Here is a Mage build that is different from the normal IGMS, Bigby, Nukers that I normally play. There are a couple of builds with similar class combos, but not the same Spell Focus(es).
21 Wizard - Epic Spell Focus: Enchantment, Epic Spell Focus: Necromancy 22 Wizard 23 Wizard 24 Wizard - Great Intelligence I, Great Intelligence II 25 Wizard 26 Wizard 27 Wizard - Great Intelligence III, Great Intelligence IV 28 Wizard 29 Wizard 30 ShadowDancer - Great Intelligence V 31 Wizard, Great Intelligence VI 32 Wizard 33 Wizard - Epic Warding 34 Wizard - Great Intelligence VII 35 Wizard 36 Wizard - Great Intelligence VIII 37 ShadowDancer 38 Wizard - Great Intelligence IX 39 Wizard - Great Intelligence X 40 Wizard
AB 21 AC 20
Fortitude 18 Reflex 20 Will 21
Skills: Max Concentration and Spellcraft during Wizard levels, Max Hide, Move Silently and Tumble during Shadowdancer levels. You will have quite a few skill points to throw around in whatever suits your fancy (perhaps Search)
This build is more successful on mods and PW's that don't have as many immunity items (low magic). High Magic worlds would make this build less than ideal.
Tactics: Use invisibility or stealth to scout out an area. Find the biggest low-will tank character and cast Dominate Person (or monster, depending) and quickly drop out of site (HiPS). While the tank starts ripping into his companions and distracting them, use your death spells (finger of Death, Wail) to pick off the low-Fort spellcasters and/or Rogues. Deal quickly with any Mages or Cleric/Druids that have True-sight. If you don't want to waste a high level Death Spell, you could use Blindness (fort save) to blind the mages and let your Dominated tank take care of them. As your tanks get killed by his companions, dominate a new one and watch the fun ensue again.
Even though you have access to Invisibility spells and/or a Wand of Invisibility, I find it invaluable to be able to activate HiPS immediately after casting a spell. If you feel you need HiPS sooner, take a level of Rogue at 7 to get your Hide, Tumble and Move Silently skills where they need to be. You will also have to adjust your Feats to get Dodge and Mobility earlier as well. It shouldn't affect the final outcome too much.
This build is designed around a player that wants to play around with tactics. While it has it's share of IGMS, Fireballs, ect., it is not geared for that kind of play. It seems to work best solo, but could definately work in party play as well. With the high Intelligence, you can cross class a few skills to complement yourself (Search, Open Lock, etc.).
It works in the leveler, and I had a fun time with it running through HoTU.
Weaknesses: Fighting anything that is immune to Death Magic and Mind-affecting can be problematic. But you can simply fall back, adjust your spells for pure damage (IGMS, Bigby, Flame Arrow, etc), and proceed as normal. Also, with a low AC and a low Discipline, try to stay away from meleers that are going to Dev. Crit/Knockdown/etc. Of course, HiPS, will help with that.
Usefull spells per level (based on Spell Foci): 1) Ray of Enfeeblement, Sleep 2) Blindness, Ghoul Touch 3) Hold Person, Vampiric Touch 4) Confusion, Fear 5) Dominate Person, Hold Monster 6) Circle of Death, Undeath to Death 7) Control Undead, Finger of Death Horrid Wilting 9) Dominate Monster, Wail of the Banshee
Cheers.
Edited By griphook on 10/14/05 13:52
I love this kind of tactic. I used to play a full-pvp MUD where I liked to use a wizard/rogue style character to sneak up on people, forcibly turn them against each other with domination-style spells, then kill them off with direct damage spells and backstabs. It worked great.
In fact the only thing I'd like better than this build was one with a lot of rogue levels for sneak attacking, but then the casting wouldn't work nearly as well... darn spell resistance _________________ Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
Nice idea! I like enchanters, but I never thought to use HIPS with a dominated critter.
Sneaky, very sneaky!
Kaliban. _________________ What I'm reading now: The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer.
You could fit in 2 bard for discipline and the other bard nicities like hide/ms for SD reqs etc.. would go nicely into this build..
You could fit in 2 bard for discipline and the other bard nicities like hide/ms for SD reqs etc.. would go nicely into this build..
-DaMouse
Bard...I hadn't though of that. It looks as if I could take Bard at 7, SD at 8, then Bard again at 17, 27, and 37. This would give me a great class to dump points into (UMD, Discipline, Hide, MS, Tumble, etc).
