PrC for Warmage [Archive] - Wizards Community

PrC for Warmage [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
stupnick
11-13-06, 04:04 PM i am currently playing a Halfling Warmage, level 4, almost time to start determining a prestige class. i know i should have been looking from the start but i like to get a feel for a character before i figure where i want him to end up. in the party i am in, he's a little flamboyant and cocky. he acts like he's in charge and actually the group let's him take charge of everyone 99% of the time.

group make up
Cleric
Barbarian
Ranger
Rogue
Warmage

now the only real tank type we have is the barbarian but my warmage ends up in the front line and taking on more creatures in melee than he does and actually kills more in melee with the fist of stone spell. the path i see him taking is getting persistant(24 hour duration) spell. i think that's the name of it. that way i can run around with that all the time.

so the prestige classes i am debating between are bloodmagus, just by how i see him acting, he is in melee and actually loves to kill people and quite often once they die beats on then just to see them bleed more.. the other one i was looking at is incatrix. reason for that one is he loves his metamagic feats and normal opens most battles with a sudden maximized hail of stone or burning hands to destroy who every is right in front. and seeing what they get i can see this little power tripping halfling warmage want to control all spells that go on around him.

help me determain what one i should be aiming for. i am leaning a little towards the incatrix but the blood magus sounds really kewl and i can see this character playing that just as well as the incatrix.

HELP:confused:
Pandaemoni
11-13-06, 04:25 PM Fiend blooded (Heroes of Horror) goes well with warmage. It gives you almost full caster progression (its 10th level does not give you a +1) *and* it gives you extra spells known from any caster list so long as the spells are fire, enchantment, llusion or necromancy based.

Plus it bumps your stats.

Also, more obscurely, if you have access to Dragonlance "Age of Mortals" supplement, the War Mage PrC is awesome, especially for warmages, because its "battle magic" ability enhances all your direct damage blasting spells, for free (and it has full caster progression). "Battle magic +3" (which you get at War Mage 5) gives you +3 damage per die to all direct damage spells. So that's an Orb of Acid doing 1d6+3 per caster level (max 15d6+45 = 60-135 damage before you lay a metamagic feat on it).
stupnick
11-13-06, 04:59 PM now the warmage prestige class sounds fun.. i will have to look in there.. haven't checked out HoH yet but that sounds ok.. the thing with this warmage is any elemental type spells he casts are all cold.. he has energy substitution(cold) i looked at elemental savant but it didn't seem right for him.

thank you for that.. i will look into both of those tonight : )
Pandaemoni
11-13-06, 06:49 PM You might do well to peruse/post on the Character Optimization boards as well. I'm sure they have all sorts of suggestions.
Werrwaaa
11-16-06, 04:26 PM Mage of the Arcane Order will give you access to all the spells on the Sorc/Wiz list. Arcane Disciple gives you some free uses of Enlarge Spell. War Wizard of Cormyr is a good option for blasters too. Other than that, I'll second the Fiend Blooded idea; I really like that class.
Pandaemoni
11-18-06, 12:58 AM Mage of the Arcane Order will give you access to all the spells on the Sorc/Wiz list. Arcane Disciple gives you some free uses of Enlarge Spell. War Wizard of Cormyr is a good option for blasters too. Other than that, I'll second the Fiend Blooded idea; I really like that class.

Mage of the Arcane Order is a great idea for a warmage, if your DM allos it (the group I play with won't even allow it for sorcerers...consequently I have never seen anyone choose that PrC).

War Wizard of Cormyr (Magic of Faerun) is not my favorite class. It takes three feats to get in, then gives you four feats in exchange (one of with is "Weapon Focus"...so kind of a waste). If your DM allows "Enhanced Spell Area" (its 5th level ability) to increase the benefit from a 100% to 200% increase in size, that's okay...but the 3.5 improvement to Widen Spell makes it useless as it's currently written. I much prefer Dragonlance's War Wizard...save that Age of Mortals is so much harder to find.
leather_book_wizard
11-18-06, 10:29 AM Yes, War Wizard is a good choice.
Werrwaaa
11-18-06, 11:57 AM Well, with Mage of the Arcane Order you have to be able to PREPARE arcane spells. Sorc/Warmage/etc can get around this by takign the feat Arcane Preperation, which lets them use their spell slots to prepare a spell ahead of time. Mind you they don't have to USE the feat, but having it lets them meat the requirement. It's a crap feat, I know, but a spontaneous caster with access to the full Sorc/Wiz list? Anyway, if you can swing it, it's an option.

