The way the feat is worded, any spell can be effected by this feat, not just mind-effecting spells, but at the cost of a +1 level adjustment like other metamagic feats. This works nicely with those speciallized school builds that work with Necromancy. This is most likely is cheesy and if you have a hard time trying to role-play this with a spell other than a mind-effecting just think every time you cast a spell with this feat it's followed by the screams of the unliving damned.
A little something before I finish this up. You guys may ask CustServ about this, you may even notice that I might have missed something about this, but unless you put down the latter, I will probably not put a response 'cause most people I talk rules with couldn't care what CustServ has to say. I'm not trying to be rude, it's just the enviroment I'm in.
Please discuss this and go nuts, if it's even considered crazy at all. Quotes will go up when I get a look at the books this is from.
There is great synergy when used with:
Black Lore of Moil (Complete Arcane, Pg 75): Extra damage for necromancy spells; and a
Slaymate (Libris Mortis, Pg 121): -1 total Metamagic for any spell from the school of Necromancy.
The Slaymate pays for the cost of Song of the Dead, and then pay some g.p. for the Moilian spell, and you're good to go.
C.
I have been using Song of the Dead for a while with my Necromancer / Cleric / Mystic Theurge.
There is great synergy when used with:
Black Lore of Moil (Complete Arcane, Pg 75): Extra damage for necromancy spells; and a
Slaymate (Libris Mortis, Pg 121): -1 total Metamagic for any spell from the school of Necromancy.
The Slaymate pays for the cost of Song of the Dead, and then pay some g.p. for the Moilian spell, and you're good to go.
C.
That's a really sweet build but how'd you get a slaymate? Is you're DM being nice and letting you have one, or is there more to it? If you found a good way to get a slaymate, let me know.
The Slaymate is a nice idea. I'll see that and raise you the Theurgic Specialist feat from Dragon 325 for a wizard based MT build. When casting spells from your specialized school from either class, you use the total caster level of all your spellcasting classes. With the Slaymate, Song of the Dead is free, and every spell is suddenly a necromancy spell. =]
Theurgic Specialist is going to be fun with this build I'm gonna get going. It's going to be sweet with this and a slaymate! I'll put it up here when I'm done getting it together.
The Slaymate is a nice idea. I'll see that and raise you the Theurgic Specialist feat from Dragon 325 for a wizard based MT build. When casting spells from your specialized school from either class, you use the total caster level of all your spellcasting classes. With the Slaymate, Song of the Dead is free, and every spell is suddenly a necromancy spell. =]
Is that capped at HD? How about ECL?
Oh my god.
If a Sorcerer with that feat casts Fireball and applies it to the Fireball, it counts as a Necromancy spell?
Totenkinder: Yes.
A bit of extra cheese: I'm not sure of this works. I remember reading that your feats apply in the order that's most beneficial, and if they do, then this works. If someone could get me a source or prove me wrong on that, that'd be great.
For your Wiz 3/Clr 1/MT X, take Practiced Spellcaster for Cleric. Thus your cleric caster level increases by three, and THEN you apply the Theurgic Specialist feat. Pretty cheesy, if it works.
...For your Wiz 3/Clr 1/MT X, take Practiced Spellcaster for Cleric. Thus your cleric caster level increases by three, and THEN you apply the Theurgic Specialist feat. Pretty cheesy, if it works.
If I'm not mistaken, that should work.
It's a good thing that Theugic Specialist was found 'cause I would have ended up trying to get into the Yathrinshee PrC (PGtF) to get all the spellcasting levels for Necromancy to stack, and that's not easy with all of the loops they make you jump through.
I actually have a character that I'm playing now that abuses this. I'll share more later but for now, don't forget the Trait Spell-Gifted. Raises you CL +1 for 1 school and drops it -1 for all other schools. If all of your spell are of the same school...
I'm actually thinking of applying this feat to a Cleric who's going end up taking Walker in the Waste as a prestige class.
What book is that in?
Sandstorm.
