Planning a Solo, High-Magic Campaign

[Contemplative]

Hi, all

I recently agreed to run a solo campaign for a friend of mine (If all goes well, it might happen on these very forums.) Anyways, I just wanted a bit of help in planning things- the friend in question only has a vague idea about what he wants to do, and is amicable to further fleshing out by me. The system, as you can tell by the subform, is either 3.5 or Pathfinder- we have the books for either. That's the first point of contention- we're not sure which would be better. The player wants to play a spellcaster of some kind (Psionic or Arcane) in a world in which the disparity between Casters/Martials/Interplanar Beasties is a very real thing in the fluff. So, he has in his mind progressing from a low-level apprentice, to partaking in high-level wizard politics, travelling the world(s) and solving world ending threats. In Pathfinder and 3.5, this isn' a hard thing to simulate- it's already a fact of the crunch- however, what I'd like to know is what system is A: More fun for a solitary (Mostly, there'll be companions at time, I imagine, though they'd be few and far between) Caster playing at a high power level, and B: More fun at a higher level (Between Epic or Mythic, we plan on reaching those upper echelons eventually- which system is the most coherent at that point, and the easiest for a beleaguered DM to brew up monsters/character for?)

Finally, since my friend is a lazy bugger (A trait we do not share, I assure you :) )if you have any recommendations for a fun/novel caster/psionicist in either system that goes well from level 1-3 to Epic/Mythic- well, I'm sure he'd consider himself much obliged to you.

[Crake]

For magic, I would almost definitely suggest 3.5. It has much more spells, and the spells are all much more impactful, as opposed to pathfinder where many of the core spells have been nerfed, while the additional spells all feel way too situational to be worth taking. Not to say pathfinder spellcasting is BAD, just 3.5 is better.

That being said, personally, I would recommend using a combination of both systems, pathfinder is designed to be mostly compatible with 3.5, so why limit yourself with one or the other? Just pick a base system, and port over material you want from one to the other.

[MeimuHakurei]

For magic, I would almost definitely suggest 3.5. It has much more spells, and the spells are all much more impactful, as opposed to pathfinder where many of the core spells have been nerfed, while the additional spells all feel way too situational to be worth taking. Not to say pathfinder spellcasting is BAD, just 3.5 is better.

That being said, personally, I would recommend using a combination of both systems, pathfinder is designed to be mostly compatible with 3.5, so why limit yourself with one or the other? Just pick a base system, and port over material you want from one to the other.

Not to mention the ridiculous amount of customizability to caster classes (In a magic-focused world, I'd absolutely recommend Wizard first and foremost) - Focused Specialization, Alternate Class Features that are way more flexible than Pathfinder's Archetypes and the many prestige classes for a specific type of mage (you might want to houserule most Wizard PrCs to have full casting progression if you want to choose one out of flavor reasons).

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I'll also recommend allowing him to choose from both 3.5 and Pathfinder material, since this is a solo game he's already at a disadvantage on action economy and having more options is generally better.

Regardless of build, he should probably take Wild Cohort (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) at 1st level. Get a Magebred Warbeast Riding Dog with trip, per ECS as long as he's not a Druid or Ranger he should be able to get a Magebred animal companion/cohort. Spellcasters are extremely squishy in the early levels and can run out of gas easily, this gives him a second body for action economy that's also easily a match for low-level encounters. Maybe even consider trading a Familiar for an animal companion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#sorcererWizard) (and retrain it to another ACF later when it's less useful, or combine the bonuses onto his animal cohort later on) to get a second one of those. Get them studded leather barding starting out, and give them enough cross-class Spellcraft ranks to get Mage Slayer.

You can't really go wrong with a Wizard specialized in Conjuration. Trade Scribe Scroll for Improved Initiative (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wizard), trade your Wizard 5 bonus feat for spontaneous divination or a domain power (Magic domain allows him to use scrolls, staffs, and wands of spells from prohibited schools, Planning gets Extend Spell, etc.) or jump into Master Specialist at 4th. Pick up Incantatrix or some other powerful prestige class maybe. Focus on debuffing/disabling opponents and let the dogs do most of the damage work, including delivering a CDG to an unconscious or paralyzed opponent.

