Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Jack_Skellington Sep 14, 2009 10:59:10	I'm going to play an Illumian Archivist, but I don't even imagine how to optimize it. These are the stats: Illumian Archivist 4 STR 10 DEX 10 CON 16 INT 18 WIS 18 CHA 10 Power Sigils: Hoon, Naen Feats: Master of Knowledges, Empowered Power Sigils Skills: 7 ranks in Concentration, Decipher Script, Knowledge (arcana, dungeon, the planes, religion), and Spellcraft; 1 rank in Knowledge (local) Thanks for your help!
#2 phaedrusxy Sep 14, 2009 11:17:12	Are you planning on going into Sacred Exorcist later? I see you took the Naen Hoon pseudo-DMM sigils. One of the best "tricks" you can do as an archivist is get spells earlier and from other lists. There was a thread (or more than one, maybe) devoted to this, but I don't have a link. You can probably find one in the "Handy Links" thread, though. Low level ranger spells can be particularly good for some applications.
#3 lormador Sep 14, 2009 18:54:55	There are a lot of different ways to go with an Archivist. Are you aiming for gish or controller? Depending on spell and feat choices, you could go with either. Archivists make great summoners too, so you might want to focus on that. There aren't too many threads on Archivist optimization because it's one of those classes whose power depends directly on the DM. What spells are you going to be able to get?
#4 Jack_Skellington Sep 15, 2009 2:21:11	There aren't too many threads on Archivist optimization because it's one of those classes whose power depends directly on the DM. What spells are you going to be able to get? We're using the "Divine Magician" from CMag and the "Divine Bard" from UA, thus I can take all the bard spells and the sorcerer/wizard spells from the abjuration, divination and necromancy schools.
#5 lormador Sep 15, 2009 3:10:34	Alright, this is going to be fun! Divine Bard AND Sorcerer/Wizard from three schools is nothing to sneeze at. I assume you're already getting the Adept spells and the domain spells, right? Can you get them from obscure domains, like Force or Slime? With that laid out, it's time to think about alignment. Both good and evil (and things in between) have stuff to offer. Good puts out Sacred Exorcist, which can get you turning attempts and hence Divine Metamagic. Awhile ago people were tossing around Cloistered Cleric 1 / Archivist X builds, just for early DMM. I would recommend this if you were going for a Gish type of character, abusing the low level combat bard and paladin spells. That's how I would roll a Gish, anyway. Cloistered Cleric 1 / Archivist X, all other feats aimed towards DMM:Persist and maximizing it. It's kind of boring, and it's been done before, but hey. It still stomps. With a more pure spellcaster type of feel, I enjoy summoning with Archivists. And here evil has a field day, because they can cast Animate Dead, as well as Summon Nature's Ally, and the whole Summon Monster series. They also easily qualify for Thaumaturgist. This is nice if you feel like dropping invisible, summoning things, sending in your undead, and summoning stuff. It achieves the cleric role nicely. Along a similar line, there's the Holt Warden for 1 level (from Complete Champion) into Contemplative for 1 level. This gets you a domain, and the slots to use it. The Magic domain is sometimes useful, for Anyspell, but there are others. One can combine this with either of the two above plans, gish or summoning. There is a buffing role with an Archivist, but it's usually sort of tertiary. I use it when I have enough party members that I don't need to summon more stuff. Summoning can kind of wear down the game if I need to run my Archivist, two undead, and a summoned creature. Other players have been known to take breaks when my initiative number comes up. But... wow.... Charm Monster at 3rd level, Polymorph, Dominate Person.... you're going to have major fun with those lists.