As for War Wizard of Cormyr, I'm a fan of Enlarge and Widen anyway, so the only "waste" is the martial proficiency. If Arcane Disciple floats your boat, then the Enlarge requirement isn't that big a deal, and ignoring a +3 spell level modifier a few times a day gets me all giddy inside. The only thing though, which i agree, is there are conversion issues. It may be easier to push the envelope with 100/150 instead of 100/200 though I would imagine.

As for the Dragonlance class, is that official Wizards of the Coast material? Cause some of the stuff from the core book seemed a little shoddy to my friends and I, so we have generally discarded it with the 3rd party material.

But for what it's worth, please keep the good ideas coming, cause i just rolled a Gnome Warmage last weekend and I too am looking for ideas :)
leather_book_wizard
11-19-06, 12:07 AM Yes, it is. Dragonlance is owned by WotC.
Werrwaaa
11-28-06, 02:33 PM I still haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of Age of Mortals! Arg!

Anyway, I thought I would bump this for the OP with a new suggestion. Escalation Mage (Faiths of Eberron) seems like a good choice, and I will personally be trying to get my DM to port it to his world somehow so I can take it. I posted some ideas on it in the Character Optimization board.
Alakar
11-28-06, 02:48 PM Yes, war mage prc rocks hard. If you can use dragonlance material, also grab dalamars lightning lance in the same book, or DLCS. The damage builds up with that spell really quikly.
stupnick
11-28-06, 03:29 PM well i haven't asked my DM if dragonlance material will be allowed. at the moment if he will allow it i would love to take that b/c it would ramp up my damage incredibly. and with havoc mage mixed in, that would be really nice.

at the moment i am looking at going warmage8, havocmage3 and then taking frostmage, and working in havocmage 4 and 5 as i go up and get those spells.

