[3.5] Best Ultimate Magus build?

[the humanity]

a little more MAD, but Warmage 1/Diviner 4 (ban evocation)/UM 10/prc 5 is cool.

[Eldariel]

a little more MAD, but Warmage 1/Diviner 4 (ban evocation)/UM 10/prc 5 is cool.

At the point where you accept MAD, you should rather go Sorcerer than Warmage. Sorcerer picks up a bunch of valuable Sorcerer-only spells and still enough Evocation to hit all the possible needs you may have. That said, I retain my suggestion that Nar Demonbinder is the best Int/Cha combo for UM.

[Barmacral]

My UM is currently Beguiler 1 / Wizard 4 / UM 10, and I'm going to continue with Wizard progression until ECL 19, and for 20 I'll go into Archmage for the 3 timestops a day. My Int is high enough to have 1 bonus 9th level spell at 20th, and in the various splat books I've managed to find feats that actually replace some archmage levels, which allows me to continue in core Wizard longer, getting more bonus feats from my wizard levels... I think. Not sure offhand, as my group is taking its summer break from D&D (we get too busy to play and end our sessions for the year in the beginning of May and pick up again in August / September area).

[Eldariel]

My UM is currently Beguiler 1 / Wizard 4 / UM 10, and I'm going to continue with Wizard progression until ECL 19, and for 20 I'll go into Archmage for the 3 timestops a day. My Int is high enough to have 1 bonus 9th level spell at 20th, and in the various splat books I've managed to find feats that actually replace some archmage levels, which allows me to continue in core Wizard longer, getting more bonus feats from my wizard levels... I think. Not sure offhand, as my group is taking its summer break from D&D (we get too busy to play and end our sessions for the year in the beginning of May and pick up again in August / September area).

...that's a bit backwards. You're getting one Wizard-bonus feat by expending a couple of feats to acquire Archmage-abilities? Yeah...about that, how about you just take those Archmage-levels and thus end up with the abilities and save those feats you'd use for them for whatever you'd want the Wizard bonus spells for instead?

Wizard 5 can be worthwhile if you're interested in Spontaneous Divination but beyond that, I wouldn't bother. Archmage has:
Arcane Reach (irreplicable outside...well, Incantatrix-level stuff)
Mastery of Shaping (available as Extraordinary Spell Aim but this is better and easier to get)
Spell-Like (irreplicable)
Spell Power (irreplicable)
Arcane Reach #2 (irreplicable)

So...yeah. Archmage is never a bad investment and it definitely beats taking a level in Wizard for a feat to replicate some of that, if you've already gone through the trouble of qualifying for Archmage anyways.

[Keld Denar]

As a Beguiler1/Wizard4/UM10, you are a 15th level character. You would get a bonus feat at Wizard5, or Beguiler1/Wizard4/UM10/Wizard1, but that only leaves you with 4 levels left till 20. You'd need 5 more levels to get another Wizard bonus feat. Best to take 4 Archmage levels at that point, or 4 levels in something like Incantatrix or Fatespinner or such. If anything, you might consider taking a 6th level of Wizard, since 6th level of any class always gives you +1 BAB and +1 all saves (unless you are using fractional BAB/saves).

[Mystic Muse]

Are there any good classes to use as Support for the spontaneous side?

[Keld Denar]

What do you mean support? Like, buffs? Sorcerer can have them all. Or Beguiler has some. Also, if you have Versatile Spellcaster, you can burn your spontaneous slots to cast spells directly out of your spellbook. Hows that for support? Think of a low level support spell you cast a lot. Say...Nerveskitter, chained with your Lesser MM Rod of Chaining. Learn it on your wizard side. Now, when combat starts, burn a Beguiler slot to cast Nerveskitter, channel it through your MM Rod, and BOOM! You are supporting with your spontaneous side, irregardless of what the spell list you are casting from really has.

Thats sexy!

[Eldariel]

Are there any good classes to use as Support for the spontaneous side?

Demonbinder. It packs multiple non-Arcane buff spells and has high spell levels thus fueling Augment Casting extremely well. Of course, it's a great active side too but hey, just 'cause it's good for anything doesn't hurt at all.

[Mystic Muse]

Yeah, Buff spells. Is there any good way to get the "Bite of the Were X" spells to affect somebody besides you?

What's Demonbinder from?

[Eldariel]

Yeah, Buff spells. Is there any good way to get the "Bite of the Were X" spells to affect somebody besides you?

