[3.5] I want to be the very best, like no one ever was

[Incarceron]

Alright, so I'm joining a new 3.5 campaign as a 4th level Wizard. I want to prestige class into a Blood Magus. How can I min/max to become the strongest possible? I know I could do silly things with Abrupt Jaunt, Cerelity, etc., but I'm fairly new to 3.5 and any help would be appreciated.

[MirddinEmris]

You can begin from explaining what exactly do you mean by "strongest possible". Highest STR? Bigger damage? :confused:

And Blood Magus is a terrible PrC, pure wizard is much better

[HaikenEdge]

You know, for a while, I was hoping you meant you wanted to catch them as your real test, and to train them as your cause, in which case I was going to suggest EWP (Net) and a lot of ranks in Handle Animal, possibly with an ACF or feat that allows Handle Animal to apply to other species as well.

[Incarceron]

You can begin from explaining what exactly do you mean by "strongest possible". Highest STR? Bigger damage? :confused:

And Blood Magus is a terrible PrC, pure wizard is much better

Hmmm. I would like to do as much damage as possible, while taking the least amount of damage, make an overpowered character. Know what I'm sayin'? :P

[Snowbluff]

This guide has a some sample spell preparations at the end. It's very handy.

Don't forget about your familiar! (http://dictummortuum.blogspot.com/2011/08/familiars-handbook.html)Getting Planar Familiar for a Mirror Mephit from Expedition to the Demonweb Pits is an incredibly strong move for its Simulacrum SLA.

It's possible to get 9th level spells at level 1. I won't go into the details, since doing that sort of thing can really derail a campaign.

A few good suggestions of my own for builds:

Wizard/Incantatrix10/Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil. The basic MM abuser with the best defensive wizard class.

Wizard6/Swiftblade9/Spelldancer1/Abjurant Champion4. These guys are a strong wizard Gish. Most anti-caster tricks don't work against them thanks to Dilligent Rapidity.

Wizard4/Beguiler1/Ultimate Magus. Use Versatile Spellcaster to lower the Spontaneous casting requirement. Use Practiced Spellcaster (Beguiler) to level wizard more frequently with this PrC.This will let you have some good MM reduction and some extra spell slots per day if you do it right.

[HaikenEdge]

Hmmm. I would like to do as much damage as possible, while taking the least amount of damage, make an overpowered character. Know what I'm sayin'? :P

Dealing damage is one of the worst things a spellcaster can do; yes, they can do it, but there are a lot better things for them to spend their spell slots on. If you want to deal lots of damage, you're probably better off playing a melee character; if you insist on being a spellcaster, you're probably best served as a gish who uses their magic to back their magic to back their melee abilities.

I suppose you could grab a level of Cancer Mage and get Festering Anger, then just be the Hulk of wizards.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

A Wizard who deals damage can only deal as much damage as he has spell slots for, whereas someone who swings a sword can deal damage all day every day with no limitation other than the normal action economy. So if you want to deal 'as much damage as possible' then you need to be able to do so without using spell slots each time you deal damage. Take a look at a Gish Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=8786), a gish uses spells to buff himself and then goes around swinging a sword better than anyone else.

Starting at 4th level, make your character Human and go Human Paragon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm#humanParagon) 1/ Fighter 1/ this Wizard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wizard) 2, future levels should be Human Paragon 2/ Spellsword 1/ Incantatrix 3/ Abjurant Champion 5/ Incantatrix 1/ Eldritch Knight 4. Possibly move some of those Abjurant Champion levels up a bit earlier if you need the HP and BAB sooner. Get Extend Spell, Combat Casting, Power Attack, Combat Reflexes, Item Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm), Practiced Spellcaster, and say you visited the Otyugh Hole detailed in Complete Scoundrel to get Iron Will without spending a feat on it. Future feats should include Persistent Spell, Minor Shapeshift, and Arcane Strike.

Your Item Familiar should start as a Ring of Protection +1 which you paid full price for, but you can upgrade it yourself as though you possessed the required item creation feats. You should invest every skill point you gain starting at 4th level into it for the greatest return, and put as much as possible toward Spellcraft so you can always succeed on your Incantatrix abilities by taking ten. An item familiar is an intelligent item, so you can add more intelligent item abilities to it per the standard item creation rules. Intelligent items are regarded as constructs which means they're creatures, and creatures cannot be disabled or destroyed by dispelling or disjoining and continue to function in antimagic and dead magic areas. You can wear a glove or gauntlet over the ring so opponents never have line of sight/effect to it and cannot attack or slight of hand it. It will also get actions every round, so if you give it activated abilities such as a Ring of Invisibility, it can use that after you've finished attacking for the round and you'll be invisible while everyone else acts.

