Optimization/Build Help

[VirOath]

We are looking at a campaign starting up soon and the DM is planning on making this a high powered campaign. Monster Races are being handled on a case by case basis, so that things like Dragons aren't a case of "You're doing it wrong!"

Alignment restrictions across the board are getting removed, all characters have a forced Lawful Evil alignment. And a good example to base the power level of the rest of the party is a War Troll that has gotten an immunity to the one thing that can damage him. So all manner of Cheese is being allowed.

Save apparently Blood Line cheese. That gray area has had the line drawn against it, so I'm looking to make something on par since my original design was blown out of the water.

All characters are starting as level 16.

I was thinking of going Cleric/Warlock/Eldritch Disciple as a backup build, or using Ur-Priest (but I don't think that works with Eldritch Disciple as it states you need a god, and the DM isn't going to Fudge requirements.)

But looking at that, is giving up two levels of Cleric worth it for the eleven levels of Warlock? Is there another way to get more warlock levels without losing Clerical spellcasting? (Point behind this is that if I could get a way to having atleast Greater Invocations to start with without losing another Caster level, I'd be happy).

(Then again, just what is the Codzilla build that has been tossed around? Search only shows references, no explanation)

So I was looking at a Cleric/Walker of the Wastes(Sandstorm) monstrosity, but that only raises more questions. Does the Salt Mummies count against your control pool? How many Salt Mummies can you raise? At what cost? Do you need to expend the EXP for a Sand Golem? Or even the gold value? Is the last level worth losing casting on?

And for a really newb question, are Salt Mummies even worth it?

And just recently I've found out that the NPC he built for the party is a Cleric as well, and he is the type of DM that doesn't like (So won't allow) overlap. So one Wizard type, one Cleric type, one Druid, etc, etc, etc. Considering we already have a Wizard, Druid, two different Melee Monsters, and now what looks like a Cleric, this thought looks like it will be revoked from the get go.

So I'm looking at -another- backup build before the campaign starts. Was thinking of going Soul Eater(BoVD) with a ToB class. But what would be a good monster for that?(Low LA, decent but not absurd HD for that LA) Level nine of it looks awesome, but are the levels between one and nine really worth it? (Being all enhancement bonuses, they are overridden by other sources more often than not.) And again, is this a PrC you want to avoid filling in completely?

Though, on a related note, is there a method of getting an insane perform check? Just took a quick look over Subline Cord, and the thought of using Power Cords to make people's heads explode and their bodies burn is just too much of an amusement factor to not look for an answer too.

[Myrmex]

Beholder Mage. Seriously. Cast 9 spells a round as a free action. Just ask to play a Beholder with a nerfed anti-magic eye and eye-stalks, then take one or two levels in beholder Mage, then prestige into whatever you want (some ur-priest and mystic theurge, or maybe incantatrix). You get 9th level spells over ten levels.

Alternatively, a dragonwrought white dragonspawn spellhoarding riddled kobold half-fiend (use wizards half fiend variant). This should net you +19 to intelligence and a +4 boost to your wizard caster level, so at level 6 you will cast as a level 10 wizard. Best of all, it's only LA +5 with no racial HD, so will likely leave you room for even MORE templates.

Incantatrix is highly recommended, as is judicious use of quicken spell and persistent spell.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Is level adjustment buyoff allowed? If so, you could play a +1 LA race and only be 3,000 XP behind with a +0 LA, or play a +2 LA race and be 16,000 XP behind with a +0 LA. This can be extremely significant depending on what sort of character you want to play.

If the group needs and arcane spellcaster, maybe go with a Dread Necromancer from Heroes of Horror. You could have 2-3 super-powerful undead minions who follow you around, superb debuffs and other spells, and some really nice class features. If the party also needs a skillmonkey, maybe play a Swordsage, and use the Arcane Swordsage variant in the Adaptation section on page 20. That can learn Arcane spells from the schools of Abjuration, Evocation, and Transmutation, and it can ready and use them an unlimited number of times per day. Wear some light armor that has no armor check penalty, since your spells will be used as though they're maneuvers and maneuvers are always supernatural, which never have any verbal, somatic, or material components, and they always ignore spell resistance. Get Draconic Polymorph and turn into a War Troll and you'll be the most powerful melee combatant in the party. Get Prismatic Wall, Reverse Gravity, Disintegrate, etc. and never worry about using them up. Be sure to get Iceberg from Frostburn when you can get 9th level maneuvers. Take the feat Adaptive Style and you'll be able to spend a full round action to repick what maneuvers/spells you have readied, as well as recovering all of them to be available for use.

