My new character...

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
shirak
Knight
Posts: 468
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Location: Thessaloniki, Greece

My new character...

Post by shirak »

...is a Gnome Focused Specialist Illusionist 3 / Master Specialist 2. I'm gunning for Shadowcraft Mage but first I'll finish MS because the Illusion Esoterica are fvcking awesome!

I have SF (Illusion) and Earth Sense as feats and have selected the following spells:

1st level
Color Spray, Silent Image, Identify

2nd level
Shadowspray, Invisibility, blindness, alter self

3rd level
Shadow binding, Vertigo Field, Shivering Touch, Secret Page


I have to pick a few spells more for 1st level and also have to pick equipment. Any suggestions? So far I'm thinking of buying:

Headband of Intellect 4000GP
Ring of Sustenance 2500GP
25 Hypodermic Needles 4012.5GP
Scroll of Rope Trick 150GP
Scroll of Blink 375GP
Scroll of Clairvoyance 375GP
Stuff


As you can see, I'm going for a scary fvcker image, focusing on Shadow, Fear and Cold. The character is CG btw, maybe Neutral if i can convince my DM. Banned schools are Evocation, Enchantment and Abjuration.

Thoughts?
User avatar
josephbt
Knight
Posts: 325
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Location: Zagreb, Cro

Re: My new character...

Post by josephbt »

damn, this is weird. i made exactly the same char the other day. same schools, same feats. damn.

my qs:
why so few first lvl spells?
indentify is abj, no?
no instant diversion, grease and nerveskitter?
did u trade your familiar for something usefull, like that stuff from PHB2?
how did u fullfill the reqs for MS with only 2 levels of wizzard?
engi

Blood for the Blood God!
shirak
Knight
Posts: 468
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Location: Thessaloniki, Greece

Re: My new character...

Post by shirak »

I haven't decided the rest of my 1st level spells. I'm looking for suggestions.
Identify is Divination.
Nerveskitter is FR only, no? We play Eberron. Grease at 5th level isn't very appetizing methinks. Where is Instant Diversion from?
I have already taken the Focused Specialist Substitution level. Is it possible to take another one at the same level (first)?
Fixed. I have three levels of Wizard and 2 of MS. Sorry.
User avatar
josephbt
Knight
Posts: 325
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Location: Zagreb, Cro

Re: My new character...

Post by josephbt »

Nerveskitter is from Spell Comp, Grease is appetising at any level since it works of Balance, Instant Diversion is from Races of Dragon. Dont take Identify, clerics cast it without the 100gp component.
Your subst level replaces spells, the option from PHB2 replaces shity bag of xp loss for an ability to use lesser mirror image a couple of times a day as an imediate action. Your life expectancy just got better.
engi

Blood for the Blood God!
User avatar
NineInchNall
Duke
Posts: 1222
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: My new character...

Post by NineInchNall »

shirak at [unixtime wrote:1187951756[/unixtime]]...is a Gnome Focused Specialist Illusionist 3 / Master Specialist 2. I'm gunning for Shadowcraft Mage but first I'll finish MS because the Illusion Esoterica are fvcking awesome!

...

Thoughts?


Yeah, don't take more than four levels of Master Specialist. Only the first esotericum is worth your time. The moderate one gives you concealment after casting a spell - you get better concealment from Shadowcraft Mage. The major one lets you cast without components 3/day. Whoooooooopppeeeeeeeeeee! :bored:

Do something a little more worthwhile with those six levels.
Current pet peeves:
Misuse of "per se". It means "[in] itself", not "precisely". Learn English.
Malformed singular possessives. It's almost always supposed to be 's.
Iaimeki
Journeyman
Posts: 159
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: My new character...

Post by Iaimeki »

NineInchNall at [unixtime wrote:1188058524[/unixtime]]The major one lets you cast without components 3/day.


Not to mention that one of the really great abusable things about illusionists is that they can use shadow conjuration and evocation to mimic spells with normally annoying material components, like miracle and forcecage. Also, shadowcraft mage stills or silences (I forget which) all of your illusions anyways, and if you really want to pick up the other you can always take the feat and combine it with Signature Spell to ensure you'll always have a componentless spell ready.
User avatar
JonSetanta
King
Posts: 5525
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Location: interbutts

Re: My new character...

Post by JonSetanta »

Shadowcraft? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobut you know my advice is useless here since you can predict I will write thus: more explosive spells and items
And that's about it.
The Adventurer's Almanac wrote:
Fri Oct 01, 2021 10:25 pm
Nobody gives a flying fuck about Tordek and Regdar.
shirak
Knight
Posts: 468
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Location: Thessaloniki, Greece

Re: My new character...

