my caster does not blast enough...

[Phaederkiel]

edit:
some solutions were found:

a) these Elemental Darts are quite good.

b) Metamagic school focus is everything I imagined it to be and more ( It seems I can apply it upon scrolls I write - I write a lot of really good scrolls)

c) I survived one more Level and have now acid breath and sudden maximize at my disposal. Which together with the school focus killed 3 encounters alone.

d) the solution i was probably searching for would have been sculpted Hail of stone. It hits everyone and their mother for 1d4 per caster lvl (5max), no save, on a ranged attack with +casterlvl to Atk and relevant attribute to atk.
Second lvl spell slot dealing 3d4 in a 40 foot cone or a 20 feet ball at lvl 3 is blasting enough, I think.

Original Post

here is the situation:

character:

I play a lvl1 beguiler, lvl 3 wizard. I will go into Ultimate magus at lvl 6.
The wizard is a focused specialist conjurer, abrupt jaunt, scribe scroll handed in for augmented summoning. banned: Evocation, necromancy, enchantment.

Flaws: meager fortitude, noncombatant.
traits: specialized gambler (fluff), Agressive (+ Initiative)

Feats: Verstatile spellcaster, enlarge spell, Sculpt spell, practised Spellcaster:beguiler



spell selection


wizard spells known (its hard to get new ones with my dm...):

lvl1
nerveskitter
benign transposition
shield
blockade
orb of acid

lvl2
Ice knife
web
blur
mirror image
Rope trick


The party (here is a big part of the problem)


we are only two people. The other player is a greenbound / ashbound / augmented summoning / magebredwartrainedfleshraker druid.

we decided to try how bad casters can go.




I feel overshadowed by the druid. At the moment, I cast a nerveskitter at her fleshraker at the beginning of combat and then I try to block enemies with my jaunting d4 ass, while she summons something nasty.

or I do some combat control spells. but here is the problem: the Fleshraker does not finish everybody fast enough, so she has to summon her greenbounds for every little encounter. Which means, we really only ever use her spell slots for killing things.


so, I want a little power up :)


we just made lvl 5, so there are some options:


As you will probably see, I should have one more feat. What to take?

Is there a prestige class which I could take for one lvl before Ultimate Magus?

and: I get two spells for the lvl up. I was thinking about glitterdust and baleful transposition, but I'd really like to have some spell that does some Damage. I somewhat regret banning evocation now...



long story short: I am too focused on defensive capabilities and am searching for some offense.

[NeoSeraphi]

Acid arrow is a 2nd level conjuration spell, you could just grab that. If one creature is taking acid damage over a period of time, then you are slowly killing one creature while the fleshraker fights off the others. It's not the absolute greatest plan, but glitterdust will help you dish out some better control.

Edit: For your feat, you should grab Acidic Splatter (CM). 2d6 acid damage at will. Perfect for you right now.

[dextercorvia]

Pick up Glitterdust and Cloud of Bewilderment with your next spells known. You won't be ending the encounters on your own, but it will go a long way toward improving the efficiency of the party.

Why did you take Enlarge Spell? Does that spell range come up all that often? Take Cloudy Conjuration (CM). That will add a debuff to all of your conjurations.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You should have definitely taken Able Learner at 1st level, to avoid paying cross-class cost to keep up your ranks in those amazing Beguiler class skills.

Wild Cohort (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) is an option, especially if you can pick up a Magebred Warbeast Wolf.

Maybe get Obtain Familiar (CA) and then Improved Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#improvedFamiliar) for an Imp, Quasit, or Pseudodragon is also useful, especially if you have max UMD ranks and give it a Wand of Web. Or just take Obtain Familiar to trade it for Rapid Summoning (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/specialistWizardVariants.htm#conjurerVariants), and get the DM to let that work with the Summon Undead line of spells. They're a bit stronger than Summon Monster minions, but not as good as Greenbound critters.

