3.X Spellcaster Question

[SilverSheriff]

I was just wondering what everyone thought about the Ultimate Magus from complete Mage. Are it's Spell-casting abilities worth it in comparison with the abilities of other Prestige classes?

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Like many spellcasting PrCs that (one way or another) lose a small number of caster levels, Ultimate Magus can be a very serviceable and versatile caster, but you're probably better off (power-wise) going with a PrC that lets you progress casting as quickly as possible.

The standard build for UM is an Illumian (Krau Sigil) Beguiler 1/Wizard X*/UM 10/Arcane PrC Y with the feat Practiced Spellcaster: Beguiler. This way all of the levels that only advance one side of the casting progression can advance the wizard casting side. You reap a variety of benefits and end up losing one caster level.

*I forget how many levels you need.

[SilverSheriff]

Lets say that I'm playing in an Epic Level Campaign and I had a choice between 10 Wizard/10 Sorcerer/20 Ultimate Magus or 20 Wizard/20 Sorcerer, which one would be optimal?

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Lets say that I'm playing in an Epic Level Campaign and I had a choice between 10 Wizard/10 Sorcerer/20 Ultimate Magus or 20 Wizard/20 Sorcerer, which one would be optimal?

I wasn't aware that Ultimate Magus had an epic progression, but if you're going the Sorcerer/Wizard route you're definitely better off including Ultimate Magus in the build.

[SilverSheriff]

I wasn't aware that Ultimate Magus had an epic progression, but if you're going the Sorcerer/Wizard route you're definitely better off including Ultimate Magus in the build.

Epic Progression is easy to whip up.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

I find the epic rules to be difficult to use in general, but your group is probably different. Anyway, in that case I'd use the Wizard10/Sorcerer10/UM20 build you proposed, though you might be able to slip some PrCs into the non-epic part of the progression. Something like...

Wizard3/MasterSpecialist7/Sorcerer5/Archmage5

Or whatever fits your fancy.

[Doc Roc]

UM is amazing if you can use it as a gimmick with a class that rebuilds spell-casting, such as sublime chord. Expect to jump through hoops like a robot dolphin though.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Neither, go with a Beguiler 1/ Spellthief 1/ Wizard 3/ UM 10/ Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil 7/ UM+. Take the feat Versatile Spellcaster in Dragon Magic, which allows you to use Beguiler spell slots to spontaneously cast any spell you know, including Wizard spells. Both classes use Int for spellcasting, so you won't need to worry so much about MAD. Take Master Spellthief at level 3 and your caster level will be amazing, plus you'll get to pick what class's spellcasting to advance at UM 1, 4, and 7. You should also get Able Learner to keep max ranks in the useful Beguiler class skills, particularly Spot, Listen, Search, Hide, and Move Silently, and get the feat Darkstalker from Lords of Madness.

[Douglas]

Lets say that I'm playing in an Epic Level Campaign and I had a choice between 10 Wizard/10 Sorcerer/20 Ultimate Magus or 20 Wizard/20 Sorcerer, which one would be optimal?

You have to ask? If you're going to multiclass caster classes, a dual caster PrC is ALWAYS better than just the base multiclass. And why limit yourself to just 20 levels of UM? Go Wizard 5/Sorcerer 5/Ultimate Magus 30, or see if you can stick some other PrC in there for some of the pre-epic levels, or both.

[Malacode]

An epic spellcaster isn't an epic spellcaster without ISV/Rainbow Servant. Shove them in before you get to Ultimate Magus, or else the lost caster levels just won't work well for you.

[mostlyharmful]

At level 40 so long as you've got Epic Spellcasting nothing else really comes into it, you're at the point of making Greater Gods you B£$%^ so whatever.

Personally I'd say grab the least amount of the base classes you can, advance full UM and then go grab a few fun classes to pick up good abilities such as Rainbow Servant on your Beguiler so you get all the cleric list spont as well as uber arcane casting.

Something like, Beguiler1*/Wiz3/MT2/UM10/Archmage5/RainbowServant10/Incantrix10/Mindbender1

*see cheaty early entry tricks.