For our upcoming AP, Strange Aeons, I'd like to play a Spellslinger Wizard, because it fits well into the slightly steampunk-ish setting.
So I have a couple of questions concerning this archetype:
- If an 11th-level Spellslinger Wizard casts Scorching Ray through his arcane gun, does he fire all three rays or his he limited by his BAB, because he uses a weapon?
- When you fire spells through the weapon, does a bullet fly alongside the spell? Or in other words: Do you fire the weapon and the spell at the same time? Do you need to reload after casting a spell through the weapon?
- It says you can pick a 2-handed firearm...do you perfom somatic components as part of firing the weapon, then? So you need no extra free hand?
- Do the special weapon qualities from Mage Bullets only apply to real ammunition or also to every spell cast through the weapon?
Now for building:
1) So the first possibility I read about, was not further progressing Wizard, as you have 4 opposition schools, lose cantrips and so on. People are suggesting to take levels in Bonded Witch instead, so you can set your firearm as your bonded item.
2) Also many say, that going via Eldritch Knight would be a good way to capitalize on the blasting potential while gaining extra combat feats.
3) What I initially thought about, was: Why not prestige out? I mean you lose all your School powers anyways, so why not just take 3 levels in Spellslinger, 1 Level in Rogue, take Accomplished Sneak Attacker and Signature Skill (Stealth) and proceed to stealth-snipe the crap out of enemies? Also, you can cast Sense Vitals to boost your seak attack even further.
What are your thoughts on this? I am really torn on how to play this class and insecure about how exactly this spell-shooting works mechanically. Can anyone help me out on this one?
Since I can't edit my Post anymore:
Under (3) it should say: "why not prestige out into Arcane Trickster?"
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A) The spellslinger doesn't attach spells to bullets the way an eldritch archer would. They get all 3 rays.
B) Firing a spell from the weapon does not expend ammo in any way.
C) You don't need to actually fire the weapon to cast a spell thru it & can hold the 2H weapon in one hand. Though I'd fluff the somatic components as being around the weapon - loading it with magic & steadying it.
D) Just to ammo.
Taking one level in spellslinger and then advancing another class - witch, sorcerer, eldritch archer magus, druid, whatever - is entirely viable. So would be arcane trickster.
There's a guide to the archetype here.
I made a Spellslinger by dipping a single level into Wizard and then going all the way with Witch (Havoker). It is especially fun when you get a Conductive enhancement on your firearm. I played a Gnome and used the variant Multiclass for Magus. I generally focused on debuffs through the gun (for higher DC).
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Spellslinger, far strike monk 2, holy gun paladin 2, sniper slayer (2) and the vindicator (inquisitor class I think) class that gives you sneak attack 2d6 at level 2, dip into shadowdancer for HiPs. Now you are a magic gun toting sniper who can hit anything with sneak attack (4d6 with one feat) in the range of their weapon without sniper goggles... (or pretty close to it) and can HiPs. Every attack is magic, a sneak attack and carries a spell. (you may not need everything in the combo, but I think it only duplicates one ability if memory servers). NOTE: Not PFS legal due to archetypes.PS. most of your saving throws end up being higher than a monk of same level too.
As others have pointed out, taking more than 1 level in Spellslinger wizard is probably the worse choice.
I had a lot of fun with a Spellslinger 1/Magus X (somewhat houseruled, as this was before the Eldritch Archer archetype for the Magus had been released), using the Mage Bullets and Arcane Pool class features to lay a bunch of special abilities on the gun while also using Ranged Spellstrike.
If your DM is open to 3.5e sources and houserules, you might ask for the Siege Mage's Siege Engine Bond feature as a magus arcana, then get a fiend's mouth cannon with the old Sizing property from the Magic Item Compendium.
The answers avr gave match with how I understand the class to work.
The guide avr pointed out is pretty good, but you will want to look through other source materials for more spells. Advanced Class Guide has some good ones such as Stone Discus.
I recently started one where I plan to do Gunslinger 1 / Wizard (Spellslinger) 5 / Eldritch Knight 5. Since it is for PFS that is as far as she will go.
The strongest builds just dip the class and then take a different spellcasting class. The idea of doing more Gunslinger also seems to be a strong choice.
...Dang it, now I have an idea for an arcane sniper blasting people from long range with a lightning sniper rifle.