A Sorcerer build can also be decent, depending. In this case I'd let him use PF Sorcerer and favored class bonuses but still pick from 3.5 spells and feats. Ancestral Relic for a custom Runestaff may not be necessary in that case, but it allows you to get around the normally limited number of spells known. A Kobold Sorcerer with the Greater Draconic Rite of Passage (and possibly Dragonwrought + Loredrake depending on interpretation) is probably better than the Human favored class bonus if you go the custom Runestaff route, or if you also include Spellhoarding. In this case, it would be more fitting to use some sort of reptilian animal for his animal cohort/companion, maybe something from the PF animal companion list.

A Gish build can add a lot of survivability and he can get by without spells if needed. The standard Sorcadin build is Paladin 2/ Sorcerer 4/ Spellsword 1/ Abjurant Champion 5/ Sacred Exorcist 8. A Wizard gish build would be something like Human Paragon or Elf Paragon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm) 1/ Fighter 1/ Wizard 2/ Human or Elf Paragon 2/ Spellsword 1/ Abjurant Champion 5/ Incantatrix 4/ Eldritch Knight or Knight Phantom 4. With Psionics you could go Fast Movement Ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#ranger) 1/ Ardent 4/ Slayer 9/ Sanctified Mind 6, or maybe Spellthief 1/ Ardent or Psion 4/ Psychic Assassin (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723d) 6/ Slayer 9. Always use Substitute Powers (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070629a) with Ardent.

There's also one of my favorite builds, Illumian (Krau/anything) Beguiler 1/ Wizard 4/ Ultimate Magus 10/ Wizard-advancing PrCs 5. Take Practiced Spellaster: Beguiler before 6th and 10/10 UM can go toward Wizard, also get Able Learner for those Beguiler class skills and Versatile Spellcaster to spend two Beguiler slots to cast a Wizard spell he's learned. This build gets skills like a Rogue, only loses one level of Wizard spellcasting, and eventually has a spell for nearly every situation from Beguiler. You could replace a Wizard level with Spellthief and take Master Spellthief instead of Practiced Spellcaster for an absurd caster level later on (character level +11 from 15th), in which case you wouldn't need Illumian, but that's just unnecessary.


It really depends on how he wants the character to play, whether a Wizard or Sorcerer or Psion or Ardent (maybe choose a focus of Int or Wis or Cha first), whether a pure caster or a gish or a sneaky caster, etc. Also a race preference, whether a regular old Human or (Gray) Elf, something exotic like a Killoren or Catfolk, something shunned like a Kobold or Tiefling, or something big like a Primordial Giant Half-Giant? Get a bit more information out of this player, he'll need to provide some input for his own character.

[Contemplative]

Wow. Thanks for all the detailed advice!

I spoke with the player again- and, parroting most of what you told me, we both decided that 3.5 with pathfinder material sprinkled in liberally was a good idea. The only reservation was that Epic (when it comes up) will break the game even more thoroughly than Mythic play- and on my end, it’s a bit more of a headache to come up with monsters. Are there any good epic bestiaries/handbooks for running high level (well, eventually- we’re flat mates for the foreseeable future IRL, so we expect the game to last for a while) 3.5 campaigns without giving the DM (yours truly) a migraine? (Or, I could just cut and paste mythic onto a 3.5 chassis- but I’m unsure how advisable the idea is.)

