Overpowered wizard advice.

[TomTheRat]

I know, I usually hate these rate my build threads too, but I'm about to start an all-evil campaign in Planescape, and the GM is likely to throw an apocalypse of overpowered monsters at the party, and the other players are likely to try to kill me to steal my teeth to sell for a few copper to the Dustmen.

So I'm going into this game expecting everything to try and destroy me. Originally, we were all going to be playing Undead, so I found an interesting way of getting Wizard healing abilities. What I'm looking for in terms of advice is what this character has in terms of vulnerabilities, and what I can do to reduce the chance that players/The Lady Of Pain will outright kill me in the first session.

The other players are level 8, I'm 7 because I got myself Spellstiched.

Conjurer 5 / Incantatrix 2
Necropolitan, Spellstiched Human

9 str, 18 dex, - con, 18 int, 14 wis, 16 cha

Feats:
Scribe Scroll, Craft Wondrous Item (from Wizard)
Extend Spell (from Incantatrix)
Iron Will, Maximize Spell (from Flaws)
Arcane Disciple (Destruction), Spontaneous Wounder, Imp. Turn Resistance (levels)

one free Feat from being Human.

Wisdom 14 gives me the following SLAs via Spellstiching per day:
4* Inflict Light, Ray of Enfeeblement
4* Inflict Mod, Spectral Hand
2* Inflict Serious, Greater Mage Armor

I can Spellstich Inflicts as a result of Arcane Devotee granting me access to Inflict Spells, and then Spontaneous Wounder giving me the full list. I took it so I can healbot the Hecuva Cleric in the party, and whatever the Dread Necro summons.

As if it needs saying I took the Conjurer sudden variant from PHB2.

I'm not super confident in my Spellstich choices, not super confident in my metamagic feats. I know I like the Devotee/Spontaneous combo. I need Iron Will and one metamagic for Incantatrix. I need Craft Wondrous Item for Spellstiching, and I'm expecting other party members to try and take control of me via Rebuke, so I really need the +turn resistance (it's at +8 right now).

Furthermore, I have 27k gold to toss around. Right now I'm guaranteed to take 10k for a +10 Spellcraft trinket, and after that I'm pretty loose. Some sort of +int is a must... but otherwise?

Oh, and I've banned Enchantment, Evocation and Illusion.

What am I missing, what am I doing wrong, how can I further insulate myself from the horrors of PC vs. PCs in an evil campaign?

[skywalker]

I think you could maybe start by not having perjorative(some would say downright insulting) slang in the title of your thread.

I have absolutely no mechanical considerations to contribute but changing the title might get you some more views, at least.

[TomTheRat]

Touche, sir.

[Tor the Fallen]

Why did you ban 3 schools? And why Enchantment? Enchantment is so good! Maximize is a poor choice for a meta magic feat, unless you plan on blasting.

[CASTLEMIKE]

I'm not familiar with the Arcane Devotee feat what source book is it from?

Consider taking Precocious Apprentice feat so you can enter Master Specialist early for four levels to get Minor School Esoterica as a conjurer which will cost you a level of Incantrix in this build.

[TomTheRat]

Why did you ban 3 schools? And why Enchantment? Enchantment is so good! Maximize is a poor choice for a meta magic feat, unless you plan on blasting.

Well, 2 from specialization and 1 from Incantatrix. I took Maximize because it's helpful for the Sorceror in the party, and also for heals from the Cleric in the party.

Part of my plan is to be a buff-bot as much as possible. It should help reduce my visibility to enemies.

I banned Enchantment because I'm running out of schools :-( Can't ban Necro or Transmutation, can't ban Divination or Abjuration, and Evocation and Illusion are the other good choices.

[TomTheRat]

I'm not familiar with the Arcane Devotee feat what source book is it from?

Complete Divine. Lets you add the spell list from one of your God's domains to your list as an arcane caster. You have to match the God's alignment.

[Tor the Fallen]

Is there anything that good from abjuration? Greater Mage Armor isn't Abj, I know that.

I'd take quicken or empower as a metamagic feat, if you're worried about the party turning on you. A maximize for the sorc isn't going to do you much good.

[AmberVael]

Isn't it called Arcane Disciple?

And you've broken one of the laws of making a high powered caster:

Thou shalt not give up caster levels.
Spell stitched is nice and all... but you'd be better off just to buy yourself a wand of Inflict X Wounds if you want the inflict stuff.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Complete Divine. Lets you add the spell list from one of your God's domains to your list as an arcane caster. You have to match the God's alignment.


I believe you mean Arcane Disciple page 79.

I'm assuming you are using LA buy down rules for the spell stiched template leveling up from 3rd to 4th level to zero it out.

Since you are using Flaws from UA:

One way to pick up Iron Will pretty cheaply is the UA Blood lines as a Fey since they are bought down differently.

