Beguiler build help (3.5)

[Falcii]

So I just instigated a fight in campaign that will most likely cause a team wipe, but if not, I am still totally going to die. (I was given a bottle that seems to contain the god of destruction and while drunk I critical failed my personal Wis check so I opened it.) So I preemptively making a new char. I want to make a Beguiler to compliment my team's make up (blaster cleric, useless bard, ungodly strong bear-barian, and some pos wizard). I want her to be a manipulative bitch, screwing with people's heads and sending them to the shadow realm (ala yugioh). So now that the fun stuffs out of the way here are my questions. Btw lvl 8

Racially i am thinking either human for skills and feat, gray elf for stats and Fay myst init, and gnome for shadow craft... but I really don't like gnome for rp reasons and it feels like too much. I like having to work within a limited spell list. Help there would be great.

Also, what skill tricks are worth investing in? There are certainly some that look cool, but as melee eldritch blast has taught me, that doesn't always mean good.

Finally is there any crazy items I must get for around 20k gold that I may have missed?

[AlanBruce]

So I just instigated a fight in campaign that will most likely cause a team wipe, but if not, I am still totally going to die. (I was given a bottle that seems to contain the god of destruction and while drunk I critical failed my personal Wis check so I opened it.) So I preemptively making a new char. I want to make a Beguiler to compliment my team's make up (blaster cleric, useless bard, ungodly strong bear-barian, and some pos wizard). I want her to be a manipulative bitch, screwing with people's heads and sending them to the shadow realm (ala yugioh). So now that the fun stuffs out of the way here are my questions. Btw lvl 8

Racially i am thinking either human for skills and feat, gray elf for stats and Fay myst init, and gnome for shadow craft... but I really don't like gnome for rp reasons and it feels like too much. I like having to work within a limited spell list. Help there would be great.

Also, what skill tricks are worth investing in? There are certainly some that look cool, but as melee eldritch blast has taught me, that doesn't always mean good.

Finally is there any crazy items I must get for around 20k gold that I may have missed?

Everything you need to make a solid beguiler. Have fun. (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=363.0)

[Troacctid]

I think the big must-have feats are Obtain Familiar and either Planar Familiar or Celestial Familiar. The amount of utility you get from a familiar is just huge, especially for a class like beguiler that really cares about all the things familiars are good at.

[noce]

Since you have basically two schools, spell focus and greater spell focus are better than usual.
Same thing for spell penetration, being most of your offensive spells subject to spell resistance.

Firstly, I'd grab Shadow Weave Magic. It's basically spell focus illusion, spell focus enchantment and mini spell penetration packed together, and stacks with them.


In order to have better spells to choose from with advanced learning, a 1 level dip before level 7 is highly advisable.
Best choices include:

Mindbender, for telepathy
Shadow Adept, which grants three feats (protection from divination, protection from dispel, +4 spell penetration)


Although Mindbender is usually suggested, in my opinion Shadow Adept is highly preferable, since it helps you overcoming beguiler weaknesses, that is enemies with spell resistance, with see invisibility/true seeing, or with dispel magic.

Telepathy can be simulated with a message cantrip.

[Troacctid]

In order to have better spells to choose from with advanced learning, a 1 level dip before level 7 is highly advisable.
Best choices include:

Mindbender, for telepathy
Shadow Adept, which grants three feats (protection from divination, protection from dispel, +4 spell penetration)


Although Mindbender is usually suggested, in my opinion Shadow Adept is highly preferable, since it helps you overcoming beguiler weaknesses, that is enemies with spell resistance, with see invisibility/true seeing, or with dispel magic.

Telepathy can be simulated with a message cantrip.
The real reasons why telepathy is so good are a. bypassing language barriers for social skills, so you can use Bluff and Diplomacy against everyone, and b. enabling the Mindsight feat, which is just a powerful, high-value ability.

Message doesn't do either of those things, so it's not really an adequate replacement.

That being said, Shadow Adept is pretty solid too. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from taking both.

[rrwoods]

Everything you need to make a solid beguiler. Have fun. (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=363.0)
That handbook is good, but I should note: In the notes for Eternal Wand of Heroics, it mentions a couple martial maneuvers you might want to grant yourself the ability to use, and it confuses maneuver level with initiator level. Here are the corrected levels:

Shadow Jaunt: maneuver level 2 -> initiator level 3 -> character level 6
Shadow Stride: ML 5 -> IL 9 -> CL 18
Shadow Blink: ML 7 -> IL 13 -> CL 26
Shield Block: ML 2 -> IL 3 -> CL 6
Mind Over Body: ML 3 -> IL 5 -> CL 10
Action Before Thought: ML 2 -> IL 3 -> CL 6
Moment of Perfect Mind: ML 1 -> IL 1 -> CL 2

[sleepyphoenixx]

In order to have better spells to choose from with advanced learning, a 1 level dip before level 7 is highly advisable.
Best choices include:

Mindbender, for telepathy
Shadow Adept, which grants three feats (protection from divination, protection from dispel, +4 spell penetration)



It's not like you can't take both. Mindbender is a 1 level dip anyway that you'll qualify for almost automatically (everything except the intimidate ranks, but it's only 4).
And while Shadow Adept at least gets full casting progression it also gets everything you want at 1st level and the 2+int skill points make going further a bad idea on a beguiler.

Another worthwhile option is Shadowcraft Mage (if you're a gnome or your DM allows the adaption). Few things add as much power and versatility to your spellcasting repertoire as Shadow Illusion.
The 4+int skill points hurt a little, but it's only 5 levels long and the power is definitely worth it.
If you combine it with Arcane Disciple (Luck domain) you also get access to shadow Miracle, which grants you access to every spell from the cleric list except 9ths (without slogging through Rainbow Servant).
And all of it is illusion, so it benefits from your shadow weave feats.

You can also get some extra action economy from the Proteus feat (EoE), letting you cast any Illusion (Glamer) spells as an immediate action in a pinch. That includes stuff like Blur, Displacement, Invisibility and Silence.