BUILD ADVICE NEEDED - Binder//Sha'ir gestalt

[HunterOfJello]

I just built a character and I could use a good build critique. Please give me as much character optimization advice and criticism as you can. I hate when these threads are super long and hard to read, so I'll use spoilers when I think things are too long or too much info.

~

Race: Magic-Blooded, Half-Fey, Unseelie Fey Human
Level: 12
Class: Sha'ir 5/Incantatrix 7 // Binder 7/ Knght of the Sacred Seal 5
Ability Scores: (they're legit, don't ask)
Str 8
Dex 18
Cons 14
Int 14
Wis 8
Cha 31

Feats: (houserule allows a feat at every odd level)
Energy Substitution (Electric)
Born of Three Thunders
Extend Spell
Persistent Spell
Chain Spell
Empower Spell
Residual Magic [Tactical]
Arcane Thesis (Orb of Fire)
Improved Binding
Expel Vestige 1/day
Favored Vestige (Zceryll)
Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff)[for KotSS]
Flyby Attack
Iron WIll

Feat list with explanation of where each feat came from:

1: Energy Substitution (Electric) [metamagic]
Human Bonus: Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff) [for KotSS]
Flaw Feat: Improved Binding
Flaw Feat: Extend Spell
3: Flyby Attack
5: Chain Spell [metamagic]
Binder Bonus (lvl 5): Expel Vestige 1/day
Inctrix bonus metamgic: Persistent Spell
7: Residual Magic [Tactical]
9: Arcane Thesis (Orb of Fire)
Inctrix bonus metamagic: Empower Spell
11: Favored Vestige (Zceryll)
Inctrix bonus metamagic: Born of Three Thunders
Otyugh Hole feat: Iron Will

