Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Archamorden 01-24-04, 02:59 PM	I just took my first level of Archmage. Which of the high arcana have you guys found most useful? I was thinking spell like ability first using a lightning boltl and a 6th lvl spell slot to give me 4 lightning bolts a day at will.... Tell me what you guys think of this PrC and how to use it well....
BenjCano 01-24-04, 03:02 PM	First of all, tell us what level of spellcaster you were before taking archmage, so that we know what level spell slots you can give up.
Archamorden 01-24-04, 03:10 PM	11th lvl
Psifon 01-24-04, 03:13 PM	If you are going to go for spell-like ability, then take spell-like ability in mordenkainen's lucubration. I have found that mastery of shaping is a great ability. You get to put holes in your antimagic shells and mordenkainen's Disjunction as well as for your fireballs and stuff. Mastery of elements is good if you want to go blast mage-I would certainly take this over Spell-like lightningbolts, since you can just turn any blast spell you have into electicity if you want (of course sonic is the way to go here). Arcane reach can also be very good depending on your build. Taking these three abilities costs you a 6th 7th and 8th level slot, wich is generally worht it, especially if you are going into epic play (improved spell capacity more than makes up for the loss). Anyway, that's my 2 cents.
Setanos 01-24-04, 03:21 PM	11th lvl Archmage requires 7th level spells and 15 ranks Knowledge Arcana/Spell craft. Earliest you can qualify is 13th level on Skills (15 ranks at 12th Level), and for a wizard at least 14th level on Spells. Apart from that..many of them are good choices. Mastery of Shapeing/Master of Elements and Arcane fire work well for blaster type mages.
LykkeLamaen 01-24-04, 03:51 PM	I heard a good deal about the archmage.... But I havn't figured out where I read about him. I guess its a PrC, but in what book??
Dug Ironbeard 01-24-04, 04:05 PM	You can find the archmage in Faerun and the 3.5 DM's Guide.
Hanniball 01-24-04, 04:18 PM	Earliest you can qualify is 13th level on Skills (15 ranks at 12th Level), and for a wizard at least 14th level on Spells actually a wizard gets 7th lvl spells at 13th lvl... anyway, if you are a straight caster (no classes that lessen your caster level) then stay away from spell power. arcane reach is one of the best for the 3.5 Acm. that way you won't ever have to get in melee. you *could* just cast spectral hand all the time, but that's not always an option. spell-like ability is cool, but don't choose lightning bolt. you can memorize lightning bolt enough. take a spell that has multiple uses. like an illusion or something you will use *very* often. Psifon had a good suggestion. arcane fire is crap and mastery of shaping is rarely useful, IMO. master of elements is awesome. it's a free energy substitution effectively. it all depends on what kind of wizard you are. either way...just my 0.02 cp
Omoikane 01-24-04, 04:27 PM	mastery of shaping is rarely useful..... <- O.o Rarely useful? This is basically the ability to use any spells, offensive, defensive or utilitarian, without ever having to worry about your friends getting into the way of it. With it, you can use anything from Cone of Cold to Prismatic Sphere, and the group's fighters are still gonna love you all the time. Rethink your tactics a little, mastery of shaping is one of the better archmage abilities.. I agree with your other points though.
