I'm having a disagreement with some of my PFS buddies, so this is a PFS-related question.
1) Can the arcanist cast spells that are NOT in the core rulebook. If you read the description of the arcanist, it specifies that the arcanist can use sorcerer/wizard spells IN THE CRB. Does this mean that an arcanist can ONLY use these spells or are other spell available to them?
2) Can an arcanist leave spell slots open in the way that a wizard can, and then take 15 min later in the day in order to fill them up?
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?
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.
[/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!
My wizard has plenty of skills. Really all he needs to do his standard shtick.
I have maxed out:
Knowledge Arcana
Knowledge Nature
Knowledge Planes
Linguistics
Perception
Spellcraft
Stealth
and I have put at least 1 point in all other class skills.
My fly skill is approaching the point where there isn't much point in increasing it.
I have put one point in Craft: Glassblowing, & Alchemy. There is no point putting more into these, because I can take 10 and get a 25 on my roll easily using the crafter's fortune spell.
So the question is, what skills do I max out with the headband (I can enchant it myself, so I get to pick).
My wizard has plenty of skills. Really all he needs to do his standard shtick.
I have maxed out:
Knowledge Arcana
Knowledge Nature
Knowledge Planes
Linguistics
Perception
Spellcraft
Stealth
and I have put at least 1 point in all other class skills.
My fly skill is approaching the point where there isn't much point in increasing it.
I have put one point in Craft: Glassblowing, & Alchemy. There is no point putting more into these, because I can take 10 and get a 25 on my roll easily using the crafter's fortune spell.
So the question is, what skills do I max out with the headband (I can enchant it myself, so I get to pick).
My party of adventurers has defeated the command structure of a hoard of goblins, hobgoblins and orcs. In so doing they freed a bronze dragon who helped clear the area of goblinoids, but MANY got away.
They took over the army’s base of operations and about 3 months later a town started springing up around their location. Recently one of the townspeople was murdered.
The party tracked the murderer to an abandoned(?) Yuan-Ti temple, and they have managed to blow through the remaining elite (5-6th level) warriors of the surviving army. The party killed a about 30 elite fighters (in waves) in the actual shrine of the Yuan-ti god. All this bloodletting, was followed by the a party member’s decision to murder of a prisoner (an elite warrior). This caused the temple to summon forth the daemon-prince God of the Yuan-ti, who promptly geased the party into restoring the Yuan-Ti to the temple.
The temple itself is abandoned, but it will have a hole in the floor of one trap room that will dump the party into the underdark. There is a surviving tribe of Yuan-Ti, down there, perhaps in the thrall of a larger civilization of drow. So the party now has to fight its way through the orcs/goblins, go into the underdark and liberate the Yuan-ti from the Drow and somehow not kill the Yuan-ti while doing it.
What I need from you guys are some ideas for challenging encounters against 10th level characters that can realistically be initiated by 1st level mooks. So far I’ve dropped a landslide on the party, and I plan to have them grease up a ramp that leads to a hole in the floor, so that at least our tank is likely to fall down to the cave complex beneath the temple (this is where the Yuan-ti live).
At this point all that are left are:
1 x 12th level warlord
3 x 7th level lieutenants
6 x 4th-5th level adept/sorcerer/witch/cleric types.
20 2nd level Worg riders
About 100 1-2nd level warrior grunts (mixed hobgoblin and orc).
The bad guys have had time to find/repair any traps in the temple complex, and there may be oozes and slimes that they can use as well. Also, there may be other magical sections of the temple complex that have remaining spell effects and whatnot. So there are a lot of raw materials that the bad guys can put to use in defending their lair.
Basically I'm thinking that if I have perfect spell of any of these three spells AND have it in a staff, I can get my uber-DC' buffs AND spontaneously cast as well.
I've seen post like this before, but I'm wondering what people think of the high-level God wizard these days.
He lacks the firepower of a blast mage and Rime/Dazing spell offer the blast mage competitive battlefield control.