A War Troll is an ECL 18 monster (12 HD, +6 LA), and that doesn't even have any class levels. Racial hit dice are not optional, a given creature is not playable as a PC without them because otherwise it would be an infant. If you're able to play monster races without their racial hit dice, then make a Black Ethergaunt from the Fiend Folio. It's supposed to have 16 HD of Aberration with its +4 LA, but if you can opt not to take its racial hit dice then you'll be able to have twelve class levels, and even buy off a point of that +4 LA. Black Ethergaunts get 17th level Wizard spellcasting, so you could start out something like Warlock 3/ Eldritch Theurge 9 and cast spells as a 26th level Wizard with 12th level Warlock invocations and eldritch blast. Another idea would be to go Beguiler 1/ Mindbender 1/ Ultimate Magus 10, then maybe get Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil afterward. Get Versatile Spellcaster from Races of the Dragon and you'd be able to spend Beguiler spell slots to spontaneously cast any Wizard spell you know. That would have 24th level Wizard spellcasting at caster level 28 with 12th level Beguiler spellcasting, plus you could have the feat Mindsight from Lords of Madness (page 126).

[kamikasei]

CoDzilla ain't no build, boy, it's just what the class is. The recipie is simply "melee cleric who self-buffs". Now, there are build considerations there: decent physical stats, full plate and a good weapon, etc. - but you don't need any very specific build to pull it off, it's just part of the base class. It gets cheesetacular if you bring in Divine Metamagic (Persist Spell) and nightsticks, though.

Giving up cleric for warlock levels is never "worth it", in the sense of giving you more actual power.

It looks like the party role yet unfilled is the skillmonkey - have you access to the Factotum (from Dungeonscape)? There are a variety of cheesy tricks that can be used with that class, especially if the Font of Inspiration feat is available. Even without serious cheese, it's a good class. Will you be playing with LA buyoff? Even if not, you might consider the Dark template from Tome of Magic.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

I was thinking of going Cleric/Warlock/Eldritch Disciple as a backup build, or using Ur-Priest (but I don't think that works with Eldritch Disciple as it states you need a god, and the DM isn't going to Fudge requirements.)

The text for Ur-Priest mentions that you can adapt the Ur-Priest to be a worshiper of a dead god.

[Mooch]

dragonwrought white dragonspawn spellhoarding riddled kobold half-fiend (use wizards half fiend variant)

What is the source to all of those, some of them I have never heard of

[VirOath]

A War Troll is an ECL 18 monster (12 HD, +6 LA), and that doesn't even have any class levels. Racial hit dice are not optional

Monster Races are being handled on a case by case basis, so that things like Dragons aren't a case of "You're doing it wrong!"

ECL is being adjusted by increasing the LA depending on the HD and ignoring the rule that you have to buy HD with levels. House rule. So LA buyoff isn't an option, and the DM isn't keen to that idea even with Core rules instead of his house rule either.

Hence why I'm looking for an +LA race with HD close to it's LA, so no adjustment will be done. I should have been more clear on that before.


On the other note though, I was playing the Skill Monkey for the campaign that just came to a close. I can count on one hand, better yet, one finger the times that the Disable Device and Trapfinding was used. Everything else was designed to be dealt with in different ways (Trapped hallway to be Mass Fly'd over, Impossible to deal with Treasure Room trap) And we had a total of one day in a town with social interaction of any kind.

So I got a good Int and do plan on having some decent skills, since I was told this one will have a more social aspect to it, but I'm not going to be biting the bullet of being the party skill monkey when those skills aren't even going to be used.


Then again, the last campaign had the DM encouraging the change of the focus of my rogue 3 times at least (Because he sees Haley as what a rogue is, an archer and never a flanker/melee, despite core rules encouraging otherwise), to the point that we haven't been able to buy anything in the game for about seven levels, having my melee rogue get a +5 bow of Golem Bane at his feet with ammo, and the entire thing being nothing but golems, with the DM seeing the Magic Gems out of MIC, or Golem Strike wands to be game breaking in terms of magic investment (Claiming that a 10,000 GP gem outshines a weapon built without it in mind.) and having my repeated requests to be able to buy the thing out of PH2 that allows a person to reset their feats and pick again denied. Even with the other players saying it was a reasonable request. As the -monk- takes out a Golem a round...

Add that to the virtual god that was following us around, and the constant use of him having to deal with things (Stopping a Titan from trying to break the universe and become a god. Well, time speeds up so that we are 20 years too late, -Mindflayer Wizard NPC- turns back time to allow us to face him. So far it feels like every obstacle was designed to be dealt with using the NPC, it's been a fricken NWN level more than anything else...)

<Sighs> Sorry for the rant. Only reason why I'm still playing is because I enjoy hanging out with my friends and he says this one will be different. Though the fricken hassle I'm getting from just character creation is tempting me to walk away.




And about CoDzilla, didn't think it was just that simple, thought there was another trick behind it. Thanks.

[Eldariel]

ILLITHID SAVANT [Savage Species]! They get any class feature they want (by eating peoples' brains). Now, it of course comes with the problem that Illithid have +7 Level Adjustment (making them start at level 15 with 8 HD; seems perfect if you're looking for LA=HD race), but seeing you already have War Trolls in there (normally ECL 18 as a basis), that shouldn't be a problem.

If it is, start with a standard Aberration like Elan and subject yourself to Polymorph Any Object to acquire the Illithidhood, then immediately head into Illithid Savant. But yeah, straight Illithid > Illithid Savant shouldn't be a problem given a War Troll in the party. Oh, and I'd second Beholder Mage if Illithid Savant wasn't so ridiculously awesome to play (just eat everythings' brains and acquire everything they have; you should start game with plenty o' brains eaten already).

[JeminiZero]

ECL is being adjusted by increasing the LA depending on the HD and ignoring the rule that you have to buy HD with levels. House rule. So LA buyoff isn't an option, and the DM isn't keen to that idea even with Core rules instead of his house rule either.

Hence why I'm looking for an +LA race with HD close to it's LA, so no adjustment will be done. I should have been more clear on that before.

You could get race with more HD than LA, and then boost LA by stacking on Templates.

Dark Template is excellent for anything that can spare the skill ranks for hide and move and a feat for darkstalker. Evolved is good for any undead race. Mineral Warrior is good for any warrior build. etc

[Wings of Peace]

The text for Ur-Priest mentions that you can adapt the Ur-Priest to be a worshiper of a dead god.

If you want to be ultra picky there's also no where in the pre-reqs of Ur-Priest that says you can't worship a god it just says that you cant have the ability to cast divine spells. Obviously the flavor text disagrees with and your point is a better solution but I felt like point it out.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

How does the HD to LA system work exactly? HD <= LA = no HD, unmodified LA?

You could always just make a Hulking Hurler...

[VirOath]

It works on Case by Case, examining the character creation from every step along the way. So it starts with the Base Creature, before templates.

Though, using templates to raise the LA would likely lessen the blow to the increase a bit, I would still be paying for most of the LA's.

A good example is the Yuan-Ti out of MM1. LA+2 with 4HD, likely going to get hand waved past. Same with Gnolls, at 2 or 3HD +1 LA.

But the Dragon of the party, LA+3, 17 HD got bumped up to a LA+13. That War Troll? He stacked Templates, Monster Of Legend actually, and is now a LA+16. Funny enough that's how he became immune to lethal damage.

HD do not count toward ECL, but still provide all the saves, BAB and skills.

[Wings of Peace]

Honestly IMO the most useful thing you might get to be is a human. The high LA is going to cost those players class features which if you optimize right are the most useful things you can get. For damage for example Prestiging into Revenant Blade 5 followed by Frenzied Berserker 10 could with feats alone net you seven attacks each with absurd power attack ability. Figure out what you want. If you want raw damage frenzied berserker anything can shake the house down pretty hard I mainly threw in revenant blade for the extra attacks and easy crits. If you go caster look up cheap spell combo's. Delay Death and Die Hard can keep you fighting all through to infinite negatives as long as the spells stay up. Similarly a cleric with magic domain and the magical training feat can easily qualify not only for being a Dweomer Keeper but also for being an initiate of Mystra allowing Anti-Magic field hax. Templates are still all well and good mind you but an optimized strategy in my opinion will do you better.

