Classic Representative Wizard Specialist Builds

[DavidWL]

Thanks for the help David, but I'm trying to avoid getting Incantatrix all over everything. As you can see in my first post, I would want you to explain why you think Incant fits best for that specialty. (And here you'd have to argue for both Illus and Divination, as you've used it in both.) Otherwise it becomes a very simple thing to have: Wizard3-5/MS0-3/Incant10/Only4levelsleft for nearly every build.

Very fair.

Fundamentally, for the diviner, I'm proposing Legion Sorcerer 2.  I have 4 levels in incantatrix (used to nab some metamagic goodness - notice that the feats are persistent & delay spell, which are fitting).  This could be changed.

For the Shadowcraft Gnome - I looked at this one pretty carefully a long time ago, and basically:
* Shadowcrafter 8 - 20% quasireality.  Compared to Incantatrix (which gives -1 to metamagic, which can be used on heighten), we get 10% more quasi-reality, but lose a few feats (in a feat-hungry build), plus cool abilities.   I'd argue that Shadowcrafter is strictly worse.
* Master Specialist loses access to the most important illusionist options (5th level Gnome Substitution Level is great!)

Best,
David

[Daebu]

I'll look into Legion Sorcerer, David.

And thanks Psybomb, that's a fantastic build. I'm torn by the Changeling req, simply because that race seems to scream Transmuter. On the other hand, Your use of Escalation Mage has made me look at it again. I am hoping now to use it, but reflavour it to a different god. Preferably one who is a little more overt and "blasty" in his or her outlook, but still would demand a pound of flesh. (Alternatively I could also reflavour the damage/status effects as simply the result of insufficient concentration on divine power, and that way the god need not be evil.)

I've settled on an Uttercold Assault Necro (as implied by my other thread), with 9 or 10 levels in Pale Master and 4 or 7 in Master Spec. I'm just trying to decide which immunities/goodies I like more.

My Diviner is likely to be similar to the build posted at the bottom of the first post, but I'm considering clipping all but 2 or 3 levels of Divine Oracle in favour of Loremaster or Paragnostic Apostle.

That leaves Trans/Conj/Enchant/Evoker and you've given me some serious inclination to pick Escalation Mage with a Fire themed god and go Searing Spell.

[PsyBomb]

I'll look into Legion Sorcerer, David.

And thanks Psybomb, that's a fantastic build. I'm torn by the Changeling req, simply because that race seems to scream Transmuter. On the other hand, Your use of Escalation Mage has made me look at it again. I am hoping now to use it, but reflavour it to a different god. Preferably one who is a little more overt and "blasty" in his or her outlook, but still would demand a pound of flesh. (Alternatively I could also reflavour the damage/status effects as simply the result of insufficient concentration on divine power, and that way the god need not be evil.)

I've settled on an Uttercold Assault Necro (as implied by my other thread), with 9 or 10 levels in Pale Master and 4 or 7 in Master Spec. I'm just trying to decide which immunities/goodies I like more.

My Diviner is likely to be similar to the build posted at the bottom of the first post, but I'm considering clipping all but 2 or 3 levels of Divine Oracle in favour of Loremaster or Paragnostic Apostle.

That leaves Trans/Conj/Enchant/Evoker and you've given me some serious inclination to pick Escalation Mage with a Fire themed god and go Searing Spell.

Thanks, though that WAS the evoker build

I had the class feature slightly wrong, actually, though Concentration is still critical to maintain. It works off of caster level checks instead of concentration, which means I need to massage it a bit to make it more reliable (hello Reserves of Strength and Practiced Spellcaster...). Failing one of these checks means the spell will still be empowered by the escalation, but you need to succeed at Concentration against the damage you take to keep the spell. Quickening is the exception, and THAT one is horrific if you fail (slowed for a number of rounds equal to the spell level).

Caster level check of 16 plus twice the spell level is going to be harsh, more likely it will be used to toss off freely quickened Magic Missiles and Scorching Rays.

[Daebu]

Haha, I know it was an evoker build. And it's a solid one. I'm just planning on reflavouring the god/entity involved. I *possibly* might be reserving the recaster for transmutation.

In other words, I may be splitting your build into two.

[PsyBomb]

Only said it because you said the Evoker build was still needed. Thus, confusion.

[muktidata]

I hope you're not making a party face the magi of a wizard's guild. Eight(!!!!) wizards at once.. ouch!

[Daebu]

Hahahaha. Now there's a thought. This is some work for a friend of mine, but also will likely have some implications for future worldbuilding for me. I plan on trying some classic Sorc builds at some point too. This group has nerfed Wizards somewhat, and only 3 or 4 of the dozen or so of us have any true ability to break games. Consequently we see the ridiculousness coming a long way off. That's also why I'm trying to aim for "powerful, but not game breaking."

This is for an Arcane Council that rules a City Mageocracy for this friend. My own worldbuilding will be taking his concept and fast-forwarding it a few hundred years. The Council has fallen to squabbling, with recent war breaking out. I'm developing the Wizards, and then assigning rough alignments, then letting the story write itself.

I have a hate for prepared Vancian casting. So at some point I plan on worldbuilding where Wizards, Druids, Clerics, Archivists are simply banned. It's so convenient that they're all the most common powerful tier 1's as well. Vancian casting is so ridiculous, and so much bookkeeping. I might try to make this that world, but if I do, the Arcane council will need to be Sorcs, Psions, and associated classes.

