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piemaester
2010-07-05, 09:57 AM
My group is currently running a Gestalt game where I am playing the only skill monkey (Its cool, I designed the character that way). As of right now, I'm rogue 3, swasbuckler 3, and thief acrobat 3 down one side, and beguiler 9 down the other. I have more utilities than I know what to do with (I like it that way), and can use sneak attack for damage if I have too (On a previous battle, I spent the whole time stopping attacks. Stopped over half of them from hitting our main spell caster.).

Just recently, I came across the feat of Master Spellthief (Complete Scoundrel), which would let my thieving increase with my beguiler levels for only 1 spell thief level. Would this be a good idea? I've never played a spell thief and was wondering if stealing spells is all that worth it.

On another note: I have been looking for a second prestiege class to delve into and was looking at arcane trickster. Would this help me out, and if so, whats a good way to get mage hand, as beguiler does not recieve it. My other choice right now is mountebank (Complete Scoundrel), which is even more utilities to play with.

To consider: The campagin levels up very fast (the next game is level 11), we are item hunters searching ruins and wierd places where every utility thus far has been useful, and no psionics or factotem.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-07-05, 10:45 AM
Well I think if you go Spellthief and get the feat master spellthief, you can increase your CL out of the wazzo... but I am not sure exactly how that works.

As for getting magehand...IIRC there is a feat in Complete Arcane that gives you mage hand as a SLA (plus other ones) and according to the rules found i Complete arcane if a prestige class specifically ask for a specific spell a SLA mimicking said spell is enough to qualify.

also there is another feat (magical training) in some forgotten realm books that gives you 3 cantrips and 1 level once arcane spell to cast, simply select mage hand and you are set.

Hope that helps.

Rothen
2010-07-05, 10:53 AM
Just recently, I came across the feat of Master Spellthief (Complete Scoundrel), which would let my thieving increase with my beguiler levels for only 1 spell thief level.

Are we talking about the same feat here?
IIRC, all the feat does is let your Spellthief levels stack with your casting class to determine CL, and some minor goodies.
It doesn't say anything about rogues/swashbucklers.

Arcane Trickster would be a solid choice for you, but I'm not sure how kosher dual progression PrCs in Gestalt are for your DM - heck, isn't there some rule in gestalt about Wizard10/X10//Cleric 10/Mystic Theurge 10?

Fax Celestis
2010-07-05, 11:06 AM
Are we talking about the same feat here?
IIRC, all the feat does is let your Spellthief levels stack with your casting class to determine CL, and some minor goodies.
It doesn't say anything about rogues/swashbucklers.

Arcane Trickster would be a solid choice for you, but I'm not sure how kosher dual progression PrCs in Gestalt are for your DM - heck, isn't there some rule in gestalt about Wizard10/X10//Cleric 10/Mystic Theurge 10?


Prerequisite: Ability to cast 2nd-level arcane spells, steal spell.
Benefit: Your spellthief levels stack with levels of other arcane spellcaster classes (that is, levels of any class that grants arcane spellcasting other than the spellthief) for the purpose of determining what level of spell you can steal. For example, a 4th-level spellthief/4th-level wizard could steal spells of up to 4th level, as if he were an 8th-level spellthief.

Your spellthief and arcane spellcaster levels also stack when determining your caster level for all arcane spells. The character described above would have a caster level of 8th for both his spellthief spells and his wizard spells.

In addition, you do not incur a chance of arcane spell failure for arcane spells cast or stolen from other classes, but only if you are wearing light armor. You incur the normal arcane spell failure chance when wearing medium or heavy armor or when using a shield.

Special: A spellthief does not incur a chance of arcane spell failure when casting spellthief spells in light armor. He incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for other arcane spells he casts, including those stolen from arcane casters.
It's a great deal, honestly, especially since you can sneak attack and therefore thieve with weaponlike spells (like whelm while invisible).

Tedesche
2010-07-05, 02:36 PM
Master Spellthief is one of those ridiculously good feats that makes level-dipping into a relatively useless class a great idea for arcane spellcasters. You'll only be able to steal uncast spells from casters, but that's plenty good. Great way of increasing your spell repertoire as a beguiler. I would definitely go for it.

And Arcane Trickster or Unseen Seer are definitely PrCs worth considering. I'd actually suggest you take both (US first, then AT). Take Practiced Spellcasting to negate the CL drain from US, and then just go AT FTW.

Although, beguilers do get their best abilities at their highest levels, so it might be worth it just to go pure beguiler if you're really into them. Taking a PrC would probably be more optimized, but being able to ignore SR with cloaked casting is pretty damn nice....

piemaester
2010-07-05, 02:45 PM
Thanks guys! I really appreciate the imput!

I should also assume that the feat does not grant me more spells stolen at a time or the ability to get higher level spell efects through beguiler levels?