Killer Gnome, now with additional shenanigans! [3.5 TO]

[magic9mushroom]

Here's a little bit of craziness dreamed up by KellKheraptis and me.

Classes:

Illusionist 3/Master Illusionist 1/Tainted Scholar 2/Incantatrix 10/Shadowcraft Mage 3/Shadow Adept 1.

1: Gnome Illusionist Racial Substitution Level
2: Illusionist
3: Illusionist
4: Master Specialist
5: Tainted Scholar
6: Tainted Scholar
7: Incantatrix
8: Shadowcraft Mage
9: Shadowcraft Mage
10: Shadowcraft Mage
11: Incantatrix
12: Incantatrix
13: Incantatrix
14: Incantatrix
15: Incantatrix
16: Incantatrix
17: Incantatrix
18: Incantatrix
19: Incantatrix
20: Shadow Adept

Feats:
1: Favored (to be Chaos Shuffled after the first level of Tainted Scholar is taken)
Flaw: Heighten Spell
Flaw: Arcane Disciple (Luck)
1 (Wizard): Scribe Scroll (can be Chaos Shuffled)
Taint: Spell Focus (Illusion)
Taint: Iron Will
Taint: Earth Sense
Taint: Primary Contact (to be Chaos Shuffled after the first level of Tainted Scholar is taken)
3: Earth Spell
4 (Master Specialist): Skill Focus (Spellcraft) (to be Chaos Shuffled)
6: Arcane Thesis (Silent Image)
7 (Incantatrix): Easy Metamagic (Heighten Spell)
9: Residual Magic
12: FREE!
13 (Incantatrix): Sanctum Spell
15: FREE!
16 (Incantatrix): Free (metamagic only)
18: Shadow Weave Magic
19 (Incantatrix): Free (metamagic only)
20 (Shadow Adept): Insidious Magic (to be Chaos Shuffled)
20 (Shadow Adept): Pernicious Magic (to be Chaos Shuffled)
20 (Shadow Adept): Tenacious Magic (to be Chaos Shuffled)

Suggested to use the free and Chaos Shufflable feats for metamagic feats.



Abilities of note:

Tainted Spellcasting: You can triple or quadruple your spell load. Also, your save DCs are near-unbeatable.

Shadow Illusion: Thanks to Earth Spell, Easy Metamagic (Heighten) and Improved Metamagic, you can mimic any 9th level or lower evocation, conjuration (creation) or conjuration (summoning) spell from a slot 2 levels lower than the spell you want to mimic (as a Heightened Silent Image). By mimicing Miracle (out of a 7th level slot) you can mimic ANY 7th level or lower spell, and any 8th level or lower cleric spell. Your caster level is boosted by (X+2) when you are mimicing an Xth level spell (Earth Spell and Arcane Thesis). By use of Sanctum Heightened Silent Images, you can create spells that are effectively 11th level, enabling you to mimic all epic evocation, conjuration (creation) and conjuration (summoning) spells with 7th level slots while you are in your sanctum.

Residual Magic: On the round after casting a Heightened Silent Image, you can apply the Heighten Spell to a normal Silent Image for free. This can be used either to mimic high level spells out of a very low-level slot, or to add metamagic to spells which otherwise would be of too high a level (all metamagic you apply is reduced in level adjustment by 2 thanks to Improved Metamagic and Arcane Thesis). An example: After using a 7th level slot to cast a Silent Image Heightened to 9th level (10th level with Earth Spell) and mimicing a 9th level spell, you may cast an Empowered (+0), Maximised (+1), Enervated (+0), Repeated (+1), Energy Admixtured (+2), Twinned (+2), Searing (+0) Silent Image that is Heightened to 9th (10th with Earth Spell) level for free, and use this to mimic an Empowered Maximised Enervated Repeated Energy Admixtured Twinned Searing Meteor Swarm - from a 6th level slot.