Spellguard of Silverymoon.


EDIT: @your edit, Unapproachable East.

[Mystic Muse]

Spellguard of Silverymoon.

And that's from where?

[Eldariel]

And that's from where?

There's an index for stuff like that. Player's Guide to Faerun, though.

[Mystic Muse]

Thanks for the info.

[Tytalus]

Bah, forgot about that prereq. You'll need a cleric dip, which works out to Wizard 17/Sorcerer 18. Still 9th/9th.

A cleric dip shaves a level off both class progressions since you get one level less of mystic theurge. You end up with 17/17 (if your previous numbers were correct), so you don't get double 9s.

And any class that casts divine spells is a divine spellcasting class. It's not defined any other way.

Classes don't cast spells, characters do. Classes provide spells.

The class still provides arcane spells (see class description). You can opt to prepare some of them as divine, but that doesn't change the class.

[PId6]

A cleric dip shaves a level off both class progressions since you get one level less of mystic theurge. You end up with 17/17 (if your previous numbers were correct), so you don't get double 9s.

Nope; you replace a wizard level, not a Mystic Theurge level. You'd start as Cloistered Cleric 1/Sorcerer 1/Wizard 2, rather than Sorcerer 1/Wizard 3. It ends up as CC 1/Sorcerer 1/Wizard 2/UM 10/MT 6, which becomes 18/17/1 in the end.

Classes don't cast spells, characters do. Classes provide spells.

The class still provides arcane spells (see class description). You can opt to prepare some of them as divine, but that doesn't change the class.

If the class provides access to divine spells (thanks to Alt Source Spell), then you can argue that it's a divine casting class. The thing is, the terms "arcane spellcasting class" and "divine spellcasting class" aren't actually defined in the rules, so it's up to interpretation what actually qualifies as one or the other.

I'll admit, however, that using the type of spells the class itself casts is probably the most reasonable way to quantify it.

[Psyx]

Was just scanning the net to look for what UM5 gives me (levelling up soon, bored at work, no books on me...you know the drill), and ended up here.

I'm actually playing a UM at the moment. So far it's:

Wizard 1
Human Paragon 3
Sorc 1
UM 4

I'll be sticking with UM for the duration. After level 15... who knows. 3.5 gets clunky by then, so we may not even be playing still. That said Cormyr warmage and Paraganostic apostle both look interesting. I digress...

Key Feats and blag:

Focused Evoker [Yes: I know it's 'weak', but I don't insist on dialling the cheese to full, and I just fancied blowing stuff up]. Dropped Necro, Illusion, Charm. I have picked up a Ring of Arcane Elite [source unknown. GM handed me the write-up on it!], which resulted in me kissing goodbye to Divination as well, and gaining even more spells per day. I'm also focusing on fire spells, and have Cashilite Elementalist, Fiery burst, Searing metamagic feats, giving me a good fire-focus and providing me with the ability to bypass resistances. Again: It's not 'optimal', but it sure is fun.

The Theurgic Specialist feat from Dragon magazine was an option that I grabbed, giving my evocations a CL of 14 at 9th level (+1 for fire, too!).

I'm NOT using the practised spellcaster blag for several reasons:

1) It's a feat. And feats are precious.
2) The 9th level thing... we probably won't be playing high enough to worry about it
3) Arcane Fusion. I want it, and gimping Sorc won't get me it. As I'm not likely to ever play a high level sorc, it's my only chance to play with the spell, and boy: what a spell!
4) It's far too obvious.

Spellshield ACF gives me a good defensive capability. Wings of Cover and Energy Aegis also add to this, without forcing me to spend rounds buffing. You can't be prepared for every combat, and with only 4 in the party, I need to be able to dish out firepower fast, and can't always assume there will be a meatshield in the way. Choosing False Life as a sorc spell allows me to have a long-running buff, as does Improved Mage Armour. I do have Shield and Prot Energy always memmed, but seldom get to cast them. Levitate as a Sorc spell tends to get me out of the messy combats most of the time, as we don't spend much time in dungeons. It makes a great Sorc choice too, as sometimes you never need it, and on other occasions, you wish you had it in every combat.

So far, so good. The character is playable from low level, has a reserve feat for when he's running low, good immediate-action defence capabilities, and has a load of useful skills thanks to a massive Int and Paragon levels. As the character is a member of the nobility, I've kept Diplomacy in-class so as to act as 'face man', and I am proficient in a sword - the traditional badge of nobility and a flavour thing. Paragon levels also dragged my HP up a little.