i would love to add in warmage before i take frostmage b/c it would be really a big addition.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
stupnick 11-13-06, 04:04 PM	i am currently playing a Halfling Warmage, level 4, almost time to start determining a prestige class. i know i should have been looking from the start but i like to get a feel for a character before i figure where i want him to end up. in the party i am in, he's a little flamboyant and cocky. he acts like he's in charge and actually the group let's him take charge of everyone 99% of the time. group make up Cleric Barbarian Ranger Rogue Warmage now the only real tank type we have is the barbarian but my warmage ends up in the front line and taking on more creatures in melee than he does and actually kills more in melee with the fist of stone spell. the path i see him taking is getting persistant(24 hour duration) spell. i think that's the name of it. that way i can run around with that all the time. so the prestige classes i am debating between are bloodmagus, just by how i see him acting, he is in melee and actually loves to kill people and quite often once they die beats on then just to see them bleed more.. the other one i was looking at is incatrix. reason for that one is he loves his metamagic feats and normal opens most battles with a sudden maximized hail of stone or burning hands to destroy who every is right in front. and seeing what they get i can see this little power tripping halfling warmage want to control all spells that go on around him. help me determain what one i should be aiming for. i am leaning a little towards the incatrix but the blood magus sounds really kewl and i can see this character playing that just as well as the incatrix. HELP:confused:
Pandaemoni 11-13-06, 04:25 PM	Fiend blooded (Heroes of Horror) goes well with warmage. It gives you almost full caster progression (its 10th level does not give you a +1) and it gives you extra spells known from any caster list so long as the spells are fire, enchantment, llusion or necromancy based. Plus it bumps your stats. Also, more obscurely, if you have access to Dragonlance "Age of Mortals" supplement, the War Mage PrC is awesome, especially for warmages, because its "battle magic" ability enhances all your direct damage blasting spells, for free (and it has full caster progression). "Battle magic +3" (which you get at War Mage 5) gives you +3 damage per die to all direct damage spells. So that's an Orb of Acid doing 1d6+3 per caster level (max 15d6+45 = 60-135 damage before you lay a metamagic feat on it).
stupnick 11-13-06, 04:59 PM	now the warmage prestige class sounds fun.. i will have to look in there.. haven't checked out HoH yet but that sounds ok.. the thing with this warmage is any elemental type spells he casts are all cold.. he has energy substitution(cold) i looked at elemental savant but it didn't seem right for him. thank you for that.. i will look into both of those tonight : )
Pandaemoni 11-13-06, 06:49 PM	You might do well to peruse/post on the Character Optimization boards as well. I'm sure they have all sorts of suggestions.
Werrwaaa 11-16-06, 04:26 PM	Mage of the Arcane Order will give you access to all the spells on the Sorc/Wiz list. Arcane Disciple gives you some free uses of Enlarge Spell. War Wizard of Cormyr is a good option for blasters too. Other than that, I'll second the Fiend Blooded idea; I really like that class.
Pandaemoni 11-18-06, 12:58 AM	Mage of the Arcane Order will give you access to all the spells on the Sorc/Wiz list. Arcane Disciple gives you some free uses of Enlarge Spell. War Wizard of Cormyr is a good option for blasters too. Other than that, I'll second the Fiend Blooded idea; I really like that class. Mage of the Arcane Order is a great idea for a warmage, if your DM allos it (the group I play with won't even allow it for sorcerers...consequently I have never seen anyone choose that PrC). War Wizard of Cormyr (Magic of Faerun) is not my favorite class. It takes three feats to get in, then gives you four feats in exchange (one of with is "Weapon Focus"...so kind of a waste). If your DM allows "Enhanced Spell Area" (its 5th level ability) to increase the benefit from a 100% to 200% increase in size, that's okay...but the 3.5 improvement to Widen Spell makes it useless as it's currently written. I much prefer Dragonlance's War Wizard...save that Age of Mortals is so much harder to find.
leather_book_wizard 11-18-06, 10:29 AM	Yes, War Wizard is a good choice.
Werrwaaa 11-18-06, 11:57 AM	Well, with Mage of the Arcane Order you have to be able to PREPARE arcane spells. Sorc/Warmage/etc can get around this by takign the feat Arcane Preperation, which lets them use their spell slots to prepare a spell ahead of time. Mind you they don't have to USE the feat, but having it lets them meat the requirement. It's a crap feat, I know, but a spontaneous caster with access to the full Sorc/Wiz list? Anyway, if you can swing it, it's an option. As for War Wizard of Cormyr, I'm a fan of Enlarge and Widen anyway, so the only "waste" is the martial proficiency. If Arcane Disciple floats your boat, then the Enlarge requirement isn't that big a deal, and ignoring a +3 spell level modifier a few times a day gets me all giddy inside. The only thing though, which i agree, is there are conversion issues. It may be easier to push the envelope with 100/150 instead of 100/200 though I would imagine. As for the Dragonlance class, is that official Wizards of the Coast material? Cause some of the stuff from the core book seemed a little shoddy to my friends and I, so we have generally discarded it with the 3rd party material. But for what it's worth, please keep the good ideas coming, cause i just rolled a Gnome Warmage last weekend and I too am looking for ideas :)
leather_book_wizard 11-19-06, 12:07 AM	Yes, it is. Dragonlance is owned by WotC.
Werrwaaa 11-28-06, 02:33 PM	I still haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of Age of Mortals! Arg! Anyway, I thought I would bump this for the OP with a new suggestion. Escalation Mage (Faiths of Eberron) seems like a good choice, and I will personally be trying to get my DM to port it to his world somehow so I can take it. I posted some ideas on it in the Character Optimization board.
Alakar 11-28-06, 02:48 PM	Yes, war mage prc rocks hard. If you can use dragonlance material, also grab dalamars lightning lance in the same book, or DLCS. The damage builds up with that spell really quikly.
stupnick 11-28-06, 03:29 PM	well i haven't asked my DM if dragonlance material will be allowed. at the moment if he will allow it i would love to take that b/c it would ramp up my damage incredibly. and with havoc mage mixed in, that would be really nice. at the moment i am looking at going warmage8, havocmage3 and then taking frostmage, and working in havocmage 4 and 5 as i go up and get those spells. i would love to add in warmage before i take frostmage b/c it would be really a big addition.