conjuration wizard lvl 5 start, should I take the arcane devotee PrC?

[CMagnum]

Hi to all of you helpful people :) I am starting a new campaign and will be playing a wizard for the first time. I am playing a whisper gnome focused conjurer, banned evocation, enchantment and illusion (yes I read treatmonk's guide to god). I am looking for a PrC that isn't quite an initiate of the sevenfold veil strength and had lots of interesting qualities for roleplay and spell options and the arcane devotee jumped out at me. I can qualify for it starting at level six I believe, so it would be starting early, allowing me to take another one or two PrC's afterward. I just wanted a little insight into what you experienced people out there think of the class and if you could also give me any ideas for a good diety to worship which would give me domain spells that might be able to cover some of the spells I will be losing due to the focused specialization. Thanks for your time and effort.
Cmagnum

[ExLibrisMortis]

You need 4th-level spells to enter, so the usual entry is at ECL 8, but early entry can bring it to ECL 6.

The first-level ability is nice enough, as free metamagic is potentially powerful. However, Enlarge Spell isn't a typical pick, as metamagic goes - you'll have to find ways to make it work for you, unlike Empower or Extend, which are much more universally applicable. As wizard, your charisma is probably not your strength, so there's no synergy there.

+2 on saves is okay, but not too good. The free Empower on divine buff spells is nice, but it won't work on a lot of buffs, because they're not die rolls - I'm thinking of stuff like heal and death ward.

There's no point taking the 5th-level ability. Spell resistance gives you SR 12 + CL, and the ability is capped at CL 5. At level 12, you get a 1/day 5-minute SR 17 - that's just lousy. Better to invest in a PrC that lets you cast the spell outright.


Overall, I'd recommend a look at Divine Oracle and Master Specialist, instead.

[Bullet06320]

for your first wizard, you jumped right in and picked what can be one of the most powerful builds in the game, there is no problem the proper summons cant fix
here's some light reading that may help

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?255219-The-Summoner-s-Desk-Reference-D-amp-D-3-5
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?444042-Legal-3-5-Summonable-Monster-List
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2791.0
http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5573.0
http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=11186

Dragon Magazine 302 Summoner's Circle article on pg 24 has rules for adding more critters and some templates to your summon monster lists

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/specialistWizardVariants.htm#conjurerVariants

Rapid Summoning (Ex)

Any time a conjurer using this variant casts a summon monster spell, its casting time is 1 standard action rather than 1 full round. (Creatures so summoned can only take a standard action in the round they are summoned.) Conjurers using this variant gain the normal benefits from enhancing a summon monster spell with the Quicken Spell feat.

A conjurer using this variant permanently gives up the ability to obtain a familiar.

this a must

Master specialist is a good option to prestige into as soon as possible
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/thaumaturgist.htm heres a good option
malconvoker has its own handbook, posted above

index cards or a notebook to keep track of summons to keep the flow of combat helps as well


banned evocation, enchantment and illusion
I would keep enchantment, it can be useful in the planar ally and planar binding lines when dealing with critters you want to do stuff for you, necromancy is a good choice to ban instead

[CMagnum]

Thanks a lot for all the info! Great suggestions, I will take it all into consideration. The master specialist looks like the way to go for summoning although I need to look into the malconvoker a little more, also looks like a great way to go :).

[CMagnum]

Thanks for your efforts, now I am more aware not only of my possibilites but of what I want to do with my character.
I am now thinking of starting off just by going focused conj, Wiz 5 for the first few levels.

The campaign starts tuesday and I want to be set in play. That said, the way my stats are rolled and you would think I rolled them myself... str-12, dex-17, con-18, int-19, wis-14, cha-11. (after racial mods). I finally got my fellow adventurers character ideas and I think the druid will do the majority of summoning. I know that I can become the one-stop fix-all with the build but, if I can spend my time doing battlefield control over summoning (even IF i can be better at summoning than they would) I would like the balance.

Would it be better focusing on something different (than conj)? I think with my knowledge (I read these forums like the news, but have only 2 years of actual experience in this wonderful lifestyle) that the straight up buff, cloudkill etc would be the way for me. try to control the field and help my allies by haste and mass enlarge etc. If this is the real case, from what I read it is still best to go PrC:Master Specialist. Higher CL +2 is crazy as an inherent ability! plus so many other gooodies.

I am just thinking out typing (instead of loud), at this point but I appreciate the feedback... Maybe I should just see what I come up with and find out after a few sessions

CMagnum

[CMagnum]

I also like the save enchantment, throw necromancy away idea. there are enough rays to disable most opponents in other schools I believe.
Anyone want to throw in?

[ExLibrisMortis]

The campaign starts tuesday and I want to be set in play. That said, the way my stats are rolled and you would think I rolled them myself... str-12, dex-17, con-18, int-19, wis-14, cha-11. (after racial mods). I finally got my fellow adventurers character ideas and I think the druid will do the majority of summoning. I know that I can become the one-stop fix-all with the build but, if I can spend my time doing battlefield control over summoning (even IF i can be better at summoning than they would) I would like the balance.

Would it be better focusing on something different (than conj)? I think with my knowledge (I read these forums like the news, but have only 2 years of actual experience in this wonderful lifestyle) that the straight up buff, cloudkill etc would be the way for me. try to control the field and help my allies by haste and mass enlarge etc. If this is the real case, from what I read it is still best to go PrC:Master Specialist. Higher CL +2 is crazy as an inherent ability! plus so many other gooodies.
Well, summoning is/can be a type of BFC. Two summoners working together will absolutely wreck most fights, through sheer wall of meat.

If you don't want to double up on summons, you can always alternate. The druid is likely to be very good at BFC, so how about you take turns summoning and laying down area buffs/debuffs? You can even style your summons a bit. For example, the druid uses SNA to summon big bad bruisers, and you enhance your variety, summoning creatures with useful supernatural and spell-like abilities.

Master Specialist is always good. It won't pin you down, and sets you up great to enter Archmage.