listed in order of preference)- serve as a spy/scout.
- Good casting
- good ranged sneak attack
- Able to self/group buff
- Face type
I like the Unseen Seer alot except for the focus on Divination. Is there a way around this with another similar class? Unseen seems much better then focusing on Arcane Trickster.
So far I am planning - I am not sold on this yet and would love an alternative.
Human (no stats yet)
Rogue 1 - Able Learner, Darkstalker
Wiz1
Wiz2
Wiz3
Wiz4
Wiz5 - Chain Spell, Leadership
Unseen1-10
Thinking AT for the last few pre-epic.
Is there epic progression listed anywhere for the Unseen Seer?
Other key elements:
No dragon Mag
No warlock until 7th lvl or later
The campaign will go epic - I have no idea on that front
No LA classes
Thank you
Kobold, Knowledge and Trickery Domain
Lots of Skill Points, able to find traps and disarm them, party face with high charisma, Divine Insight to help for skills, can use the cleric buffs to wade into combat, and although I'm blanking on the name, there are spells to give you SA.
Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold Cloistered Cleric 20
Kobold, Knowledge and Trickery Domain
Lots of Skill Points, able to find traps and disarm them, party face with high charisma, Divine Insight to help for skills, can use the cleric buffs to wade into combat, and although I'm blanking on the name, there are spells to give you SA.
Dragon Mag 357: Sacred Outlaw. Reguires 1d6 sneak, lets cleric / rogue levels stack for Sneak Attack and Turning. Cope with Assasin's Stance from ToB to qualify. Enjoy your 12d6 sneak attack. (Does not work for OP tho.)
Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold
Where is this from? Drac?
Dragon Mag 357: Sacred Outlaw. Reguires 1d6 sneak, lets cleric / rogue levels stack for Sneak Attack and Turning. Cope with Assasin's Stance from ToB to qualify. Enjoy your 12d6 sneak attack. (Does not work for OP tho.)
requires 2d6 sneak attack not 1, thus you need to lose two levels of casting instead of 1, or do assassin stance (feat heavy), or always carry certain items around.
Dragonwrought is a feat in Races of the Dragon, Kobold is presented there as well. Venerable refer's to age.
My unseen seer I have been working on, for the last 4 levels I took 1 level of Swordsage and 3 levels of Abjurant Champion. The only thing I dislike about unseen seer is how the divination bonus takes away from all other schools, instead of just being a bonus. To me, it's more of a flaw then it is a bonus.
Consider specializing to provide extra spells per level.
Stats: Int->Dex->Con->Cha->Wis->Str
Feats: Able Learner, Master Spellthief, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot; Rest is entirely up to you, depending on whether you wish to focus on stealth (Darkstalker) or damage (split ray, empower spell, other metamagic).
This build grants you: +8d6 Sneak Attack, Caster Level 20 (Spellslots equal to a L19 Wizard), ability to cast in light armor without ASF (hello, mithral breastplate!), all social and stealth skills as class skills, ability to steal spells like a L20 Spellthief (very handy).
Checklist:
- serve as a spy/scout: you've got high dex, light armor, permanent nondetection, high skill points, and trapfinding.
- Good casting: You cast spells like a L19 Wizard with an effective Casterlevel of 20. You could even fill the role of the party wizard if you wanted.
- good ranged sneak attack: 8d6 Sneak Attack, and firing into melee without penalty. Note that with split ray (metamagic +2), the SA dice are added to each individual ray, so you'll definitely be among the top damage dealers. If you take the reserve feat Acidic Splatter, you can fire all day as long as you want, and afaik it even counts as an Su-Ability, so bye-bye Spell Resistance! Against certain SA immune enemies, certain spells will help you defeat their SA immunity (Gravestrike vs Undead, Vinestrike vs Plants, Golemstrike vs Golems; only elementals and fortification might be a problem).
- Able to self/group buff: You're a wizard.
- Face type: You've got all social skills as class skills, many skill points, and usually a halfway-decent charisma score.
As for an alternative to Unseen Seer, consider Spellwarp Sniper (from CS; focusses more on damage dealing) and maybe Uncanny Trickster (also from Complete Scoundrel).
The only thing I dislike about unseen seer is how the divination bonus takes away from all other schools, instead of just being a bonus.
Take Practiced Spellcaster.
Human Spellthief1/Wizard4/Unseen Seer7/Arcane Trickster8
This really sounds ideal.
One question, would I be shooting myself in the foot not doing 10 levels of Unseen Seer once we reach epic?
