[3.5] Help with my Ultimate Magus

[zilios]

Hey guys, I recently posted about our party playing through Shackled city. Well we didn't wipe a second time so no need to make a new character yet (although we came close). Since I'll probably be sticking to this character for some time I'd like some help on being effective in combat, purchases with the gold we'll get from the quest reward and maybe some tips on future build choices. So far I'm at:

LVL 8:

Gray Elf
1 Evoker (Banned: Illusion, Enchantment, Abjuration) Feat: Collegiate Wizard
Reasoning for Evoker is that 1) I'm playing a Focused specialist Conjurer on a different campaign and didn't want the playstyle to get stale, and 2) I'm Ultimate Magus'ing with Beguiler that will cover Illusion and Enchantment while our 2 divine casters will hopefully cover Abjuration. Plus I feel UM plays nicely with the ton of spells per day focused specialist provides.
2 Beguiler
3 Evoker Empower Spell
4 Evoker
5 Beguiler
Reasoning for second Beguiler level over 4th Wizard level is that I'll eventually have to advance Beguiler over Wizard with a 4/1 split at level 12 as Ultimate Magus, so I might as well get the +1DC on spells when they're flat footed over no class features at level 12.
6 Ultimate Magus Practiced Spellcaster: Beguiler
7 Ultimate Magus
8 Ultimate Magus. Wizard CL=7, Beguiler CL=8.

I had a huge problem getting through SR with the Erinyies fight, and ultimately did nothing at all the whole fight. Even when there is no SR however, I find almost no one fails on my saving throws, even though I feel they're pretty high (24 INT atm so spell DCs 18-20). As such I usually just throw out piddly damage with Lesser orbs of sound while failing like half the touch attacks (How do wizards hit touch attacks without Precise shot??). Occasionally I'll empower an orb for free if I feel I can hit the shot and I'll do a reasonable amount of damage, otherwise monsters tend to ignore my crowd control attempts and leave me feeling useless.

At the next level I'll get a nice bump in CL and grab 4th level spells for Assay Spell resistance and Black Tentacles and was thinking of grabbing Residual Metamagic as a feat. No idea on loot to pick up, maybe a warning dagger for an initiative boost? No idea.

Any tips at all would be great help, allowed books are PHB I/II, DMGs, CDiv, CSc(No skill tricks), CM, CAr, CAdv, CW, SpC, MIC.

[Faily]

Ah man, that Erinyes fight in Shackled City is absolutely brutal. I remember that one was quite the pain for our group too.

As for Ultimate Magus, I recall when I played a Sorc/Wiz/UM in Red Hand of Doom was that my spells would usually not go through Spell Resistance or Saves when it came to Big Bads. Excellent for mopping up mooks and minions though. I found that my strength as UM was in always having the right spell at the right time, and with carefully Sudden Metamagics, I also had the correct Metamagic for the situation. I ended up taking 5 levels of Wizard myself just for the Bonus Feat (another Sudden Metamagic iirc).

I can see why you wanted to go Evoker to have a change of playstyle, but straight up blasting is tough as an UM because you're behind on spell power and caster level. So Practiced Spellcaster for both might be an idea so you're at least not behind on effective caster level.

I'd recommend at least picking up the utility spells that aren't available for your party's divine casters though. You have so many spells to choose from every day as an UM, so you can often have random utility prepared.

Residual Metamagic is pretty fun and I enjoyed it as well on my UM. And Black Tentacles is pretty gold. What sort of Crowd Control have you been using earlier that turned out to be a wash against your enemies?

[zilios]

I've been using the low level classics mostly, Grease, Glitterdust from Beguiler, Great Thunderclap and occasionally Stinking Cloud. I also used Blacklight too to try to hide from the Erinyes but True Sight tore right through that (thank god for shield other!!). So far after like 6-7 crowd control castings, I believe only 1 creature failed a reflex save on Great Thunderclap (and koa toas have balance ranks so they don't even get flat footed from Grease!).

Which Metamagics were you going for? I have lesser rods of Sculpt, Extend and Energy Sub for utility and getting through immunities but other than extending Rope trick and helping everyone with the occasional haste I'm mostly stuck to lesser orbs of sonic.

I think Practiced spellcaster on wizard won't work since it'll ruin the "trick" of always advancing the spontaneous side with Ultimate Magus, besides next level my wiz CL will be equal to my character level.

I'd also appreciate a recommendation on what kind of magic item to go for next, maybe a third eye that gives spell penetration? I currently have the freedom of movement one but it hasn't been useful yet. (the clerics tend to be overprotective of me)

[JeminiZero]

For Freedom of Movement, grab the spell Heart Of Water [Complete Mage], then you can switch your third eye for something else.

