Endarire
2015-10-17, 01:32 AM
Greetings, all!
I'm well-versed in the notion of Circle Magic. Player's Guide to Faerun has the Hathran, the divine/arcane Circle Magic user. Dungeon Master's Guide has the Red Wizard of Thay. Shining South has the Halruaan Elder. (Just read the description for the Halruaan Elder5 ability. It mentions the ability to lead Circle Magic.)
Retraining or rulesmancy that I don't yet understand aside, the absolute soonest you could get Circle Magic to boost yourself is character level 10 via Red Wizard. Halruaan Elder requires level 12 and Hathran requires character level 11 with early entry or .
Yes, I've read through the effects of Circle Magic. Yes, it's powerful.
One thing that most people don't talk about is that it's slow.
Circle Magic Caveats
-Each use of Circle Magic bolsters the circle leader. If you want the benefit, you must be there.
-Circle Magic normally only works with Humans (including anyone with the [Human] subtype like Deep Imaskari, or with form-altered Humans) with a specific feat determined by the casting class, such as Tattoo Focus for Red Wizards.
-Circle Magic requires at least 3 participants including you. This means you need at least 2 minions/apprentices to fuel the circle.
-Each use of Circle Magic requires 1 hour of uninterrupted concentration from everyone. During this hour, each caster casts a single prepared spell to add to the leader's circle pool at the rate of 1 spell level per Circle Point (CP). This circle pool has no stated upper limit
-Each spell that draws power from the circle pool costs CP per casting for Empower/Maximize/Heighten Spell. Reserve feats and big booms benefit most from this system.
-Boosting the circle leader's caster level (maximum base caster level 40) DOES NOT cost CP. That's a big concern for many, though consider that caster level limits exist on most spells to dampen such effects. This does mean that in a core environment, a Red Wizard10/Archmage with an Orange Ioun Stone could have a caster level of 47 (40 from Circle Magic + 1 from Archmage + 1 from the Ioun Stone + 5 from Red Wizard levels) and this caster level can increase far higher with extra materials without going infinite. Also, a high caster level makes buffs and crowd control spells last longer and effectively undispellable.
-People have suggested making your circle in a Portable Hole/Bag of Holding or the like and trapping your minions there. This can work, but it requires at least a Ring of Sustenance and a means of breathing indefinitely per creature. (Having each character instead be Undead like a Necropolitan also helps.) Preferably, your on-call minion squad won't revolt from boredom or being out of power. Simulacrum is one answer, but normally requires about a day (and EXP and money) per casting. Expect to be at least character level 13 before you cast simulacrum from your spell slots. If you can snag it earlier with items (like staves or scrolls), you can get it as soon as your Circle Leader status comes online.
-If you aren't going with extradimensional storage for your circle, use teleport (such as via spell slot or staff) to get to your circle and back where you were going - quickly.
Conclusions from Circle Magic
-If all you want to do is boost your spells with Empower/Maximize/Heighten, there are better ways to do so. Still, having spells Heightened to spell level 20 is handy for some reserve feats.
-If you want the caster level boost from Circle Magic, it's much faster than trying to add metamagic. Even with 4 apprentices offering a level 3 spell slot every ritual, that's a maximum of 4 rituals per day (and thus 4 hours) for enough CP to give you caster level 40.
-If you can afford to do Circle Magic (time-wise), what is your enemy doing and what else could you be doing? One campaign I played in, I gained 4 levels within 24 hours. In another campaign, I gained 2.
-Circle Magic still takes a notable while per use - at least 1 hour per 24. The longest campaign I played in terms of in-game time was about 453 days. That's going level 1-22, and we could have gone faster if we cared to.
-Debatably, the easier it is for you to get a higher caster level from Circle Magic, the less you need it. Higher-level characters need fewer spell slots to reach caster level 40, and higher-level characters can afford to have better minions powering their buffs. It's still at least 1 hour per 24 for the Circle Magic ritual, though.
-A Wizard5/Incantatrix3 is debatably more disruptive to game balance than Circle Magic. Why? 24-48 hour buffs! These buffs are at a caster level below 40 (I assume), but the ability to have more buffs on all day for the caster or/and his party probably changes the game's balance more than generally shorter-term but undispellable effects. And yes, a character could theoretically go Wizard/Incantatrix/Circle Magic Class for CL40+ all-day buffs but at the cost of 1 spell school for Incantatrix and another for Red Wizard (if you go that route).
-Circle Magic is, ultimately, powerful, but also niche. It requires a lot to set up on a daily basis, including a GM who will allow it. The Red Wizard of Thay PrC from Dungeon Master's Guide works well as an NPC villain organization because time is on the GM's side. Having a Wizard suddenly cast a fully Circle Magicked spell to annihilate a PC or party is within the rules and may be a sight to behold. Because of its setup, Circle Magic ultimately feels like it's a GM tool which PCs can sometime participate in.
