I'm not good with builds, and the deepest I've ever gone is lvl 20. Only ever did OC's and such, and it wasn't till recently I made the transaction to PW's.
I'm currently playing on a PW server, where they've got a few restrictions in place. Gear seems to be a bit hard to come by, there are no subraces, and as far as I can understand, PvP end game is a bit tough regarding the ammount of saves people run around with...
That aside, what I'm looking for, is some kind of combination of stealth, and magic. Playing a rogue archer atm, and I'm loving it. But I miss my spells. It just doesn't feel right without it.
So I was thinking something along the lines of rogue lvl 1, wizard till 6, rogue again at 7 and then wizard for a bit... But. I'm not sure when to take what. I'm pretty sure I want shadow dancer somewhere in there, but another server restriction is, you need at least 6 lvl's of rogue to get SD. So no cuttin corners. This means I have to go a bit rogue intensive, and I'm wondering if that will hurt the overall effectiveness of the mage build. On top of which, is the fact that I'm still not sure how to plan this character too far ahead at once. I just don't have the head for it.
Add to that, that most builds I see are only truly effective at lvl 40. They all seem to think you can actually survive anything lvl'ing them. I need to be able to play this build as well, starting from lvl 4 on a server where soloing is tough, so I'm in a bit of a pickle. Making it harder for myself by picking a class combination that only works after 30 odd lvl's... Well, I doubt I'll still be playing it then... = /
I was wondering, if anyone could help me set up a sneak based wizard type? Race isn't all that important, tho' I prefer halflings over all other races, but if this is severely gimping, I guess I could change that... Tho' not gnomes. They're hedious.
A few thoughts have also lead me to look at Pale Master. If it's a wizard, I don't loose out on choosing PM, and he still has Hide and MS. I'll miss UMD, granted, but I could always chuck in a rogue somewhere for good measure later on? (Right about when I need ressurection scrolls probably ^^)
Uhm, so yeah. I know it's a bit much to ask, and I know it seems rather demmanding, just blurting out a lot of "no this, more that" but if anyone could help me with this, I'd really appreciate it.
Cheers! - Noph'
I don't have any Wiz/Rog/SD builds off the top of my head(though you could probably find plenty in the pulsecap search) but I would suggest a class split of 30 Wiz/9Rog/1 SD. Plenty of Rogue levels for the SD req., high caster levels, and HiPS.
Granted, more Wizard levels might be favorable. (Like, 33)
With the restrictions on my server, I tried opting for a different approach.
Wiz'/Pale Master.
Pale has hide and Move silently, yet I don't loose out on my caster abilities. So far it's working nicely at low lvls, but I just need to know, never did a PM before.
Do I still get extra wizard spell slots on the appropriate levels?
So far, I did 3 wiz. 1 Pm. And I've been exchanging them ever since, tho' granted, this is only 3 more lvl's. Is this a bad idea, due to some feat planning, I lack the foresight to predict?
- Noph'
One thing you may like to keep in mind if you contiune to go the PM route, is that PM levels DO NOT count towards your caster level - so a 30 wiz/10 PM has a CL of 30. Not really something to be worried about unless you're coming up against a lot of stuff with SR or are taking huge ammounts of PM, but still worth keeping in mind. _________________ "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices, but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence" - Albert Einstein
Arh... hmh. That changes a few things. I was under the impression that you still got that...
Damn. Hmh, well, I could still take a few. The immunity to crit's is nice. Anyone have any idea's of any decent wiz'/PM combination builds?
- Noph'
I'm playing a Wizard/ PM/ Barbarian Spellsword style to some success, though I'm only level 7 so far. The theory is that Taunt as a Barbarian class skill will help with the low AB, allowing me to conserve spells even longer than most melee mages. I'm keeping an intentionally low AC to get the most out of reciprocal damage shields, hence the PM levels, though I don't think I would recommend the build for PvP.
Is the restriction of 6 levels of Rogue before taking Shadowdancer absolute, or is that only for classes that have rogue in them? It seems an odd requirement, since (generally) Rangers and multiclassed Druids are much better at stealth than Rogues are. Are you sure it isn't 6 levels of SD required before you get Hide in Plain Sight? If so, I think this may be exactly what you are looking for. I wouldn't take any more PM than the 1 level I did for fear of impacting caster level too much, though I think if I did it over again, I might use Bard or Rogue for the Hide/ MS skill dump so that I could pick up UMD as well. Once you have 20 Wizard levels, the only thing that level of PM gives you is 2 AC. _________________ (I enjoy writing parenthetically (a lot)).
I've decided to go something along the lines of "10 Pale master - 29 Wizard - 1 Bard/rogue/monk/ranger"
Not sure what the last one is, or when I should take it tho'...
Anyone have any good layouts for this type of build?
- Noph'
I would strongly suggest a Wizard 28/PM 10/SD 2
Use use the PM levels to skill dump into Hide/MS then the last SD for the same purpose (as well as tumble). You might consider fidgeting with what you take at what level but that'll do.
(For optimal saves, you probably need to take more PM earlier. I think at least 6 PM levels pre-epic gives you a nice +3 boost to Fortitude, but that means you lag behind in spellcasting, sadly. The way this is set up, you don't lose any caster levels except the one for SD, and the HiPS is worth it.)