A Subtle Caster

[Zaq]

So, elsewhere on this forum, someone said something that got me thinking.



A plot point that is never discussed is that powerful wizards don't even seem to do magic. Using elemental blasts and such is impressive to non-magicians, surely, but among other wizards it's considered crude, the mark of a dilettante, or even a novice. A truly powerful wizard never seems to do anything: reality just falls into place around them.

Now, the original context for this quote was discussing how crappy the writing is in Dominic Deegan, but that's not immediately relevant. This seems like a concept that would be fun to play around with in D&D.

So, let's see what we can do with this. What can we do to make a caster who, if you're not looking at him with Detect Magic or something, never seems to really cast anything? We're not only looking for ways to hide or suppress V/S components (if it were that easy, we'd just grab a Psion and be done with it) . . . we also want to make the effects of his or her spells as subtle as possible, while still being able to be a valuable and functional member of an adventuring party. Casting a Still and Silent Fireball is just no good . . . and even a Still, Silent, Invisible Fireball just doesn't seem like this fellow's style. I think the flashiest we could get would be a (Still, Silent, Invisible) Grease spell. "How lucky for us that those charging elves just happened to trip over their own feet right then!" That sort of thing. As I'm envisioning it, if your average Joe were to watch a fight in which this fellow were involved, he wouldn't think "wow, that Wizard is doing a good job holding off those bandits!" so much as "wow, that guy is really lucky!"

There are, of course, two feats that deserve mention: Invisible Spell and Deceptive Spell. Invisible Spell is a notorious DM headache and ripe for abuse, but I think it could be put to good use here, since we're not trying to make Invisible Invisibility and Invisible Obscuring Mist and Invisible Summon Monsters. That said, depending on what spells we end up focusing on, we might not even need it. Likewise, Deceptive Spell seems to me like it's probably not worth the cost, since ideally, most of our spells shouldn't have obvious visual effects to play with in the first place . . . and even if they did, Fireballs and what have you don't seem to be this guy's style, and I don't think that "Wow, how lucky that my opponent just happened to step on that flame trap right then!" will really be satisfying for long. So Deceptive Spell is probably not worth it, unlike Invisible Spell. (Disguise Spell, from Complete Adventurer, is also right out, since it requires us to be performing at the time, and we don't want to look like we're really doing anything. Unfortunately, I don't think Subsonics fixes the problem, though it would be amusing if it did.)

Now, of course, we have to get rid of components. Eschew Materials is a given, as we can't be mucking around with eye of newt and poo of bat. Still and Silent are the obvious choices, but without some kind of consistent way of reducing the cost, increasing pretty much all of our spell costs by 1 or 2 levels is not going to make for an effective character. Conceal Spellcasting is a good option, but as a skill trick, it only works once per encounter, which just doesn't seem like a good idea to me. Magical Trickster would, at the cost of a CL (shock and gasp!), let us burn spell slots to recharge Conceal Spellcasting, which I guess is kind of an option, though I'd love to find something a little more elegant. We could be a Psion, but Psions can't benefit from Invisible Spell (there's no Invisible Power feat, and let's see how far we can get with RAW before we brew one), which is definitely a disadvantage. Recaster might be an option, though it takes a little while before it really comes online, and its uses per day are still limited, and it doesn't work well if you need both Still AND Silent. Practical Metamagic doesn't really work, since it specifies that you still end up with a cost one level higher than the base spell. Arcane Thesis is too limited, since we want to apply this to plenty of spells. This is going to be tricky to get around, and I'm open to suggestion.

Assuming we find a way around this, let's get to the real meat of the concept. What kinds of spells work well with this kind of character? We want things that are effective, that will still work in the dungeon, and that have no (or only a very easily disguised) visual or auditory effect to most onlookers. We want it to look like "reality just falls into place around us." We still want to help our friends and hinder our foes, but we don't want to just start turning our friends into hydras or imprisoning our enemies in cages of force. So, what are our options? Simple buffs and debuffs are a start, but kind of boring if that's all we do (and at that point, we may as well just be a Bard with Subsonics). Still, having Heroism, Curse of Impending Blades, Unluck, and the like available to us is probably worthwhile, since they're nice subtle effects that still have a good outcome on the battle. Unluck may even be our iconic spell . . . no visual effect (once we get rid of the components), but a very useful effect. That's the kind of thing I'd like to see more of.

Charms and enchantments like Charm Person and Suggestion might be an option (especially if we get telepathy somehow, so we don't have to give commands out loud), but to be perfectly honest, I've always been leery of using that flavor of enchantment in combat, since it seems like it's nearly impossible to adjudicate without a headache and/or an argument. High-level stuff like Dominate is probably OK, since that's a relatively unambiguous effect, and it's easy enough to explain away as coincidence (ranging from "that guy was actually a traitor" to "that attack was actually a wild swing that just accidentally caught his friend" or whatever). Charm Person and the like just might have their uses in an out-of-combat scenario (of course the guard is a personal buddy of mine; why wouldn't he be?), but I don't like relying on them after initiative has been rolled.

