Dual Spellcaster Optimization Help

[Acturis]

So I have this DM who suddenly got this 'brilliant' idea for this new campaign that I am really excited about. The world is in chaos, gods to be over thrown, and I even get to play as the LE villain secretly plotting all of this inside the unsuspecting party. That is right, I get to be the demi-son-of-a-bia Hecate, goddess/titan of magic trying to over throw Olympus. Pretty cool right?

<Insert DM nut tap>

My DM is forcing me to take two classes he has associated with Hecate. The goddess of magic being one of them and the other is divine because she has ties to the underworld and so forth. That means I am being forced to take 1 level of arcane (wizard is what he seems to be pushing, but I could probably push back with sorcerer if needed) and the other is divine (he suggests cleric, but I could probably force him to agree to archivist).

Did I mention this would be my first time playing a magic user?

What I basically need is assistance creating an optimized magic user build for the long haul that is being forced to multiclass like I am. Now he says I only have to take one level of each before branching off in to my focused area, but that is still like a lost level. Help me guys! :smalleek:

I am used to playing martial characters who deal direct damage. However, I am looking forward to using stealth and guise in this campaign because I am pretty much dead if I don't. So I could see me focusing on summoning minions to helping me and spells like suggestion to make people do my biding. Though I was looking at utilizing High Draconic (Dragon Magic - If you don't know what it is, don't worry about it.).

Again, no experience being a magic user at all. Stats are as rolled: 18, 16, 13, 12, 12, 8

[Analytica]

See if you can get the DM to allow the Dragon Mag feat Alternate Spell Source, dragon #315 or #325. It allows you to prepare any of your arcane spells as divine spells and vice versa, using the same slots but with -1 caster level. RAW, this means that a Wis 3/Cleric 1, say, can prepare a second level wizard spell as a divine spell, meaning they can cast 2nd-level arcane and divine spells. They then qualify for the Mystic Theurge PRC by 5th level.

This means you can go, say, Cloistered Cleric 1/Wizard 3/Mystic Theurge 10. At level 14, then, you cast as a 13th-level wizard and an 11th-level cleric.

The problem is where to go from there. The only other dual progression PRCs have difficult requirements. Druid 3/Wizard 1/Mystic Theurge 6/Arcane Hierophant 10 gets Druid 19/Wizard 17 spellcasting. If you can get the Trackless Step class feature somewhere (Hecate being goddess of crossroads etc) and get the non-lawful requirement of Arcane Hierophant waived, you could do this with cleric or archivist as well.

Another option is Wizard 5/Mindbender 1/Ur-Priest 2/Mystic Theurge 8/<arcane prestige class> 4. Cast as a Wizard 18/Ur-Priest 10, which means ninth-level cleric spells as well.

If your DM allows heightened spells to count for prerequisites, you could go [Cloistered Cleric or Archivist] 3/[Sorcerer or Beguiler] 1/Mystic Theurge 10/<whatever homebrew dual-casting class you can get> 6 for similar results to the above. Versatile Spellcaster + Heighten Spell gets you effectively second-level arcane spells.

As you might infer, the main thing with dual-progression casters is to avoid falling behind too much in either class. My suggestion is to request an Arcane Hierophant refluff to make it work with cleric or archivist.

As for ability scores, use one casting class for combat purposes and keep its casting stat the highest. Use items to keep the other casting stat high enough to get access to the spells, and use those spells mainly for non-combat purposes.

As an entirely different option, request a homebrew feat/racial ability/prestige class that simply allows an arcane casting class to also prepare divine spells.

[dextercorvia]

CloisteredCleric1/Wizard4/Dweomerkeeper10/Anything5

For spells, look at Wish, Simulacrum, Gate, Ice Assassin. Now notice that Dweomerkeepers can cast a few spells each day as Su abilities -- No components, standard action to cast.

[Acturis]

I am liking that Drag Mag feat. Cloistered Cleric 1/Wizard 3/Mystic Theurge 10

Two things about that build.

1) Would it make more sense to make the base divine class an archivist so I only have to focus on intelligence for the primary spell casting ability?

2) There is a prestige class called arcanist or something I remember seeing a year back in ultimate prestige class that is identical to mystic theurge in the sense that it allows you to progress both classes at the same time. Would that be the next logical step to take so I would have Wizard 19/Cleric 17 by lvl 20? That is assuming there are no sacrifices in the process.

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I am not familiar with the Dweomerkeeper. Do you know what book I can find that in?

[dextercorvia]

Dweomerkeeper is in the Complete Divine web enhancement available for free on the Wizards website. I always just google for it.

Archivist definitely can be stronger than cleric in a MT build.

[Analytica]

The only reason I might go cloistered cleric above archivist is to get more first-level skill points, plus not having to seek out spells to learn on that side. Arguably archivist is in fact better for these purposes.

Looked at Arcanist. If allowed, definitely take it. It even removes the need for Alternate Source Spell, since it only requires first level casting. Go something like Archivist 1/Wizard 3/Arcanist 6/Mystic Theurge 10.

EDIT: The Arcanist class does seem to have some weird restrictions tagged on at the end (no spell research, no metamagic, weaker item creation). In my opinion these restrictions are boring and unnecessary from a balance perspective. I would recommend that they are dropped, making the class effectively a Mystic Theurge clone with more lenient entry requirement and poor Will save.