Help with feat selection

[Twilight Jack]

My character is about to hit 9th level and I'm having trouble deciding on his next feat. Up until this point, I've had a very easy time choosing his feats, but now I'm looking at all the options and can't make up my mind.

So I'm looking for a lively debate on what you folks would choose.

Right now he's a Human Conjurer 5/Master Specialist 3 (about to be 4). His current feats are:

Scribe Scroll
Spell Focus (conjuration)
Spell Focus (illusion)
Create Wondrous Item
Extend Spell
Sculpt Spell
Greater Spell Focus (conjuration)
Skill Focus (spellcraft)


I ditched a familar for Abrupt Jaunt, so one option I was considering is Obtain Familiar, since that allows my Wizard and Master Specialist levels to stack and familiars start to get cool around 9th level.

As it's probably apparent to anyone who's looking at my feat list, I have every intention of transitioning into Archmage at some point, so if that informs your advice, so be it.

The game is a very small one; there's just one other player, who's an Elf Ranger. Although optimization is allowed within limits, stinky cheese is banned. The DM plays by RAW for the most part, but brings the hammer down swiftly whenever RAW breaks verisimilitude on the story we're telling, or if he feels that you're exploiting RAW looking for game-breaking. So if your feat suggestion this way tends, you might want to include a few good reasons why it should be allowed.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Quicken Spell.

[Twilight Jack]

Quicken Spell.

At 9th level? Is it really worthwhile so early? I'm planning on crafting myself a belt of battle very soon, and tossing a circlet of rapid casting into the mix at 12th level or so. On top of which, the capstone ability of Master Specialist will Quicken 3 conjurations/day for free, and I was thinking I might not need the actual Quicken Spell feat at all.

Why is this the best feat to take at 9th level?

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Why is this the best feat to take at 9th level?
Leadership.

[Twilight Jack]

No Leadership. Not yet anyhow. We're at a point in the story where it just wouldn't make any sense.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

No Leadership. Not yet anyhow.
You! OBEY THE FIST!

Ahem.

The Summon Elemental reserve feat?

[Twilight Jack]

That could be kind of nifty. I once had a player in a game I ran pull some truly epic shenanigans using that feat.

Are you backing off the Quicken Spell suggestion? I'm willing to consider it, if you can convince me it would still be a good choice.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Quicken True Strike + Orb of X

[Twilight Jack]

Quicken True Strike + Orb of X

Yeah, I've had great fun with that combo in a past game. Quicken Spell is now on my short list, along with Summon Elemental.

Anyone else?

[Keld Denar]

There is also Quicken Ray of Clumsiness + any Ref save spell (Bands of Iron) and Quickened Ray of Enfeeblement + Evards Black Tenticles. Never underestimate the power of a Quickened Benign Transposition.

I have a FS Conjourer character who has gotten a lot of use out of Metamagic School Focus + Quicken Spell. When Quicken is only 3 levels higher for 3 spells per day, its not quite as oppresive. Just don't stack multiple metamagic reducers on a single spell and it isn't cheesy.

If you want a good defensive feat, Minor Shapeshift is awesome. Keep a Trollshape or Polymorph spell memorized, and each round as a swift action, you can refresh a pool of CL temp HPs that last for CL rounds. Keep this up all day, and if you do take damage, take a swift action to refresh it. It costs you your ability to cast Quickened spells or use your Belt of Battle or Circlet of Rapid Casting, but it makes you VERY hard to kill. My FS Conjourer has it, has has only dipped into his regular HP once in about 6 combats now.

[Twilight Jack]

There is also Quicken Ray of Clumsiness + any Ref save spell (Bands of Iron) and Quickened Ray of Enfeeblement + Evards Black Tenticles. Never underestimate the power of a Quickened Benign Transposition.

I have a FS Conjourer character who has gotten a lot of use out of Metamagic School Focus + Quicken Spell. When Quicken is only 3 levels higher for 3 spells per day, its not quite as oppresive. Just don't stack multiple metamagic reducers on a single spell and it isn't cheesy.

If you want a good defensive feat, Minor Shapeshift is awesome. Keep a Trollshape or Polymorph spell memorized, and each round as a swift action, you can refresh a pool of CL temp HPs that last for CL rounds. Keep this up all day, and if you do take damage, take a swift action to refresh it. It costs you your ability to cast Quickened spells or use your Belt of Battle or Circlet of Rapid Casting, but it makes you VERY hard to kill. My FS Conjourer has it, has has only dipped into his regular HP once in about 6 combats now.

Metamagic School Focus is also definitely on my shortlist. It can reduce a metamagic cost down to +0, right? Then I could decide whether to get Quicken at 12th. In the meantime, I could be Sculpting a few solid fogs for free. :smallbiggrin:

Minor Shapeshift could be interesting as well, although I haven't picked up Polymorph yet. :smallfrown: The campaign currently has us in the middle of an oppressive arcanocratic empire consumed in a civil war between two factions of the wizards who run the place. Practicing wizardry is punishable by death unless you're a member of the ruling elite. As my character is not, he's had to keep his magic on the down-low. So he can't exactly learn new spells at his leisure. With the exception of the spells he learns at each level, his only way to learn new spells is by taking possession of the spellbooks and/or scrolls of other wizards, which is obviously risky. He's managed it once so far since he arrived in the area, as part of a larger plan to disrupt the grip of terror the wizards hold over the rest of the populace, but the wizard the party killed was barely beyond an apprentice. Besides which, I have no control over the spells to which I gain access through that method.

[jiriku]

Improved Initiative would be effective if you're usually outnumbered. If it's just you and one other PC, a good battlefield control spell at the top of round 1 could help you avoid many clobberings.

If you're planning both a belt of battleand a circlet of rapid casting, I would defer quicken until at least level 12.

[Twilight Jack]

Improved Initiative would be effective if you're usually outnumbered. If it's just you and one other PC, a good battlefield control spell at the top of round 1 could help you avoid many clobberings.

If you're planning both a belt of battleand a circlet of rapid casting, I would defer quicken until at least level 12.

I love Improved Initiative dearly, but I'm also making a concerted effort to allow my travelling companion her own special arena in which to shine. I've got nerveskitter for the times I really need to go earlier in the combat and the belt of battle gives a +2 as well, but otherwise I'm going to allow my friend her moment in the spotlight and avoid stepping on her shtick.