The Counterspeller

[Feral]

I'm looking at building a caster that is dedicated to stymieing other casters via Counterspelling for PFS. I'm having a hard time coming up with ways to do everything I want to do within a reasonable amount of time. Reasonable in this case being 5th-6th level since PFS characters retire at level 12.

Stuff I want to be able to do:

*Counterspell enemy casters semi-reliably
*Counterspell without spending every standard action of every turn readying
*Have something to do when Counterspelling isn't necessary/possible

I'm likely going to end up using Dispel Magic to counterspell a good amount of the time so full caster level seems like a must. The Counterspell subschool for wizards immediately jumps out but I tend to like Sorcerers more.

Suggestions?

[Matt Beatty]

I like the idea of the sorcerer. For counterspelling you want more spells per day (for more counterspells).

My big recomendation - Grab Improved Counterspell feat.
When counterspelling, you may use a spell of the same school that is one or more spell levels higher than the target spell.

This way you are not reliant upon dispel magic all the time.

[InVinoVeritas]

Counterspelling involves a lot of reacting. A Sorcerer can actually do a great job as a counterspeller because they don't have to have the right spell prepared at any time.

Take Improved Counterspell and make sure your spell choices are spread out among the schools as much as possible. That way, you'll always have the spell you need to counter. Note that you'll always want high-level spells of all schools for this to work; consider Heighten Spell.

Maximize your Spellcraft so that you can identify the spell easily. Skill Focus and Magical Aptitude (Spellcraft + UMD!) are great feats to choose.

A good Initiative helps here, as well. You'll need to act first to ready the action.

So, what I'd do is play a Human Arcane Sorcerer with a Compsognathus familiar. Use the alternate favored class ability to learn extra spells, spread out your choices to always have some key schools covered, and start with Magical Aptitude and Improved Counterspell. Take Skill Focus: Spellcraft at 3rd, and Heighten Spell at 5th. At 7th level, you'll get Dispel Magic for free and a bonus feat: Improved Initiative.

For traits, take Gifted Adept (Dispel Magic) and Reactionary. That should work out quite well.

[Midnight-Gamer]

Disruptive Spell, from the APG would help too.

[Quandary]

I don`t see why you would bother taking Imp Counterspell as a Sorceror, to then have to make sure to `spread out` all of your Spells across Schools, and/or take Heighten Spell (which increases spells to Full-Round Casting Time, i.e. not Ready-able), when you can grab ONE 3rd level spell: Dispel Magic and have it do everything you need.

Another option is Magician Bard, you will get Dispel Magic a bit later, but with all your bonuses you should be able to reliably UMD before ANYBODY else (those bonuses also apply to Caster Level checks), and you have Imp Counterspell from level 1, and from level 8 you can Dispel Magic as an Instantaneous Action, it just works vs Spell Levels equal to the number of rounds you`ve been performing.

The Counterspell Wizard gets the Immediate Action stuff a bit earlier than the Magician, but it also uses up spell slots (+1 vs. target spell, apparently Dispel Magic doesn`t work, or only vs. Lv 2 and below spells) which the Magician doesn`t need to use. They are definitely nice, and viable, but it sounded like from your criteria, that Magician Bards could fill the bill well:

*Counterspell enemy casters semi-reliably
(check: magician gets great caster level boosts so their dispels will be more certain than the Counterspell Wizard)
*Counterspell without spending every standard action of every turn readying
(check: immediate action counterspells that don`t use spell-slots, and you can use metamagic like disrupting/despoiling which will use your own caster level boosts)
*Have something to do when Counterspelling isn't necessary/possible
(check: all the normal bard spells, you are a better combatant BAB/HD wise, better skills, and you still have some regular bardic performances)

*I tend to like Sorcerers more.
(bards share spontaneous casting and CHA focus like Sorcerors. take Eldritch Heritage, which your CHA will easily qualify for, for Sorceror Bloodline abilities... possibly including a Familiar)

I don`t think there`s anything letting Sorcerors immediate-Counterspell like Wizards/Bards, but if you don`t need that aspect (say, you have a Familiar UMD`ing Dispel Magic on the side) they can definitely do Dispelling comptently, you would just want to look out for Caster Level boosts where you can get them. Imp Counterspell isn`t needed IMHO, though the disrupting/despoiling metamagic is nice.

[InVinoVeritas]

Just to finish the train of thought here...

An Arcane Sorcerer gets Metamagic Adept, so they can apply Heighten Spell without increasing the casting time, meaning it can be readied. Also, Dispel Magic gives only a chance to counterspell, while if you've got the right spell, counterspelling is an automatic success.

The counterspelling sorcerer also has lots it can do when not counterspelling, since it still knows all those spells anyway. However, I totally agree, Dispel Magic is just an all-around helpful spell to have that's useful in a lot of conditions, which makes it a good spell for a sorcerer to pick anyway.

[sieylianna]

I have an Oracle who picked up Dispel Magic as her 3rd level spell. Having to make a caster level check to counterspell is a pain, but it's a worthwhile approach for spontaneous casters. The party sometimes has a cleric of comparable level, which makes some spell choices superfluous.