SangoProduction
2017-01-08, 07:10 AM
On a gish, of course. (And by that, I mean mostly caster, maybe a dip or 2 in other classes, but uses spells to be a better fighter than the fighter.) I keep hearing people praise it for being a gish's wet dream. But I am somewhat unimpressed. I mean, not saying it's bad. Just it's not super great. You're not losing anything from your base class, but you are losing the opportunity to take other stuff.
It's got full casting progression yes. Extended Abjuration is also extremely nice. It does, unfortunately only affect Abjuration, but that's more free metamagic you could normally get (unless you go Incantrix or Spelldancer), and without the feat.
Abjurant Armor is slightly underwhelming, but I guess it could net you a +10 bonus to AC on top of Shield and ...well, the only abjuration that gives an armor bonus is Luminous Armor. I don't see that being allowed often. But enough GMs just say "Yeah, Mage Armor works."
If you could find that Second Shield spell that gives your familiar a shield, and can provide you further AC, explicitly stacking with Shield, then it could be impressive at a +15. I can't find it again though. I mean, you've got mirror image and multiple spells that grant miss chance. Those are so much more powerful than AC, and don't spend 5 levels to become really good. AC isn't countered by true seeing but still.
Swift Abjuration is really quite nice, especially for the Gish role...though, the limitation to level 2 or lower when you get to level 4 hurts. Especially since you can buy a Metamagic Rod Quicken and enhance higher level spells no restricted to a school of magic. Though a couple times per day. But how many swift actions will you have in combat daily?
Arcane boost may as well not exist. Martial Arcanist is actually nice...if you've spent most of your levels not being a spellcaster.
The scaling makes it seem as though you should take a lot of levels...but there's only 5. If it was an even 6, then I might see it as kinda decent, though you're giving up levels for what could just as effectively be handled by gold (save for the +12 to AC on top of the spells, which could actually take a good deal of money to replicate...if you exclude direct miss-chance-granting effects like blur).
As is though? It might be good for a 2 level dip. Mostly because if you're getting 1 level, you may as well also get a quickened Shield, Nightshield, or Resistance whenever you want it as well. Just in case of an ambush since they tend to be shorter duration spells. Free Extend spell (even if it is restricted to a school) is always nice.
It's got full casting progression yes. Extended Abjuration is also extremely nice. It does, unfortunately only affect Abjuration, but that's more free metamagic you could normally get (unless you go Incantrix or Spelldancer), and without the feat.
Abjurant Armor is slightly underwhelming, but I guess it could net you a +10 bonus to AC on top of Shield and ...well, the only abjuration that gives an armor bonus is Luminous Armor. I don't see that being allowed often. But enough GMs just say "Yeah, Mage Armor works."
If you could find that Second Shield spell that gives your familiar a shield, and can provide you further AC, explicitly stacking with Shield, then it could be impressive at a +15. I can't find it again though. I mean, you've got mirror image and multiple spells that grant miss chance. Those are so much more powerful than AC, and don't spend 5 levels to become really good. AC isn't countered by true seeing but still.
Swift Abjuration is really quite nice, especially for the Gish role...though, the limitation to level 2 or lower when you get to level 4 hurts. Especially since you can buy a Metamagic Rod Quicken and enhance higher level spells no restricted to a school of magic. Though a couple times per day. But how many swift actions will you have in combat daily?
Arcane boost may as well not exist. Martial Arcanist is actually nice...if you've spent most of your levels not being a spellcaster.
The scaling makes it seem as though you should take a lot of levels...but there's only 5. If it was an even 6, then I might see it as kinda decent, though you're giving up levels for what could just as effectively be handled by gold (save for the +12 to AC on top of the spells, which could actually take a good deal of money to replicate...if you exclude direct miss-chance-granting effects like blur).
As is though? It might be good for a 2 level dip. Mostly because if you're getting 1 level, you may as well also get a quickened Shield, Nightshield, or Resistance whenever you want it as well. Just in case of an ambush since they tend to be shorter duration spells. Free Extend spell (even if it is restricted to a school) is always nice.