Swift concentration, teller of tales and the two skill tricks based on sleight of hand spellcasting are also pretty useful.

Spell of the campaign for me so far has been the awesome Combust; now delivering 11d8 damage. I've got spectral hand as a sorc spell, but frankly I'll probably sub it out soon, as I tend to be up close and personal rather a lot anyway!

[Psyx]

As regards MAD: I don't see it as too huge a problem. Simply pick what class you want to primary spellcast in, and then just use the other one for powering metamagic or for casting spells that aren't stat-dependant, such as buffs and utility.

"but that is the entire point. gold pieces can be replaced. Feats and skill points can't. there is a set number of them so we have to use them wisely. Therefore anything that can save you skill points or feats is great. Bonus feats are loved for this very reason as well."

You've said yourself why I don't really rate Able Learner: It's a Feat. And feats are golden. I tend to rank them above skillpoints, especially if with a high Int. And Human Paragon lets you sidestep the issue and fill out with flavour skills to a level where I don't see the feat as being worthwhile.

[Mongoose87]

It also costs you a caster level, which may be even more valuable than a feat.

[DragoonWraith]

It also costs you a caster level, which is always even more valuable than a feat.

Fixed that for you.

[Rothen]

Wizard 1
Human Paragon 3

Thou shalt not give up caster levels!

...Well, just sayin'. Not the best choice if you want to be as optimised as possible. In fact, you'll lose one caster level to Sorc, and probably one or two to UM, too. (Barring some clever CL tricks)
So losing another one to Human Paragon doesn't seem worth it.

And choosing any other school over evocation isn't cheesy. It's just common sense - blaster wizards are generally a bad choice.

[Psyx]

Casting levels are golden... but so is +2 INT and a free feat. An extra 3HP, 6 skill points (well... 22 if we go to 20th level), a martial weapon [well, ok: It's not brilliant] and the choice of skills aren't bad either.

Ultimately, if you want the blaggiest combat build possible then it's probably not worth loosing, and it does put me a casting level behind all the way through (although the reduced number of spells most certainly is not a problem, as I never seem to be able to use them all!). However, loosing it has netted me an awful lot of other goodies, most certainly kept me alive (I've been at -9 twice...thank-you extra HP!) and has given the party a good number of skills that we would otherwise completely lack (we have a summoner, and two divine casters who can just about count to ten*).

And... it's characterful and a little more rounded than most optimised builds, while still being very effective. Or maybe I just don't have the nerve to look a GM in the eye and say 'I want to play an arcane gnome Nar Demonbinder with persistent metamagic for character reasons'...

For a more optimised version, replace Evoc with Summon and dump necro, charm and evoc. But we already have a summoner, an predominantly evil / necro spell list was out of the question due to risk of lynching, and a predominance of undead rendered an enchanter or illusionist less optimised for the campaign than even an evoker. (And I am looking forward to playing an enchanter at some point in another campaign, where it's remotely viable)

Anyhow: Specialising in Evocation doesn't preclude the use of other spells; it just means three per level of evocations, which is fine. Magic Missile is never useless, shatter, combust, ray of ice, glitterdust, web, gust of wind, Storm mote, gt. thunderclap, fireball... In a typical day; those spells will all see good use. And the joy of UM is that you can dump 'good' schools with 'essential' spells, and just simply pick them up as Sorc choices.




*The characters; not the players!

[DragoonWraith]

Casting levels are golden

Yes they are.

but so is +2 INT

+1 DC, +3 spells/day at best. When the average casting level gives you +0.5 DC (thanks to higher level spells half the time), and far more spells/day. Nope, not worth a spellcasting level.

and a free feat.

No feat in the game is worth a spellcasting level. Entering a PrC, maybe, but finding some way to do it without Human Paragon would be much better.

An extra 3HP,

Toughness is awful.

6 skill points (well... 22 if we go to 20th level)

Yawn. A full-caster doesn't really care. Especially a Wizard. And other things can do that anyway. What's the parenthetical mean?

a martial weapon [well, ok: It's not brilliant]

Yeah, meh. Occasionally but rarely useful. Other than the feat, though, this is about the best thing you get.

and the choice of skills aren't bad either.

Really it's the only reason you'd bother with Human Paragon.

