Well I don't really have any experience with this either other than "bonus2 x 2,500 gp is way too cheap," so it's your call. Personally I don't like them at all so I'd probably go with bonus2 x 20,000, but that may be more expensive than is really necessary.
I have no idea. I'm satisfied with the x 10,000 multiplier, if it's not enough I'll just start having casters aim mage's disjunction at the party once per encounter. Sorta kidding.
On an unrelated note, just to be sure, are Arcane Archer // Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil and Arcane Archer // Archmage levels allowed?
Yes, it's fine.
Also, I believe you were previously allowing using Archmage High Arcanas to get feats instead (for a 5th level spell slot). Am I allowed to get epic feats (specifically Spell Knowledge) using that, and if not, what feats can I get (presumably any metamagic, spell focus, and spell penetration, but anything else)?
The feats you can select are the same as those you have access to when selecting a bonus feat from your wizard class. You cannot select an epic feat for the normal archmage prestige class (but the epic archmage that you created would be able to).
How would you feel if I were to play telepathic construct swarm? Because that seems to be currently the most interesting idea I have on my mind. Crafting Elder Eidolon of Hellwasp Swarm, then Mind Switch, True-ing into it.
It's a two-bladed sword: I'd be immune to weapon damage (Unless it is swarmfighting weapon. I still take bonus elemental damage from maneuvers normally.) but I cannot really use most items without making them slotless, and paying double.
Apart from that, the obvious. I'd be ~5000 flying metallic insects forming faces in the air and speaking to you as "lesser lifeform"s.
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The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
I expected nothing less, off to my pile of "BBEG ideas" this goes. So far that pile contains: Illithid savant demigod / Telepathic construct Swarm / Possessed sphere of annihilation / Fiend of Possession that you can't really get rid of... And a few others. All characters I wasn't allowed to play..
God forbid anyone joining my campaigns, though.
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The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
How exactly does the Sphere of Ultimate Destruction Spell (CA/SC) work if you don't direct it to a new target and the old one is still alive? Does it just attack the thing again or do I have to take a move action to redirect it to the same target?
Does anyone have a sense of how useful Gate is? I'm failing miserably at choosing my 9th level spells and have no idea how good that spell actually is.
If the Target of the sphere is still in the area of effect of the sphere the sphere just makes another attack at the start of your turn since its a continuous effect, and then you can move it afterwards.
No idea on Gate, cant make sense of its use, (as a travel point its bad since Planeshift doesnt require XP, as a Summoning Effect is more or less good but you need to spend double XP, once to open the gate and another to pay for whatever it is you want to bring.)
If you ask me you should consider the spell Black Blade of Disaster, you could also ask ASA so it can be refluffed to something like Bright Blade of Glory and deal Light based Damage.
Plague of Undead isnt bad, same for Summon Elemental monolith, Wail of the Banshee and Foresight are not spectacular but not bad either.
Abyssal Army, Greater Dragon Ally, Call Marut ,Heavenly Host, and Hellish Horde are all ninth level spells that i suppose could be useful (greater Dragon ally and call Marut have XP requiremenets though)
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Call me old fashioned, but an evil ascension to power just isn't the same without someone chanting faux Latin in the background.
Oreo, Glazing people better than Dunkin' Donuts since 2009
That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange eons even death may die.
Just as preface to this post, thanks for the input. I kind of make a bunch of counterarguments, but just based on your suggestions you've given me good information. Also, in thinking of these responses, I got a much better idea of what I'm looking for than I had before. So despite the apparent "not great ideas, here's why" tone, your comments were extremely useful.
If the Target of the sphere is still in the area of effect of the sphere the sphere just makes another attack at the start of your turn since its a continuous effect, and then you can move it afterwards.
That makes it potentially quite nice. Especially if we're fighting a big nasty guy that can take hits or a large army standing close together. It's just an extra disintegrate every turn.
No idea on Gate, cant make sense of its use, (as a travel point its bad since Planeshift doesnt require XP, as a Summoning Effect is more or less good but you need to spend double XP, once to open the gate and another to pay for whatever it is you want to bring.)
