Chtulhian spellcaster, advice needed!

[Tzevash]

Yo guys. Do you know some tasty feats or class combos to make a good Alienist? I know that it is not a great PrC, but I'm in love with its flavour.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Check Lord of Madness the book of Aberrations, they have some neat stuff for a Far-realm lover.

[Tzevash]

I've got that manual, but first I was looking for some useful advice. Thanks, however. :smallbiggrin:

[Dusk Eclipse]

..... well you could use the Aberrant bloodline feats to hasten your transformation into Lovecraftian nightmare

[ThiefInTheNight]

The Alienist is a pretty bad class. It's really cool, but you lose most of your Wisdom score, and you lose most/all of the good monsters off of the Summon Monster spells (on a class that requires Augment Summoning and the ability to cast Summon Monster III). It does improve your familiar, which is kind of cool, but that's the only class feature that really counts as a "good thing" — everything else is meh or actually actively hurts you.... You don't really need the PrC to have the flavor. If you really want to stick with it, I'd take feats and other PrCs that enhance your familiar as much as possible.

Anyway, I want to recommend the Xenotheurgist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122103) by Realms of Chaos, if you're willing to look into homebrew. It's awesome. It's a tad on the weaker side, but it's really, really cool.

Oh, also, the Fleshwarper from Lords of Madness could work well for this (lots of grafts are aberrant, and it advances your familiar!), and again, there's more homebrew along those veins: Xenoalchemist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205119) by Kellus. You can even combine the two (there's a PrC for that), or go with Kellus's revamped Fleshwarper for better spellcasting.

[Keld Denar]

Fleshwarper? Its in Lords of Madness. Chop off bits of yourself and replace them with wiggly jiggly tentacles of fun!

[subject42]

Alternately, the Zceryll (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/frcc/20070718) vestige tends to make a better alienist than the alienist, especially when combined with Haures.

[Tzevash]

Ok. I'll think the Binder variant will be ok. But what if homebrews and Tome of Magic aren't allowed? Is there a way to make a decent spellcaster just with PrC and wizard levels? é_è

[flumphy]

Ok. I'll think the Binder variant will be ok. But what if homebrews and Tome of Magic aren't allowed? Is there a way to make a decent spellcaster just with PrC and wizard levels? é_è

It depends on the optimization level of your party. I mean, even if you do just go alienist, you're still a full caster. That's nothing to sneeze at. It's not like you're even doing anything you wouldn't have anyway in order to get in.

[Emmerask]

I don´t see anything in the cArc version about losing wisdom score?
sure you lose a good deal of diplomacy, handle animal and bluff, but those skills are in any case better performed by the party face so not really anything too bad.

Summon monster while nice occasionally in most games is not that often used anyway (it drags combat to a stand still), it is a 10/10 casting prc so I don´t think it will even knock the wizard down to t2.

Not a great prc but even if you take it you will still be the most powerful character in the party (except if there are other wizards with better or no prcs taken).

[faceroll]

Fleshwarper? Its in Lords of Madness. Chop off bits of yourself and replace them with wiggly jiggly tentacles of fun!

The required 10 ranks in heal are hard to meet as an arcanist, so recommend that you get your DM to waive them, or trade a skill for having heal on your class list.

[TheGeckoKing]

A feat you might like is Mastery of Madness in Players Guide to Eberron. It does the whole "I can summon pseudonatural stuff" without barring you from other templates like Alienist does, instead making you roll to avoid casting the spell like it was in a wild magic zone.
Yes, the Alienist's main ability is in a feat that can be taken at 6th level. Alienists are that bad.

[AmberVael]

I advise looking at this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182404) for spell ideas for such a spellcaster.

Obviously, I mostly recommend looking at my posts. :smalltongue:

[Jude_H]

The alienist sucks a lot less if you can get Aberrations to replace the Outsiders on the SM list. It's not exactly out of line with the fluff, either. Talk to your DM.

[Tzevash]

A feat you might like is Mastery of Madness in Players Guide to Eberron. It does the whole "I can summon pseudonatural stuff" without barring you from other templates like Alienist does, instead making you roll to avoid casting the spell like it was in a wild magic zone.
Yes, the Alienist's main ability is in a feat that can be taken at 6th level. Alienists are that bad.

Ok. Since I'm always playing in Eberron with my friends and there's a lot of background related to Xoriat and aberration/planar madness, I can throw the PrC down in the recycle bin. :smalleek: