Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Som-pee-ta-lay 10-24-07, 01:08 AM	I'm trying to figure out what would be the best spread of spells for an Archivist cohort that is focusing on being a party buffer. The Archivist is 5th level now, and with the whole library of divine spells at hand I'm trying to figure out what works best. So far I have... Round 1 - Haste Round 2 - Elation Round 3 - Bless Overall this would eventually yield: +1 attack w/no move +3 to hit +2 AC +1 Ref Save +1 vs fear +35' speed Now I could stack things up more, such as replacing Bless with the more potent Recitation, however I'm trying to sort out a spell selection that can be sustained over several encounters. All of the really juicy spells are 3rd level, and with only 3 spell slots a day I need to spread those out normally to make sure the Archivist is really pumping up the party for every encounter. I want to avoid debuffing spells because they require a save and it always seems like monsters are always making their saves from good DM rolls, so I want stuff that will reliably work all the time. Curse of Impending Blades is a great spell, as there is no save, but of course the mass one is 3rd level and so it cuts into the number of times I can cast Haste in a single day. Is there a party wide spell better than Bless? If only there was a mass version of Protection from Evil, though of course it would at least be a 3rd level spell. Now sometimes just pumping up one individual will help more than having the whole party buffed. In this situation I can replace Bless with Ray of Hope, and if things are desperate maybe have a Recitation to dump on top of that, so it would look something like this: Round 1 - Haste Round 2 - Ray of Hope Round 3 - Recitation Round 4 - Elation This could yield: +1 attack w/no move +5 to hit +2 dmg +4 AC +2 Saves +3 Ref Save +3 vs fear +35' speed Then after that I could dump an Archivist's Dark Knowledge on top for some additional bonuses depending on the situation. Are there any other spells I'm missing that would work better? A listing of spells available to Archivists is found here: http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=7447884&postcount=1
Fabius Maximus 10-24-07, 07:35 AM	3rd level spell: Prayer. A classical party buffer/enemy de-buffer. And you cannot go wrong with Mass Conviction, either. But it overlaps with Dark Knowledge, if you use Tactics. You can use Puissance instead. Curse of the Impending Blades is a great spell. Haste should be reserved for the frontliners anyway. Btw, Recitation was nerfed in the SpC. It used to work like Prayer, but they took away the debuffing part. As for the foes making their saves: Invest in a Headband of Intellect, or try getting Fox's Cunning and cast it before battle.