Cooperative Dvati Sorcerers of the Arcane Legions

[Gruftzwerg]

Hi an welcome to my newest TO build. This time we take on the Dvati race and try to turn them (the twins) into formidable sorcerers without no equal. Note that the build is highly optimized and not intended for play. The numbers produced are shier beyond normal play. This is sole a showcase of what happens if you go all out. A fraction of the shown tricks is enough to overshadow most played builds, so be really careful if you take anything from this build for actual play.

Further, I have to admit that the build uses the LA-buy-off rules to get rid of the +1LA (which hurts caster builds to much). Then there is to mention that a few areas of the build are not fully covered by the rules. I'll try to explain the options and what imho the most correct ruling would be by RAW. But even without those shady parts, the build will shine without any problems. Now lets stop the small talk and dive into the build:

Spoiler: Basic Dvati Info

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I'll quickly give a short overview of the important aspects and abilities related to this build.
The Dvati are a race consisting sole of twins. The twins count as single PC. Most things are shared on the twins (stats, feats, classes, skills..). You don't get extra uses of daily abilities. And you have to share any Hit Dice (HD) between the twins, while adding the CON mod to each twins HP. While the rules are silent about other sources of HP (e.g temporary), we can assume that they follow the same logic (dice shared, flat bonuses are added on both). This results in a very low average HP from class lvls (d4/2) and thus forces the build to look for (temp.) HP options and a high amount of defensive abilities. When a spell is cast, both have to participate and spent the actions. Personal spells automatically effect both twins (see more further below).

"If two bros can't handle it, we just need more bros!"

(Luck) Domain Sorcerer 5 / Incantatrix 10 / Mage of the Arcane Order 2 / Wyrm Wizard 2 / XXX 1

We start as (Luck Domain) Sorcerer up to lvl 5.

Lvl 6 is the supposed XXX lvl (we need 3rd lvl spells to enter Incantatrix). I've searched for a good option, but there is nothing that would really fit to the build. Possible options are Mindbender (to get Telepathy 100ft) and Ultimate Magus (+1clvl) as example. IF you want to go for full cheese, Escalation Mage (EM) could be interesting. The problem here is the "must worship the shadow" requirement which might cause problems with the (Luck) Domain Sorcerer ACF. But one argument is, that you start with worshiping an ideal (to get access to the luck domain) and immediately convert to the Shadow at lvl 5. The Domain Sorcerer ACF has no penalties mentioned for changing religion later and the chosen domain is a fix choice. If you can live with that, the EM dip will give some extra HP which is a very important stat for Dvati. Otherwise imho Ultimate Magus seems the most solid choice (since it evens out the clvl loss from Wyrm Wizard).

At lvl 7 we dip into Incantatrix to qualify for a MotAO dip at 8th lvl, to get access to the Spellpool (I). (and back to Incantatrix.) Wyrm Wizard occupies lvl 14 & 15 and gets access to 7th lvl spells to select: (Wu-Jen) "Body outside Body" (BoB). Lvl 20 is filled with the 2nd lvl of MotAO.

Spoiler: Base Stats & Skills

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The build is MAD (multiple attribute dependent) and needs 3-4 high stats. I'll just mention those stats and leave the rest open.

DEX: 17 (requirement for feat)
CON: 14+ (the twins have very low HP and Con bonus helps here a lot. Thus +5 Wish if you can afford it.)
INT: 16+ (for Incantatrix abilities. Push as much as you can: 5x Wish, +6 item, +5 lvlUp)
Cha: 18 +/- (while this is the casting stat, we only really need 19 after items to cast 9th lvl spells, anything more is just nice to have).

Required (min.) and Recommended (max) Skills: 5 skillpoints per lvlUp (2 + int)

Knowledge (arcana): min 9 ranks (Mage of the Arcane Order & Incantatrix 8, Wyrm wizard 9)
Concentration: 4 ranks (Incantatrix; recommended to max)
Spellcraft: 9 ranks (Incantatrix 8; Wyrm Wizard 9) -> max (due to Incantatrix checks)

The leftover points can be invested into a few Balance ranks and where you see it fit.