I believe you misread the spell. According to the srd entry, the XP cost is only for summoning things, making it markedly better for planar travel than Plane Shift (basically, you gain precise location but have to concentrate to use it). Also, I believe you can summon anything, and given that I have 12,500 non-leveling XP to burn, I think it's better than just about any pure summoning spell (which is why I'm strongly considering it but not Summon Elemental Monolith or any of the other summoning spells your mentioned*).
* - I can summon Elemental Monoliths, Dragons, and Inevitables just fine with Gate.
If you ask me you should consider the spell Black Blade of Disaster, you could also ask ASA so it can be refluffed to something like Bright Blade of Glory and deal Light based Damage.
First off, is there any reason I'd want that instead of Sphere of Ultimate Destruction? I have to make touch attacks against things instead of a move action followed by an auto-hit. Second, I wouldn't want the damage to be light based unless I also changed the disintegrate effect (which I may consider doing anyway even for the sphere).
Plague of Undead isnt bad, same for Summon Elemental monolith, Wail of the Banshee and Foresight are not spectacular but not bad either.
At this point, I think there's enough good stuff that I'm basically looking for pretty spectacular or extremely useful utility. Summons are pretty much all superseded by Gate given how much bonus XP I have to burn, and Wail and Foresight don't make the cut.
As a sorcerer I think some degree of versatility is useful since your spells known are limited. Gate is nice because it can do two things™. It costs experience but if you're not greedy you should have some readily in supply. I would recommend spells like shades (or any shadow conjuration/shadow evocation spell), limited wish (and/or maybe wish), and maybe greater spell matrix (not sure if you can store spells you don't know with this). Only thing is you don't want to be too versatile and not have enough spell effects that are just strong for their level.
On that note, time stop is massively powerful especially if you have resources available to you to put those extra turns to good use. Mage's Disjunction obviously is another great choice especially for an abjurer. Plus there are other factors such as your earlier choices at lower spell levels... it's always complicated.
Just as preface to this post, thanks for the input. I kind of make a bunch of counterarguments, but just based on your suggestions you've given me good information. Also, in thinking of these responses, I got a much better idea of what I'm looking for than I had before. So despite the apparent "not great ideas, here's why" tone, your comments were extremely useful.
Your very welcome then
That makes it potentially quite nice. Especially if we're fighting a big nasty guy that can take hits or a large army standing close together. It's just an extra disintegrate every turn.
Yes it makes it f=very nice however do note that if a BBEG has those beads of Sphere Control thingy he will be pretty much immune to your spell
I believe you misread the spell. According to the srd entry, the XP cost is only for summoning things, making it markedly better for planar travel than Plane Shift (basically, you gain precise location but have to concentrate to use it). Also, I believe you can summon anything, and given that I have 12,500 non-leveling XP to burn, I think it's better than just about any pure summoning spell (which is why I'm strongly considering it but not Summon Elemental Monolith or any of the other summoning spells your mentioned*).
Thats why i did say i wasnt so sure on the spell that being said, I would be wise to keep S.E.M. as a back up, you wont always have XP to burn and sometimes it might be better to save it for later times, in which case a Spell that summons big things for no XP cost would be useful.
First off, is there any reason I'd want that instead of Sphere of Ultimate Destruction? I have to make touch attacks against things instead of a move action followed by an auto-hit. Second, I wouldn't want the damage to be light based unless I also changed the disintegrate effect (which I may consider doing anyway even for the sphere).
Hmm lets see it gives you flanking if you position it on the opposite side of the Target, it hits Touch AC while using you Attack Bonus which makes it very likely to hit, deals good damage, and can disintegrate sometimes. All of this are reasons why its a good spell to have IN ADDITION of Speheres, besides that if the opponent has the bead of sphere control this becomes your bread and butter since he cant take possession/immunity to this blade (the shift to light damage was a suggestion given how you are LG and a blade that oozes Negative Energy may not be suited for such a character)
At this point, I think there's enough good stuff that I'm basically looking for pretty spectacular or extremely useful utility. Summons are pretty much all superseded by Gate given how much bonus XP I have to burn, and Wail and Foresight don't make the cut.
Its good to look for the WOW spells but also consider the extra scenarios, like if you Gate something with a hefty XP cost, lets say you get 3 or 5 Super Costly things and you get dried up in XP, your enemy goes and casts Dismissal and all that XP went to the Styx River for all you care then.