Ultimately, if you want the blaggiest combat build possible then it's probably not worth loosing, and it does put me a casting level behind all the way through (although the reduced number of spells most certainly is not a problem, as I never seem to be able to use them all!). However, loosing it has netted me an awful lot of other goodies, most certainly kept me alive (I've been at -9 twice...thank-you extra HP!) and has given the party a good number of skills that we would otherwise completely lack (we have a summoner, and two divine casters who can just about count to ten*).

And... it's characterful and a little more rounded than most optimised builds, while still being very effective.

The Human Paragon is not awful. And the flavor's fun. But from an optimization standpoint, it's ultimately not worth it. And this thread is about the "best" Ultimate Magus build.

As for a caster-heavy party, you'd have been better off going into a Gish PrC, I'd think. Human Paragon does have the advantage of being available early, though.

Or maybe I just don't have the nerve to look a GM in the eye and say 'I want to play an arcane gnome Nar Demonbinder with persistent metamagic for character reasons'...

Actually, I really want to do a Conjurer/Master Specialist/Malconvoker/Nar Demonbinder/Ultimate Magus at some point. That's just bursting with flavor.

[Rothen]

Dragoonwraith pretty much explained the golden rule.

Oh, and:

Magic Missile is never useless.

Shield.

In a typical day; those spells will all see good use.

They'll definitely contribute: you're still playing a full caster, it's tough to be useless.
There's just better choices, which is what we're looking for in this thread.

[Psyx]

"Shield."

Or - continuing with the mild pedantry - force dragons.


"Toughness is awful."

Yes it is. I was referring to the extra mean 3hp from moving to d4 to d6.


"There's just better choices, which is what we're looking for in this thread."

The thread starter then refined that, so as to be not excessively heavy on the cheese. I was aiming for that.

If we're simply discussing the 'best' build, then I think that the conversation has probably been well documented before and the prior comments have covered all the main bases. Specialised summoner / Demonbinder, UM10 and a few levels of AM or whatever floats your boat to finish things off is enormously solid and doesn't rely too much on getting your GM drunk before they agree to it. Although my own preference would be to use Sorc instead of demonbinder for the sake of sanity.

If DM is in the mix, then Arcane Gnomes aren't too shoddy at all. Dragonwrought kobolds are a cheeky way of essentially getting free stats, but you generally can't go wrong with a human.*

Going back to the thread starter's queries, some ACFs and feats that I'd look at would be:

Summoner: subbing out familiar for immediate teleports [PHB2].
Sorc: sub out the familiar for something else nice - spellshield [PHB2?] or rapid metamagic if you can't afford to buy it as a feat.

If the campaign is time intensive, sub out scribe scroll for improved initiative [UA] or Enhanced summoning [UA] for a summoner. If you don't pick up the improved initiative now, then do it later; because few things are more annoying than loosing a lovely chance to lay waste to an encounter thanks to getting beat solidly on initiative.

Theurgic Specialist [DM] is a bit of a no-brainer feat for blow-torching through spell resistance, especially couple with the feat-whose-name-escapes-me which allows 10 on caster level checks.

Quicken is essential. Pick a couple more of the well-known awesomeonastick high cost metamagics as well: Extend and persistent, twin spell, oracular spell... whatever takes your fancy. Empower is better than maximise, but given that we have a vast pool for powering metamagic, maximise arguably has a place. Sculpt spell isn't bad either. Oh: And craft contingent spell, because contingency is from a school we dropped like a stone.

I'd maybe skip Easy Metamagic, as it's not like you'll be short of spells to power the metamagic. Arcane Thesis too. There's a definite advantage of having them, but it's like having a 10% discount on a cheap meal.

Obviously, you'll probably want to do the Practised Spellcaster feat trick.

Grab a reserve feat perhaps, for the rare occasions that you run low on spells. I'd probably consider summon elemental, because it has a number of out-of-combat and utility uses.

Precise shot can be useful for those ranged touch debuffs, when you don't want to risk clipping your tank, but can't bear the -4.




*Unless they have 'Favoured enemy: Human'; before you say it.

[Tytalus]

Nope; you replace a wizard level, not a Mystic Theurge level. You'd start as Cloistered Cleric 1/Sorcerer 1/Wizard 2, rather than Sorcerer 1/Wizard 3. It ends up as CC 1/Sorcerer 1/Wizard 2/UM 10/MT 6, which becomes 18/17/1 in the end.

