Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 idontmuchcareforit Apr 01, 2009 18:18:58	I've been looking for spells that are especially useful for a gish in combat, and all i've found is greater might wallop. I think there should be a list of spells that are especially useful to gish's in ways that they are not useful to ordinary spellcasters. Hopefully, with your help, I can compile such a list.
#2 qoshea Apr 01, 2009 19:11:42	A character I was working on (Grug the Half-Ogre Wizard) has the following spells. Took the Alternative Class feature Domain Wizard (Battle). Haven't had a chance to play him yet though, so I'm not sure how well it work. 1st Level First Level (5 + Domain) Identify Shocking Grasp Enlarge Person Mage Armor Fist of Stone Power Word: Pain Shield True Strike (D)
#3 true_shinken Apr 01, 2009 19:20:49	I'd add Wraithstrike, Polymorph, Dimension Door, Dimension Hop and Benign Transposition, from the top of my head.
#4 ninjarabbit Apr 01, 2009 19:26:42	A lot of it depends on the actual gish build itself: wizard or sorcerer, abjurant champion and other PrC levels, what you use as your melee base, etc. Anyways here's a few good general gish spells: 1-enlarge person, shield, ray of enfeeblement, grease 2-alter self, wraithstrike, ray of stupidity 3-haste, greater magic weapon, greater mighty wallop, displacement, ray of exhaustion 4-polymorph, greater mirror image Generally speaking you'll want self-buffs, no save debuffs, and a few battlefield control spells that put you at the advantage and your foe at a disadvantage.
#5 true_shinken Apr 01, 2009 19:38:48	Also, Wings of Cover is a need for anything that can cast it. So is Nerveskitter.
#6 volatris Apr 01, 2009 19:52:41	Some that get less attention: accelerated movement (1st, SC) - Swift cast; lets you tumble around at full speed instead of half ectoplasmic armor (1st, LM 64) - All-day providing tons of AC vs. incorporeal touch attacks, gets bonuses from Abjurant Champion. sadism (2nd, BoVD 103) - Gives +1 luck bonus to attack and saves per 10 damage done in previous round. Doing 50 points of damage a round? +5 to attack to turn into Combat Expertise or Power Attack. Doing 200 points of damage a round? How does +20 to your saves sound (while basically getting a free true strike for every single attack)? Note: this spell has the [Evil] descriptor. greater magic weapon (3rd, PHB) shadow phase (3rd, SC) - Gives you the 50% incorporeal miss chance like blink does, without any of the bad effects (including slow movement). ruin delver's fortune (4th, SC) - Immediate action; gives you either CHA bonus to your saves or temporary hitpoints for a few rounds. heart of earth (4th, CMage 106) greater blink (5th, SC) vanishing weapon (5th, BoED 111) energy absorption (7th, CMage 103)
#7 feloniousela Apr 01, 2009 20:37:58	I always pack the following (build with Abjurant Champion) Greater Mighty Wallop Greater Magic Weapon Wraithstrike Nerveskitter The "Heart of X" spells Shield Dragonskin Polymorph (with Shimmering Scales if you grab a high Natural Armor bonus) Alter Self Draconic Polymorph Greater Invisibility Greater Mirror Image Heroics Heroism Greater Enlarge Person Haste (usually from item as a free action if possible) Overland Flight Protection From Evil Blades of Flame (early level spell choice) I'm sure there are more but those are my best choices for a Gish.