Knock, I think, is a pretty appropriate spell for this kind of guy. He's so lucky that the door just happens to have been left open! But again, that falls under the non-combat umbrella, and those tend to be easier.

Dispels, of course, seem like a given. They're incredibly useful, and they don't have any immediate visual effects (other than your opponent suddenly swearing in frustration, of course).

As I mentioned above, some battlefield control is appropriate (and it's certainly always useful), but we have to be careful that, once obscured and made invisible as necessary, the effects could be explained away with a minimum of effort. Grease? Sure, your enemies just happened to be really clumsy there (though you'll have to be careful, since your allies can't see it either, and it's totally out of character to announce it to them). Black Tentacles? Yeah, invisible or not, I can't see that working. This is tricky, and I'd definitely like some help with suggestions.

So yeah. What do you think, folks? What can we do to get past the Still/Silent issue reliably? What other spells would it be appropriate for this fellow to have? In short, how can we make this work, and how far can we take it?

[Reluctance]

White Wolf's Mage fits this best. Ascension and Awakening work equally well. Spell slots and vancian magic don't really lend themselves to this sort of character.

Ultimately what you're asking for is that your character gets a certain degree of narrative control over the game. Which, while it's a good practice for groups to get into, but not something D&D has any framework for.

There's also the issue that it's not just about combat (where you can focus on buffs/debuffs for the most part and call it a day - unlike archmages in fiction who have no problem going solo, you have every reason to involve your fellow players), it's about being right place/right time for all manner of plot elements. Which is way outside of what spells are designed to do.

[Zaq]

That's . . . not at all what I'm talking about, actually. I'm interested in the challenge of fitting this archetype into a 3.5 framework. (Also, White Wolf? Really? Come on, man.) All the examples I mentioned in my wall of text up there are certainly viable and interesting, and I do believe that there's enough material, if we work at it, to make this into a complete character. I'm just looking for opinions on the matter, as well as soliciting advice for some of the trickier sticking points.

Narrative control? Not at all what I'm after.

[Gavinfoxx]

Maybe Reluctance thought that you had posted in the roleplaying games forum rather than the 3.5e forum?

[Venusaur]

Races of stone has a usage of sleight of hand that lets you disguise casting. I'd recommend Beguiler for this, as they get silent/still metamagics for free, and can really be sneaky well, as well as having a lot of subtle illusions/enchantments.

[Water_Bear]

While this isn't a Wizard, and is very very stinky cheese, a Phaerimm Sorcerer would be perfect for this.

Their racial spellcasting is as a Sorcerer of their HD, so their Sorcerer class levels count double, and they cast all Sorcerer spells as SLAs. That means no Focus, Somatic, Material, Verbal, or XP components without adjustment to spell levels. Take Rainbow Servant levels to add the entire Cleric spell list to your Spells Known and use infinite gold hacks to buy Knowstones of every Sorcerer/Wizard spell. Ta-da, you are a god of magic.

And also very very subtle. For a flying worm monster who was trained by Quatls, anyway.

[Silva Stormrage]

I think beguiler would work the best, with some way of reducing still and silent to zero (Arcane thesis? Metamagic School Focus?). This works the best because you can switch between using magic and non magical ways of convincing people. Observers can never be sure if you are casting charm person or you are just really diplomatic.


However that said I still think Psion can pull this off better as they have the auto still and silented abilities. I think a thrallherd could pull this off the best as you could have your thralls and believers always in perfect position (Or have your thrall be a beguiler with still and silented metamagics :smallbiggrin:)

[Urpriest]

A lot of the immunity-ish spells work well for this. Freedom of Movement, Ironguard, Deathward, Mind Blank...all make it appear that the effect simply failed to work. Similarly, Friendly Fire would do wonders for this concept.

[Zaq]

Races of stone has a usage of sleight of hand that lets you disguise casting. I'd recommend Beguiler for this, as they get silent/still metamagics for free, and can really be sneaky well, as well as having a lot of subtle illusions/enchantments.

That Races of Stone thing is exactly what I was after. I'd been looking for it for a while, but I thought it was a feat. I couldn't find it. The Playground never fails!


I think beguiler would work the best, with some way of reducing still and silent to zero (Arcane thesis? Metamagic School Focus?). This works the best because you can switch between using magic and non magical ways of convincing people. Observers can never be sure if you are casting charm person or you are just really diplomatic.


However that said I still think Psion can pull this off better as they have the auto still and silented abilities. I think a thrallherd could pull this off the best as you could have your thralls and believers always in perfect position (Or have your thrall be a beguiler with still and silented metamagics :smallbiggrin:)

Beguiler is the obvious choice, between the spontaneous casting, SoH as a class skill, and everything you mentioned. That said, the real question is whether Beguiler spells are the best tools for the job, and if they actually do what we want them to do. A lot of their good spells (Glitterdust, the Image line, Color Spray, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Fog Cloud, Legion of Sentinels, and so on) would simply be wasted, since they're just too flashy. Ironic, but there you have it. If we can find a low-stress way to hack Sleight of Hand onto their skill list, I'm leaning towards a straight Sorcerer, though I'm not sure what we'd PrC into (and not PrCing on a Sorcerer is just a waste). It's unfortunate that Apprentice doesn't let you nab Sleight of Hand, and neither does Martial Study.


