Shadowcraft Mage Build help

[crouchingmoose]

Hello, I'm trying to make an Epic Level 30 character that is the sortof "King of Shadows" and basing it arround the shadowcraft mage. I think I've got most of the detail hammered out but I wanted some input on it.

For classes, I'm thinking the following (not necessarily taken in the order listed):

Gnome Focused Illusionist 5 (with both racial levels, Chains of Disbelief, and Illusion Mastery Alternate class features)
Master Specialist 4
Shadowcraft Mage 5
Shadowcrafter 10
Shadow Adept 1
Incantatrix 4
Nightmare Spinner 1


Since the character almost exclusively uses shadow spells and likes to travel via the Plane of shadow. I think this gives the flavor the character needs to be a super focused shadowcraft mage as well as a character who primaraliy does battle by using peoples fears against them.

Another question I have is, with the aboved build, Yes I'm great at illusions, but I also have to abandon 4 schools. Which ones should I give up? I'm currently looking at evocation, enchantment, necromancy, and transmutation. Since those seem to be the best options to give up flavorwise and power wise.

My last 2 questions pertain to the same thing: ability scores. I know everyone is saying max Int, then con, then dex. However I still need 13 in wis for Earth sense and Earth Spell. Is there a way around the Wis requirement for those feats? And if not, what is a good 32 point buy sample I could use for this character that meets the 13 wis requirement for those feats?

Thank you for all resposes!

[Aegis013]

You have a lot more levels than the typical 20 there. But it seems like you know the generally good PrCs to take, which is good. It's up to you how to arrange them just based on what you want, but it's probably in your best interests to get into Shadowcraft Mage as early as possible. Ask your DM if the Earth Spell lower level entry trick is ok (since you can cast higher level spells, do you qualify two levels early - I'm sure you've read about this).

As far as the schools to give up, most of the ones you picked are good options to give up. Evocation, Enchantment, and Necromancy won't hurt you too badly. However, Transmutation is not something a Shadowcraft Mage can imitate with his illusions, and it's one of the most versatile and powerful schools out of them all. Abjuration or Conjuration would be better options for schools to ban; while they're both incredible schools, Abjuration isn't quite as powerful as Conjuration and Transmutation, and you can cover some of the bases of Conjuration through imitation with the Shadowcraft Mage's abilities. Though you might decide to keep Abjuration just for access to Incantatrix.

Since Shadowcraft Mage requires you to be a gnome, Whisper Gnome (pg. 94 of Races of Stone) is likely your best race option. They get +2 dex, +2 con, -2 str, -2 cha, so your base (before racial mods) 32 pt buy spread ought to be either Str 8, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 8 (after racial mods 6/14/16/18/14/6) or Str 8, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 12 (after racial mods 6/12/14/18/14/10) if you want the minor benefits of the SLAs available to Whisper Gnomes with 10 or more Cha.

Additionally, you should look into Residual Magic feat for your Shadowcraft Mage, as that allows some pretty absurdly powerful uses in conjunction with Heighten and Earth Spell.

[Randomguy]

Incantatrixes can't ban abjuration, so you'd be best off banning conjuration and just mimicking the spells.
But do you really need incantatrix on this build? Your CL is so high that you can extend you 10 minute/level spells and then they'd last more than 10 hours, assuming you take a few easy to get CL boosters, so there's not much point in the usual persist shenanigans. Hell, do you even need to focus specialize? You've got so many spells per day you'll likely never run out.


Have you considered a warlock build? With the Shadowmaster epic warlock feat (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ei/20061027a) you can use shades at will as a warlock, making you a great King of Shadows character. If you're CG then you could be a Warlock 20/Enlightened Spirit 10, giving you more evocations than a regular Warlock 30. You give up epic bonus feats though, and it's not very thematic.

Maybe take a dual progression prc and be a Warlock3/Wizard 3/Eldritch Theurge 10/Shadowcraft Mage 5/Epic Eldritch Theurge 4, although I'm not sure if that qualifies for ShadowMaster.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Level 30 Shadowcraft Mage....

Beguiler 1/ Wizard 1/ Spellthief 1/ Master Specialist 2/ Ultimage Magus 10/ Master Specialist 2/ Mindbender 1/ Shadowcraft Mage 5/ Incantatrix 3/ Shadow Adept 1/ Nightmare Spinner 1/ Shadowcrafter 2

Future levels should go into Shadowcrafter until its 7th or 8th level, then into Incantatrix. You'll need Versatile Spellcaster by 3rd level to qualify for Master Specialist. Use Master Spellthief to equalize your caster levels. At level 30 you can put your spellcasting at Wizard 17, Beguiler 18, or you can increase one to decrease the other by an equal amount. Your caster level in each class is 40, regardless of what you pick for each individual class, with no need to spend feats on Practiced Spellcaster. Nightmare Spinner does not specify that you may only apply it to one class's casting, so it should give you bonus illusion spells to both Wizard and Beguiler. If you go with 17th/18th for 9th level spells in both classes, you'll get twice as many epic spells/day via Epic Spellcasting. I wouldn't bother with Focused Specialist since you'll have tons more spells/day via Beguiler, so keep Transmutation.

Definitely take Residual Magic (CM), Ability Focus: Silent Image, Invisible Spell, Persistent Spell, Earth Sense, Heighten Spell, Earth Spell, Mindsight, Quicken Spell, and Multispell multiple times... Your Persistent spells via Incantatrix should definitely include Arcane Spellsurge from Dragon Magic. The last thing you should do in a given round is cast a Heightened Silent Image via Beguiler, which will be a standard action. The first thing you should do on any round after that is cast a normal Silent Image via either Beguiler or Wizard, which will be a swift action and get Heightened for free thanks to Residual Magic. Wear sandals made from stone slabs so you're always standing on stone and can always use Earth Spell.