[Irreverent Fool]

CoDzilla ain't no build, boy, it's just what the class is. The recipie is simply "melee cleric who self-buffs". Now, there are build considerations there: decent physical stats, full plate and a good weapon, etc. - but you don't need any very specific build to pull it off, it's just part of the base class. It gets cheesetacular if you bring in Divine Metamagic (Persist Spell) and nightsticks, though.

It's called CoDzilla because it relies heavily on things from the Complete Divine. Most of the good buffs have durations of minutes or rounds, which means you will have to have several rounds of preparation before combat. A party doesn't always have that time before a combat. Once divine metamagic and persist spell (and nightsticks) come into play, those spells cease to be limited in this way, turning each one from a choice of temporary buff to class features.

I vote for illithid savant.

obnoxious
sig

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Waitwaitwait, the LA is increased and they keep the racial HD, but it doesn't count toward their ECL? I guess it doesn't really matter just how overpowered the characters are when you can't do anything that doesn't progress the DM's story exactly as he'd planned. Besides, it doesn't matter if any HP damage dealt to him is converted to nonlethal when there's Maximized Shivering Touch, Split Twinned Maximized Ray of Stupidity, and Enervation, plus there's spells like Destruction. I'd make a character that you can have fun with, regardless of how powerful it is. Here is a build for you to consider:

Elf with the feat Otherworldly (PGtF) or +0 LA Tiefling (for which you never have to waste a level to gain the other abilities and +1 LA), with the Ritual of Association from Savage Species to gain the Evil subtype, to be an Outsider (Evil) with a +0 LA. Alternatively, you could go Bladeling (MM2, +1 LA) Divine Minion of Sebek (+1 LA), Outsider (Lawful) changes to Outsider (Evil). Go Arcane Swordsage 6/ Fiend of Possession 6/ Swordsage+. Take Leadership to get a beefy cohort, and always be possessing him. Give him +4 to all of his ability scores, give his weapon +6 worth of enhancement bonus and special abilities, and cast personal-range buffs on him. He controls his own actions, but doing everything you instruct him to out of loyalty, and you can take actions as well so he would actually appear to be acting twice every round. Be sure to take the feat Adaptive Style, and get the following maneuvers/spells and stances:

Swordsage Class Level; italicized maneuvers will be traded out later:
1. Nerveskitter (SC), Clinging Shadow Strike, Shield, Greater Mage Hand (SC), Alarm, Sudden Leap; Hunter's Sense, Child of Shadow
2. Feather Fall; Island of Blades
3. Wraithstrike (SC)
4. Whirling Blade (SC); trade Feather Fall for Shadow Jaunt
5. Greater Magic Weapon; Leaping Dragon Stance
6. Dolorous Blow (SC)
(+3 initiator level from Fiend of Possession)
7. Greater Dispel Magic (from the Bard spell list)
8. Disintegrate; trade Shadow Jaunt for Shadow Stride
9. Ruby Ray of Reversal (SC); Step of the Dancing Moth
10. Energy Immunity (SC)
11. Spell Turning
12. Prismatic Wall; trade Shadow Stride for Shadow Blink
13. Greater Celerity (PH2)
14. Iceberg (Frostburn)
15. Invoke Magic (LoM)

Keep in mind, your chosen maneuvers/spells readied are all available at the start of every encounter. Once you've used a maneuver/spell, you can recover it for use again with a full round action, an unlimited number of times each day. With the feat Adaptive Style, you can use a single full-round action to both repick what maneuvers/spells are readied, and to recover all of them at once. Buff up your cohort, pretend the cohort is your character, throw around powerful spells every round without having to worry about components, SR, or running out of them while he pummels the opponents into the floor. While you're possessing him you can use personal-range buffs on him such as Wraithstrike and Shield. He can Charge, Power Attack, and Leap Attack, while you use Wraithstrike on him, then at the end of his charge you use Whirling Blade and he gets to attack all foes in a 60 ft. line, still with his Power Attack bonuses and Wraithstrike up.

If your cohort dies, go possess and animate a statue or a pile of sand or a puddle of water until you can recruit a new one. Your character could be the leader of a cult, with his followers as his devoted worshippers, and his cohort would be his chosen prophet. The best part about this character is that he's completely invulnerable to all damage and attacks as long as he's possessing something or someone, since anything targeted at him would instead target what he's possessing.

[kamikasei]

It's called CoDzilla because it relies heavily on things from the Complete Divine.

