Opinions on this build?

[Chilingsworth]

The culmination of my quest from this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=11711929#post11711929) thread:

Meet Tier Faemoor:

Rog1/Incarnate1/Wizard5

Str 6, Dex 8, Con 18, Int 21, Wis 8, Cha 8

Feats: Shape Soulmeld (Blink Shirt), Healing Soul, Bonus Essentia, Scribe Scroll

Racial Bonus Feats: Spellcaster Prodigy (int), Second Wind, Nimble Fingers

Gear: Masterwork Theives' Tools, Spellbook, Spell Component Pouch, backpack, waterskin, trail rations x4, dagger x3

Wealth: 9pp, 5gp, 10sp

4 essentia invested as follows:

Blink Shirt : 1
Theft Gloves: 1
Truthseeker Goggles: 2

Spells Known:

Cantrips: All

1st level:

Bengin Transposition, Enlarge Person, Detect Secret Doors, Grease, Light of Lunia, Magic Missile, Night Shield, Persistant Blade, Summon Monster I, Targeting Ray, Unseen Servant, Wall of Smoke

2nd level:

Arcane Turmoil, Dispel Fog, Glitter Dust, Mirror Image, Rage, Web

3rd level:

Haste, Mass Curse of Impending Blades, Stinking Cloud

Important skill modifiers: Concentration +14, Disable Device +23, Search +21, Spellcraft +17.


Basically, this character is designed to be a trapfinder and a hybrid strategist/booster wizard. I'll probably go into Soulcaster eventually.

[TroubleBrewing]

Seems good. I'd suggest grabbing a level of Factotum or two, just for an extra power source/skill monkey-ness.

Not right in a row, perhaps, but maybe once in a while whenever you can spare a level.

[faceroll]

Needs more wizard.

[TroubleBrewing]

Needs more wizard.

I dunno, I kinda like the Incarnum addition. It adds a certain... Spiciness that vanilla Wizard lacks.

[Zaq]

Those . . . those are sure some stats right there.

Anyway, losing two caster levels is harsh, but Rogue and Incarnate both make excellent dips, especially for skillmonkeys. If you fit in your party, excellent.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Those . . . those are sure some stats right there.

Anyway, losing two caster levels is harsh, but Rogue and Incarnate both make excellent dips, especially for skillmonkeys. If you fit in your party, excellent.

Add Unseen seer and a dash of Arcane Trickster (can be substituted with Spellwarp Sniper if you prefer rays) and you have a pretty good Sneaky wizard serve chilled with ice.:smallwink:

[Thespianus]

Add Unseen seer and a dash of Arcane Trickster (can be substituted with Spellwarp Sniper if you prefer rays) and you have a pretty good Sneaky wizard serve chilled with ice.:smallwink:

With a Dex of 8, you probably shouldn't be focusing on Sneak Attacks ;)

[Person_Man]

Be sure to take Share Soulmelds at some point. It's the most powerful feat in Magic of Incarnum for anyone with a Familiar or Animal Companion.

Also, for the role you wish to play at that ECL, you may wish to consider Spellthief 1/Totemist 2/Incarnate 3 instead. Spellthief for trapfinding, Skills, and the ability to steal 1st level spells. Totemist for Blink Shirt or Basalisk Mask bound to Totem chakra. Incarnate for Theft Gloves, Truthseeker Goggles, and tons of other goodies (I'm particularly fond of Astral Vembraces and Mantle of Flame at this level). Then take one more level of Incarnate to open up your Hands/Feet chakra, followed by 13 levels of Necrocarnate. It will fully progress your soulmelds and chakra binds and chakra slots, and give you additional essentia equal to the number of enemies your party kills each day.

[faceroll]

Be sure to take Share Soulmelds at some point. It's the most powerful feat in Magic of Incarnum for anyone with a Familiar or Animal Companion.

