Utility Caster Class?

[kechlion]

Hello good people,

I'm about to host a game and a friend of mine that's going to play is unsure of what to pick as a class. It's only going to be a two player campaign and one is going swordsage from Tome of Battle. My friend wants to play a caster with a lot of utility.

So, if you don't mind, I'd like a few suggestions of some classes we might not have thought of. We know wizard has a ton of utility spells and he thought about a bard, but are there other specific examples anyone would like to share?

Thanks!

[watchwood]

Most caster classes can orient themselves to be utility builds, really. Bards are probably the best example of this, but wizards, clerics, and druids all do it as well.

[ryu]

By utility do you mean open the lock, find the trap and disable it, non combat encounters trivial, and other similar stuff, or do you mean just straight up encounter ending fun times? What PrCs are allowed? What is the whole party made of? How experienced is the magic user in question? All of these can change recommendations.

[kechlion]

By utility do you mean open the lock, find the trap and disable it, non combat encounters trivial, and other similar stuff, or do you mean just straight up encounter ending fun times? What PrCs are allowed? What is the whole party made of? How experienced is the magic user in question? All of these can change recommendations.

The player is fairly experienced, though I can't attest as to an exact amount of caster experience.

As I said earlier, it's two people and one is a swordsage.

I would prefer nothing stupidly broken, but yes opening locks and finding traps or helping with non combat and especially supporting while in combat are things to look for. Having him be good at skill checks would be nice, but if neither ends up being a skill monkey I plan to somewhat tailor my campaign to account for that.

I'm allowing any and all sources.

Also, they're starting at level 7.

[BowStreetRunner]

Archivist (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20051007a&page=3) (Heroes of Horror) has the largest repertoire of Divine spells. It even uses INT for casting so an Archivist/Wizard Mystic Theurge (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/mysticTheurge.htm) build might work well for him depending on the details of your campaign.

[Ravens_cry]

The whole central concept of the Batman Wizard is this.
Oh, it hides it behind a lot of self-serving back slapping, and it is the most effective use of spells, but that's the idea.

[ryu]

I'm just going to post a thread with multiple simple builds, the spells that are valuable to them, and various metamagic combos and PrCs you'll likely enjoy. You may or may not like his tone, but the information is impressive.

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19873034/Treantmonks_guide_to_Wizards:_Being_a_God

A rundown of various options that while terrifyingly powerful specifically goes out of its way to assume help is around and tries to keep the help relevant. Should go well.

[gorfnab]

Beguiler is a decent Tier 3 caster. It has rogue like skills and trapfinder. If you want more versatility added to it throw in the Shadowcraft Mage prestige class. Another option would be to go Spellthief or Rogue 1/ Wizard 5 (with the Spontaneous Divination ACF)/ Unseen Seer 10/ Arcane Trickster 4.

[LTwerewolf]

Factotum might be something he'd be interested in as well. Not exactly a caster, but can cast what they really need in that pinch, and can handpick their skills.

[killianh]

Beguiler is a decent Tier 3 caster. It has rogue like skills and trapfinder. If you want more versatility added to it throw in the Shadowcraft Mage prestige class. Another option would be to go Spellthief or Rogue 1/ Wizard 5 (with the Spontaneous Divination ACF)/ Unseen Seer 10/ Arcane Trickster 4.

I'm going to second this. Another good route too might include one of the many bard\druid theurges available online

[Dictum Mortuum]

Beguiler is a decent Tier 3 caster. It has rogue like skills and trapfinder. If you want more versatility added to it throw in the Shadowcraft Mage prestige class. Another option would be to go Spellthief or Rogue 1/ Wizard 5 (with the Spontaneous Divination ACF)/ Unseen Seer 10/ Arcane Trickster 4.

I came with that in mind plus bard. Seriously, bards are awesome in certain parties.