It's called CoDzilla because it's Cleric- or Druid-zilla, not because it's Complete Divine-zilla. But your other points about CD making it more viable are valid.

[Myrmex]

CoDzilla ain't no build, boy, it's just what the class is. The recipie is simply "melee cleric who self-buffs". Now, there are build considerations there: decent physical stats, full plate and a good weapon, etc. - but you don't need any very specific build to pull it off, it's just part of the base class. It gets cheesetacular if you bring in Divine Metamagic (Persist Spell) and nightsticks, though.

Actually, vanilla cleric is about on par with a non-magical melee class when it comes to damage output (most can actually get more, and better battlefield control). It has more utility with spells, for sure, but if you have more than one encounter per day, you're going to need duplicates of the spells with minutes and rounds as durations.

Clerics only really shine when they abuse metamagic mitigation, otherwise they are spending 2 to 5 rounds a fight using spells to make them on par with a fighter.

At least for the first 13 or so levels.

[Myrmex]

HD do not count toward ECL, but still provide all the saves, BAB and skills.

Go with Black Ethergaunt. 16 HD and 4 LA, 17th level wizard casting.

[Keld Denar]

Want 9th level spells at level 16? Go Shadowcraft Mage!

Gnome
GnomeIllusionist3/MasterSpecialist10/ScM3

Feats:
(Greater) Spell Focus: Illusion
Earth Sense
Earth Spell
Heighten Spell
Enhanced Shadow Reality
Metamatic School Focus: Illusion
Residual Metamagic

and...the rest is just details.

Make the Wartroll cry when you summon an undismissable Earth Elemental Monolith that is 140% real and grapples him. Sure, it may not be real damage, but its still funny as hell. Drop a Sonorous Hum and bring out a 2nd one, or cast Heroics on your first one to give him Shocktrooper for extra lulz.

Just don't fall for the Shadow Miracles trick...specially since it doesn't work.

[VirOath]

Again, not looking to override one of the PCs. So I need to be a bit careful about overriding and overlapping.

Besides, Shadow Miracle does work. Simply put, you don't need a God to okay it, because Ur-Priest gets the spell too. And you don't need clerical casting to worship a god. (Now the real point is will any DM with half a mind let it work without some God taking notice and crushing your short butt. Theoretical Exercise with that)

But the Cleric idea got the Okay form the DM. So I need a few questions answered.

So I was looking at a Cleric/Walker of the Wastes(Sandstorm) monstrosity, but that only raises more questions. Does the Salt Mummies count against your control pool? How many Salt Mummies can you raise? At what cost? Do you need to expend the EXP for a Sand Golem? Or even the gold value? Is the last level worth losing casting on?

And for a really newb question, are Salt Mummies even worth it?

[Keld Denar]

Besides, Shadow Miracle does work. Simply put, you don't need a God to okay it, because Ur-Priest gets the spell too. And you don't need clerical casting to worship a god.

Gods have nothing to do with it working. The arguement between them working and not working hinges upon what is defined as the sorcerer/wizard spell list. Is it the list as published in gaming content? Or is it the list of spells that your character/another character can cast? If its the former, Shadow Miracles don't work because Miracle doesn't appear on the sorc/wiz spell list in the PHB. If its the former, then that opens up the abuse that EVERY spell is a sorc/wiz spell since somewhere in the world there is a wizard who did something to cross that line.

Whether or not a God will oblige your Miracle has nothing to do with it. That part is actually moot, since its not a real Miracle, but rather a copy of a Miracle that is powered completely by the will of the shadowstuff you conjour from the Plane of Shadows which is why all spells created by a Shadowcraft Mage's Shadow Illusion ability gain the [Shadow] descriptor.

And now I've derailed your thread. My appologies. Feel free to start a new one if you wish to debate this elsewhere.

[VirOath]

<Chuckles>
I derail my own threads just fine!

But I never saw the argument like that, in which case it comes down to DM ruling anyways. So both sides are right until ruled otherwise (Thank you Schrodinger!)

Which we can be sure is a big fat NO in any campaign with any sense of balance.

(Though Arcane Disciple(?) is normally used to get it for argument sake. It's a feat that adds the spell list of a Domain to your spell list. Any wizard/sorc is far fetched, but your own list of what you can cast sounds reasonable on paper. What isn't reasonable is Shadow Miracles.)