Thanks to everyone for the responses.
wizard 5 for spontaneous divination.
xxx should not be arcane trickster, that is a quite bad prestige class. Consider divine oracle. If you feel the need to sneak attack someone, just cast hunter's eye (which you should take with unseen seer's class feature).
consider beguiler 20 :P
I :inlove: Beguiler. :D
Also, depending on the amount of versatility you feel you need, you should probably trade Scribe Scroll from Wizard 1 for a Martial Feat (as per ACF from Unearthed Arcana) - by partial Base Attack Bonus-progression, that means you'd have +1 BAB on level one and the ability to pick from, among others:
Point Blank Shot
Precise Shot
Power Attack
Weapon Finesse
If you do end up taking Wizard 5 (you probably should), you can still trade the feat for Spontaneous Divination. Also, I suggest being Conjurer Specialist; Rogue Wizard gets even more mileage out of Abrupt Jaunt than normal.
So, fill out the combat style feat through that to save up. Also, to finish up, Spellwarp Sniper (Complete Scoundrel) seems ideal for the concept:
-It has full casting and 4+int skills (the key point) - about as good as you get without Unseen Seer (the skill list is horrible, but that's what you've got Able Learner for)
-It has only couple of skills you'd want anyways maxed as prerequisites. Contrast this with Arcane Trickster, who has such allstars as Decipher Script listed as prereqs.
-It gives you pseudo-Sneak Attack with rays.
You even get Precise Shot as a bonus feat. Of course, since you already probably have it, you may as well retrain the original Precise Shot into something and take the new one as something useful.
Your feats should probably look something like:
1. Able Learner, Nymph's Kiss (if possible)
2. Point Blank Shot
3. Precise Shot
6. Leadership
9. Chain Spell
12. Practiced Spellcaster (to make up for the levels lost to Unseen Seer)
15. Quicken Spell
18. Darkstalker, some metamagic (this is all pushed a bit far by Leadership/Chain Spell - has your DM ok'd it? Ironically it would be easier for you if he hadn't since you could pick the core feats more effectively - Darkstalker should really be around 6-9)
21. Epic Spellcasting
Can you get Flaws? Two extra feats would go a long way to make the concoction work in due schedule. Retraining (PHBII) would help a lot too - you get Precise Shot from Spellwarp Sniper, which would allow you to retrain the original (metamagic, spell power, etc.). Anyways, with Nymph's Kiss and Able Learner, you should be able to get sufficient skillpoints to max out Spellcraft and Concentration while still taking all the rogueish skills (with 11-12 per level on average before Int increases, you'll be fine). Spellthief-road would be possible if you have Flaws, but otherwise fitting Master Spellthief is hard and the extra 8 skillpoints will really come in handy too, so I'd strongly prefer Rogue over Spellthief if not running with Flaws. Rogue also has much better skill list (Spellthief lacks, among others, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Sleight of Hand and Sense Motive, but you get Diplomacy and Sense Motive from Unseen Seer, and unbelievably Intimidate from Spellwarp Sniper's inexistent skill list), but if you can overcome all those, the light armor is really handy and the spellcasting too. Makes you much better in non-magic environment.
Allows you to max:
Hide
Move Silently
Spot
Listen
Disable Device
Search (you may not need to absolutely max these two out due to your insane Int)
Diplomacy
Bluff
Intimidate
Spellcraft
Concentration
1. Int up: Sense Motive
2. Int up+Book (around level 16 to make up for the fact that remaining class levels only have 4+Int - gives you 1 extra point/level total): Gather Information, Stray skills, Knowledges, etc.
Probably some stray ranks in Knowledges (preferably at least one in the major ones, 5 probably in Arcana for Spellcraft synergy), Sense Motive, Gather Information and company seem handy (may be, you should max Gather Information over Intimidate). If I was to get one more skill to max for that, I'd max Sense Motive. Also, get enough ranks in Tumble to make the DC 15 check consistently without Magic - it's one of the best tools for escaping annoying Anti-Magic Fields.
You may even cram one point into Decipher Script for trained checks (to anything Int-related Trained Only). I'd shy away from Use Magic Device; you're rather low on skillpoints with all you're trying to do and you already have the best spellcasting of the game. Sure, expanding your repertoire would be sweet, but most of those skills are things you can't replicate with spells. Open Lock is bit of an odd bird - 99% of the time you can just Knock the locks, but when you end up looking down on some Anti-Magic Fielded Locks you absolutely must get past, you'll be in a pickle without Open Lock.