Snow Savant 01-24-04, 05:09 PM	Archamorden, Tell us more about your 11th level Wizard. Gives us your feats, favorite & predominate spells, etc. Also tell us about any ideosynchratic aspects of your campaign or party tactics. All these are crucial to matching up the right Higher Arcana to the right caster. All the Higher Arcana can be put to creative or appropriate use in one fashion or another. For the interim, I don't think your 11th level Wizard will need Spell Power. Snow
Hanniball 01-24-04, 05:19 PM	Rarely useful? This is basically the ability to use any spells, offensive, defensive or utilitarian, without ever having to worry about your friends getting into the way of it. With it, you can use anything from Cone of Cold to Prismatic Sphere, and the group's fighters are still gonna love you all the time. Rethink your tactics a little, mastery of shaping is one of the better archmage abilities.. i apologize for such a forthright statement. i RARELY play "blaster" mages and thus RARELY see mastery of shaping take effect. i play mostly battle-field control wizzies and thus rarely find the need to tjange the area of effect of my nukes. i channel the enemies utilizing various wall/cloud/illusion spells, seperate them from the rest of the PCs, and then nuke. i think all other types of spellcasters need to rethink their strategies if they're fireballing the BBEG when the party tank is assisting the rogue's flank attacks while the party cleric is in melee. that should just never happen, IMO. mastery of shaping is *situational* at best. BTW, if i ever see a wizard actually cast cone of cold, i'll let you know... i also apologize to the initial poster for momentarily, yet essentially, hijacking the thread. either way...just my 0.02 cp
Snow Savant 01-24-04, 05:50 PM	Nah, you didn't hijack the thread, Hanniball. The original poster I think was looking for play-style insight as well, which you provided in good quality. Mastery of Shaping is indeed a good Higher Arcana. Moreso for the way Psifon uses it (Anti-Magic Shell, Mord's Disj, etc.) than for using it to create holes in Cones of Cold, etc. MoS is also nice when used in tight confines such as for campaigns in the Underdark, dungeons, etc. Use it to drop Enlarged Acid Fogs on top of yourself (shaped with a hole for you and whatever party-mates), then ping all the slow-moving, acid-burning (5' per round) dumb-asses with Scorching Rays until you are left with dead piles of goo. And of course, nobody gets any saves for this fun stuff. It sucks being an enemy.. Snow
Stoned Golem 01-24-04, 07:37 PM	Originally posted by Psifon If you are going to go for spell-like ability, then take spell-like ability in mordenkainen's lucubration. That gave me a good idea. I don't know about Mord's Lucubration itself, since you're basically giving up a 5th level slot and a 6th level slot to be able to recast two 5th level spells per day, although I'm sure it could be useful for its versatility. Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer on the other hand... Take the 4 per day version, so you give up a 7th level slot and a 5th level slot. In exchange you get the ability to prepare 12 extra levels worth of slots per day, so you break even. In effect you can trade in lower level slots for a few more powerful spells, or for a load of lower-level ones. You can memorize an extra 9th level slot each day, get 6 more Scorching Rays (fun for ATs) or even a 7th and a 5th, the same as you would have otherwise had. edit: I just realized what could get really ugly. An epic mage with Innate Spell in Rary's Mnemonic enhancer. It would take a while, but he could hole up in a Mord's Mansion and prepare an obscene number of extra spells.
BenjCano 01-24-04, 07:40 PM	Since we've established that the original poster is inelligible for entry into the archmage prestige class in the first place, I predict that this thread is rapidly going to degenerate into various sidepanel discussions about the virtues of this High Arcana Ability versus that one. I think I'll withdraw from this discussion at present.
Hanniball 01-24-04, 07:46 PM	I don't know about Mord's Lucubration itself, since you're basically giving up a 5th level slot and a 6th level slot to be able to recast two 5th level spells per day, although I'm sure it could be useful for its versatility. having a permanent pearl of power 5 is an awesome ability to gain from a Prc, IMO. But rary's seems better... It sucks being an enemy.. not nearly as much as it sucks not being a spellcaster, let alone and archmage... i guess MoS *is* pretty good. i just thumbed through my PhB and realized some of the really cool spells that could be enhanced via this High Arcana. i take back my original statement about it being rarely useful. Ben: swell observation. however, offering up advice on which high arcanas are useful in specific builds/situations is kind of what these boards are for. withdraw if you like, but i would be interested to hear if you have any input; as i am always interested in hearing others opinions.
