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Burley
2008-08-08, 12:49 PM
I was just thinking: a Warmage with tons of Reserve Feats. How useful would that be?
I played a Warmage once before, and I ended up taking a lot of feats that I didn't really use much, like Somatic Weaponry and Precise Shot. Thinking on it now, if I had the Complete Mage back in the day, I probably would have stocked up on these.

So, in you opinion, what would be the best Reserve Feats for a Warmage to take? Assume that s/he's human (for that bonus feat), but you don't have to use EVERY feat for reserves. Basically, I'd like to see a theoretic build compared another.

Frosty
2008-08-08, 12:53 PM
Why not just play a Warlock instead? Infinite Reserve attacks...

CASTLEMIKE
2008-08-08, 12:53 PM
At first level Precocious Apprentice for a Fire based spell not normally found on the Warmage spell list and the Fiery Burst Reserve Feat. Lots of unlimited blasting from rounds 1-5 and 2D6 for L1 to L3 despite only being able to cast first level spells.

Burley
2008-08-08, 01:02 PM
Why not just play a Warlock instead? Infinite Reserve attacks...

Frosty...C'mon. You think that I, Burley Warlock, didn't think first of Warlock? Warlocks are what I dream about at night. They are the dreams I put in my coffee and spread on my toast. Warlocks are those sweet nothings that I whisper into the ears of my lover. Warlocks are my precious and beautiful life essence, and I never, ever think of them as anything else but the answer to everything in my pre-Warlock miserable existance.

However, most of my players don't like Warlocks. So, I'm trying to find something comparable in unlimited arcane attacks, but without the flying and invisibility that I want so hardily to throw at them.
(I'm trying to do the same thing with a Dread Necromancer, but don't have the books for the build, yet.)

MammonAzrael
2008-08-08, 01:08 PM
Unlimited arcane attacks....

....

....

Mystic Swordsage?

:smallbiggrin:

But seriously, Fiery Burst is nice since it's an actual burst, and great for getting lots of low-level guys. Invisible Needle if you like to throw Incorporeal creatures at your players. Dimensional Jaunt and Minor Shapeshift are probably to two strongest reserve feats, followed by the infinite minions of Summon Elemental. Acidic Splatter is nice, but there aren't that many Acid spells for it to key off of.

Burley
2008-08-08, 01:18 PM
That's why I picked Warmage, because the Orb spells are automatically on their list, so they can use any of the energy typed feats.

RagnaroksChosen
2008-08-08, 01:56 PM
the only problem with this is that all the reserve feats require you to be at least 3rd if not 4th level so doing this type of character isn't really effective at low levels.

And don't forget that as a warmage you gain spell slots like a sorc. Which meen's no reserve feets untill 6th lvl. :( nor does it count twords a warmages edge as they count as supernatural abilities

If your going to do this I would suggest going wizard, as they also get all the orbs on there spell list. plus they can take reserve feets at 5th 10th 15th and 20th instead of there ususaly list of feets at thouse levels.


Sorry to shoot down your idea.

Burley
2008-08-08, 03:00 PM
My idea wasn't shot down. It's still there. I'm not optimizing a character, I'm weighing villain options. I don't want a wizard, because I'd need to do up their spellbook, and I don't want to do that if the PCs have any chance of killing him.
Also, I thought the Warmage Edge things was a supernatural ability that adds a spell to your list. If it adds it to your list, then it's on your list, and therefore is applicable.

RagnaroksChosen
2008-08-08, 03:06 PM
My idea wasn't shot down. It's still there. I'm not optimizing a character, I'm weighing villain options. I don't want a wizard, because I'd need to do up their spellbook, and I don't want to do that if the PCs have any chance of killing him.
Also, I thought the Warmage Edge things was a supernatural ability that adds a spell to your list. If it adds it to your list, then it's on your list, and therefore is applicable.

Warmage edge adds damage to your blasty spells... these are spell like abilitys and do not qualify..

I thought this was for a pc my bad..
if its an npc/villian then do what ever...

My mistake i misunderstood the question...

CASTLEMIKE
2008-08-08, 03:51 PM
Going Warmage -1 (Precocious Apprentice), Binder -3 (Unless Precocious Apprentice also applies to Binders) and Anima Mage - 10 could be interesting but really need one of the tricks to work like using Precocious Apprentice to qualify early. V3 Focalor has Lightning Stike once per standard action 3D6 + 1D6 per 3 effective Binder levels.

Jack_Simth
2008-08-08, 05:45 PM
My idea wasn't shot down. It's still there. I'm not optimizing a character, I'm weighing villain options. I don't want a wizard, because I'd need to do up their spellbook, and I don't want to do that if the PCs have any chance of killing him.
Also, I thought the Warmage Edge things was a supernatural ability that adds a spell to your list. If it adds it to your list, then it's on your list, and therefore is applicable.
So use a Cleric or Druid.