[Gorbash]

Alternatively, a dragonwrought white dragonspawn spellhoarding riddled kobold half-fiend (use wizards half fiend variant).

What wizards half-fiend variant? Where can I get that?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

What wizards half-fiend variant? Where can I get that?

For anyone who doesn't know, it's Fiendish Variety, which probably ends up with the most versatile +4 LA template in the game. My personal favorite is Half-Goristro, which would get Str +8, Con +8, +5 natural armor, and a size increase up to huge (medium to large is another Str +8, Con +4, +2 natural armor). If you want to make a powerful melee character, go with a Water Orc, Half-Minotaur, Half-Goristro. That ends up with a +5 LA, Huge size, with Str +32, Dex -4, Con +20, Int -4, Wis -2, Cha -2, +12 natural armor, 40 ft. land speed, 40 ft. swim speed, and all the other Half-Minotuar and Half-Fiend qualities. Make a Hulking Hurler out of that and you're good to go.


For a Cleric character, I'd probably go with a Tauric creature from Savage Species, combining a Human Cleric 1 upper body with a Lammasu. That would get the following:
Tauric Human Cleric 1/Lammasu
- +12 Str, +2 Dex, +6 Con
- Large size
- Base land speed 30 ft., fly speed 60 ft. (average)
- Darkvision 60 ft.
- Racial Hit Dice: 8 levels in Monstrous Humanoid, which provide 8d8 Hit Dice, +8 BAB, and base saves Fort +6, Reflex +6, Will +6.
- Racial Skills: Its racial hit dice give it skill points equal to 11 x (3 + Int modifier). It uses the Cleric list of class skills, plus Knowledge: Arcana, Listen, Sense Motive, and Spot. It also gets a +2 racial bonus on Spot checks.
- Racial Feats: Its Monstrous Humanoid levels give it three feats, plus it gets a bonus feat at its first level for being Human.
- Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Same as Cleric.
- +10 Natural armor bonus.
- Spellcasting: It casts spells as an 8th level Cleric. It gains access to two domains as though it had a level of Cleric, and gains two additional domains from the following list: Good, Healing, Knowledge, or Law. It can spontaneously cast Cure or Inflict spells as a Cleric (or use the spontaneous domain casting variant from PH2).
- Turn Undead: as a 1st level Cleric.
- Special Attacks: Pounce, Rake 1d6 + (1/2 Str bonus), as a Lammasu
- Magic Circle against Evil (Su): It radiates a continuous magic circle against evil that affects a 20-foot radius.
- Spell-Like Abilities: 2/day—greater invisibility (self only); 1/day—dimension door. Caster level 7th.
- Automatic Languages: as Human.
- Favored Class: as Human.
- Level Adjustment: +3 (as per MM2 update booklet).

Note that if you're evil aligned, your Magic Circle will grant its benefit to opponents within 20 ft. against your own attacks. You could easily take a few levels in Hulking Hurler with this, then go into a prestige class that grants full Cleric spellcasting. Cast Righteous Might and throw a big rock to deal thousands of points of damage without even making an attack roll (Area Attack HH trick). Be sure to get the feat Brutal Throw in Complete Adventurer. Maybe instead take Stormlord (CD) and get Gloves of Endless Javelins (MIC) and play a Str-based flying javelin thrower with full spellcasting.

[Keld Denar]

I derail my own threads just fine!

This is acceptable, I guess.

(Though Arcane Disciple(?) is normally used to get it for argument sake. It's a feat that adds the spell list of a Domain to your spell list. Any wizard/sorc is far fetched, but your own list of what you can cast sounds reasonable on paper. What isn't reasonable is Shadow Miracles.)

Arcane Disciple (Luck) is the vehicle that is most often cited to get Miracle on your spell list. The problem with this is that the text of Shadow Illusion (the name of the ability that a ScM gets at 3rd level) specifically stats THE sorc/wiz spell list, not YOUR spell list. Arcane Disciple adds the spells to YOUR list, not to THE sorc/wiz spell list. If it did count as adding it to THE sorc/wiz spell list, then by extension you wouldn't even need to take the feat, since somewhere, sometime, some wizard would have taken it and added it to THE sorc/wiz list. So, the only logical conclusion is that you can't use the Shadow Illusion ability of a ScM to mimic a spell that doesn't appear on THE sorc/wiz list, and Arcane Disciple doesn't put it there.