Rentirith
2017-11-28, 05:46 PM
tl:dr i need input on an undead arcane warrior. Details below. Thanks.
Heyo Giantitp-ers. I will be involved in a gestalt game soon-ish and am looking at a way to be a fairly self sufficient arcane-gish. Currently i am looking at the following race and class structure (note that we can have 1 LA for free, but anything else is banned. We have all 3.5 books by WotC such as Complete set, as well as setting specific stuff like faerun or dragonlance. 3rd party publishers like green ronin are not allowed. EDIT: we can have a maximum of 4 different classes, including prestige classes.)
My concept is to be some sort of ancient eldritch knight that was locked away for some holy purpose, like an ancestral guardian order. the call to arms never came (because the civilization was destroyed or taken over or something, not sure what, was gonna let the dm decide) and now after centuries of slumber must now figure out what went wrong. He is a good person and focused on using his arcane powers to help other people, but he is fairly arrogant due to his position previously in his society and thinks he knows whats good for people before they do.
Race: Lesser tiefling evolved necropolitan (if there is a rule that bans lesser tiefling and necropolitan anywhere that i dont know of, then ill replace tiefling with gray elf) for +dex, int, str, undead immunities and fast healing, giving me out of combat recovery.
Class: some wizard (domain, focused specialist, etc)/ultimate magus (maybe)//Duskblade.
Im looking at the wizard because of the pure number of spells they can know, their versatility, and their int. synergy with duskblade. Im looking at the duskblade for their melee prowess and ability to cast spontaneously. If i can get the ultimate magus approved, then this will allow me to put some of my wizard spells on my duskblade list, give me the ability to use some duskblade spell slots to apply metamagic to my wizard spells, and increase my caster level. My plan is that the UM, if put into a gestalt build, won't technically advance either spellcasting class more than the other, since neither is of a lower level. Therefore, i can just take it on the wizard side and it will function as advancing that class, where the duskblade will advance by itself. the negatives to this are that this might be a bit cheesy(?) but as the power level for the game is going to be a bit on the higher side, i think this doesn't abuse the system that much.
Some of my questions are the following:
Im conflicted on what wizard to be. On the one hand, i want a bunch of the conjuration and transmutation powers, and duskblade will probably give me enough damage on its own. So that would put me on the side of focused specialist or something. On the other hand, I want to be able to have a bunch of spell flexibility, so a domain wizard would be great for that. That limits the spells i can cast per day though, so i don't want to not be able to cast throughout the day.
My questions on gear. According to the armored casting portion of duskblade, that feature doesn't extend to other classes. There are other guides though that talk about how a duskblade dip would be the greatest thing since sliced bread, since it does apply to other classes. is there some errata or something that they are going by, or are they just wrong? In any case, my question is what is the best physical armor for a wizard to have? Im currently thinking that it would be something like mithral twilight fey/githcraft breastplate with the thistledown suit stuff, that would reduce the Arcane spell failure to 0%. not cheap, but ok. Im hesitant to rely on buffs like mage armor since they can be dispelled. What other armor enchantments would be good for an in your face melee caster?
For weaponry im probably going to go with something two handed like a greatsword, but is there anything else that would be great for me? I don't think i would need a spell storing weapon, since i can channel spells, but what other enhancements would work? I had seen something about a weapon that stops dispel magic, but i don't know where it's from.
Feats: we will have access to feats in the following manor: up to 2 flaws, 1 feat at 1st level and then every even level after in addition to anything given by class. I know i want collegiate wizard (more spells known), power attack (for...power attacking) arcane strike (stacking all the damage every now and then) and maybe improved turn resistance (so i don't get...turned). Im also thinking of some crafting feats, such as wondrous item or arms and armor. some of my other ideas were to be a sort of holy-undead arcanist, so i would get some stuff from BoED like ancestral relic and use spell focus good on a bunch of my spells with consecrate spell and... that one feat that reduces the metamagic cost by 1 for a school. You know, that one. Additionally, i thought that Faerie Mysteries initiate would be good to get more hp even as an undead, but that is approaching the limits of what im comfortable optimizing. almost. is there anything else that might make for a more balanced and interesting combination of feats?
Spells wise, i know that spells like disguise undead are a must (some people just aren't as open minded about what constitutes a living being, you know?) but im wondering about the interaction that i would have with other spells, in particular polymorph. Now don't worry, unless i'm in dire straits i wont be abusing it, but as an undead, what can i theoretically turn myself into with it? Also, couldn't i simply polymorph myself into an exact copy of me and heal myself back up? if so, thats probably going to be what i use it for...oh, thats probably what lots of people use it for, thus the abuse. dang.