A lot of the immunity-ish spells work well for this. Freedom of Movement, Ironguard, Deathward, Mind Blank...all make it appear that the effect simply failed to work. Similarly, Friendly Fire would do wonders for this concept.

I was thinking much the same thing. Good list.

Hmm. This character might also work as a counterspeller. Duelward and Battlemagic Perception aren't visually apparent, and while I don't think it would be worthwhile to shoehorn in Divine Defiance, it's still a nice hard-to-detect effect that certainly looks like you weren't doing much. The other guy is just so clumsy with those somatic components, isn't he? Such a shame.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

One word:

Beguiler. About the most subtle caster around.

[Dairuga]

While I looked at this, I must say, at first glance, this sort of build looks rather magnificent. A subtle caster, or, as earlier posters said in drawing an attention to White Wolf's works, a convert caster, would be rather terrifying in a world of D&D. Of course, you seem to be employing the gentleman's rule to the game, which in and for itself is terribly classy, and I applaud you for going at it in such a wonderful way. You, my good sir, win a top hat and a monocle.

As for ways to make this work, you will possibly want to be a Wizard. While I am sure that there are other fancy options out there with prestige classing, Straight wizard grants you bonus feats which will come in very handy for this sort of thing.

A very simple way of making your idea work, is the Feat "Easy metamagic". While "Easy Metamagic" is from a Dragon Magazine, it is quite widely known, and I think it is a wonderful feat. It is not too broken as to break the game, and most none take it, due to the limited appliance. Simply put; Easy metamagic lets you pick any one metamagic you have, and that metamagic has its level-increase reduced by one. Take Still and Silent spell as Wizard level 1 (If you play a human, as all top-hat wearing gentlemen are, and perhaps if you run with flaws, too; this should be rather doable), and then take Easy metamagic: Silent Spell, and Easy Metamagic: Still Spell. Granted, you have now spent four feats, but you achieve the exact result that you want. You can now still and silence your spells for free... Which, upon thinking about it, makes me wonder why it is not more widely used. Most people have other plans with their feats, I suppose.

Now, Eschew materials, as you mentioned yourself, is necessary. As is insivisible spell. Since this in all will take six feats, if you allow yourself to have some flaws (Not that the Mr. Ungentle Nastyman disguised as Gentleman should ever have a flaw), as a human, you can pull this off by level 6. Granted, until then, he will have to wave out at least -some- bat dung and such in silent corners of backwater alleyways where no one will see him, but after level 6, he would be primed to go.

Now, for example spells that this wonderful spellcaster could make use of, out of combat.

Hold Portal, would be a very nice addition to his repetoire. It is a simple level 1 spell, and without any components, it would simply cause doors to suddenly become locked; held shut, for seemingly no reason at all. He is lucky, that doors just tend to jam, or be unable to be opened when he does not want to. Arcane lock is also good, albeit one level higher.

Cheat? Could you ever ask for more? You can alter any outcome of any game of chance, by forcing a reroll in said game. Does not work on any magical games, but still. Imagine, rock paper scissor, where you can suddenly switch what you choose. Or Rolling a dice, and casting silenced, stilled cheats over and over until you are literally accounted as being blessed by Lady Luck.

Another fun, level 1 spell. Slide. It moves any creature 5 feet, just like that. It specifically states it can move creatures off cliffs and such. Take someone out to watch the magnificent view. And suddenly, slippery ground. Slide five feet, bada-bing, badaboom, done.


Locate creature / Object is a nifty little thing to have. The Wizard just happens to know when certain objects or people can be found, and where they are to be found within a decently large range. The rogue left his lockpicks somewhere? The wizards happens to stumble across them as they search; luckily enough. The Fighter needs to find his mother's gifted napkins? No problems.

Stone shape, for when the wizard just happens to find ancient clues to where they need to go next. Shape a piece of stone into a slab containing elevated text, and you are ready to direct your party to where you want them to go.

Telekinesis, of course, would be the do-all spell. Items would fall on enemies from higher buildings, or branches falling from treetops. Things just happen to be where they need to be, etc, etc. Both inside and outside combat, this would be a gem to have.

Disintegrate, while a forward blasty spell usually, can work wonders when there are no visual cues or anything else. Whatever the wizard wants is suddenly dissapeared. While using this on enemies certainly won't be very subtle, it could be used in conjuction with challenging someone to fight, and then making up a tale of them running away. But for that, Fear and such might work better due to autopassing the Sense Motive check.

Now, in combat; we have some spells that could work nicely in this wizard's repetoire, as well.

