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PFS Character-
I want to make a Wizard, and have the Thassalonian Specialist Boon from *THAT* Scenario. I want to focus on spells that Transform this wizard (Beast Shape X, Elemental Body X, Form of The Dragon X) to make this character a seriously Viable melee wizard build. For late game I want to go Dimensional Dervish route (Yep Teleporting Dragon).
What I'm After:
1.)Simple tricks to make sure I include for maximizing AC and Melee attack and Damage in my alternate forms.
2.)Spell Choices that compliment this build
3.)Bond Advice
4.)Needed Magic Items/nice pickups beyond standard stuff.
5.)Things I may have missed.
6.)Analysis of specific Challenges that a build like this is likely to present.
You NEED Eschew Materials to be able to cast in polymorphed form. There is a prestige class that lets you pick up some druid spells, doing so would give access to GMF and the like, for higher DPR in melee.
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Though your approach looks solid it doesn't fly because you don't meet EK's prerequisites. Must be proficient with all martial weapons. And though scryer might help with the spell like ability to be a Third lvl spell I'm not sure it does.
Also, and more importantly to the concept, Divination is not a Thassilonian school, which makes the whole point moot in this case. Though the more conventional route to Eldritch Knight (Fighter 1/Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 6) is probably worth it given your concept.
Greed/Transmutation is your go-to school, and a very solid one. Good opposition schools, too, though you do lose out on Mirror Image, which is always sad.
Hi Altus,
Though I am somewhat unfamiliar with the polymorph melee wizard, I've tried to play melee/ranged castors with varying sucess. One thing that seems to work is to get extend spell and cast long duration spells that will benefit your saves/attack/damage/etc. This is an inexpensive way to benefit your character while spending loot on what you can't cast. Gl and hf.
-KZ
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Ok so some general philosophies are rising to the Surface of this discussion.
1: Armor proficiency, Eldritch Knight Route
2: Long Term Buff route.
Lets Discuss Arcane bond. For this character better to have improved familiar and a Faerie Dragon Familiar(GM Credit) or IMP Familiar to buff him with wands (Specifically Blur/Displacement) or Bonded Object on Amulet for Mighty Fists, remember PFS only allows a 1 time 1/2 price purchase so I'd need to wait for prestige to be high enough to afford a +3 amulet then purchase that big chunk all at once to achieve maximum benefit.
Lets look also at some Items I'm seeing as potentially incredible.
1. Lesser Rod of Extend Spell
Especially if I plan on going the route of Long Term buff (towards which I am leaning because of the nature of the character being transformed, and losing his armor bonus, unless it's mage armor/bracers of Armor.) This Item could turn Mage armor into basically an all day cast by level 8 and much lower it's certainly long enough to cover many encounters.
2. lvl 1 Pearl of Power, Low levels retrieve Mage Armor to recast it.
3. Amulet of Mighty Fists, seems like a must for any natural weapon fighter.
4. Cloak of Resistance, Again basic, but seems necessary
5. Headband of INT, almost goes without saying I want a + 4 eventually to access 7th level and 8th level Spells, but +2 will do until level 13, the majority of society play.
6. Onyx Rhomboid Ioun Stone. I get one for free. so I'll take it.
7. Belt of Giant Strength, this allows me to shift class bonus to Dexterity meaning I'll have enhancement bonus on all physical stats, I need all the Dex I can get.
8. Ring of Protection +X Necessity.
9. Gloves of Corrosiion- Acid damage on natural attacks, from a gloves slot, yes please.
10. Jingasa of the Fortunate Soldier. +1 AC at a high price, If I have a trait to spare +2. Seems reasonable.
Additional thoughts comments?
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I'm trying here to put together a sample of how I'm leaning. Feedback Appreciated and this is not* the final Product. Likely.