I figured I'd also actually give my answers to your rules questions, but my editing window also expired, so...
- If an 11th-level Spellslinger Wizard casts Scorching Ray through his arcane gun, does he fire all three rays or his he limited by his BAB, because he uses a weapon?
The wizard fires three rays, just as he would if casting the spell without the gun. Using the gun via the Arcane Gun ability simply allows him to add the gun's enhancement bonus to the ranged touch attack rolls (with a risk of the gun breaking) - otherwise the spell functions normally.
- When you fire spells through the weapon, does a bullet fly alongside the spell? Or in other words: Do you fire the weapon and the spell at the same time? Do you need to reload after casting a spell through the weapon?
No. The Arcane Gun ability lets you cast the spell through the firearm, but you do not actually make an attack with the firearm. However, if you have the Ranged Spellstrike class feature (say, from the Eldritch Archer or Myrmidarch archetypes of the Magus class), you can combine some attack spells with actual firearm attacks. Only then would you need to worry about reloading.
- It says you can pick a 2-handed firearm...do you perfom somatic components as part of firing the weapon, then? So you need no extra free hand?
I do not think the intention with the archetype is that you need a third hand if you want to use Arcane Gun with a two-handed firearm. The rules text in Arcane Gun doesn't specify it either way, so the most ironclad way of interpreting it is that you let go of the firearm with one hand as a free action, use that hand to perform the somatic components of the spell and let the spell fire out of the weapon as you hold it one-handed (then use another free action to place your free hand back on the weapon, if you desire). The problem is similar to mages who want to wield a quarterstaff or a magical staff, which I'm sure there are many threads about on this forum.
Personally, I would fluff it however you like, but the takeaway is that in my opinion you should not need more than two hands to use Arcane Gun with a two-handed firearm.
- Do the special weapon qualities from Mage Bullets only apply to real ammunition or also to every spell cast through the weapon?
The weapon special abilities from Mage Bullets act like normal weapon enchantments, which only apply to regular attacks made with the weapon (which spells are not by default - see my answer to the first question). If you use Mage Bullets to add a straight +X enhancement bonus to the firearm, you could make use of it when casting spells through your firearm, as Arcane Gun lets you add the weapon's enhancement bonus to either your spell's attack roll or its save DC.
If you get the Ranged Spellstrike class feature, as described above, however, you get the option to combine regular attacks and spellcasting.
Thank you guys so much for the detailed input! Since I am not such a big fan of dipping the archetype just because it doesn't say WIZARD spells (which i guess is just because of bad writing on paizo's side), I have come up with the following
1 Level Spellslinger
1 Level Vivisectionist alchemist/rogue
2 more levels of Spellslinger
Qualify for Arcane Trickster using the Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat.
1 Level in Arcane Trickster. You are Level 5 now.
10 Levels in Evangelist PrC (worshipping the empyreal lord Tanagaar) using Arcane Trickster as Aligned Class.
Though you lose another level of spellcasting, you can retrain your alchemist/rogue level at level 14 when you get 3d6 Sneak Attack from your 3rd deific boon and a +2 damage on every Sneak Attack Dice. Following the fact that Evangelist can be used with Fey Eldest to gain their boons (it is in the beginning of The First World: Realm of the Fey), I guess you can also use it with Empyreal Lords like Tanagaar. Character would be neutral good in order to not violate the alignment requirement for Arcane Trickster while still being able to worship a LG deity.
Wow, how did I miss a Spellslinger thread? I really love this archetype (and all the cool ways of building Gun Mages) and try to answer the questions about it whenever it pops up. So here goes:
The Spellslinger has two incredibly powerful class features with zero synergy between them. The Arcane Gun class feature lets you improve your offensive spellcasting capabilities, while the Mage Bullets class feature improves your offensive firearm attacks. With only one exception, there's no way to do both effectively on the same characters. Both approaches are very feat intensive, and you can't cast and attack at the same turn so one of your two specializations is going unused every round. You need to pick one, and focus on it to the exclusion of the other. It sounds like you want to do the blasting side of things, which means you're looking at multiclassing to Sorcerer or Arcanist. The one exception I alluded to earlier is the Magus, which has the Eldritch Archer archetype (which is not restricted to bows, so firearms are just fine) and works very well with the Spellslinger.
