Arcanist with 3.5 ACF

[HereBeMonsters]

Ok so I wanted to play an Arcanist in PF. We use 3.5 stuff all the time so its not a big deal for us. But I was wondering how balanced would I be to use the Wizard's editic memory acf. It trades spellbook and familiar for bookless spells. Now Arcanist can take familiar as a lvl 1 exploit. So would it be balanced or unfair to give the Arcanist that?

Should it work?

[sleepyphoenixx]

Unless your DM is the kind of **** who goes after your spellbook all the time there isn't really an advantage, so i'd say it's balanced.
A DM who is strictly against it is probably a pretty good warning sign to take a class that doesn't need a spellbook, because chances are he's going to mess with it constantly now that you've reminded him.

I generally just let my players decide if they want Eidetic Memory or a spellbook, without giving up the familiar.
Losing the ability to scribe spells cheaper with things like the Blessed Book and other cost reducing options is enough of a tradeoff in my opinion.
Sure, having a spellbook is a bit of a vulnerability, but there's plenty of ways to protect it for a caster and you can save a whole lot of money if you're into collecting spells compared to the eidetic option.

[Gavinfoxx]

Yea, Tattoos are the basic go-to way to get your important 'self protection and spellbook retrieval' spells on yourself.

Here's what I am thinking should be the 'BEST PRACTICES' spellbook protection that most sane wizards should be doing in general.

This is done when the player character has access to a few thousand spare gp (for getting the useful spells, buying the components, etc. etc.)

BASICE PREMISE: HAVE MULTIPLE SPELLBOOKS. Make backup copies. Use different strategies in different books. Always have at least one on your person.

Choose either a very durable or a very hideable spellbook, for particular spellbooks

Very Durable options (generally use under wizard 5 spells):

-Just get a really durable book, made to be fire/water resistant, durable materials, etc. (rules in complete arcane & planar handbook)
-Make it magically durable based on those same rules
-Make it magically durable using Hardening
-Get a very high quality metal lock on it, of a durable metal (at least 12 hardness, one of the magical steels or mithral, at least), and trap the lock mundanely
-Arcane Mark (Sor/Wiz 0, Universal) it as yours (you will likely want to do this on a hidden one as well)
-Arcane Lock (Sor/Wiz 2, 25 gp, Abjuration) the lock
-Dragoneye Rune (Sor/Wiz 2, Dragon Magic, Universal) the book, asap -- this is very useful!
-Cast several casting of Explosive Runes on various pages and parts of the book (Sor/Wiz 3, Evocation)
-Put several Fire Traps (Sor/Wiz 4, Abjuration, 25 gp each) on it
-Put at least one phantom Trap (Sor/Wiz 2, 50 gp, Illusion) on it
-Put an Alarm spell (Sor/Wiz1, Abjuration) with Permanency (Sor/Wiz5, Universal, 500 xp) on it
-Put several alarming Magic Mouths (Sor/Wiz2, Illusion, 10 gp each) on various pages to shout that someone other than you opens the book
-Put Symbols of Sleep (Sor/Wiz5, Ench, 1000 gp), Pain (Sor/Wiz5, Nec, 1000 gp), Spell Loss (Sor/Wiz 5, Abj, Spell Compendium, 1000 gp) on different parts of the book
-Put Sepia Snake Sigil (Conjuration, Sor/Wiz5, 500 gp) on it
-Use Secret Page (Sor/Wiz3, Transmutation) on various pages to make it more difficult to read
-Put Watchware (Sor/Wiz 5, Abjuration, Unapproachable East, 500 gp) on it
-Use Alarm (and some of these other spells, watchware, dragoneye rune, arcane mark, etc.) on the container that holds the book
-Add castings of Magic mouth at minimum caster level on things so that those are dispelled first, as sacrificial dispellings

-Find a Stone of Weight (DMG, SRD, 1000 gp, cursed item), and pay one of the Wizards in the tower to cast Polymorph Any Object on it twice, to make it a spellbook. Use the spell 'Mount' (Sor/Wiz1) or Phantom Steed (Sor/Wiz3) when you need to move somewhere. Suck up the movement penalty. Or have someone custom enchant a normal spellbook as a Stone of Weight.