I will need to run it through the leveler to make sure I won't be loosing any epic feats. If so, I may have to take the remaining Bard levels at 22 and then 37. That's a pretty big gap between them for bumping my Hide and Move Silently skills, though. I'll test it out to see if I am spotted easily.
Great idea, though. Thanks.
a person on my server always runs out and dominates the biggest baddest melee monster on the server, then tears everyone else up. This is one of the best tactics you can use if you are really... really... lazy im j/k but its a very good one. nice work
a person on my server always runs out and dominates the biggest baddest melee monster on the server, then tears everyone else up. This is one of the best tactics you can use if you are really... really... lazy im j/k but its a very good one. nice work
Long ago I played on a Lord of the Rings PW - there were mighty enchanters that would go to the dwarven stronghold and dominate the mightiest dwarflord, then go tromping off to greet Sauron
It was always interesting to log in and see the Balrog in the transition area....
Kaliban. _________________ What I'm reading now: The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer.
Just don't forget a second SD level at least for evasion/uncanny dodge
21 Wizard - Epic Spell Focus: Necromancy 22 Wizard 23 Wizard - Epic Spell Focus: Enchantment 24 Wizard - Great Intelligence I 25 Wizard 26 Wizard - Great Intelligence II 27 Bard - Great Intelligence III 28 Wizard 29 Wizard 30 Wizard - Great Intelligence IV, Great Intelligence V 31 Wizard 32 Wizard 33 Wizard - Great Intelligence VI, Epic Warding 34 Wizard 35 Wizard 36 Wizard - Great Intelligence VII, Great Intelligence VIII 37 Wizard 38 Wizard 39 Wizard - Great Intelligence IX, Great Intelligence X 40 Bard
AB 21 AC 20
Fortitude 17 Reflex 22 Will 23
Skills: Max Concentration and Spellcraft during Wizard levels. Max Hide, Move Silently, Tumble, Discipline, and Search during Bard levels. You will have quite a few skill points to throw around in whatever suits your fancy.
Great concept! I like it! The puppets master, pulling the strings from the shadows...
A few considerations, you could max INT losing points in STR & CON. It is a big sacrifice but then you can free up 2 GREAT INT feats for epic skills focii (like hide & move silently) since your DEX is low, it might be usefull. Or you can even keep your Great INT feats and raise your spell DC by 1, always handy.
On the other hand I don't know how HIPS & Improved invisibility interact: are you invisible again (meaning indetectable without TS) or hidden or "invisible but detected" (translucent)?
And with the same question, you could switch combat casting for what you want (maximized, thoughness, lightning reflex...) since most of the time you will cast from a distance or be hidden/invisible.
aquamoeba
could get the full 50 int.. 8 str never bothered me.. lol
A few considerations, you could max INT losing points in STR & CON. It is a big sacrifice but then you can free up 2 GREAT INT feats for epic skills focii (like hide & move silently) since your DEX is low, it might be usefull. Or you can even keep your Great INT feats and raise your spell DC by 1, always handy.
In regards to the skills foci-Hide and Move Silently; I was concerned about that as well, so I tested it out in PvM environments at different levels. I found that I never failed a skill check. I don't know if that is because I was only in robes or because the scripted mobs didn't have very many points put into Spot or Listen. Either way, it didn't seem to be a problem. In a PvP environment, it might not be a bad idea, though.
Quote: On the other hand I don't know how HIPS & Improved invisibility interact: are you invisible again (meaning indetectable without TS) or hidden or "invisible but detected" (translucent)?
I don't really know how the mechanics of how it works, but when I have an Improved Invisibility on I can go into hiding via HiPS and become completely hidden from the hostiles coming after me. It would be interesting to know if the 50% concealement helps with the Hide skill.
Quote: And with the same question, you could switch combat casting for what you want (maximized, thoughness, lightning reflex...) since most of the time you will cast from a distance or be hidden/invisible.
I had thought about getting rid of combat casting for the reason you stated, but I kept it for the same reason I kept my Constitution at its current level...hostiles with True Seeing, immunity to Death Magic and/or immune to mind control (ie. dragons and the like). And, as the spell Finger of Death tends to get you closer to the action than most spells, and the last thing I wanted was to have my spell disrupted by someone standing near the person I was trying to kill. Combat casting and a "decent" constitution sometimes means the difference between a satisfied grin or a muttered curse...
Horrid Wilting
im j/k but its a very good one. 
nice work