Spoiler: Feats

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Note that Incantatrix needs "Iron Will" to enter. This can be obtained either via a Flaw or by visiting a magical location (which I recommend for this build). The "Otyugh Hole" magical location is described in Complete Scoundrel and only requires you to spend 3.000g which is much cheaper than paying the feat/flaw tax.

* = Incantatrix bonus meta feat
** = Mage of the Arcane Order bonus meta feat

1. Cooperative Spell
3. Arcane Preparation
6. TWF
7. *Extend Spell*
9. Multiattack
11. *Quicken Spell*
12. Imp. TWF (fractional BAB & Saves to qualify. Alternatively, insert Arcane Thesis here and delay the rest)
15. Multivoice
16. *Persistent Spell*
18. Arcane Thesis: Arcane Fusion
19. *Invisible Spell*
20. **Repeating Spell**

"Arcane Thesis: Arcane Fusion" should also work for "Greater Arcane Fusion" (GAF), since GAF claims "to work like Arcane Fusion". The term "works like X" is often used in 3.5 (e.g wild shape variants like urban shape, humanoid shape..) and extends even to interaction with other stuff "to work like X" (e.g. Wild Shape gear work for Urban Shape too). "To work like X" it has to be "compatible like X". Thus by selecting Arcane Fusion, the greater variant of the spell should also profit form this. If you should feel that this shouldn't work, just select the greater version. (Imho it is RAW and should work).

Spoiler: Spell known, incl. Luck Domain Spells / Persistent Spells

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1st LVL: Grease, Mage Armor, Color Spray, Benign Trasportation, (D) Entropic Shield
Imho a basic selection.
Crease & Mage Armor are always useful.
Color Spray is there as offensive option for Arcane Fusion that still provides an AoE stun for later levels.
Benign Transportation is worth to mention in this build due to playing twins and specializing in BoB clones.
Entropic Shield offers some defense against ranged attacks (20% miss) which remains useful over all lvls.


2nd LVL: Wings of Cover, Alter Self/Death Armor, False Life, Mirror Image/Bear's Endurance, (D) Aid
Wings of Cover is a godlike immediate action defensive tool, especially if you share it with all twins.
Alter Self is for lvling purposes and gets switched to Death Armor once we get access to Polymorph.
Death Armor has a nice synergy with high SR form for Shapechange and thus is for endgame purposes.
Mirror Image will be used for early lvl defense and gets later switched to Bear's Endurance (because the twins and clones need the extra life).
False Life and Aid will provide extra temporary HP as additional buffer for our low HP.

3rd LVL: Fireball, Vampiric Touch, Fly, (D) Protection from Energy
Fireball is the basic long range blast spell.
Vampiric Touch helps to heal the twins and BoB clones.
PoE is always nice to have in certain situations (and again helps with the low HP).


4th LVL: Polymorph/Dimensional Anchor, Wings of Flurry, Charm Monster, (D) Freedom of Movement
Polymorph will carry the twin trough most of their lvls till Shapechange gets unlocked and will be exchanged for Dimensional Anchor later.
Wings of Flurry is a nice AoE which can daze your enemies.
Charm Monster is universally good with social encounters or to prevent combat.
Freedom of Movement is always nice for squishy caster type builds.


5th LVL: Shadow Evocation, Arcane Fusion, Undying Vigor of the Dragonlords, (D) Break Enchantment
Shadow Evocation help the Sorcerer to have a more flexible offense, if the other elements should be of no help (due to immunity/resistances).
Arcane Fusion(AF) is the first real power spike of the build. See further below for a more detailed explanation.
Undying Vigor of the Dragonlords is a great healing option for an arcane caster. Since we struggle with low HP, this is a great tool to heal up. Further, it can burn off unused 9th lvl slots (for extra heal) since we only use 1 slot for persist Shapechange.
Break Enchantment is a nice situational tool.