Post by shirak »

NineInchNall at [unixtime wrote:1188058524[/unixtime]]Yeah, don't take more than four levels of Master Specialist. Only the first esotericum is worth your time. The moderate one gives you concealment after casting a spell - you get better concealment from Shadowcraft Mage. The major one lets you cast without components 3/day. Whoooooooopppeeeeeeeeeee! :bored:

Do something a little more worthwhile with those six levels.


:WTF: I somehow completely missed the 3/level restriction. Sorry about that.

OK, MS sucks. Other ideas? The character focuses on Shadow Illusions and Necromancy. I bow before your expertise. Hey, you literally wrote the book on Shadowcrafting :thumb:

On the other hand, we'll probably never get to gain more than 3 levels anyway. I was even thinking of going the Snowcasting/Cold Focus since throwing SoDs is what I'll be doing all the time. I seriously won't have time to develop as a Shadowcrafter.

Btw, the Expanded Spellbook Class Feature is not restricted by spell list. Any awesome 1st or 2nd level Illusions spells I should be having? I remember Druids get a couple of awesome Illusions in Complete Divine.
User avatar
fbmf
The Great Fence Builder
Posts: 2590
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: My new character...

Post by fbmf »

Forgive me for I have not bought a WotC rules supplement in over a year...

What is a Focused Specialist and what is a Master Specialist?

Where is Earth Sense from?

Game On,
fbmf
shirak
Knight
Posts: 468
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Location: Thessaloniki, Greece

Re: My new character...

Post by shirak »

fbmf at [unixtime wrote:1188265107[/unixtime]]Forgive me for I have not bought a WotC rules supplement in over a year...


No problem :)

fbmf at [unixtime wrote:1188265107[/unixtime]]What is a Focused Specialist


It's a substitution level from Complete Mage. You give up one more school of magic (for a total of three, usually) and one spell slot per spell level. In return, you get three spell slots that can only be used for spells of your specialty school. So you are a Wizard who casts like a Sorcerer only you have to use most of your spells to cast awesome spells you have cherry-picked.

fbmf at [unixtime wrote:1188265107[/unixtime]]and what is a Master Specialist?


It's a Prestige Class that makes you even better at casting spells of your specialty school. It's main thing is that you get special abilities at 4th (Minor), 7th (Moderate) and 10th (Major Esoterica). These range from ass (True Vision for a round per spell level) to awesome (hitting enchanted monsters doesn't automatically dispel the effect)

fbmf at [unixtime wrote:1188265107[/unixtime]]Where is Earth Sense from?


Stoned Races. It's a feat. Basically, if you use Heighten Spell, the spell is treated as one level higher. So if you heighten Silent Image at spell level 9 it is treated as spell level 10 for all purposes.
User avatar
erik
King
Posts: 5861
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: My new character...

Post by erik »

shirak at [unixtime wrote:1188285036[/unixtime]]
fbmf at [unixtime wrote:1188265107[/unixtime]]Where is Earth Sense from?


Stoned Races. It's a feat. Basically, if you use Heighten Spell, the spell is treated as one level higher. So if you heighten Silent Image at spell level 9 it is treated as spell level 10 for all purposes.


No, Earth Sense lets you spend a move action to get a crappy version of tremorsense that can't pinpoint anything.

Earth Spell does some of what you describe (when standing on earthen surfaces, and not using an Air, Fire or Water spell). +1 level when you use Heighten Spell (which is a pre-req, in addition to Earth Sense). The bigger OMG that Earth Spell does is +1 caster level for each level that you heighten something. Still not awesome, but it's something. However for this character in particular, that's a 3 feat investment in order to get a minor bump in DCs.

josephbt wrote:
Dont take Identify, clerics cast it without the 100gp component.


Only if they have the magic domain (or oracle domain, feh).

I love the magic domain, but I never have played with a cleric who has taken it other than myself. In a different campain, we even told an incoming player who asked what we needed for our party that we could really use a cleric with the magic domain since the setting was low-low-treasure, and we couldn't afford to identify stuff (not to mention it's a damned useful domain in its own right). Of course, the guy made a cleric of ehlonna... when we already had one. Oy. At least they both actually wound up getting plant minions from one encounter.

So yeah, don't expect your identify spells to be freebies.

[edit:
Oh yeah, if you're using races of stone, then why no Racial Substitution for Gnome Illusionist? It's absurdly great, mostly for the Image spells.

Your spell list basically makes illusions even easier to cast.
new spell levels:
0: Silent Image, Ventriloquism
1: Minor Image, Leomund's Trap
2: Illusory Script, Major Image
3: Illusory Wall
4: Persistent Image
5: Programmed Image

The 5th level gnome illusionist substitution of Extended Illusions isn't too shabby either since it lets you continue illusions without concentrating. That's a major perk which can also be accomplished via Extraordinary Concentration from Complete Adventurer... but at 12th level, ugh.
shirak
Knight
Posts: 468
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Location: Thessaloniki, Greece

Re: My new character...

