Power Word, Pain

[OblivionSmurf83]

I feel like an idiot for not having discovered this spell before.

Obviously, it's already quite optimised for us. However, is there any way to really play with the spell? At the moment, I have two scenarios in my head:

1) Cast it and run for your life, the obvious use for the spell as a first level character.

2) Use it as a follow up to Grease.

Are there any other useful combinations of spells that can be tried? Obviously, the easiest answer to this question is any other good first level battlefield control spell, but is there anything else that can be tried?

[telehax]

i think the good point of this spell is that it's massively cost efficient, i mean, on an scroll it costs 12.5 gp and has few of the drawbacks of scrolls such as low CL or save DCs. Spending a second spell to combo with it makes it not cost efficient. I think this spell is one best left uncombo'd.

[McPoyo]

Tacking on Fell Drain or Fell Animate is good one, if you have any metamagic cost reducers.

[Rebel7284]

Convince your party to chip in on a lesser metamagic rod of extend spell.

[X-Codes]

The only metamagic you should apply to PW: Pain are the ones like Fell Animate where you get a bonus effect aside from damage, and even then maybe not so much.  The idea of scribbling up a bunch of scrolls (or even a Wand) of PW: Pain is a good one, since personally I don't think it's worth a spell slot most days.

By the time you get 2nd-level spells, it's pretty worthless. It'll take it's full duration to kill anything with 30-50 HP, and above that it's not effective at all.  That said, if you have a fleeing, wounded enemy, PW: Pain is a good spell to throw on them before they get away (if you can, it's a close range spell).

The exception are Warmages.  Even if the effect is minimal, Warmages can do tons of damage with this spell since Warmage Edge applies on each round.  At higher levels, you can cast a spell with big up-front damage like an Orb and then follow it up with a quickened PW: Pain for a no-attack, no-save method of finishing them off.

[McPoyo]

Can also use it to snipe from the shadows. Not like it has a flashy visual component to it.

[X-Codes]

Can also use it to snipe from the shadows. Not like it has a flashy visual component to it.

It has a very noticeable Verbal one, though, and I'm fairly certain you can't effectively apply Silent Spell to a Power Word spell.

[telehax]

It's just a single word though, and the opponents don't need to hear it. I believe it's something like a DC 15 listen check which is way better than most spells.

[McPoyo]

Also, it's pretty hard to locate which shadow the caster is hidden in from just one word.