Definitely get Glitterdust, and I'd probably pick up Rope Trick. Later on you'll want Cloud of Knives (PH2), probably with both Fell Drain (LM) and Persistent Spell. Once you get 6th level Wizard spells, you can use Beguiler slots with Versatile Spellcaster to cast a Fell Drain Cloud of Knives, and use a 6th level Wizard slot via UM to Persist it. Cast that multiple times even, for multiple free dagger shots per round to deal as many negative levels to your target.

I'd revise your current tactics a bit. Get the Druid to buy at least one Lesser Metamagic Rod of Extend, and prepare Creeping Cold a whole lot. Your job is to crowd control, and handle noncombat challenges, while he should focus on dealing damage to opponents. He should be using (Extended) Venomfire on the Fleshraker every day from 5th level on, so it should be able to kill things extremely quick. You should Nerveskitter the Druid first and get him to Extended Creeping Cold a powerful enemy, or Enrage Animal the Fleshraker, and then you drop Web on everyone. The Fleshraker can clean up anyone not caught in the Web, while you and the Druid just react to whatever is going on. Keep in mind that Greenbound summons can use Wall of Thorns, which is even harder to get through than Web and extremely difficult to remove. You can also get a shortbow with +1 Spell Storing Arrows, and have the Druid put Extended Creeping Cold into them during down time. He should also get some Unguent of Timelessness and put it on eight Bone Talisman (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a) (turning) spell foci and set those up ahead of time, since it should last over 2.5 days per caster level.

The Druid is more than capable of dealing enough damage to defeat encounters. Your character should focus on keeping the opponents from overrunning him and maybe deal damage in an efficient way, without using up all your spells. The Druid can use Wild Shape to also turn into a Fleshraker and use Venomfire, though it may take until 6th level for that to fully come online due to Natural Spell.

[Phaederkiel]

i should have mentioned that the greenbounds are somewhat toned down. No Spell likes, for example.

and the dm has promised our swift death should anyone ever cast a venomfire.

as for our tactics: I am quite good at blocking enemies. But I feel like we are constricted to only her spell slots when we want to end an encounter.
I have this many slots that I would think I could use some kind of blast spell.

able learner is a good idea, though. should have had it sooner :)

[ericgrau]

Flaming sphere, ray of enfeeblement, uh... try a lesser orb of X. Oh your attack rolls can't hit, try magic missile. Well you could burn the web for bonus 2d4 fire damage using area fire such as burning hands or flaming sphere. :smallbiggrin:

I checked a bunch of spell compendium spells but their damage was rather piddly, including ice knife. I'd say bull's strength on a summon or the druid is your best bet; including the attack roll bonus I think it averages to 3-5 damage per round. More if he's well optimized. You can use your familiar to deliver the touch (EDIT: omg high optimization gone wrong :smallbiggrin:). After that you could true strike + orb of acid for an average of 9 damage from 2 rounds.

Well, that's what you get for auto-dumping evocation on every caster regardless of the party. I mean you could always ban enchantment, abjuration, necromancy and/or illusion. They do have nice spells but most of your spells need to be general purpose so you can't fit so many specialty spells anyway; pick your favorites and ban the other 2. It also gets boring to always do the same thing or to do what everyone else does.

As luck would have it I'm playing a wizard with a lot of evocations and necromancy spells right now. I cast conjurations a lot too since they combine well. Web + fire, for example. There's little reason to compromise when you can ban 2 other schools that you might never have room for on your spell list anyway. Ya ya, next time I know; for now there's bull's strength.

I've seen a similar mistake before where a DM gave a BBEG wizard all batman spells and little damage. The PC debilitating fight was long to be sure but the wizard got stomped since he lacked a party to mop up after he disabled the PCs. It's not so bad for you of course since you have the druid, but it would be nice to have something to contribute after the web is done.

[Manateee]

Hail of Stone is a staple damage spell for a reason: No SR, No Save, No Attack roll, just damage.

It can take some specialization to make the damage (and casting time) useful though.