I'm well-versed in the notion of Circle Magic. Player's Guide to Faerun has the Hathran, the divine/arcane Circle Magic user. Dungeon Master's Guide has the Red Wizard of Thay. Shining South has the Halruaan Elder. (Just read the description for the Halruaan Elder5 ability. It mentions the ability to lead Circle Magic.)
Retraining or rulesmancy that I don't yet understand aside, the absolute soonest you could get Circle Magic to boost yourself is character level 10 via Red Wizard. Halruaan Elder requires level 12 and Hathran requires character level 11 with early entry or .
Yes, I've read through the effects of Circle Magic. Yes, it's powerful.
One thing that most people don't talk about is that it's slow.
Circle Magic Caveats
-Each use of Circle Magic bolsters the circle leader. If you want the benefit, you must be there.
-Circle Magic normally only works with Humans (including anyone with the [Human] subtype like Deep Imaskari, or with form-altered Humans) with a specific feat determined by the casting class, such as Tattoo Focus for Red Wizards.
-Circle Magic requires at least 3 participants including you. This means you need at least 2 minions/apprentices to fuel the circle.
-Each use of Circle Magic requires 1 hour of uninterrupted concentration from everyone. During this hour, each caster casts a single prepared spell to add to the leader's circle pool at the rate of 1 spell level per Circle Point (CP). This circle pool has no stated upper limit
-Each spell that draws power from the circle pool costs CP per casting for Empower/Maximize/Heighten Spell. Reserve feats and big booms benefit most from this system.
-Boosting the circle leader's caster level (maximum base caster level 40) DOES NOT cost CP. That's a big concern for many, though consider that caster level limits exist on most spells to dampen such effects. This does mean that in a core environment, a Red Wizard10/Archmage with an Orange Ioun Stone could have a caster level of 47 (40 from Circle Magic + 1 from Archmage + 1 from the Ioun Stone + 5 from Red Wizard levels) and this caster level can increase far higher with extra materials without going infinite. Also, a high caster level makes buffs and crowd control spells last longer and effectively undispellable.
-People have suggested making your circle in a Portable Hole/Bag of Holding or the like and trapping your minions there. This can work, but it requires at least a Ring of Sustenance and a means of breathing indefinitely per creature. (Having each character instead be Undead like a Necropolitan also helps.) Preferably, your on-call minion squad won't revolt from boredom or being out of power. Simulacrum is one answer, but normally requires about a day (and EXP and money) per casting. Expect to be at least character level 13 before you cast simulacrum from your spell slots. If you can snag it earlier with items (like staves or scrolls), you can get it as soon as your Circle Leader status comes online.
-If you aren't going with extradimensional storage for your circle, use teleport (such as via spell slot or staff) to get to your circle and back where you were going - quickly.
Conclusions from Circle Magic
-If all you want to do is boost your spells with Empower/Maximize/Heighten, there are better ways to do so. Still, having spells Heightened to spell level 20 is handy for some reserve feats.
-If you want the caster level boost from Circle Magic, it's much faster than trying to add metamagic. Even with 4 apprentices offering a level 3 spell slot every ritual, that's a maximum of 4 rituals per day (and thus 4 hours) for enough CP to give you caster level 40.
-If you can afford to do Circle Magic (time-wise), what is your enemy doing and what else could you be doing? One campaign I played in, I gained 4 levels within 24 hours. In another campaign, I gained 2.
-Circle Magic still takes a notable while per use - at least 1 hour per 24. The longest campaign I played in terms of in-game time was about 453 days. That's going level 1-22, and we could have gone faster if we cared to.
-Debatably, the easier it is for you to get a higher caster level from Circle Magic, the less you need it. Higher-level characters need fewer spell slots to reach caster level 40, and higher-level characters can afford to have better minions powering their buffs. It's still at least 1 hour per 24 for the Circle Magic ritual, though.
-A Wizard5/Incantatrix3 is debatably more disruptive to game balance than Circle Magic. Why? 24-48 hour buffs! These buffs are at a caster level below 40 (I assume), but the ability to have more buffs on all day for the caster or/and his party probably changes the game's balance more than generally shorter-term but undispellable effects. And yes, a character could theoretically go Wizard/Incantatrix/Circle Magic Class for CL40+ all-day buffs but at the cost of 1 spell school for Incantatrix and another for Red Wizard (if you go that route).
-Circle Magic is, ultimately, powerful, but also niche. It requires a lot to set up on a daily basis, including a GM who will allow it. The Red Wizard of Thay PrC from Dungeon Master's Guide works well as an NPC villain organization because time is on the GM's side. Having a Wizard suddenly cast a fully Circle Magicked spell to annihilate a PC or party is within the rules and may be a sight to behold. Because of its setup, Circle Magic ultimately feels like it's a GM tool which PCs can sometime participate in.