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Warmage_Smurf 05-29-06, 08:25 AM

MULTI-PURPOSE BEGUILER Greetings all, As you would know from reading my "The Beguiler! So cool, but..." thread, I've stumbled upon the Beguiler class for the first time, and have decided that I had to have a bit of a muck about with it. The build below is the fruit of my labour, a build that I've tried to make as multipurpose and all-round as I possibly can - essentially, I want this character to be able to fulfil a range of different roles within a party, not really excelling in anything, but rather being able to help with everything. The build assumes that you are not allowed access to either flaws or Extra Spell - extra options such as this are discussed at the end of this post. Before I get along with the actual build, and an explanation of it, allow me to give credit where credit is due - the notion of the Shadowcraft Illusionist being a great class to use comes from Snow Savant, and is found on the "Shadowcraft Illusionist = Killer Gnome!"thread (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=290914). Also contained on this thread is the suggestion (From bopple orginally, I believe) of using Earth Spell in conjunction with the Shadow Illusion ability. Finally, credit also belongs to Zweanslord, I believe, for the first mention of using Arcane Disciple (Luck) to gain Miracle, then imitating that spell with Shadow Illusion. If any of the above credits are incorrect, just let me know, and I'll edit my post accordingly. Finally, please note that I haven't mentioned race anywhere in this post, though I realise that Shadowcraft Illusionist does have a required race of gnomes. I haven't included this, partially because of the 'adoption' section of the Shadowcraft Illusionist section where it states that, rather than having to be a gnome, you might have to be a member of a secret cabal. That seems to fit nicer to me than a required gnome race, though that may just be because I don't like gnomes for some illogical reason of my own. Now, onto the build! BUILD 1 - THE NOT-SO-CONTROVERSIAL BEGUILER 1 Beguiler 1 Arcane Preperation 2 Beguiler 2 3 Beguiler 3 Iron Will 4 Beguiler 4 5 Beguiler 5 6 Beguiler 6 Cooperative Spell 7 Mage of the Arcane Order 1 8 Mage of the Arcane Order 2 Extend Spell 9 Mage of the Arcane Order 3 Spell Focus (Illusion) 10 Mage of the Arcane Order 4 11 Incantatrix 1 Persistent Spell 12 Incantatrix 2 Arcane Disciple (Luck) 13 Incantatrix 3 14 Incantatrix 4 Heighten Spell 15 Shadowcraft Illusionist 1 Earth Sense 16 Shadowcraft Illusionist 2 17 Shadowcraft Illusionist 3 18 Shadowcraft Illusionist 4 Earth Spell 19 Shadowcraft Illusionist 5 20 Beguiler 7 Important Stats - Intelligence and Charisma Important Spells - Silent Image (Beguiler spell list), Ruin Delver's Fortune (Spellpool), Heroics (Spellpool), Miracle (Luck domain + Shadow Illusion ability), Divine Power (from casting of Miracle spell), Fiendform (Spellpool), Draconic Polymorph (Spellpool, assuming your DM allows it) Powerup phase (To be repeated each morning): Cast Ruin Delver's Fortune (Reflex), persist using Metamagic effect Cast Ruin Delver's Fortune (Willpower), persist using Metamagic effect Cast Ruin Delver's Fortune (Fortitude), persist using Metmagic effect Cast Heroics (Improved Toughness) upon yourself, persist using Metamagic effect Cast Fiendform upon yourself, persist using Metamagic effect Cast Draconic Polymorph (Astral Deva) upon yourself, persist using Metamagic effect Cast Miracle using Shadow Illusion, in order to cast Divine Power This character now recieves: +1 hitpoint per level from Improved Toughness +1 hitpoint per caster level from Divine Power BAB equal to his character level from Divine Power Charisma bonus to Reflex from Ruin Delever's Fortune Charisma bonus to Fortitude from Ruin Delever's Fortune Charisma bonus to Willpower from Ruin Delever's Fortune Immunity to Poison from Ruin Delever's Fortune Immunity to Fear from Ruin Delever's Fortune Evasion from Ruin Delever's Fortune +6 Enhancement bonus to Strength from Divine Power This character's stats are as follows (Assuming a +6 items for both Charisma and Intelligence, and +5 tomes for both as well) Str: 36 = 22 (Astral