get above 3rd or 4th level spells though, I'm not sure how many spells it would really usefully apply to. I'm reasonably confident that if you have the rod you'd find good uses for it. Apart from low-level spells, I'm not quite sure what those uses would be though.
Japangirl 03-01-07, 01:30 PM	A Rod of Sculpt Spell is pretty crazy awesome, and I would suggest getting it and counting your blessings that you have the money for it. As has been pointed out, Grease, Glitterdust, Fireball, Blast of Force, Blast of Flame, and other spells all benefit greatly from being able to exclude party members from the area. With a discount favor, the rod goes from being a really good purchase to an excellent purchase. Remember that feats are presumed to be worth about 20k gold. So the rod with the discount is slightly cheaper than that, making it a bargain price :).