1) So the first possibility I read about, was not further progressing Wizard, as you have 4 opposition schools, lose cantrips and so on. People are suggesting to take levels in Bonded Witch instead, so you can set your firearm as your bonded item.
4 opposition schools, no cantrips, and no specialty school means it is completely painful to proceed as a Spellslinger, even into a prestige class. Unless you already have other multiclassing plans that preempt it, you always want to multiclass out to a different casting class.
Sorcerer, Arcanist, or Magus (Eldritch Archer) are the three best options for that. The Sorcerer is the king of blasting. If you want powerful blasts, no one else is even in his league. The Arcanist is a distant second, but is still a respectable blaster and everyone loves exploits. Finally, the Magus goes in a somewhat different direction by using spell combat and spellstrike to let you mix combat and casting in a way that other classes cannot.
Since the Arcane Gun class feature isn't very useful until you can afford a magical gun, usually the approach here is to start your career in your primary casting class, then multiclass into Spellslinger later. A Magus build will usually take that level of Spellslinger at 5th, while a Sorcerer or Arcanist build will usually take it at the 7th.
Bonded weapons are terrible. Don't bond with one unless you're forced to by your archetype.
2) Also many say, that going via Eldritch Knight would be a good way to capitalize on the blasting potential while gaining extra combat feats.
The Eldritch Knight is also a great way to play the Spellslinger, but it plays completely differently from the other approaches. Most importantly, it is utter garbage when it comes to blasting, to the point at which Evocation should be an opposition school if you want to go this route. This doesn't sound like what you want to be doing, so you should avoid it.
"why not prestige out into Arcane Trickster?"
Not nearly strong enough. You're taking one of the weaker blasting classes, adding an archetype that hurts its general spellcasting abilities, and then additional multiclassing on top of that. You're never going to make up for that.
You also have a problem of being feat starved. As a blaster, you'll need both the Spell Specialization and Spell Perfection feats. If you're going to be using ray spells, then you'll also need Precise Shot. Along with their prerequisites, that's eight feats. And just trimming it down to that is skimping out on a lot of very useful stuff. You don't have room for anything else on this build.
and a +2 damage on every Sneak Attack Dice.
This only applies to piercing weapons, not to spells. Due to your poor BAB and lack of feat investment, your weapon attacks will be very weak and isn't worth improving. If you do want to improve your basic firearm attack, the Rapid Reload, Amateur Gunslinger (Quick Clear), Rapid Shot, and Deadly Aim are your top priorities before anything else. They're boring staples, but they're staples for a reason. If you want to be good at firearm attacks, you need 'em.
Dairdaron,
The Spellslinger/Arcane Trickster idea sounds interesting. I do think there is a problem with the build though.
10 Levels in Evangelist PrC (worshipping the empyreal lord Tanagaar) using Arcane Trickster as Aligned Class.
I do not think you can use a prestige class as an aligned class.
Aligned Class (Ex): Evangelists come from many different backgrounds, and they show an unusual range of diversity. At 2nd level, the evangelist must choose a class she belonged to before adding the prestige class to be her aligned class. She gains all the class features for this class, essentially adding every evangelist level beyond 1st to her aligned class to determine what class features she gains. She still retains the Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, and skill ranks of the prestige class, but gains all other class features of her aligned class as well as those of the evangelist prestige class.
Everyplace I’ve seen it, there is a difference between a base class and a prestige class. It may be your GM has allowed you to do this, which would be fine. If not, you will want to discuss your plans with your GM.
Still, being able to get sneak attack against touch AC with a gun or spell would give you options.
What were you planning as your opposition schools?
The Eldritch Knight is also a great way to play the Spellslinger, but it plays completely differently from the other approaches. Most importantly, it is utter garbage when it comes to blasting, to the point at which Evocation should be an opposition school if you want to go this route. This doesn't sound like what you want to be doing, so you should avoid it.
Could you give a few details as to why you think it is so bad?
You can use the spells directly using your gun to increase the DC, or use them with Mage Bullets when a creature is too resistant to your spells either because of SR or energy resistance.
I know that in general Blaster isn’t the best way to play a wizard, but ‘utter garbage’ makes it sound like they are significantly worse than a normal wizard.
