[3.5] I Need Help Picking Spells for an 8th Level Favored Soul

[Livor]

I'm in the process of creating a Favored Soul and I was wondering if I could get some help with spell selection. I don't have access to any of the source books except at our meetings so all I have currently is the SRD(My DM has all the usual source books). I've found a couple spells that look pretty good, but I don't think I have the experience to get the best spells for my purposes or know which ones are really all that useful.

I really don't want to become the heal-monkey, but the ability to heal would be very useful. I don't want to forgo the use of offensive spells, but I want to focus on defensive and offensive buffs. I guess what I really want is a relatively balanced set of spells that don't have a lot of niche applications. This should be possible, right?

[Assassin89]

Aside from the Cure and Inflict spells, and maybe some summon monsters, I have created a list that uses spells from the player's handbook.

0 level

guidance
virtue
resistance

1st level
Bless
Shield of Faith

2nd level
Bear's Endurance
Bull's Strength
Spiritual Weapon

3rd level

Helping Hand
Protection from Energy
Magic Vestment

4th level

Death Ward
Giant Vermin

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I'm in the process of creating a Favored Soul and I was wondering if I could get some help with spell selection. I don't have access to any of the source books except at our meetings so all I have currently is the SRD(My DM has all the usual source books). I've found a couple spells that look pretty good, but I don't think I have the experience to get the best spells for my purposes or know which ones are really all that useful.

I really don't want to become the heal-monkey, but the ability to heal would be very useful. I don't want to forgo the use of offensive spells, but I want to focus on defensive and offensive buffs. I guess what I really want is a relatively balanced set of spells that don't have a lot of niche applications. This should be possible, right?

Absolutely!

At 1st level, in addition to the suggestions above, you may wish to consider Protection from Evil and Sanctuary.

At 2nd... I don't like the +4 to x stat spells, simply because they don't stack with items, and the duration is not long enough to have it on all day. I would suggest Hold Person, because it's a Will Save or Loose. Restoration, Lesser is also extremely handy to have around, even if you don't want to be the healbot, simply because stat penalties can be crippling. Silence is another winner at this level. Use it in the area effect version, and there are no saves.

At 3rd, I wouldn't go with Helping Hand, I'd either go with Blindness (Fort save or loose, goes nice with the Hold Person's Will save or Loose), or Remove Curse (because curses SUCK).

Now then, 4th level spells can be very... interesting. Death Ward is very good, and I concur. However, I don't like the vermin spell. I would suggest instead: Greater Magic Weapon (goes nice with Magic Vestments), Freedom of Movement (great to get your tank out of a Solid Fog or grapple), or Divine Power (need I say why?). Poison is also a good combat-effective spell, doing 1d10 Con damage on a failed Fort save. This can kill or at least cripple opponents, and can be repeated for even more Con damage, which has a very good chance of killing someone off (specially because the con damage just dropped the target's Fort save...)

[Nohwl]

this is the list of spells i suggested for thurbane, there might be a little more utility in this list than you want.

0: light, read magic, purify food and drink, detect magic, detect poison, guidance, cure minor wounds

1: lesser vigor, command, bless, light of lunia, obscuring mist, blade of blood

2: bulls strength, make whole, shatter, aid, find traps

3: dispel magic, create food and water, vigor, bestow curse

4: panacea, wall of sand, magic weapon-greater

[imperialspectre]

At 2nd... I don't like the +4 to x stat spells, simply because they don't stack with items, and the duration is not long enough to have it on all day. I would suggest Hold Person, because it's a Will Save or Loose. Restoration, Lesser is also extremely handy to have around, even if you don't want to be the healbot, simply because stat penalties can be crippling. Silence is another winner at this level. Use it in the area effect version, and there are no saves.

At 3rd, I wouldn't go with Helping Hand, I'd either go with Blindness (Fort save or loose, goes nice with the Hold Person's Will save or Loose), or Remove Curse (because curses SUCK).

Now then, 4th level spells can be very... interesting. Death Ward is very good, and I concur. However, I don't like the vermin spell. I would suggest instead: Greater Magic Weapon (goes nice with Magic Vestments), Freedom of Movement (great to get your tank out of a Solid Fog or grapple), or Divine Power (need I say why?). Poison is also a good combat-effective spell, doing 1d10 Con damage on a failed Fort save. This can kill or at least cripple opponents, and can be repeated for even more Con damage, which has a very good chance of killing someone off (specially because the con damage just dropped the target's Fort save...)

You don't want spells with saves for a Favored Soul, because their spell DCs are off Wisdom while their bonus spells are Charisma. Dual-ability spellcasters are screwed when they try to do save-or-else casting. Go for buffs and no-save spells--GMW, Divine Power, Freedom of Movement are all good, as is Remove Curse.

