I'm playing a wizard in Rise of the Runelords, and I'm considering the Loremaster prestige class as a possible level dip, probably at level 9 after I get dimensional steps from Wizard.
Level: 4
Class: Wizard
Chosen school: Teleportation subschool
Opposition schools: Necromancy & Divination
STR 10
DEX 18
CON 12
INT 21
WIS 10
CHA 10
Traits: Desperate Focus (+2 concentration checks), Reactionary (+2 Initiative)
Feats: Breadth of Experience & various item creation feats
At first level, I would I'd get a secret (probably toughness), +4 skill points per level instead of +2, and the following class skills:
Diplomacy (Cha)
Handle Animal (Cha)
Heal (Wis)
Perform (Cha)
Use Magic Device (Cha)
- Is it worth doing?
How many levels would you take?
What level would you start at?
Any other thoughts or opinions?
Its worth doing if you think its fun to play :) Rise of the Runelords is a lot of detective work and if you want to be a Pathfinder or an archaeologist in Golarion you are on the right track.
9 or 10 sounds about right for the dip, and toughness definatly helps.
Me I did a bounce back and forth between wizard(diviner) and bard for a few levels, before carrying on in wizard...
Divination as an opposition will make qualifying a little harder for the prestige class if I'm not mistaken.
Not with PF rules for opposition school. Loremaster requires character to know 7 Divination spell, including one of 3rd or higher level. Current opposite school rules make casting harder (two slots/daily spells per spell instead of one) and make creating magic items that include opposite school harder. Still, limited access to Divination is strange, flavor-wise for Loremaster.
The Loremaster in 3E was often a default PrC to take, as wizards gained very little except new spells as they advanced. The Loremaster gave them new spells, more skill points, and some other useful abilities. In Pathfinder, the wizard gets school abilities that continue to improve with time. You have to ask whether or not your abilities are more valuable than the loremaster's abilities. Most of the secrets are roughly equal to a feat in power, IMO.
As for the divination-barred loremaster, I could see a character calling up various creatures with conjuration spells and getting information directly from them. Or using enchantments to convince people to tell him what he wants to know. Or researching a speak with dead variant as well...
To Lathiira: Some of them are feats![/joke]
The Loremaster was one of my favorite spellcasting PrC in 3.5.
|
I'd do it. We had tons of fun exploring the Thassilonian civilization in our RotRL campaign and lot of that exploration included heaps of scrollwork and ancient stonework etched with runes. Loremaster would be highly thematic to the campaign and since it's one of the few Pathfinder prestige classes that doesn't take a caster level hit, the only question you need to be asking from yourself is the one of preference.
Funnily enough, steelfiredragon mentioned the Savant and I had an old character build on my hd that I never got to use. It's a mix of both Savant and Loremaster and might be interesting to look into. Here:
Jonoeladlara Ainoreath
cn elf female 17
conjurer[teleport] 5 + pathfinder savant 7 + loremaster 5
starting stats as str 9 dex 14 con 14 int 17 wis 12 cha 10
lvl 1/ Spell Focus(conjuration), Scribe Scroll, teleport school, shift, skilled(through Adopted Trait), traits(Adopted, Forlorn), fc bonus to skill ranks
lvl 2/
lvl 3/ Greater Spell Focus(conjuration), 2nd lvl spells
lvl 4/ +1 to INT,
lvl 5/ Magical Aptitude, bf: Craft Wondrous Items, 3rd lvl spells
lvl 6savant/ adept activation, master scholar
lvl 7/ Bouncing Spell, esoteric magic^, glyph-finding
lvl 8/ +1 to INT, scroll master, 4th lvl spells
lvl 9/ Minor Spell Expertise, quick identification
lvl 10/ sigil master, 5th lvl spells
lvl 11/ Skill Focus(Knowledge[history]), analyze dweomer, silence master
lvl 12/ +1 to INT, dispelling master, 6th lvl spells
lvl 13Lo.M*/ Quicken Spell, secret(feat: Craft Staff)
lvl 14/ lore, 7th lvl spells
lvl 15/ Persistent Spell, secret(applicable knowledge)
lvl 16/ +1 INT, bonus language, 8th lvl spells
lvl 17/ Sickening Spell, secret(more applicable knowledge)
*required divination spells for LM: detect undead, detect magic, detect poison, read magic, identify, see invisibility, clairvoyance/clairaudience
^ esoteric magic spells(originator spell list and spell level): black tentacles(summoner 3), haste(summoner 2), stoneskin(summoner 3), teleportation circle(summoner 5), legend lore(bard 4), greater dispel magic(bard 5)
Anyhow(I love copy pasta), the feats are debatable, but those spell choices give some great versatility and combat control. You'll only lose one caster level and it's not necessarily that bad, since you'll be getting many of the really nice spells as lower level ones. That character was also geared to be the kind of gal everyone would go to for lore. That's why I took the extra human skill points and favored class bonus to skillpoints. I debated going with the universalist wizard instead, but since I never got to use her, it's all theorcraft and haven't bothered cooking that build up..
Divination as an opposition will make qualifying a little harder for the prestige class if I'm not mistaken.Not with PF rules for opposition school. Loremaster requires character to know 7 Divination spell, including one of 3rd or higher level. Current opposite school rules make casting harder (two slots/daily spells per spell instead of one) and make creating magic items that include opposite school harder. Still, limited access to Divination is strange, flavor-wise for Loremaster.
I won't launch into a lengthy story, but the character's background involves a lot of study without recourse to divination magic. I agree that, on the surface, prohibiting divination and going into Loremaster seem odd together.
there is also the pathfinder savant......
Since it's not in any of the core rules, I don't think it would be allowed in my game. Thanks for the suggestion though.