CanCon 2007, and tips for arcanists [Archive] - Wizards Community

CanCon 2007, and tips for arcanists [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
pmurray@bigpond.com
01-29-07, 08:12 AM Well, that was CanCon for 2007.

As usual, it was mainly wargamers, and people playing card games you never heard of. Upstairs, however, Sal was running his big dungeon. 3 tables, 3 DMs. Sal's big dungeon is just a bunch of rooms. I understand that there is an overall plot to it, but on a three day convention with tables of 8 players - well, nobody gets very far into it.

But it's all good.

You roll 4d6 drop one, start at level 5, and you can use core and the complete books. Of course, there is a folder of prebuilt characters.

I started as a one of the prebuilt clerics (the table needed a band-aid). Killed it. Then I made up a sorcerer with "Arcane Disciple (heal)" and "Spontaneous Healing". 2 feats and a known spell (Cure Light, natch) in exchange for a Sorcerer that could spontaneously cast any of the "cure" spells. He died too ... and I think he may have been illegal anyway.

Then I built (using the same stats - I had rolled a 16 and a 17 :) ) - Xavier the Sorcerer.

This guy rocked. I should say that I have been playing a mage for a year with some guys, so I pretty much have worked out what to do when you play a mage.

Human. Feats - sudden widen, sudden maximize, sudden maximize. Spells - ray of enfeeblement, grease, identify, expeditious retreat, scorching ray, glitterdust.

Now note - no Shield, no Mage Armour. The other characters are 8th and 9th level, so we were going into medium levels of the dungeon. Defensive spells are a waste - if something hits you, it will kill you, simple as that. Exp Retreat was my only defensive choice, and I have edited the character a little and dropped even that.

Note also - no magic missile. Straight damage is a waste of time - that's what fighters are for. We found a wand of MM anyway, which I used a couple of times. Sorching ray is a great choice - truckload of damage (esp with sudden maximise), will not blatt the party, ranged touch. Need I mention that the stat into which I put the 16 was Dex?

The main offensive spells were grease and glitterdust.

Grease will disable anything with a low Reflex save - which mainly means Mr Big And Lumpy. I used it on dinosaurs, I used it on werebears. It has three distinct and very useful uses - you can disarm anything with a low will save, disable anything with a low reflex, or rescue your allies from a grapple. Awesome. And in addition, it is a nice utility to get creative with. And its dismissable.

Glitterdust is a great spell - an awesome spell. And it's 2nd level. It also has two distinct and useful uses. It will blind anything (well, if it has conventional eyes) with a low will, and it will outline invisible monsters. Blinded monsters become subject to sneak attacks.

I used it on monster after monster. We ran into a mess hall full of Orcs or Ogres (forget which) with three of them "bigger than the rest". A sudden-widened glitterdust left them stumbling about while the party mopped up the mooks. There was a pool with a water elemental in it that grabbed our foolish Paladin's foot. A glitterdust in the pool, while not "outlining" it exactly, still allowed the party to see it and let me tell you - it did not enjoy maximised scorching rays to the gut.

Sixth level was even better.

Spells: Flare (bleh), Haste.

Kids - Haste. Not Fireball, Haste. 6d6 does not make a difference when there are 9th level Barbarians in the party. A barbarian and an Order of the Bow Initiate with an extra attack per round makes a heck of a lot of difference. More importantly - get this, kids, it is an extremely useful nugget of info - melee fighters love being hasted, and they hate arcane casters that kill-steal, or that blatt them with area-effect spells. It's my comment about Mage Armour again - an arcanist has to be prepared to let the melee types keep them safe. A sorcerer with Haste learns a lesson that every cleric knows - the key to survival is keeping big-and-grunty interested in keeping you alive.

Feats - Sculpt Spell. Oh ... My ... God. Who the heck wrote this cheese and decided that it would be one spell level? Useless for a wizard, who has to prepare spells with metamagic. But for an sorcerer .... . My glitterdust and grease could now target four separate monsters. I don't think I ever used its other capabilities. In one round - zap, zap, zap, zap. Three Bullettes blined (well, potentially). Sure they have tremorsense. But tremorsense is not blindsight and they were still thereby made vulnerable to sneak attacks from the archer (who had some rogue levels).

