Hey, I'm in a Pathfinder Skulls and Shackles Campaign and looking like I'm going to be becoming a Mystic Theurge. I usually DM, don't get to play much so I'm enjoying the idea of being on the good side of the screen for a while. ;) Anyway to get the group together I let everyone else pick their characters first and I would try to fill any gaps. Well guess what? No spellcasters at all...so looks like I'm going to have to go Mystic Theurge. I thought we could get by with me being a wizard but it's way to difficult really.
So, I'm currently at the end of the first adventure, have 3 levels wizard and 1 level cleric. Didn't start out with the plan of being a mystic theurge. The big thing is I might get to take a mulligan on some feats and stuff to make things work a bit better. Any tips on what I should choose?
Keep in mind, I don't know all the books inside and out and so abbreviations often are meaningless to me and I have no idea what they mean...I used to DM only 3.5. (that's gonna change)
I'm human, we get to pick two traits, one from the adventure and one other. I have touched by the sea, gives me a peg leg but no negatives from having it and +1 damage vs sharks and water creatures. Anything else I'm willing to listen about. Suggestions?
Your other trait should be Magical Knack, which gives a +2 Caster Level bonus to one of your classes. It is considered almost a given for Mystic Theurges. Also, your current trait is Peg Leg, not Touched by the Sea. Not that calling it the wrong thing changes anything, just thought it should be pointed out. Touched by the Sea might actually be a better trait for you, though, given that Mystic Theurges make awful combatants (making the damage bonus weak). Meanwhile, getting swim as a class skill will be very useful in Skull and Shackles.
On feats and things, there isn't too much to say. There is a Theurgy feat that is thematic, but not particularly useful. Mystic Theurges tend to have lower main casting stats and lower spell levels, making anything with a save less useful (and thus removing the need for Spell Focus and the like). You'll be at your best as a buff and utility battery with some saveless battlefield control, none of which requires feats to be effective. Metamagic is still good, and with your gobs of spells Quicken and Extend spell will be of particular value (Quicken to get more spells out, Extend to make your buffs last longer and thus not have to be cast in combat). Given your importance as the group's only source of magic, feats to increase your defenses (saves, hitpoints, AC, whatever) will be useful.
The last bit of advice I would give is to consider the Divine Strategist archetype for your Cleric levels. You lose Channel Energy (which will be low level and weak as a Theurge) for the ability to always act in the surprise round. As the sole source of magic for your group, that is a big deal. You also lose a domain, which hurts more, but you wouldn't be getting the higher level domain power anyway and as a Mystic Theurge the ability to get unique, cross-class spells from domains is less important. You should also consider the Teleportation school for your Wizard levels, on the grounds that being able to run away with a swift action is always useful (and exceptionally so for a vital character like yourself).
Can you retcon and take witch instead? You can sort of fill both arcane and divine roles (kinda), with the right patron.
I don't really want to go away from Wizard at the least. I think I'm really going to have to do the Mystic Theurge approach. It is to bad in my opinion that you can't start it at level 4 with 2 levels in 2 classes, when you and the party are still close to each other. At 3/3 you are no where close to a level 6 character. It's bad enough being 2/2 and everyone being 4. Especially when you are a caster and most of your abilities don't stack, simply because you can't cast spells all that much faster. I'll definitely look at Quicken Spell. The Mystic Theurge misses out on so much stuff as you level that you would get otherwise.
I don't know, I guess I wish it at least gave you some bonus feats every 4 levels like a wizard and some sort of divine ability...or something. Really the most exciting thing for it is being able to cast two spells at once...once a day...at level 16. That should be like the first thing you get. And further castings per day as you progress. Yeah...I like that.
Anyway...I'll look at the guild stuff, I never dove into it much yet other than a quick once over.
As far as the magical knack trait, I have River Rat, which gives me the Swim Skill and +1 damage with a dagger I believe (and I need swim). I think I'll keep Peg Leg because it fits what I want for the character.
*record scratch*
My DM just talked to me on the phone, he said it would be cool to retcon back, I'll look at the witch but not sure if it will do what I want.
