PSusac's page

I think you are shooting too low.

Get your party wizard to craft you:

An amulet of air breathing (water breathing in reverse)
Legs of land walking (magical/mechanical legs)

And what are you riding now?

A MOTHERF**NG GREAT WHITE SHARK B*TCH!

WOOOOOO!!!!

YEAH! WHO'S THE BAD @$$ HUNTER NOW?

Giant types tend to have a lot of HP, which is the very quality of enemies that took blasting out of vogue.

I think that you are looking at this wrong.

Let's say you hit them with a standard 10d6 fireball. Nothing to write home about, right? 35 points of damage or 17 if they save

But now you have damaged all the giants in the room for about the amount that the fighter can swing his sword.

So what this means is that every one of those giants will now die one attack sooner.

As a wizard, your job is to come up with solutions to problems that other characters can't do. I think that this is a solution to a problem - ending the fight sooner.

I try to make sure that every round I contribute something meaningful to the fight - I think this counts just fine.

Use the giant's height against them:

Stinking cloud is a 20' high disk. Cast this spell at a height so that it is centered 16' off the ground, resulting in a cloud that is 6' off the ground.

This lets your fighter types attack them without being in the area of the spell, while still being in base-to base contact with the giants. Because the Giant's heads are in the cloud, they will get a 20% miss chance against the fighters, and will have to make a fort save every round they are in the cloud. Sure this is an easy save for them, but if you save this for a big fight, you should force a lot of saves over the course of the combat.

It also blocks the giants line of sight for their boulders, while still letting your archers attack. It's just all goodness.

Eltacolibre - power-creeping the wizard is hardly and offset.

Takhisis - Yeah, that's what I thought, thanks for validating my perceptions.

ShadowcatX - I can't give you a logical proof, But I can describe my experience - I made a Gish character in 3.5 that could pretty much one-shot any single monster that was 4CR's higher than him, it wasn't even that hard, just mixing and matching feats and spells and whatnot. We were already WELL down the road to this cheese with the "Ultimate" books, and now we have a piece of munchkinesque clap-trap like the Arcanist lurking out there. Why would ANYONE play ANY OTHER arcane class EVER from a game mechanics point of view.

Personally I draw the line at the APG. I'm thinking about returning the book to my game store and asking for my money back.

OK, I just got home with my new Advanced Class Guide, and as with all splat books I expected a power creep issue. I accept that.

But then I read the Arcanist - a spontaneous caster who can cast ALL the wizard spells? AND he can have a familiar AND he can customize himself off of a huge laundry list of special abilities?

How is this not the most grotesquely broken class ever invented? The whole power balance concept of the wizard and the sorcerer was that one gets all the spells and the other spontaneously casts a few spells.

This guy gets both!

Please explain to me why I should ever take Paizo seriously again?

Please explain to me why Pathfinder isn't going to collapse under the weight of it's own grotesque power creep like 3.0 & 3.5 did?

Thank you. That is all.

Here is an easy solution to keep the game from breaking:

Allow this sort of magical economic activity, but only allow it to purchase things that are not adventuring equipment.

So, yes, you can make 4 miles of chain, but only the crown has use for that much chain, and while they won't pay you in coin, they will give you a galley (or some other property) for your trouble.

Now the character has a ship, which is sweet, but it doesn't make him more combat effective, what it does is give him a "perk" to use in game.

Now obviously the character can sell the property, but he's back in the same problem - he has to find a buyer, and because he's not a noble or well-connected merchant, each time he sells his property, he get's 1/2 price.

On the other hand if he decides to KEEP the property, it becomes something that bad guys can attack.

Now at the gaming table, it works like this: The player and the GM have a gentleman's agreement that the character can use his superpowers to make money but that he cannot spend the money on adventuring equipment. So he can have an estate, but it doesn't really mater as a "WBL" issue, because it's not "combat effective" money, it's only "plot-line" effective money.

Well it's rather obvious, but I use fabricate to add spells to my spellbook.

