3.5 Caster/Trapper Optimized Build Help

[Vaeldoom]

Ok so recently my normal role play group has decided to start another campaign based in Eberron (located in the town irontown of the province of karrenuth to be precise) and currently the group consists of a drunken master(i think that's what its called i could be mistaken), a bone knight, a bard and a paladin, one who is undecided,and then me. as you can see there is a lot of front line combat and divine but barely any utility excluding the bard because he really isn't doing much besides boosting the tanks of plenty with dragonfire inspiration.

so fellow forum goers here is the task at hand, with the lack of Arcane Casting and trap finding ability i'd like help making a character that can do both rather well with full casting are damn close to it (missing 1-3 levels is fine) and were starting at lvl 6

My Rolls for Attributes were as follows (18,18,16,14,14,12) and id like to play a whisper gnome. the books that are allowed are all of Eberron and any book that isnt campaign, 3rp party or dragon magazine

a few of the ideas i had were to be either

Beguiler 1/ transmuter 4/ ultimate magus 1

or

Beguiler 1/ conjurer 4/ ultimate magus 1

both of which would take all the ultimate magus levels to get the casting of both the beguiler and focused specialist wizard to be a high as possible (by the end being ecl 11 beguiler/ 11 conjurer by 15th level) then take the practiced spell caster feat for the wizard to make up the loss in casting that i would take from the PRC and 1 lvl dip in beguiler.

Additional rules to take note of is that two flaws are allowed and it is home ruled that if one class has a skill the other dose not it still counts as a class skill if you take a level in the class that doesn't have it.

anyways may the optimization commence, and let me know what you think of the ideas stated above. (also sorry if its a little hard to read or if there are any grammar/spelling issues i wasn't that fond of English class back when i was in school)

[lagninja]

For Trap Finding and Arcane Casting, I'd recommend going Unseen Seer, personally. It tends itself more to Sneak Attack than pure blasting, using various buffs to dish out damage, but fills the niche you need. Using the Orb attacks or the Acidic Splatter reserve feat (CMg) and Hunter's Eye (Ranger 1, Gained from Unseen Seer) you'll be able to stack up the SA dice all day long.

Something like Rog 1 / Conj 5 (Or, even better, Focused Conj) to start off with, and grabbing Unseen Seer at 7th level. Trade the 5th level Bonus feat for Spontaneous Divination. Go 10 in Unseen Seer and then branch off into Arcane Trickster or Abjurant Champion for the last four.

Another way to go would be Rog 1 / Focused Conj 4 / Unseen Seer 10 / Spell Warp Sniper 5. But that's only really worth it for the 5th level ability of Spell Warp, and you miss out on Spont Divination.

9th level spells are grabbed in either set, and the missing caster levels can be brought up pretty easily.

[D4rkh0rus]

If you want to cast spells and be a skillmonkey you have a few ways.

Beguiler/Wizard - Ultimate magus is one of them as you have written, make sure you're human (if DM lets illumians count as human even better) cuz you'll need to grab Able Learner.


Another is straight Factotum, they get "pseudospells" up to lvl 7. not that great, but the class lends itself to just about anything.


One that I particularly enjoy is rogue or factotum into chameleon. I recommend chameleon, sure you dont get 9th level spells, only up to 6. but you literally have access to any divine spell ever made 6th level or lower (and I assure you, theres a few th lvl and 8th lvl spells printed as 6th lvl for certain obscure classes), and if you can obtain a scroll or someone who knows, every arcane spell up to 6th level (same with some higher level spells). oh boy.

Add in some cleric for DMM persist and you're set. Also, you get to cast both divine and arcane spells at lvl 7 due to double aptitude.

Also, the free floating feat lends itself to item crafting or incredibly situational feats. you can change it every day.

Only problem is that its rather MAD. If you have access to oriental adventures, get the reqs for Shiba protector 1, that helps a lot in combat.

[lagninja]

Beguiler/Wizard - Ultimate magus is one of them as you have written, make sure you're human (if DM lets illumians count as human even better) cuz you'll need to grab Able Learner.


Able Learner is useless here, he said that his DM essentially house ruled it as a free feat.

it is home ruled that if one class has a skill the other dose not it still counts as a class skill if you take a level in the class that doesn't have it.

[Vaeldoom]

Another is straight Factotum, they get "pseudospells" up to lvl 7. not that great, but the class lends itself to just about anything.


Hmm, i never heard of this class before. after looking at it for a bit it seems pretty solid, great idea D4rk, thanks.

ill take a look at all of the info provided so far and see what build i like most. after that ill post what i like to see how to optimize it better

EDIT: So after about an hour or two looking at the builds it looks like the Beguiler/Wizard into Ultimate magus wins it out. since both primary casting stats are int they flow quite well together. i think with the rolls i got ill go with the following stat layout

STR:14
Dex:16
Con:18
Int:18
Wis:14
Cha:12

if you think it could be better let me know.

race wise its between human and whisper gnome, maybe thrown in strong heart halfling as well,

only main problem i has is feats/flaws

and after farther reading into UM if I've read it right by taking Practiced spell caster Beguiler i can get more wizard levels out of UM then i would normally so there is one feet chosen if that is true.