Re: Arcane Trickster
Not nearly strong enough. You're taking one of the weaker blasting classes, adding an archetype that hurts its general spellcasting abilities, and then additional multiclassing on top of that. You're never going to make up for that.You also have a problem of being feat starved. As a blaster, you'll need both the Spell Specialization and Spell Perfection feats. If you're going to be using ray spells, then you'll also need Precise Shot. Along with their prerequisites, that's eight feats. And just trimming it down to that is skimping out on a lot of very useful stuff. You don't have room for anything else on this build.
With the ability to add sneak attack to the spells, Arcane Trickster can actually improve the blasting abilities of a wizard. The Imprompu Sneak Attack even gives you an easy way to get the sneak attack with ranged attacks.
Why do you think both spelll specialization and spell perfection are needed? I can see that they would be useful, but once again there is a large gap between useful and needed.
Due to your poor BAB and lack of feat investment, your weapon attacks will be very weak and isn't worth improving. If you do want to improve your basic firearm attack, the Rapid Reload, Amateur Gunslinger (Quick Clear), Rapid Shot, and Deadly Aim are your top priorities before anything else. They're boring staples, but they're staples for a reason. If you want to be good at firearm attacks, you need 'em.
Poor BAB vs. Touch Attack isn’t that bad. I also find it interesting that you complain of poor BAB and then suggest several feats that give a penalty to hit in exchange for other things. I would expect Rapid Shot has a good chance of turning into a flurry of misses. I would expect you would be better off starting with a Haste (that helps others as well as yourself) than using a feat that penalizes your chances of hitting.
Could you give a few details as to why you think it is so bad?
Too low damage, and not enough feats. Blasting is the most feat-intensive spellcasting specialization out there, and firearms are the most feat intensive weapon out there. There simply aren't enough feats to do both effectively, even at 20th level. You'll end up with an incomplete build that isn't good at either. The DC is not actually the issue here, it's raising the damage, and Spellslinger doesn't do that so you need to look elsewhere for that ability.
There are lots of other minor issues; blasting builds and eldritch knight builds call for mutually exclusive traits, they have different stat focuses (blasting wants high int, attacking wants high dex), you're stuck as a wizard but locked out of the admixture specialization (which hurt as much as the arcane gun helps, to be honest) and can't afford more multiclassing since you're already down a level after buying back the other with prestigious spellcaster.
If you want to mix strong firearms attacks with blasting, Gunslinger/Sorcerer into Eldritch Knight or Spellslinger/Magus with Eldritch Archer archetype is the way to go. Sorcerer and Magus get class features that help them with their blasting, letting them get away with less feat investment than a wizard.
Why do you think both spelll specialization and spell perfection are needed? I can see that they would be useful, but once again there is a large gap between useful and needed.
I think you're underestimating just how much these feats do. Depending on the spell and level we're looking at, they can more than double its damage output. Blasting was borderline unviable prior to these feats coming out. Afterwards? Perfectly valid character option.
Poor BAB vs. Touch Attack isn’t that bad. I also find it interesting that you complain of poor BAB and then suggest several feats that give a penalty to hit in exchange for other things.
The BAB is an issue because you need to eat those penalties. You need the extra attacks and damage they provide, and thus stacking those penalties on top of a low BAB kills you. Haste stacks with Rapid Shot, by the way, and you definitely want to do that with this build.
Sorry I'm answering so late, but here in Germany it is about 8 am right now and I needed some sleep yesterday :)
Dairfaron,
The Spellslinger/Arcane Trickster idea sounds interesting. I do think there is a problem with the build though.
10 Levels in Evangelist PrC (worshipping the empyreal lord Tanagaar) using Arcane Trickster as Aligned Class.I do not think you can use a prestige class as an aligned class.
Aligned Class (Ex): Evangelists come from many different backgrounds, and they show an unusual range of diversity. At 2nd level, the evangelist must choose a class she belonged to before adding the prestige class to be her aligned class. She gains all the class features for this class, essentially adding every evangelist level beyond 1st to her aligned class to determine what class features she gains. She still retains the Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, and skill ranks of the prestige class, but gains all other class features of her aligned class as well as those of the evangelist prestige class.Everyplace I’ve seen it, there is a difference between a base class and a prestige class. It may be your GM has allowed you to do this, which would be fine. If not, you will want to discuss your plans with your GM.