[Golden Ladybug]

A level or three of Master Specialist is always a good investment, and depending on how useful Divinations are in your game, Beguiler 1/Wizard 2/Master Specialist 3 is better than Beguiler 1/Wizard 5. If you're allowed to retrain (or, if you're still in the early stages of play, just ask if you can tweak your build. Most DMs will be happy to let you) your build, I'd suggest nixing Enlarge Spell and Sculpt Spell, and instead picking up Spell Focus: Conjuration and a Metamagic spell you plan on using often; if you want to Blast, Empower or Maximise are both good choices, whereas Extend is nice in general.

Save up for a Rod of Sculpting if you want it (and a Rod of Lesser Extend, if you don't take the feat). Cloudy Conjuration is awesome, and you should take it post-haste. If you get it, fill you Conjuration Cantrips with Caltrops to debuff and (potentially) hurt people's feet and the rest with Detect Magic.

Unless you're planning on being a dedicated Summoner, you might want to consider swapping that Arguemented Summoning in for plain ol' Improved Initiative. With only two of you, you're going to need all the help you can get with not being killed. Winning Initiative is part of that.

Also, see if you can unban either Necromancy or Evocation and replace it with Illusion. Beguiler gets all a good selection of Illusion spells anyway, so getting access to another school will be better for you in the long run. I recommend Evocation, as it means you don't need to jump through hoops to get access to Contingency and Wall of Force.

Spell-wise, Banning Illusion would free two of your level two spells, and I suggest replacing Blur and Mirror Image with Alter Self and Scorching Ray (if you unban Evocation; otherwise, pick up Glitterdust I suppose). Next Level you get 3rd Level Spells, and I would suggest picking Summon Monster VII and Mass Snake's Swiftness. Even if you don't go the route of a dedicated summoner, you are going to need things to do the fighting for you. MSS on a Fiendish Ape, the Druid's Fleshraker and Greenhounds will solve problems.

Also, may I ask why you only have five first level spells? Unless you have an Int of 12 (and if you do, then you will be required to turn in your Spellbook and Wizard's Hat), that should be impossible?

[gomipile]

You could always grab a reserve feat like Fiery Burst too. ( Complete Mage, p. 43)

[Phaederkiel]

Also, may I ask why you only have five first level spells? Unless you have an Int of 12 (and if you do, then you will be required to turn in your Spellbook and Wizard's Hat), that should be impossible?


i am a little bit embarrased...I did not find anywhere with how many spells I start. I have a Int of 20 (because of a campaign-specific subrace of human, which the dm wanted me to take...)

I looked at master specialist and I could take it now, if I took Spell focus conjuration now (I do not think I can take it earlier, it needs second level spells which I gain at wiz lvl 3). But it would only add a skill focus: spellcraft at the moment. That is to say, I am not disinclined to go that way, if I do not find anything better.


I wanted to go fatespinner for the last levels, but I think the game will stop far before I can complete Ultimate Magus.


about buffing the druids summons: I do not need to. They have +12 strength (and some to other attributes), +3 luck to striking, fast healing, damage reduction, usw. She uses her summon animal 2 and 3 to cast even more of small 1st level eagles, which are really strong after all those boni.

I just do not want us to depend on her summons for every single fight.

[dextercorvia]

In order to not rely on his summons, you are going to need to do one of two things. Either you need to stack enough debuffs that he and his fleshraker can take out the enemies without calling anything in, or you are going to have to contribute some damage yourself.

You seem bent on the second option, but consider the first.

Web followed by a Wall of Smoke (Or, its upgrade: Cloud of Bewilderment. Now all of your enemies caught in the Web, who fail a save can't come out of the Web, which means they have to save again next round. Sure, some of them will pass, but this will break up an enemy group into manageable chunks.

You could also take a (non-fire based) reserve feat to damage the tangled opponents.

[DoctorGlock]

Conjurer in need of low level blasting?

