Bat-Shark-Repellant

[Heliomance]

I've heard it said that if a wizard is Batman, then scrolls are the equivalent of that Bt Shark Repellant he keeps on his belt. You might never need it, but if you do, you really need it.
So, what spells are useful keeping a couple of scrolls around, even if you don't prepare them every day?

[BobVosh]

Ebon Eyes
Remove Curse (cheaper for each other class, but if the wizard wants he can)
Resist Energy
Feather Fall
See Invisible (if you aren't to the point of always on true sight)

Mainly situational spells like those

[Kurald Galain]

Feather Fall


I'm not sure you can draw-and-read that scroll before going splat?

[goram.browncoat]

I'm not sure you can draw-and-read that scroll before going splat?

I would imagine its a move action to draw (might need a scroll sheeth on your belt, probably fullround to get it from backpack, not sure).
And arent spell trigger items standard action, even if the spell is immediate or swift?

[BobVosh]

I'm not sure you can draw-and-read that scroll before going splat?

When have you ever really needed feather fall and wasn't planning on jumping? Either way, so long as you have 3 seconds you should have enough time for the spell. If it is less than a 3 second fall...is it really a deadly fall?

[monty]

When have you ever really needed feather fall and wasn't planning on jumping? Either way, so long as you have 3 seconds you should have enough time for the spell. If it is less than a 3 second fall...is it really a deadly fall?

Only if 20d6 can kill you.

[Starbuck_II]

I would imagine its a move action to draw (might need a scroll sheeth on your belt, probably fullround to get it from backpack, not sure).
And arent spell trigger items standard action, even if the spell is immediate or swift?

Rules Compendruim made scroll/wands standard actions or the spells casting speed.

So yes, you can use a Feather fall scroll as a swift action (need quick draw as you can then draw as free action).

[BobVosh]

Do scroll belts exist? :smallbiggrin:

[Heliomance]

Belt of many pockets, or whatever it's called?

[monty]

The pocket of many belts?

[BobVosh]

The many of belt pockets?

[Telonius]

Some other nice gadgets that you might not use every day, but would be useful in an emergency or other odd situation:

Break Enchantment
Any of the (animal)'s (ability) spells
Comprehend Languages
Tongues
Passwall
Hold Portal
Sending
Scrying
Message
Stone to Flesh
Remove Curse
Knock
Dimensional Anchor
Dimensional Lock
Alarm
Guards and Wards
Lesser Geas
Geas
Gentle Repose
Identify
Analyze Dweomer
Phase Door
Water Breathing
Temporal Stasis
Slow
Shatter

[ericgrau]

I made the claim, huzzah I got quoted :smallbiggrin:.

Don't have time to make a list right now. But those above are good. I'll add spider climb as one of my favorites for now. Long duration, gets you lots of odd places. I'd keep feather fall on your spell list to keep the immediate action casting time. Basically anything useful that won't get used every day is good for a scroll.

For the belt you can simply buy a bunch of belt pouches (PHB) or get a handy haversack. Plain old pockets work too, up to a reasonable number: see PHB descriptions of outfits, like the explorer's outfit. Otherwise you can still draw from a backpack, provided it's organized enough (no rules for this, just common sense), but this provokes an attack of opportunity. Regardless of where you draw from it's a move action, but a more accessible location lets you draw without provoking and it can be done while moving. Plus quick draw lets you draw as a free (swift?) action from such a location.

[Heliomance]

Some other nice gadgets that you might not use every day, but would be useful in an emergency or other odd situation:

Break Enchantment
Any of the (animal)'s (ability) spells
Comprehend Languages
Tongues
Passwall
Hold Portal
Sending
Scrying
Message
Stone to Flesh
Remove Curse
Knock
Dimensional Anchor
Dimensional Lock
Alarm
Guards and Wards
Lesser Geas
Geas
Gentle Repose
Identify
Analyze Dweomer
Phase Door
Water Breathing
Temporal Stasis
Slow
Shatter

I can only cast 5th level spells at the moment, but I'll bear some of the higher ones in mind for later. Comprehend Languages and Tongues aren't really needed as I speak something like 24 languages already.

[LibraryOgre]

Most important: Summon Monster I, for the important "Summon Celestial Porpoise" spell.

I cannot think of a better shark repellent than a holy Flipper.

[Fishy]

MiC has the Infinite* Scrollcase for 2,800gp, if you care about that sort of thing.

[Fax Celestis]

Ebon Eyes

Eh. Goggles of Ebon Eyes cost like 2000 gold or something, and they're always on. It's better to forget the scroll and just make yourself some glasses.

[Heliomance]

On the other hand, the spell can be cast on allies. up to 11 of them at once. At close range.

[Telonius]

Other items that can repel sharks:

Horn of the Tritons - Panicks fish. Alternately, makes the sharks friendly to you.

Trident of Fish Command. Drawback: you will be called Aquaman for the remainder of the campaign.

Horn of Valhalla. Remember, you don't have to outswim the shark. You just have to outswim the Barbarians.

[Mewtarthio]

When have you ever really needed feather fall and wasn't planning on jumping? Either way, so long as you have 3 seconds you should have enough time for the spell. If it is less than a 3 second fall...is it really a deadly fall?

To test this theory, have one of your friends shove you off the roof of a two-story house onto concrete below (to better simulate DnD conditions, you should have them stab you first). I'm reasonably certain that fall takes less than three seconds...


Most important: Summon Monster I, for the important "Summon Celestial Porpoise" spell.

I cannot think of a better shark repellent than a holy Flipper.