6th LVL: Contingency, Greater Heroism, (D) Mislead
Contingency will be mostly used Undying Vigor of the Dragonlord to share it with all twins/clones. But can also be used with spells from Spellpool I (1-3 lvl) or later with Miracle for more flexibility.
Greater Heroism helps us with our combat stats and is another source for temporary HP.
Mislead is how the build has access to Greater Invisibility. The illussionary double also helps us to avoid taking damage if the enemy doesn't recognize the illusion. Together with BoB, this can produce even more chaos.


7th LVL: Arcane Spellsurge, Forcecage, (D) Spell Turning
Arcane Spellsurge helps the build to break the action economy. With a combination of prepared meta spells (Arcane Preparation) or spells without meta, and unprepared meta spells we can cast 2 spells per turn. Combine with (greater) Arcane Fusion for extra cheese. More on that further below.
Forcecage is there to combo with Dimensional Anchor in a single Greater Arcane Fusion cast (which can be shared to twins, familiar and all bob clones).
Spell Turning is another good defense for our fragile twins.


8th LVL: Greater Arcane Fusion, Greater Shadow Evocation, (D) Moment of Prescience
Greater Arcane Fusion unlock so many cheese in this build. I will explain it more detailed further below.
Greater Shadow Ecovation is again there for some more flexible offense if the situation should require it.
Moment of Prescience helps with a single roll (attack, skillcheck e.g. Spellcraft, saves ...) and can be shared.


9th LVL: Shapechange, (D) Miracle
Shapechange is a gamebreaker by itself. Persisting it and sharing it among the twins, their familiars and all bob clones (twins + familiar) just makes it worse.
While we can only cast a single Miracle per day, it is still a great option for the Sorcerer. It increases the flexibility of the build really well. Just the base version (without xp cost) is enough to justify it imho. How about Giant Size today (persisted)? Or do we need some sort of mass heal in a difficult situation? Enough reason to love Miracle on a Sorcerer.



Persistent Spells

This is just a friendly recommendation order in what you should persist spells. Situations and personal choices may alter the list.

1. Arcane Spellsurge
2. Body outside Body
3. Shapechange
4. Greater Heroism
5. Fly
6. Mislead
7. Bear's Endurance
8. Spell Turning
9. Aid
10. Death Armor
11. Freedom of Movement
12. Entropic Shield
13+14. for refreshing temp. HP spells or spells from Spellpool (I) / Miracle

Arcane Spellsurge is first because it helps with the metamagic cheese for Greater Arcane Fusion and Body outside Body (BoB). BoB also helps with the Spellcraft rolls via Aid Another (+2 untyped bonus). Shapechange all day is just nuts as always. Everything below this is really situational and more a personal choice. If you manage to boost your INT to 32 (16 +5lvlup, +6item, + 5 Wish), we 'll have 14 spells to persist (3 + 11 Int mod).

Arcane Preparation:
Helps to deal with multiple problems. Mainly to enter Wyrm Wizard and Mage of the Arcane Oder. But it also helps early on to avoid the longer casting time Sorcerer normally have with metamagic. Later, after we unlock Arcane Spellsurge, we can still find use for it (if you want to cast swift meta spells).

Cooperative Casting:
The Dvati can abuse this feat like no other. This is due to the special way Dvati twins are casting. They both spend the action and need to focus and concentrate. A specific exception option for this ability is given in form that the other twin may also do nothing. In both chases they spend their action to cast and are effectively casting a (cooperative) spell. This gives them the option to always profit form this ability if they want. Once we later unlock Body outside Body, the spell DCs and the bonuses to overcome spellresistance will just skyrocket with this.
Finally, if we combine this with a personal spell (e.g. Arcane Fusion^^), we can bypass the limitation of Cooperative Casting, that the casters combine their spells(lots) into a single spell. Because we automatically share it. So, basically we invest less than intended (a single spell's slot) and get more than intended (multiple spells and not sole a single spell) out of it. Try to beat that.


