Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Amnarii 03-22-06, 04:45 PM	Okay, first, I am 5th level (or, a few XP away from 5th, and my DM is having me advance before the next session since I am behind everyone else by 3k to 5k XP). My character is aTiefling Wizard with the ECL bought off at 3rd (part of the reason for being behind in XP). My stats are; STR: 3 (-4) DEX: 16 (+3) CON: 17 (+3) INT: 20 (+4) WIS: 12 (+1) CHA: 14 (+2) I am a domain wizard (specialist variant from unearthed arcana) with the prismatic domain (spells are: (0) Light, (1) Color Spray, (2) Hypnotic Pattern, (3) Daylight, (4) Rainbow Pattern, (5) Prismatic Ray, (6) Prismatic Eye, (7) Prismatic Spray, (8) Prismatic Wall, (9) Prismatic Sphere). I get those spells in my book for free, cast them at +1 caster level, and get one extra spell / day of each level I cast, as long as it is the domain spell. I have not yet summoned a familiar, and would like to start making use of that wasted resource. I have the collegiate wizard (CAr) and Imp. Init feats. Collegiate wizard along with a few scrolls found and bought has helped to fill my spellbook up; so I am needing to get a new one soon. Because of that, I was thinking of a spellbook familiar (from Quintessential Wizard), but am not sure if that would really be worthwhile at all. I also approached my DM about a Living Spell (Eberron, MM3) familiar - of course using Improved Familiar or some other similar feat and waiting until 6th level to get it. I really have no idea which spell I would choose, or if it would even be a good concept for a familiar. So, as a tiefling domain wizard with no familiar, no metamagic or item creation (except the free scribe scroll feat) feats, what feat would you suggest I get at 5th level? And at 6th? And should I grab a familiar now, or wait - and either way, what would you suggest I take as a familiar? Thanks for the advice.
ZeroEffect 03-23-06, 08:44 AM	Take a raven. They can speak a single language. Choose Common.
Endarire 03-23-06, 08:33 PM	Familiar: Do you intend to have it scout and partake actively in your adventure? If not, a rat is a solid choice. Feat: What classes do you intend to take when? Overall: Which source material is allowed? -EE
Amnarii 03-24-06, 12:42 AM	Thanks for the replies! To answer your questions; I really don't know what I intend for my familiar to do. Perhaps I should describe the party... We don't have a party rogue, but the DM takes that into account when setting up the games. We have a druid who is not keen on getting into battle, but tries to play cleric afterwards with his meager healing. We have a cleric who relies on combat prowess instead of spells, and also plays medic afterwards. We have a bard/ranger who has never played before, and is more or less a mess - she usually just sings for the bonus in combat, and tries to stay back in bow-shot range, or else pulls out a blade as a last resort; spells are not first on her list. We had an NPC fighter/barbarian who was carrying the entire party, but just left us (through death. I might say - so if we manage to bring him back, he'll stick around I'm sure... but it was pretty clear the DM was tired of the NPC running the show). And then there is me. I try to be a utility mage, but end up being a combat mage (usually secondary damage; i.e. spells that require saving throws instead of attack rolls - my strength score is too pathetic to allow any touch attacks, and my dice hate me on ranged attacks). I would like to get into crafting, but I'm not sure which sort - as of now my craft skills are alchemy and gemcutting/jewelry. I have no item creation feats. Though my spell selection was intended to be focused on light and 'prismatic' effects, it has ended up being pushed towards force effects; namely force wave and battering ram spells in combat, to not only deal damage but bull rush opponents through my party to grant attacks of opportunity from that movement. I've lost any focus I intended to have, and am unsure as to how to reclaim it or set a new focus. So, I really have no idea what I need for a familiar, or for my feat selection. I'd like to be versatile, since the cleric and druid are very sub-optimal characters (as an example, the cleric was built as if to fight undead, but has a 6 charisma score negating all chances of that), and the players run them as if they were in another class (though neither are inexperienced players?). The bard/ranger is a very inexperienced player and tags along trying to help. That leaves me to fill in almost every role except healer. Especially now that the meat shield is gone, and that will fall onto the druid and cleric's shoulders. As far as sources, I can use pretty much anything and everything except psionics. However, anything and everything is subject to DM approval - he is very lenient, but likes to make sure it won't "break his game", which I find humorous, since he uses a ton of AD&D and 2nd Edition rules mixed in with 3.5 . . . so far in this campaign I have finally managed to convince him that using ranged weapons in melee combat does not lower AC by 4, but instead provokes attacks of opportunity, still can't convince him a round is a round is a round, whether in or out of combat (he insists rounds become 1 minute each outside of combat - am I wrong on that, do they?)... so anyway, it's all open, but may or may not be allowed. Okay, meant that to be a one or two sentence summary and ended up being long winded with a bit of rant thrown in - sorry. To sum up, I don't know what I want, outside of versatility and power, and I can use most any source. Thanks again!
