I'm running a Wizard 10 (Conjurer) right now and my GM has sort of intimated that the current campaign is likely to go into pretty high levels, possibly even up to 20. So I'm trying to figure out which feats I should be picking up for a late-game build. I'm looking at Spell Perfection, and while it's a terrific feat, I'm wondering if it's worth the investment for a conjurer. My current feat configuration is:
Level 10 (Elf)-- 8 feats
Scribe Scroll (Class)
Improved Initiative
SF: Conjuration
Augment Summoning
Superior Summoning
Fast Study (Bonus)
Opposition Research (Bonus)
Quicken Spell
I figure I have 7 feats left to get, 2 of which would be wizard bonus feats.
Now I'm wondering if Spell Perfection: Summon Monster 9 at level 17 would be worth the investment. Assuming I'm primarily using it to cast from the SM8 or even SM7 list, I'm getting 1d3 +2 or 1d4 + 4 monsters, each with +8 to Str and Con, with the doubled bonuses from Augment and Superior Summoning. Add to the fact that there's a bard in the party and I'm looking at summons that can do respectable damage. The thought of summoning 8 Brachiosaurs and watching them run wild through an enemy camp is the sort of "can destroy entire cities" power that justifies playing a wizard in the first place.
So seems pretty cool and all, but I'm not... in love with metamagic feats, and I'd have to invest in them pretty heavily to get Spell Perfection. I get the need for Quicken Spell, kind of, but I'm not sure what other metamagic does for a Controller wizard. I'd be taking 2 feats that I probably won't use often, which takes a bit of the shine off of Spell Perfection.
There's also a certain fun-factor issue in flooding the battlefield with a million summons. As in, I'd be delighted, but the rest of the party... perhaps less so.
So there's a few reasons that I'm skeptical about the cost/benefit analysis of the feat. That said, if summoning 5 t-rexes is wrong, then perhaps I don't wanna be right.
2)What are some other feats that might provide more utility? My build feels more or less on-line at this point, so my thought is to shore up some weaknesses. So I could take things like Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Spell Penetration, etc. This wouldn't provide the splashy "ALL TEH DINOSAURS" amusement of Spell Perfection, but it also wouldn't saddle me with metamagic feats I'm not sure I could take advantage of.
That said, is there anything I'm overlooking?
NB: Our campaign is less about dungeon crawling and more about character interactions and political intrigue. It's more of a sandbox-style game that takes place in a single city, and our PCs are all considered to have a power-base in the city. I was looking through some more skill-oriented feats and they mostly seemed... profoundly underwhelming. But I'm open to taking one of them if there's one worth grabbing.
NB2: We don't use item creation feats. I had Craft Wondrous Item for a while, but we all agreed that it wasn't really much fun. We'd just take all of the loot, sell it, then have me craft the items that the PCs *really* wanted. It took all of the thrill out of getting loot, so those are off the table.
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I'm not sure perfection is actually that good for a ninth level spell. It applies best to things with a lot more numbers to increase than a summoning spell as well. I would look at other feats that enhance the summons or allow for more versatility. The feat that gives all the good aligned summons (from champions of Purity) as well as the Truename discovery and even greater spell specialization would probably be better for the build. As for spell penetration, it really only applies to direct attack spells so it is probably also not very necessary for a summoning build.
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I get where you are coming from with this problem. I have pored over all the options for pimping my conjurer, and there isn’t really an option for high level play that has “Zazz.”
Metamagic feats are sub-par, I agree. That said there are 4 feets that might be worth your while, and here’s why:
Quicken: This gives you an fast spell you can’t get another way without spending bank.
Extend Spell: Yes, metamagic rods are cheap but the number of spells that benefit from this feat are huge. Look at every spell on your list that last for on hour per level. Now double the duration and cast it a day ahead of time. You can wear magic like it was cheap jewelry.
Dazing Spell: This lets you use a low-level spell (snapdragon fireworks on you and/or burning gaze on your familiar) that forces a save or suck effect every round as a free action (or two). This is very powerful, especially when combined with….
Heighten Spell: This feat generally sucks, but it does give you an ability that you can’t get in a rod. Combine it with your dazing spell and you have a spell that has a higher DC AND a longer duration of dazing. It also is a prerequisite for the preferred spell feat (which isn’t a bad feat).
If you want to do the dazing spell thing, take heighten spell and get a dazing rod. This will keep your options open.
I hope that helps
Since you seem quite well-equipped in the summoning department, I would consider choosing something else for spell perfection. The free metamagic is a huge deal, and since you have quicken spell it could allow you to easily increase your spell output without wasting valuable slots.
A save-or-suck or battlefield control spell of 5th or lower caster level, or one of higher levels if you get Extra Traits (Wayang Spellwhatever and Magical Lineage) would allow you to pump out quickened spells as swift action every round for very low spell level cost. You might want to consider getting a rod of persistant spell; they cost 32k, but being able to 3/day force double saves is powerful.
When it comes to metamagic, these are really good:
Persistant - the best thing to apply to save-or-sucks. Generally, from 5th spell levels onwards, it's better to use a persistant x-2 leveled spell than an x leveled spell in most cases.