So if you have held out for this long people i greatly appreciate your attention, and eagerly await your input on this manner.
Heyo Giantitp-ers. I will be involved in a gestalt game soon-ish and am looking at a way to be a fairly self sufficient arcane-gish. Currently i am looking at the following race and class structure (note that we can have 1 LA for free, but anything else is banned. We have all 3.5 books by WotC such as Complete set, as well as setting specific stuff like faerun or dragonlance. 3rd party publishers like green ronin are not allowed. EDIT: we can have a maximum of 4 different classes, including prestige classes.)
My concept is to be some sort of ancient eldritch knight that was locked away for some holy purpose, like an ancestral guardian order. the call to arms never came (because the civilization was destroyed or taken over or something, not sure what, was gonna let the dm decide) and now after centuries of slumber must now figure out what went wrong. He is a good person and focused on using his arcane powers to help other people, but he is fairly arrogant due to his position previously in his society and thinks he knows whats good for people before they do.
Race: Lesser tiefling evolved necropolitan (if there is a rule that bans lesser tiefling and necropolitan anywhere that i dont know of, then ill replace tiefling with gray elf) for +dex, int, str, undead immunities and fast healing, giving me out of combat recovery.
Class: some wizard (domain, focused specialist, etc)/ultimate magus (maybe)//Duskblade.
Im looking at the wizard because of the pure number of spells they can know, their versatility, and their int. synergy with duskblade. Im looking at the duskblade for their melee prowess and ability to cast spontaneously. If i can get the ultimate magus approved, then this will allow me to put some of my wizard spells on my duskblade list, give me the ability to use some duskblade spell slots to apply metamagic to my wizard spells, and increase my caster level. My plan is that the UM, if put into a gestalt build, won't technically advance either spellcasting class more than the other, since neither is of a lower level. Therefore, i can just take it on the wizard side and it will function as advancing that class, where the duskblade will advance by itself. the negatives to this are that this might be a bit cheesy(?) but as the power level for the game is going to be a bit on the higher side, i think this doesn't abuse the system that much.
Some of my questions are the following:
Im conflicted on what wizard to be. On the one hand, i want a bunch of the conjuration and transmutation powers, and duskblade will probably give me enough damage on its own. So that would put me on the side of focused specialist or something. On the other hand, I want to be able to have a bunch of spell flexibility, so a domain wizard would be great for that. That limits the spells i can cast per day though, so i don't want to not be able to cast throughout the day.
My questions on gear. According to the armored casting portion of duskblade, that feature doesn't extend to other classes. There are other guides though that talk about how a duskblade dip would be the greatest thing since sliced bread, since it does apply to other classes. is there some errata or something that they are going by, or are they just wrong? In any case, my question is what is the best physical armor for a wizard to have? Im currently thinking that it would be something like mithral twilight fey/githcraft breastplate with the thistledown suit stuff, that would reduce the Arcane spell failure to 0%. not cheap, but ok. Im hesitant to rely on buffs like mage armor since they can be dispelled. What other armor enchantments would be good for an in your face melee caster?
For weaponry im probably going to go with something two handed like a greatsword, but is there anything else that would be great for me? I don't think i would need a spell storing weapon, since i can channel spells, but what other enhancements would work? I had seen something about a weapon that stops dispel magic, but i don't know where it's from.
Feats: we will have access to feats in the following manor: up to 2 flaws, 1 feat at 1st level and then every even level after in addition to anything given by class. I know i want collegiate wizard (more spells known), power attack (for...power attacking) arcane strike (stacking all the damage every now and then) and maybe improved turn resistance (so i don't get...turned). Im also thinking of some crafting feats, such as wondrous item or arms and armor. some of my other ideas were to be a sort of holy-undead arcanist, so i would get some stuff from BoED like ancestral relic and use spell focus good on a bunch of my spells with consecrate spell and... that one feat that reduces the metamagic cost by 1 for a school. You know, that one. Additionally, i thought that Faerie Mysteries initiate would be good to get more hp even as an undead, but that is approaching the limits of what im comfortable optimizing. almost. is there anything else that might make for a more balanced and interesting combination of feats?
Spells wise, i know that spells like disguise undead are a must (some people just aren't as open minded about what constitutes a living being, you know?) but im wondering about the interaction that i would have with other spells, in particular polymorph. Now don't worry, unless i'm in dire straits i wont be abusing it, but as an undead, what can i theoretically turn myself into with it? Also, couldn't i simply polymorph myself into an exact copy of me and heal myself back up? if so, thats probably going to be what i use it for...oh, thats probably what lots of people use it for, thus the abuse. dang.
So if you have held out for this long people i greatly appreciate your attention, and eagerly await your input on this manner.