At level seven you should consider them bought down which should put you
around level 7&1/2 or 8 if your DM is nice since you rarely level up perfectly in most games.

You would pick up Iron Will at level 2.

Statistically Empower is better than Maximize.

[TomTheRat]

Erg, yes, totally wrong about the Feat name. Changing it in the original post.

As for the Spellstiched, it also gives me +2 turn resistance, +2 to all saves, and a ton of extra spells per day. 7k xps is a lot to spend, but they'll grow back faster as I'm the only level 7 in the group.

I can get caught up on levels, and in the long run its a lot of extra survivability.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Since you are banning Enchantment, Evocation and Illusion schools and the Spellstiched spells can be arcane Conjuration, Evocation or Necromancy.

Just sticking to core I'd suggest taking banned school spells:

First: Color Spray and Magic Missile (4 missiles that alway hit unless there is a Shield spell in the way at level 7 which are occassionally useful).

IMO since Ray of Enfeeblement has no save it works fine with a wand for 750 GP and a 10 round attack against most enemies.

Second: Sculpted Grease (Some Battle Field Control) or Mirror Image, Invisibility or Scorching Ray. (Suggestion is a level 2 arcane Bard spell)

Third: Inflict Serious and Lightning Bolt or Suggestion (Charm Monster is a level 3 arcane Bard spell).

An inflict spell wand is only 750 GP and will do most healing.

Your PC gains HD leveling benefits as a Spellstiched for casting them and sometimes it's nice to do a little blasting or being able to cast a few banned spells.

If you can buy a meta scroll of a Sculpted Grease scroll as a level 2 spell you take that as a level 2 spell stiched spell.

Taking that a step further consider adding one of those arcane Bard enchantment school spells.

As a Conjurer I recommend taking the Augment Summoning Feat since most summoned creatures die from lack of hit points and lasting an extended number of rounds isn't a issue. Check out some of the UASRD conjurer variants.

Those extra hit points from Augment Summons would stack with Minor Esoterica.

FRCS Magic of Faerun has another Augment Summoning feat that adds one additional hit die of hit points to your summoned creatures along with a additional +1 to hit and damage.

[TomTheRat]

I'd have figured since I'm the one doing the spellstiching I couldn't stich from a banned school.

[CASTLEMIKE]

I'd have figured since I'm the one doing the spellstiching I couldn't stich from a banned school.

IMO you can using a scroll since you know read magic and have the right feat.

You are not learning to cast the spell you are using a medium with Read Magic to trigger an arcane scroll.

If anyone has an issue with this. Just have another party member or NPC cast the spell for you while you enchant yourself.

If playing in FRCS you might want to add the +0 LA Planetouched Tiefling template to your build for that +2 to Int and Dex and the -2 to Charisma.

The +0 Soul Locked template from Heroes of Horror is nice for groups that kill each other and basically adds rejuvenation to your PC.

[Ted_Stryker]

Is there anything that good from abjuration?
Greater/Regular Dispel Magic are pretty good. Remove Curse, Break Enchantment, Dismissal, Dimensional Anchor/Lock, Prismatic Wall/Sphere, Disjunction, if you are willing to play with fire and be subject to it from NPCs. There's some good stuff in Abjuration. Whether it's better than Enchantment is a different question...

[Runolfr]

IMO you can using a scroll since you know read magic and have the right feat.

You are not learning to cast the spell you are using a medium with Read Magic to trigger an arcane scroll.

IIRC, specialists can not use spell-completion items that cast spells from their barred schools.


If anyone has an issue with this. Just have another party member or NPC cast the spell for you while you enchant yourself.

This, however, is perfectly acceptable, assuming you trust your party members to assist you or your DM is willing to provide the appropriate NPC.

[Iku Rex]

The spellstitched template is not available to PCs. No LA.

Which books can you use?
How do you determine ability scores?

How cheesy are you willing to get? An incantatar can get seriously buffed up using Metamagic Effect and Persistent Spell, especially if the DM lets you have a +X spellcraft item.

[Ramza00]

Why no animate dead spell stitched? Try to get spells with costly components or xp components to spell stich on yourself. Greater Magic Tattoo, is also good.

I agree with the spellstiched part though, yes you are behind a caster level temporarly you will catch up. See this
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=939615&highlight=template
and more importantly this
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=695040

[Kurald Galain]

As a conjurer, consider taking the Abrupt Jaunt class feature from the PHB2 (in place of a familiar).

[CASTLEMIKE]

The spellstitched template is not available to PCs. No LA.



From Complete Arcane page 161 Undead with arcane spellcasting abilities can spellstitch themselves.

Page 162 "Spellstitched" is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal undead with a Wisdom score of 10 or higher.