Gnome illusionists

[Lloyd-Starbuck]

Hi, i have been building a gnome illusionist and looking at other forums for ideas. so far i decided on a wizard who specializes in illusions, i'm also taking shadowcraft mage. my dm is thinking of doing a gestalt campaign., which leads to my question. what would be the best second base class. should i go with another class that can cast illusion spell, a class that can cast other spell, a class that can be in combat, or some other class.

[gorfnab]

Hi, i have been building a gnome illusionist and looking at other forums for ideas. so far i decided on a wizard who specializes in illusions, i'm also taking shadowcraft mage.

Some useful reading material on that subject: Shadowcraft Mage Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5638.0)


my dm is thinking of doing a gestalt campaign., which leads to my question. what would be the best second base class. should i go with another class that can cast illusion spell, a class that can cast other spell, a class that can be in combat, or some other class.
Though you're playing gestalt you're still limited in terms of action economy. This is why I normally for gestalt recommend an active // passive combination. Active classes (ie most spellcasters) spend their actions casting spells. Passive classes have abilities that don't use actions and provide passive or always on buffs. The other thing to look for in gestalt is ability synergy. Wizards are Int based. Passive classes (or class combos) that benefit from high Int would be Factotum, Rogue/Swashbuckler (Daring Outlaw) mix, Monk (for a few levels anyways with the Kung-Fu Genius or Carmendine Monk feat), and Warblade (focused on counters and buffs). If you must have more spells (or similar) your best options would be Beguiler, Psychic Rogue, and Spellthief since these classes function well with high Int and also have Rogue like abilities that mix well with Illusions. If you can swing a decent Wis score Wildshape Trapfinding Mystic Ranger with the Feat Sword of the Arcane Order could be an interesting option as well.

[icefractal]

It's also a good opportunity to take casting PrCs that lose a lot of CL without actually losing CL. I remember there being some shadow-themed ones that gave good abilities but lose too much CL to normally be workable.

[sideswipe]

see if your DM will allow you to take LA and RHD on one side of your gestalt. if so then take a few levels of RHD and LA to get some nice templates or a gnome variant and pump your int. maybe other stats with it. since illusions are not always great.

after a few levels spent on making your int stupidly high (for upping your DC's) you can go with the other things that have been said. i suggest factotum (i always do).

[Chronos]

Eh, the best gnome variant (Whisper Gnome) doesn't have any LA anyway, so there's no need.

[Rebel7284]

I will third factotum. Add your int to everything! you even get a few extra spells like you wanted.

[Urpriest]

I will third factotum. Add your int to everything! you even get a few extra spells like you wanted.

Plus, extra actions are beautiful on a caster.

[sideswipe]

Eh, the best gnome variant (Whisper Gnome) doesn't have any LA anyway, so there's no need.

yes but im sure there are some nice int boosting templates. or other stat boosting that you might want. as well as nice abilities like EX. flight

[Andion Isurand]

I would recommend looking at the Arcane Gnome from Dragon 291
and then possibly tack on the Arctic template from Dragon 306
and then maybe finish off with making him a Dragonborn

-2 Str, -2 dex, +6 Con, +2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha @ LA +0

for the first level only feat, I would look at Keen Intellect from Dragon 318 so you can dump Wisdom.

Also: the Arcane Gnome was written for the 3.0 gnome, so I wouldn't include the +1 to illusion spell DCs anyway when using the arcane gnome... so don't worry about losing it due to the Dragonborn template.