True strike, for example is one that many people would not consider on such a character. But really. If this classy guy got his hands on a dagger, he would certainly be lucky enough to ensure that his eventual stabs would always hit, and leave a wound on his enemy. Perhaps he'd stumble, and acidentally hit a soft spot, or pardon himself for having resorted to using a knife, as unskilled as he is with it, and so on and so forth. Not very much damage, but certainly impression-filled.

Animate rope, too, would be a very nice spell. The rope just happened to be positioned so that the enemies trip over it; etcetera, etcetera.

Inhibit? It causes your enemy to forcefully delay his turn until your next turn comes again. Making someone have second thoughts and doubt themselves opens up just the window you need for the rest of the party to act.


Buzzing Bee would be a particulary hilarious thing to throw at an unsuspecting spellcaster. Suddenly, a bee seems to have drawn an attraction to them. And it constantly buzzes in their ear, -loudly-. Preventing them from casting spells without concentration checks. Also prevents moving silently (-10 penalty), but still. People you don't like suddenly gains overwhelming, annoying buzzing in their ears due to a stupid bee? Priceless. May or may not work better when invisible.


Glitterdust, would be particulary mean. He could kick up, accidentally or not, a cloud of dust or suchlike, before casting Glitterdust. The actual magical dust would not be seen, but it would still cling over enemies eyes, and irritate them and make it hard to see. The DM could rule this either way, however, as I always tended to see this spell as getting in on the eye and making it hard to see, more than blinding them due to actual glittering. Once out from the cloud of dust, they would still find their eyes watering, making it impossible to see.

Malevolent Miasma would be even better, than Glitterdust. It deals 1d4 / level nonlethal damage to those inside, and when invisible, no one would even see it. They would simply walk into the area, and feel tired, if not a bit sick. And without knowing why, they would feel more and more drained, before simply collapsing, as they were knocked out. Combine with Stinking cloud for hilarious results.

And hey; can anyone say "Entice Gift"? Your natural charm just makes people -give- things to you!

Gust of wind; another wonderful addition to the subtle wizard's repetoire. A sudden squall of wind, especially if the surroundings are a bit windy, is nothing too strange. It is certainly lucky, and if you are using the displacing spell, it could come from anywhere. Likewise, an invisible windwall to deflect ranged attacks is just a perfect example of luck.

Of course, Blur should be your baseline spell. WIth invisible spell, there will be no visual effects. No case of you blurring or anything. The enemy would merely find their weapons not hitting you, granting you a natural 20% miss chance without explanation; again clued up to luck. (Again, DM might rule this away, as when you are not blurring, they have no valid reason not to hit you. It depends on whether the DM is crunch-based, or more fluff-based).

And Stinking cloud? Just blame it on the fighter!

Obscuring mist? Don't even need the invisible spell for that. Just have a slow, roiling mist come seeping in around daytime or noon, luckily providing its protective, obscuring cover as you move around. Low-level and very effective to stay out of harm's way. Solid fog works even better, for those extra misty days with a dense humidity and a stale air.

Bestow Curse, would be a terrifying one. The enemy would neither know what hit them, or see anything of it, as their ability scores just goes down the drain, their body feeling sluggish, not working as well or so on or so forth, or they just find themselves strangely obsessed with the need to talk.

The enemy's comrade is slain before their eyes, and suddenly suffers from Insanity. Fairly plausible, and fully explainable. And none is ever the wiser.

Now, Ruin Delver's Fortune is just -made- for you. It is an immediate action, and you can choose one out of several positive effects, The spell itself alluding to the caster having impeccable luck. You gain Charisma modifier to chosen save, immunity to fear; immunity to poison, or extra hit points for a short while. To top it off, they are all luck bonuses!

Voice of the Dragon gives you a +10 on the Social triumvirate, making you able to convince near-anyone with your charming and classy take on others, and the ability to cast one -suggestion- is just icing on the cake. You have the ability to convince others that your way is right, and if you are subtle enough, they'll never know. "Are you -sure- you wish to attack us? It might not be very wise". Etc, etc.

But yes, I have more than thrown in just a few examples, so I shall stop this short for now, and I apologize for clogging you down with so many examples, as I am pretty sure you have figured out quite a many of these from beforehand. I do hope, still, that you found -some- use for these, and that you might even pull them off, should you get to play your character properly.

[Jack_Simth]

While this isn't a Wizard, and is very very stinky cheese, a Phaerimm Sorcerer would be perfect for this.

Their racial spellcasting is as a Sorcerer of their HD, so their Sorcerer class levels count double, and they cast all Sorcerer spells as SLAs. That means no Focus, Somatic, Material, Verbal, or XP components without adjustment to spell levels. Take Rainbow Servant levels to add the entire Cleric spell list to your Spells Known and use infinite gold hacks to buy Knowstones of every Sorcerer/Wizard spell. Ta-da, you are a god of magic.

