[3.5] Guild Wars Mesmer

[Zaq]

How would you go about making an equivalent of the Mesmer in D&D? Not just any character who could be considered "mesmerizing" is a proper Mesmer (otherwise you could just grab a Beguiler and be done, but that's too easy). In my mind, these are the primary things that you must be able to do to be a Mesmer:

-Interrupt or harass foes. This is likely represented by some skill at counterspelling, but there might be other ways to do this.
-Punish your foe for doing certain things. "If you do X, you suffer Y consequence" is a good formula. Make them choose if they really want to do what they thought they were going to.
-Steal or utilize an enemy's power. This can be as direct as a Spellthief literally stealing a foe's spells and casting them back, or just an indirect way of fueling your abilities at your opponent's expense.

Please note that the ability to cast fun illusions is not a defining feature of a Mesmer, as I see it. While Illusion Magic is very powerful on a Mesmer, a D&D illusion and a GW illusion are two totally different animals, and the similarity in name really shouldn't matter.

This is a thought experiment rather than an actual character, so I don't have a level in mind, but as with just about everything I propose, the lower level you can get things working, the better. Level 20 builds make me yawn. Level 6 builds are much more interesting. That said, there are no hard and fast limits.

Mesmers are pretty obviously magical, so I'm leaning towards a sorcerer chassis just as default, but that's probably not the only way to go. I think that spontaneous is going to be better than prepared in this case, since a mesmer must be flexible and adapt to individual foes on a round-to-round basis.

So, where should we start? The first criterion is relatively straightforward (just find a way to make counterspelling worthwhile... doable, if not always optimal), but the second two are trickier. It's entirely possible that there's no satisfactory way to do it, but if that's the case, well, at least we tried. This is just fun to think about, so let's see what we can do.

On the topic of what defines a mesmer:

Spoiler

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You might disagree with my criteria up top. GW is a robust game, and there's a lot that goes into making up a class. There are many, many, MANY ways to play a mezzie, and certainly there are many very good mesmer builds that don't interrupt, or don't present the enemy with a nasty choice, or don't directly leech power. However, trying to fit everything a mesmer can do into D&D is just a fool's errand. I chose these criteria because I personally think of them when I think about mesmers, even though there's plenty else out there. Some of these things are meaningless in D&D... for example, energy denial doesn't really exist in D&D, nor does fast casting really mean much unless you want to try to quicken everything. I just chose a few select aspects of a mesmer and ran with them. If you don't like them, there's probably a decent reason for it, but you have to start somewhere.

[Alcopop]

Ha, I’d really love to hear this as well! mesmers were my favorite class in that game!

It'd have to be charisma based, but spontaneous? I don't think so. One of the defining features of mesmer was the fact that they specialized. An anti-melee spec mesmer was a monster against melee, but against casters? They were pudding. the broader they went the less powerful they became.

So I reckon a charisma, preparation caster. Though for the sake of not home-brewing I guess sorcerer works well enough.

I’d also love to see a way to emulate Illusionary Weapons (and Blackout) as well. best spells in that game!

Edit: Hurm, maybe noctermancer? (ToM) They are counterspell focused with a number of illusion/dark spells and effects... they can be half charisma based too. not a perfect fit but close.

[Kantolin]

The PHB2 has the spells 'Hesitate' and 'Stay the Hand'. Both of those are immediate actions that stop the opponent from moving or continuing their turn, and are rather fitting of a guild wars Mesmer. Both are Sor/Wiz spells (3 and 2 respectively).

Mark of Doom would fit great, but it's sadly cleric 3 (or paladin 2). But it's something you use on the opponent that punishes them for taking hostile actions.

A lot of the PHB2 actually could fit depending. Vertigo field is very mesmer-ish in feel. Slashing Dispel synchronizes well with shatterstorm, bigby's disrupting hand works, scattering trap is also mesmer-y... disorientation of you renemies.

[Thurbane]

Sound's like some kind of Hexblade/Spellthief?

Also, the Mountebank base class in the Dragon Compendium has some of the features you're looking for...

[Flickerdart]

The Warlock invocation Retributive Invisibility seems like a good fit, but it's too much trouble to get. That said, preparation caster mirrors the GW skill mechanic better: you buy skills/spells, load them into your bar and you're stuck with them until you make it back to camp. That actually sounds like an Erudite, with the whole "unlimited use of few unique powers per day" thing.

[quiet1mi]

BEGUILER, nuff said...

failing that I second spellthief...