So, for a certain game of mine, I am working on building a sort of "anti-Mage" character. Essentially the character is going to be a caster that is built around shutting down and countering other casters. The character is going to be 10th level and with a 25 pt buy. The class is going to be the ACG revision Arcanist.
So how best do you guys think to optimize this guy? He is going to act mainly as support and utility via buffs and tearing down enemy defenses. Additionally, he is going to be strogly built on the counter-magic part of abjuration (taking advantage of the Arcanist's power at counter-magic).
One fairly easy way to take care of enemy spellcasters is this method. Max out intelligence as much as possible, including grabbing at least a +4 headband of vast intelligence with your equipment. You might even considering making the character middle aged for an extra little boost to mental stats. You should be able to get up to something like a +8 bonus. Learn the Feeblemind spell. Get Spell Focus(enchantment) and Greater Spell Focus(enchantment). Might as well grab Heighten Spell while you're at it. Any enemy spellcaster who gets within 150 feet of you must now make a DC 28 will save (with the arcanist's school bonus) or become a drooling idiot unable to cast any spells. Once you get higher level spell slots Heighten Spell will allow you to increase your DCs even higher.
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Don't forget the character's race! Drow come with racial spell resistance, and Changelings can take the Mother's Gift (Uncanny Resistance) exclusive racial feat. Dwarves can also acquire spell resistance by way of an alternate racial ability, but in addition to being 1 point lower than that which Drow and Changelings enjoy, it comes with an inconvenient concentration penalty, and costs them their normal bonus to saving throws versus spells (as well as the dwarven Charisma penalty, which is unwelcome for an Arcanist). Svirfneblin have CRAZY defensive powers, including way better spell resistance, a dodge bonus to armor class, a bonus to ALL saving throws, AND persistent nondetection (all the better to frustrate those who would use magic against them), but there's the matter of their -4 Charisma penalty.
Honestly? At least consider making the character a Svirfneblin, and instead of an Arcanist, make it a Thassilonian Envy Mage of the Counterspell subschool.
One fairly easy way to take care of enemy spellcasters is this method. Max out intelligence as much as possible, including grabbing at least a +4 headband of vast intelligence with your equipment. You might even considering making the character middle aged for an extra little boost to mental stats. You should be able to get up to something like a +8 bonus. Learn the Feeblemind spell. Get Spell Focus(enchantment) and Greater Spell Focus(enchantment). Might as well grab Heighten Spell while you're at it. Any enemy spellcaster who gets within 150 feet of you must now make a DC 28 will save (with the arcanist's school bonus) or become a drooling idiot unable to cast any spells. Once you get higher level spell slots Heighten Spell will allow you to increase your DCs even higher.
While Feeblemind is a great spell for taking out casters, wouldn't it be more reliable to say, target fortitude? I'm sure there must be a good save or die out there for fortitude, and casters tend to be weaker in fortitude than will.
I haven't tried it as a PC yet, but I have been tempted to make a primary counter spell caster.
The thing that got me considering it was an encounter a few campaigns ago (I was GM). It was a medium level encounter. The only casters on the bad guys team were a couple of sorcerers that used improved counter spell and dispel magic to shut down the PC casters and strip off any buffs they had.
It worked surprisingly well and I had to adjust some stuff on the fly to avoid a TPK in a fight that was not central to the story line.
To head off the argument before it starts, I do not normally just let the PC's survive. But in this case it would have been a TPK because I as GM misjudged how well the terrain, tactics, and builds worked together. The PC's really had almost no chance to survive what was not intended to be anything other than an irritation.
I had not realized to what extent that group had relied on their buffs, debuffs, and control spells to do damage and even survive. They didn't have any single class martial characters and without magic, they were not very effective.
When I started playing PFS and realized that often the BBEG at the end is all by himself, it go me thinking again. Since the lone BBEG is relying on his buffs and/or first spell to even the playing field, it seemed like a guy that countered that first spell and/or stripped off his buffs would pretty much shut him down. Then the rest of the party should find it pretty easy to finish him off.
But, I haven't had a chance to play a character like that yet.
While Feeblemind is a great spell for taking out casters, wouldn't it be more reliable to say, target fortitude? I'm sure there must be a good save or die out there for fortitude, and casters tend to be weaker in fortitude than will.
You're right, spellcasters do tend to have weaker fortitude saves, but unfortunately there's not a whole lot of really nasty (versus spellcaster) spells that target fortitude at lower levels. Plus the -4 penalty to their will save that spellcasters get versus feeblemind is usually enough to make up the difference in their saves, so unless they've focused on Wisdom they should have a rough time. Once you get 6th level spellcasting then something like flesh-to-stone is probably a better bet.
