[3.5] Minding the Mindless

[BiblioRook]

In just about everything I tend to play, from rogues to archers to utility and illusionist casters to just general skill-monkeying, I always seem to run into the same weakness... the general ballpark of undead, constructs, plants, and oozes, etc.

Melee wise I'm starting to figure out how to stay in the fight, but lately I've been trying to try out casting more and for a long while I've really wanted to try playing a Beguiler. Does anyone have any advice on how something like a Beguiler could handle combat with things such as undead and constructs? Or at the very least stay useful/stay in the fight someway.

[Thurbane]

It's a common misconception that Beguilers are powerless against undead and constructs. They have a slew of spells that work just fine on these creatures. Most Illusions work extremely well against mindless opponents.

Aside from that, there's things like Glitterdust, Slow, Solid Fog, Legion of Sentinels etc. that work normally on mindless foes. There's also buffs you can throw on allies, like Haste, Blur, Displacement etc.

Now, having said all that, there is a feat called Song of the Dead, that will allow your mind affecting spells to work on (non-mindless) undead, at the cost of +1 spell level. Very handy for a Beguiler in an undead heavy game.

There's also items that can help: Eternal Wands contain an arcane spell, usable 2/day, that doesn't need to be on your spell list. The Robe of Mysterious Conjuration allows you to swap out spell slots for Summon Monster a few times/day. The Raiment of the Four set is nice - can get you Magic Missile, Fireball and Teleport, powered from your own spell slots, about 3 times/day each. There's a couple of other items in the MIC that allow you to swap spell slots for useful effects: Bracers of Retaliation, Deathguardian Bracers, Bracers of the Blast Barrier etc.

If you're going to pump UMD (which you really should), then you've got a ton of options. Runestaves are great for a Beguiler - you need to make a UMD check, but then you can convert your spell slots to all kinds of different spells.