Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Venator 02-28-07, 07:33 AM	What is the best 5th level arcane spell for any given adventuring day? I have recently attained 9th level and I'm in the process of choosing my first two 5th level spells. I'm having a fairly difficult time deciding which to pick... Spells like Teleport, Mass Fly, Wall of Force ect are all great spells but they definelty might not see use on any given adventuring day. By the same token, spells like Dominate, Feeblemind, ect. are all or nothing and only effect one creature. They are not likely to work on something big and nasty, so they dont justify casting just yet. What are your suggestions for 5th level spells that can be cast to great effect on any given adventuring day?
Seeker95 02-28-07, 09:30 AM	On a scroll: break enchantment. Pure versatility: shadow evocation My "not the above" favorite: dominate person
Aminvelos 02-28-07, 10:38 AM	Well my first question would be your dm. Does your dm tend to keep the wizard on his toes because he becomes immensely power in the end-game. If you need to have someone watching you when you sleep. You might want to go with Mage's Fiathful Hound. Improved Blink gives u a 50% chance of being hit by physical weapons, 20% if the attaker can attack incorporeal, 50% chance of being affected by single targeting spells, you take half damage from area spells (unless they extend to ethereal plane) and you can walk thru walls. Also another good spell if you've made yourself a ring of true strike is streamers, it can be good at battling one opponent or maintaining tactical control. u get an additional streamer every 3 levels after 9 to a total of 4 at 18. Streamers have an ac of 20 u can disperse them to multiple targets if u want or gain up on one. If they get hit they disappear. If the target moves or attacks. The streams attack with a touch attack each streamer can touch attack with 5d10. This lasts 1 round per level so if the monster does nothing for 9 rounds the streamers disappear. Of course by this time he'll be dead. Teleport is always nice ^_^
CantripN 02-28-07, 12:54 PM	Telekinesis, Wall of Force, Greater Fireburst, Improved Blink, Greater Dimension Door, Ball Lightning and Fireshield (Mass) I use daily... If I had to choose 2: Teleport, Ball Lightning. EDIT: Oh, I forgot. Mass Fly is the ****. Not in the good way. Reread it. It says you have to stay within 30' of each other at all times or it ends for you. Not very combat useful. Teleport is THE spell to have at 5th level, no matter what. You'll want to memorise one always, just so you can get away. TPKs are not fun, and can be avoided with this. Just the other day I had to shout at the cleric for 5 minutes to get Teleport from his domain. Later that day we had to use it after having our asses handed to us by 2 devils... Dunno about you, but getting hit for 2/3 of my HP, being Prone and alone in the corner is NOT what I want to be doing as a spellcaster...
Seeker95 02-28-07, 03:59 PM	In case the reasoning gets lost in the shuffle... shadow evocation gives you the versatility of 17 evocation spells, assuming you are limited to PHB only. Add in Spell Compendium and you have dozens more.
tiercel 02-28-07, 05:24 PM	While it is true shadow evocation gives you crazy versatility, I personally have never warmed to it because it means using a 5th level slot to cast a 4th or lower level spell that gives 2 saves instead of one. If I'm casting from a 5th level slot, especially when it is my highest level slot, I want a spell that is more likely to *work*. I have to agree that it is really, really, really hard to beat teleport for overall utility. As a purely utility spell, teleport just lets you and The Gang go where you want to for story purposes, it is a potential Get of TPK Fight card, it can be part of the infamous "scry and die" (teleporting ambusher) strategy.... If you are more worried about must-be-usable-in-combat-every-day applications, you could do worse than hold monster, in the sense that it works on everything. Given the Will-save-every-round nature of the spell, though, it's only really good if you have dedicated melee characters who can engage an enemy, who you then paralyze, and then they coup-de-grace. Telekinesis is a nice versatile little spell -- you can use it for utility (moving things around), as a no-SR damage spell (throwing things violently), or especially as a battlefield support spell (using combat maneuvers over a number of rounds). The last application works best when you have dedicated meleers you can work in concert with (and in situations where you don't have to worry about your continuous concentration being broken so much -- greater invisibility helps in this regard).