It works like this:

1) Get an Intelligence score of 26 (20 base + 2 level bonus = 4 headband) = +8 bonus
Masterwork tools = +2 bonus
Crafter's Fortune spell = +5 bonus
= +15 bonus
Taking 10 this gives you an automatic success on ANY craft skill with a DC of 25 or less (99.9% of all items).

2) Spend 333.33 gp on materials, craft a spyglass (1000 gp value), sell it for 500 gp, rinse and repeat.

3) This nets you 166.67 gp per casting.

4) Buy spells for spellbook

Of course, masterwork weapons and armor work as well, as does alchemical items and poisons.

The actual item crafted doesn't matter, what you really want is big-ticket items that don't cause too much attention to sell. The spyglass is a good choice because it's portable, and it's the sort of thing a wizard would have on his person.

Another idea is to create some sort of rare mineral that is "magic dead." Rooms made of the stuff are magic dead zones, cavern complexes etc.

If you make it a stone, then it can be a building material. heck, if you want you can mix it with the grout in the building, and don't tell anyone about it. In trace amounts (in the grout) it blocks magical intrusion (teleportation, scrying etc.) In large amounts it creates a magic dead zone.

if you make it a metal then it becomes more workable, and you can make armor and weapons out of the stuff (be careful with this one though).

You could even make it a liquid at room temperature (like mercury), and fool around with that.

The existence of this stuff could be a closely guarded secret. Even most monarchs don't know about it - maybe only a secret society or two has any idea of what it is or how it works.

Call it "unobtainium magicdeadium"

The biggest problem with illusions is that you really need some agreement from your GM about how they work first.

I mean this. Bring up the topic to your GM and ask him to be REALLY SPECIFIC about what game mechanics he's using. Most people I play with don't know how the GM handles them, so they simply avoid them entirely. But more than any other game effect, GM opinion matters ALOT with illusions.

The big question is: What exactly does "interact with" mean?

This thread was inspired by another thread, and I decided it needed it's own topic.

The basic idea of this thread is to optimize a set of armor, weapons and shield for a wizard so that he can get the most personally out of the craft arms and armor feat (obviously his party will love him for it anyway). Starting with the basics what are the armor, weapon and shield of choice to build off of?

Armor: Armored Kilt OR Silken Ceremonial Armor OR Haramaki - Grants +1 Armor Bonus with 0% arcane spell failure and a 0 armor check penalty.
NOTES: Which is better is an esthetic choice. The silken armor is probably the classiest, but the kilt does allow for some comedic moments when you are flying around the battlefield. Especially if you “go commando.”

Shield: Mithral Buckler – Grants +1 Shield Bonus, with 0% arcane spell failure and a 0 armor check penalty, leaves your hand free to hold stuff.
NOTES: This is pretty standard, it’s basically just a platform for enchanting.

Adamantine Spiked Gauntlet - Does minimal damage, but can’t be disarmed and it ignores hardness . leaves your hand free to hold stuff.
NOTES: First, does a gauntlet fill the glove slot? It’s a weapon, so I would say no, but I can see the argument the other way. It’s gratuitous to make it adamantine but we are optimizing here.

OK, so what we have now is a fully armed and armored mage, wearing fancy silk clothes, a shiny buckler on one hand and fancy glove on the other - Mikael Jackson would be proud! Note that his chest and hand slots are still open so he can still wear magic gloves and robes. Don’t ask me how this works – he’s living in a fantasy world for God’s sake!

Let’s start out by just making a list of the special abilities that might matter to a wizard (note that we are talking about a primary caster here, not a Gish). These lists are based on the assumption that the wizard will stay out of melee combat as much as possible . I left out things that add energy damage (shocking burst, bane weapons, that sort of thing) because of this assumption. Feel free to create items that violate these assumptions if you have a cool idea about how to play the wizard/sorcerer in question. For example an aberrant sorcerer who specializes in touch attacks might want something very different from what I have included here.

the costs are listed in parenthesis in either +'s or thousands of GP as appropriate.

