I want to start as a Sorc or Wiz (leaning of course towards Sorc since they're more fun and have more spells).
All books except Tome of Battle Or Magic of Incarnum
Any race without a level adjustment
Starting at 11th level - standard starting gold
Mild Cheese allowed (no dragonwrought kobold or greater draconic rite of passage)
Full caster level is a must
I was thinking something like a Lesser Aasimar Sorc 6/Incantrix 5 with Fiery Burst and a 9th level Wand of Magic Missiles. Or for a Wizard a Wild Gnome (-2 str, +2 con, +2 int, -2 Cha, out of Dragonlance) Conjurer 3/Master Specialist 7 with Rapid Summoning alt class feature, but i'm open to anything.
Best of all you can make lots of undead to fight for you.
- Anima Mage
- Eldritch Theurge (use a scepter so you only need one level of warlock)
Otherwise, just work with your party to rest more often between encounters, and sleep inside a rope trick. In most games if the party doesn't want to have an encounter, they have lots of ways of avoiding them (typically by returning to town :P)
Finally, reserve feats from complete mage are usable unlimited times per day and can be quite effective when you're low on spells.
Here's a build based on one I used a while back. Basically 3 spells per day can be sculpted without any level adjustment, which lets you do lots of crazy things with grease, web, etc. Summon Elemental Reserve is just handy when you're really low on spells, or for utility purposes (scouting, lighting fires, etc)
Ex:
Tinker Gnome Conj. 3/M. Specialist 8
Alternative class features: Enhanced Summoning (UA), Rapid Summoning (UA), Focused Specialist (C. Mage)
Feats:
1st char: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
1st bonus: Augment Summoning
3rd char: Sculpt Spell
4th bonus: Skill Focus (Spellcraft)
6th char: Matamagic School Focus (C. Mage)
6th bonus: Imp. Spell Focus (Conj.)
9th char: Summon Elemental (Reserve feat, C. Mage)
You could go dread necromancer (necropolitan human for race LA+0). You get quite a few spells per day (though smaller selection). Consider some runestaffs for diversity. You can heal yourself forever, and still melee a little bit if you wanted.
Best of all you can make lots of undead to fight for you.
Well I'd be using a lot of scrolls and wands for utilty so the Dread Necro's small class list would be a hinderance. Plus I already tried to get this one approved by the DM, while we can't make evil PC's he considers Dread Necro's pretty evil since they aspire to be a lich. Also we have a Paladin in the party (boo!) that would probably kill me ;)
For this kind of situation, I like some of the dual progression classes. If you handle entry requisites properly, you'll lose only one caster level, but you gain a bunch of other abilities that should give you some much needed endurance.
- Anima Mage
- Eldritch Theurge (use a scepter so you only need one level of warlock)
Not too familiar with the Anima Mage. What would be the benefits of the class? Also I forgot to mention the DM banned Warlock's for the reasons stated in my original post. We already have a Cleric/Beguiler/Mystic Theruge in the party, so I'm looking for a full arcane caster class to fill that niche.
Check out Focused Specialist from C. Mage - it gives you more spells per day from your specialist school at the cost of general spell slots, which would go perfectly with the wild gnome conjurer (though I would go tinker gnome, since its 0 LA if I recall.
Otherwise, just work with your party to rest more often between encounters, and sleep inside a rope trick. In most games if the party doesn't want to have an encounter, they have lots of ways of avoiding them (typically by returning to town :P)
Finally, reserve feats from complete mage are usable unlimited times per day and can be quite effective when you're low on spells.
Here's a build based on one I used a while back. Basically 3 spells per day can be sculpted without any level adjustment, which lets you do lots of crazy things with grease, web, etc. Summon Elemental Reserve is just handy when you're really low on spells, or for utility purposes (scouting, lighting fires, etc)
Ex:
Tinker Gnome Conj. 3/M. Specialist 8
Alternative class features: Enhanced Summoning (UA), Rapid Summoning (UA), Focused Specialist (C. Mage)
Feats:
1st char: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
1st bonus: Augment Summoning
3rd char: Sculpt Spell
4th bonus: Skill Focus (Spellcraft)
6th char: Matamagic School Focus (C. Mage)
6th bonus: Imp. Spell Focus (Conj.)