Now, I am well aware of this issue and searched a lot around the net in order to find something useful about whether Evangelist actually interacts with other Prestige Classes or not. Turns out, that, on one hand, there are those who say that it was never meant to be used with other prestige classes, and on the other hand, there are those asking themselves whether you can extend prestige classes beyond 10th level by taking evangelist after five levels in that class.
While the latter is obviously the stuff of dreams for powergamers and the stuff of nightmares for GMs and probably also the people who designed that class, fact is, that we simply don't know. The Aligned Class class feature is so unique (it exists in a limited variant with the Chernasardo Warden PrC, though, which gives you 4 levels of aligned class, but is pretty badass in general. you can only find it on Nethys as far as I know) that it is hard to say whether a prestige class is a class for the purpose of that specific class feature.
For example, the feat Favored Prestige Class specifically states:
"Normal: Prestige classes cannot be a favored class, and cannot benefit from the additional hit point or skill rank afforded to those who take levels in a favored class."
So, somewhere it explicitly states, that prestige classes do not apply for the selections of FCBs. But it says no such thing about the Aligned Class class feature. And you can't apply the ruling from the former to the latter, because they are something entirely different.
So either we get a general ruling that prestige classes do not count as classes for the purpose of satisfying the terms of feats and class features, or we get a specific ruling just for Aligned Class. As there exists neither of those, I just assume, that prestige classes behave like normal classes with the exception of FCBs and some other stuff and thus are electable for use with Aligned Class. I mean they are literally called Prestige Classes.
Still, being able to get sneak attack against touch AC with a gun or spell would give you options.
What were you planning as your opposition schools?
Actually, there are only two options for this build, assuming you don't want to abuse a badly written archetype by just dipping one level into it:
1) You take one level in a class that grants sneak attack and progress into arcane trickster without any other stuff. This is the most straightforward variant, but since arcane trickster only gets 1/2 BAB, you will end up with very little attack boni, although you obviously target touch ac most of the time.
2) You progress into evangelist after taking one level of arcane trickster, assuming, that, like explained above, taking arcane trickster levels through evangelist is possible. At first, you lose another level of spellcasting through evangelist, which seems bad. BUT
(i) Evangelist has a better BAB progression
(ii) Once you reach level 14 and gain your 3rd deific boon, you can retrain your rogue/vivisectionist level into a wizard level, since the 3d6 Sneak Attack enables you to drop your original SA source without losing the qualification for Arcane Trickster.
(iii) You can drop your feat Accomplished Sneak Attacker, as you have as much SA dice as a rogue of your level, so you won't get any benefits from it. Also, it frees up a feat slot.
(iv) You have the ability to cast Sense Vitals at full caster level, giving you an effective 13d6 Sneak Attack at 15th level.
Finally, to answer your questions about opposition schools:
I would choose Abjuration, Divination, Enchantment and Transmutation for my opposition schools. I know there are a lot of useful spells in these schools, but in the end it comes down to what helps me most as a trickster/blaster:
(1)Conjuration has a lot of super useful spells and also, it enables you to summon some monster to distract your enemies while you are sniping from the backline.
(2)Evocation. Blasting spells, nuff said.
(3)Illusion fits the Arcane Trickster theme very well and also lets you cast shadow conjuration/evocation in case you don't have a certain spell prepared that you could use in a unforseen situation.
(4)Necromancy has the 2nd best damage spells out there and is definitely one of the core schools beside evocation, that I would pick for this build.
I would never ever pick Transmutation as an opposition school - more than a quarter of all Wizard spells belong to that school!
Do you actually need Necromancy? That school has the best rays* (Spellslinger feel all but custom made for Enervation), but that would require even more focus/feats.
*) Although Cyclops Helm+Arcane Gun+Disintegrate sounds pretty crazy!
No one needs Abjuration (the best defensive spells are actually in conjuration and illusion, anyway), Divination as the smallest school out there is a given, (you might want to buy a Wand of Read Magic, though), and most of the Enchantment spells can't profit from your gun.
@Dairfaron
Actually, I picked a similar list for my Spellslinger.
Her opposition schools are:
Enchantment: Hardly any spells that would make use of the gun.
Illusion: This one was a little harder a decision because of some of the defenses, but it didn’t really fit my character concept. I do agree that it fits the Arcane Trickster though.