(Greater) Arcane Fusion:
This spell combines most of the cheese in this build. It combines 2 spell (1st + 1-4th lvl // greater 1-4th lvl + 1-7th lvl) into a single standard action personal spell. Personal spells automatically affect the other twin(s) and can be shared with your familiar. This results into 6 spells for a single standard action. With the metamagic reducers the build has at max level, the twins can cast a Cooperative Invisible Repeating (Greater) Arcane Fusion without any increase in the spell-lvl-slot. This makes the used spell slot very efficient. And if you should run out of 5th (or 8th for greater) lvl slots, you can easily rearrange the meta effects to increase the spell lvl slot to 6th lvl (9th for greater). Especially since the 9th lvl slots are barely needed (sole for Persist Shapechange once), this is a good way to burn em off. Arcane Fusion can either be used to share offensive spells or to buff up the trio (twins + familiar) and any possible BoB clones with non-personal spells.


Arcane Spellsurge:
Reduces the casting time of spells by one step in simple words. Standard actions becomes swift and full-round spells become standard actions. Now we can spam 2 (greater) Arcane Fusions per round if we want, for effectively 4 spells. If shared (the twins and familiar) this results into 12 spells. Repeat Spell if you want to have another 12 spells the next round.
Alternatively, only cast a standard action spell as swift action to use your other actions for melee combat in shaped form.

Multivoice:
I hear you saying "still not enough spells per round" (or maybe it's just my imagination^^). Well, Multivoice does that. Since the Dvati twins have together two heads but count as a single creature, they qualify for Multivoice. This lets the twins cast 2 standard action spells (Greater-/ Arcane Fusion^^) as a full-round action. Combined with Arcane Spellsurge we can cast up to 3 (Greater) Arcane Fusion (one as swift) in a single round for effectively 6 spells per Dvati/familiar involved..
Even without any clones this results into 18 spells (twins + familiar) in a single round.

Body outside Body:
This spell lets the build totally skyrocket trough the roof. It's a wu-jen spell to which we get access via the 2nd lvl of Wyrm Wizard. It produces 1 clone per 5 clvl (4 @clvl 20). Since it is not a personal spell, we need to abuse greater Arcane Fusion to share it (with the twins, the familiar and potential BoB clones that are already there). Normally the BoB clones can't cast spells. But we can bypass that by being Dvati. Since they get all of the twins abilities, they are also automatically effected by any personal spell. Further they can count as casting the spell, while doing nothing at the same time. Perfect for abuse. With Arcane Fusion we can let them cast any spell we want. This further breaks the already broken action economy for this build.
The Dvati's BoB have one downside thou. Normally each clone gets separate uses of your daily abilities. Sadly, being Dvati trumps this by sharing your daily uses of abilities over all twins and thus clones. So we don't get more uses of Incantatrix's abilities as example. But imho this is a fair trade off for enabling them to effectively cast spells.


Cooperative Invisible Repeating Greater Arcane Fusion: Repeating BoB (free from Incan lvl 7) + "non personal buff spell"
By casting this monstrosity, the twins effectively cast 4 times BoB. AF says that we can pick the order the spells unfold. This means after each instance the newly created BoBs are ready to receive the remaining (personal spell) instances. This explodes exponentially into: @ clvl20
1st : 2x4=8; 8+2 = 10 twins overall
2nd : 10x4= 40; 10+40= 50 twins overall (as you can see, the amount if twin increase by 5 times after each instance)
3rd : 50x5= 250 twins
4th : 250x5= 1250 twins overall
1250 twins after just a single cast. If you should dare to nitpick that the build title suggest Legions and that this ain't enough, just cast this a second time and you'll would end up with 1250 x 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 = 781.250 ..
A 781.250 twins army are effectively 100+ Legions.
The twins each GAF cast produces should count as a single effect (due to Gr. Arcane Fusion being the main effect) to persist. Have fun with your own clone army..

Here some visuals to help your imagination: How it might look like if you combine it together with Persistent Shapechange

Abuse free Wish loops to push your stats:
Since it would be to expensive to get +5 to multiple attributes for each twin, we will abuse a free wish loop for this.
Magic Circle Against Evil (Spellpool) > Dimensional Anchor > Planar Binding (Miracle or Scroll) > (Forcecage) > to call an Efreet > Charm Monster to get 3x Wish/day. Do this multiple times to push the relevant stats for the twins (and maybe even the familiar). CON (for HP), INT & CHA are the most relevant stats. Or just go all out and give your twins and familiar +5 to all attributes.