Consider the joys of elemental dart from DLCS. a second level spell that grants one dart ever 2 levels, max 5 darts at 9, each dart does 1d6+cl (1d6+10) cap. It will benefit greatly from your UM CL boosts later and if you get reserves of strength (also DLCS) it gets ridiculous. saldy gets a fortitude half save, but not bad for a lvl 2 spell that can be metamagiced through the roof

[Tyndmyr]

You've run into the limitation of a pure caster group...actual damage can be in short supply. I would recommend Power Word: Pain, but you've banned enchantment.

So...I would like to point out that CdGing incapped enemies is quite effective. No proficiency is required. I've happily played illusionists with a scythe(if medium) or greataxe(if small) who color sprayed, then gleefully stabbed everyone to death.

Technically, a summon can also CdG, if necessary. Tasha's Hideous Laugher works great after color spray stops being effective, and basically any means of fully incapping an opponent will work solidly for this.

Note also that swarms are a fun summon, since many enemies literally can't hurt them. Not fantastic damage, but really hard to stop.

Fiery Burst is also an exceptionally good reserve feat if you know any fire spells. Which, btw...you have excellent defensive/utility spells, but your straight damage options are limited. You'll definitely want to expand them some. Spell Compendium has a great sonic spell...Sonic Lance, IIRC? D8s instead of d6s, and not much is immune to sonic. Might have even had a status effect as well.

[ericgrau]

Doesn't beguiler get all the good enchantments and illusions? Those would have been good schools to ban with little downside. That's actually what my aforementioned wizard banned. Illusion has some gems but like I said I knew I had plenty of spells from other schools to fill my list and I wouldn't be losing anything essential.

But without redoing the character I'd say true strike + lesser orb of acid is your best bet for now (if you won't bull's strength). Once your attack bonus gets better and you have more spell slots you can spam orbs without using true strike. Ice knife isn't any better and it's a level higher, so I'd ditch it. Later haste will be 10 times better than bull's strength, but that might conflict with your preferences again. Maybe you were trying for a high optimization batman but didn't realize the support style of the build conflicts with your own personal playing style? So next figure out what sort of things give you the most fun and optimize around that within your build's abilities. If it's a problem of limited spell slots and not player preference, you could try buffing the druid and not his summons.

[Keld Denar]

If you need a bit more longevity, look at Residual Magic from Complete Mage. It does 2 big things. First, get a min CL wand of a blasty spell you like. You have Lesser Orb of Acid, so that works. Now, you disable all your foes nicely, then cast a LOoA on it. Next round, draw your wand and blast for 1 charge at 25 gp. Residual Magic kicks in and amps the CL of your 2nd orb up to your normal CL of 5, effectively giving you 250 gp worth of blasting for a mear 25 g.

The other trick works with Metamagic, and functions just fine even with MM Rods. Cast your LOoA from above, and apply Empower Spell to it for bonus damage. Next round, either cast the orb normal, or activate the wand. Either way, it gets Empower Spell for free. That's even more efficient bang for your spell buck.

[Phaederkiel]

it is not that the playstyle of a batman-caster conflicts with the playstyle i like to play, it is just that I feel like I do not really contribute enough, due to the all-caster-only-two-guys-party. My control spells are hardly needed whenever she cast a summon, since these guys will clear up anything levelapropriate with or without my help.

but you guys gave me some good ideas.

I really like the reserve feat fiery burst. It is very according to the flavor of my wizard, a kind of quickdrawing gunslinger-guy.

And I Really like those elemental darts.

then I found, that the reserve-feat would bump my casterlvl by one, giving me a 5, which means that i´d get a second dart.