And also very very subtle. For a flying worm monster who was trained by Quatls, anyway.The Rainbow Servant bit doesn't work. It adds the spells to your class list, not to your known list. It only gives spontaneous access to the entire Cleric spell list to classes that are already list casters - Beguilers, Warmages, Dread Necromancers, and so on. Won't work for the Phaerimm that way.

That said, it is about what the OP is after - at least in terms of not seeming to do much. Toss on Veil (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/veil.htm), and pick up a Ring of Telekinesis (command word is in Drow Sign), and you'd seem to be a perfectly normal character, even.

[The Gilded Duke]

Criminal Background, City of Stormreach, I forget the page, somewhere in the middle of the book, 1st level only adds sleight of hand and a few other rogue skills toyour class list.

[Flickerdart]

I'd go for Cleric over Wizard, actually. While a Wizard might cast some Still and Silent spells, he still needs to pause in combat to do so, while a Cleric cast all of his spells hours ago when nobody would even think that someone might be casting spells, and DMM Persisted them, or simply cast something like Greater Magic Weapon that has a huge duration (oh, how lucky it is that our weapons were made well).

The feat Surrogate Spellcasting from Savage Species would work incredibly well here. Since it requires a non-humanoid form, it can create a double layer of bluffs - the "caster" is a random commoner and is legitimately not doing anything, and his "familiar", the actual spellcaster, isn't doing anything that looks like casting either.

[Curmudgeon]

Criminal Background, City of Stormreach, I forget the page, somewhere in the middle of the book, 1st level only adds sleight of hand and a few other rogue skills toyour class list.
That feat's a lot less impressive when you read that it's restricted to members of the Bilge Rats organization:
Entry Requirements
Type: Humanoid.
Skill: Intimidate 3 ranks.
Class Feature: Sneak attack +1d6 or sudden strike +1d6. The feat's to let you have those stealthy skills as class skills for all your later levels, not to give non-stealthy characters access without class levels.

[Zaq]

Criminal Background, City of Stormreach, I forget the page, somewhere in the middle of the book, 1st level only adds sleight of hand and a few other rogue skills toyour class list.

Found it! Page 95. Good call! Pity that it costs a feat, but it's cheaper than the several feats it would cost to get Still and Silent down to a negligible cost.

Hmm. Good suggestions all around, definitely. At this point, I think the specifics of the character would really depend on the level at which he would be played. Conceptually, I like this better as a Sorcerer, if for no other reason than that we don't have to carry around a spellbook (I guess Eidetic Spellcaster could be a solution to that, but to be honest, I've never seen the actual text of that—I just know it through reputation), but a Wizard's bonus feats and INT focus are, of course, most helpful as always. The real obstacle to playing a Sorcerer is that it couldn't work before level 9, since you need to have Rapid Metamagic (since you'll be spamming Invisible Spell).

[Wise Green Bean]

If you were considering sorcerer, I'd say just go rogue1 wizard. You get spells later, but no later than a sorcerer. Able learner gets you sleight of hand forever affixed to your class skills list, along with the million other things rogues get. Like the social skills. With a human wizard and decent INT, you'll have a good 6+ skill points to throw around, so nothing to sneeze at, and now you have bluff and diplomacy. Not to mention hide and move silently would also be useful for your incognito spell caster. I'm not sure how faithful that is to your concept though, since you aren't just a wizard pretending to be a skilled/lucky regular guy; you actually are skilled/lucky. The other somewhat unfortunate thing is that you lose that enormous CHA bonus you'd have as a sorcerer. Ah well, you don't need to be pretty. That's what disguise self is for.

Also, don't sell seemingly obvious illusions short. You just have to be clever about introducing them into the environment. Whoa! A dragon just happened to leap out of the forest and set the place on fire. Well, sure, we had to book it out of there, but hey, I bet that guy died in the fire anyway. Or whatever's appropriate to the scene.

[Fable Wright]

If you were considering sorcerer, I'd say just go rogue1 wizard. You get spells later, but no later than a sorcerer. Able learner gets you sleight of hand forever affixed to your class skills list, along with the million other things rogues get. Like the social skills. With a human wizard and decent INT, you'll have a good 6+ skill points to throw around, so nothing to sneeze at, and now you have bluff and diplomacy. Not to mention hide and move silently would also be useful for your incognito spell caster. I'm not sure how faithful that is to your concept though, since you aren't just a wizard pretending to be a skilled/lucky regular guy; you actually are skilled/lucky. The other somewhat unfortunate thing is that you lose that enormous CHA bonus you'd have as a sorcerer. Ah well, you don't need to be pretty. That's what disguise self is for.
Rogue? Try Factotum. Inspiration points give you Int to saves several times per encounters, and/or attack/damage rolls if you have to go into melee. And a larger skill list. It fits the concept rather well, I think.