10th level Incantatrix abilities: You're slightly worse at these than a normal Incantatrix, because your casting stats are Con and Wis rather than Int. But they're all still there as usual.

3rd level Shadowcraft Mage abilities: You have Cloak of Shadow and Silent Illusion, both of which are quite powerful. If you take the Still Spell feat, it's free for Silent Image thanks to Arcane Thesis, thus making it more difficult to prevent you from casting.



Reasonably powerful, wouldn't you say? Miracles almost at-will, ability to mimic all spell lists, ridiculous spells per day, stupendous save DCs, ability to apply stupendous amounts of metamagic onto spells which ordinarily cannot have any, and (some) epic spells pre-epic - with no researching and (debatably) no Spellcraft check.

[Optimystik]

Your Tainted Scholar builds look fun, but I'm lactose intolerant

[Keld Denar]

Le sigh....the shadow Miracle part doesn't work for reasons I've already posted in several threads. There is a difference between YOUR spell list, and THE Wiz/Sorc spell list. Shadow Illusion explicitly calls out the latter, not the former.

The rest of it works just fine, although messing with Tainted Casting is rediculously rediculous...

EDIT:
And I see no Enhanced Shadow Reality. If you are already reality-capped, this is an extra +20% effect of whatever you cast. Its like a mini empower tacked on all of your spells, making them even MORE real than reality.

[magic9mushroom]

Your Tainted Scholar builds look fun, but I'm lactose intolerant

Heh, yeah. I like that class. I think it has something to do with the fact that I found it and realised its power myself before hearing about its power on the Internet. Really, Tainted Spellcasting should have been the capstone of the class, and it should have lost a couple of caster levels. That would have made it powerful (Tainted Spellcasting is one of those things that IS worth a caster level loss) without making it the stupidly overpowered PrC it is.

Le sigh....the shadow Miracle part doesn't work for reasons I've already posted in several threads. There is a difference between YOUR spell list, and THE Wiz/Sorc spell list. Shadow Illusion explicitly calls out the latter, not the former.

Shadow Illusion says "any sorcerer or wizard... spell". For you, it is a sorcerer or wizard spell - otherwise, you couldn't have the ability to cast it, could you?

The rest of it works just fine, although messing with Tainted Casting is rediculously rediculous...

It is.

EDIT:
And I see no Enhanced Shadow Reality. If you are already reality-capped, this is an extra +20% effect of whatever you cast. Its like a mini empower tacked on all of your spells, making them even MORE real than reality.

Because noone will ever make the save to disbelieve (unless they roll nat 20), how real they are is irrelevant. So it's not all that useful. I did consider it, though.

[Keld Denar]

Shadow Illusion says "any sorcerer or wizard... spell". For you, it is a sorcerer or wizard spell - otherwise, you couldn't have the ability to cast it, could you?

Incorrect. Just because you are a wizard and can cast a spell, doesn't mean its a wizard spell. Its just a spell you can cast from another spell list. Thats what it says, why add in meaning that isn't there? It says wiz/sorc spell, and that means spells that say Wiz/Sorc in their description, right under school and right before the spell level. Miracle says Cleric9/Luck9, thus, it isn't a wiz/sorc spell even if you are a wizard and can cast it. You can't mimic it with shadow illusion.

[Tyndmyr]

Random minor thought. You don't need Iron Will till 7 for incantatrix right? Use Otoyough Hole for it, freeing up a feat slot.

Probably not at all necessary, but hey, why not? If you do need it earlier...retrain I guess.

[magic9mushroom]

Incorrect. Just because you are a wizard and can cast a spell, doesn't mean its a wizard spell. Its just a spell you can cast from another spell list. Thats what it says, why add in meaning that isn't there? It says wiz/sorc spell, and that means spells that say Wiz/Sorc in their description, right under school and right before the spell level. Miracle says Cleric9/Luck9, thus, it isn't a wiz/sorc spell even if you are a wizard and can cast it. You can't mimic it with shadow illusion.

