arcane gestalt build, need help making decision

[Korivan]

Ok, so far im a gestalt sor/wizard 5. Using alot of different books, I've focused on sorc spells being blasting and de-buff spells, and anything else that I plan on using alot. Wiz spells are my role-play/utility spells. I've picked invisi-spell and silent spell, I plan on being very sneaky. Anyways, to the question at hand. I qualify for Ultimat Magus, so, my question is, what should I pick as my seconed class. I've thought about Factorum or Barbarion. I only plan on taking 10 levels of it, since I plan on going back to sorc/wiz after I max out UM. So what does everyone else suggest? And why if possible.

[erikun]

In general, dual-progression prestige classes aren't allowing in Gestalt games, as it tends to break things even more than usual. Check with your DM first, either if s/he allow Ultimate Magus or isn't concerned with power levels.

As for other class, the first two tha come to mind are Factorium and Warlock. The Factorium runs off your high INT score, and gives you a ton of skill points to create a full skill monkey spellcaster. Warlock gives you even more spells, usable at-will, for more versatility. Archivist (more transcribed spells) and Artificer (more magical items) would also fit well.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

There are several issues there. 1, you're taking a dual-progression class in Gestalt. That's normally not allowed. 2, that's actually a really weak gestalt. You only get one set of actions, so the 2 spell lists aren't that helpful, while you're a Gestalt character with d4 HD, 2+Int skills, 1 good save, and poor BAB. 3, you're MAD. At the least, switch to Beguiler/Wizard. Same flavor, but much better in almost every single way. I'd eally recommend taking anything over a 2-caster Gestalt, though. Factotum, Warblade, or Rogue are the most popular for pairing with Wizard IMHO. All would be a drastic improvement.

[Keld Denar]

Check with your DM before you plan on taking levels of UM. UM is a duel progression class kinda like Mystic Theurge, and the gestalt rules suggest heavily against such classes. Unfortunately, unlike MT, UM actually has some nifty class features, like the ability to sacrifice spells from one side to apply metamagic to spells on the other side. Thats INCREDIBLY useful, and pretty much unattainable in gestalt.

If your DM allows it, Consider Beguiler/Wizard instead. Beguiler is completely Int based which makes you a lot more SAD instead of relying on both Int and Cha for casting stats.

Also, if your DM does approved UM, consider picking up a few levels of Dragon Disciple on the other side of UM on the levels that progress both halfs of your casting. The stat boosts are pretty awesome and the bonus spell slots are unique. Its about the only time when Dragon Disciple is actually decent...

[Korivan]

Already checked, he's allowing the UM. His ruling is that you can't PrC a spell casting class if one of your "Base" classes has spell casting abilities. But according to him, your PrC can have spell casting abilities so long as the other "Base" class doesn't....I know, it can be confusing...but I'll take it. I thought about the Warlock, but it's only for 10 levels. My build idea relies on both casting classes reaching 9th level spells. I figure I won't get many invocations with 10 levels, and with all my blasting spells I won't need eldritch blast. Fighter bonus feats are limited to just the ones that say "fighters may select this as one of thier bonus feats" right? I cant pick a bunch of metamagic feats right?

[Keld Denar]

Correct, you can't get any feats that aren't specifically fighter bonus feats. That said, you could get PB Shot and Precise Shot, which help with rays and other Ranged Touch Attacks, and you could even get something like Weapon Focus: Ray. You can also grab more defensive feats like Improved Toughness (+1 hp/lvl) to make you more robust.

[Thorin]

Keld Denar is right.

IF you re going to take "one set of acttions" none the less I recomend:

Beguiler 20 // Gnome Illusionist 1/Wiz2/Master Spec 4/Shadowcraft mage 5/Archmage X

Is really stright foward.

You only need to reserve the feats: Heighten spell, Earth Sense, Earth Spell and Signature spell (silent image)
**((and school focus illusion for the PrC))
Now you can convert any prepared spell from wizard into any evocation/ conjuration (creation or summoning) spell.

So, beguiler adds lots of spells, you can prepare utility from the wizard side and then convert as necesary.

When you convert a prepared spell into a heightened silent image, you can make an evocation/conjuration of the same level of the spell you sacrified.

Example: you loose a prepared fly (lvl3) and using the signature spell, you replace it with a heightened (to lvl3, from lvl 0; BUT it counts as a lvl4 spell from the earth spell feat) silent image. From the Shadow illusion class ability, now your silent image is a... lets say... a fireball. You can do this spontaniously from the beguiler side, but only with lvl2 or higher spells, because from the beguiler side, the spell counts as a lvl 1 spell.

Of course you can pull of the sneaky part being a beguiler. Lots of skillpoints and lots of skills to do some really cool stuff!


EDIT: It seems that I took a lot of time to write this down, and now is kindda old to the part of the conversation, but I`ll add my 2cp.

For 10 levels, warlock is a really good choice. sure, you only get 6 invocations; but you should think that not many classes get the at-will shining stuff.

If you grab, say: See the Unseen, Entropic Guarding, Dark One`s Own Luck, Fell Flight, Voidsense and Walk Unseen, belime me, that you are not going to have any problem.

[Gaiyamato]

You could ask nicely if you can take the Generic PC Expert (from UA).

Or if they fix the flaw with it, Truenamer.