Armor
Balanced (+1)
Bitter (+1)
Deathless (+1)
Defiant (+1)
Delving (+10k)
Determination (+30K)
Energy Resistance (+18k,+42k,+66k)
Etherealness (+49K)
Expeditious (+4k)
Fortification (+1,+3,+5)
Ghost Touch (+3)
Glamered (+2.7k)
Grinding (+1)
Hosteling (+7.5K)
Invulnerability (+3)
Poison Resistant (+2.5k)
Putrid (+10k)
Radiant (+7.5k)
Shadow (+3.75k, +15k, +33.75k)
Slick (+3.75k, +15k, +33.75k)
Spell Storing (+1)
Stanching (+1)
Undead Controlling (+49K)

Sheild
Arrow Deflection (+2)
Blinding (+1)
Clangorous (+1)
Defiant (+1)
Determination (+30K)
Energy Resistance (+18k,+42k,+66k)
Fortification (+1,+3,+5)
Ghost Touch (+3)
Grinding (+1)
Hosteling (+7.5K)
Mirrored (+1)
Poison Resistant (+2.5k)
Radiant (+7.5k)
Reflecting (+5)
Undead Controlling (+49K)
Wyrmsbreath (5k)

[/b]Weapon[/b]
Allying (+1)
Anchoring (+2)
Benevolent (+1)
Brilliant Energy (+4)
Courageous (+1)
Cruel (+1) - For Coup de gras attacks
Defending (+1)
Defiant (+2)
Dispelling (+1)
Dispelling Burst (+2)
Dueling (+14k)
Ghost Touch (+1)
Glamered (+4k)
Glorious (+2)
Grounding (+1)
Gaurdian (+1)
Impervious (+3K)
Lifesurge (+2)
Limning (+1) – use true strike to find and hit a guy, and remove his displacement effect.
Menacing (+1) – For the dedicated flanking buddy
Negating (+2)
Neutralizing (+1)
Nullifying (+3)
Phase Locking (+2)
Planar (+1)
Quenching (+1)
Spell Storing (+1)
Thawing (+1)
Transformative (+10k)

OK, how do we enchant each of these three items? Are there other items that are better choices or that make better tools for a wizard to use for a specific task?

I have a couple of ideas in mind, but I’ll come back later and list them (I have work to do right now). Have fun and thanks for playing!

[quote = Aelryinth]At some point, an adamantine weapon. Cause the best way to knock a door down and surprise people is to instead come through the wall next to it.

I'll second that! I used to have a fighter with an adamantine axe. His battle cry was "Snap into a Slim Jim!"

Potion of gaseous form - it's the "get out of death free" card.

@ meatrace - As far as the extend spell feat goes, obviously it's a matter of personal preference, but I like to have lots and lots of pre-cast hour/level buffs up by mid level, but having only three 1 min per level or 10 min/level buffs up seems like enough to me.

Here is a list of 1-2 hour/level spells that one might want to have pre-cast:

Ablative Barrier
Aboleth's Lung
Ant Haul
Countless Eyes
Cushioning Bands
Darkvision
Darkvision, Greater
Delay Pain
False Life
False Life, Greater
False Vision
Fins To Feet
Floating Disk
Getaway
Ghost Wolf
Impart Mind
Life Bubble
Mage Armor
Magic Weapon, Greater
Misdirection
Moment of Prescience
Monstrous Extremities
Mount
Nondetection
Overland Flight
Phantom Steed
Planar Adaptation
Planetary Adaptation
Protection from Arrows
Prying Eyes
Ride The Waves
Rope Trick
Secure Shelter
Shadow Projection
Shadow Walk
Shadowy Haven
Shield Companion
Unseen Servant
Water Breathing
Web Shelter

The bold spells represent spells that I would want to have active pretty much all the time if I could help it (and if I didn't have a magic item that made the effect redundant). That's about 15 spell effects - note that some of them (greater magic weapon for example) wouldn't necessary be cast on me.

Rope trick is also a good one to extend because it let's you get a full day of safe rest out of a 3rd level spell slot at 10th level or so.

Looking this over, figure a lesser rod of extend spell AND a regular rod of extend spell would probably do you almost as well, but the extend feat does give you a bit more to work with.