Aid Another:
In a build like this, the "Aid Another" action can really shine. The stackable untyped +2 bonus is just great. Be it for Spellcraft checks (Incantatrix) or for anything else. Quality trough Quantity

Recommended Gear/Magic Items:
There is not really much what would be build specific. Most important items to get are those that boost the main attributes of the twins. A orange Ion Stone to cover the single caster lvl loss from Wyrm Wizard is also recommended.
Now we get to another shady area of Dvati. Is it enough that a single Dvati has the item? I guess not, so we need em all twice. This will be expensive enough that you won't have much left for other items. (unless you wanna abuse the free wish loop for magic items?).

END:

Well, we have reached the end of this build. The build starts slowly but get more and more crazy at the later level until reaching a point of breaking the game.

We ended up with a BoB clone army (sounds familiar...) that bypasses the casting restriction by being Dvati.

A build where Cooperative casting is not a burden / feat tax but even unlocks cheese. And you even didn't need to charm your friends IRL to play a cooperative caster for this! This alone is imho an impressive achievement of the build.

But I guess, you should get now why I said at the beginning that this build is totally unplayable in this form. An army of dvati spellcaster bob clones, shapechanging all day long (with Imp. TWF & Multiattack) and casting devastating spells.

I hope you liked the twin bros and leave some feedback. I'm happy to get this finally out, so that I can fully concentrate on my Itachi build now. Thx for you time and interest.

[Shaurmiath]

Love seeing a new BoB build after the one with Void Disciple. I'm a fan of your work; just officially joined the forums recently, but I've been coming here to study things for a long time. I had no idea about Escalation Mage; I really need to dig more thoroughly into Faiths of Eberron instead of just glancing at it when I need to remember how Planar Shepherd works

Also, Multivoice in the build is brilliant, I love it. Keep up the good work.

[Gruftzwerg]

Love seeing a new BoB build after the one with Void Disciple. I'm a fan of your work; just officially joined the forums recently, but I've been coming here to study things for a long time. I had no idea about Escalation Mage; I really need to dig more thoroughly into Faiths of Eberron instead of just glancing at it when I need to remember how Planar Shepherd works

Also, Multivoice in the build is brilliant, I love it. Keep up the good work.

Thx for the compliments. It's always nice to hear that people are enjoying my silly builds^^

Welcome to the forum <3
...and enjoy your time here.

[loky1109]

And if you should run out of 5th (or 8th for greater) lvl slots, you can easily rearrange the meta effects to increase the spell lvl slot to 6th lvl (9th for greater).

You don't need any rearrange. You can freely cast any spell from higher level slots.

And how did you get Multiattack? Where are your three natural weapons?

"Arcane Thesis: Arcane Fusion" should also work for "Greater Arcane Fusion" (GAF)

Your argumentation doesn't look enough.

Imho it is RAW and should work.

IMHO is only IMHO. You need prove it.

[Gruftzwerg]

You don't need any rearrange. You can freely cast any spell from higher level slots.

And how did you get Multiattack? Where are your three natural weapons?


Your argumentation doesn't look enough.


IMHO is only IMHO. You need prove it.

Multiattack:
The build qualifies via Alter Self/Polymorph for it. A common stragety for characters that have the ability to change form (e.g. common for druids).


Arcane Thesis: Arcane Fusion
As said there are parts of the build that aren't easy to solve by RAW. I've given an explanation how the term "works like X" is commonly used. Further, since the term is not defined by 3.5 it has to cover all default English definitions. And said in the build: "to work like X" also needs to be compatible like X, otherwise it doesn't work like X.
If you can provide any rules for or against it, it would be nice. Otherwise I will leave it as it is and let each reader decide for himself.
As said, the build still works if you take Greater Arcane Fusion for Arcane Thesis directly. You would lose some low lvl flexibility thou. So it's not that big of a deal here. But if someone can provide actual rules, I would be happy.

Spellslots:
I wasn't sure if this is RAW (to cast from a higher slot without meta). I know that most people use it, but don't know if it is really RAW. Can someone point me to where the actual rule is? I couldn't find it while doing my research for the build...