Deva) + 6 (Divine Power) + 8 (Draconic Polymorph) Dex: 18 (Astral Deva) Con: 20 = 18 (Astral Deva) + 2 (Draconic Polymorph) Int: 34 = 18 (Base) + 5 (Levels) + 5 (Tome) + 6 (Item) Wis: 8 (I'm assuming you won't have many points in this) Cha: 29 = 18 (Base) + 5 (Tome) + 6 (Item) The mechanics of this character are fairly easy to understand. Shadow Illusion combined with Earth spell grants the character the ability to cast any Sor/Wiz Evocation, Conjuration (Creation) or Conjuration (Summoning) spell he wants. Ruin Delver's Fortune has a range of Personal, and as such, can be persisted, using the Metamagic effect ability of the Incantatrix. Same goes with Divine Power. Fiendform, Draconic Polymorph, and Heroics don't have a range of personal, however, after they've already been cast, they DO have a fixed range, and therefore can be persistified (Remember, you can't normally persist a non-fixed range spell, because you're trying to apply the metamagic at the same time as you cast the spell - however, in this case, the spell has already been cast, so it's range is already determined). Though the character is likely not an outsider, he uses Fiendform to grant himself the Outsider type, which he then uses to springboard into Astral Deva (Which is kind of perverted, if you think about it, using Fiendform to become a Astral Deva...) As a result of all this buffing, we now have a fairly compatant melee combatant (Though, admitadly, his hitpoint total still isn't that great). As far as spells go, the character is extremely versatile, basicly having access to ANY Sor/Wiz evocation spell he wants, as well as any Conjuration (Creation) or Conjuration (Summoning) spell he feels he needs. If he has need of any utalitarian spells outside of combat, he's got the spellpool, which will grant him up to 6th level Sor/Wiz spells, and if he needs anything higher, he can use Miracle (Though that would cost a precious 9th level spell slot). Due to his 7 Beguiler levels, this character does a good job as a skillmonkey, maybe even standing in for the party rogue, or better yet, serving as the face of the party in socially-intensive campaigns. His biggest disadvantage, however, is that he takes a LONG while to get to his full potential - till 19th level for all his goodies. That said, you're not exactly useless at earlier levels - indeed, I'm confident you can pull off your Shadow Illusion trick from about level 12 if you're willing to switch around some of your levels and feats. The other major problem regarding this character is, unfortunantly, his lack of available feats. This is a nessacary part of the build, sorry to say, though taking flaws will allow you to gain an extra few feats. All in all, this is by no means an optimal character - he simply tries to do too much to ever be that. That said, if you're willing to put up with the high level requirement, this might be an interesting build for you all to try. An alternative, incidently, to the Mage of the Arcane Order levels, is to simply combine Beguiler with Incantatrix and Shadowcraft Illusionist, and use Miracles in place of the spellpool. Though this option would cost you a lot of potential 9th level spells, it may be preferable for some people, especially since you have the flexibility of not nessacarily using those Miracles unless you know you're going to be involved in melee combat. An option for doing both this and cutting down on the use of Miracles would be to rely on the Beguiler's Advanced Learning ability and substitute it with Eclectic Learning (An option introduced for the Warmage in PHB II. Since the Advanced Learning abilities for the Warmage and Beguiler are identical, except for the Schools of Magic involved, you shouldn't have too much difficulty running this one by a DM). Simply learn Ruin Delver's Fortune using this method, and you've saved yourself a lot of Miracles... Incidently, this idea isn't actually mine - credit for this particular option goes to khaalis on this (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=645128) thread. If you managed to combine this with the flaws, you'd probably be up 3 feats on the original build. I hope you've all enjoyed reading this build - I'd welcome any constructive critiscism :)