Spells That Give Useful Stat Boosts
Though it is always best to train your stats up to where spells aren't required, spells can help bridge that gap when your short a few stat points. There aren't many stat boosting spells, but those that do exist can be very helpful. When it comes to choosing to spend 3 practices to learn a spell, or train a stat twice, sometimes the spell is a life saver and will allow you to do things you couldn't otherwise do. There are drawbacks however, and I'll cover them here in this post.
Listing Of Stat Boosting Spells
Strength (Level 6 mage):
Mage is the class that most stat boosts belong to, and strength is the first of these. It does exactly what it sounds like...boosts your strength. The great thing about it is that it stacks up to +5 strength. This means the first cast may only give +2 strength, but you can keep casting it until you are +5.
Dexterity (level 8 mage):
Similar to strength, dexterity is a mage spell which does exactly what it sounds like...it gives you extra dex. It is also stackable like strength up to +5 dex. This has uses for everyone no matter your class, and is something many people keep on a recast.
Presence (level 13 cleric):
This is the one stat boosting spell which isn't mage. This is another one which many add to their recast. It boosts your charisma, and has the same stackable mechanic as the mage spells strength and dexterity. This is very useful not only for casting spells, but general charisma boosting.
The Uses For Stat Boosting Spells
The reason for learning these is pretty straight forward. They are great for boosting your stats, as long as you use them properly. The first thing to do is cast the spell and see how much it is increasing your stat without stacking it. If you have to cast it more than once, it isn't going to be much use for you. If you are trying to equip a weapon that requires more strength than you have, just make sure you are within the stat boost the spell gives. The same is true for casting a spell with a higher charisma than you have and using presence to give you a bump.
Other uses for the spells are below Strength: wielding a weapon, opening a heavy door, carrying more weight, adding 1 DR to your character. Dexterity: avoiding backstabs, improving your dodge, helping with thiefy stuff. Presence: allowing you to cast cleric spells, increasing soul steal chances, making sure you get hit less in a group.
The Drawbacks To Stat Boosting Spells
It all comes down to what you are using the spell for, and when the spell falls how big of an issue it is going to cause. For example if you are using the spell strength so you can wield a weapon. If the spell falls in the middle of combat, you will unwield the weapon automatically. Since the spell cannot be cast if you are in melee combat, you could find yourself up a creek without a weapon. If you have retreat this isn't too horrible, but without it you have to attempt to flee, or to recall. If you don't you'll just be punching the mob you were fighting with your weaponless hands.
The same thing can happen with presence and casting healing spells for example. If you rely on the charisma from presence to allow you to cast major heal, the spell falling in combat can be disastrous, especially if you don't notice and find out too late you can't cast major heal.
The only real way to avoid this is to watch your effected by list with the command effects (ef or af for short). Then if the spell has a low amount of time remaining, wait for the spell to fall and recast before entering into a fight. This is annoying though, and it has the ability to really slow down your exping. You could help out with some aliases and maybe some triggers to warn you when it falls, but these are beyond the scope of this article.
Conclusion
Spells that boost stats can be a life saver at times. The cost to learn the spell is always going to be less than the cost of two skill points, but it has its issues as well. If the issues are something you're okay putting up with, than it is a great way to save some practices in the short term. As long as you are aware of what can go wrong, you can then try and avoid getting yourself into a corner with no weapon and unable to heal.