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Old 01-13-2002, 10:49 PM   #2
Magness
Quintesson
 

Join Date: January 7, 2001
Location: Manchester, NH, USA
Posts: 1,025
While I'm hardly an expert spell caster, I've got to say that you're argument doesn't hold any water. First, a simple globe of invulnerability would protect against your skull trap example. Furthermore, most summoned monsters can be quickly killed by a mage that casts a death spell. The "Breech" spell is one of the very best spells out there.

I suppose that a large part of spell selection comes down to how one manages their party. I use my spell casters to support my melee and missile-using characters. I only cast attack magics when necessary. I prefer to have 1.5 mages so that I have a considerable amount of magic available. I have my mages memorize a good amount of Breech, Ruby Ray of Reversal, and Spellstrike (as each beomes available). When some nasty mage with a contingency brings up a whole bunch of defenses (Improved Mantle, Stoneskin, Protection from Magical Weapons, Globe of Invulnerability, for example), I'm not gonna waste my time hoping that my mage(s) have just the right spell to ignore those defenses or that my party will survive until those defenses expire. I have my mage(s) TAKE DOWN those defenses ASAP. I will not leave my tanks hanging out to dry like that, particularly since my PC is usually one of said tanks.

Also, not all area effect spells are "enemies only". I'm not gonna throw a fireball at a mage and just tell my tanks to "take one for the team" when there are far batter and more reliable (and safer) alternatives.
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