Necromancy: I plan to pick this one back up at 6th level (Wizard 5) via Arcane Discovery (Opposition Research: Necromancy). It will allow me to get Enervation and Fear. This wouldn’t work for the build with Arcane Trickster though, you will not get to 5th level as a Wizard.
Transmutation: Has really nice spells, but they don’t really work with the gun.
As for the schools she kept:
Divination is nice for True Strike, See Invisibility and other spells. Easier to hit something if you can see it.
Abjuration gives long lasting defenses.
Evocation and Conjuration gives offensive spells.
@Dasrak
You seem to have a much higher expectation for what is minimally acceptable than I do.
Evidently you play more high level stuff than I do as well. Something like Spell Perfection isn’t even available until 15th level. Since my Spellslinger is for PFS, it is unlikely to ever be played at 12th level or higher so it really will not matter for her. I can see how others might like it, but as you stated the prerequisites are heavy.
Spell Specialization on the other hand seems like it would only add between 3.5 and 7 damage to most damage spells. There are spells where level makes a bigger difference, but I’m not seeing many like that which take advantage of the gun.
I had looked at Prestigious Spellcaster, but for EK it didn’t make sense. I would only recover a single level of spellcasting, but give up several feats to do that.
I’m not sure what traits you consider vital that conflict between the paths. The only trait I considered vital was magical knack to recover the caster level.
You seem to have a much higher expectation for what is minimally acceptable than I do.
Perhaps so, but from a practical standpoint there's not a whole lot of point in making all the sacrifices to use the Arcane Gun for better save DC's if you could just be a Sorcerer and deal so much damage that you're still dealing good amounts even on a successful save.
Something like Spell Perfection isn’t even available until 15th level.
No, I don't ordinarily play up to 15th. However, the OP was asking regarding Strange Aeons, and you're expected to reach 15th level by the end of book 5 in that AP so Spell Perfection is a very real consideration for any build playing through the entire AP.
Even if you won't be reaching 15th, you still can't escape the shadow of Spell Perfection. To put it succinctly, blasters don't take metamagic feats to qualify for Spell Perfection, blasters take Spell Perfection because they are beholden to metamagic feats! Even if you know for a fact that Spell Perfection will never be a consideration in your adventuring career, you'll still need to invest in metamagic feats along the way. So ignoring it doesn't really help with the feat load.
Spell Specialization on the other hand seems like it would only add between 3.5 and 7 damage to most damage spells.
Once again, you're really underestimating what 7 points of damage will do. For the purposes of argument we'll set aside the low levels (where I hope it's self-evident that Spell Specialization is a big deal. Going from CL 3 to CL 5 is a 66% damage boost for many spells!) and spells with specific thresholds (going from 2 rays to 3 rays on Scorching Ray is a 50% damage boost), and we'll also overlook that it also helps with caster level checks in general such as spell resistance. Let's just look at a mid-level blaster and what this feat does for them.
Consider a 7th level Wizard using an Empowered Lightning. Spell Specialization improves the damage from 7d6 (avg 24.5) to 9d6 (avg 31.5). After applying Empowered Spell, this comparison changes to 36.75 vs 47.25 average. I could point out that this is a 28% damage increase and leave at that, but let's take this a step further. Let's suppose we're attacking a group of monsters with 70 hit points (average for CR 6). What is necessary to kill? If you cast twice and the monster fails both saves, the non-specialist's damage rolls will kill 76% of the time while the specialist's will kill 99% of the time (shout out to anydice for making this crunching easy while on the go). If the monster fails one save and succeeds on the other then the non-specialist has only a 4% chance to kill with his damage rolls while the specialist still has a 60% chance to kill. What if the monster succeeds on the first two saves, requiring a third casting (whose save it fails). The non-specialist only has a 72% to kill in this circumstance, while the specialist is guaranteed to kill. These are significant improvements. When firing an area of effect spell into a crowd, these are the kind of numbers that means spell specialization is consistently claiming some kills a turn earlier. You can repeat this analysis for virtually any hit point threshold and get similar results; it's not cherry picking. Spell Specialization looks small, but it makes a very notable difference in your build and is a staple feat for a reason.
I had looked at Prestigious Spellcaster, but for EK it didn’t make sense. I would only recover a single level of spellcasting, but give up several feats to do that.