By the way, I'm a Water Elementalist Wizard/Cleric Of Besmara with Trickery and Water Domains. I want to worship Besmara for sure. So starting from scratch, with a point buy system of 25...What should I perhaps do? I currently have stats of...
Male Human Water Elementalist 3/Cleric of Besmara 1
Str 10
Dex 13
Con 12
Int 16
Wis 16 (includes +1 for 4th level)
Cha 13
Traits -
River Rat +1 Swim, +1 damage with dagger
Peg Leg - +1 Fort, +1 damage vs sharks/aquatic creatures(works with spells to as far as I can tell)
Combat Casting
Prodigy (took this at 1st level, seemed like an ok idea, probably not going to keep it now)
Craft Wondrous Item
Since I can redo the whole shebang, what would be best.
One thing to do that effectively lets you get more spells into play is to look for a lot of long-duration buffs. You can cast those early in the day or before combat and then cast a bunch more spells in combat. Extend Spell helps a lot with this.
There are lots of things you can do from an optimization perspective. As always, discard what doesn't fit your concept.
On ability scores, Strength and Charisma are giving you almost nothing and can be dumped, preferably for some extra Dexterity and Constitution. You won't need to carry much equipment and will be a pitiful melee combatant, making Strength pointless. Charisma gives you an extra channel every day, which just doesn't matter when you are stuck at 2d6. Other than that it is a luxury item.
River Rat isn't doing much of anything for you. +1 damage with a dagger is very minor, even moreso when you are a class that shouldn't be attacking with a manufactured weapon. I would recommend thinking about one of the numerous other traits that grant swim instead. Shackles Seafarer might be good, giving some minor bonuses to knowledge skills that will come in handy for Skull and Shackles. Of course, as always, Magical Knack would be best.
Peg Leg is passable for the Fortitude boost, but I see you mentioning spell damage. While it would indeed increase spell damage, you will probably want to avoid actually casting any spells that deal damage. Blasting is a fairly difficult option to begin with. While it can be done very well (through pumping the damage and DC while adding effects), it would be extremely hard to pull off as a Mystic Theurge (which already has trouble with those things). The class shines when using long duration buffs, negative status removers, and control spells that don't offer a save.
How attatched are you to being a Water Elementalist? The Cold Blasts will already be very weak by this point in the game, and +2 to swim checks does not impress. They also get a fairly small list of spells in the specialty. Not that those spells are bad, it is just that you might want some extra variety. I'd at least give a look at something broader (like Conjuration) or with a more useful school power (like Foresight). Void would also be interesting, given that it helps your saves (as the only caster, losing you would be very bad) and the "Reveal Weakness" power works on Caster Level, not Class Level.
Combat Casting and Prodigy aren't terribly good for you. Combat Casting only helps at casting defensively, and you really should be avoiding that at all costs. Besides, it eventually becomes trivial anyway. Prodigy isn't helping anything vital to adventuring, and if you want to craft just use "Crafter's Fortune" and be done with it. I'd recommend Improved Initiative (acting first is useful to casters) and something to improve defenses. Toughness or Great Fortitude, perhaps. Remember, as the only caster, there won't be anyone around to remove any debilitating spells that land on you.
Domains don't offer much improvement whichever way you go, but Tactics (from the War domain) would probably make you even more popular with the party. Trickery, meanwhile, eats an action, will last for just 3 rounds, and only gives a single mirror image. Just cast a proper Mirror Image. While Water doesn't offer much of anything good either, Trickery is a bit weaker for you, I think.
Or, you know, give in a be a Witch. You can say your Patron is Besmara for similar flavor, but with a totally different kind of mechanical outcome. At least worth giving a strong consideration.
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I think retconning to a witch, with something like Besmara's Parrot whispering the secrets of wind and waves into your ears is an excellent answer.
A mystic theurge can work, but it's tricky because you end up having to leave the most fun battlefield control spells on the table (because they are save based). In which case you'll end up focused on healing and buffing, and then you might as well have played a cleric.