I do think a God wizard is still the king of utility magic (which is more powerful than many give credit to). So how to you give a God wizard extra pizazz at high levels? Any good feat chains to take?
If you don't go for blast power, how does one maximize other abilities (Battlefield control, utility, save or suck/die etc.)?
I'm exploring a weird idea for my wizard character: Portable traps.
The Shrink Item spell used on a device that is a quick-to-deploy or even "toss it, and stand back" way of laying a trap on an active battlefield.
Yes, it's a weird idea I know, but that's what makes it cool.
___________________________________________________________________
In game terms, this idea springs from the following strategy:
A) Craft a headband of vast intellect (+2) that has the craft-trap making skill on it. Or if you like, spend your own skill points as normal.
B) Add your big INT bonus and the Crafter's Fortune spell. At level 10 and Taking 10 on the roll this will get you an easy 34 on the roll, a 36 if your familiar helps.
C) Make the trap in 1 minute's time using the fabricate spell.
This means the cost of making the trap is 1/3 normal and the time cost is negligible.
______________________________________________________________________
Here are the rules:
1) It should take no more than a minute to deploy (after being un-shrunk)
2) Shrink Item only works on non-magical items, so if there is a magic component to it, this must be added after the it is un-shrunk.
3) Alchemical components are allowed and encouraged
4) Extra points are given for "toss and stand back" devices that can be deployed as a standard action, or with familiar assistance.
5) The device MAY be manually operated.
6) Remember that there is a 2 cubic feat/level limit to shrunk items, but that fires can be effected by the shrink Item spell.
Example: A loaded Ballista that can be deployed by the wizard and triggered by the wizard's familiar. Give it an alchemical warhead if you like.
NOTES:
1) Best entries will get added (with credits) to a follow-up thread that will condense all ideas for community use.
2) The damage done by the trap should be proportional to the amount of money spent. Use a scroll of equivalent cost to roughly gauge the power of the trap.
3) Summoned monsters may be deployed to operate the device.
I am NOT interested in losing either craft wondrous or improved familiar. So do I go fast study, and postpone Augment Summoning till level 9 or do I take Fast Study at 9?
So here is an idea that I suppose is used routinely by high level wizards:
Share an antimagic field with your flying familiar and "deliver" it to the bad guys by having the familiar fly above them. This turns off their magic, and if you position yourself right, all the buffs, and magic items on YOUR side still function normally.
Very cool tactic.
But is there any other way in the rules to do this for the "non-familiar" using casters?
So here is an idea that I suppose is used routinely by high level wizards:
Share an antimagic field with your flying familiar and "deliver" it to the bad guys by having the familiar fly above them. This turns off their magic, and if you position yourself right, all the buffs, and magic items on YOUR side still function normally.
Very cool tactic.
But is there any other way in the rules to do this for the "non-familiar" using casters?
This is just for one encounter. It's in a side encounter in a castle the NPC's are crawling through.
The castle is occupied by hobgoblins, ogres, trolls, and an assortment of "middle management" bad-guys. There are some Cthulu-esque things going on in the plotline for context.
I need something with some pretty good flavor that isn't necessarily a combat encounter, but that presents a real hazard to the players.
I'm coming back to the game after leaving for several years. Still getting my bearings on the changes in the game mechanics.
Here is a build I put together, and I just want opinions on how playable this is at mid to high levels. Here is the build and my thoughts about it.
Spoiler:
Human Conjurer, (Teleportation)
Talents: Slippery, and Vaj Jungle Guid (stealth and perception are class skills)
Opposition Schools: Necromancy & Enchantment
Bonded object = ring
1) Improved Initiative
1) Spell Focus (Conjuration)
2)
3) Augment Summoning
4)
5) Craft Wondrous , Heighten Spell
6)
7) Preferred Spell (Enervation)
8)
9) Craft Rod
10) Spell Penetration
11) Maximize Spell
12)
13) Quicken Spell
14)
15) Greater Spell penetration, Spell Perfection (Enervation)
16)
17) FEAT
18)
19) FEAT
20) Immortality
The point of this build is to keep my options open, but still pack a punch. What this build lets me do is:
1) Contribute to damage as a support caster by softening up the bad guys for my team.
