Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Some Like It Hot 12-25-05, 07:56 PM	The Spell Compendium has just come out and I've decided that the time is right for me to finally try to build and play a spellcaster. The campaign will start at 10th level, allowing us to avoid most of those formative years. Party currently consists of a Dwarf cleric of Lathander and a gnome illusionist (borrowing heavily from Snow's build). I was originally going to play a more physical combatant but have lately begun to toy with the idea of a spellcaster. Here are the parameters: starting at 10th level books: core, complete, FR and some of the races series (the DM is a bit temperamental with the stuff he allows in the game so the more core/FR the better) No bards or druids, other core base-classes are fair game. Preferably either a dwarf, gnome or halfing though this is not a hard limitation. The question: what spellcaster should I play? divine or arcane? buff or direct damage? I have toyed with the idea of the gish and arcane trickster builds but I'm feeling a full caster. Here are a couple of pseudo builds I've been toying with, levels only no feat elaboration. wiz 5/harper mage 1/mindbender 1/shadowcrafter 5/xx 2/archmage 5 harper mage is to help with the skill requirements for mindbender, mindbender is for the telepathy, shadowcrafter is just because I like it (concealment, silenced/extended illusions, etc.) and archmage is just for fun. For a divine caster we have: cleric 7/divine disciple 5/xx 10 This is really as far as I've gotten with this one. I don't have a great deal of experience creating divine spellcasters. I know these are horrible excuses for builds, just sort of skeletons to show I have given some thought to the matter. What I'm looking for is versatility. The lack of versatility as the game grows is why I began to reconsider a physical damage dealer. So, any help would be grand. I look forward to your replies. Sorry I can't offer more, I just have very little experience dealing with casters. Thanks in advance and hope you all have had and are having a merry Christmas. -SLIH
P33KAJ3W 01-14-06, 05:42 PM	So, So, So sorry no one got to this first. The board has been a lil' buzy, I hope I am not to late. Your builds are sound but I would sugjest something else for a first time spellcaster. Wiz 6/Mage of the Arcane Order 10/Any PRC 4 (I like fatespinner) Why? Versitility When spells are new to you, you might have a few that look good on paper but fail to preform. The ability to grab another to try out is gr8. I prefer Sorcerer 6 as a start for this build (requires Arcane Preperation) but it requires 2 wasted feats. It is also "Epic" ready with 9th level spells and 10 levels in a PRC (2 out of 3 major recomendations, 3rd being bab 16 or above)