Spell Perfection for Occultist

[Letariel]

I love the concept of "Spell Perfection", but I can't figure out what to pick!

My character is a summoning/conjuration focused wizard which got converted to an occultist (arcanist archetype) after the ACG came out. Right now, my typical combat looks like:

Turn 1: move into position and use Summon SLA (skip if summons are still around from last combat)
Turn 2: Haste party (including summons)
Turn 3: Either throw an AoE debuff into a group of enemies (usually grease or burst of radiance, because I'm in RotR and I've seen nothing but giants for a while), or buff the party further if we are against a solo enemy (because I rarely can land a debuff on a BBEG)
Turn 4: Use whatever spell is appropriate for situation or use a scorching ray wand if victory is assured

From what I've read on the forums, it seems the default use for this feat is an attack spell that you spam twice a round, but I don't really do that. The closest I have right now is Grease, and that doesn't really benefit from repeated casting.

The two spells that I have half a mind to use Spell Perfection on are Haste and Dispel Magic, but I'm not sure if either is a good idea.

Haste lets me Quicken Haste the first round of every combat, but then what do I do with myself after there is summons, haste, and disabled enemies? There are serious diminishing returns on buffs and debuffs. :-) I guess I could toss Acid Arrows?

Dispel Magic is because it seems that the enemies that causes us issues are the ones with tons of buffs or terrible debuffs. But Dispel Magic uses a caster level check and ignores Spell Resistance, so it doesn't benefit from Spell Perfection other than the free metamagic (and what metamagic would I use other than quicken?). This spell is quite a bit more circumstantial, but it has saved the party's bacon a number of times. I'd like to be able to do Greater Dispel Magic, but I can't quicken that, so free metamagic is less enticing.

Anyway, does anyone have any good Spell Perfection suggestions for a character who mostly casts buffs and debuffs? Ideally, something that could benefit from my conjuration spell focus. And before people suggest it, I'm not going to start chucking maximized fireballs any time soon; it doesn't fit the character, and doesn't pair well with my party's "mob the enemy!" style of combat. :-P

[Ravingdork]

My abjurer chose greater dispelling for his Spell Perfection feat. The doubling of feat bonuses are HUGE when they grant caster level bonuses. He can dispel people's effects as though he were THIRTEEN levels higher, possibly FIFTEEN! All thanks to Spell Perfection.

[Letariel]

Ravingdork wrote:

My abjurer chose greater dispelling for his Spell Perfection feat. The doubling of feat bonuses are HUGE when they grant caster level bonuses. He can dispel people's effects as though he were THIRTEEN levels higher, possibly FIFTEEN! All thanks to Spell Perfection.

WOW! I checked the character sheet, and I see that spell specialization and varisian tattoo after doubling would give you +6, and lore seeker adds another one. SF and GSF only add to saves. Kimono and orange prism ioun add another +5 to 7 which makes it 12 to 14. What am I missing for that last point?

I'm also planning on the kimono and orange prism ioun, but I only have 2 feats left to pick (including spell perfection) before RotR is over, so I can't do the awesome caster level stacking that you did. :-)

[Ravingdork]

Make sure you meet the feat prerequisites for everything. Spell Perfection alone requires three metamagic feats and 15 ranks in Spellcraft.

I think I doubled the bonus from Lore Seeker since it was acquired through the Additional Traits feat. (You may want to check with your GM though, as he might not interpret it the same way.)

Bad guy: Hahaha! Your pitiful servants cannot hope to overcome my defenses!

Master summoner/dispeller: Oh? *Dispels defenses*

Bad Guy: What!? No! How could-- *much gnashing of teeth, tearing of flesh, and high-pitched screaming ensues*

:D

[Imbicatus]

Ravingdork wrote:

Make sure you meet the feat prerequisites for everything. Spell Perfection alone requires three metamagic feats and 15 ranks in Spellcraft.

I think I doubled the bonus from Lore Seeker since it was acquired through the Additional Traits feat. (You may want to check with your GM though, as he might not interpret it the same way.)

Yeah, traits are not feats even if they are gained with a feat. I wouldn't allow a trait bonus to be doubled with spell perfection, but it's not really needed with this build anyway.

[Ravingdork]

I'd recommend Destructive Dispel and Dispel Synergy, as your last two feats if you don't already have them. They help to make a successful dispel all the more punishing.

[andreww]

You are an Occultist so presumably already have Spell Focus (Conjuration) as the pre-req for Augment Summoning. This makes a conjuration spell a natural choice. Helpfully conjuration has some of the most powerful control spells on the game. Great choices include:

Glitterdust - Persistent Quickened is only costing you a level 4 spell slot

Aqueous Orb - Dazing Aqueous Orb is one of the most hilarious and effective form of control around. Persistent Dazing Orb is even funnier and only takes a level 5 slot with Perfection.

Ice Spears - pin point accurate and add Dazing for great control.

Black Tentacles - If you have any CL boosters then you can jack up the CMB check on this. Add Dazing for more hilarity.

Hungry Pit - Quickened or Dazing or just high DC, this is great against anything that cannot fly or teleport.

Geyser - huge area effect and great for apply Dazing to if you have the space to use it. Fire damage so resistance may well be an issue.

Acidic Spray - relatively short range line attack but another interesting Dazing option

Caustic Eruption - another huge area effect, add Dazing but requires magical lineage.

The key thing that all of these options feature is that none of them care about SR meaning that you can completely ignore the need for Spell Penetration and pick other feats.

[Letariel]

Ravingdork wrote:

Make sure you meet the feat prerequisites for everything. Spell Perfection alone requires three metamagic feats and 15 ranks in Spellcraft.

I think I doubled the bonus from Lore Seeker since it was acquired through the Additional Traits feat. (You may want to check with your GM though, as he might not interpret it the same way.)

Bad guy: Hahaha! Your pitiful servants cannot hope to overcome my defenses!

Master summoner/dispeller: Oh? *Dispels defenses*

Bad Guy: What!? No! How could-- *much gnashing of teeth, tearing of flesh, and high-pitched screaming ensues*

:D

I'll have persistent, quicken, and daze for metamagics, and I've been maxing spellcraft, so I should be good when I reach lvl 15. :-)

And your scenario is quite inspiring (I had assumed that at high levels, my summoned friends would basically be walking flanking bonuses). We'll see if I can make that happen. :-D

Ravingdork wrote:

I'd recommend Destructive Dispel and Dispel Synergy, as your last two feats if you don't already have them. They help to make a successful dispel all the more punishing.

Destructive Dispel sounds awesome. Dispel Synergy sounds less amazing, because it requires a followup spell, but I'm sure I could come up with something. :-P I'm strongly considering getting the counterspell exploits (immediate action counter sounds awesome), but that would take my other feat (extra exploit). If only I had a couple more feats...

andreww wrote:

All of the awesome Conjuration spells

I noticed a theme of pairing things with dazing metamagic, which mirrors my own thoughts. But most of the awesome conjuration spells (which you list here) are useless against a flying enemy. The ones that effect fliers are Glitterdust (which has no daze synergy, though blind is pretty good), acid spray (which requires enemies to line up, and no allies to be in the way), and Caustic Eruption (which requires a trait that I can't get). I also thought about spamming dazing acid arrow (reapplying daze!), but that give a will save, and the enemies I want to really shut down are the casters so I want to have a reflex or fortitude save if possible... *shrugs*

Any other thoughts?