Least Useful Spells

[MikMod]

Originally Posted by Skarg

wizards who don't invest much in their staffs risk much less and so might tend to do more with using their staff for disposable purposes and schemes, compared to wizards with impressive and/or highly-charged staffs.

It would seem foolish for a wizard with a powerful staff to risk casting Staff to Snake on it.

But that also makes it less expected that such a wizard would fool around with such low-powered hijinks. (And less likely to be suspected and/or accused of having done so...)

This is all true, and very clever, but that's kinda my point - it's too 'clever' to be generally useful. There's no 'special circumstances' required to use illusion, and it's incredibly adaptable. That's just not the case with staff to snake.

The disposable staff is a terrible idea for several reasons. First you pretty much have to have a no mana or empty staff. Secondly, you are also very frequently turning staff-to snake into a 6 ST spell (since you're going to need a new staff a lot of the time) and especially for a beginning wizard you're removing the most useful item they can carry.

I cannot think of anything more practical for a wizard, especially a newbie, than a staff. It is the only thing you can hold which doesn't interfere with spell casting, you can use it to defend which is often your best combat option, and if you swing it as a two handed club it requires no talent, does more damage than a staff zap and costs no strength*! It's a no brainer. And this spell makes it disappear! :(


* the club attack can also get facing bonuses, which it's not clear the occult zap gets...