[TenaciousJ]

Haha, I know it was an evoker build. And it's a solid one. I'm just planning on reflavouring the god/entity involved. I *possibly* might be reserving the recaster for transmutation.

In other words, I may be splitting your build into two.

I'm not trying to stop you from reflavoring the deity if you want, but I wanted to point out it's an Eberron deity.  Eberron deities don't require their worshippers (not even clerics) to be anywhere close to their own alignment.  A big part of worshipping the Shadow is believing that magic is a force of nature that cannot be neatly ordered.  Eberron sourcebooks also contain a lot of fluff that suggests the gods of the Dark Six are only really evil because worshippers of the Sovereign Host label them that way, and they're really no more evil than an earthquake or hurricane.

[Daebu]

Haha, I know it was an evoker build. And it's a solid one. I'm just planning on reflavouring the god/entity involved. I *possibly* might be reserving the recaster for transmutation.

In other words, I may be splitting your build into two.

I'm not trying to stop you from reflavoring the deity if you want, but I wanted to point out it's an Eberron deity.  Eberron deities don't require their worshippers (not even clerics) to be anywhere close to their own alignment.  A big part of worshipping the Shadow is believing that magic is a force of nature that cannot be neatly ordered.  Eberron sourcebooks also contain a lot of fluff that suggests the gods of the Dark Six are only really evil because worshippers of the Sovereign Host label them that way, and they're really no more evil than an earthquake or hurricane.

Interesting. I guess the reflavouring was more because I already have a shadowy character (the illusionist) as well as a couple morally ambiguous ones (Necro and likely Enchanter). My Conjurer may well end up being the "uses Evil for good" type (Malconvoker). So I was looking for a more aggressive, overt type.

It's not that The Shadow wouldn't tolerate such a character; it's that the character wouldn't be drawn to such a god.

I'm thinking of reflavouring to Joramy. Fiery in both personality and skill, neither lawful nor chaotic, basically good (Neutral with Good tendencies), and filled with retribution and righteous anger. My character may not share the alignment, but a Searing Spell Escalation Mage would sure share the outlook.

[Jackinthegreen]

Something in favor of incantatrix for evocation: Energy Admixture.  Add in Reserves of Strength, even if it's the tame version, and watch the countryside explode and freeze over at the same time.

[phaedrusxy]

Something in favor of incantatrix for evocation: Energy Admixture.  Add in Reserves of Strength, even if it's the tame version, and watch the countryside explode and freeze over at the same time.

Let's just go crazy and go Incantatrix 3/Red Wizard 10 with Reserves of Strength. Sure, he gives up half the spell schools in existence, but he can call himself the Black Mage because he "casts the spells that makes the peoples fall down".

Edit: So we can Empower, Maximize, and Heighten to 20th spell level for free, with a CL of 40. Then we could technically add Energy Admixture via Incantatrix, but... the spellcraft DC is inhumanly high to do so (90 ). If we did this with just Fireball, the damage would be 720, though. Pick up Searing Spell and the one that lets you bypass resistance and immunity with cold, and admix in cold, and you have at least 360 damage even to something that's immune to both (assuming it fails a DC 45ish Reflex save).

[Daebu]

I hadn't put much thought into admixture, having not that much experience with it. Frostfire could be very, very fun. Another thought would be to run Fire/Elec or Frost/Elec and take Stormcaster to 5 to make every spell into a Dual Threat. You've given me some stuff to ponder. As per earlier in the thread, I was thinking of just running a Searing Spell Fire Evoker.

I've decided to accept a certain amount of dual progression for one build at least. I really wanted to avoid it if possible. However, I've decided that 1 level of Binder + 10 Anima mage will give an Enchanter a good power boost, flexibility, and fits really well with the concept. Net result: Binder1/Wizard3/Anima Mage10/Mindbender1/Master Specialist 4/Shadow Adept1. The binding progression only ends up at 13, with the Improved Binding feat. The build only loses 1 caster level, so it works for me.

I'm toying with replacing the Shadow Adept level, but it's nice to get 4 feats for the price of one. Mindbender is obvious and fluffy. MS4 helps shore up a small weakness with its minor Esoterica. The build favours Charisma somewhat, which again fits with fluff, but isn't too dependent on it so I don't get too MAD. I would likely go with the UA Social Proficiency Wizard Enchanter variant, as that gives me some nice social Skills, and since I don't hit Wizard5, I don't lose the free feat anyway. Anima Mage is plenty strong of course, and some free persisted spells could really help one of the "weak" Wizard specialists. Thoughts?

Edit: I've also updated the OP to list the current builds I am running with. I have 4 largely statted out, and 4 that are still up in the air.

[Daebu]

I'm tempted to optimize all the wrong things for my Evoker:

Wizard5/Paragnostic Apostle2/Sacred Exorcist2/Silver Pyromancer5/PA+2/SE+4

See Through the Veil and other TU increasers to optimize Purge Undead; Battle Blessing to quicken all the Paladin spells; Fire spell optimization since Pyro is turning it all into unresistable divine damage

All for the low, low price of some Cha dependency and the complete loss of truly strong class features. One nice aspect is that there are zero Feat prereqs, leaving many options open.

Am I completely off my rocker? Or does this idea work?

Should I drop a level of Exorcist for Cloistered Cleric? I'd lose the casting level, but would gain 3 (domain) feats, and Pyromancer sets my CL equal to character level for fire spells anyway.