Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Marsellus3 10-24-06, 09:08 PM	Hello there! I was building a beguiler/shadowcraft mage for an upcoming campaign, and was worried that he would be underpowered in comparison to the others (we have a proud history of powergaming in our group). I was looking around for resources to make it more powerful (including the shadowcraft mage handbook thread), but every build seemed to deviate too much from a resourceful and fun character to a standard metamagic wizard who focused on shadow imitation evocation spells. If anyone could please give me some tips on giving my character a little more power without sacrificing his core concept, I would very much appreciate it. Of course, if you want to go beyond giving advice and actually make me a build, I would be greatly indebted to you :) Requirements are 1. must be able to cooperate with ‘optimized’ characters (don’t know exactly which characters yet, but previous campaigns with this group have involved everything from necrotic cysts, 13-20/x4 attacks, all sorts of instant metamagic cheese, and melee fighter characters dealing 200+ damage around level 10) 2. must maintain the fun and flavor of the beguiler main class (some leeway on this is possible, but I would prefer not to be a ‘beguiler’ who simply lobbed shadow-crafted evocation spells in EVERY situation). What you have to work with: Race and Class: likely gray elf, beguiler, and shadowcraft mage. Additional PrC and/or racial suggestions welcome! Stats: 11,12,14,15,16,18 Level: campaign will begin at level 6, so perhaps a detailed level 6 beguiler with plans to build up to 12,15, or even higher (of course I will accept whatever you want to give me). Concept: charming and resourceful, has a variety of tools to deal with any situation. All books are available Houserules and other special oddities to consider: The DM has houseruled that the shadowcraft mage no longer requires you being a gnome to take it. The DM has also accepted a magic item I designed called “gloves of earth spell” which allow you to use the feat Earth Spell once a day for 2,000g (twice is 4,000g, unlimited is 10,000g. I based the design off of gloves of arrow catching found in DMG1). Since the shadowcraft mage gives a similar skill to silent spell at level 2, the DM has allowed me to replace the Silent Spell feat from beguiler5 with any metamagic feat. Finally, there is no dragonblooded requirement for practical metamagic feats (here are those again in bulleted form) 1. don’t have to be gnome to qualify for shadowcraft mage 2. magic item that replicates earth spell available 3. beguiler gains any metamagic feat at level 5 (rather than silent spell) 4. no dragonblood req for practical metamagic My ideas so far: I was considering a gray elf beguiler6 -> SCM3 -> Beguiler(1or2) -> SCM2 ->Beguiler the rest of the way. Mindbender’s telepathy is nice, but I don’t want to give up level 6 of beguiler because it gives good saves, so maybe I will dip a level into it later on in the build. I am torn between dipping into shadow adept for the slew of feats and flavor but losing out on the skills and hit points compared to a beguiler level. Feat choices I am considering are 1) spell focus illusion, 3) greater spell focus illusion, 5) heighten spell (as the level 5 beguiler metamagic feat) 6) practical metamagic (heighten) 9) I don’t know, spell focus enchantment? 12) I don’t know, greater spell focus enchantment? 15) I don’t know, shadow adept pre-req? Instant maximize? Spell choices: I was thinking of ventriloquism as my first spell (not as powerful as color spray, but certainly more fun). I have no idea about the other levels though. Specifically I was wondering after going beguiler6/SCM3 if I should take my 10th level in beguiler to catch up on UMD and DD (among other skills), or to finish up SCM so that when I DO take my seventh beguiler level I will be able to choose a higher level spell for my additional spell knowledge than I would otherwise. Thanks again for all of your help, you guys are awesome!
JaronK 10-24-06, 09:17 PM	I'm not sure what you mean about giving up beguiler 6 for mindbender... you'll get it, just one level later after taking the single level of mindbender. You take mindbender so you can delay getting advanced learning by one level, getting a better spell. The reason SCMs focus on shadow conjurations/evocations is because they're so incredibly flexible... you can do almost anything with them, so maxing them out gives you plenty to play with. Thus, the standard build is Beguiler 14/Mindbender 1/SCM 5, taking Mindbender as soon as possible. You can replace a few levels of beguiler with any other full casting class. Basic feat build is: 1: Spell Focus Illusion 3: Heighten Spell 6: Earth Sense 9: Earth Spell 12: Easy Metamagic: Heighten Spell 15: Residual Magic (From Complete Mage) 18: Arcane Thesis: Silent Image If you can use flaws, consider picking up Fell Weaken (which is free when applied to Shadow spells with Arcane Thesis) or Still Spell (also free, and lets you ignore ASF). JaronK