9th char: Summon Elemental (Reserve feat, C. Mage)
Wild Gnome are +0 LA, they get plus to Con instead of Dex which to me is more important as a Wizard. Otherwise that's a nice build, similiar to the one I was thinking of, I'll have to check out the Summon Elemental Reserve Feat. I wouldn't go Focused Specialist because I'll be giving up too many schools of magic since I will also be using scrolls and wands for party utility.
Not too familiar with the Anima Mage. What would be the benefits of the class? Also I forgot to mention the DM banned Warlock's for the reasons stated in my original post. We already have a Cleric/Beguiler/Mystic Theruge in the party, so I'm looking for a full arcane caster class to fill that niche.
Anima Mage is from Tome of Magic. It's the binder/arcane dual progression class and only requires a single level of binder to enter. As for the benefits, well, there are entire handbooks devoted to the binder and anima mage, so I'll let you look those up. There is a huge amount of versatility available, and plenty of endurance since most Binder abilities are constant or are reuseable.
1d4+1+5+3 per missile.
Minimum of 50 damage a shot for a first level spell.
I'm sure it would be very easy to do better, but that's not my field.
Human
Chaotic Good
Warmage 2/ Warlock 3/ Eldritch Theurge 6
Feats:
Heighten Spell(Human Bonus)
1st lvl: Versatile Spellcaster
3rd lvl: Practiced Spellcaster(Warmage)
6th lvl: Knowledge Devotion
9th lvl: open feat
8th lvl Warmage(Cast 5th lvl spells, @11th lvl Caster)
9th lvl Warlock abilities(5d6 EB, 3 least, 2 lesser invocations)
Invocations known:
least:
All Seeing Eyes(+6 Spot and Search, continuous Comprehend languages(written))
See Invisible(Dark vision and See Invisible)
Beguiling Influence(+6 Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate)
lesser:
Fell Flight(Flight)
Flee the Scene(Dimension Door)
or try this if Flaws are allowed:
Gnome
Warmage 4/ Shadowcrafter 2/ Shadocraft Mage 5
feats:
Versatile Spellcaster(Warmage) (Flaw bonus)
Heighten Spell(Flaw bonus)
1st lvl: Spell Focus(Illusion)
3rd lvl: Greater Spell Focus(illusion)
6th lvl: Arcane Disciple(Shadow domain)
9th lvl: open feat
11th lvl Warmage(6th lvl Spells @ 11th lvl spellcaster)
:D
Wizard 5 / War Weaver 5 / Incanatrix 10
Why War Weaver? Because it's stealth. DMs don't usually realize the power of simply boosting your allies. You lose 1 CL from it, but it's totally worth it.
Abjurer 3 / Master Specialist 10 / Initiate of the 7 fold Veil 7
Really self-defensive build.
Wizard 10 / Loremaster 10
Bonus feats galore. Try to focus on crafting with this build.
Bard 9 / Virtuoso 1 / Sublime Chord 2 / Viruoso +8
Like a Sorcerer but with lots and lots of class abilities.
Also, the feat Residual Metamagic is a good way to get use out of lower level spell slots.
If dragonlance is allowed, the War Mage from age of mortals pushes out weirdly high amounts of damage. +3 damage per damage die per spell? Hey there magic missile. How's it hanging? What's that? Knowledge devotion? Sure thing lil' buddy.
1d4+1+5+3 per missile.
Minimum of 50 damage a shot for a first level spell.
I'm sure it would be very easy to do better, but that's not my field.
I generally combine that with Force Missile Mage from the Dragon Compendium, which adds 2 missiles per casting. Damage in that case jumps up to min 70 for a first level spell slot. The only downsides are that it's dragon material, which many won't use, and it loses a single caster level. With arcane thesis, it get's even grosser, as you can empower it and as a 2nd, do 105 damage. You also can add an energy descriptor for things like BoTT abuse.
