Beg1/Wiz4/UM5 - what spells to port onto Beguiler list?

[Brock Samson]

I've got a Human Beguiler 1/Wizard 4/Ultimate Magus 5, content is ONLY allows if it's in a book AT the table (PH1 & 2, nearly all the Completes, Dragon Magic, and one player just recently got the Draconomicon).

My feats are something like: Practiced Spellcaster for Beguiler (so I just got 5th level Wiz spells and 2nd level Beguiler spells), Empower, Sculpt Spell, Extend, and Craft Contingency (maybe a couple other but not meta-magics)

So what spells do you recommend I use the UM class feature of getting 1 Wiz Spell onto the Beguiler list for each level? At first I thought the putting over whatever spells I'd most want to persist later would be good, but then I saw the Ring of Theurgy in Comp Arcane(Mage?), which would let me store a Wiz spell into it and cast it once from my Beguiler list as if I had it on my list. Seeing as I only have to cast a spell once when persisting it, I could therefore put blasty-spells onto my beguiler side (because I do enjoy me some blasting - alternating with Battlefield Control of course).

I was thinking for 1st level spells either: Lesser Orb of X (always be able to directly damage Golems and such, and decent damage for a first level spell) or Ray of Enfeeblement.
2nd level: Scorching Ray
3rd level: Fireball/Lightning bolt
4th level: Orb of X

I'm only at 2nd level Beg spells yet though and still haven't really picked my 1st level one either. So what are people's ideas/recommendations???

I have a Ring of Arcane Might as well as a Ring of Enduring Arcana and one Bead of Karma with my +16 UMD flat check fyi.

[Waker]

I would think you would want to focus more on utility and divination magic. Having a low caster level would limit the amount of damage and the save DCs for any offensive spells you would cast.

[Eonir]

I would go with Conjuration or transmutation spells personally. The Summon X line in particular can lead to a dramatic increase in versatility. The buffs from the transmutation school would be pretty awesome as spontaneous spells.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

I would think you would want to focus more on utility and divination magic. Having a low caster level would limit the amount of damage and the save DCs for any offensive spells you would cast.Ultimate Magus advances the lower level casting class with each level of the prestige class so the character should have 6 levels of beguiler casting and 7 of wizard. Combined with Practiced Spellcaster, the caster level for beguiler spells is actually the full 10 and thus higher than the for wizard so blasting spells would actually deal more damage. (Oh, and caster level doesn't affect save DCs either way.)

I'd say that if you do a lot of blasting (especially if you find yourself wanting to prepare multiples of the same blasting spell each day) porting your blasting to the beguiler wouldn't be a bad idea. Otherwise, maybe you could pick some of your more situational spells to make spontaneous; that way you'd be sure to have them when you need them without them taking up a spell slot every day you don't.

Also, shouldn't you have 3rd level beguiler spells? 1 level of beguiler and 5 of ultimate magus should be beguiler level 6 in terms of spells per day, right?

[Waker]

Ultimate Magus advances the lower level casting class with each level of the prestige class so the character should have 6 levels of beguiler casting and 7 of wizard. Combined with Practiced Spellcaster, the caster level for beguiler spells is actually the full 10 and thus higher than the for wizard so blasting spells would actually deal more damage. (Oh, and caster level doesn't affect save DCs either way.)
If my reading of this

My feats are something like: Practiced Spellcaster for Beguiler (so I just got 5th level Wiz spells and 2nd level Beguiler spells), Empower, Sculpt Spell, Extend, and Craft Contingency (maybe a couple other but not meta-magics)
is correct, the poster is using the Practiced Spellcaster trick to advance Wizard casting faster at the expense of Beguiler. By raising the caster level with the feat, he casts spells as an 9th level wizard (5th level spells) and as a 4th level Beguiler with a caster level of 8 (2nd level spells).
I also realize that caster levels don't affect DCs, but the spell slots would. At best he could use 2nd level spells against foes appropriate for a 10th level character.

Edit: I forgot about Arcane Spell Power, the caster levels would be higher than what I had posted.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Ultimate Magus advances the lower level casting class with each level of the prestige class so the character should have 6 levels of beguiler casting and 7 of wizard. Combined with Practiced Spellcaster, the caster level for beguiler spells is actually the full 10 and thus higher than the for wizard so blasting spells would actually deal more damage. (Oh, and caster level doesn't affect save DCs either way.)