[RSGA]

178 of the Player's Handbook mentions that Wizards get to do the fill a higher with lower thing, and 180 gives it for the book's divine casters. Neither explicitly gives Bards and Sorcerers this ability, but let's look at a few things that such a reading would do for those two classes since there's other stuff in that section that should therefore not be applicable to the base spontaneous casters.

First down the line, they don't need any kind of environment after getting the base rest. So combat, inclement weather, injuries, failed saving throws, none of that directly prevents the bard or sorcerer from taking the 150 rounds of concentration needed to ready their spell slots for the day. No action's given for concentration, but we know that bards can perform during it, so there's that. If there's some effect that gets rid of spells and doesn't specifically key itself into also getting rid of spell slots for spontaneous casters then technically it doesn't touch them. Also, resurrection spells weaker than fifth level or that calls itself out as in some way weaker than Raise Dead should leave a wizard (and notably only a wizard) without any spell slots filled. Bards, Sorcerers, and Divine Casters are completely unaffected by that.

[Gruftzwerg]

178 of the Player's Handbook mentions that Wizards get to do the fill a higher with lower thing, and 180 gives it for the book's divine casters. Neither explicitly gives Bards and Sorcerers this ability, but let's look at a few things that such a reading would do for those two classes since there's other stuff in that section that should therefore not be applicable to the base spontaneous casters.

First down the line, they don't need any kind of environment after getting the base rest. So combat, inclement weather, injuries, failed saving throws, none of that directly prevents the bard or sorcerer from taking the 150 rounds of concentration needed to ready their spell slots for the day. No action's given for concentration, but we know that bards can perform during it, so there's that. If there's some effect that gets rid of spells and doesn't specifically key itself into also getting rid of spell slots for spontaneous casters then technically it doesn't touch them. Also, resurrection spells weaker than fifth level or that calls itself out as in some way weaker than Raise Dead should leave a wizard (and notably only a wizard) without any spell slots filled. Bards, Sorcerers, and Divine Casters are completely unaffected by that.

Interesting. Thx for pointing me on the right page.

Yeah, seems your statement is RAW. So a normal Sorcerer may not cast spells from a higher slot by RAW. Unless he has access to Arcane Preparation like this build has. Which means that this build should be able to prepare (Gr.) Arcane Fusion on a higher level slot.

But still, imho it is better to do it via metamagic. This way I can choose the spell on the fly and don't need to settle on the spell while preparing in the morning.

It's always nice to see how such theoretical thought lessons (TO builds) can lead to new enlightenment regards the 3.5 rules. 20years since release and we are still figuring out the rules xD

[lylsyly]

I love seeing BoB in builds. I even got an actual book thrown at me once for it ;-). Folks are still finding new things after 21 years because the rules are about as clear as a brick wall ;-).

[Gruftzwerg]

I love seeing BoB in builds. I even got an actual book thrown at me once for it ;-). Folks are still finding new things after 21 years because the rules are about as clear as a brick wall ;-).

So far, I only had to avoid virtual flying books in the forum here^^

I'm happy that you seem to have enjoyed the build.

[loky1109]

And said in the build: "to work like X" also needs to be compatible like X, otherwise it doesn't work like X.

Needs - yes. Is - question.

[Anthrowhale]

Using Arcane Thesis[Arcane Fusion] for Greater Arcane Fusion looks sketchy to me as well. Using Heroics or persistent Mirror Move would free up some feats to take Arcane Thesis[Greater Arcane Fusion].

[Gruftzwerg]

Needs - yes. Is - question.

You have all the right to question it. But can you provide a better interpretation that covers the full extend of the general English definition? Try to explain your interpretation. Otherwise it ain't helpful if you just complain about my interpretation.

Using Arcane Thesis[Arcane Fusion] for Greater Arcane Fusion looks sketchy to me as well. Using Heroics or persistent Mirror Move would free up some feats to take Arcane Thesis[Greater Arcane Fusion].

