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So, I've been inspired to make a mage based on getting the most out of magic missile. Please help me to find anything that makes Magic Missile better. Also wondering what class he should be, I'm thinking sorcerer but open to suggestions.
Traits:
Metamagic master (magic missile)
Feats:
Toppling spell
Dazing spell
Spell Specialization
Spell penetration (greater)
Spell Perfection
Spontaneous Metafocus
Preferred Spell (If I go wizard)
Maybe
Spell focus (does it increase dazing dc?)
Would heighten spell make dazing spell last more rounds?
Does force count as an energy type thus we are able to change it with elemental spell?
Just looking to make a list right now. Feats, Traits, equipment that will improve magic missile.
dot for interest.
I've been interested in this concept as well. Here's a helpful build:
Also, if 3.5 materials are allowed, the Force Missile Mage PrC from Dragon Compendium is right up your alley.
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Don't forget Empower Spell, Intensify Spell, and Maximized Spell. You can also substitute Magical Lineage for Metamagic Master if your GM doesn't like Dragon Empires stuff.
The Evocation School for wizard gives you +1/2 level to damage on evocation spells, and I think fits the flavor perfectly. Alternately, the Orc bloodline gives you +1 damage per die rolled, which I think is pretty close in terms of total damage. Force damage is definitely not elemental damage, so most of the damage-boosting sorcerer bloodlines don't apply.
I think there might be a prestige class out there somewhere that focuses heavily on Magic Missile... EDIT: yup, Force Missile Mage, that's the one.
Oh, and since Magic Missile strikes unerringly unless the foe has total cover or total concealment, using partial cover/concealment to your advantage might be good. I think a battlefield control Evocation wizard would do you pretty well. Make sure you grab Dispel Magic, cause otherwise when people start hearing there's a magic missile master in the area and everyone starts drinking Potions of Shield, you'll be in serious trouble. :p
Off the top of my head I don't have to much to add, but in regards to Reynard's comment about traits: The two metamagic reduction traits stack so ideally you want them both on Magic Missile.
One word of caution though: No matter how much you pump up your Magic Missile it will still be defeated by an unmodified Shield spell. Still, you could dispel it and then Quicken Magic Missile as a third level spell or something similar, so it's not completely insurmountable, just highly annoying.
I am kind of doing that with this character, He is built like the sniper in the dark
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This entire character will be negated by a first level Shield Spell unless we can find a way to bypass the second sentence.
Intensify spell does not work with magic missile. It only works with spells that increase the damage die per caster level. That is not how magic missile works. It gives another missile. There is no correlation between xdy/caster level with this particular spell.
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Research a unique spell that has all the functionality as a Magic missile, only it's not a magic missile. :-)
going 2 classes seems interesting. It would give a lot more spells per day. Seems that caster level and such would hurt though.
Orc bloodline gives+1 per missile?
Evocation wizards does the same?
Deal with shield spells with dispel magic, possibly quickened and/or greater
In addition to force missile mage this is a wonderful supplement.
In addition to force missile mage this is a wonderful supplement.I can't seem to get a link on their site (that you linked to the product) to let me download it.
Never mind! I found it on Paizo's store.
That was a pretty good supplement for Magic Missile. For $1 it's worth it and I picked up a few others as well, 7 Shield Spell Feats and 10 Mage Armor feats. All of which were $1 and thought what the heck.
Those were good. I liked the fireball one too.
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This entire character will be negated by a first level Shield Spell unless we can find a way to bypass the second sentence.
Actually, a Force Missile Mage has the ability to punch through the shield spell with his missiles. So that shield spell is worthless to a Force Missile Mage.
Also, a 3rd party supplement called Path of Magic: Legends & Lairs has a prc called Force Weaver which really boosts force spells.
going 2 classes seems interesting. It would give a lot more spells per day. Seems that caster level and such would hurt though.
Orc bloodline gives+1 per missile?
Evocation wizards does the same?
Evocation wizard dosent give a bonus pr missile but pr spell. And going 2 classes would be horrible it the goal with it is to get more spells.
But orc blodline( silly and OP as it is) is a good choice.
I cannot attest to the efficiency of this, but flavorwise SICKENING SPELL is an amazing choice. At least off the top of my head it seems relatively effective.
Up to five missiles from one spell, all with the potential to debuff.
On the off chance that Mythic rules get into the mix...a Mythic Magic Missile, especially when Augmented at Tier 4, can be pretty brutal. Maximized, and with 2 Mythic points, the spell can hit for 90 points of damage, a Line of Sight range, and pretty much *NOTHING* can stop it. Not SR, not Spell Immunity, not Shield.
But, that does require a particular rules set that lends itself to a lot of Rocket Tag tactics.
On the off chance that Mythic rules get into the mix...a Mythic Magic Missile, especially when Augmented at Tier 4, can be pretty brutal. Maximized, and with 2 Mythic points, the spell can hit for 90 points of damage, a Line of Sight range, and pretty much *NOTHING* can stop it. Not SR, not Spell Immunity, not Shield.
But, that does require a particular rules set that lends itself to a lot of Rocket Tag tactics.
Isn't there a feat that lets you mimic a Mythic spell even if you're not? That may be a solution to the Shield spell problem, though I don't have the data in front of me at the moment.
Guess someone could always get a spell tattoo of Shield then.
As I said, a Force Missile Mage can fire his missiles through Shield, so that Shield is worthless.
If you game allows 3.5 material. Most don't.Guess someone could always get a spell tattoo of Shield then.As I said, a Force Missile Mage can fire his missiles through Shield, so that Shield is worthless.