My suggestions where not aimed at "Pick this because its THE BEST" they where aimed at "Pick these because they make you Flexible enough to handle more situations our Sadistic, Powermongering and Delusional DM seems likely to throw t us*"
*-ASA this is just a figure of speech you are awesome! for you
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Call me old fashioned, but an evil ascension to power just isn't the same without someone chanting faux Latin in the background.
Oreo, Glazing people better than Dunkin' Donuts since 2009
That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange eons even death may die.
A few quick notes in response: I am extremely tempted by the versatility of Wish, but the combination of it costing 5,000 XP and not having free 9th level spells means I don't think I'll take it now. Time Stop, surprisingly, doesn't seem very good with Lyrillon. Most of my spells seem to either interact with enemies directly or aren't particularly useful in combat (though the summoning side of Gate and Prismatic Sphere imbued on an arrow are very notable exceptions*).
I don't believe the spell matrix spells can hold things you don't know because, if I'm reading the spell description correctly, you have to cast spells into them.
I think I'm going to go with Gate. It creates two powerful effects that are entirely absent from the rest of my spell list (I don't have Plane Shift or any other summoning spells), and I don't think something like Sphere of Ultimate Destruction is really necessary when I have Polar Ray and Disintegrate with ISC, Split Ray, Empower, and Maximize all at my disposal.
Thanks guys.
P.S. Twin Spell or Archmage's Spell Power? Twin seems rather weak before IMM (which you can't qualify for before lvl 27).
Edit @Sep: Point taken on not having to spend XP to summon things. Counterpoint: My blasting capabilities (especially when I go nova with Arcane Spellsurge and piles of metamagic) are powerful enough that I probably won't need summoning most of the time. Also, Gate is about the most flexible summoning spell in existence. I feel like if I'm going to summon something, it's going to be something huge enough that other summoning spells can't get it at all. I could be very, very wrong on that front, but I was planning on taking Spell Knowledge at some point anyway, so I can always fix my mistake with that.
* - Yes, I'll do that if I need to (which is why I'm keeping Prismatic Sphere on my spell list), but I don't plan on pulling it out very often.
My suggestions where not aimed at "Pick this because its THE BEST" they where aimed at "Pick these because they make you Flexible enough to handle more situations our Sadistic, Powermongering and Delusional DM seems likely to throw t us*"
*-ASA this is just a figure of speech you are awesome! for you
So wait, you're saying that I'm not sadistic, powermongering and delusional? I'll have you know I'm the money sadistic, powermongering, delusional DM evar.
A few quick notes in response: I am extremely tempted by the versatility of Wish, but the combination of it costing 5,000 XP and not having free 9th level spells means I don't think I'll take it now. Time Stop, surprisingly, doesn't seem very good with Lyrillon. Most of my spells seem to either interact with enemies directly or aren't particularly useful in combat (though the summoning side of Gate and Prismatic Sphere imbued on an arrow are very notable exceptions*).
Limited wish, on the other hand, is just gold. It's like a free heighten spell wrapped up with just about any spell of up to 6th level that you don't know.
I don't believe the spell matrix spells can hold things you don't know because, if I'm reading the spell description correctly, you have to cast spells into them.
Yeah, I dunno. Greater spell matrix probably more useful in the sense that you end up ahead in your economy of actions. Though I would personally change the spell so that you could select either 3 level three or lower spells; 2 level 5 or lower spells; or 1 level 7 or lower spell. That might make it good enough for consideration.
P.S. Twin Spell or Archmage's Spell Power? Twin seems rather weak before IMM (which you can't qualify for before lvl 27).
The only reason I can really see taking spell power over it is if you plan on going perfect arcanist (and if you do, what's to stop you from taking the high arcana option to get spell power twice, a bonus feat twice, then improved spell power, then the most relevant superior arcana, and finish with spell storm?).
BTW I'd like to see the epic hierophant progression as well.
* - Yes, I'll do that if I need to (which is why I'm keeping Prismatic Sphere on my spell list), but I don't plan on pulling it out very often.
