[3.P] 6 Level Killer Gnome Build

[Curious]

Alright, I think I've found the earliest entry possible into Shadowcraft Mage. This uses a mix of 3.5 and PF material, which seems reasonable to me, although it may be distasteful to some. Anyways, the trick goes like this:

At your 1st level of Wizard, you take the Earth Sense, Earth Spell, and Heighten Spell Feats (flaw). You also take the Magical Lineage (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/magic-traits/magical-lineage) trait for Silent Image, which gives you one free metamagic level.
(If you are not allowed to choose traits, you can take another flaw to gain the Additional Traits (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/additional-traits) feat.)

The trick works like this; Earth Spell gives you an extra free level when you Heighten a spell (in this case Silent Image), and Magical Lineage lets you have one metamagic level for free. Thus, you can use them in conjunction to get Silent Image to count as two levels higher than normal for no extra cost.

You progress to 3rd level, at which point you choose Spell Focus (Illusion) for entry into Shadowcraft Mage. Now that you can cast 2nd level spells, you can Heighten Silent Image to 4th level. Next level, you enter into Shadowcraft Mage. This nets you Shadowcraft Mage's most important ability, Shadow Illusion, at 6th level. So you can now have Killer Gnome goodness in E6!
Grab Arcane Thesis at 6th level as well, for yet another free metamagic level.

What'dya think?

[Lateral]

I'm not sure that Magical Lineage works that way. The Earth Spell trick does, as long as you have a 2nd level spell slot, but I'm not sure that you can use Magical Lineage to do the same thing with Heighten Spell.

[Curious]

I'm not sure that Magical Lineage works that way. The Earth Spell trick does, as long as you have a 2nd level spell slot, but I'm not sure that you can use Magical Lineage to do the same thing with Heighten Spell.

I'm fairly certain you can. What exactly do you think messes it up?

[Dann]

The requirement to enter shadowcraft mage is the ability to cast a 4th level shadow spell, not any 4th level spell. Unless 3.P changed that.

[Curious]

The requirement to enter shadowcraft mage is the ability to cast a 4th level shadow spell, not any 4th level spell. Unless 3.P changed that.

Ah, you got me there. The build is still workable though; just use a shadow spell instead of silent image.

[Lateral]

I'm fairly certain you can. What exactly do you think messes it up?
Never mind, it works. For the purposes of Heighten Spell, it's a 0th level spell, allowing you to heighten it in a 2nd level slot for +2 spell level; with Earth Spell, it's +3 spell level, so its actual spell level is 4.

Ah, you got me there. The build is still workable though; just use a shadow spell instead of silent image.
I don't know of any 1st level [Shadow] spells.

[Curious]

I don't know of any 1st level [Shadow] spells.

Neither do I, actually. Guess I'll have to search the PFSRD and Spell Compendium. Otherwise, this goes down in flames. :smallannoyed:

EDIT: Wait, nevermind. I forgot that Magical Lineage can be applied to more than just 1st level spells, so a 2nd level Shadow spell would work just as well.

EDIT2: Aaaand here's (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/s/shadow-weapon) a 1st level Shadow spell.

[Lateral]

Yeah, and I found a whole bunch of 1s and 2s in SpC and FRCS, plus one in CArc.

As a list of all the ones I could find (not including PF):


Claws of Darkness (Sor/Wiz 2, SpC)
Dark Way (Brd/Clr/Sor/Wiz 2, SpC)
Dead End (Assassin/Brd/Sor/Wiz 1, SpC)
Net of Shadows (Sor/Wiz 1, SpC)
Shadow Mask (Sor/Wiz 2, FRCS)
Shadow Radiance (Sor/Wiz 2, SpC)
Shadow Spray (Sor/Wiz 2, FRCS)
Wall of Gloom (Sor/Wiz/Wu Jen 2, CArc)

[Curious]

Yeah, and I found a whole bunch of 1s and 2s in SpC and FRCS, plus one in CArc.

As a list of all the ones I could find (not including PF):


Claws of Darkness (Sor/Wiz 2, SpC)
Dark Way (Brd/Clr/Sor/Wiz 2, SpC)
Dead End (Assassin/Brd/Sor/Wiz 1, SpC)
Net of Shadows (Sor/Wiz 1, SpC)
Shadow Mask (Sor/Wiz 2, FRCS)
Shadow Radiance (Sor/Wiz 2, SpC)
Shadow Spray (Sor/Wiz 2, FRCS)
Wall of Gloom (Sor/Wiz/Wu Jen 2, CArc)


Fantastic. Unfortunately, you can't pick the same trait more than once, so you can't enter SC Mage early and still boost Silent Image more than one spell level higher than normal. Although, I wonder if you could use Versatile Spellcaster to get it a bit higher. I'm not sure what the ruling on that would be.