I don't know if I am conveying the full flavour - it was a three-day conference and we played every day, all day. But Xavier ruled, at 6th level in a higher-level party. And note, he did very little actual damage. All he did was buffing and keeping the monsters disabled so that the party culd deal with them one at a time.

We finished the comp with enough XP to level Xavier up to 7th, and I will keep his sheet ready for next year.

Spells at 7th? I have ditched Expeditious Retreat (yes I know, but come on, it's a year away) and taken Protection from Evil in it's place, as well as Color Spray, Levitate, and Dispel Magic.

Exp Retreat - useless, and I have haste anyway.

Protection from Evil. Pure gold. In a dungeon increasingly populated by evil monsters, works like a sanctuary. If anyone becomes in danger of getting carved up, cast Prot Evil and they are safe. Also blocks domination, which cannot be overvalued. All this for a 1st level slot.

Color Spray. Another OMG spell. Sure, it does less at high levels. But what it does do [awesome[/i]. Even at high levels, it will stun opponents with a poor will save for one round. With sculpt spell, costs a 2nd level slot and can be placed anywhere on the battlefield. So what, you ask? A stunned opponent takes no actions (handy in a game where combats typically go for three rounds). A stunned opponent loses it's dex bonus to AC and is thereby sneak-attackable. An a stunned opponent ... get this ... drops whatever it is holding, which therfore becomes an unattended item. Mr big-n-beefy got a flaming battleaxe? Not a problem. Stun him with color spray, then get the fighters to bull-rush him. No more flaming battleaxe for you! What a pity it doesn't work well on wizards with staves of uber doom (Will save).

Levitate. Another spell to get party members out of trouble. Lava? Acid Pits? Surrounded by enemies (without missile weapons, obviously)? Never you mind, little rogue/cleric/missile weapon specialist ally of mine. I got your back. It's also a general purpose utility, although not quite a telekinesis.

Dispell Magic. A party arcanist must be able to deal with arcane threats, and DM is the swiss army knife. Remember - preparing to counterspell is a valid and useful tactic, and I think it works on spell-like abilities too. DM will temporarily suppress an item's magical properties, turning that staff-o-doom into a stick which can then be sundered. Just don't be anywhere near it when the DM wears off.

After this? Well - a sorcerer needs highten spell. Another metamagic feat that is just about useless for a Wizard - it is almost the only way to improve a spell's DC. If I judged that stunning, greasing, or blinding a particular opponent would win the melee, I would highten any of these spells and use my last high-level spell slot with barely any hesitation. Remember the right spell at the right time - not the most powerful or flashy one.

My other must-haves would include Disintegrate. Another swiss army knife - just don't bother using it as a combat spell. Except against other arcanists. I once used it on a Necklace of Strangulation, arguing that I was not trying to remove the necklace, but to destroy[i] it just like any other magic item. Telekinesis, perhaps. Assay Resistance - absolutely crucial, you [i]need this spell. Wall of Force. And possibly feats that improve Xavier's ability to counterspell.

Having said all this ...

A build like this is no good for a home campaign, where the DM will work around your bag of tricks. And I found playing a Sorc a trifle boring - he had maybe three or four tricks up his sleeve (albeit very good tricks). But for Sal's dungeon, once a year, this guy was beyond awesome.
Vrellum
01-29-07, 03:52 PM Bards work well using this strategy as well. They get fewer spells and get them slower, but they also get bardic music which is a nice boost to the fighter types.
Nom
01-29-07, 08:16 PM Mostly good stuff, but ...
Protection from Evil. Pure gold. In a dungeon increasingly populated by evil monsters, works like a sanctuary. If anyone becomes in danger of getting carved up, cast Prot Evil and they are safe. Also blocks domination, which cannot be overvalued. All this for a 1st level slot.Eh? How so? +2 deflection AC is nice, but it's hardly immunity. PFE only blocks summoned creatures, and then only against melee (not ranged or SLAs).
pmurray@bigpond.com
01-29-07, 09:22 PM Mostly good stuff, but ...
Eh? How so? +2 deflection AC is nice, but it's hardly immunity. PFE only blocks summoned creatures, and then only against melee (not ranged or SLAs).