The only reason I can really see taking spell power over it is if you plan on going perfect arcanist (and if you do, what's to stop you from taking the high arcana option to get spell power twice, a bonus feat twice, then improved spell power, then the most relevant superior arcana, and finish with spell storm?).
Well I'm definitely planning on going Perfect Arcanist ASAP (which should be stating lvl 25). Also, I believe you ruled last game that Spell Power works the way it used to (i.e. increases save DCs by default). Is that still the case? If not, it's a little iffy, though Improved Spell Power does fix the problem. If yes, I may take it.
As for what's stopping me from grabbing all those things with the double high arcana, both spell slots and the fact that I can't get the same thing twice with a single Superior Arcana (it says so explicitly and I did that for a reason when I made the class).
Second, I was planning on taking some of the useful Superior Arcana abilities. I'll probably get Unyielding Magic both for flavor reasons and because I'm expecting to have counter wars with an enemy at some point, and possibly Freeform Shape as well. Also, Improve Spell (permanently splitting Polar Ray) seems like a good plan once I get IMM to make it cheaper. I might burn one of them on an epic bonus feat as well (likely Spell Knowledge).
@ Krash: I was going to suggest Gate, but looks like you've already chosen it. You could also choose Time Stop just to be able to take the feat Spell Stowaway-Time Stop. With that feat, any time someone casts Time Stop, you automatically gain the effects too. It basically makes you immune to enemy Time Stop spells.
Heh. My character is going to love melee. Most evil things won't stand any kind of chance against him in hand to hand. Fast Healing 10 + DR 10/evil + Magic Circle Againt Evil + Lesser Globe of Invulnerability + Retributive Amulet = Win. I'll see if I can't get the bio up sometime this weekend.
On an unrelated note, am I the only one who likes giving their epic Dread Necromancers the Spell Knowledge feat at least twice? There's nothing funnier than a Dread Necro who can unexpectedly cast Disintegrate, Wish, Arcane Spellsurge, and Prismatic Sphere.
Everything scares me... kitties scare me... squirrels scare me... corpses....corpses bring forth a pletora of confusing feeling which i prefer not to dwell on...:p
Pfft so you can't select the high arcana option twice? How irritating. I guess getting 8 free feats could be a little bad though. Or +6 caster level, +6 spell DCs. Though you could argue that perfect arcanist is already broken for giving you extra levels for arcane fire. :x
I don't remember my ruling about save DCs from spell power. Spell power is pretty weak especially since you have to waste a spell slot on it, so it seems reasonable.
It's unclear to me that one feat allowing two classes to stack their levels for three mostly unshared abilities is fair. I could see stacking paladin/crusader levels for both your smites per day and smite damage, plus maybe some minor bonus to smiting. I could also see a feat that stacks paladin and monk levels for lay on hands/wholeness of body usage. But it otherwise negates the drawback to multiclassing paladin/crusader for two other abilities that are just separate. The parallel I guess would be something like rogue/scout and all that like Yukora and Amadi mentioned earlier, but that was regarding abilities which were essentially very similar. It would be more fitting to express this feat in the form of a prestige class, and you already have ruby knight vindicator for that.
That said, the feat isn't that strong in terms of game impact. Lay on hands and steely resolve aren't hugely powerful abilities. Smiting seems like it might as well stack anyway.
Well i could remove the Lay on Hands effect and just let it be Smite and Steely Resolve that get stacked, its more on line with the other Stacking Feats. If I do that is it ok to get?
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Call me old fashioned, but an evil ascension to power just isn't the same without someone chanting faux Latin in the background.
Oreo, Glazing people better than Dunkin' Donuts since 2009
That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange eons even death may die.
Pfft so you can't select the high arcana option twice? How irritating. I guess getting 8 free feats could be a little bad though. Or +6 caster level, +6 spell DCs. Though you could argue that perfect arcanist is already broken for giving you extra levels for arcane fire. :x
Sorry, I mis-typed earlier. I just reread it and, despite what I meant, what I actually said is completely wrong. You can get the double High Arcana twice if you want to. What you can't do is pick the same high arcana option twice in the same level.
