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Thread: The Suel Arcanamach Handbook

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    Default The Suel Arcanamach Handbook

    THE SUEL ARCANAMACH HANDBOOK

    Presented in the Complete Arcane Sourcebook (page 63), the Suel Arcanamach class also had a Prestige Class article about them here. Be careful about these article as it mostly contains bad advice, though. The class has some odd requirements, interesting abilities and limited but fast paced spellcasting (5th level spells in 10 levels), with 3/4 BAB, d8 Hit Die and 4 skill points from a good list. A Suel Arcanamach is basically a gish-light with some skills.
    I'm using a color-coded system here; very good, good, average and bad.

    What You Need
    Like said earlier, the class has some odd requirements. For the full list:
    - BAB +6
    - Skills: Concentration 4, Jump 4, Spellcraft 5, Tumble 4
    - Feats: Combat Casting, Iron Will
    - Language: Ancient Suloise
    - Must be proficient with at least 4 martial weapons
    - Must read the Grimoire Arcanamacha or study with a willing structor. This one might be kinda hard to pull, as it depends entirely on your DM, but we'll look for ways to make it easier.
    The weirdest thing here is 'must be proficient with at least 4 martial weapons'. This mostly comes up if you want a single-class Spellthief into Arcanamach, otherwise if you have at least a single full-bab class level you will have proficiency in martial weapons.

    What You Need II - Stat Priority
    Let's take a look at how a Suel Arcanamach should build his stats. Stats are not rated as they largely depend on race and classes.
    Strength: Since Suel Arcanamach is a melee class, having high strenght never hurts. You could dump it for finesse builds, specially if you are tight on ability points. A 13 qualifies you for Power Attack, but if you can you really should go for a higher score.
    Dexterity: I think people usually underestimate the importance of Dexterity. This stat boosts so many things - ranged attack rolls, Armor Class, Reflex save, initiative, lots of skills. If you are a finesse warrior or if you want to focus on skills, you need as high Dex as possible. In any other case, you don't want a low Dex anyway. If you can't focus that much on Dex, at least have as many as possible to get the most out of your armor.
    Constitution: Hit Points and Concentration. Hit Points are very importante for melee characters - heck, they are important to everyone. You need at the very least a 14 here. More never hurts. Important for all Suel builds.
    Intelligence: It's importante for skill points, if you want to focus on that (as I would). Even more important for Arcanamachs with levels in Duskblade, Swashbuckler or Warblade. That said, you probably can't afford a very high score here. 12 is already enough for humans, maybe 13 for feat requirements. 14 is the most I'd go for, except in a Swashbuckler build.
    Wisdom: Not a very important ability. You need it for skills and Will save. Your Will save is going to be good anyway, so I'd dump Wisdom altogether. Could be a prerequisite for some feats, so be careful.
    Charisma: You need at least 11 to cast Suel Arcanamach spells at all, 15 to cast all spells and 20 to gain bonus spells for all levels. It determines the DC for your spells but you will probably be using more buffs than anything else. A 20 seems like a good score for me; more could give you some bonus spells, though. It also helps with skills. Important for all Suel builds. If you are making one of those pesky Cha-synergy builds, go freaking crazy here.

    What You Need III - Finding & Reading the Grimoire Arcanamacha
    Working on it.

    What You Get
    OK, so now you qualified for the Suel Arcanamach prestige class. What does the class grant you, after all?
    Skills: 4 skill points per level of an extensive skill list.
    Base Attack Bonus: 3/4 BAB is not that bad, but it's not full BAB. You're probably gaining a lot more "to hit" bonuses from spells than from BAB, but this delays your iterative attacks.
    Hit Dice: A d8 Hit Dice is not awesome, but not terrible really. Since you probably have high Con, it won't hurt you a all.
    Weapon and Armor Proficiency: You don't gain anything here. You probably don't need it anyway, but...
    Spells: Cha-based fast-paced spell progression with a regular amount of slots from a great list - the Sorcerer/Wizard list. You are limited to the schools of abjuration, divination, illusion and transmutation, but most gish spells are from those schools anyway. Also, there are ways to increase your spell list (more on this in the prestige classes entry). You cast as a sorcerer and have a small amount of spells known, so pick your spells carefully. This is your most powerful class ability by far.
    Ignore Spell Failure Chance: This is always nice, since you need to wear armor to improve your Armor Class and you will be in the frontlines most of the time. If you get Abjurant Champion levels (and you should) this is less useful. It could save your life at lower levels though, specially if coupled with Spellsword, but it's not worthy to stay in Suel Arcanamach for this.
    Tenacious Spells: This is really good, specially if you are a illumian with aeshkrau and Abjurant Champion levels. Your spells are really hard to dispel, making your buffs a lot more reliable.
    Dispelling Strike: OK, so your buffs are extremely hard to dispel... but your opponent's buffs aren't! Unfortunatelly it's keyed to class level instead of caster level which makes it fade in utility in later levels. It's not worthy to stay in Suel Arcanamach just to get more castings of this per day. If you get your DM to key it to your character level or caster level, though, it's GOLDEN.
    Extended Spellstrenght: A really nice ability. Notice your spells are NOT affected by the Extend Spell feat, they have their duration doubled as if affected. That means you can still apply Extend Spell to them! Better yet, you apply Abjurant Champion's Extended Abjuration to them. Heck, since Abjurant Champion's ability is also "as if" you can combine BOTH with Extend Spell. That's some awesome potential for durations - you could make a casting of Shield last for a whole hour! There has been some debate about how these abilities stack if at all, so check if your DM. I think they stack and I would allow them in a game I DM, as it's not gamebreaking or anything.
    Last edited by true_shinken; 2010-07-11 at 10:33 AM.