Blaster PrCs

[Melamoto]

Out of interest, what are all the Blasting PrCs, and how good are they? I'm ranking them in terms of sheer blasting power, for personal use. The ones I see right now (And their personal tier) for me are:

Tier 1:
Ultimate Magus
Red Wizard
Incantatrix
Tainted Scholar

Tier 2:
Spellwarp Sniper
Archmage
Shadowcraft Mage
Shadowcrafter
War Mage

Tier 3:
Master Specialist of Evocation
Force Missile Mage

Tier 4:
Argent Savant
Elemental Savant

Keep in mind that this is assuming standard Arcane caster entry, without any tricks like the Warmage and Rainbow Servant.
Tier 1 is best, Tier 4 is worst. I'll move these around if anybody has any reason for it.

And this is not a measure of class power. Just a measure of how well the class blasts. I don't care if they have a d1 HD, no special abilities, except for one which causes all enemies to attack them over any other targets; as long as they can blast, they're good. This is a measure of raw blasting power, and don't take it to be anything else.


Please give me any classes I've missed, and tell me if you think I've misplaced some classes on the Tiers.

[Yuki Akuma]

...Well, Shadowcraft Mage can be a pretty good blaster, with his realer-than-real shadow illusions...

[Pharaoh's Fist]

How about War Mage?

[Eldariel]

Incantatrix on Tier 1. Free metamagic, ability to apply free metamagic on the fly and the level 10 epic feat. Also, Unseen Seer, Arcane Trickster and anything granting Sneak Attack or Sudden Strike with full casting needs to be listed.

[Melamoto]

...Well, Shadowcraft Mage can be a pretty good blaster, with his realer-than-real shadow illusions...

I thought that was the Shadowcrafter. My mistake.

Also, Unseen Seer, Arcane Trickster and anything granting Sneak Attack or Sudden Strike with full casting needs to be listed.

I'm only including classes that have some kind of boost to blasting power, and SA/Sudden Strike by itself just doesn't cut itself for me.

And I forgot about the War Mage.

[Sinfire Titan]

Incanatrix should not be Tier 3 on that list. The extra Metamagic is amazing (and can be abused), and the best 9th level Blasting spell in the game is Abjuration (Maw of Chaos). Ban Necromancy, Enchantment, and Illusion and you can play one with ease.

Edit: Partial ninja, but at least I mentioned Maw of Chaos.

[Doc Roc]

War Weaver :))

[Tavar]

I don't think Elemental Savant should be that high. If you really look at it, the class makes you worse at blasting, due to caster level loss and the elemental damage restrictions. Unfortunate, cause otherwise it would be a pretty cool class.

[Yuki Akuma]

I thought that was the Shadowcrafter. My mistake.

Oh, Shadowcrafter is pretty good at blasting with shadow illusions too.

Take both and you're a 140% real blasting powerhouse.

"Powerhouse".

[Melamoto]

War Weaver :))

Are you sure you have the right class? Because I'm looking at it right now, and I see no blaster abilities whatsoever.

I don't think Elemental Savant should be that high. If you really look at it, the class makes you worse at blasting, due to caster level loss and the elemental damage restrictions. Unfortunate, cause otherwise it would be a pretty cool class.

I'm ignoring the Elemental Damage restrictions. CL, I agree with, but it's not worth nothing just for that. Still, for blasting, I guess it should be lower.

[lvl 1 sharnian]

Frost Mage! It turns causes all your spells to ignore cold resistance and 1/2 damage to Cold Immunity. Combine with Elemental Savant for all Ice Blasting spells and Lord of the Uttercold for awesome cold blasting. Tier 3 maybe. 2 if combined with all those

[Temet Nosce]

I'd suggest either sticking Incantatrix on tier 1 all on its own, or adding Shadowcraft Mage to tier one (Honestly, I might suggest putting it in tier 1 with the Incantatrix even if you remove the others anyways... You can get shadows up to 160% reality if I recall correctly, which is a hefty boost)

[Doc Roc]

War Weaver frees you from your duties to the party, and increases your action economy. Free lunch!

[Melamoto]

War Weaver frees you from your duties to the party, and increases your action economy. Free lunch!

I'm only going to include things which actually advance blasting.

Frost Mage! It turns causes all your spells to ignore cold resistance and 1/2 damage to Cold Immunity. Combine with Elemental Savant for all Ice Blasting spells and Lord of the Uttercold for awesome cold blasting. Tier 3 maybe. 2 if combined with all those

It's pretty good, but not really a Blaster PrC. I'm ignoring things like elemental immunity, so the Frost Mage isn't all that great in this respect.