[sleepyphoenixx]

I generally find it more useful to just raise my CL if i need to get through SR than get Spell Penetration (either as a feat or item) and have it do nothing most of the time.
There's a whole bunch of one-shot CL boosters (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?444635-Raising-Caster-Level) that are affordable even at lower levels. Carry around a few and if you're facing a high SR enemy you can use them.

If you're really short on cash you can also get a wand of True Casting (CM, 750gp). Stick it in a wand chamber on your quarterstaff or something.
Touch attacks are always iffy unless you have high dex. A wand of True Strike can help until money for better options is available, and it's cheap too.
Sure, you're only really casting every 2nd round with either of those, but that's better than casting every round to no effect. You can buy a Metamagic Wand Grip or take Metamagic Spell Trigger once you can afford it/qualify. Burning 5 charges of a 750gp wand to quicken something like the above two spells is still cheap.

For spell DCs you should keep in mind which monsters have what high saves. Outsiders have all good saves, so no-save-just-lose spells are the best option there.
Boosting DC also helps, but the standard Spell Focus has a bad return for the investment. The cheapest option is to get the Drakken Familiar ACF (DrM) or an improved familiar with the dragon type.
Then retrain/Psychic Reformation to give Draconic Aura:Energy for a boost to your damage spells of your favorite element. If you can afford a feat get Snowcasting and make it the cold aura to get the boost to all spells (+1-4, scaling with level).

Instead of raising your own DCs (which is generally expensive) you can also lower the saving throws of your enemies.
Start with something like giving your familiar a few bottles of Atramen Oil (PlH, 50gp, -4 to fort saves as a ranged touch attack) on the lower end.
Have your familiar/your party/your summons inflict conditions like sickened, shaken, fatigued or exhausted.
You can create poison relatively cheaply just by putting a few ranks into craft:alchemy or using Minor Creation. Hand it out to your parties melee and archers or have your familiar air-drop inhaled/contact poisons.
Hell, just someone throwing a net is already a -2 to reflex saves and you can even re-use it.

In general you should look at consumables instead of continuous items, especially at low levels when money is short. Only get a permanent item if it has an effect you need to always have up.
Don't spend thousands of gp on an effect if you can get it from consumables that you'd often need to use for several campaigns worth of combats to break even.

[Faily]

I've been using the low level classics mostly, Grease, Glitterdust from Beguiler, Great Thunderclap and occasionally Stinking Cloud. I also used Blacklight too to try to hide from the Erinyes but True Sight tore right through that (thank god for shield other!!). So far after like 6-7 crowd control castings, I believe only 1 creature failed a reflex save on Great Thunderclap (and koa toas have balance ranks so they don't even get flat footed from Grease!).

Which Metamagics were you going for? I have lesser rods of Sculpt, Extend and Energy Sub for utility and getting through immunities but other than extending Rope trick and helping everyone with the occasional haste I'm mostly stuck to lesser orbs of sonic.

I think Practiced spellcaster on wizard won't work since it'll ruin the "trick" of always advancing the spontaneous side with Ultimate Magus, besides next level my wiz CL will be equal to my character level.

I'd also appreciate a recommendation on what kind of magic item to go for next, maybe a third eye that gives spell penetration? I currently have the freedom of movement one but it hasn't been useful yet. (the clerics tend to be overprotective of me)


At level 15, I had Sudden Widen, Sudden Empower, Energy Substitution (Cold), Quicken Spell, Sudden Maximize, and Empower Spell. Empower and Maximize (both Sudden and regular) helped me make up for the fact that my spells were a bit behind in power-level. Widen was very satisfying to make sure that I hit absolutely *everything*. Like a horde of fast zombies = sudden Widen Cone of Cold. No more zombies. Stuff like Silent and Extend are fine as lesser Rods since it means you'll be able to Extend some of the most basic and important buffs, and can Silently cast some stuff while you're invisible.

I agree with JeminiZero's suggestion of picking up Heart of Water (and the other Heart spells too. They're pretty cool) to cover your Freedom of Movement needs.

For other Crowd Control-effects that don't care much about whether or not the opponent manages the save:
- Web
- Evard's Black Tentacles
- Walls of different sorts (Wall of Fire for damage, Ice for semi-utility and shaping the battlefield to your choosing, Stone for the same as ice only better and a level higher)
- Obscuring Mist
But then we're entering the territory of possibly doing too much of what you're already doing with your other Wizard.

Ultimate Magus does lack a bit as a straight up blaster (apart from the point where they don't run out of spells easily), but still it's fun to challenge oneself with playing Evokers. :smallbiggrin: