Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ragga Jan 08, 2011 15:36:49	this is my first post on these boards after lurking for a while.  thanks to everyone who contributes with their great ideas.  i have found several threads/guides on countering, but most are geared towards end-game.  what i really need is help optimising in the lvl 8-10 range. i figure i'll go human for the bonus feat master abjurer seems like the best choice, but there could be a prc somewhere i don't know about.  ring of spell battle, ring of greater counterspells, and permenancied arcane sight all seem great. i'm planing on using imp. familiar and imbue familiar with spell ability to counter more at later levels. planar touchstone to get inquisition domain +4 to dispell seems good, but would it be better to save the feat and spend some more gold for dispell bonus? i have 33k for starting items, but ive been considering taking mercantile background to boost that to 44k. all official wotc 3.x books are allowed, but no dungeon mag, and no flaws. any input on feats, spells, items, or anything really, would be greatly appreciated
#2 ragga Jan 13, 2011 11:03:42	nothing?  ok, how bout a more specific question then... which is the most precious, feats, item slots, or gold? is it worth the feat to get the +4 dispell bonus from the planar touchstone?  or would it be better to spend more gold and item slots for dispel bonuses?
#3 waazraath Jan 13, 2011 14:45:10	Could you post with what you've got so far? I don't have any experience with counterbuilds so I don't know if I can help, but without at least an outline of a build the question you pose is hard to answer.
#4 Maat_Mons Jan 13, 2011 15:49:43	Complete Champion has a wizard alternate class feature that trades your 5th level bonus feat for the granted power of a domain. Unearthed Arcana has a wizard variant that allows spontaneous casting of dispel magic. Are you going for that feat that lets you counterspell with a spell of the same school? If you're using dispel magic, what sort of success rate do you anticipate? I'm not familiar with counterspell builds either. I will note that readying an action to cast a spell that deals damage forces your target to make a concentration check to avoid losing his spell.
#5 waazraath Jan 13, 2011 16:05:20	I will note that readying an action to cast a spell that deals damage forces your target to make a concentration check to avoid losing his spell. Wouldn't that make any caster with celerity, or something like it (for example anima mage capstone) the easiest & most reliable way to counterspell?
#6 uhm_hoi Jan 14, 2011 0:52:43	I think a war weaver is one of the best counterspellers in the game. You can do exactly what an arcane spellcaster is suppost to do, namely give your party an edge in battle, but a war weaver does it with a move action. That leaves the standard action open for a readied orb of fire for when an enemy tries to cast anything. Your party members get pretty strong when they just gotten fly, haste, heroics and greater invisibility in the first round. At that point, anything that doesn't dispel those buffs will have a problem, so you'll get the opportunity to use your standard actions for readying actions.
#7 Omen_of_Peace Jan 15, 2011 20:47:02	If you go into Master Abjurer for the dispel bonus, think hard before going through with it. At level 8-10 you'll get a +2-3 competence bonus, which pales in comparison to the +4 you can get at Wizard 5 through the Inquisition domain (Alternate Class Feature from Complete Champion). If you can get both via Planar Touchstone, good for you, but planar adventures are not necessarily open to a wizard of this level - check with your DM. Don't forget Elven Spell Lore either. Spell-wise, Battlemagic Perception is key because you truly don't want to have to ready an action to counterspell. I think you found my guide already, in any case. I'd get the Ring of Spell-Battle but perhaps not the Ring of Greater Counterspells: remember, you don't want to specialize too much in counterspelling. Boost your Int, saves, etc... instead.
#8 Krusk Jan 16, 2011 11:28:24	Feats are more important than gold every time. You get hundreds of thousands of gold throughout an adventure. This is enough to let you buy like 10-15 items of signifigant value. If you area human you will have 8 feats. Your level 8 PC will have 4. I have never tried to play a counterspeller, so I can't help on that.