Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TychoEnoch 01-18-07, 09:23 PM	I just recently wrapped up Age of Worms, playing a Beguiler gish -- a character that, really, played differently than any character I'd played previously. The biggest problem I had was figuring out what buffs to use, or even what on my list constituted a buff. Because Polymorph was out (as it is in most sane games), I was pretty even with everyone else. My bread-and-butter spells were: Haste Displacement Swift Etherealness Heroism or Greater Heroism (pick one of the two up) Swift Invisibility Mirror Image, Greater With all these on, you will never, ever be hit in combat. At the very least, my DM found it almost impossible to regularly do damage to me. When you have enough 5th+ spell slots, you will be able to drop, unhittable, into the Ethereal plane after almost every round every round. Even if an opponent does manage to hit you, they have to chew through your Greater Mirror Image, which is Displaced. After doing that, they have to hit your AC, which is probably quite good. You have way more spell slots than you will ever, ever use. Pick up Arcane Strike to deal with this. Unfortunately, MAD will be a problem for you -- but don't worry. The best Gish class for you is probably Jade Phoenix Mage. Stagger your JPM levels with Abjurant Champion levels to get the biggest "punch" out of your manifester levels, and consider taking Swordsage as your martial adept class -- some of the Shadow Blade abilities are very useful to you, especially in getting mobility options that you might not already have. At some points in your progression, you're going to have to struggle with choosing between better maneuvers, better BAB, and better spellcasting/skills. That fifth level of JPM is killer. You've effectively got a choice -- a difficult one -- between 8th level maneuvers/8th level spells and 7th level maneuvers/9th level spells. Take a close look at your 9th level spells. Sure, Time Stop is on there, but most of your "buffs" are interesting things to do with your swift action; further, your Quickening Strike can make buffing as simple as hitting someone with a maneuver. Weird is on there, but not Shades. Wish is out. I made the 8th/8th choice, but only because I knew the campaign would hit 21st level. Plus, some of those 8th level Devoted Spirit maneuvers (that's what you've been taking, right?) kind of rock. -- ACS
Kuroi Kenshi 01-19-07, 02:57 AM	Good to know your experiences.
Llochlyn 01-19-07, 03:53 AM	Agreed, a beguiler gish won me some t shirts (check 'uncon winning entry' in my sig), so I must say these are quite good, I'd call them an easy triple threat build
LogicNinja 01-19-07, 09:27 AM	Would you mind posting your exact build?
Xeraph 01-20-07, 08:07 AM	Nice, people should post more of these "experience" threads. Also, there should be a linky in the Beguilers Handbook to this thread. Thanks again.
TychoEnoch 01-22-07, 01:04 AM	My actual final build ended up being: Human Beguiler 9/Swordsage 2/JPM 10. Yeah, yeah, don't tell me; it was suboptimal. The BAB was a little lower than I would've liked, but it allowed me to remain a credible skillmonkey well into the high levels. I respecced twice during the game (WB to SS; JPM + AbCh to just JPM), but those respecs were mostly just fiddling to see what worked best. Plus, due to a random stat add, my Wisdom ended up being higher than it might otherwise have been, so I figured the -1 BAB was worth the boost. Also, if you're a JPM, you can afford to worry less about your BAB -- you've got that +4 from Mystic Phoenix Stance, if you can afford to spend a 0 level spell slot on every strike (you can), and, at least for me, most of my rounds through the midlevels were spent on Elder Mountain Hammer or Radiant Charge, making my iteratives virtually irrelevant. I played him from 11th level and up, after my Archivist/Fiendbinder bit it in Kuluth-Mar. -- ACS