One level of spellcasting progression is worth far, far more than two feats. It's very lifeblood of an EK build. The only advantage the EK has over the Magus is access to faster and better spellcasting progression. I'd go so far to say that if you want to skimp out on this feat, you should probably just be a Magus instead. Not necessarily because EK is unworkable without it (EK was viable before this feat came out, after all), but rather because that says something about your priorities. This feat means you get access to new spells a level earlier, you get more spell slots, and your caster level is higher.
Also, I concur about not giving up Transmutation. The only time this is ever worth consideration is if you're in a 1-4 game that is ending before the 5th level. The moment you hit 5th and spells like Fly and Haste become a thing... no way, never worth giving up under any circumstance.
Something like Spell Perfection isn’t even available until 15th level.No, I don't ordinarily play up to 15th. However, the OP was asking regarding Strange Aeons, and you're expected to reach 15th level by the end of book 5 in that AP so Spell Perfection is a very real consideration for any build playing through the entire AP.
I've never even looked at that AP, so I had no idea when it ended. Sounds like for that it may be a consideration for the end of the game.
Even if you won't be reaching 15th, you still can't escape the shadow of Spell Perfection. To put it succinctly, blasters don't take metamagic feats to qualify for Spell Perfection, blasters take Spell Perfection because they are beholden to metamagic feats! Even if you know for a fact that Spell Perfection will never be a consideration in your adventuring career, you'll still need to invest in metamagic feats along the way. So ignoring it doesn't really help with the feat load.
Spell Specialization on the other hand seems like it would only add between 3.5 and 7 damage to most damage spells.Once again, you're really underestimating what 7 points of damage will do. For the purposes of argument we'll set aside the low levels (where I hope it's self-evident that Spell Specialization is a big deal. Going from CL 3 to CL 5 is a 66% damage boost for many spells!) and spells with specific thresholds (going from 2 rays to 3 rays on Scorching Ray is a 50% damage boost), and we'll also overlook that it also helps with caster level checks in general such as spell resistance. Let's just look at a mid-level blaster and what this feat does for them.
Consider a 7th level Wizard using an Empowered Lightning. Spell Specialization improves the damage from 7d6 (avg 24.5) to 9d6 (avg 31.5). After applying Empowered Spell, this comparison changes to 36.75 vs 47.25 average. I could point out that this is a 28% damage increase and leave at that, but let's take this a step further. Let's suppose we're attacking a group of monsters with 70 hit points (average for CR 6). What is necessary to kill? If you cast twice and the monster fails both saves, the non-specialist's damage rolls will kill 76% of the time while the specialist's will kill 99% of the time (shout out to anydice for making this crunching easy while on the go). If the monster fails one save and succeeds on the other then the non-specialist has only a 4% chance to kill with his damage rolls while the specialist still has a 60% chance to kill. What if the monster succeeds on the first two saves, requiring a third casting (whose save it fails). The non-specialist only has a 72% to kill in this circumstance, while the specialist is guaranteed to kill. These are significant improvements. When firing an area of effect spell into a crowd, these are the kind of numbers that means spell specialization is consistently claiming some kills a turn earlier. You can repeat this analysis for virtually any hit point threshold and get similar results; it's not cherry picking. Spell Specialization looks small, but it makes a very notable difference in your build and is a staple feat for a reason.
Thanks for presenting that. Now I know a few more of your assumptions when designing the character. The guide that avr pointed out really didn't talk much about feats. It basically said look at a wizard guide.
It sounds like you are focused on Empower Spell, Maximize Spell and Spell Specialization to boost blasting. Are you also using something like Intensify Spell?
A 7th level wizard is limited to 4th level spells and Empower Spell requires a slot two higher than normal. Are you playing tricks with traits (such as Magical Lineage) in order to do this?
If you are looking at the case where it is a 9th level caster using Empower vs. a 9th level caster not using Empower, the Spell Specialization only gives 1d6 at that level and nothing at the next level. There would be a difference of 2 DC between the Empowered Lightning Bolt and the regular Cone of Cold. Higher chance of both saves succeeding against the Empowered Lightning Bolt.
The Empower still wins over a non-empowered higher level spell or even an Intensified Spell Specialization spell in raw damage. I haven't done the computations for how the differences in the save DCs would affect average damage.
I still feel like I'm missing some of your assumptions.
