Apostle of Peace / Ardent optimization

[undead2345]

Hello,

I think it's possible to make quite good characters using Apostle of Peace, plus I like the background a lot. I have never played a VoP character tought, is it really a problem?
So here is what I tought about : Monk 1/Ardent 7/Apostle of Peace 2/ Psychic Theurge 10 (using Tashalatora).

PS : I'm french and thus restricted to french books

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You would only add your Ardent levels (not Psychic Theurge levels) to your Monk levels for Tashalatora, so you would only have Monk 8 class features. Also note that Ardent is not a spellcasting class, even if total magic/psionic transparency (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicPowersOverview.htm#combiningPsionicAndMagic alEffects) is being used, so your AoP caster level won't include half of your levels in any other class.

I'm a big fan of using Beguiler and Mystic Theurge with Apostle of Peace. Beguiler gets plenty of nonlethal damage nuke spells, and you get tons of tools for avoiding fights in your illusions and enchantments which get buffed DCs from your vows. Beguiler is quite good at going gearless since your spell list is more than sufficient for solving nearly any problem you'll ever encounter. You can take the feat Versatile Spellcaster to spend Beguiler spell slots two at a time to spontaneously cast any AoP spell you know as well, as an arcane spell and using your Beguiler caster level and Int bonus for its effects.

Note that the wording on Mystic Theurge allows you to add your levels in it to Beguiler before adding half your Beguiler level to your AoP caster level.
"This essentially means that he adds the level of mystic theurge to the level of whatever other arcane spellcasting class and divine spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly."
Psychic Theurge uses this same wording, but again Ardent is not a spellcasting class even with total transparency because 'spellcaster' and 'manifester' are never made synonymous. This is probably due to the differences between psionic creatures and those which aren't psionic.

[hex0]

I'm a big fan of using Beguiler and Mystic Theurge with Apostle of Peace.

I never thought of this and it is awesome.