Help me build a wild mage

[Kafana]

So, I've been thinking about my next character, and I thought about him being an elf X/Y/Wild mage, with the practiced spellcaster feat.

Now, since I have practiced spellcaster I thought about starting out as some non-arcane caster class, for 1 level, in order to get better bonuses than what spellcasters get at level 1. This is the "X" in my build. I thought about going either with barbarian for 12 hp and +10ft movement speed or rogue to put 4 ranks in all social skills as well as UMD and perhaps some other skill I might find interesting. Hell, maybe even favored soul for the ability to cast low level divine spells as well as +2 on all saves.

As for "Y" this should be either sorcerer or wizard, though any class is welcome really. A sorcerer is far less tedious to play in my opinion, though a wizard is obviously far more versatile if he has time to prepare.

Now, I'll be playing a chaotic good character, so I'd avoid a build that focuses on "suffering", and I thought about focusing on conjuration (Summon monster + orb of X), but really anything (other than necromancy) is a welcome suggestion.

So, what should my X and Y be? What other feats would you recommend?

[the_david]

If it was my group I'd look at you funny, then laugh really loud. Then I would say no. Practiced Spellcaster and Wild Mage weren't meant to be used together, even if RAW would allow it.

Sorcerer would be the more chaotic one, I guess. The Charisma would help with the Rogue skills and Sneak Attack works on rays, though that's not the best tactic. I wouldn't turn an illiterate Barbarian into a Wizard for roleplaying reasons. Somehow, being the favored of the gods would draw me to Sorcerer, and there's a Charisma synergy. The exception would be if that god was a god of magic, though I'd have to inform you that Boccob really doesn't care.
There is also the Elf Paragon class from Unearthed Arcana if you want to play a wizard.

[Kafana]

If it was my group I'd look at you funny, then laugh really loud. Then I would say no. Practiced Spellcaster and Wild Mage weren't meant to be used together, even if RAW would allow it.

Yeah, I suppose that's fair. Alright, so lets disregard practiced spellcaster then.

Now I'm looking at a Y/Wild mage character. What should Y be, and suggest some feats that work well with this type of character.

[Amphetryon]

If it was my group I'd look at you funny, then laugh really loud. Then I would say no. Practiced Spellcaster and Wild Mage weren't meant to be used together, even if RAW would allow it.


Do you have a citation indicating why these weren't "meant" to be used together?

[Troacctid]

Practiced Spellcaster really shouldn't be that problematic with Wild Mage. It's a weird interaction, but ultimately all you're doing is removing the 33% chance of casting a weaker version of your spell. For the cost of a feat, that's not out of line. It's not letting the character do anything they weren't already doing.

That said, it's not worth losing a caster level on your Wild Mage even if you're taking Practiced Spellcaster. The problem with multiclassing isn't having a caster level of X instead of X+1, it's that you slow down your spell progression and miss out on higher-level spell slots. And who wants that? Just go straight sorcerer, I'd say.