With a Witch you get a smattering of healing, a big dollop of control and your patron and hexes give you an additional bag of tricks to draw on. Plus there is a long history of sea witches.
It really isn't that much of a retcon (perhaps your character was hiding his ability to use hexes for fear of attracting attention from the likes of Scourge and Plugg "No point in lettin' 'em know all the cards ye have in yer sleeves if yer gonna cheat 'em." After all.
I have looked at it all. Thought about it a lot. And spent a week reading and rereading the Mystic Theurge and Witch.
I gave in and built a Hedge Witch with Healing Patron. I'm actually quite pleased I think. And after filling out the character sheets I'm excited to Hex everything. 8^)
I read about a dozen threads on building Witches and you were all pretty much right. Witch is a much better choice than a Cleric/Wizard/Mystic Theurge. Like was pointed out, if I was the third caster in the group great, but I'm the ONLY caster so I can't gimp myself. The biggest problem was having less skills to spend points on and trying to figure out how I wanted to spend them.
For anyone interested, here is what I made:
Level 4 Hedge Witch
Str 13
Dex 16
Con 14
Int 18 (15 at first +2 Human +1 4th level)
Wis 10
Cha 10
I kept the same Traits:
Peg Leg
River Rat
Parrot Familiar
Extra Hex x2
Ability Focus (Slumber Hex)
Healing Patron
Hexes:
Slumber (with ability focus DC18 Will Save...useless against undead and I have a strong feeling that there will be a ghost ship at some point but I'll just use the next Hex on them to help out)
Healing - I am the healer after all and this will keep me from having to use the Spontaneous Healing and devour all my spells.
Flight - I couldn't pass it up.
Water Lung - I couldn't see a reason to pass this up either.
I'll probably take Extra Hex again next level, take Misfortune, and 6th level take Cackle to have something that works well against things that are immune to sleep. And Misfortune is actually pretty good with Cackle, as long as I can stand in one spot. :)
And actually, oddly enough, I have access to more damage spells than I did have before as a Water Elementalist.
If you have critiques on this I'm all ears. Thank you all for helping out.
**EDIT**
Actually I did have some specific questions...
If I find a wand or divine scroll with Cure Light Wounds say, I can use it without use magic device? Or does it have to be an arcane scroll or wand with the same spell?
I am going to be using my familiar a lot more and I don't *think* my GM will blow my familiar to bits, however what is the safest way, if I decided to, use my Parrot to blast with a wand? And in Pathfinder, can a ring affect the Parrot instead of me? I.E. a Ring of Disguise Self, or Ring of Invisibility?
Wand: Yes.
Scroll: No. But if you don't remind your GM that scrolls come in arcane and divine flavors, there is a good chance he will just forget.
Your Parrot probably isn't going to be able to use a wand. Wands require holding in a hand (or hand analogue) and pointing it at the target, neither or which a Parrot can easily do. Besides this, as a Witch, you really don't want giving people any reason to target your familiar. Remember, he is also your spellbook, making losing him extraordinarily painful.
You can't transfer effects from magic items to your familiar unless you "cast" them. You can, however, put the ring around your familiars ankle or something.
Wand: Yes.
Scroll: No. But if you don't remind your GM that scrolls come in arcane and divine flavors, there is a good chance he will just forget.
Your Parrot probably isn't going to be able to use a wand. Wands require holding in a hand (or hand analogue) and pointing it at the target, neither or which a Parrot can easily do. Besides this, as a Witch, you really don't want giving people any reason to target your familiar. Remember, he is also your spellbook, making losing him extraordinarily painful.
You can't transfer effects from magic items to your familiar unless you "cast" them. You can, however, put the ring around your familiars ankle or something.
I was thinking more along the lines of Magic Missile (No aim) or Touch Healing or buffs. And only if necessary.
Yeah I figured that was how it worked but, to me at least, the Witch feels like a Divine caster with Arcane powers more than the other way around. Cause it sure seems like the Patron's are giving the Witch the powers...much like a god does for a Cleric.