Wizard Raymaster Help

[goken04]

I'm making a Wizard Ray specialist in an upcoming game. He's going to be a halfling, starting at level 1, and I plan on going 5 Wiz/1 Rogue Substitution/Spellwarp Sniper. Should I finish the class out, I'll finish off with Unseen Seer.

I'm looking for advice on whether or not I should specialize in any school and also on the best way to catch my opponents flat-footed (besides going first). Is there a good ranged feat that I could get that would work with rays? Is there a great spell that would help with catching my opponents flat-footed for that sweet, sweet Sneak Attack? Also, is there any feats I should definitely consider? I get PBS for free as a ranged-focus character (house rule) and want to take Precise Shot at level 1. I have the option of taking a flaw at level one, as well. I probably want to take Reach Spell and Split Ray as well as an Easy Metamagic or two. Is there some really cool synergy I could be nabbing I'm missing out on?

[kpenguin]

Get invisibility and later greater invisibility and greater blink. You won't regret it.

[BRC]

Specify that you are firing your spells from your eyes, my cleric does that whenever he uses Nimbus of Light. Because then you can claim to have killed your foes with LASER VISION!

[Thomix]

Point blank shot and Precise shot will help you and your allies.

[axraelshelm]

wat about rapid shot? I mean is there a ray spell that lets the caster fire more than one ray per round?

[ArmorArmadillo]

wat about rapid shot? I mean is there a ray spell that lets the caster fire more than one ray per round?

Rapid shot definitely does not work here, however certain spells, such as Scorching Ray, fire multiple rays as part of the spell.

[Kaelik]

Well. Start off. Take Spell Thief instead of Rouge. Then take the feat that lets you add it to your caster level. And it lets you steal spells as if you were max level for the character. And it lets you cast in Light Armor with no ASF.

Spellthief 1/Wizard 5/Spellwarp Sniper 5 with Master Spellthief at level 6 is just win.

Finish off with Arcane Trickster instead of Wizard. More SA and casting at the same time. Plus a couple times a day you get to automatically sneak attack.

Spells
lvl 1
Golem Strike swift action, SA constructs.
[I can't remember the name, in the Spell Compendium, SA at any range swift action.] That second one plus Spellwarping a Fireball? Win. SA at 500ft with no problem.

Grab Invis and Greater Invis, also Greater Blink at later levels.

[Ikkitosen]

A low-level solution to your problem is Distract Assailant. Swift action, L1 (CAd), Will save, denies your opponent their dex bonus.

[goken04]

Well. Start off. Take Spell Thief instead of Rouge. Then take the feat that lets you add it to your caster level. And it lets you steal spells as if you were max level for the character. And it lets you cast in Light Armor with no ASF.

I def. thought about Spelltheif, but I'm not sure. With the substitution level, I get 2d6 ranged SA, rather than 1d6, which is pretty hard to pass up, even for light armor and Steal Spell, and I'd have to give up one of my metamagic feats to take Master Spelltheif. Right now my feats look like this:

1w1- PBS, PS, Flaw+Ray Extension
2w2-
3w3- CSplit Ray
4w4-
5w5- WEasy Metamagic (Split Ray)
6r1- CReach Spell
7ss1-
8ss2-
9ss3- CEasy Metamagic (Reach Spell)
10ss4-
11ss5-

So that, by level 9, I'd be able to cast touch spells as rays with only one spell level adjustment. I'd have to give up that first Easy Megamagic or Reach Spell in order to take Master Spelltheif, which would make my rays less potent (easy metamagic means more split rays, and Reach Spell means casting Touch spells as rays, which is pretty important). Do you think it would be wise to take Spelltheif instead of Rogue Sub levels, given all that? I'm not asking that rhetorically, I'm really undecided (until you pointed it out, I had decided not to do Spelltheif because I thought, wrongly, that they didn't get SA until level 2)

[Shas aia Toriia]

Well, since nobody has mentioned flaws, I'm going to tell you to take Non-combatant. -2 penalty on all melee attack rolls. You should never be in combat, so this is no problem.

[Kaelik]

I def. thought about Spelltheif, but I'm not sure. With the substitution level, I get 2d6 ranged SA, rather than 1d6, which is pretty hard to pass up, even for light armor and Steal Spell, and I'd have to give up one of my metamagic feats to take Master Spelltheif. Right now my feats look like this:

1w1- PBS, PS, Flaw+Ray Extension
2w2-
3w3- CSplit Ray
4w4-
5w5- WEasy Metamagic (Split Ray)
6r1- CReach Spell
7ss1-
8ss2-
9ss3- CEasy Metamagic (Reach Spell)
10ss4-
11ss5-

So that, by level 9, I'd be able to cast touch spells as rays with only one spell level adjustment. I'd have to give up that first Easy Megamagic or Reach Spell in order to take Master Spelltheif, which would make my rays less potent (easy metamagic means more split rays, and Reach Spell means casting Touch spells as rays, which is pretty important). Do you think it would be wise to take Spelltheif instead of Rogue Sub levels, given all that? I'm not asking that rhetorically, I'm really undecided (until you pointed it out, I had decided not to do Spelltheif because I thought, wrongly, that they didn't get SA until level 2)

It is absolutely worth it for about a billion reasons, but the most important one is this. Take Split Ray at level 1. Give up Precise Shot. You get that for free as a level 3 Spellwarp Sniper. Why waste a feat on it before then, especially when it really isn't that good to begin with.

[goken04]

Why waste a feat on it before then, especially when it really isn't that good to begin with.

Well, I intend to fire into melee to protect the frontliners (I'm expecting our most inexperienced player to be the tank), plus I doubt I'll get to level 9. Even if I do, the Spellwarp Sniper class specifies that, if you have Precise Shot, you can take another feat (maybe like this one) instead. And at low levels, that -4 could make all the difference.

EDIT:
Also, should I specialize? If so, to what?

[Shas aia Toriia]

That's a great feat for rogues. The only problem is, your sneak attack damage has to be pretty high to justify for the less actions you get for readying it.

[goken04]

That's a great feat for rogues. The only problem is, your sneak attack damage has to be pretty high to justify for the less actions you get for readying it.

By level 9, my SA would be 3d6. I could even lose 5th level of Wizard for a level of Unseen Seer to get it to 4d6, if I needed to. At Level 10, it'd kick up to 4d6, anyways, which is only one behind a normal rogue. That's what that Sub. level is good for.

[Dr. Weasel]

I could even lose 5th level of Wizard for a level of Unseen Seer to get it to 4d6

Most DMs make you follow the better progression as stated in the PHB rather than giving you extra sneak attack each time you take a level in a sneak-attacking class.

I would favor the Spellthief approach as it trades 3.5 damage for the armor (which is your friend), the increase in effective caster level (which is also your friend) and the Spellthievery, which is just fun. I would also blow off the Reach Spell bit as the two Spell Level increase will mean you are going to be casting first level touch spells (Chill Touch and uh...) until eigth level. That just isn't neat.

[Kaelik]

Deadeye Shot is actually really useful to this build since you SA with a spell anyway, you only get one a round whether it is readied or standard action.

However, Precise Shot, even firing into melee is a wasted feat. It's a +4 on attack roles sometimes. You have a ranged touch attack. Since you should never be provoking a save anyway you should have decent Dex. Not really useful.

And he is right, Reach Spell is pretty much a waste. You can already SA with area spells, and ranged spells, While there are some nice touch spells, they aren't really worth two feats. In fact, do to the way the build works, you are probably better of using lower level spells to SA, and then metamagicing them up with a whole ton of split rays.