So, you would forbid Urban Druids and Master of Many Forms to use Wild Shape items for their shape abilities because it's sketchy?
Or how about SLA that are referring to spells with "works like X". Will a "invisibility"-SLA not work like a "Invisibility"-spell when interacting with a "see invisibility" effect? Or when you use some dust, will it behave/interact differently?

Imho we can safely assume that this therm always means the full extend of the general English definition (including compatibility/interaction with other things).

The reason why this is feeling sketchy here is, because it feels new and thus unfamiliar. If someone can provide rules against it, I'm the last one who wouldn't react. But I won't make any changes sole because people have a hard time to accept what they see/read.
Let it sink, think about similar situations, and if you should find a good argument against it, let me know. Until then, I will let it as it is.

Mirror Move/Heroics:
The problem here is, I would need to persist the spell or otherwise loose access to the feats that depend on it. While the build can persist spells, it comes up late and would in the meanwhile break my access to those feat. This is why I tried to avoid this. The build doesn't have any unused feat taxes for PRC (besides from Iron Will, which is already taken care of) where this is normally helpful and used for. Imho you want to avoid using it for a feat in the middle of a feat chain (Multivoice).
___________________________________


PS: I hope you don't get me wrong here. No ill intentions here. And I'm thankful for all your feedback <3

[Anthrowhale]

So, you would forbid Urban Druids and Master of Many Forms to use Wild Shape items for their shape abilities because it's sketchy?

It seems like there is a category failure here to me.

If I say "my house works like yours", then if you can swap a gravity flush toilet for a power flush toilet, I can do so as well. However it does not mean that if you swap a gravity flush toilet for a power flush toilet, then I have a power flush toilet as well.

The analogy here is:
Your house: Arcane Fusion
My house: Greater Arcane Fusion
power flush toilet: Arcane Thesis

In contrast, Urban Druids benefiting from a Wild Shape item is more akin to installing a power flush toilet in my house.

[Gruftzwerg]

It seems like there is a category failure here to me.

If I say "my house works like yours", then if you can swap a gravity flush toilet for a power flush toilet, I can do so as well. However it does not mean that if you swap a gravity flush toilet for a power flush toilet, then I have a power flush toilet as well.

The analogy here is:
Your house: Arcane Fusion
My house: Greater Arcane Fusion
power flush toilet: Arcane Thesis

In contrast, Urban Druids benefiting from a Wild Shape item is more akin to installing a power flush toilet in my house.

I don't get where you are seeing a difference here?

A) You use Urban Shape."Wilding clasp" asks if you are using Wild Shape, Urban Shape replies "something like that, yeah".

B) You use Greater Arcane Fusion + meta. "Arcane Thesis" asks if you are using Arcane Fusion + meta. Greater Arcane Fusion + meta replies, "yeah, something like that".

Imho your view on your own analogy is flawed:
I have two new blank/empty houses. Both have bathrooms that work like each other = have the same space/measurement (water pipes and cables are on the same spots), otherwise they couldn't work the same.
When I buy a new toilet that fits into the bathrooms of one house, I can assure that it also fits into the bathroom of the other house. The houses may look different and have different sizes. But the important parts are working the same.

Same here. Greater Arcane Fusion grants compatibility whenever anything asks for Arcane Fusion.
Cheesy I know, but this ain't a PO build advice for your table at home here. This is a TO build that relies on full RAW abuse for showcase purposes. And for that (RAW), i don't see any difference between the wild shape example I've given and the Arcane Thesis example.

Play advice (imho):
If I would DM, it would all boil down to group optimization.
If there is any T1 character (that is capable of playing T1), there is no reason to restrict/deny something that is RAW for the Sorcerer. Let the Sorc shine in a few areas (by RAW).
But if the group consists of T3 and below characters, Arcane Fusion alone is more than enough power handed to the sorcerer. He shouldn't rely on to much optimization on a gentlemen agreement base (to not totally overshadow his teammates). I would restrict the Sorcerer from becoming to powerful if it starts to break the fun for everyone else.
Every table needs to decide power scaling for themselves. But that doesn't change what is RAW and what is a recommended houserule. Nor does a houserule fit all tables. This is the reason why you have houserules in the first place, to differ from the norm.