What would be some good spells for my wizard?

[JediDresden]

Thanks to the previous Rote Spell thread for making me second guess my wizard build, I need some advice on my character's build and his spells, if you would please.

His relevant Stats are:
Conviction +5
Lore and Discipline +4
Earth, Water, and Air are his elements, with a specialization in Earth Control
His Staff focus item gives him a +1 to Earth offensive Control and Power

I originally gave him the following rote spells:
Gravity Cage  - Block: 5 for 2 exchanges.  Non lethal, holding spell - Power: 6 (2 stress)               
Gravity Press - Weapon: 5, uses Gravity to smash the target - Power: 5 (1 stress)         
Dehydrate - Weapon:4, pull water from target's body - Power:4 (1 stress)                  
Stoneskin - Armor: 2 for 2 exchanges - Power:5 (1 stress)                  

I am not sure I did the math right when I set them up either, so feel free to correct me if I am wrong.  I have two weapon spells as rotes and apparently that is not a good idea, so what would be some others.  I borrowed shamelessly from this forum for these spells, so don't be surprised if you see some of your work.

From the previous thread I thought a disarm spell and/or a lock pick spell would be good options, any help would be appreciated.

[Richard_Chilton]

What is his magical outlook? That really determines what he can do.  For example, a wizard from the European tradition (like Harry) and one from a Native American tradition (like Injun Joe) both have the same "Evocation, Thaumaturgy" powers but their magic has a different feel/flavour to it.

As an aside, you might want to borrow the format that most of the spell in the thread at http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,22421.0.html are in - having to list things like "Type: Earth Evocation, Offensive Attack" can help define the spell.

And you've got +1 Earth Control, +1 offensive Earth Control, +1 offensive power - which means your earth attack could be at 6 instead of 5 - as long as you have your staff handy.  Just something to think about.

Looking at the list, you've got an Earth attack, a Water attack, an Earth maneuver, and an Earth defense - which means you aren't using Air at all.  You might want to consider a "bring it to me" spell when you consider the other, non-rote, spells that you do.  Working out some of those will save time at game - and give you a better idea of the types of magic your PC usually does.

Richard

[JediDresden]

Yeah, he is very much a European outlook type of wizard.  His teacher a wizard named Rollo, was McCoy's apprentice years ago (like 30-40 yrs ago), so a similar mindset to Harry, but not exactly. He had 2 mentors like Harry did, the first one - a Frenchman - while not evil was not very involved as a teacher and as a result my character made some bad decisions but was placed with Rollo to make sure he did not go down the slippery slope, so to speak. So very European in outlook as far as magic.

Sorry about the format of the spells, I was in a hurry and just wanted to get it down and posted.  I just wanted to get the bare essentials out.  My bad

I really do like the idea of using an air spell. Thanks for the comments.

[Sanctaphrax]

A zone attack might be a good idea. Or a nova. Or both.

I like the gravity theme you have going here. I think that compressing everything in a zone into a small ball would make a good zone attack.

[computerking]

Perhaps a Zone-targeting Maneuver would be useful (Like an Earth Evocation to place  "Unsure Footing" on a zone (4 for the spell, 1 extra round duration) as the ground beneath everyone in the zone's feet wobbles like a small earthquake. It sets either yourself or a partner to tag for +2  for another spell (perhaps an attack, perhaps a Zone-wide maneuver).

[JediDresden]

That brings up another question. I like zone wide spells and maneuvers, but they affect everyone in the zone, what about you and your allies?  I thought about just targeting the next zone over and staying out of the zone, would that be  a 2 shift addition to a spell to affect a zone farther away?  Is there any other way to not affect a caster or allies in the zone you target?  I know you can split a spell to affect multiple opponents, but anything else?

We had this discussion in our last session, the argument was raised (not by me) that a wizard should be smart enough to figure out a way to cast a spell and not hurt himself.  I just opted to be out of the zone when I cast the spell.

[JediDresden]

Thanks Sancta.  I loved it in the books when Harry would do stuff like that with earth magic.  So I had to use it for my wizard.  He started out ad a terramaner, or geomancer focused practitioner when he was an apprentice.  So I focused on gravity and magnetic type spells, it is just one of many things that has carried over from his early days.

[Sanctaphrax]

There`s no canon way to hit a zone without hitting everyone in it.

There is no tax for targeting a faraway zone.

Spray attack rules should be used for targeting a zone without hurting yourself or your allies.

[JediDresden]

Thanks.
That's what I thought.

Good to know about far away zones, I thought it might be something like for movement into another zone (1 shift for each zone away or something).  That makes it a lot more appealing to just stay back a zone and let it fly so to speak.