[Psyren]

A very simple way of making your idea work, is the Feat "Easy metamagic". While "Easy Metamagic" is from a Dragon Magazine, it is quite widely known, and I think it is a wonderful feat. It is not too broken as to break the game, and most none take it, due to the limited appliance. Simply put; Easy metamagic lets you pick any one metamagic you have, and that metamagic has its level-increase reduced by one. Take Still and Silent spell as Wizard level 1 (If you play a human, as all top-hat wearing gentlemen are, and perhaps if you run with flaws, too; this should be rather doable), and then take Easy metamagic: Silent Spell, and Easy Metamagic: Still Spell. Granted, you have now spent four feats, but you achieve the exact result that you want. You can now still and silence your spells for free... Which, upon thinking about it, makes me wonder why it is not more widely used. Most people have other plans with their feats, I suppose.

Your usage of this feat is not more widespread because it doesn't work. EMM can't reduce the cost adjustment below +1, so it won't actually do anything when combined with Still or Silent.

[Bakkan]

A higher-level, higher-powered option would be Wizard 5/Incantatrix 10. The Incantatrix capstone will make your Stills and Silents free, and you get 4 bonus metamagic feats from the class as well.You can also make some of your longer-lasting iconic spells Persisted (I recommend Friendly Fire at the least). What I think I like best about it, though, is that you can have your luck bleed over to your spellcasting allies: "Oh, how lucky that you rolled all sixes on that fireball's damage!" This route would also allow you to maintain a stronger mage feel, since you have no need for Sleight of Hand.

While Eschew Materials takes care of cheap material components, it doesn't eliminate the need for foci IIRC. I would have the character wear his foci on necklaces and constantly fiddle with them, and just happen to manipulate the right one at the right time. Obviously this will only work with smaller foci, unless you use Shrink Item on the larger ones.

[Flickerdart]

While Eschew Materials takes care of cheap material components, it doesn't eliminate the need for foci IIRC. I would have the character wear his foci on necklaces and constantly fiddle with them, and just happen to manipulate the right one at the right time. Obviously this will only work with smaller foci, unless you use Shrink Item on the larger ones.
Just keep your foci in your pockets. And your hands in your pockets, which only accents the not-doing-anything-ness of your character.

[Suddo]

Artificer who just uses magic items to do everything. Buffing yourself is really powerful.

Also let's list the metamagics that help:
Silent, Still, Invisble. The first two cost 1 the latter-most costs 0. There is the sleight of hand skill trick from complete scoundrel (I believe).

[Urpriest]

Remember, most characters who have this archetype in fiction do take action, they just do it behind the scenes. Planar Binding et al would let you call up agents to do your dirty work, and as long as they meet untimely accidents afterwards no one need know you were responsible.

[jmelesky]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned divination as a core strength of this archetype. Why did they win the battle? They were in the right place at the right time? Why was that? Well, the wizard lost his hat, so they spent two hours looking for it. Why, really? The wizard knew the direction and disposition of the enemies in question, and arranged that the party meet them exactly when they were passing through the highly-exposed Valley of Easy Pickings.

In other words, I say forget casting in combat, and concentrate on making the combats as tactically advantageous as possible. Sure, throw on some subtle buffs and debuffs, but spend more of your time and energy ensuring the proper tactical setup by simply knowing everything.

[Piggy Knowles]

This one is more a manifester than a caster, BUT...

Necropolitan, Wizard 1/Telepath 5/Thrallherd 10/Anarchic Initiate 4

Take the ACF from Mind's Eye that gives you telepathy at your fifth level of telepath.

Key feats include Precocious Apprentice (pick Alter Self), Trickery Devotion at 3rd, Metamorphic Transfer at 6th and Mindsight at 9th.

Alter Self into a vampire spawn (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/vampire.htm#vampireSpawn), then use Metamorphic Transfer to pick up its gaseous form ability. Suddenly you can remain in the form of a fine mist indefinitely, with better fly speed and maneuverability. Use Trickery Devotion or Silent Image to project a false body that walks around and interacts with folks. You are actually the hidden cloud of mist, able to see all thanks to Mindsight. You can still manifest in your gaseous form, and you still have thralls and believers flocking to you.

[The Gilded Duke]

Oh, beautifully done, Would you be able to get the concentration for the silent image without taking any actions? Maybe you could go Cerebremancer instead of Thrall Herd to get more arcane options?

[King Atticus]

If we can find a low-stress way to hack Sleight of Hand onto their skill list, I'm leaning towards a straight Sorcerer, though I'm not sure what we'd PrC into (and not PrCing on a Sorcerer is just a waste). It's unfortunate that Apprentice doesn't let you nab Sleight of Hand, and neither does Martial Study.

Human Paragon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm) would do this. It would cost a caster level but also gives a feat and an ability score bump.

[Crasical]

Dispense with Displays
Despite the fact that almost every power has a display, a psionic character can always choose to manifest the power without the flashy accompaniment. To manifest a power without any display (no matter how many displays it might have), a manifester must make a Concentration check (DC 15 + the level of the power). This check is part of the action of manifesting the power. If the check is unsuccessful, the power manifests normally with its display.

No VSM, No visual display. The Psion just zones out for six seconds focusing on a person or creature or just staring into space, and then an effect happens. Now the issue is just choosing powers with less gross visible effects.