[Melamoto]

I'd suggest either sticking Incantatrix on tier 1 all on its own, or adding Shadowcraft Mage to tier one (Honestly, I might suggest putting it in tier 1 with the Incantatrix even if you remove the others anyways... You can get shadows up to 160% reality if I recall correctly, which is a hefty boost)

Tier 1 classes are there because:
Ultimate Magus: Has 32 trillion spells per day with basically free metamagic on low level ones.
Red Wizard: Ok, just take a look at Circle Magic for a moment. It is situational, but just imagine if you had a set of apprentices there to help you. It is a class made of raw potential; potential which could outshine the Incantatrix a thousand times over if you had enough decent allies.

[Optimystik]

Red Wizard: Ok, just take a look at Circle Magic for a moment. It is situational, but just imagine if you had a set of apprentices there to help you. It is a class made of raw potential; potential which could outshine the Incantatrix a thousand times over if you had enough decent allies.

Since most Red Wizards are asshats, the "decent allies" bit is the problem.

Are we considering Psionics at all? Since the thread title just says "blasters." Also, Druids.

[Kylarra]

Red Wizard: Ok, just take a look at Circle Magic for a moment. It is situational, but just imagine if you had a set of apprentices there to help you. It is a class made of raw potential; potential which could outshine the Incantatrix a thousand times over if you had enough decent allies.

We should add tainted scholar too then!

[PinkysBrain]

Since most Red Wizards are asshats, the "decent allies" bit is the problem.

Simulacrums are good listeners.

[Temet Nosce]

Tier 1 classes are there because:
Ultimate Magus: Has 32 trillion spells per day with basically free metamagic on low level ones.
Red Wizard: Ok, just take a look at Circle Magic for a moment. It is situational, but just imagine if you had a set of apprentices there to help you. It is a class made of raw potential; potential which could outshine the Incantatrix a thousand times over if you had enough decent allies.

True, but the UM applies to only one metamagic feat at a time (still strong, but not quite on the absurd level of the Incantatrix), and the Red Wizard... well I thought this was based on blasting blasting in typical conditions. From what I recall of Circle Magic doesn't it require some sort of time consuming ritual?

They're excellent blasting PrCs, just... Not the Incantatrix, or even the Shadowcraft Mage.

[Melamoto]

We should add tainted scholar too then!

Good point.

I thought this was based on blasting blasting in typical conditions. From what I recall of Circle Magic doesn't it require some sort of time consuming ritual?

The ritual takes place in the morning, and isn't any more time consuming than normal spell preparation. And if we're going by class backstory, then you should always have a fresh supply of Red Wizard apprentices who are practically bound to aid your Circle Magic.


As for the UM; being able to unleash all your power at once is good; almost always having power left that will almost never run out is better

[Optimystik]

Simulacrums are good listeners.

You can use those for circle magic? That would be... quite powerful if so.

This thread reminded me: where's that list of the tiers for all the base classes? Does anyone have it bookmarked?

[Fax Celestis]

Wizard/Druid/Mystic Theurge/Arcane Heirophant with Alternative Source Spell.

[Eldariel]

You can use those for circle magic? That would be... quite powerful if so.

This thread reminded me: where's that list of the tiers for all the base classes? Does anyone have it bookmarked?

Is this what you're looking for?

[Melamoto]

Wizard/Druid/Mystic Theurge/Arcane Heirophant with Alternative Source Spell.

It certainly sounds good; but I can't find the Wizard/Druid/Mystic Theurge/Arcane Heirophant PrC. Is it from Dragon?

[Sinfire Titan]

It certainly sounds good; but I can't find the Wizard/Druid/Mystic Theurge/Arcane Heirophant PrC. Is it from Dragon?

Arcane Heirophant is in Races of the Wild. MT, Druid, and Wizard are all Core.

[Melamoto]

Arcane Heirophant is in Races of the Wild. MT, Druid, and Wizard are all Core.

Maybe what I said wasn't quite obvious enough. Hard to say these kind of things over the internet. My point is that a "Wizard/Druid/Mystic Theurge/Arcane Heirophant" isn't a PrC, it's a build.

[Godskook]

Maybe what I said wasn't quite obvious enough. Hard to say these kind of things over the internet. My point is that a "Wizard/Druid/Mystic Theurge/Arcane Heirophant" isn't a PrC, it's a build.

Fine, Arcane Heirophant is the PrC, and that build is the justification for it being included.

[Fax Celestis]

Fine, Arcane Heirophant is the PrC, and that build is the justification for it being included.

Correct.

[ex cathedra]

Uhm, Master Conjurer is probably better than Master Evoker, even for blasting. Considering the Orb series and the free quicken from school esoterica, at least. The damage boost is okay, but most things hit from an optimized blaster won't live long enough to take the extra evoker esoterica damage. Free quicken spells, on the other hand...

Not to mention that it does almost everything else more skillfully, as well.

[Zaq]

Does Anarchic Initiate count? Because it's really fun to see something like, oh, Celestial Conduit (stupid, stupid, STUPID name) get maxed for free.