That way you don't qualify for UM anymore, lacking 2nd level spells.

You could get around that with Precocious Apprentice, but that locks you up feat-wise and requires you to use flaws. It doesn't work with the +3 sorcerer levels either, since Precocious Apprentice stops working once you can cast 2nd level spells normally (via Sorcerer in that case).

[PId6]

That way you don't qualify for UM anymore, lacking 2nd level spells.

You could get around that with Precocious Apprentice, but that locks you up feat-wise and requires you to use flaws. It doesn't work with the +3 sorcerer levels either, since Precocious Apprentice stops working once you can cast 2nd level spells normally (via Sorcerer in that case).

Sanctum Spell.

[Rothen]

The thread starter then refined that, so as to be not excessively heavy on the cheese. I was aiming for that.

I deny that banning evocation - or not specialising in evocation - is cheesy. It's optimised.

It's semantics, I know, but the words have two completely different meanings.

Edit: Heh. Sanctum Spell. Good times.

[DragoonWraith]

Yes it is. I was referring to the extra mean 3hp from moving to d4 to d6.

I'm aware, but three class levels are worth more than a feat anyway, so... if that's all you're getting, that's even worse.

The thread starter then refined that, so as to be not excessively heavy on the cheese. I was aiming for that.

Except that avoiding Human Paragon entirely and taking straight Wizard would have been better. That's... the primary problem. The Ultimate Magus already loses two spellcasting levels; losing a third for what you're getting here just isn't worth it.

If we're simply discussing the 'best' build, then I think that the conversation has probably been well documented before and the prior comments have covered all the main bases. Specialised summoner / Demonbinder, UM10 and a few levels of AM or whatever floats your boat to finish things off is enormously solid and doesn't rely too much on getting your GM drunk before they agree to it. Although my own preference would be to use Sorc instead of demonbinder for the sake of sanity.

Actually, as has been pointed out, Nar Demonbinder is neither overly powerful for this (late entry means it doesn't work out as nicely), nor does it lack flavor justifications (Nar Demonbinder and Malconvoker have the most amazing flavor synergy), and finally, it's very certainly not the most powerful version. The one that takes Beholder Mage is far more powerful, but massively more cheesy as well.

If DM is in the mix, then Arcane Gnomes aren't too shoddy at all. Dragonwrought kobolds are a cheeky way of essentially getting free stats, but you generally can't go wrong with a human.*

"Arcane" Gnomes? Anyway, Venerable Loredrake Dragonwrought Kobolds with Greater Draconic Rite of Passage would be, of course, even better than Nar Demonbinder, but... meh. That would be cheesy, IMO.

Summoner: subbing out familiar for immediate teleports [PHB2].

For the average Conjurer, I agree (actually, personally, that's an overdose of cheese - interesting how people have different definitions of that?), but for a Summoner, the UA Conjurer Specialist ACF that trades your Familiar for Standard-action Summon Monster spells is better.

Sorc: sub out the familiar for something else nice - spellshield [PHB2?] or rapid metamagic if you can't afford to buy it as a feat.

Both are good, though you might also consider keeping the Familiar - Imbue Familiar with Spell-like Ability is a sickeningly good spell.

If the campaign is time intensive, sub out scribe scroll for improved initiative [UA] or Enhanced summoning [UA] for a summoner. If you don't pick up the improved initiative now, then do it later; because few things are more annoying than loosing a lovely chance to lay waste to an encounter thanks to getting beat solidly on initiative.

Improved Initiative is definitely worth picking up if you have no feats you need, but I'd put it fairly low on my list of priorities. Enhanced Summoning gets you Augment Summons, which is pretty awesome and helps qualify for Malconvoker if you go that route, though.

Theurgic Specialist [DM] is a bit of a no-brainer feat for blow-torching through spell resistance, especially couple with the feat-whose-name-escapes-me which allows 10 on caster level checks.

Arcane Mastery is the take-10 on Caster Level checks.

Anyway, had to look up Theurgic Specialization - holy crap! Who thought that was a good idea? Hahaha, dip Spellthief, take Master Spellthief and that, and... good god. Your caster level on specialist spells would be 38, before anything optional.

Quicken is essential. Pick a couple more of the well-known awesomeonastick high cost metamagics as well: Extend and persistent, twin spell, oracular spell... whatever takes your fancy.