Empower - this one is very powerful in certain circumstances. For example, empowered Enervation is a great option in 6th level spell slots.
Rime Spell - If you have some kind of cold spell, this one only adds a single level but is quite powerful.
Actually, if you want to have something to do other than pure summoning, I would consider this option:
Ice spears. Yes, a very simple 3rd level spell, but consider spell perfection on them, if you get Persistant Spell metamagic and two Rods of Metamagic Rime (just 22k), or vice versa.
Then you can, from your 5th (or 4th with more gp investment) level slots cast a Quickened Persistant Rime Ice Spears.
As a swift action at level 16 this will create 4 spears, and if targeted at 4 different enemies you'll do 4d6 damage, and must make two reflex saves. If any of them fails, they are entangled for three rounds and you can make a free trip attempt at +16+Int, and since they're entangled they also have a lower CMD than normal!
If the enemy is large enough, it takes 16d6, and if it fails a save, they're entangled and you make a trip attempt at +46+Int! (that is basically autotripping them).
And with two rods, you can do this six times per day if you commit the slots to it. I think that is a very good thing to do with your swift actions, seeing as how it allows you to keep your 6th-9th level spell slot for higher-level spells instead of using them to quicken your stuff.
Hmmmm. The pathfinder SRD clearly indicates that you can only use one metamagic rod per spell.
That said, I'd never thought about a Non-SM9 for spell perfection. I do notice that I have trouble dealing with the One Powerful Enemy. Everything is either a battlefield control spell or a summon that doesn't do much against real threats.
I like the ice spears idea. I also like the notion of Enervation as the single-target backup plan-- what would be a good feat commitment to making Evervation work?
how do you mean use two rods? You only use one each time. You have two just to have some extra uses :)
And of course, the save DC will be pretty low; mooks will have maybe a 30% fail risk and bosses more like 10%. But for a swift action and low-level slot it's quite nice.
Oh, and the splatbooks involved are (just for clarity's sake if OP wonders):
Ice Spear from inner sea magic
Persistant spell from APG
Rime spell from Ultimate Magic
For Enervation, you probably want Extra traits and take either magical lineage or wayang spellhunter or whatsitcalled that reduces the metamagic cost by one on a chosen spell. That way you can have an empowered enervation as a level 5 spell. Then have spell perfection to quicken it, for a total of 1d4*1.5 negative levels. Or take both magical lineage and wayang, and have a maximized quickened enervation in your 5th level slots for 4 negative levels.
This is before metamagic rods, so you could add something like Reach with a rod for cheap, or if you have maximized prepared you could add empowered from a 32k rod.
I like Spell Specialization, since a higher CL means longer durations.
Spell Perfection requires that you pick a spell to be your spell. If you have such a spell, as in one you cast every combat, then I would use it.
Eldritch Researcher may interest you, should you want to look into creating your own personal signature spell of the Conjuration school, and then taking spell perfection on it.
There are other good options (for example one of the pits, or stinking cloud, or maybe cloudkill), but you want to keep to spells that after you've metamagicked them (but before Quicken and any rods) they end up in a spell slot no higher than 5th level, because of the maximum level limit of Spell Perfection.
Note though that both Enervation and Ice Spears and most other directly targeting spells allow for spell resistance, and while you are an elf you lack spell penetration. Getting that later on would of course have a doubled bonus for the Perfectioned spell, though.
I could see something like:
11 - Extra Traits (Magical Lineage (Enervation), Wayang Spellhunter (Enervation)), prepare quickened Enervation as 6th level spell, get Reach rod for 11k
13 - Empower Spell, get Piercing rod for 11k
15 - Disruptive Spell, Spell Perfection (Enervation)
Now you can prepare a Quickened Empowered Disruptive Enervation, and three times per day you can treat the enemy's spell resistance as 5 lower and three times per day cast it at medium range (though not both at the same time).
It will kind of be a caster-killer; It'll give an average of 3.75 negative levels, and force the target to make concentration checks DC 14+Int+Spell Level to cast anything (concentration checks they take penalties on due to the negative levels).
Nice! That's quite solid and close to what I was looking for. A debuff that has a good level of power against single targets. It's also fun for everybody else in a way that summons aren't, especially since debuffs makes it easier for people like the party bard to land their own spells.
On Spell Perfection and Heighten Spell, one consequence of the ruling that Heighten can't be overlapped with other metamagics is that you can heighten your perfected spell to 9th for free and then apply your other metamagic.
Take Snapdragon Fireworks. Heighten it 8 levels for free. Then spend 3 levels on dazing and 2 on persistent. You now have a spell in a 6th level slot that lets you convert your move actions into 9th level 2 reflex save 9 round dazes. Oops, sorry, you have spell focus conjuration and perfection doubles that so it's more like two 10th level saves.
How do you get that? What ruling are you talking about, and what makes Heighten special compared to others?
Not saying you are wrong, I just don't see how that would be the case with the rules as I read them now...
If anything, I've heard them say that you can't combine Spell Perfection with Heighten Spell.