Matt Neuman 01-24-04, 08:45 PM	I would rate them in the following order (Best to Worst) Mastery of Counterspelling: (combined with improved counterspelling, etc this is insanely powerful). Mastery of Shaping: Good in all sorts of situations. A must have for blasters, and a damn fine ability for battlefied control wizards. Mastery of Elements: You are essentially getting every energy substitution feat here for a single ability. And you can use it on the fly. Arcane Reach (Su): Depending on the wizard's style this is either at the top of the list or at the bottom, so I've put it in the middle. Spell Power: Nice, but not the power ability it was in 3.0. Spell-Like Ability: To limited for what you give up. Keep your spell slots. Arcane Fire (Su): Use your spells, their better than this.
PhoenixInferno 01-24-04, 08:50 PM	Arcane fire is a Supernatural ability - the damage can't be resisted and is not subject to spell resistance. All you need is a ranged touch attack. Free damage in a pinch? I'll buy it, if my BAB was good enough to make it useful.
LordShade 01-24-04, 10:57 PM	Mordenkainen's Lubrication? You can never have enough of that.
Vysirez 01-25-04, 12:28 AM	Exactly, the reason you get arcane fire is to penetrate SR. Not becuase it's an efficiant ability for damaging with higher level spells. However it is also useful for converting those cantrips and other oddball spells to damage. It can also be used somewhat like a cleric's spontanious casting. Allowing you to memorize some of those situational spells that you might not normall have. That way if you end up not needing that tongues or rope trick or whatever you can convert it to damage.
horndgod 01-25-04, 01:41 AM	Arcane Fire can be useful, much like the other abilities, if applied to the right character. A Favored Soul4/Sorceror4/Mystic Theurge10 who goes epic would find this ability very tasty with all the extra slots lying around.
Elgonn 01-25-04, 02:24 AM	Arcane Fire isn't one of the Archmage's greatest skills. I only know 2 reasons to take it myself. There are certainly better ways to bypass SR as a caster. 1. Arcane Trickster (More SA style spells the better, long range is nice too.) 2. Innate Spell (The ability that makes Arcane Fire look wonderful either epic game or even pre-epic even with a Innate 0th/1st.)
RabidWeasel 01-25-04, 07:12 AM	Arcane fire is great for an AT, good damage from 0-level spellslots, and it hurts almost everything.
Skarlett Spyder 01-25-04, 01:06 PM	Good stuff guys, keep it coming. Skarlett da Interested Spyder
ck2001wendt 01-25-04, 01:37 PM	----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer on the other hand... Take the 4 per day version, so you give up a 7th level slot and a 5th level slot. In exchange you get the ability to prepare 12 extra levels worth of slots per day, so you break even. In effect you can trade in lower level slots for a few more powerful spells, or for a load of lower-level ones. You can memorize an extra 9th level slot each day, get 6 more Scorching Rays (fun for ATs) or even a 7th and a 5th, the same as you would have otherwise had. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And if you've taken Spell Mastery and those spells are on your Mastery List, it's almost like having spell-like abilities; no need for a spellbook in the morning.
Penguin Master 01-25-04, 05:43 PM	Arcane Fire is good when you're running low on spells and a fighter is about to cleave you in half and the only spell you have is a worthless Freedom. Just change out that spell and zap the enemy to tiny bits. Arcane Reach is only useful it you have a great deal of touch spells, this is more common in mages who assist rather than deal damage, though not necessarily the rule. Spell Power is good for penetrating spell resistance (Really helpful at higher levels) and a little bit more duration on your spells never hurts. Mastery of Shaping is a must have. Antimagic field, need i say more. mastery of elements, this has been conversed over enough, saying it once more will be redundant. Spell-like ability, I have made a nasty combination with this spell though it requires at least level 17. Fist take spell-like ability Plane Shift (you can also use gate) then acquire the spell Genesis. Make your own demi-plane to your liking, however, make time run on the demi-plane faster than on the material in a neighborhood of 1 year compared to 1 round. Then whenever you run out of spells or get caught with the wrong spells for the occasion, just simply use plane shift, spend however long you want on your demi-plane then shift back in almost the same moment you left. You can have infinite spells with this. Taking it as a spell-like ability is just in case anyone learns your tactics and decides to counterspell and so you don't have to carry around scrolls.