I also quizzed my friend more on what character he wanted to play- I offered him the suggestions found here- and he definitely seemed interested in playing an int based caster. He’s caught by the idea of playing a Szarkai (the Forgotten realms name for an Albino Drow, there’ll be some porting over to a homebrew setting, of course.) since the campaign is solo, and a low level lone caster will have a hard enough time of things, I’m thinking about letting him play the Drow Noble race of pathfinder free of any level adjustment (not that pathfinder had any, but...). He’s envisioning someone who is obsessed with learning all there is to know - kind of a mad scientist type. He’s expressed an interest in crossing psionics and magic- but if there’s no good way to do that, I think he’d settle for just a conjuror. He’s very much taken with the idea of a Batman wizard.

One last minor thing, @Bffoniacus_Furiou , do you think it would be very much out of balance if I gave him a dragon wyrmling as a animal companion, la free? The player loves dragons, too- and it’d be nice to give him a companion that advances in hit die/age categories alongside him. (Actually- funny story, this same friend wanted me to run a 2e game just so we could use the council of Wyrms rules for dragon PCs. Sadly, I don’t know 2e nearly as well as 3.5, so I couldn’t oblige him.)

Thanks for all the help!

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Drow Noble is pretty good, I'd recommend the Surface Infiltrator alternate trait which grants low-light vision in place of the darkvision and light blindness. Maybe also modify that according to the Deepwyrm Drow in Dragon Magic, and give him a wyrmling Deep Dragon from Monsters of Faerun (3.5 update (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20040313a)).

However, that's tiny size and would be more like a familiar than an animal companion, and it's no substitute for the riding dog which is a visible threat and likely to draw his opponents' attention. The Draconomicon has the feat Dragon Familiar, at wyrmling it's the same CR as a white dragon but stats closer to that of a blue dragon. It just depends on how you want to scale the encounters and how much assistance you think he'll need.


For the build, there aren't a lot of great choices for combining arcane and psionics. Even with early entry tricks to minimze caster level loss on the primary class, the secondary class is going to be severely stunted in the later levels. Probably the best psionics class to use for that is Ardent, because the highest-level powers that gets is based on the manifester level rather than its effective class level, so Practiced Manifester basically makes up for four lost levels. However, that's Wis-based, and I doubt he'll want to split his casting stats like that, but without using Ardent there aren't really any early-entry tricks for the psionic side.

Let's say he does go something like Wizard 2/ Master Specialist 2/ Ardent 1/ Cerebremancer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/cerebremancer.htm) 10/ whatever 5, with two flaws for Hidden Talent, Spell Focus, and Precocious Apprentice (or other early-entry trick for the arcane side) at 1st level. If he gets Practiced Manifester at 3rd, before gaining that Ardent level, he'll immediately be able to pick up to 3rd level powers known with only one level in the class. Hidden Talent gets a free 1st level power and makes him psionic, a prerequisite for Practiced Manifester. This gets 11/20 Ardent manifesting with up to 8th level powers and a manifester level of 15, and 19/20 Wizard spellcasting. However, he'll want to have a decent Wis score which is typically the biggest dump stat on a Wizard, though Noble Drow helps out with that a little. I'd honestly just skip doing that, since he could otherwise have Master Specialist 10 at 13th level and the Conjurer ability is just fantastic.

Despite the Master Specialist 10 class feature being so good, I'd actually delay that to 15 to get two levels of Incantatrix as early as possible (6th-7th level). With proper Spellcraft optimization (i.e. Item Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm)) he can always succeed at using Metamagic Effect to apply Persistent Spell to the highest-level spells he can currently cast at any given level by taking ten on the check. This can cover buffs like Shield, Swift Fly, Friendly Fire, and Greater Invisibility, deterrents like Death Armor and Karmic Aura/Backlash/Retribution, and offensive measures like Cloud of Knives and Dragon Breath.

After reconsidering the arcane/psionic route, he could go with a spell-to-power Erudite instead. There aren't a lot of strong psionic prestige classes, but many arcane-advancing prestige classes could be adapted to psionics.

[MeimuHakurei]

Epic won't bring you that much more of a headache if you ban epic spellcasting entirely, since most of the typically gamebreaking elements are already in play for several levels at that point.