Caster Build for Arena

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

ghostie1337

May 09, 2009 10:45:18		So I want to enter an arena game, but I am terrible at making characters and most people that enter will be optimizing quite a bit, and I wish to play on their level.



Level:
16th level, no XP penalties for multiclassing. No additional XP over 16th level because casters can use that as a resource while noncasters cannot.
32 point-buy.
HP is 3/4 of maximum for all levels. E.g. d4->3, d6->4.5, d8->6, d10->7.5, d12->9

Items:
Normal wealth for 20th level plus a single nonepic weapon, armor or shield of +10 total enhancement.
No custom items.
No items requiring spells of 9th level to create.
Expendable items remain expended. (but see spoils below)
Non-expendable items broken/unravelled/disjoined/stolen/destroyed or otherwise removed from the game are restored for the next fight.
NOTE: I just realised characters are of 20ish CR and thus treasure should be adjusted accordingly. Also restricted some broken items.

Races/LA:
One race/creature plus templates of your choice whose total CR or HD do not exceed 5 (whichever comes first).
Your race and/or first template must be from the SRD.

Sources: Non-campaign specific WotC 3.5 books plus any WotC web articles plus Savage Species for feats/spells only. Dragon magazine not available. Only feats, spells and items from campaign-specific stuff.
3.0 stuff that have been updated to 3.5 via web enhancements are OK.

Arena:
Arena is an inescapable cylinder 500 ft wide and 100 ft high.
Combatants start 120 ft apart.
Arena types include the following. The combatants may agree on one or roll randomly.
Empty (completely featureless)
Plains (knee-high vegetation, waist-high rock formations)
Space (as empty plus darkness, no gravity and no air)
Aquatic (completely filled with water)
Forest (trees and grass)
Volcano (ground is red-hot and deals 5d6 fire damage. Pit of magma in the middle)
Rural (many small, unoccupied houses litter the arena)
Swamp (waist-high mud and vegetation, thin mist fills the air)

Banned stuff:
Dragon magazine.
Campaign-specific stuff.
Regeneration.
Magic Immunity (Either full immunity or SR-only immunity. Very high SR still available)
Being or turning into a swarm.
Any tactic that increases/recovers your XP/GP reserves or circumvents XP/GP costs.
Caster level caps at 20.
You can't start with any minions other than one familiar, one animal companion and one mount.


I want to play a wizard, but without incantatrix I don't know any good prestige classes. I am mostly looking for any tips on spells or classes to use, I can do most of the build myself.