Dang. Back to the drawing board. Maybe I will retain Expeditious Retreat after all, for next year.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
pmurray@bigpond.com 01-29-07, 08:12 AM	Well, that was CanCon for 2007. As usual, it was mainly wargamers, and people playing card games you never heard of. Upstairs, however, Sal was running his big dungeon. 3 tables, 3 DMs. Sal's big dungeon is just a bunch of rooms. I understand that there is an overall plot to it, but on a three day convention with tables of 8 players - well, nobody gets very far into it. But it's all good. You roll 4d6 drop one, start at level 5, and you can use core and the complete books. Of course, there is a folder of prebuilt characters. I started as a one of the prebuilt clerics (the table needed a band-aid). Killed it. Then I made up a sorcerer with "Arcane Disciple (heal)" and "Spontaneous Healing". 2 feats and a known spell (Cure Light, natch) in exchange for a Sorcerer that could spontaneously cast any of the "cure" spells. He died too ... and I think he may have been illegal anyway. Then I built (using the same stats - I had rolled a 16 and a 17 :) ) - Xavier the Sorcerer. This guy rocked. I should say that I have been playing a mage for a year with some guys, so I pretty much have worked out what to do when you play a mage. Human. Feats - sudden widen, sudden maximize, sudden maximize. Spells - ray of enfeeblement, grease, identify, expeditious retreat, scorching ray, glitterdust. Now note - no Shield, no Mage Armour. The other characters are 8th and 9th level, so we were going into medium levels of the dungeon. Defensive spells are a waste - if something hits you, it will kill you, simple as that. Exp Retreat was my only defensive choice, and I have edited the character a little and dropped even that. Note also - no magic missile. Straight damage is a waste of time - that's what fighters are for. We found a wand of MM anyway, which I used a couple of times. Sorching ray is a great choice - truckload of damage (esp with sudden maximise), will not blatt the party, ranged touch. Need I mention that the stat into which I put the 16 was Dex? The main offensive spells were grease and glitterdust. Grease will disable anything with a low Reflex save - which mainly means Mr Big And Lumpy. I used it on dinosaurs, I used it on werebears. It has three distinct and very useful uses - you can disarm anything with a low will save, disable anything with a low reflex, or rescue your allies from a grapple. Awesome. And in addition, it is a nice utility to get creative with. And its dismissable. Glitterdust is a great spell - an awesome spell. And it's 2nd level. It also has two distinct and useful uses. It will blind anything (well, if it has conventional eyes) with a low will, and it will outline invisible monsters. Blinded monsters become subject to sneak attacks. I used it on monster after monster. We ran into a mess hall full of Orcs or Ogres (forget which) with three of them "bigger than the rest". A sudden-widened glitterdust left them stumbling about while the party mopped up the mooks. There was a pool with a water elemental in it that grabbed our foolish Paladin's foot. A glitterdust in the pool, while not "outlining" it exactly, still allowed the party to see it and let me tell you - it did not enjoy maximised scorching rays to the gut. Sixth level was even better. Spells: Flare (bleh), Haste. Kids - Haste. Not Fireball, Haste. 6d6 does not make a difference when there are 9th level Barbarians in the party. A barbarian and an Order of the Bow Initiate with an extra attack per round makes a heck of a lot of difference. More importantly - get this, kids, it is an extremely useful nugget of info - melee fighters love being hasted, and they hate arcane casters that kill-steal, or that blatt them with area-effect spells. It's my comment about Mage Armour again - an arcanist has to be prepared to let the melee types keep them safe. A sorcerer with Haste learns a lesson that every cleric knows - the key to survival is keeping big-and-grunty interested in keeping you alive. Feats - Sculpt Spell. Oh ... My ... God. Who the heck wrote this cheese and decided that it would be one spell level? Useless for a wizard, who has to prepare spells with metamagic. But for an sorcerer .... . My glitterdust and grease could now target four separate monsters. I don't think I ever used its other capabilities. In one round - zap, zap, zap, zap. Three Bullettes blined (well, potentially). Sure they have tremorsense. But tremorsense is not blindsight and they were still thereby made vulnerable to sneak attacks from the archer (who had some rogue