You can find the original post for this character under, Battle Sage. Since then he has evolved considerably, he is no longer an elf, he uses a great sword instead of a kukri and he's learned a few new tricks. I feel this form is much stronger than the original.
Advantages -Level 9 illusionist spells. This character has full mage casting abilities, however because of his low level his SR and DCs will be low. -Full fighter attacks per round and AB of 40 with a Greatsword. He can almost fight as well as a pure fighter, against any opponent he can't beat as a mage he can pummel as a fighter. -Automatic Still Spell 3. He can cast in full plate. -Devastating Critical. -Epic Warding. He can take quite alot of punishment. -Improved Combat Casting. He does not draw attacks of opportunity when casting in combat.
Disadvantages -Mediocre hitpoints. Just shy of 400 hitpoints, good for a mage but poor for a fighter. -Low AC. With damage reduction and concealment spells, this isn't a problem unless his opponent has devastating critical. -Mediocre Saves. The Champion of Torm levels help a bit, but not enough for him to make his saves against tough opponents. With a +10 boost they would be okay however. -No Evasion or Improved Evasion. His spells provide some spell resistance, but a spell mantle doesn't last long in a mage battle.
Magical Marauder
Race Human
Alignment Any non evil
Base Attributes STR 16 DEX 12 CON 14 INT 16 WIS 8 CHA 8
Skillpoint Distribution Level 1: Concentration 4, Discipline 4, Taunt 2, Tumble 2, Save 8 Level 2: Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Save 12 Level 3: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 6, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 7 Level 4: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 11 Level 5: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 11 Level 6: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 15 Level 7: Concentration 1, Discipline 5, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 11 Level 8: Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Save 15 Level 9: Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 15 Level 10: Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Save 19 Level 11: Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 19 Level 12: Discipline 1, Spot 15, Save 9 Level 13: Discipline 1, Spot 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 9 Level 14: Discipline 1, Spot 1, Save 13 Level 15: Discipline 1, Spot 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 13 Level 16: Discipline 1, Spot 1, Save 17 Level 17: Discipline 1, Spot 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 17 Level 18: Discipline 1, Spot 1, Save 21 Level 19: Discipline 1, Spot 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 21 Level 20: Discipline 1, Spot 1, Save 25 Level 21: Concentration 10, Spellcraft 17, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 2 Level 22: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 6 Level 23: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 6 Level 24: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 10 Level 25: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 10 Level 26: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 14 Level 27: Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 14 Level 28: Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 18 Level 29: Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 18 Level 30: Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 22 Level 31: Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 22 Level 32: Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 26 Level 33: Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 26 Level 34: Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 30 Level 35: Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 30 Level 36: Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 34 Level 37: Concentration 1, Lore 1, Spellcraft 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1, Save 34 Level 38: Discipline 18, Spot 18, Lore 5 Level 39: Concentration 2, Lore 3, Taunt 1 Level 40: Concentration 1, Discipline 2, Lore 4 _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Edited By griphook on 05/31/05 19:04
Just out of curiosity, why'd you use illusion as your spell school?
I have a question. How come a number of Wizard builds use Illusion as their school of magic instead of the General school of magic? What's the reason behind this?
By choosing a specialization, a wizard gains an extra spell per level (and a +2 to DC in that spell school ?), but loses the ability to cast from his opposition school. Since wizards typically don't get that many spells per level specialization is typically a good idea. The most popular specialization schools are illusion, evocation and necromancy.
Illusion is popular, because its opposition school is enchantment. There are very few enchantment spells, I don't think there are more than 10 of them (charm person, sleep, charm monster, dominate person, dominate monster, mass haste, mind fog, hold person, hold monster, protection from spells). Many of them are also hit die dependent (if you have more than x hit die they don't work). So the loss of that school isn't that major compared to the gain of 1 spell level.
Necromancy is popular for a similar reasons, its opposition school is divination. Necromancy is a strong offensive school (if there is a bonus to DCs this is good). It is also used to give an RP prospective for palemasters. IMO there are some nice divinations it's hard to go without (e.g. Premonition, True Seeing, Find Traps).
Evocation is the most powerful offensive school, however it loses conjuration which is another powerful offensive school. _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Edited By Mithdradates on 06/22/04 03:28
great build for a level 40 char this one... like all other epic builds I guess ; )
but how would u play a fighter/mage in SoU and HoTU? would u go for 4 straight fighter levels then all mage? what weapon would u choose?
I'm trying to build a fighter/mage who primarily is a caster with level 9 spells before epic, who also uses TBS with impr TWF for empowered and normal flameblades ; )
starting stats would be 14 15 14 18 8 8 all bumps into int
would this work? I get bored really fast by my munchkin melee builds with RDD and WM and whatnot, I want a caster who's capable of stomping on the rubbish to get to the real fights with all his spells saved and ready.
can a buffed wiz with 2-4 fighter levels thrive in solo play? or is it just impossible to make a strong one?
plz tell me what u think.
happy gaming!
This character is pretty playable all the way through, except at levels 19-21 where he has an XP penalty because CoT is his highest level. The trick with playing this character is to treat him as a fighter and fill his spell slots with stilled buffs until automatic still spell kicks in.
Fighter/Mages are tough to build well and mages are tough to play until they get to level 6-9. If you want level 8 casting at level 20 I'd say take the first fighter level at level 1, for the HP more than anything else. Then take another at level 10 and another at 20 so you can bump up discipline. With so few fighter levels, such a low BAB (11 at 20) and a low number of attacks per round (3) you'll never have a significant melee presence, even with buffs (you might be able to melee some goblins or undead, but trolls, constructs and elementals will require magical assistance). You will, however, be able to demolish everything as a caster and with a high discipline you won't have to worry too much about knockdown attacks. If you are going caster heavy, you may also want to consider a sorcerer/paladin (I believe Cdaulepp has a nice one). _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Edited By Mithdradates on 07/08/04 23:42
thankz a lot for the fast reply!
and I know this build is very playable 1-40 but it sure isn't a caster til early 30s at best, and it's something caster oriented I want to play right now...
I don't need my build to kick *** in melee, and I'm aware my BAB would suck, especially if I keep bumping int instead of str... I guess I could go for 19 int and only cast spells without DC (IGMS, bugbys, even more buffs...), but then again, that doesn't feel like any caster I've ever heard of.
and SoU is kinda hard early on for a mix'n'match type of character, u really need to get them great spells OR a great melee presence, and I know u can't have both. but just the level 2 and 3 buffs are pretty powerful and with a few stoneskins and impr invis I should manage to stay alive ok up front (hate pesky henchmen and exp stealing summons).
the thing is I really love mages/sorcerors from past experience with RPG (BG2), and I feel they've been duped by bioware in this game cuz of all the uber eq with immunities, they would still rock everyones world on a low magic server, but for solo playing *sigh* I just feel I have to implement some way of swinging those nasty weaps and making use of all those killer AC raising items, it's just no fun playing a character that does just as well with only +int/cha items as with roxors TBS of buttstomping, mamas girdle of immune all magical effects and zeus helm of overwhelmingly godlike abilityscores (I might want that one though)
the thing I would miss most only aiming for wiz levels is probably WS and EWS though +6 dmg for EVERY hit is pretty priceless.
