Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 guest919208287 Feb 19, 2012 4:03:06	Hello everyone, first time poster here, although I have been using these forums as a resource right along. My group is starting a rather ambitious campaign(3.5e) involving four different DMs, as well as an epic level story.  We are starting the epic part first, with the four DMs creating what is to be the deity in their respective worlds.  We were originally told that we could only be fighter or cleric, and then the whole deity thing evolved, so all classes became available.  Long story short, I decided to make an Arcane Hierophant to start at level 20.  Three of the five of us were too lazy to remake characters, so he is grouped with a fighter, two clerics, and an archmage, all starting at level 20.  I am trying to optimize my build.  Since this will be a deity, I am allowed some tweaking, such as feats swapped.  I have the experience to level up to 24 as well.  My level 20 build is:  Ooleg Illumian Druid5/Wizard3/MysticTheurge2/ArcaneHierophant10 10 str, 14 dex, 18 con, 20 int, 20 wis, 12 cha Feats(7):  Practiced Spellcaster(druid)(wizard), Quicken Spell, Empower Spell, Chain Spell, Spell Penetration, Natural Spell, Natural Bond Wild Shape as level 15 druid, with AH and druid levels stacking.  AH stacks with druid for companion benefits and spell progression, as well as wizard for familiar benefits and spell progression This allows for level 17 druid spell progression and level 15 wizard spell progression, which is 9th level druid and 8th level wizard spells.  Also my caster levels will be 20 druid and 19 wizard for casting purposes from practiced spellcaster. His companion familiar is a fleshraker dinosaur.  My strategy so far has been to cast a bunch of buff and orb spells then wild shape into an ironmaw and start swinging, with my companion swinging away the whole time.  As for my style as a player, I like to do damage, eliminate enemies, and just overall kill, but I am looking for an extremely strong and possibly overpowered build for my deity. Should I get different feats?    What 2 feats should I take when I level to 24?  I am thinking multispell and sculpt spell. Is empower better than maximize? I have permission to continue five more levels of AH, so I will do this to gain the benefits of companion familiar while improving wild shape and druid/wizard spell progression.  Where do I go with levels 25+? I am thinking of taking one or more levels in Master of Many Forms for the enhanced wild shaping abilities and for communication during wild shape.  This would require me to take alertness and toughness I believe.  Mystic Theurge, Druid, or even more Wizard seem like possibilities. as well. I don't know if battle strategy is discussed in this forum but suggestions are welcome if allowed. Almost all of the books are in play here.  Resources for my build: community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758... community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...
#2 aelryinth Feb 19, 2012 17:58:08	You have feats (7), but there are 8 feats. Practiced spellcaster for two classes is two feats. What are your Illumian sigils? I think there's a combination that allows you to switch your primary casting one...so, for instance, you could move your Int-based wizard over to wisdom, and crank Wis to the moon. Empower is better then maximize for the cost. But...that's not a blaster build. A blaster build has, at the minimum, twin spell, and likely admixture. You're better off with Extend spell for buffs. No Augment Summoning for your animal minions? Are you a specialist wizard? If not, why/why not? Is your DM opposed to a conjuror bringing in zillions of minions, because that's what a wizard/druid can certainly do. At that level, the buffs you get can be quite sick as far as combat goes. I'd make the ranged attack angle totally supplemental and extra, and focus on summoning and/or buffed combat, with spells from wizard covering for those you don't have as a druid. You've got a double-strength CoDzilla there, so you should own no matter what you do. But that's not a blaster build, so ranged combat should just be an extra. You might want to focus on Wizard instead of druid, so you can get 9th level wizard spells first, they are stronger, and can then justify wishes to enhance your stats. Totally flavor, however. ==Aelryinth
#3 Maat_Mons Feb 19, 2012 18:39:07	If you can use Dragon material, A surge of Theurgy (Dragon 325, p60) has some feats that may be useful. Theurgic specialist (Dragon 325, page 62) lets you add all your caster levels together for spells from the school you specialized in (regardless of which class you use to cast them). Aligned theurgy (Dragon 325, page 60) lets you add all your caster levels together for spells with an alignment descriptor you select. The aligned spellcaster alternative class feature for wizard (Dragon 357, page 88) adds an alignment descriptor you select to all your spells (except those with the opposite alignment descriptor).