#8 phoenix00 Apr 01, 2009 23:22:02	reposted from an old thread called "the gish's spellbook" http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-585708 Show Defensive Buffs: These spells tend to increase your AC, Damage attackers who hit you, provide a miss chance against you, or increase your saving throws. I did not include Energy resistance in this list, but I probably should have. Abjuration lvl 1 Protection, from Alignment lvl 1 Shield lvl 1 Ectoplasmic Armor lvl 1 Ironguts lvl 1 Nightshield lvl 2 Protection from Arrows lvl 2 Daggerspell Stance lvl 2 Ectoplasmic Feedback lvl 2 Scintillating Scales lvl 3 Magic Circle Vs. Alignment lvl 3 Earthen Grace lvl 3 Reverse Arrows lvl 4 Stoneskin lvl 4 Resistance, Greater lvl 5 Anticold Sphere lvl 5 Contingent Energy Resistance lvl 5 Irongaurd, Lesser lvl 5 Indomitability lvl 6 Aura Of Evasion lvl 6 Resistance, Suprior lvl 7 Spell Turning lvl 7 Irongaurd lvl 8 Mind Blank lvl 8 Protection from Spells lvl 9 Absorption Conjuration lvl 1 Mage Armor lvl 2 Create Magic Tattoo lvl 3 Mage Armor, Greater lvl 5 Acid Sheath lvl 5 Cacophonic Shield Divination lvl 8 Moment of Prescience lvl 9 Foresight Enchantment lvl 2 Mechanus Mind lvl 6 Mislead Evocation lvl 2 Veil of Shadow lvl 4 Fire Shield lvl 9 Instant Refuge Illusion lvl 2 Blur lvl 2 Invisibility lvl 2 Mirror Image lvl 2 Shadowmask lvl 3 Displacement lvl 4 Invisibility, Greater Necromancy lvl 2 Death Armor lvl 6 Aura of Terror lvl 6 Opalescent Glare Transmutation lvl 1 Babau Slime lvl 1 Horrible Taste lvl 1 Shieldbearer lvl 2 Bear’s Endurance lvl 2 Cat’s Grace lvl 2 Balor Nimbus lvl 2 Ghost Touch Armor lvl 2 Heroics lvl 2 Mountain Stance lvl 3 Blink lvl 3 Primal Form lvl 3 Shadow Phase lvl 3 Spiderskin lvl 3 Diamondsteel lvl 3 Dragonskin lvl 3 Hamatula Barbs lvl 4 Ruin Delver’s Fortune lvl 5 Blink, Greater Mobility Buffs: These spells improve your mobility Conjuration lvl 1 Mount lvl 1 Benign Transposition lvl 2 Balancing Lorecall lvl 2 Baleful Transposition lvl 4 Dimension Door lvl 5 Teleport lvl 5 Dimension Door, Greater lvl 6 Gemjump lvl 7 Phase Door lvl 7 Teleport, Greater lvl 8 Plane shift, Greater Evocation lvl 4 Floating Disk, Greater Illusion lvl 3 Phantasmal Steed Transmutation lvl 1 Expeditious Retreat lvl 1 Jump lvl 1 Expeditious Retreat, Swift lvl 2 Levitate lvl 2 Surefooted Stride lvl 2 Swim lvl 2 Fly, Swift lvl 3 Fly lvl 3 Blink lvl 4 Fight of the Dragon lvl 4 Wings of Air, Greater lvl 5 Overland Flight lvl 5 Blink, Greater lvl 5 Xorn Movement lvl 9 Undermaster Morphic Spells: These spells offer you a host of benefits due to a completer or partial change in form. These are among the most effective spells for a Gish to take, and many provide combat bonuses, AC bonuses, size increases, natural attacks, etc. Illusion lvl 2 Claws of Darkness Transmutation lvl 1 Enlarge Person lvl 1 Fist of Stone lvl 1 Cutting Hand lvl 2 Alter Self lvl 3 Bite of the Wererat lvl 3 Garillon’s Blessing lvl 4 Polymorph lvl 4 Bite of the Werewolf lvl 4 Displacer Form lvl 4 Flame Whips lvl 5 Bite of the Wereboar lvl 5 Draconic Might lvl 5 Enlarge Person, Greater lvl 5 Fiendform lvl 5 Gutsnake lvl 5 Nightstalker’s Transformation lvl 6 Bite of The Weretiger lvl 6 Stone Body lvl 7 Bite of the Werebear lvl 7 Body of War lvl 7 Elemental Body lvl 8 Iron Body lvl 8 Polymorph Any Object lvl 9 Shapechange Offensive Buffs: These spells offer an