levels). I don't know if I am conveying the full flavour - it was a three-day conference and we played every day, all day. But Xavier ruled, at 6th level in a higher-level party. And note, he did very little actual damage. All he did was buffing and keeping the monsters disabled so that the party culd deal with them one at a time. We finished the comp with enough XP to level Xavier up to 7th, and I will keep his sheet ready for next year. Spells at 7th? I have ditched Expeditious Retreat (yes I know, but come on, it's a year away) and taken Protection from Evil in it's place, as well as Color Spray, Levitate, and Dispel Magic. Exp Retreat - useless, and I have haste anyway. Protection from Evil. Pure gold. In a dungeon increasingly populated by evil monsters, works like a sanctuary. If anyone becomes in danger of getting carved up, cast Prot Evil and they are safe. Also blocks domination, which cannot be overvalued. All this for a 1st level slot. Color Spray. Another OMG spell. Sure, it does less at high levels. But what it does do [awesome[/i]. Even at high levels, it will stun opponents with a poor will save for one round. With sculpt spell, costs a 2nd level slot and can be placed anywhere on the battlefield. So what, you ask? A stunned opponent takes no actions (handy in a game where combats typically go for three rounds). A stunned opponent loses it's dex bonus to AC and is thereby sneak-attackable. An a stunned opponent ... get this ... drops whatever it is holding, which therfore becomes an unattended item. Mr big-n-beefy got a flaming battleaxe? Not a problem. Stun him with color spray, then get the fighters to bull-rush him. No more flaming battleaxe for you! What a pity it doesn't work well on wizards with staves of uber doom (Will save). Levitate. Another spell to get party members out of trouble. Lava? Acid Pits? Surrounded by enemies (without missile weapons, obviously)? Never you mind, little rogue/cleric/missile weapon specialist ally of mine. I got your back. It's also a general purpose utility, although not quite a telekinesis. Dispell Magic. A party arcanist must be able to deal with arcane threats, and DM is the swiss army knife. Remember - preparing to counterspell is a valid and useful tactic, and I think it works on spell-like abilities too. DM will temporarily suppress an item's magical properties, turning that staff-o-doom into a stick which can then be sundered. Just don't be anywhere near it when the DM wears off. After this? Well - a sorcerer needs highten spell. Another metamagic feat that is just about useless for a Wizard - it is almost the only way to improve a spell's DC. If I judged that stunning, greasing, or blinding a particular opponent would win the melee, I would highten any of these spells and use my last high-level spell slot with barely any hesitation. Remember the right spell at the right time - not the most powerful or flashy one. My other must-haves would include Disintegrate. Another swiss army knife - just don't bother using it as a combat spell. Except against other arcanists. I once used it on a Necklace of Strangulation, arguing that I was not trying to remove the necklace, but to destroy[i] it just like any other magic item. Telekinesis, perhaps. Assay Resistance - absolutely crucial, you [i]need this spell. Wall of Force. And possibly feats that improve Xavier's ability to counterspell. Having said all this ... A build like this is no good for a home campaign, where the DM will work around your bag of tricks. And I found playing a Sorc a trifle boring - he had maybe three or four tricks up his sleeve (albeit very good tricks). But for Sal's dungeon, once a year, this guy was beyond awesome.
Vrellum 01-29-07, 03:52 PM	Bards work well using this strategy as well. They get fewer spells and get them slower, but they also get bardic music which is a nice boost to the fighter types.
Nom 01-29-07, 08:16 PM	Mostly good stuff, but ... Protection from Evil. Pure gold. In a dungeon increasingly populated by evil monsters, works like a sanctuary. If anyone becomes in danger of getting carved up, cast Prot Evil and they are safe. Also blocks domination, which cannot be overvalued. All this for a 1st level slot.Eh? How so? +2 deflection AC is nice, but it's hardly immunity. PFE only blocks summoned creatures, and then only against melee (not ranged or SLAs).
pmurray@bigpond.com 01-29-07, 09:22 PM	Mostly good stuff, but ... Eh? How so? +2 deflection AC is nice, but it's hardly immunity. PFE only blocks summoned creatures, and then only against melee (not ranged or SLAs). Dang. Back to the drawing board. Maybe I will retain Expeditious Retreat after all, for next year.