Help: Wizard focused on crafting stuff.

[Squawk Featherbeak]

My friend wants a crafter of magical items. I'm in charge of his character sheet as I have the most experience in Pathfinder. However this hits two things I'm not good at. Full casters and crafters. We originally decided Alchemist, but chose to forgo it because of the higher spell levels and the Arcane Discovery to build things faster.

Help. Paizo Products only. Monster and DE races allowed. We start at level 1, but a 12-20 level list would help. 20 Point Buy. I want to know about Spells, Feats, and whatever other choices to optimize this guy to the greatest Magitech Engineer.

[Run, Just Run]

craft magic arms and armor , golem constructor altrenate class features, staff like wand are things I'd suggest

[Kalrik]

Hedge Magician-Trait-Reduce cost of any crafted magic item by 5%
Arcane Builder-Feat/ACF-reduce crafting time by 25%
Craft Wondrous Item
Craft Wand
Craft Rod
Craft Staff
Forge Ring

Craft Wondrous Item is going to be the most useful. Craft Rod lets you make metamagic rods, which is sweet. Craft Wand gives you all those useful low level utility spells in a more cost effective form than a scroll. Forge Ring/Craft Staff are great, but you won't use them often since you can wield one staff and two rings.

The 5% discount from Hedge Magician doesn't seem like much, but it will add up significantly. Arcane Builder allows for faster crafting and is only really useful if the GM is a stickler about time and doesn't allow for downtime.

[Peter Stewart]

Pathfinder Savant can help make items you craft more attractive, especially the ability relating to scrolls.

[Run, Just Run]

The craft magic arms and armor will help with allies mostly by the way.

[Squawk Featherbeak]

so supposing he wanted the wondrous item, wand, rod, staff, ring, and magic arms feats, but he also wanted the Arcane Builder discovery, disallowing him to take a bonus feat at 5, what would you guys suggest be his feat development till 13? I can see at least one feat will be displaced.

[DreamAtelier]

Arcanamirium Crafter (Absalom) (sub school of universalist): You give up the mostly useles hand of the mage power for an extra item creation or metamagic feat at level 3.

Also, take the Scrollmaster Archetype.

Thusly, you end up being able to get all the major crafting feats, and can use scrolls as though they're single use staves.

Definitely take hedge magician as a trait.

Don't bother with Craft Wand. As a scrollmaster, you're better off making a few scrolls of spells that you want to have on hand, at minimum CL and attribute bonus, then just applying your archtype ability to cast them at your own CL and ability mod. Replace scrolls as you use them.

Your major crafting feats are always going to be Craft Wonderous Item and Craft Arms and Armor. Pretty much anything you want can be made with those. If you aren't planning on crafting for the rest of your party, or making constructs, you can probably decide not to bother with Arms and Armor.

If he definitely wants a staff, ring, or wand, my suggestion is to adjust your point buy to have a charisma of 13, and blow a feat on eldritch Heritage (Arcane Bloodline). This will let you get a bonded object (which you originally gave up to be a scrollmaster, but the scrollmaster ability does not actually prohibit you gaining it back from some other source), which you can craft into the magic item without needing to actually get the feat.

If you are planning on crafting for the rest of the party, things change. You'll want Craft Arms and Armor, definitely, and probably craft ring. Depending on what else is in the party (ie, how capable they are of using staffs, wands, etc), you might want additional crafting feats.

Only take brew potion if no one in the party can use spell completion/spell trigger items, and they're going to be needed for buffing.

I'll get a more fleshed out build done in the next few days.

[Thomas Writeworth]

Squawk Featherbeak wrote:

he also wanted the Arcane Builder discovery, disallowing him to take a bonus feat at 5.

Wait.. why does the Arcane Builder disallow the 5th level bonus feat? He should be able to take Arcane Builder AS the 5th level bonus feat.

[Fenrisnorth]

Heck, just ask the DM if the newbe can play an Artificer from 3.5, it's obviously the player's preferred concept, and Pathfinder is meant to be cross-compatible.