increase to your melee offensive capability, and damage output. This may be due to any combination of increased attack, damage or number of attacks per round. Abjuration lvl 2 Daggerspell Stance Conjuration lvl 1 Blades of Fire lvl 2 Create Magic Tattoo Divination lvl 1 True Strike lvl 1 Arrow Mind lvl 1 Critical Strike lvl 1 Golem Strike lvl 1 Guided Shot lvl 1 Master’s Touch lvl 1 Targeting Ray lvl 8 Moment of Prescience Enchantment lvl 3 Heroism lvl 3 Rage lvl 6 Heroism, Greater lvl 7 Power Word Blind lvl 8 Power Word Stun lvl 9 Power Word Kill Evocation lvl 1 Blood Wind lvl 1 Guiding Light lvl 1 Persistant Blade lvl 2 Burning Sword lvl 8 Lightning Ring Illusion lvl 2 Bladeweave Necromancy lvl 5 Death Throws lvl 6 Eyebite Transmutation lvl 1 Magic Weapon lvl 1 Weapon Shift lvl 2 Bull’s Strength lvl 2 Cat’s Grace lvl 2 Body of the Sun lvl 2 Bristle lvl 2 Fearsome Grapple lvl 2 Fuse Arms lvl 2 Heroics lvl 2 Infernal Wound lvl 2 Razorfangs lvl 2 Wraithstrike lvl 3 Haste lvl 3 Keen Edge lvl 3 Magic Weapon, Greater lvl 3 Steeldance lvl 3 Weapon of Energy lvl 3 Weapon of Impact lvl 3 Dolorous Blow lvl 4 Entangling staff lvl 4 Sharptooth lvl 6 Tenser’s Transformation lvl 6 Brilliant Blade Ranged Attack Spells These spells take advantaged of a Gish's superior BAB to allow for potentially devistating ranged attacks. Most (but not all), of these spells are rays. Abjuration lvl 2 Distracting Ray lvl 4 Dimensional Anchor lvl 4 Ray of Deanimation lvl 7 Antimagic Ray Conjuration lvl 1 Orb of Acid, Lesser lvl 1 Orb of Cold, Lesser lvl 1 Orb of Electricity, Lesser lvl 1 Orb of Fire, Lesser lvl 1 Orb of Sound, Lesser lvl 2 Melf’s Acid Arrow lvl 2 Ice Knife lvl 3 Icelance lvl 4 Orb of Acid lvl 4 Orb of Cold lvl 4 Orb of Electricity lvl 4 Orb of Fire lvl 4 Orb of Force lvl 4 Orb of Sound lvl 5 Shrink Item lvl 5 Viscid Glob lvl 5 Moonbow lvl 5 Prismatic Ray lvl 7 Stun Ray lvl 9 Black Blade of Disaster lvl 9 Sphere of Ultimate Destruction Enchantment lvl 2 Ray of Stupidity lvl 2 Sting Ray lvl 3 Ray of Dizziness Evocation lvl 0 Ray of Frost lvl 0 Electric Jolt lvl 1 Ice Dagger lvl 1 Light of Lunia lvl 1 Ray of Flame lvl 2 Scorching Ray lvl 2 Blast of Force lvl 2 Light of Mercuria lvl 2 Rainbow Beam lvl 2 Ray of Ice lvl 3 Light of Venya lvl 4 Sword of Deception lvl 7 Prismatic Eye Necromancy lvl 1 Ray of Enfeeblement lvl 2 Life Bolt lvl 2 Ray of Sickness lvl 2 Ray of Weakness lvl 3 Ray of Exhaustion lvl 3 Disrupt Undead lvl 6 Ray of Entropy lvl 7 Arrow of Bone lvl 7 Energy Ebb lvl 7 Kiss of the Vampire Transmutation lvl 0 Launch Bolt lvl 0 Launch Item lvl 1 Ray of Clumsiness lvl 2 Hurl lvl 2 Scale Weakening lvl 2 Whirling Blade lvl 3 Rust Ray lvl 3 Giant’s Wrath lvl 5 Telekinesis lvl 5 Lucent Lance Rogue Spells: These are spells which inprove a rogues' ability to apply sneak-attack damage in combat. They may deny the enemy a dex bonus, provide flanking or allow sneak attack damage to apply to creatures normally immune. Conjuration Varies Summon Monster (all) Varies Summon Undead (all) Divination lvl 1 Golem Strike lvl 1 Sniper’s Shot lvl 1 Insightful Feint Enchantment lvl 1 Distract Assailant lvl 6 Mislead Illusion lvl 1 Serene Visage lvl 2 Invisibility lvl 4 Invisibility, Greater lvl 5 Shadow Form lvl 6 Shadowy Grappler lvl 8 Invisibility, Superior Necromancy lvl 2 Wracking Touch Transmutation lvl 1 Nerveskitter lvl 3 Blink Tactical Spells: These spells allow a Gish to become better masters of the battlefield. They may control terrain in ways that Gish can do well to take advantage of, or they may give other edges in combat. These have notes describing reccomended use. Some notes follow the list. Abjuration lvl 6 Antimagic Field lvl 8 Prismatic Wall lvl 9 Prismatic Sphere Conjuration lvl 0 Caltrops lvl 1 Obscuring Mist lvl 2 Fog Cloud lvl 2 Glitterdust lvl 2 Cloud of Bewilderment lvl 2 Malevolent Miasma lvl 3 Stinking Cloud lvl 3 Contagious Fog lvl 4 Evard’s Black Tentacles lvl 4 Solid Fog lvl 5 Minor Creation lvl 5 Major Creation lvl 6 Acid Fog lvl 6 Freezing Fog Divination lvl 2 See Invisibility lvl 3 Arcane Sight lvl 6 True Seeing lvl 7 Arcane Sight, Greater Evocation lvl 1 Luminous Gaze lvl 1 Persistent Blade lvl 3 Blacklight lvl 6 Contingency lvl 6 Howling Chain Illusion lvl 6 Shadowy Grappler Transmutation lvl 1 Accelerated Movement lvl 1 Ebon Eyes lvl 1 Low-Light Vision lvl 1 Nerveskitter lvl 2 Darkvision lvl 3 Tremorsense lvl 3 Deeper Darkvision lvl 4 Rary’s Mnemonic Enhancer lvl 4 Spell Enhancer lvl 5 Spell Matrix, Lesser lvl 6 Mordenkainen’s Lucubration lvl 6 Imbue Familiar W/Spell Ability lvl 7 Spell Matrix lvl 9 Spell Matrix, Greater NOTES: Cloud Spells: These all allow for the same principle: Cast them against opponents who are taller than you (giants for example), but put the cloud up high enough that you can still run around undernieth. This provides both cover and the added benefit of the cloud (stinking cloud works very well here). Note that some clouds (like cloudkill) are heavier than air. These are excluded from the list. Meta-spells: These include Rary's Mnuemonic Enhancer, contingency, Spell Matrix, imbue familiar etc. These spells take advantage of the fact that some of your best Gish spells are only 1st or 2nd level. Note that you can use Mordenkainen's Lucubration to get another Rary's enhancer, which can give you 3 extra true strikes (for example). Don't forget that your Familiar can also be wearing a contingency! Gaze Attack spells: These spells are just a good idea to pre-cast before a battle, as they give you a passive attack as you wade into combat. Prizmatic Spells: These spells let you (alone) walk through them. I'll let you figure out the possible implications. Creation Spells: Major and Minor - Lot's of possibilities here, including poisoning your weapon etc. Enhanced Perception: See invisibility, tremmorsense etc. These spells let you find your way around the battlefield. Touch Spells: This category includes offensive spells with a range of touch, as well as spells which improve your ability to deliver these spells. Note that spells which give you a natural weapon are not included in this category. Abjuration lvl 9 Imprisonment Conjuration lvl 1 Corrosive Grasp Enchantment lvl 2 Touch of Idiocy lvl 8 Otto’s Irresistible Dance Evocation lvl 1 Shocking Grasp lvl 2 Flame Dagger lvl 3 Blade of Pain and Fear lvl 4 Thunderlance lvl 7 Emerald Flame Fist Illusion lvl 3 Spectral Weapon Necromancy lvl 0 Touch of Fatigue lvl 1 Chill Touch lvl 2 Spectral Hand lvl 2 Ghoul Touch lvl 2 Wracking Touch lvl 3 Vampiric Touch lvl 3 Mind Poison lvl 3 Spider Poison lvl 4 Contagion lvl 4 Bestow Curse lvl 5 Blight lvl 6 Spectral Touch lvl 8 Bestow Curse, Greater lvl 8 Blackfire Transmutation lvl 1 Spell Flower lvl 2 Belker Claws Analysis: Obviously, what