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fortesama
2010-09-14, 07:51 AM
new player on the table... again. seriously, we're getting a lot lately. back on topic

this guy, unlike most of the others, is a bit more knowledgeable on how 3.5 works, though he tends to base everything on neverwinter nights 2 so a bit of adjusting is needed. looked like he's taking it well and is willing to adjust. he's planning on making a wizard based on being a complete nightmare against other spellcasters. so far, i'm looking at a straight specialist abjurer wizard, but i'm thinking of showing him stuff from the complete arcane to help him along.

any tips on how to make this guy? i'm thinking rings of counterspell, dispelling cord and ring of spell battle for items. he'll probably pack arcane turmoils, suppressing fields and extraordinary spell aimed antimagic fields. and maybe and initiate of the sevenfold veil as a prestige class.

Emperor Ing
2010-09-14, 07:56 AM
Abjurant Champion is worth looking at, because all dispel spells all the way up to Disjunction are Abjuration, and Dispel is pretty much the universal counterspeller in addition to being...well...dispel magic.

Only problem is that prerequisites are tricky for a low-bab wizard/sorcerer to reach.

Zaydos
2010-09-14, 08:17 AM
Master Specialist (Complete Mage) can be good if you're an abjuration specialist. Requires 2nd level spells and Spell Focus (Abjuration) but gives you +5 to dispel checks, +2 CL with Abjuration, and the ability to turn Antimagic Field into a touch spell around somebody else (the fighter?).

Throw in the Arcane Mastery feat and you can take 10 on CL checks. At 9th level you'd be able to dispel anything with a CL of 12 or lower without a check or any other spells/effects to boost your dispel check. At 11th level with Greater Dispel Magic this rises to CL of 15 or lower, at 12th 16 or lower, at 13th 18 or lower, caps out at 24th or lower at Lv 18 (although there are dispels with higher caps than Greater Dispel Magic).

Also Master Specialist sets you up to go into Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil which is an excellent PrC for any wizard, and gives you a daily dispel that hurts your opponents big time.

I'd actually advice against Abjurant Champion in this case, it's a Gish PrC and doesn't give you as much focused anti-mage powers as the others. The ability to automatically quicken 1st and 2nd level abjuration spells is nice, but that doesn't include even Dispel Magic and is obtained as Dispel Magic's usefulness is waning and you have to switch to Greater Dispel Magic anyway. The increased bonus from AC enhancing buffs and the extended durations on your abjurations is nice, but far from necessary or even that wonderful on an anti-mage.

Eldariel
2010-09-14, 09:57 AM
Want him to be totally superspecial ANNOYING for other casters? Behold, The Dispeller:

Cloistered Cleric (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#clericVariantCloistere dCleric) 1/Wizard (Abjurer) 1/Master Specialist 7/Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil 7/Master Specialist +3/Archmage 1


Now, I know you're asking "Why Cloistered Cleric?" so let me explain:
- There's a feat in Fiendish Codex II called "Divine Defiance". What it does is allows you to burn a Turn Attempt to counterspell as an immediate action. Of course, that means you need Turn-attempts. It also has prerequisite of Divine Caster Level 3, so you need one level in Cleric to get it. You can reach Caster Level 3 with either Practiced Spellcaster [Complete Arcane] or by having the character be an Illumian [Races of Destiny] (Illumians with Krau-sigil gain +2 to caster level of all their casting classes, up to maximum of their character level; so mini Practiced Spellcaster and just enough to qualify for Divine Defiance).

I obviously need not explain you why having immediate action counterspells is awesome for a "spellcaster's bane", especially in conjuction with Archmage's Mastery of Counterspelling. As such, I'd give this a strong consideration, especially with Inquisition-domain granting +4 Untyped bonus to Dispel-checks.


If you're wondering how the buggeration that build works with Master Specialist after Wizard 1, well, it's quite simple: You can either take Precocious Apprentice, or Improved Krau Sigil-feat (if Illumian) to be able to cast 2nd level spells early. As the Spellcraft prerequisite can be met by level 2, you're home free.


Other than that, you're just an excellent Dispeller/Counterspeller with the ability to cast Touch Range Anti-Magic Fields (thank you, Master Specialist 10), absolutely brutal Dispels (Kaleidoscopic Doom from Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil), barriers to block spells or otherwise (again, Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil) and massive bonuses to Dispelling (+4 from Inquisition-domain, +5 from Master Specialist and then some).