Methods of Hiding the book:
-Make it not magical at all, if possible, and hide magic auras with the Magic Aura (Sor/Wiz 1, Illusion) spell
-Use Shrink Item (Sor/Wiz 3, Transmutation) regularly to hide it, probably in a Hidden Pocket (Complete Scoundrel) that is also in a Lead Lined (Complete Scoundrel) pouch, or in a Smuggler's Boot (Arms & Equipment Guide)
-Hide it with Gloves of the Master Strategist (Ghostwalk, 3600 gp)
-Make it seem like some other kind of book with Secret Page... AND put it in with other books, and make sure at least some of them are Secret Page'd too
-Make it able to be rolled up, and use the spell 'Hoard Gullet' (Sor/Wiz 1, Transmutation, Dragon Magic) to swallow it and regurgitate it when needed, with a Lesser Rod of Extend Spell, if necessary
-Put some of your spells on your clothing, or in the linings of other items that stay with you. Some of the most durable clothing materials are earthsilk (Races of Stone)
-Have decoy spellbooks! Add magic auras with the Magic Aura spell as needed
-Use a few Spell Gems (Magic Item Compendium) for small versions of useful spells, especially ones that can help you find your main spellbook
-Put it in a Familiar Pocket (Sor/Wiz1, universal, Spell Compendium) every day, possibly as a Shrunk Item
-Put it in a Possum Pouch item (Song and Silence, 1800 gp) every day, possibly as a Shrunk Item. If possible, make the Possum Pouch a Handy Haversack


-Tattoo some of your most useful spells, especially for 'finding your spellbook' and 'protecting yourself when it is lost' on you, using the rules in Complete Arcane.


Or do the combos with Eidetic Spellcaster...



Here's the recipe for one of my favorite ways of playing D&D, an Easy Bake Wizard. Put the Sorcerer to shame (well, at anything except metamagic-heavy blasting...sorcerer has a ton of ACF's for that, which you don't get...)!

Easy Bake No "Worries" Wizard

Ingredients:
1 Gray Elf (SRD, MM1)
1 Wizard Class (PHB, SRD)
1 Elf Wizard Racial Substitution Level (Races of the Wild)
1 Eidetic Spellcaster Alternative Class Feature (Dragon Magazine #357 -- the core of the build!)
1 Spontaneous Divination Alternative Class Feature (Complete Champion, be sure to check out the errata online!)
1 Collegiate Wizard Feat (Complete Arcane)
1 Aerenal Arcanist feat (Player's Guide to Eberron, optional)
1 Eschew Materials feat (PHB, SRD)
1 Domain Wizard variant, Transmutation or Conjuration domain (SRD, Unearthed Arcana, optional)
Flaws, to taste (SRD, Unearthed Arcana, optional, but necessary if you want all those feats by level 3)
Extra bits, optional, see later instructions!

Mix in bowl, and be sure to top with any one of these feats:
Acidic Splatter, Winter's Blast, or Fiery Burst (all from Complete Mage)

Notes: if it doesn't turn out right when playing it in a zero wealth game, you picked bad spells. Be sure to look at the various wizard handbooks for how to pick solid, powerful, versatile spells. And it is very thematic that you can do stuff like leave a slot open to spend 15 minutes preparing the correct spell you need in it, or take Uncanny Forethought or Alacritous Cogitation, or Nexus Method, consider taking those later. And you automatically just 'get' spells like a sorcerer... no need for scrolls or anything. This Wizard idea relies on exactly zero found scrolls and zero need for items to scribe things into his spellbook, and with Eschew Materials and the right spells chosen, doesn't even need a Spell Component Pouch (just don't take any spells with focuses or components more than 5 gp)! Also, some people might think that this trading out the ability to specialize three times, but that isn't what is going on. Due to differing language between the various options, that isn't what's happening. Some of the stuff says that 'if you don't specialize, you can do this', some of the stuff says 'by removing the ability to specialize entirely, you gain this ability.' Order in which the abilities are taken matters.

Further, some more possible ingredients to take include:

-Alacritous Cogitation feat at level 6 (Complete Mage)
-Another Great option for race is a Lesser Fey'ri (Players Guide to Faerun and Races of Faerun) with LA Bought off (the LA buyoff option is in the SRD and Unearthed Arcana; choose the powers to get the minimum LA for that race). This lets you make use of that Alter Self at will; read the handbook on the uses of Alter Self, it's fantastic.
-Get the Nexus Method feat from Dragon Magazine #319! This lets you spontaneously cast the summon monster line, and apparently adds all the spells to your spellbook! If you do this, you probably want the Transmutation Domain rather than the Conjuration Domain, to maximize spells known.
-Another option is Lesser Celadrin. You combine the rules in Player's Guide to Faerun and the rules in Dragon Magazine #350 to get Lesser Celadrin.
-Also, Fire Elf (UA/SRD) works well too.

-If you ask for houserules, consider these two:
-Permission to house rule that you can take Uncanny Forethought (Exemplars of Evil) at level 9, with the Alacritous Cogitation (Complete Mage) and the Eidetic Spellacster ACF taking place of the Spell Mastery prerequisite, without access to the 'spell mastery' capability from that feat
-Hopefully permission to house rule for the character to count Autohypnosis (XPH, SRD) as a class skill, to describe the character's eidetic memory being useful for things other than spellcasting (assuming the GM uses Autohypnosis in his game!)

