Which options are available for casting spells instantaneously or concurrently?

Question

I am playing a cleric in 3.5e. To be effective in combat, I rely on my spells. However, before I join combat, I'd prefer to cast two spells on myself — preferably a third. Obviously, three rounds preparing to go into combat, while some of the spells are wearing off, is a non-optimal situation. So I'd like to cast one spell instantaneously or in parallel or whatever so I can join combat in the second round.

The metamagic feat 'Quicken spell' lets one cast certain spells as a free action, but that has an added spell level component that's too high for me at the moment.

Not being well-versed in the magic item department, I was hoping you all could help me by explaining or pointing out my options.

P.S. I see a lot of requests for more information on my character. I was hoping to create a question that more people would find useful (I guess I shouldn't have mentioned that I am a cleric either ;-) ). However, I am playing a neutral good plant/good domain cleric who is going up to level 6 next session.

I want to improve my AC, damage output, and attack bonus before I go in, so I am looking at Barkskin (domain) or Shield of Faith, plus either or both of Bull's Strength and Divine Favor.

Answer 1

Quicken Spell Rod - It's expensive, but it will give you what you want 3x per day: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Metamagic_Rod

So that will help you get your spells off.

Alternatively if you have something you cast every combat you might consider getting it enchanted into a continuous magic item (which is also expensive), but then you don't have to cast the spell at all.

Note that Use-based magic items won't help too much, since they're a standard action to activate.

Answer 2

Quicken Spell is handy but yes, the four spell level bump makes it only useful for archmages. There is Sudden Quicken from Complete Arcane, which has prereqs out the yinyang but you can quicken one spell a day for free.

Quicken metamagic items help, like metamagic rods.

Delay Spell can get this effect if you have preplanning rounds by casting delayed spells, though it is almost as expensive in spell levels (three) as Quicken Spell.

You do have options to reduce metamagic costs, however. Arcane Thesis (PHBII) and Easy Metamagic (Dragon #325) reduce the level cost of metamagic feats. Also Metamagic School Focus (Complete Mage) and Divine Metamagic (Complete Divine).

Also, there are some spells (see the Spell Compendium) that are swift actions to cast, often with the price of them being not as spiffy as their full-action counterparts.

In addition, you can try Contingency linked spells - "Divine Vigor goes off when I yell 'Shazam!'" Or Persistent Spell (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting), which ups the duration of buffs for a 6 level hit, or just plain Permanency.

Or you can have a bunch of spell storing shuriken that you throw at a buddy, they get buffed at the cost of a little damage. (Warning: sane DMs will punish you for even trying this)

Do note that Quicken Spell can't be applied to a spontaneously cast spell, like if you are converting spells to heals or whatnot.

If the spells you need to get off have effects reproducible by inexpensive magic items, then give that a try instead. Any kind of stacked casting is deliberately made very difficult and expensive by the rules for balance purposes, so in the end will always be for high level characters and/or those with tens of thousands of gp in their pocket.

Answer 3

The Divine Metamagic feat from Complete Divine allows you to burn turning attempts in order to add metamagic feats to your spells. If you take Divine Metamagic: Quicken Spell, you can use 5 turning attempts to quicken a spell without increasing its level. (The Extra Turning feat may also come in handy....)

Answer 4

Another item that may be of use is the Circlet of Rapid Casting from the Magic Item Compendium p86. It allows you to cast one spell as part of the same swift action it takes to activate the item, leaving you free to cast the other spell. Once again it's only maximum 3x per day and quite expensive (15000gp book price).

There is no really cheap option as what you want to do is quite an advantage, so carries a high cost.

However, if it is always those spells above you want to have in combo maybe just buying a Amulet of Natural Armor +2 or Ring of Protection +2 (instead of Barskin/Shield of Faith) might give you enough of the effect all the time for half the price until you can afford the more expensive options.

Answer 5

How many combats are you getting into before running out of spells? Is it worth the effort to kick off buffs every time? And why is your rogue failing the party by not detecting encounters early enough to allow you a few rounds to buff?

Metagame talk aside, @mxyzplk covered Contingency and Extend/Persistent Spell. Given the costs invovled with both of those options, I agree with @jsecker that magic items would be far cheaper.

If you really want to stick with a buff spell, why not research a new spell combining what you want out of the lesser buffs? Spell research will be expensive in both materials and game time, but I think we've established there's no easy solution to the problem. Once you research Aspect of the Oak (or whatever you want to call it) you'll have Barkskin and Bull's Strength as a single spell (probably 3rd level) to use and sell on scrolls to recoup your initial investment. All of this depends on GM approval, but most GMs I know would encourage this kind of creative initiative.

And having a new spell for just the members of your cleric's faith will pay handsome in-game dividends: prestige and new plotlines.

Answer 6

Belt of Battle from Magic Item Compendium (I forget the page) is 3,300gp and gives you an extra action at the cost of charges which reset each day. If you blow all 3 of them at once, you get a full-round action. It's not as effective as the options others have given, but it's also much cheaper. And there's no reason you can't just buy more than one.