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LordofBones
Master of Realmslore
1477 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Jun 2018 : 03:53:12
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The funny thing is that players use epic magic/true dweomers better than lore characters.
As written, the rules for epic spells make it clear that they're barely better than non-epic spells. The slay seed is DC 25 for a Fort save or die against anything of 80 HD or less. Finger of death is 7th level SoD and kills any one creature, with no HD limit. Wail of the banshee kills anything that hears it, with no HD limit.
Destroy? Disintegrate is a 6th level spell that deals twice the epic seed's amount.
Animate dead? At the level it becomes available, the actual spell animates twice the epic seed's HD in one casting.
However, it becomes absolutely hilarious when players get their hands on them. I've seen DC 1 epic spells that deal 520 damage. |
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Delnyn
Senior Scribe
USA
889 Posts |
Posted - 26 Mar 2020 : 01:43:00
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quote:
Originally posted by sfdragon
there was also ioluam's spell..... which its name slips my mind at the moment..... it can kill a good many deal around you... but not likely what you want
Ioulaum's Longevity is the spell. His apprentice Tabra uses the epic version to keep herself alive all these centuries. |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11691 Posts |
Posted - 26 Mar 2020 : 11:34:30
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"Piss off the Dungeon Master" is pretty powerful, but can have disastrous consequences
"Enchant with Free Pizza" is also pretty powerful, but involves a lot of preparation as to which material components to use
"Enchant with Oreos" that one hits the spot. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Delnyn
Senior Scribe
USA
889 Posts |
Posted - 26 Mar 2020 : 13:45:29
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
"Piss off the Dungeon Master" is pretty powerful, but can have disastrous consequences
"Enchant with Free Pizza" is also pretty powerful, but involves a lot of preparation as to which material components to use
"Enchant with Oreos" that one hits the spot.
"Piss Off the Dungeon Master" typically results in a no-save permanent banishment inflicted on the impudent caster. Caster's unvouched associates are afforded a Diplomacy check in lieu of a save.
"Elixirs of Ethanol" need to be timed and dosed correctly. For every 12 oz bottle offered in advance (no refunds from DM), the briber-oops-supplicant gets a free dice fudge or a 2% XP bonus for the session. |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7968 Posts |
Posted - 27 Mar 2020 : 00:21:33
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I can't speak for 3E or 3.5E. I won't speak for 4E or 5E.
But in AD&D 1E and 2E ...
Karsus's Avatar had the potential of destroying gods, and by extension destroying worlds.
12th-level so cannot be cast (after 1E) in the Realms. But restrictions imposed by Mystra in the Realms are not necessarily restrictions imposed on other worlds.
10th-level wizard/arcane spells (mightier than 9th-level wish) could still be cast in 2E - provided the caster met certain conditions, got a little lucky, and obtained Mystra's active consent.
Quest-level priest/divine spells could be cast in 2E - provided the caster met certain conditions, demonstrated absolute faith, and obtained the active consent of whatever greater deity they worshipped.
Various artifacts are powerful (and/or malign) enough to cause destruction on massive, epic, or even godly magnitudes. Quite potent in the hands of a powerful spellcaster bent on destroyong worlds.
And in all editions ...
While no official "spellcasting" rules are provided, the effects on the setting are well-described for phaerimm life drain and for Szassy's dread rings magics.
Dragonlance apparently had a tome (said to be written by Tiamat) which recorded at least one spell capable of causing a cataclyms which would destroy Krynn (or perhaps only destroy all life on Krynn, or destroy whole cities or continents on Krynn, something like that). Stored in the evil Black High Tower place, only accessible to the Master of the Black Robes (ie: Raistlin). |
[/Ayrik] |
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cpthero2
Great Reader
USA
2285 Posts |
Posted - 27 Mar 2020 : 06:39:21
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Learned Scribe Delnyn,
Both powerful spells for sure.
One of my favorite, and a bruiser: Mind Rape. A real goody!
Best regards,
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Higher Atlar
Spirit Soaring |
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Delnyn
Senior Scribe
USA
889 Posts |
Posted - 27 Mar 2020 : 11:55:51
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quote:
Originally posted by cpthero2
Learned Scribe Delnyn,
Both powerful spells for sure.
One of my favorite, and a bruiser: Mind Rape. A real goody!