Edit: On your comment about extra arcane fire levels, it's amusingly useless for sorcerers. Polar Ray is just better unless you get Greater Arcane Fire and are a high level Perfect Arcanist (at which point burning an 8th level spell slot gives you all of...1 extra d6). Even then, you can't metamagic Arcane Fire. Also, I'm seriously tempted to get Arcane Fire and Perfection of Elements just so I can actually make my Polar Ray be made of raw magical energy instead of elemental damage. I'm not sure I'm willing to burn the necessary spell slots for that, though. We'll see.
I don't remember my ruling about save DCs from spell power. Spell power is pretty weak especially since you have to waste a spell slot on it, so it seems reasonable.
I don't remember where the ruling was either. All I know is that my old char sheet for Lyrillon had spell power adding to save DCs and I know I wouldn't do that without a DM ruling to that effect.
The Saint template gives you a 'double strength' Lesser Globe of Invulnerability.
What, exactly, does that mean? Does it mean it doubles the level of spell that can't affect you? Which would mean 6th level spells and below don't work against a saint with his Lesser Globe of Invulnerability up?
Everything scares me... kitties scare me... squirrels scare me... corpses....corpses bring forth a pletora of confusing feeling which i prefer not to dwell on...:p
The Saint template gives you a 'double strength' Lesser Globe of Invulnerability.
What, exactly, does that mean? Does it mean it doubles the level of spell that can't affect you? Which would mean 6th level spells and below don't work against a saint with his Lesser Globe of Invulnerability up?
Unless I'm reading it wrong (or reading in the wrong place, I'm on pg 186 of BoED), it's a double strength Nimbus of Light and a regular strength Lesser Globe of Invulnerability.
Sorry, I mis-typed earlier. I just reread it and, despite what I meant, what I actually said is completely wrong. You can get the double High Arcana twice if you want to. What you can't do is pick the same high arcana option twice in the same level.
Ahh. That sounds much more reasonable.
Edit: On your comment about extra arcane fire levels, it's amusingly useless for sorcerers. Polar Ray is just better unless you get Greater Arcane Fire and are a high level Perfect Arcanist (at which point burning an 8th level spell slot gives you all of...1 extra d6). Even then, you can't metamagic Arcane Fire. Also, I'm seriously tempted to get Arcane Fire and Perfection of Elements just so I can actually make my Polar Ray be made of raw magical energy instead of elemental damage. I'm not sure I'm willing to burn the necessary spell slots for that, though. We'll see.
Yes, yes. I certainly agree. I nevertheless know of others who would object.
I will shoot it down. Other than the fact that it's extremely breakable, it's also annoying in terms of the excessive maintenance that you have to do (and that I have to do), which complicates an already messy situation during encounters and such.
You guys are allotted, essentially, 1 character. You can use summoning spells and maybe have a familiar, cohort or whatever, but it shouldn't spill over into the entire campaign. It's nowhere near streamlined enough, even without abuse.
The Saint template gives you a 'double strength' Lesser Globe of Invulnerability.
What, exactly, does that mean? Does it mean it doubles the level of spell that can't affect you? Which would mean 6th level spells and below don't work against a saint with his Lesser Globe of Invulnerability up?
Unless I'm reading it wrong (or reading in the wrong place, I'm on pg 186 of BoED), it's a double strength Nimbus of Light and a regular strength Lesser Globe of Invulnerability.
Just found this amusing; you burst Caex's hopeful little bubble.
However, what is actually double strength is a magic circle against evil:
"This acts as a double strength magic circle against evil and as a lesser globe of invulnerability..."
The wording suggests that the lesser globe of invulnerability is not included in the doubling effect (that would be "acts as a double strength magic circle against evil and lesser globe of invulnerability"). It's a subtle distinction. I think doubling the strength of the lesser globe of invulnerability would be at least worth 1-2 more LA.
Nimbus of light isn't mentioned in the protective aura entry.
Well i could remove the Lay on Hands effect and just let it be Smite and Steely Resolve that get stacked, its more on line with the other Stacking Feats. If I do that is it ok to get?
I'd like to see some precedence on feats that stack class levels for unshared abilities. If you or someone can cite a supplement, the feat name, and page number, I will look it up and most likely allow it.
Edit: You could also restructure the feat so that steely resolve works with lay on hands, perhaps doing so without necessitating that the levels stack. The smiting levels stacking is small enough that I may just rule that they do so already without a feat.
