Hello everyone,
I have reached level 13 of the Tyrant's grasp campaign (hardcore difficulty, ends at level 18, mostly undeads) with my group and realized building my transmutater as originally intended is not gonna do it for the late game (I do not have much experience of the game passed level 12). I need your help to respec some of his feats and try focus my build to be more efficient. We will soon have like 50 days in-game to craft and retrain feats, I think I can retrain 2-3 feat and still complete everyone craft during this time. Here is my character :
lvl 13 Tiefling wizard as it is now
School : Transmutation (opposites schools : Evocation/Enchantment)
Archetype : spirit Binder (I lose all the wizard bonus feats but my familiar can have them and gain the BAB and saving throws of any class it wants, I chose slayer so full BAB, fortitude and reflex and it takes the wizard's will save). Buffed with spell, it makes the familiar a competent melee character, just not a lot of HP but eligible for all the good "personnal" spells.
Familiar: Inevitable arbiter, it has regeneration, flies and is immune to a lot of things (the DM rules that it does not get regeneration while polymorphed but it still prevents it from dying if it takes too much damages)
25pt Stats
Strength : 8
Dexterity : 14 (12+2) + boost from transmutater capacity
Constitution : 17 [+1 at lvl-4] +Belt
Wisdom : 10
Intelligence : 19 (17+2) [+1 at lvl-8-12-16] +Headband
Charisma : 7 (9-2)
The campaign being so harsh, I want as much HP as possible to survive bitter encounters and to give a fair half to the combat familiar) my wizard has double the normal HP from a standard one.
Trait : Transmutater of Korada (+ a campaign trait who gives +1 percpetion and +1 to hit against a foe who hurt my friends last turn)
Feats : R=can be replaced
1 - Toughness
3 - Metamagic reach spells (tax feat) R
5 - Distant spell link R
7 - Improved familiar
9 - Opposition research (Evocation)
11 - Craft wondrous item
13 - Metamagic Quicken
15 - (...)
17 - (...)
Familiar feats :
1 - Replaced : Extra item slot (Amulet)
1 - Replaced : Extra item slot (Shoulder)
1 - Extra item slot (Belt)
5 - Outflank
10 - Combat reflexes
15 - (Seize the moment)
Rest of the group
Barbarian/Alchemist with butchering axe [Melee/Tank]
Fighter TWF (less damages by attack but more attacks) [Melee/Tank]
My combat familiar, not many PV but buffed with lot of personnal spells [Melee auxilary]
Spell warrior Skald (also give good buffs like pounce on the Melee friends) [Archer/Buffer]
Life oracle [Healer]
Strategy :
I am a support mage who buff allies (Bull strength, Enlarge person, Haste, etc ...) and send his polymorphed combat familiar (often in four arms gargoyle but the DM suggested me the deathsnatcher at our level) to assist my melee friends in flanking position as it has Outflank and soon Seize the Moment or to draw away AoO from ennemies with reach (it is often under Mirror images and the Regeneration/Chaos will prevent it from dying permanently). I also use spells like Telekinetik charge (or Flash forward on the familiar) to send my allies to the right place (often a flanking position) or Battlemind link between the familiar and one of my melee friend.
I initially took "Distant spell link" when my spell duration was too short to buff the familiar with "contact" spells before combat. But now it is useless as my spells last for most of the dungeon. I could easily replace this feat and its tax feat by something else.
I was planing to take feats like spell focus and Spell penetrations for my 15tl and 17th levels but I realised recently it would be too late, too little as I am obviously not an offensive caster and any powerful foe at this level has excellent spell resistance and saving throws. The occasional desintegration or Scorching Ray I cast when I have nothing else to do is clearly not my main purpose. But then what ? What feats should I take that will complement what I already do ?
I really need your help and advices to make my wizard based on transmutation/ support/combat familiar more effective at the highest levels of the game, what feats should I get instead of those of 3rd and 5th level and at 15th and 17th ? :) ?