No, Summon Celestial Porpoise is for torpedos. Rest in peace, oh noble, almost-human Celestial Porpoise... :smallfrown:

[Sstoopidtallkid]

To test this theory, have one of your friends shove you off the roof of a two-story house onto concrete below (to better simulate DnD conditions, you should have them stab you first). I'm reasonably certain that fall takes less than three seconds...I was up and walking around after that(minus stabbing) within 6 seconds as a low-con 8-year old.:smallbiggrin:

[ericgrau]

Feather fall: In d&d you fall 150 feet in the first round, 300 feet in following rounds. In real life you fall a lot faster. Only way a scroll would be useful would be to cast it ahead of time.

[Fax Celestis]

Feather fall: In d&d you fall 150 feet in the first round, 300 feet in following rounds. In real life you fall a lot faster. Only way a scroll would be useful would be to cast it ahead of time.

False. Scrolls cast at the speed of the spell.

[Mushroom Ninja]

Most important: Summon Monster I, for the important "Summon Celestial Porpoise" spell.

I cannot think of a better shark repellent than a holy Flipper.

Seconded. In my group's pirate-ish campaign, the bard keeps saving our necks with Celestial Porpoises. We would have drowned a dozen times each without Summon Monster I.

[Person_Man]

Anything that grants a Burrow speed or Earthglide, Tremorsense, plus a Crown of the Evader (www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/psicrowns.htm) for Hustle. No one can target you if they don't have line of effect. Move in, use a Standard Action to attack or cast, move back down where your enemy can't target you.

Of course, this combo works precisely once. After that, your DM will mysteriously make all of his dungeons out of lead, and/or include a lot more random blue dragons in his campaign world.

[horseboy]

Most important: Summon Monster I, for the important "Summon Celestial Porpoise" spell.

I cannot think of a better shark repellent than a holy Flipper.

Don't forget, what is it, SMIII? For those long, empty, painfully obviously trap filled hallways. "Oh no, HOLY BUFFALO!"

[Tacoma]

Basically everyone uses Summoned Monsters to set off traps.

In 2E there's a spell called Mass Mount that gives you the effect of the mount spell but one mount per level. Mount gets better as you level up, until you can get a griffon or an elephant. Mmm. Elephant.

So one time we're in a town that's been overwhelmed by zombies. So the streets are just filled with them mixed with Wights and such. I cast Mass Mounts three times out of spell storing ioun stones, as a 14th level caster, and suddenly I have 42 Elephants.

42 Elephants kill a lot of zombies.

It is that moment that, despite common sense and precedent, our Great and Glorious DM decides that mounts summoned with Mount (and variants of Mount) don't attack. They're just for riding. So I have my Elephants stand around and block spaces to create a channel for us to get to the merchant's shop, which we loot, and then leave.

Anyway, I say just create a bangle-shaped Wondrous Item that can be used to store scrolls. It doesn't take up an item space for the same reason a Bag of Holding doesn't. You gain no benefit just from wearing it, it's use-activated. You touch the bangle to a scroll and use a standard action to absorb it. Or use a standard action to eject the displayed scroll. You use a Free Action to mentally call up the floating glowing text of any stored scroll, or a list of stored scrolls. You can cast the spell off the scroll as normal, at which point the paper shows up in the display list as *expended*.

The bangle doesn't extradimensionally shrink the scrolls, it stores them as magical energy. So you can drop it in a Bag of Holding without a problem and it works on any plane. I'd rule it a 25-pound Bag of Holding that requires Silent Image as well.

But if a scroll weighs 0.1 pounds, you can carry 250 scrolls, any of which is accessible using a Free Action. And if you spring for the 100-pound-equivalent model and write all your scrolls on tissue paper, you can carry 10,000 of them.

[ericgrau]

False. Scrolls cast at the speed of the spell.

I believe a FAQ clarified that it is the casting time of the spell or a standard action, whichever is slower. It came up since the rules say both "speed of spell" and "standard action". It's on page 49 of the FAQ.

[Person_Man]

I believe a FAQ clarified that it is the casting time of the spell or a standard action, whichever is slower. It came up since the rules say both "speed of spell" and "standard action". It's on page 49 of the FAQ.

Fax is correct. The FAQ is out of date. The Rules Compendium page 85:

"Activating a spell trigger item takes the same amount of time as the casting time of the spell that the item stores, but activating the item doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. You can’t activate a spell trigger item in the area of a silence spell or if unable to speak."

[BobVosh]

Fax is correct. The FAQ is out of date.

That just sounds funny if you read it aloud


To test this theory, have one of your friends shove you off the roof of a two-story house onto concrete below (to better simulate DnD conditions, you should have them stab you first). I'm reasonably certain that fall takes less than three seconds...

Yes. That would be (potentially) deadly to me(espically the stab part). Now imagine instead it would deal 1D6 (assuming you succeed a Tumble/jump check) plus the stab amount. Does it really seem that bad to say a guy with 6D8 HD + Con modifier x6?

[ericgrau]

Fax is correct. The FAQ is out of date. The Rules Compendium page 85:

"Activating a spell trigger item takes the same amount of time as the casting time of the spell that the item stores, but activating the item doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. You can’t activate a spell trigger item in the area of a silence spell or if unable to speak."

What about spell completion items? And this is the exact same text as the original rule, just as it appears before the FAQ entry (which seems to contradict another rule - still there, btw - that says "standard action"). It doesn't really clarify anything.

[Keld Denar]

"Activating a spell trigger item takes the same amount of time as the casting time of the spell that the item stores, but activating the item doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity."

Yea, like eric said, a scroll is not a spell trigger item, but a spell completion item. Does it say anything in there about them? Or just spell trigger items? Without something like that, a scroll of Feather Fall would be a standard action, but a wand of Feather Fall would be an immediate action, assuming you were holding the wand at the time (go go gadget wand chamber!).