My build was I think Martial Conjurer 5/Incantatrix 3/Force Missile Mage 5/Warmage 5/Incan +2
If I were building a Sorcerer, though, I'd probably go...
Sorcerer 5/Mindbender 1/Incantatrix 4/Divine Oracle 1
Finishing off as...
Sorcerer 5/Mindbender 1/Incantatrix 4/Divine Oracle 2/Incan +6/DO +2
That'll start you with telepathy, which negates the need for worrying about language spells, persist/extend cheese if you want it (buff once and be ready all day), and the Oracle domain added to your spell list (which isn't that great, but it's more spells). You also qualify for Mindsight, which is like see invis/blindsight sort of, saving you on vision enhancing stuff.
Soon You'll have Evasion, more free/reduced metamagic, and eventually uncanny dodge. Though, I will admit the last two levels are a throwaway, mostly because feats will generally already be tight, and I don't want to have to qualify for anything else.
I personally prefer Acid Splash over Fiery Burst, as I find both the [Fire] type damage all but useless beyond 5th or so, and I have a tendency to take on a lot of things with good Ref saves. Combined with Knowledge Devotion, this is a pretty tight backup plan for damage to save spells.
I also like taking Arcane Disciple to add to my spells known. Competition domain is my own personal favorite, but I tend to play gishes. Luck, Time, Spell, Magic, War, Force, and Celerity are all good options.
EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot, one other thing to consider is the Echoing Spell feat from Secret's of Xendrik. Though, it would require arcane preparation first. If your DM is spreading the encounters out throughout the day to force buff drop-page, that feat could let you get spells you use back throughout the day. I usually only consider it for 'money-making' spells, like Fabricate (for which it's gross), but if you focused on a single low level spell that you trick out with class features, it can also be good for reusing that. The above magic missile specialist could cast that one magic missile in a 3rd level slot at CL 21, then again an hour later at CL17, an hour after that at CL13, an hour after that at CL9, an hour after that at CL5, and again an hour after that at CL1, doing, potentially (1d4+1+5+3)*7 + (1d4+1+5+3)*7 + (1d4+1+5+3)*7 + (1d4+1+5+3)*7 + (1d4+1+5+3)*5 + (1d4+1+5+3)*3 or a minimum damage of 360, which isn't terrible for a 3rd level slot.
Force Missile Mage + Knowledge devotion + War mage + 6xmagic missile = Oh god burns burns burns.
All of this said, I am a known proponent of war weaver as a really viable option. See if you can get Algernon into the game..... Though, frankly, your gm will probably put a knife in your throat since Algernon's power level is over nine thousand. On the grasping hand, I've wanted to put a knife in your throat plenty of times, and I hardly know you.
So maybe that's not an active concern.You can go:
5 Illusionist/2 Shadowcrafter/4 Shadowcraft Mage for starts, finishing the Shadowcraft Mage to 5 and then progressing more into Shadowcrafter after that (this build nets you the one bonus feat for 5 Illusionist). Take feats in this order (bonus feats in parentheses): Spell Focus: Illusion, Greater Spell Focus: Illusion, (Heighten Spell), Earth Sense, Earth Spell.
OR
3 Illusionist/4 Master Specialist/1 Shadowcrafter/4 Shadowcraft Mage at level 11. This build nets you some nice bonuses for Master Specialist (Skill Focus: Spellcraft, Greater Spell Focus: Illusion, +2 DC to illusion spells with entry: Will Disbelief, & a bonus spell). Feats, as above: Spell Focus: Illusion, Heighten Spell, Earth Sense, Earth Spell. You'd get the Greater Spell Focus necessary for Shadowcrafter (which you will take after finishing Shadowcraft Mage to 5) from Master Specialist.
I think I favor the second one, myself.