A blessed book is a magical spell book that has 1000 pages. It allows you to scribe a page into your spellbook without paying the standard cost for doing so. Each spell uses up 1 page per spell level.

The book costs 12500 gp, so to craft it costs 6250 gp.

So each page costs 6.25 gp to craft and each page holds one level worth of spell.

So here is the breakdown of the standard (Std) cost vs the blessed book (BB) cost:
0nd: Std = 5 gp, BB = 6.25 gp – so don’t write your cantrips into it.
1st: Std = 10 gp, BB = 6.25 gp
2nd: Std = 40 gp, BB = 12.50 gp
3rd: Std = 90 gp, BB = 18.75 gp
4th: Std = 160 gp, BB = 25 gp
5th: Std = 250 gp, BB = 31.25 gp
6th: Std = 360 gp, BB = 37.50 gp
7th: Std = 490 gp, BB = 43.75 gp
8th: Std = 640 gp, BB = 50 gp
9th: Std = 810 gp, BB = 56.25 gp

Now keep in mind that you still have to buy the spell from someone else to write it in your spellbook OR find it as treasure somewhere, but the cost of putting spells in your spellbook is one of the biggest limits on a wizard’s power, and this item GREATLY reduces that limit. And it’s right there in the core rule book to boot!

By the way,

Consider this math:

The price of a scroll = 25 gp x caster level x spell level. You can sell the scroll for ½ the price.

This is MUCH higher than the cost of scribing a spell in your spellbook. So what does this mean? You should NEVER scribe a scroll into your spellbook! Instead, SELL the scroll on the open market, and BUY the spell (and several other spells to boot) from an NPC wizard and add THAT to your spellbook. It will save you a ton of money, and you can get several spells in your book for the price of a single scroll.

More than any other character class, wizards are pretty much financial institutions. It’s really worth your time to do the math on this stuff.

Finally, remember that you get two FREE spells per level. These should go in a NON-Magical spellbook (the one you started the game with). This is because you are paying for pages in your blessed book UP FRONT - when you craft the item. Only use them when you have to. If a spell is free to begin with there is no point using pages in your blessed book to hold it. Also, remember to keep a back up spellbook in case you lose your main one - it REALLY sux to lose your spellbook!

If the DM doesn't want you to have money you're not going to have money it doesn't matter what you do.

^ Yes, this ^

OK, I think I've said my piece on this issue, I would like to make one request:

Find this thread again in 3 months, and tell us how it's going. If you quit before then, tell us then.

I would just like to know how your GM is as a GM.

I really want to know if my observation about skinflint GM's holds true for another player, or if it's just my own prejudice talking.

Thanks.

That's mighty harsh, PSusac. I run my games a bit under the anticipated WBL so that when the PCs find treasure I can make it a big, impressive, tears-of-happiness-from-maxing-out-your-encumbrance treasure; but an outsider observing me for, say, three months would call me a penny-pincher for that reason.

(I doubt that this particular GM is up to anything like that, which is why I gave the advice above, but I wouldn't consider it a truism that "scanty treasure = bad GM.")

Letting your PC's get hungry so they feel excited when they finally get loot is one thing.

Keeping them on a starvation diet for level after level is another.

Harsh or not, that's how I roll.

_________________________________________________________________

That said, if you want to give this GM a chance, then try this:

Go on strike.

Go on strike as an adventurer I mean. Ask yourself this:

Would YOU walk for a MONTH through dangerous monster-filled territory, for the price of a potion of cure light wounds?

No, you wouldn't?

Then why is your character doing it? Just role-play your character. If your GM doesn't give out treasure - DON'T GO ON THE ADVENTURE.

Why take the risk if there is no payoff?

PSusac wrote:

Get a new GM.

Seriously. Wealth is a form of power that is factored into the difficulty of the encounters. If he keeps under-funding you, you will fall further and further behind the power curve.

Just get a new GM, it's easier.

One, GM is the most in demand position, finding someone to schedule, and if you play offline is in your area is hard as nails.