Skill Ranks:
Diplomacy 15
Spellcraft 15
K(Arcana) 5
K(The Planes) 5
K(Religion) 5
the rest = ???

~~~~

Binder Strategy:


The main strategy I'm pursuing is a daily use of Zceryll (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/frcc/20070718), Haures, Ipos, and Astaroth (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070307a).

Zceryll+Haures or Zceryll+Ipos on normal days. On off days I will use Zceryll+Astaroth for item creation fun.

Setup #1: Zceryll/Haures gives lots of utility and options in the field. It's based around the basic confept of Shooting stun rays, summoning monsters, summoning illussions, killing people on sight, benefiting from templates and mind protections, and running around not getting hit. Oh, and don't forget telepathy+mindsight. This setup seems the most fun to me until I get 3 vestiges per day.

Setup #2: Zceryll+Ipos along with Favored Vestige (Zceryll) lets me use the improved version of the Zceryll ability, Summon Alien. Being able to summon monsters from the Summon Monster VI and VII list will improve the combat and utility resourcefulness of the character significantly. However, it will be for more extreme times since it's less fun that setup #1.

Setup #3: Zceryll+Astaroth puts the PC in a position to craft most items in the game. Since Sha'ir have the ability to cast any Sorc/Wiz spell that they identify, it should make for a lot of fun crafting. The sickening breath attack, Bardic Knowledge, and Suggestion every 5 rounds is decent too. I'll at least be able to bind this and not worry about a too massive a decrease in combat readiness for the day.



As far as the Sha'ir is concerned, the build with him is pretty straightforward. Adding in Incantatrix has been a bit awkward and I would love any opinions on that subject. I love the abilities the Incantatrix gets and they seem fun, but they may not be the best choices.

The DM is allowing spells to last Caster Level per hour, instead of Sha'ir Level per hour, but the bonus to Diplomacy is Sha'ir level and not Caster Level. That just means I need to boost up Diplomacy like crazy.

Any advice on PrCs or changes on the Sha'ir Side?

~

Short item list so far:


+1 Twilight Mithril Chain for armor
Veil of Allure for +2 to DCs on all my Su and all my Enchantment school SLAs.
Ring of Spell Battle for identifying spells near me
Tome of Ancient Lore for +5 competence bonus to Spellcraft

Spells:
I dropped the Enchantment school to enter into Incantatrix. I have tons of SLAs of those already.

1.Orb of Fire for Empowering, Chaining, and using Residual Magic with to do some awesome double casting shenanigans.
2. Ruin Delver's Fortune to cast with Persistent Spell and then Residual cast it again. That way I'll get +cha mod to both fortitude saves and reflex saves, evasion, and immunity to poison every 24 hours.
3. Anything turned into a Born of Three Thunders spell which forces saves on the opponents while not dazing the PC when he has Haures bound to him. (Gains the benefit of Mind Blank, which can't even be affected by Miracle or Wish spells.)
4. Contingency + Haures bound for all sorts of fun.

That's about all I got. I need more spell choices and a decent evaluation about the entire spellcasting side of the equation. I would appreciate any help anyone can give me.

[eggs]

The first thing that stands out is that Orb of Fire doesn't Chain (no target).

I'm assuming simultaneous PrCs aren't going to break rules/be called out/force a last-second rebuild?

Is Born of Three Thunders' Daze being houseruled into a Mind Effect? Because I could see that cropping up as a problem as well.

[HunterOfJello]

The first thing that stands out is that Orb of Fire doesn't Chain (no target).

I'm assuming simultaneous PrCs aren't going to break rules/be called out/force a last-second rebuild?

Is Born of Three Thunders' Daze being houseruled into a Mind Effect? Because I could see that cropping up as a problem as well.

1. Wow, I'd never noticed that. I was building off of suggestions people had made in threads in the past and that was never mentioned. I'll have to rework all of that stuff.

2. Simultaneous PrCs are houseruled to be fine. I should have brought that up earlier. Thanks for pointing it out.

3. I haven't found any specific place where it says, "being dazed is something that happens to a creature's mind", but the Mind Blank spell is designed to be a spell to cover pretty much anything and everything that can affect a creature's mind. The vestige ability says, "You are protected from any effort to detect, influence, or read your emotions or thoughts, and you have immunity to mind-affecting spells and abilities, as if you were protected by a Mind Blank spell."

I think the idea that any daze affect should be considered mind-affecting can be disputed, but I think I could convince my DM and group to accept "Inaccessable Mind" as protecting against that.

That said, I think I'm going to give up that entire build method, because I now don't think it should protect from daze. Or rather, I think it should, but doesn't by RAW.

Thanks for pointing that one out too.

~~

Now... what the crap am I going to do on the spellcaster side... >_>

The Halruaan Elder PrC is looking much more attractive now, even though it's feat intensive. It would give me a chance for dipping into something like the Mystic Wanderer though.

[HunterOfJello]

I'm now generally convinced that a Binder//Sha'ir isn't really for me considering my lack of experience with prepared casters. I think it will just be awkward and too much of a pain.

I'm going to start working on a Binder//Bard build instead. I think this will work much better to my playstyle and I'll be able to allow myself a great degree of optimization freedom.

Thanks for the help eggs!

[eggs]

Okay, just wanted to see if that stuff had been laid out in the open.

There are a couple ways to deal with those:
First the Daze, because it's easier: If you don't mind crossing settings, you can grab Daze Immunity with two feats (any true Dragonmark (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1072.0) and a Mark of the Dauntless), or you can try to overcome it as a move action (Quick Recovery, but you'll need to crank your Will because the save is based on your own Charisma).


Second, on Chaining, you can still throw a lot of Orbs of Acid out at a time via something like Spell Matrices+Sanctum Orb of Acid, Imbue Familiar with Spell Ability, Contingencies, Twinned spells, Ocular Spells (with or without Split Ray), Celerity, Arcane Spellsurge, etc. It won't be as economical, but it will let you slather Acid Fire Orbs all over a lot of targets very quickly.

EDIT:
Or Bard mode; that can work too. :smallsmile:

EDIT2:
Actually, on the Chaining thing, you might look outside Orb of Fire. It's a good blast spell, but it's not the only good blast spell. If you stack Reach Spell on Combust, for instance, you have a no-save Chain-eligible 10d8 from a level 4 slot (3 with Arcane Thesis). There's still spell resistance, so an Assay SR might be in order, but if you're just out to lay a whole bunch of metamagicked damage+Bo3T on things, it can do the trick.