ZeroEffect 03-24-06, 07:48 AM	Considering that you have lots of responsibilities on your shoulders, I don't recommend that you spend any feats to enhance your familiar. Your feats are better spent on metamagic feats, etc. (Feats that make you a better combat/utility caster.) Is your DM likely to try to target your familiar? If you send it scouting, will he have monsters attack it? If you have it hanging around in battle will he target it with spells and arrows? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you will want to choose a familiar for whatever skill bonus it offers, and then keep it out of the way as much as possible. In this case I recommend taking a hummingbird (Dragon magazine) because it grants you the Improved Initiative feat for free. If this choice is not available to you, choose something like a toad, weasel, or rat, depending on what bonus you want. Don't send the familiar out to scout. Keep it hidden away or out of the way when combat ensues. If your DM isn't going to go crazy and target your familiar all the time, I recommend the raven. Familiars gained through the Improved Familiar feat fall into this category too, but I don't recommend that you go that route. For example, I'm playing a wizard in a campaign right now. He has a raven familiar who scouts and acts as a messenger for the party. The key here is that the raven can speak Common and has fairly good skills. If we're traveling in the wilderness, there's very little chance of a wilderness encounter attacking and killing the raven. In my experience even things like orcs and goblins ignore birds as long as they don't get too close. The raven's search, spot, and listen skills are just as good as my own, so he rolls on all of those checks along with me. This pretty much means that I get 2 chances at succeeding on such rolls. Once again, if I know that there's going to be a big battle with lots of area of effect spells and whatnot, I send the raven away until the battle is over. The raven is also smarter than the party's barbarian and fighter (lol). If you don't like the idea of a raven, you could spend the feat on Improved Familiar and get something like a faerie dragon. This would probably even be better in some ways (skills and spells), but would also probably present a more enticing target to your enemies. Hope this helps. :)
ZeroEffect 03-24-06, 07:51 AM	I almost forgot to add... We get lots of comic relief out of the raven. I've perfected a ravenlike voice and use it to tease the other characters.
Jaisin 03-24-06, 08:58 AM	Have you given much thought to what kind of progression you want your character to take as far as classes are concerned? Always, Feat requirements for PrC's should be taken into consideration. You REALLY can't go wrong with Incantatrix, and with your overflowing spellbook, you're probably in good shape to drop the required school at Incantatrix 1. Looks like, however, that you're going to have to use your 5th level feat for a metamagic feat, and your 6th level character feat for Iron Will to qualify for the PrC at 7th. See if your DM will allow you to take the hummingbird familiar (for Improved Initiative), and swap out that feat for Iron Will, so you can qualify for Incantatrix at 6th (netting you a character feat, and a bonus feat from the PrC). It's a little 'plain vanilla', but it'll give you and the spellcasting members of your party some much needed firepower with Cooperative Magic, and you can use the later abilities of the class to increase your susceptibility to any melee or grapple attack by simply assuming control of your Cleric's divine power spell. Stay away from most of the familiar feats - they're not as useful as metamagic feats for a caster. If you really want Item Creation as a major part of your reperatoire, you have enough levels to change gears and end up with Wizard 5/Warlock 12/Chameleon 3, but you'll be forever getting to that point to create items, provided you can find a way to qualify for the Chameleon PrC as a teifling. Wands are good, of course, and if your cleric is not using his feats for anything that is incredibly feat intensive (Divine metamagic, or Disposable Hero's 'cast Miracle at 6th level'), he should be making items for your party. As his spell list has many sorcerer/wizard spells available to him, making wands for you to use shouldn't be all that difficult. At later levels, he should take Craft Rod, and make metamagic rods for you to use. Again, your role as a utility/blaster mage is better spent using metamagic feats and effects from PrC's. Happy Killing :dancin:
Gavinfoxx 03-24-06, 10:28 AM	Wizard 5/warlock 12/chameleon 3? .... what kind of build is that? This guy is the primary wizard of the party... he needs to be the best wizard he can be... O,o
Amnarii 03-24-06, 02:36 PM	Thanks for all the replies! I don't think warlock would fit into my playing style at all; if I were going to make that major a change to the character I would ask to reroll him from scratch (or else just bring in a new PC). I think a hummingbird sounds nice; another +4 to init (bringing me to +11) would be nice, I still get 2nd or 3rd in the init order every now and again... that first spell can really make a huge difference at times. Raven also sounds like fun; RP wise. I had thought of trying for a beholder eyeball familiar, or the living spell familiar (though I am not sure which spell... the DM is considering it, and has tentatively agreed to a living spell familiar with just improved familiar feat; but knowing him he would severely limit the spell selection, and possibly even tweak the template down a bit). But everyone is right; spending feats on my familiar would weaken me in the long run. So I will either skip the familiar altogether and ask the DM for a metamagic or item creation feat instead, or I will go with the humminbird or raven. As to my later progression... I am still debating that; as I said this PC has lost his focus. I had planned on I7V, but that would not work with the party as is now. I later thought of the war weaver (I think that is what it is called; where I can cast one spell on every ally) - but it is a hefty investment for something that would be of limited use to us. Archmage might work, but it seems so ... I don't know; typical, boring, etc. Same for incantatrix. My character is a member of the local mage's guild, though aside from the party meeting him through the guild, that has been ignored til now (we have not been back to any major city for the last 3 levels). I had thought of playing up into a MotAO, but with collegiate mage and the scrolls I've been finding, I don't think the spellpool would be as much of a benefit to me as it otherwise would have been. Since he has used primarily force spells in combat, I was thinking also of argent savant, but having never played one or seen one played, I am not sure how well it would work. So, again, I am left uncertain as to the best path to proceed down. We've got a 3 or 4 week downtime now until the next game, so I have plenty of time to think about it... any and all suggestions are welcome and appreciated!
Jaisin 03-24-06, 03:24 PM	Wizard 5/warlock 12/chameleon 3? .... what kind of build is that? :D It isn't. That was the point.