I have no idea. I'm satisfied with the x 10,000 multiplier, if it's not enough I'll just start having casters aim mage's disjunction at the party once per encounter. Sorta kidding.
Yes, it's fine.
The feats you can select are the same as those you have access to when selecting a bonus feat from your wizard class. You cannot select an epic feat for the normal archmage prestige class (but the epic archmage that you created would be able to).
It's a two-bladed sword: I'd be immune to weapon damage (Unless it is swarmfighting weapon. I still take bonus elemental damage from maneuvers normally.) but I cannot really use most items without making them slotless, and paying double.
Apart from that, the obvious. I'd be ~5000 flying metallic insects forming faces in the air and speaking to you as "lesser lifeform"s.
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
Maybe something a tiny bit less exotic.
God forbid anyone joining my campaigns, though.
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
Winner of the Weekly Signature & Avatar Contest Weeks 51, 59, 78, & 118.
I don't care if I was framed for murder if I only got a warning I would let it go.
No idea on Gate, cant make sense of its use, (as a travel point its bad since Planeshift doesnt require XP, as a Summoning Effect is more or less good but you need to spend double XP, once to open the gate and another to pay for whatever it is you want to bring.)
If you ask me you should consider the spell Black Blade of Disaster, you could also ask ASA so it can be refluffed to something like Bright Blade of Glory and deal Light based Damage.
Plague of Undead isnt bad, same for Summon Elemental monolith, Wail of the Banshee and Foresight are not spectacular but not bad either.
Abyssal Army, Greater Dragon Ally, Call Marut ,Heavenly Host, and Hellish Horde are all ninth level spells that i suppose could be useful (greater Dragon ally and call Marut have XP requiremenets though)
That makes it potentially quite nice. Especially if we're fighting a big nasty guy that can take hits or a large army standing close together. It's just an extra disintegrate every turn.
I believe you misread the spell. According to the srd entry, the XP cost is only for summoning things, making it markedly better for planar travel than Plane Shift (basically, you gain precise location but have to concentrate to use it). Also, I believe you can summon anything, and given that I have 12,500 non-leveling XP to burn, I think it's better than just about any pure summoning spell (which is why I'm strongly considering it but not Summon Elemental Monolith or any of the other summoning spells your mentioned*).
* - I can summon Elemental Monoliths, Dragons, and Inevitables just fine with Gate.
First off, is there any reason I'd want that instead of Sphere of Ultimate Destruction? I have to make touch attacks against things instead of a move action followed by an auto-hit. Second, I wouldn't want the damage to be light based unless I also changed the disintegrate effect (which I may consider doing anyway even for the sphere).
At this point, I think there's enough good stuff that I'm basically looking for pretty spectacular or extremely useful utility. Summons are pretty much all superseded by Gate given how much bonus XP I have to burn, and Wail and Foresight don't make the cut.
Winner of the Weekly Signature & Avatar Contest Weeks 51, 59, 78, & 118.
I don't care if I was framed for murder if I only got a warning I would let it go.
As a sorcerer I think some degree of versatility is useful since your spells known are limited. Gate is nice because it can do two things™. It costs experience but if you're not greedy you should have some readily in supply. I would recommend spells like shades (or any shadow conjuration/shadow evocation spell), limited wish (and/or maybe wish), and maybe greater spell matrix (not sure if you can store spells you don't know with this). Only thing is you don't want to be too versatile and not have enough spell effects that are just strong for their level.
On that note, time stop is massively powerful especially if you have resources available to you to put those extra turns to good use. Mage's Disjunction obviously is another great choice especially for an abjurer. Plus there are other factors such as your earlier choices at lower spell levels... it's always complicated.
Yes it makes it f=very nice however do note that if a BBEG has those beads of Sphere Control thingy he will be pretty much immune to your spell
Thats why i did say i wasnt so sure on the spell that being said, I would be wise to keep S.E.M. as a back up, you wont always have XP to burn and sometimes it might be better to save it for later times, in which case a Spell that summons big things for no XP cost would be useful.