Problem is: the really good damage spells on lvl3 are Icelance and Acid breath. But both the acid and the Ice reserve feat are far worse than fiery burst. Less flavorfull, too.

which brought me to the conclusion: the +1 caster lvl are the main reason for me to get that feat. +1 caster lvl should be buyable. I searched the mic and found two Items, which I could perhaps get.

arcanist gloves, 2xper day +2 casterlvl on a 1stlvl spell, 500 gp

and

ring of mystic fire +1 caster lvl to fire spells, some damage ability. 7500gp


so I reason: there should be no reason that these Items should not be available as a ring of mystic acid or an second level version of the gloves.


what do you think, playgrounders: how much should the lvl2 arcanist gloves cost?


for the feat i am thinking about Metamagic School Focus. It should fit nicely to my metamagic heavy route.

as to why I chose enlage spell: I think it will let me make better use of the transpositions, and perhaps of greater slide. Do you think another metamagic feat (to qualify for sculpt spell) would be better?

[Keld Denar]

Going by the old standby of N x (level)^2, N = 500 since (1)^2 is 1. A 2nd level pair of Arcane Gloves would cost you 500 x (2)^2, or 2000g. A 9th level pair would cost you 500 x (9)^2, or 40500g.

In theory.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

On a set of Arcanist Gloves that work on 2nd level spells: I'd say the first level version is 1x1x500 gp, so a 2nd level version would be 2x2x500= 2,000 gp. Third level would be 4,500 gp, 4th level 8,000 gp, etc. Note that this is still usable only 2/day.

I'd get either Fell Drain or Extend Spell (if you plan on picking up Persistent) instead of Enlarge Spell.

You could pick up Energy Substitution, and turn Acid Breath into a [Fire] spell. Icelance is a Conjuration (Creation) and has no elemental tag, despite dealing cold damage, so it doesn't interact with any reserve feats.

You could just get the Druid to put (Extended) Snowsight on everyone, and you each cast Obscuring Snow...

I think you're forgetting about a few core staples: Explosive Runes and Shrink Item.

Cast Explosive Runes on small strips of paper during downtime, make balls of ten such strips, and prepare a lot of Dispel Magic. Throw a ball near opponents, cast an area Dispel Magic and voluntarily fail to dispel your own Explosive Runes. The ball detonates for 60d6 damage, anyone close enough to read it doesn't get a saving throw, anyone else within 10 ft. gets ten Reflex saves, each of which can reduce the damage by 3d6. Store them in an extraplanar space to avoid opponents' dispels.

Shrink Item is far less cheesy, but you can still turn several cubic feet of acid or molten lava into a small cloth patch to be restored in the midst of opponents. Get a large metal dome constructed, probably a 10 ft. diameter hemisphere, and use Shrink Item to make it the size of a helmet. Attach a few of the molten lava patches to the underside of it. Move adjacent to several opponents, and with a hop speak the command word to return the dome to normal size; everyone is trapped underneath. Abrupt Jaunt out before it lands, and speak the command word to return the molten lava to its original state. Opponents are trapped underneath a metal dome filled with molten lava. It wouldn't really work on a wooden floor or similar, and you may need to get the dome replaced/repaired after each use, and there probably won't be much loot to recover, but it's otherwise a sure way to unfairly defeat several opponents who don't outsize you.

I'll say again that the Summon Undead series is pretty good, the higher level ones (4th-5th) should probably be used to get multiple skeletons/zombies from a lower level list. It's especially unfair if you pick up Invisible Spell from Cityscape.

[Phaederkiel]

I edited the original post for the solutions found.

[dextercorvia]

Hail of Stones has a 1 round casting time. Has that not caused any problems?

Kelgore's Firebolt is 1d6/CL, Ref Half.

I forgot you banned Evocation.

[Roaan]

If you want a caster that can blast like the best of them take a look at The Mailman (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19868534/The_Mailman:_A_Direct_Damage_Sorcerer). I know you aren't going to completely rebuild your caster, but this has a lot to say about damage and metamagic. Unfortunately a lot of the favored blasting spells are Evocation (a banned school) but you can still learn a trick or two.

Taking a metamagic feat w/practical metamagic will put Empower at a +1 and Maximize at +2. Couple that with a ring of wizardry III or IV and you'll have lots of blasting to do.