DC-Less Useful Spells!

[Hireling]

Heyas I am looking to do more racials and have decided to try some Hybrid Builds/classes.

I really like how some Class/enhancement abilities now can scale off of a non-caster or "main class stat" now.

Specifically I like that Freezing Ice from Warchanter can use STR score instead of CHR and some Druid Bear-form moves also use STR instead of WIS for DCs.

I am going to run a Horc Warchanter Bard going all out on STR and just enough CHR to cast the spells.

So this got me thinking...what are some really good spells that don't have a need for a High Casting stat?
There are obvious ones like heals or Freedom of Movement etc. Heals and buffs.

Then I started thinking about caster level only spells like Dispel and Greater Dispel and Break Enchantment. Also summon monster falls into this.

Then I started reading and I knew that Otto's Irresistible Dance is just a SR check...no DC.

Dimension Door is another non buff spell that just seems to be so helpful.

Are there any other non DC or casting stat spells for other classes that stick out. I already understand the Buffs and heals.

Or spells that oddly will use STR or DEX or will use STR/DEX if a certain enhancement is taken? (Druid Bear form: Great Maul or Tremor)

Thanks!

 

[FuzzyDuck81]

Not DC-less but for damage-dealing, acid spells are typically fortitude saves for half damage rather than reflex, so unless the enemy is outright immune they'll pretty much always have some effect even on enemies who have evasion.

Power word stun & power word kill are handy to have, they still require spell resistance checks & long cooldown limits their use but they're solid situationally. Against something without spell resistance, just as effective from scrolls where they'll have scroll cooldown not standard spellbook cooldown - though using multiple PWK scrolls can get expensive.

Even if your DCs suck, wail of the banshee will give negative levels on things that it doesn't outright kill, so it's handy as a debuff & max-HP remover since those HP won't come back even if the negs disappear.

Sonic blast for box smashing

Faerie fire for box smashing & temporary blur/displacement negation shouldn't be underestimated since it'll benefit the entire party. I always throw some APs here for the SLA when playing drow.

Sleet storm - blinds enemies no save. Blindness gives enemies 50% miss chance, opens them up to sneak attacks & instakills eyeballs. Great for druids in particular since they also have FOM to stop it bothering the party & wolf druids even more so.

Dispel/greater dispel/disjunction work on spell ward traps - multiple may be needed, but even 1 casting will reduce the disable DC if your trapper is having trouble, worth keeping a stack of scrolls to UMD this on those characters.

Find traps - insight bonus to search is handy. More importantly, it also grants the trapfinding feat temporarily so even classes that can't normally disable traps or find certain hidden doors can do it if their search skill is high enough - UMD the scrolls on rangers, wizards & alchemists in particular.

Longstrider - a little while back, it was adjusted to let you move normally while wading in water. Those clicky boots are worth keeping situationally for that.

Tumble - since the changes it's nice to be able to potentially add an extra +10 to your reflex saves, assuming your timing is good.

Neutralise poison - immunity to poisons! ettercap spit will do poison damage on the initial hit but it'll stop the DoT from applying

Halt undead - non-intelligent undead don't get a save. That's a lot of skellies, zombies etc. regardless of their level & HD

Enervation - negative energy DoT added to the negative levels makes this a nice performer now

Globe of invulnerability - often overlooked and immobile so reduces it's utility a bit, but in some areas can be a lifesaver, eg. for an enemy going up against eladrin with their searing light spells.

 

[droid327]

DOTS generally dont have a save, or only save on the first tick, and they're generally good and efficient DPS against mobs that will last long enough to get several ticks

Arcane Tempest and Black Dragon Bolt are probably the two most relevant DOTs for high level play...for low-mid level, Melf's, Acid Rain, Fire Wall, and Burning Blood make an acid+fire spec useful for a STR wiz PM/EK

Sacred Fist (and Monk) also get Ki spells that have no save, but those are the only ones they get other than buffs/heals. Only Druids get 'spells' that act like special attacks

 

[ChaoticDrivel]

Going poison spec'd on an Alchemist bombardier will have your vials target Fortitude instead of Reflex saves(makes those pesky archers with Evasion, not such a problem anymore).

And they get the ability to make creatures that are immune to poison- vulnerable to it - via Weakening Mixture in tier 5.

 

[FuzzyDuck81]

Going poison spec'd on an Alchemist bombardier will have your vials target Fortitude instead of Reflex saves(makes those pesky archers with Evasion, not such a problem anymore).

And they get the ability to make creatures that are immune to poison- vulnerable to it - via Weakening Mixture in tier 5.

They can make things vulnerable to poison temporarily even earlier than that in the vile chemist tree via poisoned attack in tier 2 & wave of poison in tier 3 - if you focus on that tree, before you hit level 4 there's literally nothing in the game you can't use poison damage against, even if it's not necessarily the most powerful option.