is this a good noctomancer build?

[NecroDancer]

This is just in theory but would a wizard 3/shadowcaster 3/noctomancer 10/mystic theurge 4 be viable?

Edit: changed MT from 6 to 4

[Buufreak]

This is just in theory but would a wizard 3/shadowcaster 3/noctomancer 10/mystic theurge 6 be viable?

Whelp, first and foremost as I can see, this build goes to 22. If you are planning on playing in epics, that is fine, but otherwise, might want to check what levels you can do without. Which, by the way, immediately leads me into the other point:

Mystic Theurge progresses 1 arcane and 1 divine class per level. As far as I am aware, Shadowcaster uses mysteries, which are strictly not divine spells. By that, Shadowcaster will not allow you to qualify for Mystic Theurge, meaning we just cut 6 levels out of your build with literally no effort.

[Troacctid]

There are basically two Noctumancer builds. There's Wizard (or other arcane caster) 3/Shadowcaster 3/Noctumancer 10/Mystic Theurge 4. And there's Wizard (or other arcane caster) 1/Shadowcaster 3/Noctumancer 10/Mystic Theurge 6 with early entry. I recommend the latter.


Mystic Theurge progresses 1 arcane and 1 divine class per level. As far as I am aware, Shadowcaster uses mysteries, which are strictly not divine spells. By that, Shadowcaster will not allow you to qualify for Mystic Theurge, meaning we just cut 6 levels out of your build with literally no effort.
Might want to check page 117 of Tome of Magic. :smallwink:

[Buufreak]

Might want to check page 117 of Tome of Magic. :smallwink:

This is why I need to stop posting from work.

[NecroDancer]

Thanks for the feedback! Trying to wrap my head around the shadowcaster was tough but I'm glade that this build works.

[Mr Adventurer]

Also, it depends what you mean by 'viable'. Shadowcaster is a fairly terrible class except for some specific mid-to-high-level tricks; even with the early entry version, I would imagine character levels 2 to, oh, say, about 9 would be pretty bad to play through. I'm not super familiar with how a Noctumancer plays, but I can't see a saving grace for it that a straight Wizard wouldn't probably be better.

EDIT: so what I mean is, whether it's 'viable' depends on the game the DM runs and what the other players play.

[NecroDancer]

I've very few 3.5 games and usually no one does anything crazy optimization wise. The DM has a rule that whatever class/prestige class you take needs to make sense for your character.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I just looked at page 117 of tome of magic, it looks to me like the explicit exception for mystic theurge puts the shadowcaster on the arcane side. Am I missing something?

[NecroDancer]

I believe it is either arcane or divine but not both (it's worded a bit oddly).