Hmm lets see it gives you flanking if you position it on the opposite side of the Target, it hits Touch AC while using you Attack Bonus which makes it very likely to hit, deals good damage, and can disintegrate sometimes. All of this are reasons why its a good spell to have IN ADDITION of Speheres, besides that if the opponent has the bead of sphere control this becomes your bread and butter since he cant take possession/immunity to this blade (the shift to light damage was a suggestion given how you are LG and a blade that oozes Negative Energy may not be suited for such a character)
Its good to look for the WOW spells but also consider the extra scenarios, like if you Gate something with a hefty XP cost, lets say you get 3 or 5 Super Costly things and you get dried up in XP, your enemy goes and casts Dismissal and all that XP went to the Styx River for all you care then.
My suggestions where not aimed at "Pick this because its THE BEST" they where aimed at "Pick these because they make you Flexible enough to handle more situations our Sadistic, Powermongering and Delusional DM seems likely to throw t us*"
*-ASA this is just a figure of speech you are awesome! for you
I don't believe the spell matrix spells can hold things you don't know because, if I'm reading the spell description correctly, you have to cast spells into them.
I think I'm going to go with Gate. It creates two powerful effects that are entirely absent from the rest of my spell list (I don't have Plane Shift or any other summoning spells), and I don't think something like Sphere of Ultimate Destruction is really necessary when I have Polar Ray and Disintegrate with ISC, Split Ray, Empower, and Maximize all at my disposal.
Thanks guys.
P.S. Twin Spell or Archmage's Spell Power? Twin seems rather weak before IMM (which you can't qualify for before lvl 27).
Edit @Sep: Point taken on not having to spend XP to summon things. Counterpoint: My blasting capabilities (especially when I go nova with Arcane Spellsurge and piles of metamagic) are powerful enough that I probably won't need summoning most of the time. Also, Gate is about the most flexible summoning spell in existence. I feel like if I'm going to summon something, it's going to be something huge enough that other summoning spells can't get it at all. I could be very, very wrong on that front, but I was planning on taking Spell Knowledge at some point anyway, so I can always fix my mistake with that.
* - Yes, I'll do that if I need to (which is why I'm keeping Prismatic Sphere on my spell list), but I don't plan on pulling it out very often.
Winner of the Weekly Signature & Avatar Contest Weeks 51, 59, 78, & 118.
I don't care if I was framed for murder if I only got a warning I would let it go.
So wait, you're saying that I'm not sadistic, powermongering and delusional? I'll have you know I'm the money sadistic, powermongering, delusional DM evar.
Limited wish, on the other hand, is just gold. It's like a free heighten spell wrapped up with just about any spell of up to 6th level that you don't know.
Yeah, I dunno. Greater spell matrix probably more useful in the sense that you end up ahead in your economy of actions. Though I would personally change the spell so that you could select either 3 level three or lower spells; 2 level 5 or lower spells; or 1 level 7 or lower spell. That might make it good enough for consideration.
The only reason I can really see taking spell power over it is if you plan on going perfect arcanist (and if you do, what's to stop you from taking the high arcana option to get spell power twice, a bonus feat twice, then improved spell power, then the most relevant superior arcana, and finish with spell storm?).
BTW I'd like to see the epic hierophant progression as well.
This is going to be fun.
Well I'm definitely planning on going Perfect Arcanist ASAP (which should be stating lvl 25). Also, I believe you ruled last game that Spell Power works the way it used to (i.e. increases save DCs by default). Is that still the case? If not, it's a little iffy, though Improved Spell Power does fix the problem. If yes, I may take it.
As for what's stopping me from grabbing all those things with the double high arcana, both spell slots and the fact that I can't get the same thing twice with a single Superior Arcana (it says so explicitly and I did that for a reason when I made the class).
Second, I was planning on taking some of the useful Superior Arcana abilities. I'll probably get Unyielding Magic both for flavor reasons and because I'm expecting to have counter wars with an enemy at some point, and possibly Freeform Shape as well. Also, Improve Spell (permanently splitting Polar Ray) seems like a good plan once I get IMM to make it cheaper. I might burn one of them on an epic bonus feat as well (likely Spell Knowledge).
Winner of the Weekly Signature & Avatar Contest Weeks 51, 59, 78, & 118.