In general, the Reserve feats aren't worth the action in battle (two notable exceptions, and two less notable ones: Minor Shapeshift (as it's a Swift action, and temp HP is tasty), Dimensional Jaunt (as most of what you use Dimension Door for in battle is to escape grapples, which this lets you do); the early qualify trick for Fiery Burst is useful at 1st level (2d6 at will at 1st), and Summon Elemental (as a standard-action disposable flanking buddy for your friendly party rogue)).

Other than the above, from a power-perspective, none of the other reserve feats are really worth using for a full caster in pitched combat against similar-power foes compared to regular spells. Out of combat, Summon Elemental is handy for when you're playing a trapfinder (A Wiz-11 can Permanency Arcane Sight, and send Medium Earth Elementals ahead - the Earth Elemental will find all mechanical traps that the party will trigger, the Arcane Sight will find any magical traps not specifically designed to counter the tactic - all with no roll required) or a healer (there's a trick for infinite out-of-combat healing with the Vampiric weapon property from the magic item compendium for Summon Elemental); Face Changer is handy if you're playing a deceiver (a Beguiler, Unseen Seer, Arcane Trickster, or similar - it's limitless-use Disguise Self). Against hordes of mooks, the direct-damage reserve feats can be handy - Fiery Burst can get four of them a pop, and can be repeated indefinitely (you'll want Minor Shapeshift to deal with the occasional hit, too). For a Gish, there's a lot of them that are useful (blade of force, for instance). With attrition tactics (hit, run, wait, hit run wait...), most of them have a solid use. With stealth tactics (Druid Wildshapes into a harmless animal, uses the difficult-to-trace feats such as Summon Elemental or Fiery Burst), they can be useful.

In a stand-your-ground pitched battle? There's two good ones, two that'll come up occasionally, and a few that are handy for specific builds.


Warmage edge adds damage to your blasty spells... these are spell like abilitys and do not qualify..


Actually, if they were Spell-like, it would (as spell like abilities are treated like spells in all ways except the ones listed). The problem is that they're Supernatural abilities, not spell-like.

Special Abilities: A special ability is either extraordinary (Ex), spell-like (Sp), or supernatural (Su).

Extraordinary: Extraordinary abilities are nonmagical, don’t become ineffective in an antimagic field, and are not subject to any effect that disrupts magic. Using an extraordinary ability is a free action unless otherwise noted.

Spell-Like: Spell-like abilities are magical and work just like spells (though they are not spells and so have no verbal, somatic, material, focus, or XP components). They go away in an antimagic field and are subject to spell resistance if the spell the ability resembles or duplicates would be subject to spell resistance.

A spell-like ability usually has a limit on how often it can be used. A spell-like ability that can be used at will has no use limit. Using a spell-like ability is a standard action unless noted otherwise, and doing so while threatened provokes attacks of opportunity. It is possible to make a Concentration check to use a spell-like ability defensively and avoid provoking an attack of opportunity, just as when casting a spell. A spell-like ability can be disrupted just as a spell can be. Spell-like abilities cannot be used to counterspell, nor can they be counterspelled.

For creatures with spell-like abilities, a designated caster level defines how difficult it is to dispel their spell-like effects and to define any level-dependent variables (such as range and duration) the abilities might have. The creature’s caster level never affects which spell-like abilities the creature has; sometimes the given caster level is lower than the level a spellcasting character would need to cast the spell of the same name. If no caster level is specified, the caster level is equal to the creature’s Hit Dice. The saving throw (if any) against a spell-like ability is 10 + the level of the spell the ability resembles or duplicates + the creature’s Cha modifier.

Some spell-like abilities duplicate spells that work differently when cast by characters of different classes. A monster’s spell-like abilities are presumed to be the sorcerer/wizard versions. If the spell in question is not a sorcerer/wizard spell, then default to cleric, druid, bard, paladin, and ranger, in that order.

Supernatural: Supernatural abilities are magical and go away in an antimagic field but are not subject to spell resistance. Supernatural abilities cannot be dispelled. Using a supernatural ability is a standard action unless noted otherwise. Supernatural abilities may have a use limit or be usable at will, just like spell-like abilities. However, supernatural abilities do not provoke attacks of opportunity and never require Concentration checks. Unless otherwise noted, a supernatural ability has an effective caster level equal to the creature’s Hit Dice. The saving throw (if any) against a supernatural ability is 10 + 1/2 the creature’s HD + the creature’s ability modifier (usually Charism(Emphasis added). Spell-like abilities are "just like spells" except as noted - but Supernatural abilities do not have that line.

mabriss lethe
2008-08-08, 10:01 PM
To be honest, if this is a BBEG, I'd say don't bother. He's, more than likely,only going up against the PCs when he's fresh and fully charged. Direct damage reserve feats, while neat, only see use in one of two ways, 1. Dealing with mooks and other nuisances when you don't want to waste a spell. 2. A long, drawn out fight where you've already used up most of your spell slots and you're left with nothing except just enough to power to fuel the feat. Neither of thost should be an issue for a BBEG. He has more effective ways to spend his feats.

However, if he were...say.. one of the BBEGs right hand or left hand men, then it could be a neat challenge for him to hinder the party using attrition tactics. A long, drawn out struggle to make the party use up vital resources before they face the real BBEG.