Thanks for the suggestions!
A bit of background on the campaign. We are playing
The Rod of Seven Parts, which is basically a Law vs Chaos adventure. The main minions of our Enemy, the Queen of Chaos, are Spider-Demons. As the name indicates, they have Demon traits. So they are immune to electricity and poison, and have resistance to fire, cold, and acid.
Our job is retrieving all parts of the Rod, which are held by an assortment of creatures. Black Half-dragons and Illithids for example.
So, here are my comments on the suggested spells:
Mind Blank: True, the mind affecting aspect is very interesting. The scrying portion a bit less, since we travel as a party. If we are being scried, only my wizard would not appear.
Horrid Wilting: The Fort save really puts me off. We haven't encountered many creatures with low Fort saves (not many rogues or casters). I therefore prefer spells with Reflex, or even better, Will saves.
Polar Ray: I would of course Energy Substitute it to fire. However, ranged touch attacks, while interesting, are not my wizard's forté (2 PrCs with +0 BAB for the first level, and not a very good Dex). Plus it only affects one target, even if there is no save. I don't see a lot of benefit for this spell before a few levels. I can just use
Scorching Ray for a few dice of damage less, although I would have three ranged touch attacks to roll. And it takes a spell slot 6 levels lower. Finally, with our current party composition which has a Fighter and a Monk that really kick butt against single opponents, my wizard is more effective against many opponents. I'm the WMD guy.
Maze: Indeed a powerful spell to take out a single creature, no save. I however have
Forcecage which can effectively do the same thing for a spell level less, and I can pummel it with spells while it's caged. Spider-demons can
Greater Teleport at will, so
Maze becomes interesting for that. It's a toss-up for now.
Power Word, Stun: We have encountered several creatures which are immune to stunning. So while it's a very powerful spell, it would be ineffective more often than not.
Otto's Irresistible Dance: The bottom line effect is the same as
Maze, but with a shorter duration and requiring a Touch attack. My wizard never ever enters melee combat, so that's out.
Greater Shadow Evocation: I can see how this spell might be interesting for a Sorcerer, since it give great flexibility. However, since my character is a blaster mage, he has a lot of Evocation spells, and I'd rather do 100% damage. But it's worth a second look.
Polymorph Any Object: If used as an offensive spell, see my comment above about Fort saves. Is there any compelling reason to use it as a defensive or utility spell?
Incendiary Cloud: Yes indeedy, this fits my profile. However, all the
Cloud spells have the disadvantage of preventing the other party members to engage the affected creatures, and Spider-demon energy resistance make this of very limited use. I'll probably consider taking it later as a flavor spell.
Of course, using the slots for metamagic is interesting, since I have spells like
Firebrand which can be empowered/quickened/maximized.
Choice, choices...
Andargor
EDIT: For the record, this is my 666th post, the Number of the Beast.