Thanks you very much for reading me ^^
I don't think spirit binder also gives your familiar the wizard's saves, more like it gets the other class saves in place of that. That's a minor detail though.
A transmuter wizard who wants to stay alive likely wants to use battlefield control spells to keep the enemies away from them. It's one of the things the transmutation school does well, not that you're limited to that school. At high levels spells like reverse gravity (no spell resistance, often no save) can slow the enemy down nicely.
If you want to make spells which do require SR/saves land the surest way is with metamagic, either by feat or by metamagic rod. Persistent spell and piercing spell are your friends here.
If you'd rather improve your HP directly one way is to get the creative destruction arcane discovery and to throw around evocation spells (probably also the intensify spell metamagic feat). Make sure you have the contingency spell active to get you out of dangerous situations though.
@avr
Sadly, my DM said that if I used Reverse gravity, he will murder me as the spell is very complicated for the DM.
Sadly, getting temporary HP will not beneficiate to my familiar HP, and as a wizard, I think I already have more than enough for myself (more than 150 at level 13) ;)
But the contingency spell is a great idea, a little expensive but great!
@Lelomenia
Well, at lvl-15, I would have access to Polymorph any object who would work on undead and transform them into nice permanent armchair. That would work great with Persistent metamagic and spell perfection ... but it would make it a 10 level spell, so it would not work. The more I think about it, the more I feel like offensive spells are only an option for me when fighting a big scary monster (like a giant undead abomination) and a no-go when fighting evil boss (a graveknight literally laughed at my spells).
Are there really not any other options of feats for a high level caster than metamagic or boost to offensives spells ?
I did not know the annihilation Spectacles, letting me spontaneously convert spells as a wizard is INCREDIBLE :o thank for letting me know.
Already thought of the duplicate familiar spell, but then I should recast all the buffs spells on it, shouldn't I ? I cast a lot of spells on my familiar : Mage armor, Shield, Mirror image, Familiar figment, Bull strenght, Monstuous physic, etc ... if I have to recast them, it would be too taxing on how much spells I have per day :/
Ah, you're trying to protect your familiar not yourself. I hadn't got that from your original post.
Battlefield control doesn't require reverse gravity, that's just a quick example which doesn't use SR or saves. Wall of stone doesn't use those either and cutting off half the enemies while your party beats on the other half saves you a lot of damage. Persistent greater grease is SR: no and has a tough enough save that it's effective battlefield control against any non-flying enemy.
Persistent spell by feat is limited to spells a couple levels below your maximum. It's still worth it. Persistent spell by metamagic rod doesn't change the spell level, but the rod costs a fair bit of money.
Spell focus and spell penetration are feats that don't cost any spell levels or any money, but in return they're less effective than persistent spell or piercing spell respectively.
Spell perfection requires 15th level and that you have 3 metamagic feats. In return it lets you ignore the spell level increase for one of your metamagic feats, on your favourite spell. So if you choose disintegrate as your perfect spell you could load persistent and piercing onto it and cast persistent piercing disintegrate using a 7th level spell slot.
Casting lots of buffs twice over is likely to be a problem with the time available to cast those spells more than the spell slots, are the enemies really going to wait while you cast 13 spells in preparation?
How married are you to bolstering your familiar so that you can send it into melee combat? Because I have a hair-brained idea to turn your familiar into a Dirty Trickster that protects YOU rather than wading into combat with the other melees, while also turning you into a primary debuffer-style of support play as a Transmutation Wizard that ends up with Spell Perfection <insert favorite control spell here> at level 15.
If you're interested in something like that, let me know and I'll make a build for you and your familiar that you can consider. If yes, how much coin do you currently have to play with. And also, can I have a list of your current magical items and favorite spells? Also, what are the known spells in your spellbook?
I forgot to mention it, but as I had to do my level 13 in a rush last session, the DM will probably be ok with me changing my level 13th feat : Quicken metamagic. I am not sure if it is worthy as a feat instead of a lesser rod (expensive I know, but I don't mind keeping my high level slot and having a little more flexibility on wich spell I have to quicken) what do you think ?