Is that capped at HD? How about ECL?
Oh my god.
The Psiotheurge are actually a lot worse since they affect ML in the same way, letting you manifest powers with ridiculous DCs...
Methodical: No, and no. They didn't quite think it through.
Totenkinder: Yes.
A bit of extra cheese: I'm not sure of this works. I remember reading that your feats apply in the order that's most beneficial, and if they do, then this works. If someone could get me a source or prove me wrong on that, that'd be great.
For your Wiz 3/Clr 1/MT X, take Practiced Spellcaster for Cleric. Thus your cleric caster level increases by three, and THEN you apply the Theurgic Specialist feat. Pretty cheesy, if it works.
This is exactly what I was thinking of when I posted earlier.
The Psiotheurge are actually a lot worse since they affect ML in the same way, letting you manifest powers with ridiculous DCs...
Oh wow. But I'm more interested in making all your spells necromantic, applying free metamagic, being spellgifted, etc...
Spell focus becomes awesome rather than simply worth it when applied to all your spells.
Also, how do you enter MT as a wizard 3/cleric 1? I know you can do it the other way around with precocious apprentice, but..?
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1057984
Of course, them not being illusions means they miss a few benefits, but I think it's worthwhile.
JaronK
Wait, I've got it! Song of the Dead on a Shadowcraft Mage! Now your shadow spells are necromancy, and with a Slaymate the cost of the spells goes down by one (Heighten is now cheaper!). Now you can cast 9th level spells with an 8th level slot without resorting to Easy Metamagic.
Of course, them not being illusions means they miss a few benefits, but I think it's worthwhile.
JaronK
Yeah, I'd thought about that, but doesn't the Slaymate only reduce 1 Metamagic? It would turn the spell into a Necromancy spell for free, but that's all it'd do (plus, you'd lose all your tasty DC boosts for Illusions and other fancy abilities).
All spells effected by the Song of the Dead metamagic feat have no effect on living creatures or constructs.
If it's been rewritten since the DC then feel free to prove me wrong, but for a feat with so much hype, it seems like someone else might have noticed this besides me....
My 2 platinum.
Sorry to spoil the fun, be a wet blanket, or what have you, but as an owner of the Dragon Compendium book, and someone that was interested in this feat I must tell you:
All spells effected by the Song of the Dead metamagic feat have no effect on living creatures or constructs.
If it's been rewritten since the DC then feel free to prove me wrong, but for a feat with so much hype, it seems like someone else might have noticed this besides me....
My 2 platinum.
I don't have the stuff on me at the moment so can anyone else here confirm this? Thanks in advance.
"the altered spell has no effect against living creatures or constructs".
A mind-affecting spell modified by this feat works normally against intelligent undead creatures. Mindless undead (those without Intelligent scores) are still immune to its effect, and the altered spell has no effect against living creatures and constructs.
It all really depends on the interpretation of the feat's wording. The second sentence might be entirely based on the emphasized text in the first sentence but, again, it all depends on the interpretation.
What do you guys think?
A mind-affecting spell modified by this feat works normally against intelligent undead creatures.
This part doesn't matter for an evocation spell like fireball, since its not mind-affecting.
Mindless undead are still immune to it's effect,
The pronoun in this half of the sentence (it's) applies to the first sentence's subject (mind-affecting spell), meaning that this does not apply either.
and the altered spell has no effect against living creatures and constructs.
Ah here we go. This part of the sentence has a different 'subject' as the first part, this time referring to the "altered spell" instead of 'mind-affecting spell' specifically. This means that any spell affected by this metamagic feat is wasted against this living, not just those nice little charms that we would love to effect zombies.
I mean, if you really want to look deep into the wording of the spell, it really should only effect mind-affecting spells. But I guess you can cast an extended fireball, right?
My 2 platinum :D
I really am. I just noticed this when I was trying an over the top build with the same. Just because my over-analysis means I noticed it, doesn't mean your DM will read it the same way. ;)Again, I apologize...