#4 guest919208287 Feb 19, 2012 20:40:31	Good catch about the feats, looks like chain spell will have to go.  The signs I chose are Krau for the +2 caster level, and Uur(+1 dex based saves) because my reflex is my lowest save.  None of the special things for sigil combos really appealed to me, which is why I chose Uur.  Taking another look, there are options to use dex or str to determine spells and such, but not int or wis.  It does say that I can use it in place of any or all spellcasting classes, so I guess I could technically pump just str or dex. Thanks for your opinion on empower/maximize.  I kind of feel that because I can cast high level druid/wizard spells, I should be tossing around a bunch of high damage spells.  I will say, however,  the strength of this build has been the buffs, companion familiar, and wild shape.  Twin spell sounds pretty fun, though.  I haven't done a lot of summoning thus far due to the amount of book switching/swapping/checking.  I am planning on picking a few to write up character sheets for quick reference, as I have done for my favorite wild shapes.  Suggestions on the best allies/summons would be welcome. I have not specialized simply because of my lack of knowledge on specializing and would be open to it.  I have read that the dual casting thing covers up for deficiencies for the schools you lose.  What do you think a good school would be?  I will be doing some reading on specializing when I am done here. As for feats, I did not take augment summoning because I didn't think I would be using it a lot.  This may not end up being true.  Are the summons' still effective when battling at high levels?  Extend doesn't seem necessary because at 20th level caster, most spells last at least 20 rounds.  I have personally not experienced a battle that long, although maybe this is not the norm.   Augment summoning is definitely in the running now pending whether they would still be effective against higher levels.  I am leaning toward multispell for the 2nd feat, with chain spell still in the running.  Other wild shape or summoning feats would be considered as well.  As for the magazines, they are off limits unfortunately.  I appreciate the suggestions and look forward to researching those ideas anyway. Your responses are much appreciated for a newer player(about a year).  My overall playtime experience is pretty low, but I am still an optimizer, so opinions and suggestions are invaluable.  Thank you again.
#5 draco1119 Feb 19, 2012 21:30:54	As for feats, I did not take augment summoning because I didn't think I would be using it a lot.  This may not end up being true.  Are the summons' still effective when battling at high levels?  Extend doesn't seem necessary because at 20th level caster, most spells last at least 20 rounds.  I have personally not experienced a battle that long, although maybe this is not the norm. IIRC, Augment Summoning has a prereq of Spell Focus (Conjuration), but is definitely worth if for a Druid, and probably an arcane heirophant as well. Extend, however, IS a prereq for another feat - Persistent Spell.  Look it up (Complete Divine or Complete Arcane, IIRC).  Read the description, and imagine a low-level buff you can cast in the morning and keep until the next month.  Something like... Animal Growth, which (even with a range of "Animal touched"!) will affect both you AND your companion familiar through the shared spell ability.
#6 aelryinth Feb 20, 2012 14:23:11	Agreed. Someone around here posted a list of best monsters by level. I would suggest you keep records of the monsters/animals you are going to summon with you at all levels. Summoning monsters slows the game down immensely unless played really well, and that means being seriously prepared. And yes, summoned creatures can be effective at all levels if used wisely. They can be melee (rhinos, t-rexes), artillery (styx devils), or even healers (unicorns).  There is an extremely wide range of things you can call on. And any damage that your summoned monsters take is damage the rest of your party is not taking. Besides, dropping d3+1 Celestial T-Rexes on the table to swarm on enemy is just too thematically fun. Especially if you drop nature's avatar on one of them... ==Aelryinth
#7 guest919208287 Feb 20, 2012 18:00:47	Awesome.  Thanks a bunch for the advice.