Distant spell link and its taxe-feat are the most likely to be retrained, but they let cast personnal and touch spells and my familar at short range, wich can be useful for casting round/level spells like Familiar figment in combat without getting close to the melee, do you think this combo is still relevant or should it be retrain withotu a second thought ? Another option to retrain is Craft woundrous item in the last days of our last crafting session for the whole campaign.
@avr
Yep, my wizard alway stay either in the backline or close to to enlarged/long arm barbarian/alchemist against ennemies with good mobilty. So I more interrested in ways to keep the combat familiar into combat. Because of my high HP, it still has 75hp and is always under [mage armor, shield, bull strength, monstruous physic, false life, mirror images] if I have time to buff it before a dungeon. If it is not buffed (likely in surprise encounter) then I do not waste the time to cast all those buffs on it, I just send it in suicide flanking position to give the teamwork feats benefit to my allies. But spell like Mage armor and shield start to become less effective for its AC to still be relevant at our level. Crafting bracers of armor is the only solution I can think of.
It is a lot of investment in spells, but it effectively give us a 6th player who has decent melle capabilties and can afford to die more easily.
Persistent greater grease is a very tempting idea I must admit, and I did not know the Piercing metamagic. Thos feat are really interresting me, thanks :)
isn't it a bit of a waste to invest into spell perfection if you do not have other feat like spell focus and spell perfection you could normally count for double, or a not a blaster who often use the same spell ? As much as I love to cast a succeful disintegration, it is obviously not my job to do so. Giving a free attack to the butchering axe barbarian with Telekinetik charge as efficient and more succeful.
Yep, I also figured casting twice buffing spells on a duplicate familiar would be a waste of time and spell slot. But I think it could eventually be a good idea to duplicate it nonetheless, just nut buffing him. It would still be a great decoy/flanking buddy (thanks to the teamwork feats) just not a useful damage dealer.
@Rize Kuja
I appreciate your enthousiasm, but I am quite attached to my familiar being the 6th member of the group and giving a helpful hand to my two melee buddies. Plus, wouldn't that make too much retraining ? I will only have 50 days to both craft the wondrous items of the group AND retrain whatever I need to retrain. It is not a lot of time if I have to completely retrain my character concept :/
@Lelomenia
I did not think about it, but it is true I could give a better form to some of my friend, I need to discuss it with them.
As you can see in the first paragraph of my response to avr, I cast a lot of spells on it before entering a dungeon. The practical result is a 6th member in my group, excellent flanking buddy, decent damage dealer and someone else to block BBEG undead to approach the backline (skald archer, life oracle and me).
Regeneration does not work under polymorphy halas, my DM ryle it still prevent it from dying when killed while polymorphed though. And regardless of how high my hp are, it still have only half of it. But as in my last paragraph to avr, you remind me of the spell and now I think I can still have a good use of a disposable unbuffed familiar :)
Wall of force is a good idea for spell perfection, I was not using walls spells until now, you guys are the one who made me realise how useful it would be. But still, I will need to retrain two feat, probably for persistent and Piercing metamagic to get spell perfection at level 15. So I probably can't afford to take Craft rods juste to save a fex thousand golds.
If I compile everything you suggested me correctly
- Buy/craft Annihilation Spectacles to have a little more flexibility, spontaneously changing transmutation spells for other transmutation spells
- Use duplicate familiar, not to have two buffed one, but the main one buffed for melee and the duplicate for flanking/sacrifice
- Use Contingency to have a backup plan in emergencies (do you have idées on what spell to prepare in advance and the trigger ?)
- Use walls, Grease, Reversed gravity and other spells that does not allow spell resistance, preferably with the Persistent metamagic.
- Interresting metamagic feats would be Quicken, Persistent, Piercing.
- If I manage to retrain to have 3 metamagic feats, go Spell perfection at level 15th and use it for a quicken Force wall or a Persistent Disintegration. But if you have other idea, feel free to share :)