Aye, that's true. Most groups I've played with combines them since they work so well together. Not to mention Paizo wrote Dragon Magazine during the time Force Missile Mage came out in one so that would make it to some degree part of Paizo's system anyway. I actually am finding Pathfinder very amusing since it seems Paizo pulls in a ton of 3rd party stuff into their system and makes it canon. I recently got bestiary 4 and lo & behold there's chtulhu, not to mention a race that was in dragonlance. It's part of the reason I'm loving Pathfinder so much since it is basically every rpg I've played in the past only updated. 3.5 started trying to do that, but never really completed it. I'm still waiting to see pathfinder/paizo pull in spelljammer. The Mythic book has planetary teleport, so the foundation is there for it. A man can dream, a man can dream.
Human Tattooed Sorcerer (Orc) 1/ Admixture Evoker X is probably the strongest. You want both Magical Lineage and Wayang Spellhunter. You are going to want Toppling Spell, Disruptive Spell, Dazing Spell, Heighten Spell and Quicken Spell by level 6. You will want other spells too of course. Flaming Sphere and Snapdragon Fireworks are good once you have all the metamagic and Dispel Magic is going to become mandatory to clear Shield spells.
Magic Missile is not the strongest spell, you have to optimize pretty hard to stay effective in moderately optimized groups.
Human Tattooed Sorcerer (Orc) 1/ Admixture Evoker X is probably the strongest. You want both Magical Lineage and Wayang Spellhunter. You are going to want Toppling Spell, Disruptive Spell, Dazing Spell, Heighten Spell and Quicken Spell by level 6. You will want other spells too of course. Flaming Sphere and Snapdragon Fireworks are good once you have all the metamagic and Dispel Magic is going to become mandatory to clear Shield spells.
Magic Missile is not the strongest spell, you have to optimize pretty hard to stay effective in moderately optimized groups.
That's where metemagics are awesome. Since magic missile is technically a ray, you can Split Ray, and Twin Spell, and Recast, to become a machine gun with magic missile. Then grab a feat to add your casting stat on damage for each missile, and you're golden. Or be a Warmage ;)
Since magic missile is technically a ray, you can Split Ray, and Twin Spell, and Recast, to become a machine gun with magic missile. Then grab a feat to add your casting stat on damage for each missile, and you're golden. Or be a Warmage ;)
I dont think we are playing the same game.
Before level 9 you really don't want Snapdragon Fireworks. However, Heightened Dazing Snapdragon Fireworks as a 5th level or higher spell is really amazing. You shoot out one scaling reflex save or lose on first casting and you get another one every round with your move action.
That's where metemagics are awesome. Since magic missile is technically a ray, you can Split Ray, and Twin Spell, and Recast, to become a machine gun with magic missile. Then grab a feat to add your casting stat on damage for each missile, and you're golden. Or be a Warmage ;)Human Tattooed Sorcerer (Orc) 1/ Admixture Evoker X is probably the strongest. You want both Magical Lineage and Wayang Spellhunter. You are going to want Toppling Spell, Disruptive Spell, Dazing Spell, Heighten Spell and Quicken Spell by level 6. You will want other spells too of course. Flaming Sphere and Snapdragon Fireworks are good once you have all the metamagic and Dispel Magic is going to become mandatory to clear Shield spells.
Magic Missile is not the strongest spell, you have to optimize pretty hard to stay effective in moderately optimized groups.
I do miss the Warmage class and I'd like to see Pathfinder make a conversion.
Magic Missile never ever was considered a RAY even in DnD in all of its versions. Rays require attack rolls.
It may not say it's a ray, but it's a dart that requires you point your finger at the target, so what would you consider it's type to be? Oddly, it doesn't seem to even give it a type, but the explanation of it seems like a ray. Just because something is Seeking doesn't mean it can't be a ray without an attack roll. I wonder if there is a ruling by a designer or an errata for it. It really does need a type so it can be classified officially.
On a related note, I miss the warmage too, which is why most games I play in combine 3.5 and pathfinder.
I had missed the part of the MOVE action! So boosting this up with Metamagics makes it something you should remember to prepare everyday.
Refresh my memory here, If I cast this, can I still cast more spells as standard actions during my turn?
Yeah. That's the whole point behind spells like Snapdragon Fireworks and Flaming Sphere. They take a standard action to cast, but they last more than one round. So on subsequent rounds you can use them with your move action and still have your swift and standard to cast more spells. A typical optimized 11th level wizard is casting like this:
Surprise Round: Cast Heightened Dazing Snapdragon Fireworks as a 5th level spell, Trigger Contingency to cast Mirror Image on self.
Round One: Dazing Fireball, second Firework targets anyone not dazed, Quickened Glitterdust.
Round Two: Cloudkill, third Firework targets anyone not dazed, Quickened Scorching Ray on anything not dead yet, Unseen Servant starts gathering the treasure because the fight is over by now.
. . .
On a related note, I miss the warmage too, which is why most games I play in combine 3.5 and pathfinder.
I liked the idea of the warmage but not the execution. It's an npc class.
For a battle magic specialist, there's few to no movement or protection spells. And how do they not have dispel magic? It should be possible to try to drop that globe of invulnerability/protection from x/resist energy/etc. How many different ways do you need different elemental damage? The class made blasting easier, but not in any way more viable. Like monk, the best advice for a warmage is as few levels in warmage as possible.
To the OP, I'll echo what I believe to be good advice that others have already mentioned. Force Missile Mage. Paizo made Dragon Magazine (specifically #328) and Pathfinder. Just because WotC reprinted it to make more money off someone else's work doesn't make it any less nifty.