Gnome Illusionist PrC?

[Uhtred]

So I've been running a new campaign and one of my most experienced players has opted to, instead of optimizing and building a Tier 1 Caster that can rend the world, as he usually does, go for special effects and only special effects, to see A) How long he can go without taking a spell that legitimately deals direct damage and B) Whether Illusions and Charms can be seriously crazy game changers when all he's ever done is solve his problems with Disintegrate. So he's a Chaos Gnome Sorcerer (He doesn't have many spells, but the ones he DOES have are all Illusion- and Charm-based spells and can cast them all day long) and I've houseruled that his Chaos Gnome LA can stack with his Sorcerer levels to determine his caster level for his Illusion spells only. He's getting on in levels and the rest of the party are taking Prestige Classes, and he was asking me during our last session what sort of Prestige Classes were open for Illusionists, and I didn't have an answer for him. So I hit the books hard, Complete Mage, Complete Arcane, Complete Adventurer, all the Races books, and since I've banned Faerun, Eberron, and the Tomes, my searches were over quickly. Most of the PrC's I've found are just general Arcane PrC's, and don't offer any special awesomeness toward Illusions specifically. Am I missing something? Thoughts on a Prestige Class for him? And yes, I have endorsed, heavily, just sticking with Sorcerer. It's a peer pressure thing, I'm sure.

[Yuki Akuma]

There's Shadowcraft Mage from Races of Stone, which is both Gnome-only and absolutely awesome.

There's also Shadowcrafter from Drow of the Underdark, which has pretty good synergy with Shadowcraft Mage.

Shadowcraft Mage works best if you're actually an Illusionist (due to Gnome Illusionist making Silent Image a cantrip for you). Also, encourage him to take Heighten Spell and Earth Spell so he can get higher-level Shadow Illusions.

In other news: Mein Gott, man, use your return key.

[Mystral]

Take a look into races of stone. I think there are racial substitution levels that he could use. Though they might be for wizard, you could most likely adjust them to your needs.

I don't think he'll want to use shadow illusions, as those are more then special effects. You can indeed kill someone with them, even if he has true seeing.

[Calanon]

There's Shadowcraft Mage from Races of Stone, which is both Gnome-only and absolutely awesome.

There's also Shadowcrafter from Drow of the Underdark, which has pretty good synergy with Shadowcraft Mage.

Shadowcraft Mage works best if you're actually an Illusionist (due to Gnome Illusionist making Silent Image a cantrip for you). Also, encourage him to take Heighten Spell and Earth Spell so he can get higher-level Shadow Illusions.

In other news: Mein Gott, man, use your return key.

This. On a side note: His spells will be so real that it will become safer to actually fail your save then take the actually damage from his spells... GOD i love Gnome Illusionist... they are so evil :smallbiggrin:

[Particle_Man]

If you haven't banned Magic of Incarnum, and he doesn't mind taking a level in incarnate, soulcaster might be a nice (though odd) option.

That said, wouldn't it have been easier just to have him play the beguiler from PHB II?

[rot42]

Master Specialist in Complete Mage is pretty nifty for illusionists, if you did not see that already. +2 more difficult for anyone to disbelieve your illusions, free spells, and free Silent/Still/Eschew as a capstone.

The Dread Witch in Heroes of Horror is fear based, which might or might not fit the character concept. You get to add a fear rider effect to any spell with a visual manifestation and can overcome fear immunity. The latter has the same structural problem as Frightful Presence on a PC, though, so I am not sure how fun the class would end up being.