Some numbers:

Basic Wizard: Start with 3+Int mod L1 spells, +2 each level as baseline
Elf Generalist Wizard: +1 wizard spell at start, +1 each level beyond baseline
Collegiate Wizard: Instead of 3+int and +2 each level, baseline is set at 6+int and +4 each level
Aerenal Arcanist: +1 each level beyond baseline, including L1 if you take it then
Domain Wizard (Transmutation or Conjuration): One specific extra spell of each spell levels; +9 spells over career (cantrip is already known)
Nexus Method: Apparently automatically gets you the entire Summon Monster line!

So at level one, with a 20 int (cause Grey Elf or whatever, or 21 if you start at middle aged...) you know:
13 level one spells, plus mage armor or expeditious retreat automatically
At level 2, you gain six new L1 spells
At level 3, you gain 6 spells of up to spell level 2, and levitate or web, depending...

Essentially, you end up with a more versatile Sorcerer, who has access to a TON of spells, and can always get the right spell for the job... even with no gear whatsoever. And no Vow of Poverty needed to be useful without wealth!

Finally, if you want to gain access to even MORE spells, the Mage of the Arcane Order prestige class can be useful.

[sleepyphoenixx]

(Spellbook paranoia)

Don't do this unless your DM actually goes after your spellbook. It's serious overkill. Pick a few of those options - hidden pocket is usually enough, or the Possum Pouch if you want to invest a little more - and spend your money on things that actually come into play.

Unless your DM does go after your spellbook (and you really really can't play a different class). Then you can do it all, twice or more to different books if you feel especially careful (because it's not paranoia if they're really out to get you!).

Just expect your game to get bogged down in "DM vs. Wizard" chess matches to find out if the latest ridiculously unlikely and convoluted scheme to separate you from your spellbook succeeds or fails,
with the other players reacting accordingly and your group probably falling apart. You may actually be better off letting him get it out of his system, going on his silly sidequest to get your spellbook back and going on with the campaign.

[HereBeMonsters]

Good ideas. I am playing the pf Arcanist class so I prepare like a wizard and cast like a sorcerer. The editic memory idea is to see if I can drop the wizard book keeping. The GM only casually does spellbook attacks and only as a poke now and then to keep it in mind.

Protecting the book is good. But he does like to do games were the baddies kidnap us a lot. Hence the desire o be effective without my book.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Good ideas. I am playing the pf Arcanist class so I prepare like a wizard and cast like a sorcerer. The editic memory idea is to see if I can drop the wizard book keeping. The GM only casually does spellbook attacks and only as a poke now and then to keep it in mind.

Protecting the book is good. But he does like to do games were the baddies kidnap us a lot. Hence the desire o be effective without my book.

The Possum Pouch is pretty much made for that. It fits a Blessed Book (barely) and few enemies have the search skill (DC30) to find it, and if you use Magic Aura on it to hide it from Detect Magic and the like that's pretty much the only way to detect it.
Hidden pockets (lead-lined) work similarly, but even if your enemies have a habit of stripping you naked they generally won't find your pouch. I tend to get one on every character i make, because they're awesome.

[nedz]

Don't do this unless your DM actually goes after your spellbook. It's serious overkill. Pick a few of those options - hidden pocket is usually enough, or the Possum Pouch if you want to invest a little more - and spend your money on things that actually come into play.

Unless your DM does go after your spellbook (and you really really can't play a different class). Then you can do it all, twice or more to different books if you feel especially careful (because it's not paranoia if they're really out to get you!).

Just expect your game to get bogged down in "DM vs. Wizard" chess matches to find out if the latest ridiculously unlikely and convoluted scheme to separate you from your spellbook succeeds or fails,
with the other players reacting accordingly and your group probably falling apart. You may actually be better off letting him get it out of his system, going on his silly sidequest to get your spellbook back and going on with the campaign.

My players, if they are playing Wizards, always always have backups. This is not because I have ever gone after their spell-books: it's just good practice. Also it is possible to lose all your kit/have it destroyed etc. — it's no good afterwards saying "Damn, I should have taken a backup".

[sleepyphoenixx]

My players, if they are playing Wizards, always always have backups. This is not because I have ever gone after their spell-books: it's just good practice. Also it is possible to lose all your kit/have it destroyed etc. — it's no good afterwards saying "Damn, I should have taken a backup".

There's a difference between having backups/protections and working down the list gavinfoxx posted like a checklist.
One is common sense, the other is paranoia that will cost you (ten)thousands of gold for absolutely no benefit in most games.

Because all those items, extra books and spells have to come from somewhere, and you'll need other items and spells to fill your actual role too. Before you go overboard with protecting your spellbook(s) sort out the stuff that you know will come up, like combat, exploration and social intrigue, instead of something that may come up if you're unlucky and your DM really likes screwing you over.

Anything beyond basic spellbook protection that you get for cheap is something to spend resources on when you've got the rest sorted out and have some indication that it's actually necessary, is all i'm saying.