ARCANE DISCIPLE [GENERAL]
Choose a deity, and then select a domain available to clerics
of that deity. You can learn to cast the spells associated with
that domain as arcane spells.
Prerequisites: Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks, Spellcraft
4 ranks, able to cast arcane spells, alignment matches your
deity’s alignment.
Benefi t: Add the chosen domain’s spells to your class list
of arcane spells. If you have arcane spellcasting ability from
more than one class, you must pick which arcane spellcasting
ability this feat applies to. Once chosen, this decision
cannot be changed for that feat.
You may learn these spells as normal for your class; however,
you use Wisdom (rather than the normal ability for
your spellcasting) when determining the save DC for the
spell. In addition, you must have a Wisdom score equal to
10 + the spell’s level in order to prepare or cast a spell gained
from this feat.
Each day, you may prepare (or cast, if you cast spells without
preparation) a maximum of one of these domains spells
of each level.
Special: You can take this feat more than once. Each
time, you must select a different domain available to the
same deity you chose the fi rst time you selected the feat.
For example, a character who chose Heironeous and the
Good domain with his fi rst selection could choose Law or
War with successive selections of the same feat. He couldn’t
choose Protection, since that domain isn’t available to
clerics of Heironeous.

Emphasis mine. They are added to your arcane spell list, that is, your Wizard spell list. For you, the Wizard spell list contains those extra nine spells - hence, since a spell on the Wizard spell list is a wizard spell, they are wizard spells and count for Shadow Illusion.

@Tyndmyr: Indeed, why not.

[magic9mushroom]

Also, if you really wanted to pull out ALL the stops, try the following. It requires party wealth pooling (you can easily pay them back later, so no worries) and the non-racist adaptation of ScM.

1: Binder
2: Beholder Mage
3: Metaphysical Spellshaper
4: Metaphysical Spellshaper
5: Metaphysical Spellshaper
6: Tainted Scholar
7: Tainted Scholar
8: Shadowcraft Mage
9: Shadowcraft Mage
10: Shadowcraft Mage
11: Incantatrix
12: Incantatrix
13: Incantatrix
14: Incantatrix
15: Incantatrix
16: Incantatrix
17: Incantatrix
18: Incantatrix
19: Incantatrix
20: Incantatrix

Hint: Bind Naberius.

...I feel dirty.

[Nate the Snake]

1: Binder
2: Beholder Mage
3: Metaphysical Spellshaper
4: Metaphysical Spellshaper
5: Metaphysical Spellshaper

What flavor of cheese are you using for early entry into Metaphysical Spellshaper?

Hint: Bind Naberius.

This? This is just evil.

...I feel dirty.

You should. Shame on you.

[Sinfire Titan]

I notice a distinct lack of Echo Spell (Secrets of Sarlona)...

[magic9mushroom]

What flavor of cheese are you using for early entry into Metaphysical Spellshaper?

Well, Binder gives Craft as a class skill, and we were already getting Sanctum Spell and Earth Spell for the pre-epic epic spells, so 0th level spell heightened to 1st (2nd with Earth Spell) gets 3rded with Sanctum Spell.

This? This is just evil.

Well yeah, you're binding your soul to weird extraplanar entities and channeling the supernatural powers of shadow and horror. You ARE evil.

You should. Shame on you.

Indeed.

Also, if you wanted you could swap out the Incantatrix levels for Anima Mage, Ur-Priest, or anything else. You got 9th level spells at level 10.

What's Echo Spell (Secrets of Sarlona) btw?

[Draz74]

Random minor thought. You don't need Iron Will till 7 for incantatrix right? Use Otoyough Hole for it, freeing up a feat slot.

Really, it's hard to come up with any TO build that shouldn't use Otyugh Hole. Though of course it's extra-clear with Incantatrixes.