Two, you assume that the GM is not also changing the encounters or the feel of the game is designed that battles are harder and you need to spend a long time preparing and thinking.

Three, the person didn't even say that they had a problem with this system, just that they were looking for smart in character ways to make money.

I've been playing D&D/Pathfinder for 37 years, and in that time I have NEVER met a "low wealth" GM who wasn't a frustrating annoying control freak. Milking every encounter for maximum loot is not going to work. Your GM want's you to be poor so that he can feel like he's in control. If you try to gain wealth that he doesn't want you to have he's just going to punish you for it.

Trust me. Find a new GM.

Get a new GM.

Seriously. Wealth is a form of power that is factored into the difficulty of the encounters. If he keeps under-funding you, you will fall further and further behind the power curve.

Just get a new GM, it's easier.

Extend Spell should be blue or purple, not red.

I know, everyone says "just buy a rod"

But hear me out:

Once you hit about 7th level, you can cast 1 hour/level spells the night before battle, and they are still running when you get up in the morning. At 12th level they will last a full day. This means you can bank magic from one day to the next, wearing buffs like cheep jewelry.

For example: A 7th level wizard can cast extended

Dancing Lantern
Unseen Servant
Mage Armor
Cushioning Bands
False Life
Misdirection
Protection From Arrows
Darkvision
Countless Eyes
Nondetection
Ablative Barrier
Greater Magic Weapon

So cast all those the night before entering the dungeon, and go into the dungeon with 4 hours of:
A hands-free lantern
+4 AC
Weak telekinesis
Damage reduction of 2/piercing or slashing
1/2 damage from falls or cave-ins
+12 HP
DR of 10 vs arrows
Darkvision
All around vision (Can't be flanked)
SR versus Divination spells (useful while staying invisible)
The alignment aura of your choice, AND you don't radiate magic.
+1 per 4 levels of enhancement bonus on the weapon of his choice.

AND he still get's his full spell load-out for the day.

So essentially all this magic is FREE. And it only get's better (much better) at higher levels.

Extend spell is an EXCELLENT feat. You just have to know how to milk it.

Rock me Asmodeus!

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

DualJay wrote:

Isn't in a Kn Arcana to identify an ongoing spell or a spell based on effect rather than seeing it get cast?

Correct. You would absolutely use Knowledge (arcana) in this instance.

Hmm...

Tiny Hut is still a cool and under-used spell though

Tiny Hut - This spell provides full cover, and you can see out, but they can't see in. Also, you can use the color feature to make it creepy and magical.

I once had a bad guy make the thing sliver. The party comes upon a silver hemisphere - obviously magical. He then used a metamagic rod of silent spell to cause magical effects to occur around the hut (rays shooting out of it, etc.) while his minions engaged the party.

It was 3-4 rounds before anyone screwed up the courage to enter the weird magical dome.

Psychology is fun.

Any class that can polymorph.

Think of the sex you could have! Even an alter self would be epic.

I strongly disagree with the other posters here.

Teleportation is a game-changing spell, it's true. But that's not the problem.

The problem is that you are not ready to deal with this change.

Two points:

1) There are LOTS of game-changing spells (wait till they start travelling ethereally). If you start banning them on the basis of your own comfort level you are just going to annoy your players. The people in your game who are playing casters slogged through levels of sucky abilities while the martial characters kicked butt at low levels. Now is their turn to shine. Let them have it.

2) When teleportation enters play it opens a new set of tactical options. Your job as the GM is to be READY for this new set of options. If you take this away from the players you are ALSO taking it away from YOURSELF as a part of your learning curve as a GM.

This second point deserves some elaboration:

In game terms there are 4 main teleportation abilities and each has it's strength and weakness.

1) Shift - this is a power open to conjurers at low levels. It is limited by line of sight, which means that it is basically limited to the battlefield. It is also very short range, making it a tactical power. It also limits your actions after the jump (see #2 below)

2) Dimension Door - this power lets you get into position, and even move through walls, BUT if you jump blind you can hurt yourself. More importantly you CAN'T take any actions after the jump (without taking a feat), so you are vulnerable for a round of action after you jump. There is no hiding, no running for cover, nothing. The good news is that a caster can bring the tank (or rogue) with him, and the tank can act on his initiative.