S-17 D-14 C-14(16w/stone) I-14 W-10 C-8
1. Human Greed Specialist Wizard. Feats: Spell Focus (Transmutation); Eschew Materials, Improved Familiar/Initiative.
2. Wizard - No Feats Skills at this point 1 point in all knowledges
3. Wizard - Power Attack
4. Wizard - +1 Strength, Flop Bonus to Dex, buy Belt of Str +2 (20)
5. Wizard - (At a loss for Feat Selection, perhaps Imp. Init, if I took Imp Familar, otherwise Dodge perhaps, Wizard Bonus Feat of Multimorph)
6. Wizard -
7. Wizard - Dimensional Agility
8. Wizard - +1 Strength.
9. Wizard - Dimensional Assault
10. Wizard- Wizard Bonus Feat (Extend Spell)
11. Wizard- Toughness
12. Wizard- +1 Strength.
13. Wizard- Dimensional Dervish
Have you considered being a skinwalker instead of a human? You could refluff the beast form as a magic spell or a side effect of your tinkering with polymorph spells. The crocodile bloodline variant grants you +2 STR, +2 INT, -2 WIS and lets you get a bite attack, darkvision, a swim speed, or ferocity. You could say the crocodile form is actually an attempt by your character to create a spell that transforms himself into a humanoid dragon. As a bonus, being a skinwalker qualifies you for the Aspect of the Beast feat.
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Spell focus is free from class for lack of a better option it sticks around though perhaps another school.
Did a feat build considering eldritch knight. And If I pass on eschew materials then it opens up some feat path options. If I do eldritch knight it slows down spell progression by 2 lvls. Let's assume it's worth it. Multiclass option lore warden 1 level. I'm not taking arcane armor. It doesn't apply while polymorphed . Like say though I'm working on this.
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Ok Here is an EK Feat build, What concerns me about it is the push back on spell levels, perhaps caster levels, though a Trait mitigates that entirely.
1. Greed Specialist, Reactionary(possibly Fate's Favored), Magical Knack, Spell Focus(Conjuration or Transmutation), Improved Initiative Dodge.
2. Wizard 2- No Feats, but now we've Got all knowledge Skills trained.
3. Wizard 3- Improved Familiar
4. Gendarme Cavalier 1- Order of the Staff, Power Attack, +1 Strength
5. Wizard 4- Toughness
6. Wizard 5- Heighten Spell
7. Eldritch Knight1- Mobility, Spring Attack
8. EK 2.
9. EK 3. Dimensional Agility
10.EK 4.
11.EK 5. Dimensional Assault, Dimensional Dervish
12.EK 6.
13.EK 7. Improved Share Spells.
I could continue Further but we're officially outside Seeker Arcs.
Items:
Head: Jingasa of Fortunate Soldier
Headband: Vast Intelligence (+x)
Eyes: Goggles of Fogcutting
Shoulders: Cloak of Resistance (+x)
Neck: Amulet of Mighty Fists (+x)
Armor: I dont think anything, perhaps at low level mwk Hamaraki
Chest: Undecided
Body: Undecided
Wrists: Bracers of Armor.
Hands: Deliquescent Gloves
Finger 1: Ring of Protection (+X)
Finger 2: Undecided
Belt: Belt of Giant Strength (+X)
Slotless:
Onyx Rhomboid Ioun Stone
Lesser Extend Metamagic Rod
Pearl of Power 1st level
Various Wands for Familiar
Cracked dusty rose prism Ioun Stone.
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Yeah now I need to decide some Finer points, as my concept of him has evolved I see him more and more as a Chelaxian Nobleman. I think his improved familar (that at one time I thought would be a Faerie Dragon) is an Imp. This solves alignment for me at Lawful Neutral, an alignment I like to play as, and also it helps me to determine that a lot of my ranks will be going into Use Magic Device so that my Imp (as of yet Unnamed) can fire away with those.