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You're right, spellcasters do tend to have weaker fortitude saves, but unfortunately there's not a whole lot of really nasty (versus spellcaster) spells that target fortitude at lower levels.
While Feeblemind is a great spell for taking out casters, wouldn't it be more reliable to say, target fortitude? I'm sure there must be a good save or die out there for fortitude, and casters tend to be weaker in fortitude than will.
Ear Piercing Scream is pretty good, as is Blindness/Deafness.
Ear Piercing Scream is pretty good, as is Blindness/Deafness.
Eh, I'm not a big fan of Ear-Piercing Scream, personally. Dazed for 1 round is certainly a good effect, but it's not going to win a fight. Blindness/Deafness definitely can screw over a spellcaster though.
More geared for higher levels (~15th), but going for aasimar (keep daylight to qualify for eldritch knight early) arcanist 1/(fighter or ranger)* 1/eldritch knight 5/arcane archer 3, then eldritch knight +5 gets you +14 BAB, Enhance Arrows (+1 (flaming, frost, or shock)) and Imbue Arrow, as well as spell progression as an arcanist 12 (for antimagic shell, useable with Imbue Arrow). Boom; can shut-down most casters at range (especially with a Quickened true strike to ensure a hit) while retaining all beneficial magical bonuses and the ability to cast. Dispel magic can be used earlier for counterspelling or debuffing, along with color spray (targeting Will), stinking cloud (targeting Fort), and web (targeting Ref) to hinder casters; color spray, stinking cloud, and web can all be used with Imbue Arrow, as well.
For a slightly lower BAB, arcanist 6/(fighter or ranger)* 1/eldritch knight 2/arcane archer 1, then arcane archer +2/eldritch knight +3 gets you +12 BAB, Enhance Arrows and Imbue Arrow, as well as spell progression as an arcanist 12 with any race.
*- Fighter gets a bonus feat, making it easier to qualify for arcane archer, but ranger gets more skill points and the ability to use wands of aspect of the falcon or wands of cure light wounds without Use Magic Device checks.
Most wizards have Con as their secondary stat.
I actually see more with a higher Dex than Con. Dex helps with ranged touch attacks as well as AC. Having extra hit points (being able to take one more hit) tends to come up less frequently; if you're getting yourself in situations where you're getting hit often enough that it's an issue, then you may want to discuss party tactics (or talk to the GM about why he's targeting the wizard so much).
You're right, spellcasters do tend to have weaker fortitude saves, but unfortunately there's not a whole lot of really nasty (versus spellcaster) spells that target fortitude at lower levels.
Feeblemind is not really a lower level spell to begin with. For a few low level ways to take out a caster, try a Sound Burst or a Burst of Radiance. They won't win the fight in one casting like Feeblemind... but a caster who spends a single round stunned should be fairly easy pickings. Heck, if you are the spontaneous type, you can always ready an action to Sound Burst the other guy again as soon as he starts casting. Even if he makes his save he may blow his concentration check. Yeah, that will take a while to kill him, but you only need to do it long enough for your monk to grapple the dude or your fighter to get into full round attack position.
The other thing with Feeblemind is that penalty doesn't apply to divine casters. Although some of them have better Fort saves too. Feeblemind is a great way to make sure that a helpless caster is never a threat again though. Especially if you don't want to kill them for some reason. It also can create a lot of narrative drama.
Anyway, my advice is diversify your options. Take all of the spells suggested here rather than just rely on one.
To expand a little more: There might be a context where you a Feeblemind is your best shot. But say you have a caster who is surrounded by archers or other threats. By the time you can cast Feeblemind, you can also cast black tentacles AND ready a quickened magic missile for when they cast in the same round. Rather than forcing the caster to pass a single save, you just gave them two concentration checks they could blow and shut down X number of other opponents. THEN you can follow up with the Feeblemind if appropriate, but by then your own guys may have solved the problem for you.
Magic's big strength is it's flexibility, so you will need to be flexible to match it as an anti-caster caster.
To expand a little more: There might be a context where you a Feeblemind is your best shot. But say you have a caster who is surrounded by archers or other threats. By the time you can cast Feeblemind, you can also cast black tentacles AND ready a quickened magic missile for when they cast in the same round.You cannot do this. While you can ready a swift action readying itself is a standard action. You could cast a quickened spell and then ready.
Oops! The more you know...