I don't care if I was framed for murder if I only got a warning I would let it go.
Heh. My character is going to love melee. Most evil things won't stand any kind of chance against him in hand to hand. Fast Healing 10 + DR 10/evil + Magic Circle Againt Evil + Lesser Globe of Invulnerability + Retributive Amulet = Win. I'll see if I can't get the bio up sometime this weekend.
On an unrelated note, am I the only one who likes giving their epic Dread Necromancers the Spell Knowledge feat at least twice? There's nothing funnier than a Dread Necro who can unexpectedly cast Disintegrate, Wish, Arcane Spellsurge, and Prismatic Sphere.
{Magic: The RPG}
I don't remember my ruling about save DCs from spell power. Spell power is pretty weak especially since you have to waste a spell slot on it, so it seems reasonable.
That said, the feat isn't that strong in terms of game impact. Lay on hands and steely resolve aren't hugely powerful abilities. Smiting seems like it might as well stack anyway.
Sorry, I mis-typed earlier. I just reread it and, despite what I meant, what I actually said is completely wrong. You can get the double High Arcana twice if you want to. What you can't do is pick the same high arcana option twice in the same level.
Edit: On your comment about extra arcane fire levels, it's amusingly useless for sorcerers. Polar Ray is just better unless you get Greater Arcane Fire and are a high level Perfect Arcanist (at which point burning an 8th level spell slot gives you all of...1 extra d6). Even then, you can't metamagic Arcane Fire. Also, I'm seriously tempted to get Arcane Fire and Perfection of Elements just so I can actually make my Polar Ray be made of raw magical energy instead of elemental damage. I'm not sure I'm willing to burn the necessary spell slots for that, though. We'll see.
I don't remember where the ruling was either. All I know is that my old char sheet for Lyrillon had spell power adding to save DCs and I know I wouldn't do that without a DM ruling to that effect.
Winner of the Weekly Signature & Avatar Contest Weeks 51, 59, 78, & 118.
I don't care if I was framed for murder if I only got a warning I would let it go.
The Saint template gives you a 'double strength' Lesser Globe of Invulnerability.
What, exactly, does that mean? Does it mean it doubles the level of spell that can't affect you? Which would mean 6th level spells and below don't work against a saint with his Lesser Globe of Invulnerability up?
{Magic: The RPG}
Unless I'm reading it wrong (or reading in the wrong place, I'm on pg 186 of BoED), it's a double strength Nimbus of Light and a regular strength Lesser Globe of Invulnerability.
Winner of the Weekly Signature & Avatar Contest Weeks 51, 59, 78, & 118.
I don't care if I was framed for murder if I only got a warning I would let it go.
Im also considering getting rid of Awesome Smite... its not bad but im not really feeling it...
Any suggestions for this non Epic Feat and Epic Feat Slot??
Ahh. That sounds much more reasonable.
Yes, yes. I certainly agree. I nevertheless know of others who would object.
I will shoot it down. Other than the fact that it's extremely breakable, it's also annoying in terms of the excessive maintenance that you have to do (and that I have to do), which complicates an already messy situation during encounters and such.
You guys are allotted, essentially, 1 character. You can use summoning spells and maybe have a familiar, cohort or whatever, but it shouldn't spill over into the entire campaign. It's nowhere near streamlined enough, even without abuse.
Just found this amusing; you burst Caex's hopeful little bubble.
However, what is actually double strength is a magic circle against evil:
"This acts as a double strength magic circle against evil and as a lesser globe of invulnerability..."
The wording suggests that the lesser globe of invulnerability is not included in the doubling effect (that would be "acts as a double strength magic circle against evil and lesser globe of invulnerability"). It's a subtle distinction. I think doubling the strength of the lesser globe of invulnerability would be at least worth 1-2 more LA.
Nimbus of light isn't mentioned in the protective aura entry.
I'd like to see some precedence on feats that stack class levels for unshared abilities. If you or someone can cite a supplement, the feat name, and page number, I will look it up and most likely allow it.
Edit: You could also restructure the feat so that steely resolve works with lay on hands, perhaps doing so without necessitating that the levels stack. The smiting levels stacking is small enough that I may just rule that they do so already without a feat.