[3.5] Building a Guild Master

[Uncle Pine]

Hello playgrounders!

I need your help in building and NPC: the head of the mages' college that I'll introduce in my campaign. I already have the fluff, but I can't come up with a solid build that will make him shine as every guild master should do.

He's a human wizard. A generalist wizard. The very Lawful and very Neutral type of wizard that seek knowledge to the point that "if it's legal in the country he is, than it's perfectly fine to do it". He's definitely not a gish, nor a very social person. A really, really square NPC.

Long story short: 20 level, Lawful Neutra, wizard (but you can add PrCs if you like), I'd prefer him to have a familiar.

Thank you in advance!

[Emperor Tippy]

How powerful do you want him? And what kind of focus?

[Flickerdart]

You'll be well served with trading away the familiar for an ACF, then taking Obtain Familiar and Improved Familiar (or one of the other Familiar+ feats) later. I prefer Coure Eladrin for my fancy familiars, but they're CG and so might not jive very well with a LN researcher.

A researcher strikes me as a Divination specialist, banning Illusion or Evocation. Mage of the Arcane Order seems appropriate, but someone that stuffy probably prepares their spells on a schedule and won't care too much about being flexible. Archmage and Loremaster dips would be a good fit flavour-wise.

If he's really dedicated to arcane research, Ultimate Magus seems like the way to go. Beguiler 1/Wizard 5/Ultimate Magus 10/Loremaster 1/Archmage 3 perhaps?

[docnessuno]

Nothing screams guildmaster like Wizard / Mage of the arcane order / Archmage. Sure it's not the most powerful build around, but i prefer a bit of flavour when creating NPCs as long as they are not gimped, and with a T1 ansd no spellcasting level lost he will shine, regardless of the build.

[Uncle Pine]

Answers' time!


How powerful do you want him? And what kind of focus?

I'd like him to be powerful, without being cheesy. As a comparison, the warrior's guild master is an human fighter that combine Karmic Strike and High Sword Low Axe to make a huge number of AoO. This is just an example: I'm aware that wizards are far better than fighter, it's just to say that combos are welcom but crazy loopholes don't. :smallwink:
About focus: he's meant to be a generalist, so no banned school. On the other hand he does prefer some schools to other: Transmutation ("You can understand better how something works if you can dominate his form") > Conjuration ("Why should you get your hands dirty when a Colossal elemental can do it?") > Divination ("Knowledge is power" > Necromancy ("The art of preserving stuff and yourself while doing other nifty things") > Abjuration ("A good way to make your laboratory really safe") > Enchantment ("This isn't the fairest way of doing things, but it can be useful") > Evocation ("The oldest and rawest form of magic"). I also included some quotes he could use to describe such schools. :smallsmile:


You'll be well served with trading away the familiar for an ACF, then taking Obtain Familiar and Improved Familiar (or one of the other Familiar+ feats) later. I prefer Coure Eladrin for my fancy familiars, but they're CG and so might not jive very well with a LN researcher.

I didn't think about Obtain Familiar. Thank you! Do you think that the Imbue Staff ACF (Dragon #338) could be useful? It is cool and fit the concept of the "powerful wizard".


A researcher strikes me as a Divination specialist, banning Illusion or Evocation. Mage of the Arcane Order seems appropriate, but someone that stuffy probably prepares their spells on a schedule and won't care too much about being flexible. Archmage and Loremaster dips would be a good fit flavour-wise.

He won't actually make massive use of neither Illusion nor Evocation, but as a guild master he should know how to cast spells from those schools. What about the Spontaneous Divination ACF (complete champion)?


If he's really dedicated to arcane research, Ultimate Magus seems like the way to go. Beguiler 1/Wizard 5/Ultimate Magus 10/Loremaster 1/Archmage 3 perhaps?

Lawful beguiler? Weird. It is Int-based, but Armored Mage doesn't apply on wizard's spells. I've always overlooked the Ultimate Magus, but I'll have a look at it.



Nothing screams guildmaster like Wizard / Mage of the arcane order / Archmage. Sure it's not the most powerful build around, but i prefer a bit of flavour when creating NPCs as long as they are not gimped, and with a T1 ansd no spellcasting level lost he will shine, regardless of the build.

The plainest guildmaster's build! I also like to add flavour to my NPCs, so I'll keep this build in mind. Thank you. :smallwink:

[Flickerdart]

He won't actually make massive use of neither Illusion nor Evocation, but as a guild master he should know how to cast spells from those schools. What about the Spontaneous Divination ACF (complete champion)?
Spontaneous Divination is amazing, but I didn't recommend it for the same reason I don't think MotAO is a good fit - if he's very Lawful, he'll be preparing his spells based on a schedule or some sort of heuristic, and wouldn't care that much about being versatile throughout the day.

[Uncle Pine]

Spontaneous Divination is amazing, but I didn't recommend it for the same reason I don't think MotAO is a good fit - if he's very Lawful, he'll be preparing his spells based on a schedule or some sort of heuristic, and wouldn't care that much about being versatile throughout the day.

You're right: the spellpool of a MotAO is a rather chaotic way of preparing spell, because you're forced to shamelessly leave spell slots open. You wouldn't call such a wizard a Methodical one (with the capital M, at least).
Spontaneus Divination is a completely different flavour, in my opinion. It's like you have mastered the Divination school and can use it at your advantage whenever you need them! :smallwink: