best antimage

[Gambitspades]

So i want to mage an anti mage. an arcane caster that focusses on counterspelling and dispelling.
i want a high spell resistance and enough abilities to counter spells...
are there any specific classes that help in this way...and/or feats

[Dread_Head]

Illumian (Krau and Naen sigils) Cloistered Cleric 1 / (Focused) Specialist Abjurer Wizard 3 / Master Specialist 4 / Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil 7 / Archmage 1 / Master Specialist +4.

Take the Inquisition and Planning domains and the feats Arcane Mastery, Divine Defiance and maybe Elven Spell Lore along with the feats you need for prerequisites. You should never fail a dispel check and should be using dispel magic to counterspell as well (again never failing). You can counterspell 1/round as an immediate action or 2/round if you use an action to ready as well. At higher levels when you counterspell you also gain offensive options (from Mastery of Counterspells and Kaleidoscopic Doom).

Don't bother looking for SR, it generally isn't worth it as it is difficult to achieve and interferes with friendly spells just as much.

[Flickerdart]

There was a dispelling and counterspelling handbook on the WotC forums, it is cached here (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WnWpVHRpD8QJ:community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1239466+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us).

However, note that "I ready an action to shoot him in the face when he casts a spell" often works as an excellent counterspell-type move.

[A_S]

You will want:
A way of countering spells as an immediate action, so you can do it without spending all of your own actions on Ready. This generally means either the Divine Defiance feat from Fiendish Codex II (which means dipping divine casting of some kind), or the Warp Spell mystery, probably on a Noctumancer (both from Tome of Magic).
A way to make sure you are successful when you attempt to counterspell. This means either the Improved Counterspell (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#improvedCounterspell) and Heighten Spell (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#heightenSpell) feats, or else reliable access to (Greater (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/dispelMagicGreater.htm)) Dispel Magic (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/dispelMagic.htm) and a way of boosting your dispel checks by enough that you reliably succeed on them, even against high-level opponents.
Optionally: Access to abilities that do cool stuff when you successfully counter/dispel other people's spells, like the Archmage (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/archmage.htm)'s Mastery of Counterspelling ability.
I strongly recommend you don't invest heavily in Spell Resistance. It's very hard to get it high enough to be effective against level-appropriate enemies, and even if you do, competent spellcasters have lots of options for ways to bypass SR anyway.

-----

If you're looking for a complete build, either to use from the whole cloth, or as a source of ideas, here's one I put together a while back:

Human

Stats (32 point buy):
Str: 8
Dex: 10
Con: 14
Int: 18
Wis: 12
Cha: 12

1 - Wizard 1 - Precocious Apprentice, Spell Focus (abjuration), Improved Initiative (b)
2 - Cleric 1 - Spell Focus (enchantment) (b)
3 - Master Specialist 1 - Practiced Spellcaster (wizard), Skill Focus (spellcraft) (b)
4 - Master Specialist 2 - Int 19
5 - Cleric 2
6 - Cleric 3 - Divine Defiance
7 - Master Specialist 3 - Greater Spell Focus (abjuration)
8 - Master Specialist 4 - Int 20
9 - Master Specialist 5 - Arcane Mastery
10 - Master Specialist 6
11 - Master Specialist 7
12 - Master Specialist 8 - Extend Spell, Int 21
13 - Sacred Exorcist 1
14 - Incantatrix 1 - Persistent Spell (b)
15 - Incantatrix 2 - Spell Mastery
16 - Incantatrix 3 - Int 22
17 - Archmage 1
18 - Master Specialist 9 - Signature Spell (Greater Dispel Magic)
19 - Master Specialist 10
20 - Archmage 2 - Int 23

Character options:
-Specialist wizard (abjurer)
-Banned schools: enchantment (incantatrix), evocation, necromancy
-Cleric domains: inquisition, domination, knowledge
-Iron Will from otyugh hole or flaw (if flaws allowed, also gain Elven Spell Lore)

ACF's:
-Cloistered cleric
-Destroy undead (EtCR)
-Martial wizard
Some explanations: The Destroy Undead Cleric ACF plus the Sacred Exorcist dip mean the character has two different Turn Undead pools to fuel Divine Defiance.
Master Specialist gives big bonuses to your dispel checks, along with a bunch of bonuses to dispelling and abjuration spells generally.
The Arcane Mastery feat lets you take 10 on your dispel checks.
The Signature Spell feat lets you spontaneously convert spell slots into Greater Dispel Magic, the way a Cleric can convert slots into Cure spells.
Archmage is there for Mastery of Counterspelling.

[Khedrac]

Watch out for the flaw in using Dispel Magic to counter-spell - it requires a caster level check unlike other forms of counterspelling.


The Destroy Undead Cleric ACF plus the Sacred Exorcist dip mean the character has two different Turn Undead pools to fuel Divine Defiance.
Are you sure about that?
The Sacred Exorcist Turn Undead explicitly stacks with other sources of Turn Undead.
The EtCR Destroy Undead ACF explicitly counts as Turn Undead for pretty much all purposes.
Therefore I think they will simply stack.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Eh, the kind of anti-mage who would be using dispel magic to counterspell has a ridiculous check anyway.

Random note: Battlemagic Perception (Heroes of Battle) is pretty much necessary for this kind of build. Make sure to have that prepared.

[Dread_Head]

Watch out for the flaw in using Dispel Magic to counter-spell - it requires a caster level check unlike other forms of counterspelling.


If you are optimising to dispel then this shouldn't be a problem. My proposed build automatically dispels (and thus counterspells) any spell of up to CL 10 at level 6. At level 10 it is all spells of CL up to 19.

[Ellowryn]

Are you sure about that?
The Sacred Exorcist Turn Undead explicitly stacks with other sources of Turn Undead.
The EtCR Destroy Undead ACF explicitly counts as Turn Undead for pretty much all purposes.
Therefore I think they will simply stack.

In that case take the Rebuke dragons ACF from Dragon Magic, it specifically counts as turn undead for the purpose of fueling divine feats.