[Karoht]

I see this character with some spells which are visable, some which are not. Hear me out.

The idea is that this guy is a wizard (or is he?). But if he is, he appears to be really crappy at it, and rely mostly on luck.
"If you're a Wizard, do something... Wizard-y"
*casts Glitterdust, the area fills with sparkles*
"Ta-daa!"
"Uh, okay, where is the 'kaboom'? You know, fire, lightning, brimstone, destruction, that kind of thing."
"Um... okay, hang on here..."
*uses prestidigitate to pull a rabbit out of a hat*
"Ta-daa!"
*facepalm*


Illusions can cover up quite a bit of casting if used intelligently.
The caster can be invisible while an Illusion is standing there, bumbling about doing not much of anything. Heck, the Illusion can be (with a high enough Spellcraft check and maybe some fun with Bluff) yelling out Abracadabra convincingly enough that it LOOKS like it's casting the spell.
And then promptly screws it up.
That is the kind of necessary cover this guy would need.

Illusory Terrain + Create Pit is already a very funny spell combo to begin with.
Telekinesis is invisible already. Used cleverly it could appear that the man tripped over because his shoe laces were tied together. Or fell down that flight of stairs.

Some spells and magic items use a command word to activate. Typically the DM ignores the minutae of such spells and items. Well, a Symbol of Stunning (or any of the Symbol Of line) with the right command word/phrase could be a very clever way to hide any magical doing.
Your Illusion of you can be bumbling about like a twit. The Illusion of you can say the command word at the same time as you do. If range is an issue, use Ventriloquism and very very carefully whisper the word. Bang, the Symbol activates, triggers the effect.

Illusions + Summons = Shenanigans

Quicken an Illusion and then Summon up some kind of monster.
the Illusion is of something weak and pathetic. Like a Rat.
Meanwhile, it's actually [insert something horrible and nasty here]

Now, Illusions are easily countered with True Seeing and other things which get rid of Illusions. But, if you portray yourself well enough, you'll hardly ever give an enemy pause or reason to actively investigate what you are up to. If the enemy doesn't have some kinds of detection as automatic abilities, they are likely to not actually activate them around this bumbling wizard.


Disintegrate disguised as Magic Missile. Heck yeah.

Invisible Grease is rather clever though. Heck, I'm going to steal that.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Between Human Paragon, RoS's Sleight of Hand rules and good ol' theurging with psion there should be enough to make this concept stick.

On a side note, I'd be tempted to toss on War Weaver for the buffs, possibly using the weave as a blanket while riding on the back of a larger party member.

"Oh shoot, I'm going to have to re-knit that when we make camp.":smallamused:

[Flickerdart]

No VSM, No visual display. The Psion just zones out for six seconds focusing on a person or creature or just staring into space, and then an effect happens. Now the issue is just choosing powers with less gross visible effects.
Works even better if the psion is running Schism, where the schismed mind is doing the focusing and the psion can smoke a pipe or something.

[McToomin]

Ok, so this thread has really inspired me with the following character concept. (Before I begin, it's important to note that my group plays Pathfinder with 3.5 ported in.) By 100% RAW I'm fairly certain that parts of it (mostly due to race, you'll see) do not work at all. However, at this point it's simply a thought exercise, and with the character I have in mind, DM fiat would be much easier to get this character off the ground than finding some convoluted RAW way to achieve it. So here it is:

[Name] was an ordinary human wizard with a dog familiar. At some point, an evil spellcaster switched the minds of the wizard and his dog! Now he's stuck in the dog body, and the dog is a human being.

And that's basically it. I would play as the dog, and the "human" would be the familiar.

However, I'd want to do it so discretely that everyone at my table thinks that I actually am the human, and that the dog is simply a pet.

When [Name] was human, [Dog] would have a 6 Intelligence due to being a familiar, thus granting enough Intelligence in order to function, though admittedly he wouldn't be very bright. Basically I'd ask the DM to simply let me build both bodies as "human." Human as a race is a good basic template, and there's no reason [Name]'s intelligence score should drop (at least not the way I'm envisioning his backstory).

So it would all come down to: could a spellcaster keep his familiar alive if his familiar were perceived as the actual threat using spells? For how long? For the sake of not being OP or anything (aside from Incantatrix, see below), I would stat [Dog] as a level 1 Commoner, and would only advance as a familiar does.