[Scurvy Cur]

So far as I'm concerned, it all depends on your attributes, and the sort of favored soul you want to play.

Favored souls are more geared towards combat, and less towards casting support, than clerics tend to be. My suggestions are made assuming you have a melee-oriented Favored Soul that takes advantage of the free weapon focus, and has more combat oriented feats than caster oriented feats, and a heavier leaning towards strength and constitution, with less wisdom. This gives you a capable, versatile combatant, party buffer, and healer, and generally stays away from save vs. X spells (as has already been mentioned, it can be tricky for a Favored soul to get both wisdom and charisma high enough to work well on DC spells)

Other arrangements work better if you -can- pull off the DCs, but those are also dependent on any spell focus feats you may have. As I have no idea what sort of campaign you're playing in, I'm leaving alignment based spells unassigned, and may make some suggestions for certain types of campaign.

1st level
------------------------------
Divine Favor (PHB)
Remove Fear (PHB)
Lesser Vigor (Complete Divine)
Sanctuary (PHB)
Shield of Faith (PHB)
Protection from Alignment (PHB)
*Alternatively, Ebon Eyes (Spell Compendium); for use with darkness.

2nd level
------------------------------------
Aid (PHB)
Silence (PHB)
Lesser Restoration (PHB)
Resist Energy (PHB)
Cure moderate Wounds (PHB)
*Alternatively, Darkness (PHB); For use with Ebon Eyes.

3rd Level
-------------------------------
Dispel Magic (PHB); Can be swapped out later when you get Greater Dispelling
Magic Vestment (PHB);
*Invisibility Purge (PHB); Take if your DM likes invisible monsters
*Water Breathing (PHB); If your campaign involves water hazards
*Weapon of Energy (Spell Compendium); Neat spell. Gear may make it useless
*Vigor/ Mass Lesser Vigor (Comp. Div.); If you need more healing capacity.
*Cure Serious Wounds (PHB); See above.
*Remove Curse (PHB); If your DM is fond of tossing curses about.

4th level
----------------------------------------
Divine Power (PHB)
Restoration (PHB)
*GMW (PHB); Particularly useful if your campaign does not involve lots of magic weapons.
*Air Walk (PHB); If you have no other source of air travel.
*Weapon of the Deity (Comp. Divine); Like GMW, only gets better faster, but short duration.
*Death Ward (PHB); If your DM likes throwing undead and negative energy effects your way.
*Freedom of Movement (PHB); Situationally awesome.

This mix gives you a good number of spells that are handy to the party, help you out in melee combat, and allow you to heal in a pinch. It also gives you a couple of general utility spells, and dispelling ability, which is priceless against spellcasting monsters. Generally, it shies away from anything with a saving throw.

This setup lets you fill a role where you help the party function better, act as a fairly good backup fighter for the party's main tank, particularly if you have time to buff with Divine Power and Divine Favor, and heal when the people around you start dying. You probably won't be the best it's possible to be at any one of those roles, but you will be good at all of them.

As you continue to level up, look for buffs that augment your party's needs and fighting styles, as well as those that give you a better attack bonus and damage. Furthermore, healing spells are never amiss, and don't be afraid to swap out lower level healing spells as more powerful ones become standard fare.

[Livor]

Thanks for your help. I'll look up the spells in the Spell Compendium and Complete Divine later today. So far, I have a tentative list of spells, but it will probably change after I get some of the rest of the character figured out.

Zero Level Spells
--------------------
Cure Minor Wounds
Guidance
Virtue
Resistance

First Level Spells
--------------------
Cure Light Wounds
Bless
Shield of Faith
Divine Favor

Second Level Spells
--------------------
Cure Moderate Wounds
Spiritual Weapon
Restoration, Lesser
Silence
Aid

Third Level Spells
--------------------
Cure Serious Wounds
Searing Light
Magic Vestment
Dispel Magic

Fourth Level Spells
--------------------
Divine Power
Magic Weapon, Greater

I've tried to avoid spells with saves, because even with a +3 to Wisdom, it's pretty terrible. Some of the spells (Magic Vestment, Greater Magic Weapon) will depend on what the rest of my party will have and how they stack. We just had an almost full party wipe (7 out of 9 players dead) and I'm not sure what characters they will be creating. So I'll see how it goes and adjust my character accordingly.

[PinkysBrain]

I'd get Cure Critical instead of GMW ... a non prepared caster who has it as a 4th level spell shouldn't be casting it, buy a 3rd level pearl of power for the wizard instead. With so many players one of them will be a wizard no doubt.

I'd get rid of all the lower level cures except CSW (in combat healing is for oh-**** moments and the lesser cures just don't cut it in that respect, out of combat healing is done with wand of CL or LV).