Post by shirak »

clikml at [unixtime wrote:1188311443[/unixtime]]No, Earth Sense lets you spend a move action to get a crappy version of tremorsense that can't pinpoint anything.

Earth Spell does some of what you describe (when standing on earthen surfaces, and not using an Air, Fire or Water spell). +1 level when you use Heighten Spell (which is a pre-req, in addition to Earth Sense). The bigger OMG that Earth Spell does is +1 caster level for each level that you heighten something. Still not awesome, but it's something. However for this character in particular, that's a 3 feat investment in order to get a minor bump in DCs.


You are right. All I can say is, I answered the question after 9h of cramming Physics. Sorry.

On Identify: We don't even have a Cleric so I'll take it anyway.

On Substitution: I probably will. I was under the impression that I could only pick one substitution level. I'll get on it once my exam is out of the way.
Iaimeki
Journeyman
Posts: 159
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: My new character...

Post by Iaimeki »

clikml at [unixtime wrote:1188311443[/unixtime]]No, Earth Sense lets you spend a move action to get a crappy version of tremorsense that can't pinpoint anything.

Earth Spell does some of what you describe (when standing on earthen surfaces, and not using an Air, Fire or Water spell). +1 level when you use Heighten Spell (which is a pre-req, in addition to Earth Sense). The bigger OMG that Earth Spell does is +1 caster level for each level that you heighten something. Still not awesome, but it's something. However for this character in particular, that's a 3 feat investment in order to get a minor bump in DCs.


The power that makes Earth Spell worthwhile requires a combination of several abilities worthy of M:tG.

Step 1: Gnome illusionist subsitution 1. This drops silent image to level 0, which is useful though not essential for what follows.

Step 2: Shadowcraft mage. One of the class's abilities allows you to use certain illusion spells, including silent image, as a workalike for shadow conjuration/evocation.

Step 3: Earth Spell. The aforesaid ability assigns a spell level hit as usual for shadow conjuration/evocation, but Earth Spell counters that, meaning you can put a heightened silent image in a slot and use it to cast an evocation/conjuration spell of the same level as the slot. You also get a boost to your caster level equal to the amount you had to Heighten your silent image (that's where the gnome substitution level comes in), which boosts general power, dispel resistance, and ability to own spell resistance.

Step 4: Signature Spell. Signature Spell allows you to cast one spell of your choice spontaneously, like a cleric casting cure or inflict. You pick silent image, meaning that on the fly, you can convert any prepared spell of any level you possess into a shadow version of any evocation or conjuration spell you desire.

That's the basic combination. With some other classes and feats, you can do things like boost the reality of your shadow spells to 100%, so not even true seeing will save people from your spontaneous forcecages, but really the ability to go dumpster-diving as you cast for a shadow version of the evocation or conjuration spell that will solve all your problems is quite enough.
CalibronXXX
Knight-Baron
Posts: 698
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: My new character...

Post by CalibronXXX »

Between the Shadowcraft Mage class feature that gives your shadow illusions +20% reality and the Dragon Magazine feat that gives your shadow illusions +20% reality you'll be breaking through that 100% reality cap by the early teens.
SunTzuWarmaster
Knight-Baron
Posts: 948
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: My new character...

Post by SunTzuWarmaster »

Here's the deal:
Gnome Illusionist Substitution 1 +
Earth Sense +
Earth Spell +
Heighten Spell +
Shdowcraft Mage 3

You may heighten a level 0 spell to level 1, when you do so:
treat it as a second level spell (20% real without feat augmentation)
CL + 1
Save DC + 1
spontaneously cast any Conjuration (summoning/calling/creation) or Evocation of 1 level lower.

So, you use a 0-th level spell in a 1st level slot to cast a spell as 2nd level to trade it for a 1st level...
Lose - 1 1st level slot
Gain - any 1st level Conjuration/Evocation spell at increased DC with increased CL

(the above also applies to using a 9th level slot to get a 9th level spell that is 100% real without feat adjustment, which can mean a free Empower)
CalibronXXX
Knight-Baron
Posts: 698
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: My new character...

Post by CalibronXXX »

Shadow Conjuration cannot mimic Calling effects.
User avatar
NineInchNall
Duke
Posts: 1222
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Re: My new character...

Post by NineInchNall »

fbmf at [unixtime wrote:1188265107[/unixtime]]Forgive me for I have not bought a WotC rules supplement in over a year...

What is a Focused Specialist and what is a Master Specialist?

Where is Earth Sense from?

Game On,
fbmf


Hmm. [Shameless plug] All your questions answered. [/Shameless plug.]
Current pet peeves:
Misuse of "per se". It means "[in] itself", not "precisely". Learn English.
Malformed singular possessives. It's almost always supposed to be 's.
Post Reply