Here's the build I've got so far (Red feats are bonus feats):

1. ~ Divination Wizard. 1 : Invisible Spell, Skill Focus (Sleight of Hand)
2. ~ Divination Wizard. 2 :
3. ~ Divination Wizard. 3 : Halruaan Adept
4. ~ Divination Wizard. 4 :
5. ~ Divination Wizard. 5 : Iron Will, Extend Spell
6. ~ Incantatrix....... 1 : Persistent Spell
7. ~ Incantatrix....... 2 : Sculpt Spell
8. ~ Incantatrix....... 3 :
9. ~ Incantatrix....... 4 : Quicken Spell, Easy Metamagic (Quicken Spell)
10 ~ Incantatrix....... 5 :
11 ~ Incantatrix....... 6 : Chain Spell
12 ~ Incantatrix....... 7 : Intensified Spell
13 ~ Incantatrix....... 8 : Craft Wondrous Item
14 ~ Incantatrix....... 9 :
15 ~ Incantatrix...... 10 : Spell Thematics, Reach Spell
16 ~ Halruaan Elder.... 1 : ~Adroit Casting (Quicken Spell)~
17 ~ Halruaan Elder.... 2 : Selective Spell, Signature Spell (?)
18 ~ Halruaan Elder.... 3 :
19 ~ Halruaan Elder.... 4 : Ray Extension, ~Adroit Casting (Chain Spell)~
20 ~ Halruaan Elder.... 5 : Signature Spell (?)

Evocation, Necromancy, and Illusion banned (for now).

So how does the build look? Would I be able to keep up the illusion? (I'd be going with the use of the Sleight of Hand skill to cover up my spellcasting instead of trying to get everything Stilled and Silent.)

And yes I have seen the stuff about Psion recently, but I really like Wizard and would like to see if I could make this work. Any suggestions/comments? Anything that needs absolute fixing? Like I saw, I know it isn't 100% RAW, but the caveats I've asked for I don't think are too extreme. If necessary I could change the animal to a normal familiar animal such as a cat or something, I just like the idea of a dog.

[Parra]

What about using Arcane Swordsage? Responsibly ofc.

[McToomin]

Don't tell me I killed this topic. It was such a good one...

[Tvtyrant]

I'm pretty sure you can't take Intensify Spell before epic levels. It being an epic metamagic feat and all.

If I recall correctly one of the more obscure splatbooks has a feat which grants free still effects on every spell you cast. Having a hard time finding it though.Can't find it, and I am pretty sure someone else brought up Invisible Spell from Cityscape by now.

[McToomin]

That's the Intensified Spell from Pathfinder. Like I said, we blend PF and 3.5 together.

[Tvtyrant]

That's the Intensified Spell from Pathfinder. Like I said, we blend PF and 3.5 together.

Well in that case...

I believe the trick here would be sharing a lot of protective buffs with your familiar and staying near each other. The biggest issue I see with it is you would not have nearly as many item slots as a dog as a human would have, and items are the bread and butter of 3.5

[Quirp]

You could also use the shadowcaster. Mysteries don't have the wide range of options that a wizard's spells provide, but I think there are enough mysteries without a blatantly obvious effect. Those could be used to circumvent having to use invisible spell (which is of course not available for shadowcasters). An outer sign of casting can be suppressed by two feats: still mystery and shadow casting (the latter stopping your shadow from doing stupid things while you are casting). Especially the apprentice mysteries from the Cityscape web enhancement would be a great tool for this concept, allowing you to steal things from the other side of the room and tripping/bull rushing/disarming from over 100 foot away.

[Zaq]

You could also use the shadowcaster. Mysteries don't have the wide range of options that a wizard's spells provide, but I think there are enough mysteries without a blatantly obvious effect. Those could be used to circumvent having to use invisible spell (which is of course not available for shadowcasters). An outer sign of casting can be suppressed by two feats: still mystery and shadow casting (the latter stopping your shadow from doing stupid things while you are casting). Especially the apprentice mysteries from the Cityscape web enhancement would be a great tool for this concept, allowing you to steal things from the other side of the room and tripping/bull rushing/disarming from over 100 foot away.

Hmm. That's a very good point. The Shadowcaster is just one feat away from no V/S/M components, and if memory serves, they can even take that feat (Still Mystery, natch) as a bonus feat. Unlike Still Spell, the only cost is the feat itself, so that's nifty. Unfortunately, I don't think that the Shadowcaster has enough mysteries (especially enough subtle ones) to pull of this concept alone, but as a component? I could see a Noctumancer version, to be quite honest. In fact, Innate Counterspell really fits the theme anyway, so I can definitely see that happening. Pity that this is so feat-intensive, because early entry tricks are the way to go to make non-awful theurges, but oh well. More's the pity.

[TuggyNE]

Well in that case...

I believe the trick here would be sharing a lot of protective buffs with your familiar and staying near each other. The biggest issue I see with it is you would not have nearly as many item slots as a dog as a human would have, and items are the bread and butter of 3.5

Which ones would you be missing? Rings, perhaps?

[Quirp]

I have looked through the whole mystery list and there are enough mysteries without an obvious effect to fill a complete list. The only problem being level 3 mysteries, where it comes down to hiding your hands in your pocket (umbral fist) and finding funny ways to explain immediate action teleports (flicker). One might need the designer's proposed fix to get all the mysteries without delaying progression though.

[Flickerdart]

Still Mystery only works once per day, doesn't it? Much like Sudden Still does for spells.

[Answerer]

All the other Meta-mystery feats work that way, but Still is just permanent.