I think dispel magic is one of the best spells in the game.
to that end i am considering making a dispel magic focused caster.
looking at the options I dont think the wizard is a good choice because they dont get enough castings.
Sorc gets more castings than the wizard and if i take the right bloodline (arcane) I get bonus.
I like the Cleric because I have heals and melee damage when i am not spamming dispel
The Spellscar oracle seems like the best of the bunch
am i missing anything?
I'd be tempted towards a spellscar oracle demoniac just for penultimate incantation for fun and focus on punching up the caster level. Oracle keeps it flexible and fun and the cha bonus affects heretical revelation.
Of course that is evil allowed only, although you could snag just demonic obedience if you were cn and net incantation at 20 for a cool capstone ability that you'll probably never really get to use.
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best dispeller in the game is a sorcerer, that simple. quicken a summon monster and follow up by holding action to dispell. when ever i play one in group s with 4+ people i do so well that the gm gives me pissy looks every time i say "i hold action to" he cuts me off and say "I KNOW I KNOW" i makes that gm not want to bring casters to the fight anymore lol.
just remember that umd is your best friend at low levels.
how about an alchemist?
dispelling bomb, it's not as versatile or specific as the spell, but you'll get up to 4 or 7 dispells per round, with damage added to each one.
Also the rogue/ninja has dispelling attack, quite nice, hitting is a little bit trickier than with the alchemist.
I have considered a scout with dispelling strike but would not get the ability till level 10 or 11.
I think they are suggesting the arcane bloodline because they get dispell magic as their level 3 class spell.
however... the spellscar oracle gets the same thing and i think has a bit more utility (can heal as well and survivability with better arms and armor)
a large part to the choice would fall to group needs. some things can be serviced better by a sorc (damage) or an oracle (healing) but if I had any choice I am not sure which to go with.
I think that its my goal to use the character as a (debuffer) I will dispel any spells that the enemy may have and then weaken them for the other players in teh group to kill more easily. thus I want to use spells that lower the enemies armor, resistances or ability to fight back.
I am less interested in how many damage die I get to roll... although the occationall fireball to clear a room of small fry is always fun.
You can actually go pretty well even with a mage. Spell specializzation adn Greater spell Specializzation can get you a lot of mileage. My vote will however always go to the arcane sorcerer, it's just much more well rounded even when focused of dispelling. Spell Specializzation([greater]dispell magic) is a must in any case.
a friend of mine just gave me a great idea of a witch on a mount. I can use my standard action to hex, my move action to cackle and get around the battle field on the mount.
sounds great to me.
can witches get spell specialization and the like?
The ability to stun lock multiple powerfully buffed foes as a swift action while also penalizing their saves for your next spell, or doing the same with a single powerful enemy, but with up to a -12 save penalty? Yeah. It's pretty darn cool.
i put some thought into this at one point. spell specialisation (and greater if a prepared caster) plus spell perfection plus quicken spell=good chance of dispel (you're at +4 caster level) and as a swift action. so you can keep a readied swift action to lock down an enemy caster and use your standard to cast your own spell (greater dispel magic, ripping away their defences).
hm... disruption + witch hair. sounds good.
Ravingdork... can the basics of that build work with a witch?
Generally you can make any kind of 6+ spell levels caster work with this. The key is to be able to
1. cast dispel/greater dispel magic whenever you need it
2. have enough castings available
Options for that:
A. Most obvious solutions: Oracle or Sorcerer. Spontaneous casting and lots of spells make it easy to do. Many spells to work with.
B. Prepared caster route, i.e. wizards, witches, clerics, druids: Take heighten spell and then preferred spell for dispel and greater dispel magic. Now you can spontaneously convert all your spells of sufficient level to those, even meet prestige class and feat prerequisites, and you can recharge them rather cheaply with pearls of powers since - after all - you still expend prepared spell slots.
C. Sandman bard: Different mechanic, you can do a LOT of dispel with performances.
D. Not so obvious but once you hit 16th level the most powerful one IMO: Magician bard. The ability to use your own caster level to power the wand makes it incredibly cheap to buy dispel magic wands at caster level 5 but use them at your own caster level. At those levels, that is pocket money, so just buy - or craft - 10 or so wands of dispel magic and drop up to 500 dispel magics at full power at the enemy :-)
Feats I would suggest at least craft wands and craft wondrous items (pearl of power) to save money.
Equipment, besides wands, I would suggest at least a rod of quicken. This way you can have more impact.
Dispelling is quite cool, but remember you can usually do it only with one opponent at once. If that is the BBEG and he cannot follow up with a quickened version on you, that is fine. If there are several opponents at once, or spells are quickened, you will have limited impact.
Also, counterspelling is something else you might want to include their. Building a good dispeller is easy, building a good counterspeller not quite as easy. And, regrettably, the mechanics of pathfinder favor dealing damage and not negating magic this way. But you would be really great against specific targets or removing area effects, sending hordes of summoned creatures back (because even if 1d4+1 creatures are summoned, it is still only one spell that is in effect) etc. It's an interesting type of character that I also wanted to try out some day :-)
good rundown sangalor. I really think that I will go with the witch for this only because of the ability to debuff and then cackle to maintain the buffs... kind of funny all the laughing in battle but it works mechanically. as long as my group has my back in terms of defending me when I am close to the battle
hm... disruption + witch hair. sounds good.
Ravingdork... can the basics of that build work with a witch?
As most of it comes down to feats and magic items, I don't see why not. You'd be missing out on Counterspell Mastery though (which in itself is fun, but not essential I suppose).
I think you would have a harder time getting full synergy out of spell perfection and the other feats with a witch, however, as a witch has less feats than a wizard.
good point raving. I THINK the ability to extend debuffs with cackle may be a fair trade but then again I will be losing out on the higher spell penetration and other such bonuses.
something to think about thanks for the help