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Okay recently our group ran into a snag with some "people incompatibility" causing one of our group members to leave taking our merry little band down to four and without an arcane caster. Currently our party is a Paladin of Cayden, Warpriest of Torag, Zen Archer and me the Ranger. We had an Arcanist in the group in the hands of someone who should not have ran a caster, but thats neither here nor there, and now we are without certain useful tools.
So Im thinking of retiring my Ranger, though I really don't want to, to fix our merry little band but what to play is the question of the hour. Me being the Ranger, was always the switch-hitting scout with a backpack that would make McGuyver proud, and I would like to incorporate that kind of playstyle but cover some more support ground.
The two I am considering would either be a Bard or a Reincarnated Druid/Gray Warden but the lack of arcane power bothers me a bit so if I go that route then Wizard or Arcanist that will play as an Admixture Blaster type. I've read the Forge of Combat and every guide over the years and have plenty of builds floating around in my head but mechanically I'm torn on which way to go.
So I come to you all in the boards for some friendly advice if any are ready to give it =D
Some flavor of 9 spell level, Int-based caster seems the obvious choice; your party needs knowledge skills as much as spells, I think. Wizard or arcanist, as mentioned before - plus witch, maybe?
A focus on transmutation and conjuration generally leads to the most flexibility, perhaps; "always useful" schools of magic. If you go arcanist, potent magic, dimensional slide and spell tinkerer are the obvious choices; everything else seems to be easily duplicated by spell choice. Spell penetration, spell focus, metamagic feats, and spell perfection are easy choices, maybe craft wondrous for the party (but the AP is fairly treasure generous).
Just throwing it out there: if you like the current character, ask the GM for an NPC, or maybe ask the paladin if they would take a cohort upon reaching 7th level. Then you can play the character you actually like :)
Since you talk forge of combat i Will use that terminology and say that your party most likely dont need another hammer. Paladin and zen archer are both Hammers i assume and warpriest is most likely hammer/arm. So a anvil kind of character sounds like the Way to go if you want to change stuff to fill a hole in the party. A Occultist arcanist or a School savant (teleportation) would be my favorites. If arcanist is the Way to go. But ranger betoning blaster is not gonna fix it.
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Okay recently our group ran into a snag with some "people incompatibility" causing one of our group members to leave taking our merry little band down to four and without an arcane caster. Currently our party is a Paladin of Cayden, Warpriest of Torag, Zen Archer and me the Ranger. We had an Arcanist in the group in the hands of someone who should not have ran a caster, but thats neither here nor there, and now we are without certain useful tools.
So Im thinking of retiring my Ranger, though I really don't want to, to fix our merry little band but what to play is the question of the hour. Me being the Ranger, was always the switch-hitting scout with a backpack that would make McGuyver proud, and I would like to incorporate that kind of playstyle but cover some more support ground.
The two I am considering would either be a Bard or a Reincarnated Druid/Gray Warden but the lack of arcane power bothers me a bit so if I go that route then Wizard or Arcanist that will play as an Admixture Blaster type. I've read the Forge of Combat and every guide over the years and have plenty of builds floating around in my head but mechanically I'm torn on which way to go.
So I come to you all in the boards for some friendly advice if any are ready to give it =D
If you read the forge of combat then you know your party already consists of:
Hammer/arm- Paladin
Hammer/arm- Warpriest
Hammer- ZAM
Going Blaster wizard adds a Hammer/anvil as the anvil side does not come into effect till you can get dazing spell.
I recommend NOT going Blaster wizard.
Sadly you have several Bible thumpers in your group who will bogart the party alignment or I'd mention a Debuffing/Control necromancer Wizard using Less reanimate style and more spells like Enervate, Fear(s), and Magic Jar. But usually if even 1 bible thumper is in a group you can expect them to force their religious beliefs on you and fight you tooth and nail over every "necromancy" spell you cast. Even if they are not evil spells.