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Nathaniel Felaren is a member of Cheliax's lesser known cousins of the Thrune family. Nathaniel has turned from the political road that many of his Infernal Blooded family members were headed down to pursue his own path to power. He refused to barter his immortal soul for present power, and seeks a way to redeem his family by way of enslaving devils in order to find ways of eliminating their contracts them. He views the Pathfinder Society as a path to power outside of his family who, upon his refusal to sign the contract with one of their traditional Infernal allies, promptly disowned him leaving him penniless and without allies. Except for the one member of his household to take the same path, Sir Alek Felaren of Magnimar. Alek had an incredible discovery during his adventuring days of Xin Shalast, and is how he gained connection with the famed Pathfinder Society. Alek allowed his cousin to use a treasure he found there as he begins his journey as a Pathfinder, a single Onyx Rhomboid Ioun Stone. It's been a long road to becoming a Pathfinder Field Agent and Nathaniel is finally ready to enter the field after extensively studying at the foot of one of The Society's members who has faced a Rune-lord victoriously in combat, Altus Lucrim.
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My suggestions:
- Remove spring attack, it is a wek action to start with and easts through your feat pool.
I agree here only because it would be of diminishing benefit with the Dimensional chain and your shape changing (assuming that is still the plan)
- Improved Familiar at 3rd lvl grants you only weak familiars, you need to have caster lvl 7 in order to aquire the good ones.
Correct. You need 7th for the imp/quasit type familiars.
- Improved Share spells is better for mounted PCs. Your familiar may spend a lot of time by your shoulder, but it will also deliver touch attacks, scout etc. making the feat not a great investment.
I agree here, but more because outside of mounts I just think this is a lackluster feat in general that you could use on something you might get more use from with your build plan.
- You should definately take Arcane Strike, it is free damage.
Agreed and a better over all choice than improved share spells, I think.
- If youa re looking for feats to replace spring atatck effectively, take Combat Expertise , Blind Fight and eventually Moonlight Stalker. You can have the latter permanently activated with a casting of Blur, and it is free attack + damage bonus while having the benefits of concealmnet and blind-fighting.
OK, a few problems here:
1. He is human so he does not meet the requirement of,
Moonlight Stalker (Combat)
You are adept at using shadows to conceal your attacks.
Prerequisite: Int 13, Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, Bluff 3 ranks, darkvision or low-light vision racial trait.
Benefit: While you have concealment from an opponent, you gain a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls against that opponent.
2. He is a Sin Mage of Greed so he can NEVER cast illusion spells, so blur and displacement are out without spending money on an item.
If anything I might suggest picking up Vital Strike and perhaps some meta magic feats.
All in all though, looks like a fun build!
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Let me explain my thinking on this: I'm not 100% sold on Spring Attack, I started by taking dodge because I like AC, and that's where that took me.
Spell Focus was free from Wizard so it stays, I'm not totally sold on what to do with it... I was thinking maybe Varisian Tatoo, but I think that may fall short of greatness.
Heighten spell is for a trick that I learned with Heightened Continual Flame. It's a Wizard Bonus feat, there's just not much better.
Improved Share spells, well that's maybe not the greatest, but I was thinking share Imp's invisibility which I cant cast.
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It's a Wizard Bonus feat, there's just not much better.
I'm not sure how far you've gone with this character, but I've been playing a similar build, and I have a few suggestions. You could retrain that level 5 bonus feat to the Multimorph Arcane Discovery, so you can change shapes while polymorphed, or to the Alchemical Affinity Arcane Discovery, for a +1 CL and +1 to DCs on spells on both the alchemist and wizard spell lists, since that includes all the polymorph spells and most of the buffs you'd want.
This does not seem a good build because you cannot even mimic the offensive capacity of an unbuffed martial character.
I have not seen a way of making this concept viable without mythic tiers (changing your BAB for your caster level when polymorphed is needed).
Eldrich Knight route helps a little bit, but in the end you are not a good martial and a bad caster.
By the way, you can maintain the access to armor first with alter self an then monstrous physique spell chain. Caster level 13 is impossible in PFS, but Giant Form I will do the same for later levels.
Get a Shifter's Headband instead of the Headband of Vast Intellect. It is better for your concept. The +2 one should suffice until the highest of levels for PFS.