What 4th-level spells should any Wizard have?

[Ferret]

Why has no one voted for secure shelter? I thought that would be a good idea.

 

[Thanee]

It might not be something you'd want to use every day. But it gives quite a bit of added flexibility over deciding months in advance which scrolls to scribe, or which wands might come in handy, ...

Yeah, some added flexibility for sure, especially since you can use it during the day then, so you don't need to prepare them the day before.

Quite pricey, but if you can use multiple mnemonic enhancers, it can also be quite useful. Only problem is, that you can only afford such a wand at levels, where normally you don't need so many lower level spells anymore, since some get replaced by higher level ones. But yeah, sometimes it can be handy.

...and using one's own save DCs and feats can't be a bad thing.

No, not at all.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Liquidsabre]

Why has no one voted for secure shelter? I thought that would be a good idea.

A very good spell, but for a caster not necessarily a must-have. For the party on the other hand...that's a different story.

 

[Victim]

By the time the group has access to 4th level spells, Rope Trick is coming into its own. The house provided by Secure Shelter is less secure than Rope Trick's pocket dimension, and Rope Trick is lower is level.

 

[dcollins]

By the time the group has access to 4th level spells, Rope Trick is coming into its own. The house provided by Secure Shelter is less secure than Rope Trick's pocket dimension, and Rope Trick is lower is level.

Hmmm, is your party in the habit of sleeping overnight in a rope trick space? As DM I might think it has to be too small to do that restfully. Per the spell, if you squeeze 8 people in it, you can't even fit a rope in any more. Hello, you crazy-kids-in-a-Volkswagen.

 

[Pax]

Here's a poll I'm using to generate a "baseline" core Wizard's spell list. You can pick as many selections as you like.

Anotehr skewed list. No Fireshield? Feh.

For low-hitpoint wizards, Fireshield is *great* - it really helps protect against the more-common area-effect spells out there, especially fireball and meteor swarm (effectively granting evasion against them). And it also provides a clear disincentive to attack the wizard in *melee*, as it deals damage BACK.

I had a necromancer/loremaster who was VERY grateful for that spell, as the counter-damage dropped a vampiric gibbering mouther (don't ask) ONE hit before negative levels were equal to levels (only a high constitution and coming out of a fight with the temp HP of a maximised vampiric touch saved me from HP death).

I'd suggest not narrowing the list down in future polls such as this, as that is truly going to skew results in favor of the ones *you* felt were must-haves to begin with.

Anyway, beyond the Fireshield, I went with Black Tentacles (battlefield control through mobility reduction is ALWAYS important - wall spells, grease, Tentacles, whatever you have to do to keep the enemy away form you for just another couple rounds ...). I *didn't* select wall of fire or wall of ice, as Wall of Stone (5th level) is superior to either of those for battlefield control, and black tentacles is more useful IMO than most walls.

Generally, for battlefield control, core only, off the top of my head and in level order from 0-9: [-/grease/web/-/tentacles/wall of stone/wall of force/-/prismatic wall/-].

I also chose dimension door and greater invisibility, as those two are excellent ways for the wizard to keep otu of melee reach and spell-target-ability, respectively.

 

[Drakh]

I went for Enervation, Polymorph, Dimension Door and Summon Monster IV.

Im surprised more didnt go for summon monster IV - this is the point summon monster spells become powerful - the Lanturn Archon does some nice damage with its rays while the fiendish viper (HUGE) can really deal some pain with its 15 ft reach and ability to grapple and constrict. and then for versitility you have the mephits.

 

[dcollins]

The results in order -- those within 50% of the top are indicated in bold.


91 Dimension Door
91 Invisibility, Greater
69 Polymorph
68 Stoneskin
46 Black Tentacles
36 Scrying
35 Enervation
20 Charm Monster
19 Wall of Fire
18 Globe of Invulnerability, Lesser
17 Confusion
16 Summon Monster IV
13 Wall of Ice
12 Detect Scrying
12 Phantasmal Killer
12 Secure Shelter
11 Resilient Sphere
10 Stone Shape
9 Bestow Curse
6 Other
3 Contagion
3 Hallucinatory Terrain
2 Enlarge Person, Mass
2 Shout

 

[Thanee]

Polymorph is a bit low on that list... it would deserve a 150 or more in comparison.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Oscar carramiñana]

Dimensional door,black tentacles,polymorf, inv greater, are must have spells for any wiz

fire shield are one of my favorites
any orb (energy) evocation spell T&B are good

the Stone Skin are to expensive I think.