Also, for the role you wish to play at that ECL, you may wish to consider Spellthief 1/Totemist 2/Incarnate 3 instead. Spellthief for trapfinding, Skills, and the ability to steal 1st level spells. Totemist for Blink Shirt or Basalisk Mask bound to Totem chakra. Incarnate for Theft Gloves, Truthseeker Goggles, and tons of other goodies (I'm particularly fond of Astral Vembraces and Mantle of Flame at this level). Then take one more level of Incarnate to open up your Hands/Feet chakra, followed by 13 levels of Necrocarnate. It will fully progress your soulmelds and chakra binds and chakra slots, and give you additional essentia equal to the number of enemies your party kills each day.

I am unfamiliar with incarnum, but with his 6 str and 8 dex, what is he going to be doing other than finding traps? Do some of those things let him burninate enemies?

[Chilingsworth]

I am unfamiliar with incarnum, but with his 6 str and 8 dex, what is he going to be doing other than finding traps? Do some of those things let him burninate enemies?

In addition to trapfinding, this character can grease and web enemies, as well as boost his party (of which there are seven members,) with haste, plus a few other spells I commonly prepare.

As for the Necrocarnate... yeah, our party leader is an Undead-hating paladin of Pelor. That wouldn't work out too well.

[faceroll]

In addition to trapfinding, this character can grease and web enemies, as well as boost his party (of which there are seven members,) with haste, plus a few other spells I commonly prepare.

As for the Necrocarnate... yeah, our party leader is an Undead-hating paladin of Pelor. That wouldn't work out too well.

If you refer to the bit of text I quoted, you'll see that the suggested build can, AFAIK, do none of those things.

[Person_Man]

As for the Necrocarnate... yeah, our party leader is an Undead-hating paladin of Pelor. That wouldn't work out too well.

Fair enough. You could also go with a Rogue/Totemist or Incarnate/Ironsoul Forgemaster. But Soulcaster obviously works just as well (if not better).


I am unfamiliar with incarnum, but with his 6 str and 8 dex, what is he going to be doing other than finding traps? Do some of those things let him burninate enemies?

At ECL 6, you could:

Totemist:

Frost Helm: Ray of Cold: 1d6 + (1d6 * essentia) ranged touch attack, or a burst attack that Stuns all enemies within 20 feet.
Yrthak Mask: Ray 1d6 + (1d6 * essentia) Sonic damage. (Also provides a Listen bonus, which is helpful for scouting).
Chaos Roc's Span: Cone of random energy.
Dragonfire Mask: Frightful Presence.
Gorgon Mask: Trample attack which works on anyone your size or smaller. No attack roll needed. The damage is only 1d8, but that's enough to kill a lot of mooks. Plus your movement provokes AoO, which synergizes fairly well with Astral Vembraces + Mantle of Flame.
Basalisk Mask: Flesh to Stone at will! Duration is only 1 round, but it still rocks.



Incarnate:

Necrocarnum Circlet: Create a Necrocarnum Zombie (which is a lot better then an normal Zombie). No duration. If killed, you can create a new one from any previously unanimated corpse.
Soulspark Familiar: Summons a nifty ranged touch attack and fast healing. No duration. (Though if killed, the soulmeld unshapes).
Mantle of Flame: 1d6 + (1d6 * essentia) damage against an enemy whenever they hit you in melee.
Lightning Gauntlets: 1d6 + (1d6 * essentia) touch attack, usable every round.



Of course, most of this assumes 2+ levels of either Totemist or Incarnate. Chilingsworth is obviously going with magic, which is usually more powerful (unless your DM likes a lot of encounters every game day). Also note that area of effect attacks don't involve any attack roll at all, so it doesn't matter what your Str and Dex are. Summoned creatures use their own stats. And touch attacks and ranged touch attacks are often fairly easy rolls, and and count for Sneak Attack.

[faceroll]

Ok, so binding that stuff basically lets him be a caster. Is that stuff at will? Cause if so, that's pretty nifty.


Basalisk Mask: Flesh to Stone at will! Duration is only 1 round, but it still rocks.

I see what you did there.