You can use Cooperative Metamagic from Incantatrix on your own spells when not in combat as the action economy system only exists during initiative. Use Cooperative Metamagic and Metamagic Effect to add Persistent Spell to all of your buffs so they last 24 hours. Here's a Top 10 Arcane Persistable Spells By Level (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=12944) list that should be a good start. Also keep in mind that you'll want to be good-aligned and possibly even exalted so you'll be able to cast (Greater) Luminous Armor, which is the only armor bonus spell that benefits from Abjurant Champion's abilities.

[Slipperychicken]

You know, for a while, I was hoping you meant you wanted to catch them as your real test, and to train them as your cause, in which case I was going to suggest EWP (Net) and a lot of ranks in Handle Animal, possibly with an ACF or feat that allows Handle Animal to apply to other species as well.

I was hoping that he would capture opponents using nonlethal damage, mindrape train them to be his slaves best friends, then cast Flesh to Stone/PaO and permanent shrink item so he could keep them in a belt of many pockets and deploy them at will.

[Incarceron]

This guide has a some sample spell preparations at the end. It's very handy.

Don't forget about your familiar! (http://dictummortuum.blogspot.com/2011/08/familiars-handbook.html)Getting Planar Familiar for a Mirror Mephit from Expedition to the Demonweb Pits is an incredibly strong move for its Simulacrum SLA.

It's possible to get 9th level spells at level 1. I won't go into the details, since doing that sort of thing can really derail a campaign.

A few good suggestions of my own for builds:

Wizard/Incantatrix10/Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil. The basic MM abuser with the best defensive wizard class.

Wizard6/Swiftblade9/Spelldancer1/Abjurant Champion4. These guys are a strong wizard Gish. Most anti-caster tricks don't work against them thanks to Dilligent Rapidity.

Wizard4/Beguiler1/Ultimate Magus. Use Versatile Spellcaster to lower the Spontaneous casting requirement. Use Practiced Spellcaster (Beguiler) to level wizard more frequently with this PrC.This will let you have some good MM reduction and some extra spell slots per day if you do it right.

I thought if I wanted to take Abrupt Jaunt, I had to not have a familiar?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I thought if I wanted to take Abrupt Jaunt, I had to not have a familiar?

You can get the feat Obtain Familiar in CA and get one, and it even counts your levels in prestige classes that advance spellcasting for its benefits instead of just your Wizard levels.

[Phelix-Mu]

You can get the feat Obtain Familiar in CA and get one, and it even counts your levels in prestige classes that advance spellcasting for its benefits instead of just your Wizard levels.

And if Dragon Magazines are on the table, you can have a bunch of familiars; I believe the feat is called "Extra Familiar," and it does what it says, IIRC. And I think you can jigger Share Spell to work out to a distance of a mile, too, with another one of those feats. Always wanted to have a "Snow White" wizard who would be surrounded by little animals, all of them her familiars, all under the effects of imbue familiar with spell ability. Ideally, one wouldn't be pure wizard, either, to give them some decent hp (or just go with the tired necropolitan/FMI thing...gosh, is that ever not useful?).

[Snowbluff]

Starting at 4th level, make your character Human and go Human Paragon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm#humanParagon) 1/ Fighter 1/ this Wizard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wizard) 2, future levels should be Human Paragon 2/ Spellsword 1/ Incantatrix 3/ Abjurant Champion 5/ Incantatrix 1/ Eldritch Knight 4. Possibly move some of those Abjurant Champion levels up a bit earlier if you need the HP and BAB sooner. Get Extend Spell, Combat Casting, Power Attack, Combat Reflexes, Item Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm), Practiced Spellcaster, and say you visited the Otyugh Hole detailed in Complete Scoundrel to get Iron Will without spending a feat on it. Future feats should include Persistent Spell, Minor Shapeshift, and Arcane StrikeI would strongly suggest taking advantage of the Human Paragon skill list with Able Learner here.

Also, DER SVIFTBLADEN IS BETTER! Sieg heil der sviftbladen!:smalltongue:

[Flickerdart]

You know, for a while, I was hoping you meant you wanted to catch them as your real test, and to train them as your cause, in which case I was going to suggest EWP (Net) and a lot of ranks in Handle Animal, possibly with an ACF or feat that allows Handle Animal to apply to other species as well.
Fiendbinder seems to be the more accurate representation - you get "evolved" versions of fiends as you level, they don't obey you unless you're strong enough, and they have a variety of special moves.

[Incarceron]

So, I think I'm going to go into the Sevenfold PrC instead of Bloodmagus. It seems to be much more powerful. Is it possible to specialize in Conjuration, but still go into the Intiate of the Sevenfold Veil?