If a melee character could have any 1 arcane spell of 7th level or lower (self or range:touch) permanently, what's the best thing to take?

True strike is a good one if truly "constant".

There's one somewhere (SpC, I think) that gives you a free action bluff attempt for feinting. Good for some builds and/or ennemies.

I'd suggest some kind of antimagic type of spell, but that's probably not good for your equipment.

As high a healing spell as you can get going off once per round would be nice.

True sight is a great choice- but you can buy that easily enough... so I wouldn't put it on the "any" list.

Polymorph into an outsider, perhaps?

Haste... can't go wrong with that baby.

False life, if you can get it recharged each round. A little metamagick like empower and you've got an extra few dozen HP per round before you take damage.

Shield. Stone Skin. Invisibility. Fly. Incorporeal. Blink or its more powerful cousin.

Wraithstrike.

Prestidigitation.




Oh you meant something useful?

Permanently as in 'under the effect constantly' ? How about (Greater) Mirror Image (PHB II), Greater Blink (C.Arc,), Repulsion or Displacement ?
Permanently as in 'cast it once per day' ? How about Stoneskin ?
Permanently as in 'cast at will' ? True Strike, Wraithstrike, Vampiric Touch (depending on CL), ...

It would be 'under effect constantly'.
It would also be a high-level campaign.

Going over what was suggested:
Truestrike - already has an attacks at +39... would +59 be redundant? And it would only be 1 attack out of the three he gets.
Feint is not useful, no sneak attack or anything.
Anti-magic is bad. He already has a permanent glove of invulnerability
Healing is harder because it must be an arcane spell. Then again, he's a construct. But I think it has to be a buff
True sight - have it permanent
Polymorph - you know, not really useful to this guy
Haste - have it permanent
False Life - Seems weak, actually

Wraithstrike - again, +38 to hit, needing it to be a touch attack is a bit low on the ladder

Now, Repulsion or Displacement... those might be fun...

I'd go for shivering touch myself. Being a touch attack means it is practically guaranteed to hit, the agility penalty means its gets easier to hit AC (well assuming the target gets an AC bonus from dexterity) and in a few hits it'll take down anything to 0 agiilty and make it helpless. Plus as a melee character, you'd be more capable of surviving in melee than most spell casters who would cast the spell anyway.

30 HP of insulation against any possible kind of damage per round isn't exactly weak. In five rounds of combat it'll soak up a total of 150 damage.


Still. I vote for keradi's theory... shivering touch... not much in the game that can take more than a couple hits. And of those, there's really no other spell that'd be any good, either.


Prismatic eye, perhaps? One of those following you around, unable to be destroyed. Like your own orbiting turret of colorful death.

It has to be a buff spell. It's not something that grants an at-will SLA.

Good suggestions. And I would include False Life as good if you're character is willing to go dark side (Necromancy).

If you went True Strike. The +20 is not so much to be at +59 rather than +39.
It's so you could then convert +20 (or so) from your BAB into damage and still have +39 (or so) to hit
Via Power Attack.
If you have any ranged ability, you could be making very long shots and shrug off the -4 for longer range increments.

That said. Personally... I think I'd lean toward permanent Haste. Whole other attack. And I think move and AC bonus.