Thinking with Illusions! Arcanist Illusion Master!

[13ones]

Evening Everyone!

So I'm tinkering with an Arcanist build that focuses heavily on Support and Defense through Abjurations, Conjurations but mostly Illusions! However I'm not entirely familiar with the full spectrum of what Illusion can manage. I know there is a level of meta gaming that needs to be included to really make illusions shine. Below please find some points to keep in mind to help you be informed about the character:

- Arcanist, 25 point buy
- Human, Gnome, Tiefling, Halfling, or Elf.
- Starting at level 4.
- Receiving 6000 gp
- At most 1500 gp may be spent on any one item, this is calculated based on the market value of the item, not any crafting costs.
- Wants to focus on illusions, mostly of the Shadow school [Shadow Conjuration, Shadow Evocation and the like] for maximum flexibility.
- Taking the Blood Arcanist Archetype with the Arcane Bloodline to really pump up DCs with Metamagics applied.

So what I'm looking for is not only some cool things I'll eventually be able to do with Shadow spells, but also some general help building a solid illusionist. I know what kind of metamagics and feats to take for blasters, summoners and debuffers but I'm not entirely sure what to do with an illusionist. All help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[avr]

If you're aiming for the Veiled Illusionist PrC - which you may want, as the ability to hide which spell you're casting is very handy for an illusionist, and they're better at it than most, besides the other class benefits - note the prereqs.

Whether or not you want the PrC, the Solid Shadows metamagic feat is useful for shadow evoc/conj casters. If you're not going with the PrC you may want Cunning Caster to hide the fact you're casting at all, which has Deceitful as a prereq and more or less requires at least Silent Spell. If you're looking to max DCs then Persistent Spell makes the most of that.

Anyway, what exactly you can do with illusions heavily depends on your GM. Some will give saves as soon as someone sees your illusion and make touching an illusion with no tactile component, or 'unbelievable' illusions auto-succeed on a save. At the other end some will require something like touching an illusion with no tactile component, or an otherwise 'unbelievable' illusion to get any sort of save. You need to get some idea what your GM's opinion of illusions is, preferably before finalising your character.

[Florian]

@13ones:

Metamagic is not that much of a thing when using Illusions, especially shadow-type of spells. A lot of the time, you don´t want too high a DC here as it can be really important that enemies/team mates make their save against your spells and see it as an illusion.
The only Metamagic feats you´ll want are Solid Shadows (Prereq: Spell Focus Illusion) and Persistent Spell
Most of the interesting illusions have a duration of concentration, so that´s something you have to either deal with or find a way to work around it.

I´d suggest Gnome Arcanist (Harrowed Society Student) VMC Wizard (Illusionist).
Feats: Spell Focus (Illusion)
Exploits: Potent Magic.

Reason behind this: You want the extended duration school power and you absolutely want to pick the School Familiar feat at level five, so you can transfer the concentration over to your familiar, free up your actions.
You don´t need any metamagic feats until you actually gain access to the first shadow-type spell (Shadow Enchantment, Sor/Wiz3, so at 6th level) and you can burn Exploits (Metamagic Knowledge) to get them.
Now what you want is pinpoint control over your DCs and Potent Magic is the way to do it. The Harrowed Society archetype has an unreliable but potent way to refresh your pool with a 5 minutes break and if you´re lucky, you can refresh your pool multiple times up to full.