3) Teleport - this power lets you teleport long distances, but without 100% accuracy. You can take your move action after you jump IF you are willing to risk it. Greater teleport removes this limitation. The main use of this is to go back to town and get stuff, but it does have it's combat uses. Since it's a 5th (or 7th) level spell it's not exactly something you cast on a whim.

4)Word of recall/Getaway - This power lets you go home. That's it.

There are a few more but these are the big four. If you keep this in mind, you can manage the use of these powers in two ways:

1) Limiting the places they can teleport. Blocking teleportation is accomplished by several spell effects. You can also have the bad guys enchant whole rooms to be closed to teleportation. Dimensional Lock is the classic spell for this purpose. Note that it last days and costs nothing to cast. Forbiddance also works but it costs money to cast.

So use these spells, but don't over-use them. 7-8th level spells don't grow on trees. Make sure you have a reason the bad-guy's used them.

Note that most of teleport spells can't cross dimensional barriers. Move the adventure to the planes of hell (Or whatever) and they can't go home anymore. Do your research on this, and know what spells your party can cast.

Also there is the dimensional anchor spell which is mostly used in combat. Consider the look on your player's face when you tell him the bad guy cast this on him! It's actually SCARIER than taking damage - it means the GM is gunning after him! MUAHAHAHAHA!

2) Limit the places they can SEE. Most of these spells are risky to cast blindly. this means that spells like Mage's Private Sanctum and False Vision can make a big difference. Players LOVE to use clairvoyance and Dimension Door to bypass your dungeon. Let them! Then let the Bad-guys catch on to this trick and let them us Divination or other scrying spells to predict when the party is coming back and be ready for them. Then cast a False-vision to give the impression that the area has a bunch of sleeping guards and set an ambush! Keep them on their toes!

There are probably several other spells and magic items that can help your bad-guys deal with these pesky PC's. do your research. If it feels like you have entered an ARMS RACE, your are doing it right! It will make you AND your players better gamers.

Good luck.

Take the following Feats:

If you are a sorcerer Take:

Trait: Outlander (Lore-Seeker)
Magical Lineage

Spell Focus (Transmutation)
Greater spell Focus (Transmutation)
Spell Penetration
Greater Spell Penetration
Persistent Spell
Quicken Spell
Spell Perfection (Telekinesis)
Heighten Spell
Mage's Tattoo

If you are a wizard add:

Preferred Spell (Telekinesis)

You can now spontaneously cast telekinesis with a +9 to your rolls against SR, and a +7 to your DC's.

You can also add persistent or quicken to the spell at no cost, and then heighten it the rest of the way to 9th level to further increase the DC. The cost of metamagic is reduced by 1 which allows you to add ANOTHER point to the DC of the spell by using heighten.

So your Telekinesis is nigh irresistible.

You are a bit of a one-trick pony, but it's a darn good trick!

Nice list I totally agree with most of them (great choice on divination BTW). I didn't like the conjuration though. None of those spells are particularly useful for metamagics, and Summon Monster III get's useless pretty quickly above about 10th level.

I'd go with:

Unseen Servant (to extend)
Acid Arrow (to maximize/dazing)
Stinking Cloud (to quicken)

This covers the "utility, direct damage, battlefield control" flavor of the school as well.

PSusac wrote:

d) The lantern archon continual flame trick: Bind a lantern archon, and use it to cast continual flame on 1000 nails. Sell them "at cost" (50 gp each) to a city as street lanterns. Pocket 50k gold.

Cheesetastic! I'll add it.

Doug M.

Glad you like it. Also, note that lantern archon's aren't very clever (but they ARE very bright! ;-P), so you might even be able to convince them to cooperate on the grounds of: It will only take a couple of hours (600 rounds of casting per hour), and you can explain that by lighting the city, you are helping to reduce crime.