I'd say that if you do a lot of blasting (especially if you find yourself wanting to prepare multiples of the same blasting spell each day) porting your blasting to the beguiler wouldn't be a bad idea. Otherwise, maybe you could pick some of your more situational spells to make spontaneous; that way you'd be sure to have them when you need them without them taking up a spell slot every day you don't.

Also, shouldn't you have 3rd level beguiler spells? 1 level of beguiler and 5 of ultimate magus should be beguiler level 6 in terms of spells per day, right?

Nope, UM advances whichever class has the lower caster level at the 1st and 4th levels, and Practiced Spellcaster made it so all five of his UM levels have gone toward Wizard, though UM 7 will have to go toward Beguiler. Also don't forget UM gives you a +2 caster level bonus to all classes at the 4th level, so his caster level for Beguiler is 12, and for Wizard it's 11. (You can apply your own effects in the most beneficial order, so Practiced Spellcaster catches Beguiler up to his character level, and then UM increases it +2 higher.)

A Lesser Orb would be a decent choice, but I'd get something you'll be casting more often at 2nd like Web. A decent AoE for 3rd is good as long as it's not the same damage type as your Lesser Orb. Another Orb spell at 4th seems a bit redundant, I'd get a spell you always want available like Dimension Door or Heart of Earth.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Nope, UM advances whichever class has the lower caster level at the 1st and 4th levels, and Practiced Spellcaster made it so all five of his UM levels have gone toward Wizard, though UM 7 will have to go toward Beguiler. Also don't forget UM gives you a +2 caster level bonus to all classes at the 4th level, so his caster level for Beguiler is 12, and for Wizard it's 11. (You can apply your own effects in the most beneficial order, so Practiced Spellcaster catches Beguiler up to his character level, and then UM increases it +2 higher.)Wait. I get how I was wrong, but with what you've said, wouldn't beguiler be at CL 1+4+3+2 for 10 (1 for the beguiler level, 4 from practiced spellcaster, 3 from the UM levels and 2 from the UM class feature arcane spell power) with wizard at CL 4+5+2 for 11 total (4 levels of wizard, all the UM levels and arcane spell power). No matter what order you apply the effects in, practiced spellcaster only gives +4 max and with the 6 levels that don't advance beguiler, +4 doesn't get you up to the character level.

[Brock Samson]

Yeah, I used Practiced Spellcaster to solely advance Wizard so far, so my CL is something like 11/10, plus my Ring of Arcane might raises them both by 1, so even my Beguiler with only his 2nd level spells has CL 11 minimum (enough for 3 scorching ways - hence I was thinking it - plus the fact I can instant-metamagic it. And I do have Residual Metamagic, so a meta-this-round, means a free-meta-next-round! :D

Still, Web is a lovely spell (as we just spend a lot of time underground). And Heart of Water and Earth are so lovely, as well as DD.

Anywho, I can keep web on a wand to have access when needed, I wanna take advantage of my high CL and spontaneity to rain down death from above!

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Wait. I get how I was wrong, but with what you've said, wouldn't beguiler be at CL 1+4+3+2 for 10 (1 for the beguiler level, 4 from practiced spellcaster, 3 from the UM levels and 2 from the UM class feature arcane spell power) with wizard at CL 4+5+2 for 11 total (4 levels of wizard, all the UM levels and arcane spell power). No matter what order you apply the effects in, practiced spellcaster only gives +4 max and with the 6 levels that don't advance beguiler, +4 doesn't get you up to the character level.

Yeah, I'm used to calculating it with an Illumian Krau sigil, which adds another +2 which works the same as Practiced Spellcaster.


Nukes are good, just don't get redundant damage types. Fireball is probably the preferred AoE nuke, which usually means it excludes Scorching Ray, but there's really no better 2nd level spell for single-target damage. You can just pick Lightning Bolt and use Sculpt Spell when you need to, though.

[Keld Denar]

Scintillating Sphere its a lightning type Fireball clone in SpC. I think it has the arrange long range. You could take that as a long range AoE and keep Scorching Ray for close range single targets.

[Brock Samson]

Alas, no spell compendium.

[Slipperychicken]

I recommend talking to your DM about the "at the table" rule. Since the game is out of print, it's only going to get more expensive, and that money isn't going to Wizards anyway, so you aren't doing anyone any favors (except people selling off their old 3.5/3.0 books, but that's about it), hurting your pocketbook, and restricting content.

[Brock Samson]

Probably not gonna happen.

I went with good ol' Scorching Ray for 2nd level. I've got Energy Substitution (acid), which was used to a good extent this last Saturday.

[Sudain]

I found arcane sight(3rd?) helpful.