[Sinfire Titan]

Well, Binder gives Craft as a class skill, and we were already getting Sanctum Spell and Earth Spell for the pre-epic epic spells, so 0th level spell heightened to 1st (2nd with Earth Spell) gets 3rded with Sanctum Spell.



Well yeah, you're binding your soul to weird extraplanar entities and channeling the supernatural powers of shadow and horror. You ARE evil.



Indeed.

Also, if you wanted you could swap out the Incantatrix levels for Anima Mage, Ur-Priest, or anything else. You got 9th level spells at level 10.

What's Echo Spell (Secrets of Sarlona) btw?

+3 Metamagic feat that can give you NI spells/day.

[magic9mushroom]

+3 Metamagic feat that can give you NI spells/day.

What are you talking about? I checked Secrets of Sarlona and couldn't find any such feat.

[Nate the Snake]

Well, Binder gives Craft as a class skill, and we were already getting Sanctum Spell and Earth Spell for the pre-epic epic spells, so 0th level spell heightened to 1st (2nd with Earth Spell) gets 3rded with Sanctum Spell.

I see. Spell level shenanigans taken up to 11.

Also, that's a lot of feats at first level, four for Spellshaper entry and two for Beholder Mage. I'm guessing you're using a human bonus feat, flaws, and taint shenanigans to cover them all.

Well yeah, you're binding your soul to weird extraplanar entities and channeling the supernatural powers of shadow and horror. You ARE evil.

Touché.

What's Echo Spell (Secrets of Sarlona) btw?

It's a +3 metamagic from Secrets of Xendrik. Once every hour after you cast the spell, you regain it with a cumulative -4 caster level penalty. The spell stops echoing when its caster level drops below the minimum needed to cast it.

[magic9mushroom]

I see. Spell level shenanigans taken up to 11.

Literally. That's how I'm mimicing Epic spells, remember.

Also, that's a lot of feats at first level, four for Spellshaper entry and two for Beholder Mage. I'm guessing you're using a human bonus feat, flaws, and taint shenanigans to cover them all.

Yup (well, not the human bonus feat, it's questionable whether you keep that after being PAOed). It's basically a more powerful version of the first one.

Touché.

Which leads me to another way to get free feats: Swear yourself to an Elder Evil. Obviously, though, this has downsides. You don't need to do it to get all those classes.

It's a +3 metamagic from Secrets of Xendrik. Once every hour after you cast the spell, you regain it with a cumulative -4 caster level penalty. The spell stops echoing when its caster level drops below the minimum needed to cast it.

So now you can cast a thousand miracles a day. Woot, I guess.

EDIT: Wait, no you can't, unless you take Arcane Preparation.

[Wings of Peace]

Also, if you really wanted to pull out ALL the stops, try the following. It requires party wealth pooling (you can easily pay them back later, so no worries) and the non-racist adaptation of ScM.

1: Binder
2: Beholder Mage
3: Metaphysical Spellshaper
4: Metaphysical Spellshaper
5: Metaphysical Spellshaper
6: Tainted Scholar
7: Tainted Scholar
8: Shadowcraft Mage
9: Shadowcraft Mage
10: Shadowcraft Mage
11: Incantatrix
12: Incantatrix
13: Incantatrix
14: Incantatrix
15: Incantatrix
16: Incantatrix
17: Incantatrix
18: Incantatrix
19: Incantatrix
20: Incantatrix

Hint: Bind Naberius.

...I feel dirty.

Minor criticism, I do not believe Book of Erotic Fantasy is a WoTC book unless there is another Metaphysical Spellshaper I am unaware of.

[Gametime]

So now you can cast a thousand miracles a day. Woot, I guess.

...on a planet which took 1,008 hours to rotate, yes, you would.

[magic9mushroom]

Minor criticism, I do not believe Book of Erotic Fantasy is a WoTC book unless there is another Metaphysical Spellshaper I am unaware of.