2) Lay down plenty battlefield control thanks to the 1 extra spell per day granted by conjuration. This may include Summoning spells, but it is not dependent on them.
3) Stay hidden most of the time. This is the big deal about the teleport ability. “poof out and hide” is a basic shtick for this build. Note that stealth is effective against both See Invisible and True Seeing effects.
4) Bonded object allows for maximum versatility. Also the fact that enervation is spontaneous cast means that you don't have to memorize it to use it, keeping spell slots open for other options.
5) Have one really good “boss blaster” spell that (again) supports my team, with enervation and give a nice ability that stays relevant late in the game. At 15th level I make a medium rod of maximize and use it to maximize a quickened enervation, then I cast a maximized enervation. This gives me two rays in a round that inflict 4 negative levels each. These overcome spell resistance thanks to Spell Perfection feat.
Those last two feats go to whatever seems best at the time. Empower spell will let me add still MORE negative levels to my rays. Point blank/precise shot is an option, but it seems weak to me, Or maybe just a item creation feat and Leadership for still more item creation feats, so I can retire with a huge number of magic items.
Whatever. At that point, the campaign will have changed enough that I can just decide then. The point is that the build is solid early, and it picks up a good solid "shtick" in the middle, that scales well with level.
My DM only allows CRB and APG, otherwise there are a few more good feats to add, like Piercing Spell (+5 to overcome SR, adds up to a +10 at level 15!). If I can convince him to allow UM, then I'll tweak the build.
I would have taken a familiar but we have a 7-person group, and summoning is going to bog down play enough.
I'm really curious if Enervation is a good choice of "signature spell" or if I'd be better off with a different approach.
I'm looking for a thread/site that has a bunch of well-thought-out wizard builds.
I know all about Treantmonk's Guide. I'm not looking for a guide, I'm looking for actual builds, designed around specific ideas and strategies about how to take advantage of wizard abilities. Pathfinder ONLY, no 3.5 feats allowed.
It just occurred to me that there is nothing saying that you can't use the Preferred spell feat to spontaneously cast a spell from your opposition school.
So this would still only cost one slot right?
So if I have Necromancy as an opposition school, I can take Enervation as a preferred spell and still only spend one slot to cast it.
OK, so I have this build I'm working on where a Conjurer focuses on firing off a reach Plane Shift spell as a spontaneous cast, with massive bonuses to DC and to SR.
The problem is it's VERY feet intensive, and I don't really want to invest in the point blank tree if I can help it.
My question is, how hard is it for a wizard to hit a touch AC at mid to high levels?
Obvously a quickened true strike will help here, but that's an extra step, and it defeats the purpose of the spontaneous cast.
I'm building a conjurer, of the usual stripe. Of course there is all the usual business about Augmented summons (Superior Summons not yet allowed - DM says Core and APG only, except all traits are allowed.)
Ok, so I have:
Human
Opposed = Enchantment, Necromancy
Traits = Stealth and Perception as class skills
Familiar - Dinosaur (+4 init) Starting Init = +10
So here's the thing. He's fine, but I get the feeling like there is some sort of creative Mo-Jo that I could be laying down in levels 9-15. I mean, sure, I can summon well, and plenty of Battlefield Control, but I mostly have that covered by level 6. Then what?
I took craft staff for flavor - I'm not attached to the feat. Fast study is there to increase flexibility (of course).
Even the first 7 levels are a bit lackluster: The early focus on summoning is great, but my campaign has 7 players (at least for now), so really, summoning is sort of redundant in this environment. Still I really like the whole teleport focus powers. Any other ideas?
Finally, I'm perfectly willing to read about how this or that feat is a good feat, but what I'm really looking for is some sort of focused capability that is driven by good feat synergy.
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
Hold Portal
Knock
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?