There's no listed Epic Progression for Unseen Seer, so work with your DM to create one; it's specifically stated that all 10 level Prestige Classes have Epic Progression. You absolutely must finish all the 10 levels before Epic though, so none of those "Unseen Seer 8"-builds. The Epic Progression would consist of all systematically gained class features, which means:
Damage Bonus
Advanced Learning
Divination Spell Power (although see with your DM if you could talk him not to include this :S Getting ****ed up Caster Levels throughout Epic would suck, especially since Practiced Spellcaster is already taken)
Epic Feat (every 5-6 levels or so)
See the Epic boards for more ideas.
Also, your stats would need to be something like:
Int 18 (only absolutely necessary - not only is this your spellcasting, it's also your skillpoints)
Con As High As Possible (16 preferably - you'll have bad Fort-saves and be living off d4 hit dice for most of your career)
Dex ~14 (13 qualifies you for Point Blank Shot - although if you take 3 levels of Spellwarp Sniper earlier, you'd get Precise Shot for free)
Cha 10-12 (depending on how much you can afford - Nymph's Kiss helps this a lot)
Wis 8-10
Str 8-10
32pb would allow:
Int 18
Con 16
Dex 14
Cha 8
Wis 8
Str 8 (or Con 14, Cha 12 or Con 14, Cha 10, Wis 10)
Flawless Rogue 1/Wizard 5/Unseen Seer 10/Spellwarp Sniper 4 OR
Flawed Spellthief 1/Wizard 5/Unseen Seer 10/Spellwarp Sniper 4 (not necessarily in that order; pick Spellwarp Sniper earlier to add Intimidate to your class skills)
EDIT: Oh wait, we no longer have Epic boards. Crap.
EDIT#2: I forgot to mention Disguise- and Sleight of Hand-skills (very handy, both of them). You should probably find points for 'em. Also, if you happen to own Complete Scoundrel, there's a crapton of skilltricks there that would be useful for you:
-Assume Quirk
-Second Impression
-Social Recovery
-Timely Misdirection
-Conceal Spellcasting
-False Theurgy
-Collector of Stories
-Magical Appraisal
-Listen to This
-Point It Out
-Spot the Weak Point (for whenever you need to make do without Magic)
-Swift Concentration
-Back on Your Feet
-Nimble Stand
Obviously you can't pick 'em all, but some would be handy. I especially suggest Magical Appraisal: Suddenly you don't need money for Identifies! Also, Swift Concentration: Extra turn of free Concentration on a spell while going about your business! Also, the social tricks are incredible for not ****ing up negotiations when things are going well (couple offer rerolls). The Tumble-related movement ones serve to keep you alive, and some of those give you some tools for fighting without your magical abilities (Spot the Weak Point to do touch attacks to Sneak with for example).
Human Spellthief1/Wizard4/Unseen Seer7/Arcane Trickster8
Caster Level 20 (Spellslots equal to a L19 Wizard), ability to cast in light armor without ASF (hello, mithral breastplate!), all social and stealth skills as class skills, ability to steal spells like a L20 Spellthief (very handy).
How do you advance in both Wizard and Spellthief with Unseen Seer? Aren't you relagated to spellthief 1 with this build?
Example:
-Spellthief3/Wizard7 with Master Spellthief can steal spell levels as a level 10 Spellthief, has wizard spellslots as appropriate for a 7th level wizard, and casts all spells (both his own and stolen ones) with an arcane casterlevel of 10.
-Spellthief3/Wizard5/Beguiler4 with Master Spellthief can steal spell levels as a level 12 Spellthief, has wizard spellslots as appropriate for a 7th level wizard, beguiler spellslots as a 4th level beguiler, and casts both Beguiler, Spellthief and Wizard spells with an arcane casterlevel of 12.
As for the regular arcane casterlevels granted by Unseen Seer and Arcane Trickster, simply choose them to advance your wizard spellcasting.
Human
1 Rogue/ 4 Wizard/ 10 Unseen Seer/ 5 Arcane Trickster
Int/Con/Dex/Wis/Cha/Str
Feats:
1 Able Learner
1 Improved Initiative
3 Practiced Spellcaster
6 Arcane Thesis (Scorching Ray)
7 Silent Spell
9 Empower Spell
12 Acidic Splatter
15 Spell Penetration
18 Greater Spell Penetration
requires 2d6 sneak attack not 1, thus you need to lose two levels of casting instead of 1, or do assassin stance (feat heavy), or always carry certain items around.
One level Dip for Swordsage to get Assasin Stance = 2d6 sneak attack. Not 2. :P