No, it isn't, but it is OGL. I did say "if you want to pull out all the stops".

...on a planet which took 1,008 hours to rotate, yes, you would.

You already get about 120 a day. Since your CL is 50 or so, they'll each come back 8 times. Close enough to a thousand.

[Wings of Peace]

Question, what motivated the choice to use Tainted Scholar instead of Tainted Sorcerer (Unearthed Arcana)?

[Nate the Snake]

Literally. That's how I'm mimicing Epic spells, remember.

Clearly my subconscious mind grasps the finer points of your build even when my conscious mind doesn't.

[magic9mushroom]

Question, what motivated the choice to use Tainted Scholar instead of Tainted Sorcerer (Unearthed Arcana)?

More powerful. Under the Unearthed Arcana rules you can't have nearly as much taint.

[Wings of Peace]

More powerful. Under the Unearthed Arcana rules you can't have nearly as much taint.

Wouldn't the new taint rules replace the old ones? Taint as a mechanic was updated in Heroes of Horror. Tainted Sorcerer was not.

[magic9mushroom]

Wouldn't the new taint rules update the old ones? Taint as a mechanic was updated in Heroes of Horror. Tainted Sorcerer was not.

Tainted Sorcerer relies on the UA taint rules. It runs things off a "taint" score. It wouldn't work with the HoH rules, you'd have to use the UA ones.

There's also the problem that Tainted Sorcerer doesn't have Clarity of True Madness, making it much more difficult to get out of.

[Wings of Peace]

Tainted Sorcerer relies on the UA taint rules. It runs things off a "taint" score. It wouldn't work with the HoH rules, you'd have to use the UA ones.

There's also the problem that Tainted Sorcerer doesn't have Clarity of True Madness, making it much more difficult to get out of.

Never noticed that before about Tainted Sorcerer *Makes mental note*

What method are you using to prevent your taint from reaching self killing levels out of curiosity? I typically just dip Ardent then take Practiced Manifester to allow for a single dip in Subverted Psion.

[magic9mushroom]

What method are you using to prevent your taint from reaching self killing levels out of curiosity? I typically just dip Ardent then take Practiced Manifester to allow for a single dip in Subverted Psion.

Subverted Psion is bad because you can't get out of it. It's got the same stupendously high Will save to get out as Tainted Scholar, and no easy means to hit it. And you can't use Tainted Scholar's, because that's 1/day and you need it to avoid taking a level in Tainted Scholar.

Without Subverted Psion, all you need to do is leave yourself a buffer and have some item on hand to remove some taint after a fight (until you get Shadow Miracle, then just use that). Or you could use taint-absorbing items. Or you could be undead, at which point the game snaps in half because you just gained infinite power.

[Wings of Peace]

Subverted Psion is bad because you can't get out of it. It's got the same stupendously high Will save to get out as Tainted Scholar, and no easy means to hit it. And you can't use Tainted Scholar's, because that's 1/day and you need it to avoid taking a level in Tainted Scholar.

Without Subverted Psion, all you need to do is leave yourself a buffer and have some item on hand to remove some taint after a fight (until you get Shadow Miracle, then just use that). Or you could use taint-absorbing items. Or you could be undead, at which point the game snaps in half because you just gained infinite power.

You could just take the Subverted Psion level last given that this is a level 20 TO build?

[magic9mushroom]

You could just take the Subverted Psion level last given that this is a level 20 TO build?

And then how would I get Incantatrix 10 with its sweet, sweet Improved Metamagic?

[faceroll]

Caster X/Tainted Scholar 1 is silly. As long as you're abusing the rules that badly, you broke the game as soon as you could afford a candle of invocation.

[magic9mushroom]

Caster X/Tainted Scholar 1 is silly. As long as you're abusing the rules that badly, you broke the game as soon as you could afford a candle of invocation.

What? I put two levels of Tainted Scholar in there. The second gives you Clarity of True Madness to get out with.