Help with Arcane Casters

[Dr_PDQ]

OK so Im playing in a Castle Ravenloft 3.5 campain starting lv 4 the group needs an arcane caster so i decided to take one for the team an play one. the campain starts in 6 hours ive got stats and thats it so heres what i need. I need good suggestions on the best arcane caster for this i prefer spontaneous casters i.e. Warmage but tryin to see what else is out there


anything from 3.0/3.5 is good only ban is no LA


this is my first post here ive come here alot to get questions that other ppl had answered but cant find this one if some1 already did a post on this let me know and ill check it out

[Pluto!]

If you're new and in a rush, I'd check out some of the Wizard's guides, which should hold your hand through character-building and play. The three big guides are LogicNinja's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104002) and Treantmonk's (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1570) (both enjoyable reads with advice on character-building and playing a caster well) and Dictum Mortuum's (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Wizards%27_Handbook_by_Dictum_Mortuum_%283.5e_Opti mized_Character_Build%29) (much more in-depth on character-building elements, more for surgical browsing if you're looking to fill an item slot, feat, etc).

EDIT:
Actually, if you want more concrete advice, could you say what you want to do with your caster? There are a bunch of classes that you can work with on almost anything - specialized spontaneous casters like the Warmage (for blasting), the Beguiler (for sneaking around and deluding people) and the Dread Necromancer (for cackling behind dead things), mixed caster/skillmonkey and caster/warrior classes like the Bard and Duskblade and more general classes like the Wizard, Wu Jen and Sorcerer, which tend to be the strongest but to require a bit more legwork to put together.

I'm sure folks here would be happy to help you cobble one of those together, but it's always easiest if you can post a prospective build for others to work with, instead of letting them taking shots in the dark with characters that you may or may not want.

[Captnq]

Lets see... The total list of every spellcasting class is HERE (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=5044.msg73050#msg73050).
And The Spell Handbook is HERE (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=5044.msg72093#msg72093).

If you can be any class, be a Spellcaster, pick divine instead of arcane so you can avoid ASF, then You can pick spells from Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard, and Wu Jen. Yes, no nifty perks, but I feel if you are going to go spont-cast, go spont-cast in a way that allows you to combine spells in way they were never intended.

Or go Archivist. It fits with the setting and there are many Arcane spells that have divine counterparts.

Otherwise, why beat around the bush. Just pick a wizard.

[Dr_PDQ]

ive been playing for 10 years have alot of exp playing but not alot in the arcane caster my main go too arcane caster is warmage ive played wiz and sorc im just looking for suggestions on another good arcane caster

[DMVerdandi]

My 2 suggestions are

wizard 5/Geometer 2/xx

And Archivist 20.

Either way, obtain an aureon's spellshard or two. Basically they are like boccob's blessed books, BUT, they require no ink, and are fist sized crystals, so they are hard, waterproof, and generally safer than having a book.

If you take wizard/geometer, each spell costs 1 page to scribe, and they hold 500 pages worth of spells. So, for two, you can scribe all wizard spells in existence, for little under 12,000 bucks. Once you get tons of money, you can simply duplicate all your spells multiple times for insane preparedness's sake.


You can do the same with archivist, but since they have no way to get geometer, their spells take a bit more.



Now, with archivist, you get access to all divine spells, so long as you can scribe them. Since you can scribe spells from other classes as long as you have them in participation when you make scrolls, actually filling the spells you need doesn't require DM intervention. Since most classes have access to their whole lists, this becomes quite easy.


In ravenloft, it might be a little more effective to use a divine spellcaster as well. Just roleplay either one of the two options as that bookish occultist, always thumbing through a dangerous tome, being THAT GUY, who just can't help giving the book of evil darkness a read.

[ryu]

ive been playing for 10 years have alot of exp playing but not alot in the arcane caster my main go too arcane caster is warmage ive played wiz and sorc im just looking for suggestions on another good arcane caster

What level of power are you looking to bring forth? What's your parties composition? What is the starting level, and where do you expect to end the campaign level-wise? How much wealth is expected to be available? If you know, how much silliness does your group work with? All of these are important questions.

[nedz]

It sounds like you don't really know the Arcane Spells so choosing the ones you want might be tricky in 6 hours, even though you're only level 4.

You suggested a fixed list which will help here, but Beguiler or Dread Necromancer might be better options than Warmage ?

It depends on what sort of Arcanist you want to play ?

Ed: slight reading fail.

[ryu]

Level 4? Focused specialist conjurer wizard for an entire pile of slots and a very strong focus a school that is hilarious at all levels. Ban necromancy, evocation, and enchantment. Look up spontaneous divination ACF which will only get funnier as you increase in level, and abrupt jaunt ACF for being nearly invincible early on. For spells looks up such gems as grease, color spray, web, anything with fog or cloud in its name, Anything with the pane or planar in its name, glibness, polymorph, alter self, anything with teleport in the name, black tentacles for early on but not yet, glitterdust, fly, invisibility line, blur, anything with the word image or shadow in the name, and of course fabricate. Why are all of those good? Just look at what they read as and ask yourself what you think they're capable of.