Proespecitve build, please help

I'm going to be joining a 3.5 game, Gestalt, High stats, flaws allowed, PrC gestalt allowed.

The DM has indicated that we need both a healer & a primary spellcaster and I have a build idea that would fill both roles, but I want some opinions. We already have a 'damage' magic person so my mage needs less evocation & more utility.

I am thinking I'd do one side as a Druid and PrC that into Master of Flies (3.0) and then maybe finish up with something that keeps giving me druid levels.

The other side would be Sorcerer, where I pick up the Arcane Disciple feat a couple of times. I can only cast each spell once per day per domain, and I have to use Wisdom as my stat - but I'll have Wisdom from being a Druid & this will really flesh out my spell list.

On top of that, I can take the 'Spell' domain, so as long as Read Magic is on my list somewhere I can gank a spellbook at some point and benefit from Anyspell & Greater Anyspell while still getting a lot of useful spells I otherwise would want.

The only hangup is the Knowledge: Religion requirement, but my DM has some weird rule that if you spend 2 points on a skill it becomes a class skill - not entirely sure how that works but I think I could use it to get the Arcane Disciple feat at level 1. Possibly 4 times.

After Sorcerer I'd move into Mystic Theurge to continue building my Druid list.

Also, Master of Flies requires a feat that requires you to be a changeling so I'd have to get the DM to waive the changeling thing, but I do not expect that to be an issue. If it IS, Master of Flies is not terribly vital to the build.

Here's some questions:

If I take a level of Wizard, I'd get all the level 0 spells & my own spellbook. Is there any reason you can't put a spell in your book that you're not yet able to cast? I.E. can a level 1 Wizard copy Meteor Swarm into his book even though he cannot cast it? I don't see anything saying otherwise.

Does anyone know any sort of alternate class for Druid where I can trade in my animal companion for some other benefit?

First, you can't take MT levels as a gestalt character.

Second, you're running out of actions to cast all the spells you'll want to. You have twice the spells but not twice the actions to use them in. It's why conventional wisdom says to choose an active progression (your spellcaster side) and a passive one that's mostly giving you static, utility, or out of combat abilities.

Yes, I think you can scribe whatever spell you like.

You can give up your animal companion to gain a number of benefits; see here.


I'm not sure how your druid/master of flies//sorcerer/mystic theurge is going to be a healer and general caster. I mean, druids can heal, druids can be general casters, and sorcerers can be general casters, but there's no synergy whatsoever. Arcane Disciple is a bad way to spend your feats, considering that you already have access to two deep spell lists. You'd be better off with levels in Rainbow Servant, or something like that.


To be a healer and general caster, you approximately only need cleric casting, which is easy to get and advance, hence the question: What do you really want to play, concept-wise?

If you want to be a master of vermin, I recommend the BovD Vermin Lord along with a vermin animal companion (there's a feat somewhere, I think) + the companions granted by the class + your Master of Flies swarm shape to form a hive mind. That'll grant you sorcerer casting, too.

Anyspell and Greater Anyspell allow you to prepare an arcane spell in your domain spell slot, if you're not a Cleric or a class that gets domain spell slots each day those spells won't benefit you.

Take the feat Magical Training in PGtF, it gives you a spellbook with a few 0-level spells and a few spell slots to prepare them in. You now prepare and cast spells from a spellbook, which per the Rules Compendium allows you to learn more spells and add them to your spellbook just as a Wizard does. Take the feat Versatile Spellcaster in RotD, it allows you to spend two spontaneous spell slots of the same level to cast any spell you know of one level higher, including spells you've learned and added to your spellbook. Your DM may require that you have the spellbook open to the one you're casting and read it as you cast it, so that may not be viable in combat, but it can add an extreme level of versatility to your character.

You could also take Ancestral Relic in BoED and make it a custom Runestaff in MIC p224, each time you improve it you can freely change what spells it grants. This almost completely negates your normally limited number of spells known, especially considering how cheap it is to add low level spells to a Runestaff.

Druid gets a sufficient amount of healing that you shouldn't need to add those to your Sorcerer class. You can spontaneously cast Summon Nature's Ally IV to get a Unicorn, which can use Cure Light Wounds three times, Cure Moderate Wounds once, and Neutralize Poison once. If you have a Ring of the Beast in CC you can summon one of those with SNA III. It also has a Magic Circle Against Evil which blocks nongood extraplanar creatures from approaching and frees anyone in the area of mind control effects for the duration.

I can't speak for Master of Flies, but I don't see it being any better than just preparing those swarm spells with your Druid casting and continuing your Wild Shape progression. If you're allowed take Mystic Theurge (prestige classes that advance two classes simultaneously are banned from gestalt by default) then I'd go Druid//Sorcerer for five levels, then Master of Many Forms//Mystic Theurge for ten levels. That would give you a lot more versatility than just gaining swarm shapes, and you may even be able to assume swarm shapes once the size and creature type becomes available.

Note: My DM allows Mystic Theurge in Gestalt builds.

Spontaneous Casting, in my opinion, becomes better when you have more spells to choose from. Arcane Disciple gets me 9 spells for a feat, and that's pretty good - also lets me go for spells outside of the druid/sorcerer list. With the right list I'd be able to spontaneously cast Miracle and that ain't bad.

I am thinking now I might go more for straight Druid and Sorcerer, with the alternate class features of 'Elemental Companion' and 'Divine Companion'. Not sure what elemental & not sure if Divine Companion is that great.

Essentially I am looking to make a ready-for-anything do-it-all spellcaster that can take care of themselves. Theoretically I could at some point be backed up by my elemental companion & by a Golem or other construct I have crafted.

What are the rules for adding spells to a runestaff?

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Originally Posted by Malapterus

What are the rules for adding spells to a runestaff?

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Normal item creation rules apply, but if you take Ancestral Relic then you'll use that feat's rules instead of the normal item creation rules. With Ancestral Relic you can basically make it whatever you want it to be, up to the value limit, without needing to fulfill any prerequisites to craft that type of item. The rules for pricing a runestaff is in the Magic Item Compendium p224.