Use silent image, heightened, throughout your spell list to replace evocation and conjuration via the Shadowcraft Mage Shadow Illusion ability. Heightening silent image via Earth spell adds CL, so at level 11 you can heighten a silent image to 6th level and net a +6 CL increase, casting shadow illusion evocations and conjurations as if you were a 17th level spellcaster for purposes of spell resistance, damage dice, and durations.
The only drawback of the second build is that by level 20, you can only get to 6th Shadowcrafter, losing out on 10% quasi-reality for shadow evocations, and +2 spell penetration with shadow spells. However, you shouldn't be having too much trouble with spell resistance anyway.
I normally ban evocation, conjuration, and illusion for a shadowcraft mage.
Disclaimer: Part of the above statement is a lie and a bad plan.
:: straight face ::
I normally ban evocation, conjuration, and illusion for a shadowcraft mage.
I see what you did there....
::sob::
and have the ecl partially bought off by now. (Or you just start 16,000 xp in the hole.)
you gain many sps which are usuable 3 times per day, flight, dr, +4 to cha, charm person at will, and it synergizes very well with going eldritch theurge or anima mage.
Well I'd be using a lot of scrolls and wands for utilty so the Dread Necro's small class list would be a hinderance. Plus I already tried to get this one approved by the DM, while we can't make evil PC's he considers Dread Necro's pretty evil since they aspire to be a lich. Also we have a Paladin in the party (boo!) that would probably kill me ;)
Dread Necros don't have to be evil. Just Non-Good.
They cast evil spells, but, you know...
If you're going with a sorcerer, I definitely agree with the suggestion of Versatile Spellcaster. When I played a sorcerer at that level, I'd be stuck with huge numbers of low-level spell slots and no high-level spell slots; once I took Versatile Spellcaster, that problem disappeared.
Also, the feat Residual Metamagic is a good way to get use out of lower level spell slots.
If you have that ACF from Complete Champion (divine companion? I forget the name), you can feed it your low level slots for various boosts.
Dread Necros don't have to be evil. Just Non-Good.
They cast evil spells, but, you know...
In fact, they need only start as non-good. They can end up as good if they like by simply brutally murdering enough evil men. Ironic, neh?
Dragonborn Lesser Aasimar Sorcerer 6/Incantrix 6
+2 Con, -2 Dex, +2 Wis, +2 Cha
Alt Class feature: Spell Shield (Dungeonscape)
Draconic Aspect: Wings
Str 8
Dex 14
Con 16
Int 14
Wis 10
Cha 21 (18 then 3 points for levels 4,8,12)
Feats
1 Sorc- Empower Spell
2 Sorc- "Buys" Iron Will
3 Sorc- Split Ray
4 Sorc
5 Sorc
6 Sorc - Practical Metamagic (Split Ray)
7 Incantrix - Twin Spell (Banned Enchantment)
8 Incantrix
9 Incantrix - Arcane Thesis (Enveration)
10 Incantrix - Maximize Spell
11 Incantrix
12 Incantrix - Practical Metamagic (Twin Spell)
Spells:
1st - Mage Armor, Nerveskitter, Ray of Flame (SpC), Benign Transposition, Ray of Enfeeblement
2nd - Ray of Ice (SpC), Wings of Cover, Mirror Image, Combust, Invisibility
3rd - Dispel Magic, Battlemagic Perception, Slow, Ray of Exhaustion
4th - Enervation, Orb of Force, Evard's Black Tentacles
5th - Arcane Fusion, Teleport
6th - Ruby Ray of Reversal (or Ray of Light, both SpC)
It's my understanding that Arcane Thesis can bring a metamagic to +0 level of casting. So combined with Practical Metamagic I could do a Split Ray Enervation and only use up a 4th level spell slot. If I wanted to do a Split Ray Twinned Enervation that'd be a 6th level spell slot. So 4d4 negative levels maxed could kill a 16HD creature with one spell, albeit 4 ranged touch attacks (not bad for a 12 level sorc) For equipment I'll be buying a wand of 9th level Magic Missile to help with the marathon aspect of it.