[3.5] Making a Wild Mage

[ZhonLord]

My DM is starting a campaign where Wonder effects are a fairly common part of the universe (traps, casting, items, etc.).  Rods of Wonder are so available that they can be purchased for half of the DMG value and we can design our own effects as long as it follows the overall balance between strong/weak and good/bad effects of the original DMG one (all rods must meet DM approval and must keep the "deludes wielder" effect).  So I decided to make a spontaneous-casting Wild Mage build, but having never used the prestige class before I'd greatly appreciate some help setting it up properly.

Any tips for improving the build, alternate races/templates, better ways to meet the skill requirements, and of course ideas for custom Wonder Rods would be a huge help.

Limitations:
*Allowed books: Everything but Exalted Deeds, Vile Darkness, and 3rd-party books like Ultimate Feats.  Dragon Magazines are allowed.
*No level adjustment, either in the base race or in templates.
*No bloodlines
*No flaws
*No psionics

Other information:
*Starting level: 10
*Standard feat progression
*Max HP per hit die
*Four party members
*Stats are determined by 4d6, reroll 1's, drop the lowest.

My original plan was to use Sorcerer as the base class and pay the cross-class skill points, but is there a better base class to use for this prestige if I still want to spont-cast?

Current Setup:
Race: Spellscale with Dragonborn template (-2 Dex, +0 Con, +2 Cha)
Sorcerer 9 / Wild Mage 10 / Mindbender 1

Level Progression:

(click to show/hide)

1. Sorcerer 1, feat:
2. Sorcerer 2
3.  Sorcerer 3, feat: Magical Aptitude
4. Sorcerer 4
5. Sorcerer 5
6. Wild Mage 1, feat: Practiced Spellcaster (already checked with DM, he'll allow it to nullify the -3 at all times)
7. Wild Mage 2
8. Wild Mage 3
9. Mindbender 1, feat: Mindsight (100' Int radar, gotta love it)
10. Wild Mage 4 - Starting Level
11. Wild Mage 5
12. Wild Mage 6, feat:
13. Wild Mage 7
14. Wild Mage 8
15. Wild Mage 9, feat:
16. Wild Mage 10
17-20. other prestige class or continue sorcerer?

Also, for spell selection, would it be better for a Wild Mage to go with battlefield control, buffs/debuffs or straight damage?

[Iainuki]

Among full-casting arcane base classes, you've got sorcerer, beguiler, dread necromancer, and warmage.  Only beguiler gets any of the other wild mage class skills, UMD but not Knowledge (the planes), in-class.  All four cast off Cha except for beguiler, which casts off Int.  It really depends on what you want to do.  There isn't much to say about optimizing wild mage---the only thing it gets aside from the rod of wonder reroll is the caster level bonus with Practiced Spellcaster.  Caster level is always good, but the only spells I can think of that benefit extremely strongly from caster level are the blasphemy line, to turn them into no-save-just-dies.

[Captnq]

A wild mage's caster level becomes random. He loses 3 caster levels, but every spell he casts gets a random 1d6 CLs tacked on. Which means, sometimes, you won't meat the minimum caster level for the spell you want.

However, because the random level becomes part of each and every spell you cast, that random number is subject to empower and maximize. Buy rods of each. Multiple rods. Get rods coming out of your ears.

Ask if you can turn the rods into weapons. Make them +1 clubs. Add Opposable. Now you can "wield" the rod with your knee. Put a maximize and empower rod on both elbows, knees, and on top of your head. Yes, you will have long magic "rods" with multiple "thumbs" grasping various parts of your body, wiggling and swaying about as you cast your magic spells.

But you're a god-damn wild mage.
Freak These People Out, Fer F***'s Sake!!!

[ZhonLord]

Among full-casting arcane base classes, you've got sorcerer, beguiler, dread necromancer, and warmage.  Only beguiler gets any of the other wild mage class skills, UMD but not Knowledge (the planes), in-class.  All four cast off Cha except for beguiler, which casts off Int.  It really depends on what you want to do.  There isn't much to say about optimizing wild mage---the only thing it gets aside from the rod of wonder reroll is the caster level bonus with Practiced Spellcaster.  Caster level is always good, but the only spells I can think of that benefit extremely strongly from caster level are the blasphemy line, to turn them into no-save-just-dies.

Even so, the Wonder reroll is going to be potent enough as it is, with how common those kinds of effects are going to be in his campaign.

As for what I want to do, to be honest I'm not quite sure.  Out of our party's 4, my character is going to be the arcane caster, which means I could be a direct-damage caster or fill one of the "God" roles (control, buffing, debuffing).  I was hoping someone might know which arcane caster role works best with the Wild Mage's abilities, to help with my spell selection.

Not sure I know about the blasphemy line of spells, what book(s) can I find them in?

A wild mage's caster level becomes random. He loses 3 caster levels, but every spell he casts gets a random 1d6 CLs tacked on. Which means, sometimes, you won't meat the minimum caster level for the spell you want.

As I mentioned in my first post, my DM said he'd allow the Practiced Spellcaster feat to nullify the -3 caster level penalty in the wild mage class, but only after the +1d6 has been rolled.  So essentially I will always have a range of +0 to +3 CL whenever I use a spell.

However, because the random level becomes part of each and every spell you cast, that random number is subject to empower and maximize. Buy rods of each. Multiple rods. Get rods coming out of your ears.

Ask if you can turn the rods into weapons. Make them +1 clubs. Add Opposable. Now you can "wield" the rod with your knee. Put a maximize and empower rod on both elbows, knees, and on top of your head. Yes, you will have long magic "rods" with multiple "thumbs" grasping various parts of your body, wiggling and swaying about as you cast your magic spells.

But you're a god-damn wild mage.
Freak These People Out, Fer F***'s Sake!!!

This idea sounds like a lot of fun.  He probably won't allow me to make weapons out of the rods, but getting a bunch of them certainly can't hurt.

[Iainuki]

As for what I want to do, to be honest I'm not quite sure.  Out of our party's 4, my character is going to be the arcane caster, which means I could be a direct-damage caster or fill one of the "God" roles (control, buffing, debuffing).  I was hoping someone might know which arcane caster role works best with the Wild Mage's abilities, to help with my spell selection.

Not sure I know about the blasphemy line of spells, what book(s) can I find them in?

They're core cleric spells.  The reason I was alluding to them is that they make caster level increases too powerful in the hands of clerics.  Getting them as an arcane caster is harder and probably involves Arcane Disciple (CAr).

Using damage spells in every combat is never a good idea, but you probably know that.  None of the other arcane caster strategies benefit more from having a higher caster level than any of the others, as far as I know, so pick whichever of them appeals to you most.

[ZhonLord]

One other question then.  Besides possible feats for level 12+, is there any other class/prestige class I could tap into for levels 17-20, or something I could dip in at earlier levels and delay Wild Mage completion, anything to supplement/enhance the prestige's class abilities?

[KellKheraptis]

Incantatrix 1-4 grants 2 bad ass abilities and 2 metamagic feats

[Iainuki]

One other question then.  Besides possible feats for level 12+, is there any other class/prestige class I could tap into for levels 17-20, or something I could dip in at earlier levels and delay Wild Mage completion, anything to supplement/enhance the prestige's class abilities?

There are a ton of classes that improve casters in general, but none of them are specifically better for a wild mage, AFAIK.  Archmage is a good dip class, but any of the good caster PrCs are applicable.