Best regards,
I would not call Mind Rape the most powerful, but one of the big nasties along with Eternity of Torture (Book of Vile Darkness). In the world of Toril, I would call Karsus' Avatar the most powerful that was cast. Theoretically, the Dread Ring ritual Szass Tam attempted could have been more powerful, but Tam never got a chance to complete the spell. |
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Copper Elven Vampire
Master of Realmslore
1078 Posts |
Posted - 01 Apr 2020 : 04:23:53
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| Simple... Glassteal. Then sonic destruction. |
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Copper Elven Vampire
Master of Realmslore
1078 Posts |
Posted - 01 Apr 2020 : 04:26:16
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| ****ing yes. Now mother****ere!! |
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Starshade
Learned Scribe
Norway
279 Posts |
Posted - 01 Apr 2020 : 10:51:09
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The two most powerfull D&D spells I have ever seen mentioned in any D&D lore ever, is two Spellweaver spells referred to in Paizo's works. One spell was an attempt at some transcendence, and it failed. The second spell is the really dangerous one; it reverses the destruction of the first one, which supposedly unmade the weaver empire, but also could wipe all gods and all realms, spheres and settings from D&D.
When I was 10 or 15 I'd love to try get some such super spell, but why do D&D really need a planet buster? I'd be happy to leave an intact "fray weave" spellseed in an epic tome, letting you burn holes in the weave, make dead magic zones, burn off ppl's ability to touch the weave, etc (fray mystra's pattern spellseed, epic item spellbook, lets say it's actually a private tome made by a Netheril mage, which is why it works still), or other such dread spells as 1 off works. |
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Copper Elven Vampire
Master of Realmslore
1078 Posts |
Posted - 01 Apr 2020 : 18:55:07
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quote:
Originally posted by LordofBones
Locate City Bomb still tops the list. Add Fell Drain to it and arcane casters have their own wightpocalypse.
Clerics can do the same with greater consumptive field + persistent spell (DMM) + widen spell + fell drain + greater invisibility.
You make that seem so complicated and boring.
A simple Glass-strike spell, followed by a Shatter spell does the trick as long as you can beat the SR and all that jazz.
Secondly, I'd go with an augmented chain Prismatic blast or ray. Or you can cast Prismatic wall and have it drop on the entire party in a block of death.
Thirdly, I'd go with a 99% phantasmal killer followed by a simple Shadow stalker spell. If the killer doesn't outright slay you, then you have that back-up Shadow spell that should finish the job, depending on the character. |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7968 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2020 : 00:35:30
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Well now, if we're including spells published in non-TSR non-WotC stuff then the d20 Munchkin Master's Guide from Steve Jackson Games is a heavy contender. It includes spells like Nuclear Strike (roll one million dice of damage, one at a time, no save within 100-1000 mile radius) and Power Word: Apocalypse (which needs no explanation).
And then there's the Epic Bestiary: Volume 1 and Immortal's Handbook: Ascension from Eternity Publishing. They contain supra-monsters and supra-deities with power of such magnitude that their mere presence on a world would automatically cause oceans to boil or atmosphere to ignite or continents to collapse. There's descriptions of the spells and powers and abilities these entities can use - or bestow to others - and they rate Ao's demonstrated bag of tricks (creating planes/spheres/worlds, keeping pantheons in line, etc) as entry-level amateur stuff.
Indeed, Eternity Publishing used the old D&D Immortal Rules as inspiration - products which are technically "canon" and could easily be used to generate effects capable of destroying worlds. |
[/Ayrik] |
Edited by - Ayrik on 02 Apr 2020 00:41:41 |
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_Jarlaxle_
Senior Scribe
Germany
584 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2020 : 10:16:12
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| If you want to go strictly by RAW the most powerfull spell is the one that does exactly what the ritual of unmaking said it would do (unmake the universe and set yourself up as the omnigod with the power to recreate it as you see fit) and which you granted yourself through the Manipulate Forms ability ;) |
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LordofBones
Master of Realmslore
1477 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2020 : 12:11:20
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quote:
Originally posted by Copper Elven Vampire
quote:
Originally posted by LordofBones
Locate City Bomb still tops the list. Add Fell Drain to it and arcane casters have their own wightpocalypse.
Clerics can do the same with greater consumptive field + persistent spell (DMM) + widen spell + fell drain + greater invisibility.
You make that seem so complicated and boring.
A simple Glass-strike spell, followed by a Shatter spell does the trick as long as you can beat the SR and all that jazz.
Secondly, I'd go with an augmented chain Prismatic blast or ray. Or you can cast Prismatic wall and have it drop on the entire party in a block of death.
Thirdly, I'd go with a 99% phantasmal killer followed by a simple Shadow stalker spell. If the killer doesn't outright slay you, then you have that back-up Shadow spell that should finish the job, depending on the character.
It would be great if you could not use homebrew spells, because I don't think anyone has any idea what an augmented spell is. Prismatic blast doesn't exist, and you can only chain spells that target one creature, so assuming that it's an aoe spell, it's out.
Phantasmal killer is also the weakest save or die in the game. It targets two different saves and needs to beat SR. Hold person is actually better, as the victim is basically meat for the party's muscle. Shivering touch comes online earlier, has no save. Two spell levels later, you get finger of death and avasculate.