"Come on little guy, it'll just take a couple hours of your time, and think of all the poor orphaned children who will be able to live more safely because of your help! Why, you'll be bringing light into the lives of thousands of people!"

It's never appropriate to kills a PC, but it's always appropriate to let a PC get themselves killed.

You left out:

d) The lantern archon continual flame trick: Bind a lantern archon, and use it to cast continual flame on 1000 nails. Sell them "at cost" (50 gp each) to a city as street lanterns. Pocket 50k gold.

Well, I just found out that my GM uses the re-training rules, so I can take it for a test-drive and see how it plays out.

Nice points insaneogeddon thanks.

@ DaedalusV I think it's better to take the extend feat than to use a MM rod of it because it is possible to "wear" dozens of spells into combat, and 1 hour/level spells are available at all levels of casting. It can also save you money. Consider a 13th level mage pre-casting:

Extended
contingency of greater invisibility
Overland Flight
Greater false life
non-detection
Mage armor
Unseen servant
Countless Eyes
Phantom Steed
Ablative Barrier

He also has several shrunk items on his person to use as backup weapons and/or familiar tricks.

Note that at this point he cast all these spells YESTERDAY, so he's still got a full spell payload for the big adventure. He's flying (at either fast or very fast speeds), non-detectable, he can turn invisible as a swift action, he's got a minor telekinesis, he can see in all directions. The first 5 points of damage he suffers is non-lethal, AFTER you calculate in the bonus 24 HP from greater false life.

He keeps a handful of spell slots open to memorize spells as needed, and if he doesn't use them by the end of the day, he uses them to memorize and re-cast the same buffs again at the end of the day, rolling the spell effects into yet another day of adventure.

This sort of capability is extremely versatile, and can (and should) be used in addition to a metamagic rod of extend spell. Use the rod to extend the 1 min/level spells that you cast during the dungeon crawl. Use the feat to wear spells all day, every day.

This is what makes wizards more powerful than sorcerers: The ability to exploit extend spell to bank magic from one day to the next, keeping both power and versatility.

Step 1: Choose a race with wings.

Step 2: Build a fighter/barbarian with a glaive specialization to the hilt.

Step 3: Buy a ring of spell storing (or other such device) and put an Antimagic shell in it.

Step 4: Bring a bow with some good ammo (of slaying for example) to snipe people you can't easily kill - the magic turns back on once the arrow leaves the area of your Antimagic shell.

This simple combination will defeat 99% of all contenders simply because they can't get away from you (you fly) and once you close with them you turn off the magic. Their magic can't touch you.

Have several backup rings of spell storing because there are a few things that can bring this down (Mage's disjunction for example).

Easy, peesy.

remember, you don't have to play this character for more than a couple of fights, so don't bother to balance it out. Just go whole hog on one strong tactic.

I was the DM.

I had a 7th level party meet a shadow Demon. I rolled randomly to see who got magic jarred. It was the tank. By letting the dice determine this, I had a TPK on my hands, because now we had a tank with 10th level casting ability, deeper darkness at will, an unhittable AC, and the best melee DPS in the party (and POUNCE!).

Also, the player was highly technically proficient.

Finally I had to end the combat with a DM Fiat. None of us felt good about it, but it was the only way to save the campaign.

My shame is great.

The important thing to keep in mind is that a spell is a solution to a problem.

What kinds of problems do you want to have a solution to? Chain lightning is a solution that shortens the fight against groups of mooks. Sometimes this is a great solution. Certainly it is one that comes up often.

Obviously the rest of your spell load-out matters a lot here, but I think Streemofthesky has the right idea. think about the kinds of problems you will be called on to solve, and plan accordingly.

That said, you will never regret taking disintegrate. It's one of the most useful spells in the game.

No no no.

You guys are thinking about this all wrong. You have to think about this THEMATICALLY, you have to think about this in terms of ARCHETYPES.

The Doctor is a wizard. NO question about it. He is MERLIN. He is the guy who comes from a strange place and through his knowledge and guile leverages the circumstances to a resolution that no one but he could foresee.

