Right now AC is 24. I want 30. The number is arbitrary, but seems like a good start.
AC now:
10+
3 armor (+2 thistledown padded)
3 shield (+2 mithral buckler)
3 dex (dex of 14, gloves of dex +2)
2 size (slight build racial ability, per Races of the Dragon online supplement.)
1 natural (racial)
2 deflection (ring of protection +2)
-----------------
24
Usually 2 more from fighting defensively. As the primary caster, I make few attack rolls, and the vast majority of those are touch attacks.
The plan:
1. Trade current armor for +1 mithral twilight chain shirt. This will cost under 1,000 gp, and yield 2 more points of AC.
2. Amulet of Natural Armor +1. 2000gp.
3. This one I'm iffy about. Casting a buff costs an action, which might be better used elsewhere. But..... a wand of reduce person. This should reduce size from small to tiny (counted as diminutive with slight build) yeilding 2 more AC. Cost 750gp for 50 charges AND a combat action. Plus I'm sure there are interesting spacing problems, etc from being 13" tall.
4. Increase shield enhancement to +3. 5000gp.
5. Ioun stone-- +1 insight bonus. 5000gp.
6. Increase amulet from step 2 to +2. Additional 6000gp.
7. +1 defending weapon and greater magic weapon spell. +2 unnamed bonus to AC, which scales with increased caster level. 1 hour/level duration means no actions spent in combat. 8000gp.
Other defenses: trading up greater invis for greater blink soon. Adding the wonder of Greater Mirror Image (with its awesome swift action casting time)to my wish list.
Improving the Gloves of Dex or ring of protection are more expensive. Any other ideas? Looking for luck or competence bonuses, dodge bonuses, etc.
Ignore AC, get misschance. It's a lot better anyway. Greater Mirror Image is an immediate action spell actually. Dragon magic (or Races of the Dragon) has Wings of cover, that one is excellent too.
+1. Also, there's Blur and Greater Blur, which works well against True Sight creatures (mainly outsiders).
Greater Mage armor get's you +6, but I think the Mithril Twilight is probably better. You can add on Armor Spikes +1 defending to the latter and chain your GMW to make that up to +5 unamed bonus to AC (on top of the armor bonus). You can do the same with shield spikes, if you switch from a buckler to a 'real' shield (or if you can get away with buckler blades or something).
Haste gives a +1 Dodge bonus to AC. The Bite of X series of spells gives enhancement to nat bonuses, some of them bigger than anything you'll get from items pre-epic. There are a few priest spells that you can potentially get with Arcane Disciple that grant Luck and sacred/profane bonuses.
As a general rule, you shouldn't increase enhancement bonuses beyond +1. There are hour/lvel spells that can increase it beyond that, most of which can be extended at or beyond 24hr durations by level 10-12. That's way cheaper.
Any buff you have with long durations should be cast *before* entering combat, the earlier the better. If you can work out persist cheese in some way, you should do so on your short duration 1m/lvl or less spells as soon as you can after memorizing them. You shouldn't, generally, be self buffing during combat, except in extreme cases.
Greater mage armor
Alter Self (Troglodite for core)
Get gloves of dex +4
Base 10+
Armor +6
Armor enhancement +2
Shield +1
Sheild enhancement +2
Dex +4
Natural +6
Deflection +2
Thats a 33 AC without much investment. If you can convince your party cleric to Magic Vestment your armor and shield, that's an easy and cheap increase too.
You should definitely have a wand of shield. It's super cheap (750 gp) and will up your AC by another 3 if you have a chance to prep for combat. Never worth it once you are in combat though.
As others have mentioned - Greater Mirror Image is a fantastic defensive spell. Blur, greater blur are as well.
However, a good AC is a pretty cheap and easy investment for a Wizard, certainly your defenses should be layered anyways.
You can add on Armor Spikes +1 defending to the latter and chain your GMW to make that up to +5 unamed bonus to AC (on top of the armor bonus). You can do the same with shield spikes, if you switch from a buckler to a 'real' shield (or if you can get away with buckler blades or something).
None of which works unless you make an attack, or at least declare the "attack action", which is a standard action. The same goes for fighting defensively, as noted above.
None of which works unless you make an attack, or at least declare the "attack action", which is a standard action. The same goes for fighting defensively, as noted above.