My recommendation for your party would be either wizard or arcanist but perhaps you could focus on Conjuration (non SUmmoning) Glitterdust is a brutal spell. Or you could go the route of a Enchanter who uses spells like confusion, Dominates, Hold spells. Both offer plenty of control the battlefield magics. I personally like turning my DMs critters against him whether its through necromancy (Magic Jar-> animate...rinse and repeat) or Dominate spells that Make them my best friend and mental slave.
But a Blaster would not contribute much to controlling the field until your into your 4th level spells and casting Dazing Fireballs. (if you took Magical Lineage + wayang spellhunter)
Also later I feel Blasting is not that effective in RotRL as later you fight things with tremendous HP and several elemental Immunities with the option of casting Resist Energies. there was several times my groups sorcerer just kept hitting resistances and Immunities. Sure there will be plenty of fights where you don't see any but later in the campaign when the fight is a brutal boss fight you might feel less effective than the other types of wizards out there.
Is this in a PbP, by any chance? Or at least have some chance of acquiring another player?
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Thanks Fruian. As usual your advice is what I wanted to hear. Control caster it is then. Either Conjure Wizard or School Savant Arcanist TBD when I roll him/her up.
And this is a home campaign based out of the hotel I work in. Otherwise I would welcome you to play, unless you love in the SW Virginia area.
Thanks Fruian. As usual your advice is what I wanted to hear. Control caster it is then. Either Conjure Wizard or School Savant Arcanist TBD when I roll him/her up.
And this is a home campaign based out of the hotel I work in. Otherwise I would welcome you to play, unless you love in the SW Virginia area.
I am a big fan of the School savant arcanist but i think the occultist arcanist is also very very good as a control caster. Standard action summon monster for what is basically a Spell slot is nice.
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I too am a fan of the Occultist Cap. Darling. Bigger fan of the Brown Fur but that build is for a buffer lover. But when it comes to Control summoning monsters as a standard action is good. I almost would not play a Arcanist without one of these 2 archetypes depending on party need.
Would be a good campaign for an INT caster for sure. Take your Knowledge skills of Arcane, Planes, History, Religion. Add a few points in Dungeoneering, Local, and nature...don't max these but being trained in them and putting 1-3 points in does not hurt as you will make a couple of these but the other ones you will roll more often.
Having a few ranks in Linguistics helps. Consider these languages: Thassilonian, Giant, Goblin. Also consider learning the language of your most common summons. ABout 5 points of linguistics will do. I prefer to not waste money on a permanency tongues. Plus it is badass to be so smart you know every language imaginable.
Spellcraft of course is a max effort.
No matter which route you go: Witch, Wizard, or Arcanist you're just going to have a good time in this campaign. Later levels in book 5-6 things just drop like rain for you. Almost unfairly in its amount. It's really nice to be the INT caster in RoTRL...and by that time who is strong enough to deny you an item you really want no matter how expensive and how many drops you already have gotten.
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Arcanist is appealing because you can prepare the spell 1 time and cast it 5 if you need to. I honestly think it is better for a player to get the hang of what spells are more useful and which are more utility and really belong on a scroll. Once you get that you will prolly prefer the Full prepared casters. It takes a while to get the hang of it.
If you need help building one let me know the specifics of what you're looking for and I'll help ya brew something up. (Point buy, prefered races, Starting level, and some favorite spells you know you like.)
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Sounds good. We just finished up our next session and 3 of us are all rolling up an Arcane backup and a normal build just in case something happens next session...which is likely but we will see.
Sounds good Fruian, I appreciate it and yeah the biggest appeal of Arcanist is his spell prep and execution methods.
Yeah, if you're thinking of a blaster caster you might as well just keep your Ranger since you're contributing the same thing to the party. Your party has a major dearth of buffing and crowd control, two things Real Wizards do very well. I'd recommend taking a look at the God Wizard Guide. A lot of the mechanical information is pretty out of date since this was written when the CRB was all there was but the strategic advice and general philosophy still applies and is useful to someone playing any of the 9th level arcane casters.
For a more up-to-date (although still pre-ACG/ACO) Wizard guide, see Professor Q's more recent guide (and I just checked briefly to make that this links to the undamaged version of the document). And if you insist on a blaster Wizard, see The Blockbuster Wizard guide.