BretI, one likely assumption is that magical lineage trait. Which also means that at 9th the specialised blaster is using intensified empowered lightning bolt (if that's their favourite spell) for 11d6 x 1.5 damage (average 57.75) rather than cone of cold for 9d6 damage (average 31.5). Intensify spell is better value than maximize I think. Yes, the save DC would be 2 lower; persistent is probably the 3rd metamagic feat that this blaster would select.
The problem with Magical Lineage is you need to pick the spell. There is no way to change what spell you use with it after that. How long are you willing to wait for one of your traits to come online?
Spell Specialization is better in that you can change what spell you are specialized in, meaning you are always getting utility from it. You just can’t really mix it well with Empower except for the one spelll you picked for the trait.
Now if you are very patient, I suppose you could choose Dragon’s Breath and wait until 7th level before using the trait. That would keep you going for a long time assuming you also took Intensify, but Empower is the one that increases the damage gained from specialization.
So the question with the trait is what level range do you optimize for?
If you take the trait on a 3rd level spell (fireball, lightning bolt, battering blast etc.) then pick metamagic feats as they become useful (with a metamagic rod or two for more situational effects), then the answer can be character level 5+. You could even pick up the trait via the additional traits feat if you're opposed to having a dead trait for levels 1-4.
Sure there are cases where you will absolutely need a higher level spell due to globe of invulnerability or similar, but you're not absolutely tied to that lineage'd spell.
Intensify and Empower aren't mutually exclusive BTW.
... Empower Spell, Maximize Spell and Spell Specialization ... Intensify Spell ... Magical Lineage
You've just outlined the standard character options used by blasting builds. Use Spell Specialization to boost your baseline damage, use Intensified Spell to expand the damage cap if needed, then multiply that damage using something like Empower. Use Magical Lineage and Spell Perfection to lower the cost of that metamagic.
You can go in a variety of different directions from there, but this is the baseline that most blaster builds start from. It's very feat intensive, but in many cases you're looking at double the damage output of an uninvested caster for the same spell slot. Using blast spells without feats is a bit like using a ranged weapon without precise shot/rapid shot/deadly aim. Sure, you can do it, but you're not going to be particularly good at it.
If you are looking at the case where it is a 9th level caster using Empower vs. a 9th level caster not using Empower, the Spell Specialization only gives 1d6 at that level and nothing at the next level.
9th level is the worst level for Spell Specialization when using spells with a 10 dice cap. Intensified Spell isn't very economical in this case, but it still works. As avr points out, it still beats cone of cold handily.
There would be a difference of 2 DC between the Empowered Lightning Bolt and the regular Cone of Cold. Higher chance of both saves succeeding against the Empowered Lightning Bolt.
Even on a successful save the empowered intensified CL 11 lightning bolt will still deal 28.5 damage, which is close to the 31.5 average the CL 9 cone of cold will deal on a failed save. A 2 point difference in DC will only matter 10% of the time, and the other 90% of the time both DC's will get the same result. So you're slightly ahead 10% of the time, but far behind 90% of the time.
The DC difference is just a burden that blasters have to deal with. Yes, your spells will be saved against a little more often due to your metamagic use, but your baseline damage will be so much higher that you'll be able to eat those extra saves.
There's also SR to consider, which is a caster level check. Spell Specialization gives you a bonus on that. If relevant SR is in play, that +2 to caster level will be far more valuable than +2 DC.
The problem with Magical Lineage is you need to pick the spell. There is no way to change what spell you use with it after that. How long are you willing to wait for one of your traits to come online?
The answer is Spell Specialization. It is phenomenally effective at lower levels, and tides over blaster builds until they reach their magical lineage spell. This combo is a staple for a reason; there is a lot of synergy here.
Now if you are very patient, I suppose you could choose Dragon’s Breath and wait until 7th level before using the trait. That would keep you going for a long time assuming you also took Intensify, but Empower is the one that increases the damage gained from specialization.
Dragon's Breath is a great spell for Spellslingers, and reasonable enough to wait for with regards to Magical Lineage. As avr mentions, Intensify and Empowered aren't mutually exclusive and if you can afford the cost of both you can apply both. Generally by the time you need Intensified Spell, you'll have enough higher-level slots to support stacking these two.
with a metamagic rod or two for more situational effects
Not typically an option for Spellslingers, since you'll be holding your firearm most of the time in combat. This leaves only one hand free to provide somatic components, and no room to hold a rod.