Ummm...where do you see that? All I see under the 'defending' property in the DMG is that as a free action you declare some or all of the enhancement bonus to be a bonus to AC instead of to attack. The only stipulation is that it has to be decided at the start of your turn.
Is there a FAQ entry or Errata or something?
For my next level, and we're soooo close, my spell selection loks like:
2nd-Ray of Stupidity (debuff, especially for those low INT creatures looking for meals. Or Wings of Cover (a "get out of ouch free" card).
3rd- Dispel Magic
4th- Greater Mirror Image
5th- Greater Blink, or Arcane Fusion
Special thanks to tschern for links in her (his?) sig, and all of the advice. Where do I find Greater Blur? SpC has Greater Blink......
Except... (and this is what I am doing for another character) Mage of the Arcane Order would grant you access to X spells, where the total levels of spells is equal to or less than half of your caster level. You only get spells 1-3 with one level in the PrC, but that's enough for a couple hour/level buff spells.
You can still add on a shield w/ mage armor, right?
Is there a FAQ entry or Errata or something?
IIRC, it was in the FAQ.
3.0 FAQ, p 27:
Do you have to actively wield a weapon of defending to
use its power? Or could you hold a longsword of defending
in your left hand, not use it to attack (so you are not
actually using the two weapons) and still wield a sword in
your right hand without penalties? Or is the defending
bonus considered part of the normal parrying that happens
in the background?
Using a weapon of defending works just like the Expertise
feat. (You have to use an attack or full attack action.) You can’t
use the weapon like a shield; if you hold the weapon in your off
hand and claim an Armor Class bonus for it, you take all the
penalties for fighting with two weapons, even if you don’t
actually attack with the weapon.
You know, Tshern's sig seems to be a good resource for this. I mean, his sig has the thread "Ways for a caster to not get hit".
For some reason I forgot that utterly...
FYI, we also have a Ninja 10 and a Fighter4/Bard3/Swashbuckler3 (or something *groan*).
I use UMD for things we ordinarily would not have access to, but a wand or other item would not typically use my CL.
Isn't there some way a sorcerer can add some spells from the cleric list, or from cleric domains, via a PrC or feat, due to their "draconic heritage"? If you could get the Strength or War Domain (or probably some others), you could provide your own Magic Vestment.
I think there is a way to add access to a domain in Complete Champion, also, but I don't have the book.
There is a 5th level ACF from Complete Champion that would do it. And I think the DM might allow a retrain. Nobility domain is another option.
I don't like Permancy very much. It puts you one Dispel Magic (or its kin) away from being out a lot of gp, xp, or both. But the overall idea rocks. I've thought about getting a runestaff to include the "primal" series of spells.
I guess what I'm really after is increased survivability. With no BSF to soak up damage, I'm always concerned about critters eyeing me for a tasy treat.
So far, we have:
Increase AC
Always have a miss chance
Keep saves high
What about SR? Is there an optimal way of acquiring it?
Yet another spell prepared via MotAO. If you are grappled, you want some way to get free, right?
What about SR? Is there an optimal way of acquiring it?
The cleric spell. That's pretty much it.
What about SR? Is there an optimal way of acquiring it?
You don't want it. SR is a double edged sword, unless you can turn it off at will.
Greater Mage Armor will be worth it in a wand form as well...
IIRC, it was in the FAQ.
3.0 FAQ, p 27:
Thanks.
Isn't there some way a sorcerer can add some spells from the cleric list, or from cleric domains, via a PrC or feat, due to their "draconic heritage"? If you could get the Strength or War Domain (or probably some others), you could provide your own Magic Vestment.
I almost always take Arcane Disciple at least once as a Sorceror or other limited list caster. It's 9 free spells known, many of which you couldn't otherwise get. Even if you can only cast them once a day, that still fits the bill in many cases (I mean, how many times do you plan on casting hr/lvl or persisted buffs a day?).
There's also Draconic Heritage>>Legacy which gives you a handful (like 2 or 3) spells added to your spells known, based on your dragon type.
There's also a couple regional feats that give you some 0ths, or a single 1st to your list, and Precocious Apprentice gives a 2nd.
If you can take Prestige Bard level(s), that's supposed to add the 'bard only' list to your spells known.
Finally, if you're allowed Dragon material, there's the bloodlines feats, each give you 9 spells in exchange for some spells being uncastable. Some of them are fairly good, in and of themselves.
Of course, all this is probably just preaching to the choir.