spells you take are going to depend greatly on your combat style. That said, There are some clear patterns: Warrior/Wizard specialization: Divination remains a good school for the Fighter/Wizard wanting to specialize. While almost all the really good gish spells in this school run out by 3rd level, metamagic feats (like quicken) keep the low-level spells viable into the higher levels. After this, they have the excellent 8th level spell Moment of Precience to work with. The school to give up for this benefit is clearly evocation. Arcane Tricksters & specialization: Conjuration is an excellent choices for a ray expert, providing viable ray attacks well into the higher levels. the best choices to give up are probably enchantment and necromancy, since these rays don't do much direct damage for you to add your sneak-attack to. Enlightened Fists: These Touch spell specialists need necromancy for offense. Transmutation allows for some devistating touch attacks when combined with the spell flower spell & Garillion's Blessing. I would recommend specializing in necromancy and losing evocation and enchantment. This is not a great trade-off however, so you might not want to specialize at all. In no case should transmutation be given up by any gish, ever. Well, that's about it. I hope this proves to be a useful resource to players. Again, please feel free to post some contributions, this can be a work in progress.
#9 pithica Apr 02, 2009 13:55:06	On a more general note, when I build Gishes, I generally look for the following spells... #1 Long Duration Self Buffs (including persistable spells, once I have that ability) #2 Any Duration Debuffs (preferably no-save or suck) #3 Utility spells The latter spells, I often burn on Arcane Strike if I haven't used them already in a given adventuring day and need the extra damage. I usually play Wizard Gishes, and they almost always have Abjurant Champion levels. Assuming a starting Int of 14 and normal 2/lvl additions, I start with the following... 0th-All normal + Launch Item and Amanuensis 1st (7)-Shield, Ray of Clumsiness (SC), Enlarge Person, Grease, Nervskitter (SC), Spell Flower (SC), Mount 2nd (4)-Wraithstrike (SC), Alter Self, False Life, Heart of Air (CM) 3rd (4)- Vampiric Touch, Greater Mage Armor (SC), Heart of Water (CM), Greater Magic Weapon 4th (4)- Heart of Earth (CM), Greater Mirror Image (PH2), Polymorph, Ray Deflection (SC) 5th (4)- Heart of Fire (CM), Teleport, Spelltheft (CSc), Greater Blinking (SC) 6th (4)- Greater Anticipate Teleportation (SC), Superior Resistance (SC), Contingency, Greater Heroism 7th (4)- Energy Immunity (SC), Ironguard (SC), Bite of the Werebear (SC), Retributive Enervation (CM) 8th (4)- Mindblank, Moment of Prescience, Greater Celerity (PH2), Lightning Ring (SC) 9th (4)- Shapechange, Timestop, Astral Projection, Gate For me, 2nd-5th have the most spells that I really really want as a gish. 3rd is especially hard. If I don't have another caster to haste me in combat, I'll definately take it over Vampiric Touch. Likewise, if I can get away with Greater Mighty Wallop, I'm going to take it over GMW, but I'm probably going to come back and purchase them. Spells like Explosive Runes or Fabricate, while not powerful enough to mem every day, give me something 'productive' to do during downtime, so things like that will get purchased as I can afford them.