You're complaining about the Nar Demonbinder, but you recommend Oracular Spell?! And Persist, too. We have very different ideas of what is cheese, you and I.

Empower is better than maximise, but given that we have a vast pool for powering metamagic, maximise arguably has a place. Sculpt spell isn't bad either.

Depending on your build (i.e. whether or not you get into Master Specialist and whether or not you finish Ultimate Magus with levels to spare), a dip into Archmage could get Mastery of Shaping, which is better than Sculpt Spell every time.

Oh: And craft contingent spell, because contingency is from a school we dropped like a stone.

Again, this is, IMO, much cheesier than Nar Demonbinder.

I'd maybe skip Easy Metamagic, as it's not like you'll be short of spells to power the metamagic. Arcane Thesis too. There's a definite advantage of having them, but it's like having a 10% discount on a cheap meal.

Ehhh... Maybe. Haven't run the numbers. Of course, they're also a 10 on the cheese-o-meter.

Obviously, you'll probably want to do the Practised Spellcaster feat trick.

Yes, this I definitely agree with.

Grab a reserve feat perhaps, for the rare occasions that you run low on spells. I'd probably consider summon elemental, because it has a number of out-of-combat and utility uses.

Summon Elemental's awesome; the rest, not so much.

Precise shot can be useful for those ranged touch debuffs, when you don't want to risk clipping your tank, but can't bear the -4.

On a Touch attack... meh. Get a Rod of Magical Precision (Complete Mage) for this.

[Tytalus]

+1 DC, +3 spells/day at best. When the average casting level gives you +0.5 DC (thanks to higher level spells half the time), and far more spells/day. Nope, not worth a spellcasting level.

You seem to be missing the big picture. Looking at each boon alone it sure may seem that the caster level is better. It is, however, misleading.

Yes, in general loosing caster levels is a bad thing. Unless you get something equally valuable for it (see 10 commandments of optimization).

Comparing a more reasonable (1) Beguiler1/Wizard1/HP3/UM10/X5 with a (2) Beguiler1/Wizard4/UM10/X5, for example (with "X" being any class progressing wizard casting). Switch sorcerer for beguiler, if you must. Let's compare:

Spellcasting:

The difference is not as big as it may seem, since the "lost" caster level further helps exploit the Practiced Spellcaster trick:

(1) has wizard casting progression as a wizard 18 (9th level spells) and beguiler casting 8 (4th level spells).

(2) has wizard casting progression 18 (9th level spells) and beguiler casting 9 (4th level spells).

End result: you loose a single level of beguiler casting progression, but not even the ability to cast spells of your highest level there. Big whoop.

Of course, your progression in your primary casting class is slightly slowed from level 3-12. To use your odd math for comparing DCs: The HP build has a +1 DC to all spells (yes, both classes) for 16/20 levels (+1.6 DC). The non-HP build has +1 DC for the primary class for 10/20 levels and +1 DC for the secondary class for 8/20 levels. According to your math, (1) get +1.6 DC vs. (2)'s +0.9. Halve both values if you want the averages. Either way, the HP build has a distinct advantage.

In terms of spells available, you overestimated the difference between two levels of spellcasting progression. On average, you get less than two spells extra per level of advancement (case (2)). With an INT of 18+, the extra +2 INT gives (1) at least two extra spells - in both spellcasting classes. So overall, the HP build wins, if only by a small margin.

Skills:

(1) has 20 more skill points and (with the almost mandatory Able Learner feat) all skills as class skills from level 3 onward. I strongly doubt "full casters don't really care", as you put it.

Feats:

(1) has an extra feat, not limited to a bonus feat list. Feats are precious.

(1) also gets a free Martial Weapon proficiency. Not great, but, as you said, occasionally useful.

Other benefits of (1):

The extra 6 hit points (on average) are nothing to sneeze at.

Your WILL save is 1 higher. Not great, but certainly nice.

Summary:

The reduced casting progression does not have the effect you made it appear to have (i.e., this is a special case where the usual rule of not loosing caster levels doesn't fully apply), and the benefits are actually very useful - even for "full casters".

The Human Paragon is not awful. And the flavor's fun. But from an optimization standpoint, it's ultimately not worth it.

I'd say it's a viable alternative.

[DragoonWraith]

The interactions with Ultimate Magus and losing another level of Beguiler is something I had not considered. If you're starting play at or near Ultimate Magus 7, I'll concede that point.

Master Specialist would still be superior.