The simpler build would be:
Wizard (Abjurer) 3/Master Specialist 6/Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil 7/Master Specialist +4

That's the standard. But those 3 Wizard-levels aren't really giving you any flavorful abilities so I prefer the more crammed build with a level of Cleric, and earlier Master Specialist entry; that allows you to fit Archmage (Mastery of Counterspelling!) to the end and just pick up all the goodies earlier and, most importantly, gain access to the most usable Counterspell-enabler in the game. It gains something cool every level and is very much a nightmare for other spellcasters to fight.


Feats should include Extraordinary Spell Aim [CAdv] (for AMF fun), Arcane Mastery [CArc] (for efficient mass Dispelling), Chain Spell [CArc] (probably wanted for Chain [Greater] Dispel Magic off 9th level slots to screw multiple opponents and all their magic items over totally), Elven Spell Lore [PHBII] (it's a bonus to Dispel-checks) and consider Reach Spell (for Reach Anti-Magic Fields with your Master Specialist 10 ability) and some such. Obviously prerequisites but that's mostly Spell Focus: Abjuration (and one other for Archmage; Master Specialist takes care of the rest).

fortesama
2010-09-15, 07:57 PM
It's... wow:smalleek:

I've copied both builds and shown them to the guy. Looks like he got a nosebleed from reading the first build then went for the second instead. I'm not sure where this would go but should be a welcome addition to a party including a DMM cleric a charging scout and an odd sorcerer... our beholder mage friend died from his own stupidity...

Tyndmyr
2010-09-15, 08:10 PM
Now, I know you're asking "Why Cloistered Cleric?" so let me explain:
- There's a feat in Fiendish Codex II called "Divine Defiance". What it does is allows you to burn a Turn Attempt to counterspell as an immediate action. Of course, that means you need Turn-attempts. It also has prerequisite of Divine Caster Level 3, so you need one level in Cleric to get it. You can reach Caster Level 3 with either Practiced Spellcaster [Complete Arcane] or by having the character be an Illumian [Races of Destiny] (Illumians with Krau-sigil gain +2 to caster level of all their casting classes, up to maximum of their character level; so mini Practiced Spellcaster and just enough to qualify for Divine Defiance).

Or you can skip all that work, and join any church that includes the magic domain, per complete champion, rapidly boost your affiliation score via repeatable acheivements(I reccomend "defeating a foe solely through use of magic"), and counterspell without a readied action, without using a spell slot, or even having the spell ready to cast. As a free action.

Once per day, sure. You can alternatively choose the chaos domain instead to get a redirect(to another legal target) instead of the counter.

Though to be frank, there's nothing preventing you from doing one of those and ALSO taking the build above.

PS: Pick up a ring of counterspelling or three. They're cheap.

Douglas
2010-09-15, 08:16 PM
There's a feat called Reactive Counterspell from one of the Forgotten Realms books. Lets you counterspell without a readied action at the cost of skipping your next turn. It's essentially unlimited use Celerity for counterspelling only.

Going the counterspell-with-Dispel Magic route, you should also pick up Elven Spell Lore (PHB2, +2 on dispel checks plus another benefit) and some way of getting the Inquisition domain (+4 on dispel checks). If you can't fit an appropriate PrC into the build, Planar Touchstone will do it for a feat if you pick the Catalogues of Enlightenment (page 166 of Planar Handbook).

Eldariel
2010-09-15, 09:15 PM
Or you can skip all that work, and join any church that includes the magic domain, per complete champion, rapidly boost your affiliation score via repeatable acheivements(I reccomend "defeating a foe solely through use of magic"), and counterspell without a readied action, without using a spell slot, or even having the spell ready to cast. As a free action.

Once per day, sure. You can alternatively choose the chaos domain instead to get a redirect(to another legal target) instead of the counter.

Though to be frank, there's nothing preventing you from doing one of those and ALSO taking the build above.

PS: Pick up a ring of counterspelling or three. They're cheap.

Ring of Spell-Battle is probably the first pick; free identification, Disjunction redirection, all the good stuff. Also Battlemagic Perception obviously; it's a free action counterspell whenever it's active.

Reactive Counterspell I don't like since it takes a huge feat expediture and generally the wasted actions are too valuable to pass up on; Standard Action can end encounters but a counterspell is unlike to so you end up spending two actions for one action.

Crow
2010-09-15, 09:39 PM
The simplest way is a sorcerer with whatever that feat is that lets you counterspell once per round as an immediate action, improved counterspell, and heighten spell.

Choose cantrips that cover each school, and heighten as needed. For the higher level spells, use dispel magic (greater), due to the improved counterspell limitations.