In Pathfinder, poor PK is even more screwed. The necromancy spell suffocation is a save or die that screws you over even when you succeed at your save.
In the case of locate city bomb...I'm sorry CEV, but none of your posted spells can beat depopulating an area the size of Spain or being a literal walking zombie apocalypse. |
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Copper Elven Vampire
Master of Realmslore
1078 Posts |
Posted - 11 Apr 2020 : 21:23:50
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quote:
Originally posted by LordofBones
quote:
Originally posted by Copper Elven Vampire
quote:
Originally posted by LordofBones
Locate City Bomb still tops the list. Add Fell Drain to it and arcane casters have their own wightpocalypse.
Clerics can do the same with greater consumptive field + persistent spell (DMM) + widen spell + fell drain + greater invisibility.
You make that seem so complicated and boring.
A simple Glass-strike spell, followed by a Shatter spell does the trick as long as you can beat the SR and all that jazz.
Secondly, I'd go with an augmented chain Prismatic blast or ray. Or you can cast Prismatic wall and have it drop on the entire party in a block of death.
Thirdly, I'd go with a 99% phantasmal killer followed by a simple Shadow stalker spell. If the killer doesn't outright slay you, then you have that back-up Shadow spell that should finish the job, depending on the character.
It would be great if you could not use homebrew spells, because I don't think anyone has any idea what an augmented spell is. Prismatic blast doesn't exist, and you can only chain spells that target one creature, so assuming that it's an aoe spell, it's out.
Phantasmal killer is also the weakest save or die in the game. It targets two different saves and needs to beat SR. Hold person is actually better, as the victim is basically meat for the party's muscle. Shivering touch comes online earlier, has no save. Two spell levels later, you get finger of death and avasculate.
In Pathfinder, poor PK is even more screwed. The necromancy spell suffocation is a save or die that screws you over even when you succeed at your save.
In the case of locate city bomb...I'm sorry CEV, but none of your posted spells can beat depopulating an area the size of Spain or being a literal walking zombie apocalypse.
Firstly... I am NOT throwing down Homebrew spells. Augmented spells in the D20 system are plenty. Here is a link to the many Augmented spells you can choose from, and it's not a complete list by any means.
Secondly... a 99% Phantasmal Killer almost always slays the target depending on the build of the character you cast it on.
Thirdly... Yes... City Bomb is truly a Mythical nightmare of a spell. But the subject matter is "What are the most powerful spells?", and I have delivered 3 seperate versions to pike any spellcaster. Depopulating an entire country is kinda boring to me. Not saying it isn't scary and amazing in its "drop-jaw" factor. You are correct in that none of my spell suggestions are able to compared to that.
But I have hundreds of spell-combinations that could disable a spell caster capable of wielding that particular killing spell. |
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LordofBones
Master of Realmslore
1477 Posts |
Posted - 12 Apr 2020 : 03:25:06
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There's no link CEV. The only augmented spells I know of are from Pathfinder's mythic system.
And, uh, PK is pretty bad. It targets the best saves of both casters and fighters, it can't be augmented by shadow spell bonuses because it isn't a percentage based spell, and it is beaten out as a save or lose by fear, which targets one save and is an aoe. |
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Copper Elven Vampire
Master of Realmslore
1078 Posts |
Posted - 12 Apr 2020 : 05:53:41
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quote:
Originally posted by LordofBones
There's no link CEV. The only augmented spells I know of are from Pathfinder's mythic system.
And, uh, PK is pretty bad. It targets the best saves of both casters and fighters, it can't be augmented by shadow spell bonuses because it isn't a percentage based spell, and it is beaten out as a save or lose by fear, which targets one save and is an aoe.
This link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hndRXPcVbNk
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LordofBones
Master of Realmslore
1477 Posts |
Posted - 12 Apr 2020 : 06:42:53
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quote:
Originally posted by Copper Elven Vampire
quote:
Originally posted by LordofBones
There's no link CEV. The only augmented spells I know of are from Pathfinder's mythic system.
And, uh, PK is pretty bad. It targets the best saves of both casters and fighters, it can't be augmented by shadow spell bonuses because it isn't a percentage based spell, and it is beaten out as a save or lose by fear, which targets one save and is an aoe.
This link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hndRXPcVbNk
That's a link to a YouTube video about five deadly venoms. |
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Cosmar
Seeker
88 Posts |
Posted - 12 Apr 2020 : 08:49:07
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| Like Foghaven mentioned, in 3.5 at least there's Rain of Fire that as written could easily destroy a city, at least. I imagine if a powerful epic caster got together a bunch of other powerful casters he could probably make a more wide-ranging version (With the help of some greater artifacts, or something). |
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Topic |
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What are the most powerful spells?