This is WIZARD territory. The Doctor is powerful, but he uses the least amount of power needed to solve the problem, and he mostly uses the resources at hand as opposed to bringing his magic to bear, but when he does bring his magic to bear, it is not about using the TARDIS or any other resources to directly assault the situation. It’s about using his resources to change the CONTEXT of the situation. Because he can see deeper into the situation than anyone else, he can see the leverage point, and USE that leverage point to change the world.

The Doctor is a “GOD” Wizard.

So, with that said:

"The Doctor”

Race: Human (for now)
Class, Wizard: Conjuration (Teleport)

Traits Magical Lineage: Plane Shift
Fast Talker

Feats

1) Improved Initiative
1) Spell Focus: Conjuration
2)
3) Reach Spell
4)
5) Spell Penetration, Craft Wondrous
6)
7) Leadership
8)
9) Craft Rod
10) Heighten Spell
11) Quicken Spell
12)
13) Preferred Spell (Plane Shift) [+2 DC, +2 SR]
14)
15) Greater Spell Penetration, Spell Perfection (Plane Shift) [+4 DC, +8 SR]
16)
17) Greater Spell Focus: Conjuration [+4 DC, +8 SR]
18)
19) Breadth of Experience
20) Immortality

Explanation:
The point of this build is to fire off rays that plane shift the target into whatever plane of existence you choose. This is not an optimal build (ranged touch + Will save is hardly optimal) but it’s fairly powerful, and it’s the sort of time/space warping mo-jo that The Doctor is famous for. Obviously this is not how the character looks on TV, I’m going for thematics here. The numbers in the brackets are the save DC bonus and the SR roll bonus respectively. This ONLY applies to the spell Plane Shift.

The Conjuration Teleport sub-school is where his "time-lord" character shows through in that he warps space-time.

Craft Rod – Custom-make a rod that casts: Hold portal, Knock, Detect Magic and Shatter (for the sonic screwdriver of course!). I don’t suppose most DM’s would object to this item, it’s hardly a campaign breaker.

Build a magic box at higher level and create a demi-plane inside it. Enchant the thing to be able to fly, and pump a LOT of money into making it as invulnerable as possible. One TARDIS.

Leadership is for the side – kick (A hot young woman of course). Breadth of Experience and Immortality are character traits as well.

He has Bluff as a class skill, but he should also max his Disable Device and Knowledge Engineering skill to cover his mechanical skills. Max out Knowledge: Arcana and knowledge: The planes as well. Other than that, just do what makes him playable and fun.

Craft a construct, and enchant it with the demiplane spell. I would recommend a construct that looks like a blue police box. Give it the flying special ability.

Stop thinking of the game as a combat system.

Combat is a set of problems. This is an important aspect of the game to be sure, but remember that there are lots of other kinds of problems. Clearly the high AC guys traded away a LOT of other solutions to other problems to achieve their high ACs. let him have his high AC, but simply include a greater variety of problems to hit them with.

Charm a tank and turn him on the party, and use that high AC for your own benefit. Create mobility-important encounters. Attack at night when they are not wearing armor, etc. etc.

Don't simply target their vulnerabilities of course. Just make sure there are times when they shine and times when they suck. Just like everyone else.

As for the "monsters hit other characters problem" Hey, it's NOT your problem! It's not your job to figure out how other people's characters survive. That's THEIR problem. Tell them to stop whining and figure it out for themselves.

And you know what. They will.

OK, all you Dr. Who fans, I'm working on a D&D version of the sonic screwdriver, and this is what I have come up with so far:

Sonic Screwdriver:
This item functions as staff with the special property of having the physical dimensions of a wand. It is made of a variety of strange metals, and contains a blue crystal on one end. The wielder can use it to cast detect magic at will at no charge cost. It casts the following spells:

Identify

Shatter

CL=8 Price = 27200gp

Enhanced Sonic Screwdriver:
This devices looks similar to the standard sonic screwdriver, but it contains more metal plates and a second blue crystal. It contains the following spells in addition to the standard device:

Shout (3 charges)

Passwall (3 charges)

So now my question is: Are there any functions I'm forgetting?