[Coidzor]

Either at will or has a recharge time.... IIRC, mostly at will.

[faceroll]

Either at will or has a recharge time.... IIRC, mostly at will.

Interesting. Took a peak at MoI. Can you qualify for meldshaping prestige classes without any levels in a meldshaping class? Do you get full bennies?

[magusoftheCore]

with the feats shape soulmeld maybe, but very feat intensive

[ShneekeyTheLost]

If ya wanna buff your party, there's lots of better ways of doing it.

For example, if there's a lot of melee in your party, I would *STRONGLY* suggest Bard. IC/DFI is a HUGE multiplier of damage, and you can optimize if fairly trivially.

Bards also get access to all the group buffs your character currently has. They also get Grease, Glitterdust (very handy for blinding and for outlining invisible opponents), Slow, and Blindness/Deafness as solid Save or Lose effects.

If you're worried about Traps, then do your Rogue dip, although personally I'd go for Rogue2 for Evasion.

[Person_Man]

Ok, so binding that stuff basically lets him be a caster. Is that stuff at will? Cause if so, that's pretty nifty.

Dispel Magic can temporarily suppress a soulmeld, and there's a really small number of obscure effects that can unshape a soulmeld or otherwise screw with them. And there are a bunch of fiddly limits that take a while to learn, such as managing essentia, essentia capacity, closing off chakra slots, and a few others. And there are a very small number of soulmelds that can only be used a limited number of times per day, or have a cooldown time of some sort.

But for the most part once you shape a soulmeld it lasts forever until you choose to shape a different one (which requires rest and meditation like spells), and they are basically continuous effects that you can use every round.

[Chilingsworth]

If ya wanna buff your party, there's lots of better ways of doing it.

For example, if there's a lot of melee in your party, I would *STRONGLY* suggest Bard. IC/DFI is a HUGE multiplier of damage, and you can optimize if fairly trivially.

Bards also get access to all the group buffs your character currently has. They also get Grease, Glitterdust (very handy for blinding and for outlining invisible opponents), Slow, and Blindness/Deafness as solid Save or Lose effects.

If you're worried about Traps, then do your Rogue dip, although personally I'd go for Rogue2 for Evasion.

I considered Bard, but a couple of problems:

1. niether it nor rogue are favored classes for my chosen race, so I'd take an XP penalty for multiclassing. Wizard is a favored class, so my build works fine as far as this is concerned.

2. My chosen race gets an int bonus, not a charisma bonus, and wizard takes advantage of that.

[Greenish]

Can you qualify for meldshaping prestige classes without any levels in a meldshaping class?For some of them, it seems you can, but if you don't have a meldshaping class to advance, I don't think that does anything for you.

Of course, some of them aren't about meldshaping at all, or have their own advancement.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I considered Bard, but a couple of problems:

1. niether it nor rogue are favored classes for my chosen race, so I'd take an XP penalty for multiclassing. Wizard is a favored class, so my build works fine as far as this is concerned.

2. My chosen race gets an int bonus, not a charisma bonus, and wizard takes advantage of that.

So choose a different race?

[Coidzor]

1. niether it nor rogue are favored classes for my chosen race, so I'd take an XP penalty for multiclassing. Wizard is a favored class, so my build works fine as far as this is concerned.

oof. I'm sorry to hear you're playing with those in place.

[Chilingsworth]

So choose a different race?

I chose the race for RP reasons, so that wouldn't work for me.

[Metahuman1]

1 lvl Factotum and a bit of Dark Chaos Shuffle + Heroics exploit for Fount of Inspiration would be great on this build, and I suggest one level of Swordsage for the purpose of getting Diamond Mind Counters for when you REALLY need to make that save, Iron Heart Surge for when you blow a save, and Setting Sun Counters for when someone get's on top of you and when you need to get them the heck off!

Yes, I know, Caster levels, lost, bad. I'm assuming this isn't an especially high op game. If it is, Caster levels, keep them.

And Lesser Teifling might be a good template. Bonus to Int and Dex, no LA.