OT: Narf has gone looney and wants to GM.(Edited2)

[douglas]

Jack Simth said:
Also, a few thoughts for things Elorin might want to invest in:

Strand of Prayer Beads (normal, for the bead of Karma; combined with a +1 Caster Level from an Ornage Prisim Ioun stone, and you have a caster level of 20... great for morning prep for that Greater Magic Weapon on your bow and Greater Magic Vestments for your armor... and, perhaps, everyone else's)

I still need to level up before I'd get all the way to CL 20, but yes, that would be a useful investment. Hmm, Strand of Prayer Beads = 25800 gp. Take off the Bead of Healing (-9000 gp) and the Bead of Smiting (-16800 gp) to leave just the Bead of Karma = 25800 - 9000 - 16800 = 0 gp . I'll take a few thousand of those for +4 caster level all day long, please. As strange as it seems, this has not been errataed, but I won't object to paying the 20000 cost that is indicated by the reduction for when the Bead of Karma is missing.

Now I just need to learn Righteous Might so I can craft it. I haven't used the option of switching out a spell known on level up to 14th yet, can I do that now? I can already craft the Ioun Stone, as no requirement beyond caster level 12 and Craft Wondrous Item is listed for any of them.

[douglas]

Violist said:
I know Cat's Grace, so I could help you out there, and if I took another level of Wizard now and did Archmage instead of Wizard 16, I could get the Craft Magic Items and Armor feat... but I'm not sure how helpful that'd be in comparison to some other things I could do.

You also get a feat for character level 15, so you'd get two feats for this level if you put off Archmage to level 16.

The bonus Wizard feat has to be item creation, metamagic, or Spell Mastery. Spell Mastery would be a useful precaution in case of spellbook theft, but it's only for a very limited number of spells and your spellbook should be pretty hard to steal if you guard it right. You haven't used either of your current metamagic feats, and you haven't given any indication of wanting more of them or aiming for anything in particular with prereqs, so that option doesn't seem very useful. That leaves item creation, unless you disagree with my analysis.

[Jack Simth]

Violist said:
Oh, the Ioun stone and the Headband bonuses don't stack? grrr, nevermind then. While the +1 Caster Level stone would be nice, as you've said, Jason is probably in more need of it than I.

What exactly is involved in the Archmage Academy thing?

DM fiat; Presitge classes are listed as an optional rule the DM must consider carefully; my take? You'd have to work for it - in this case, researching it's existance, finding someone who is already a member to tell you where to go (other than the lower planes, of course), getting there, and convincing the higher-ups that you are completely qualified.

Violist said:

I know Cat's Grace, so I could help you out there, and if I took another level of Wizard now and did Archmage instead of Wizard 16, I could get the Craft Magic Items and Armor feat... but I'm not sure how helpful that'd be in comparison to some other things I could do.

Well, at 15th, you also get a character level feat; two feats immediately if you take a level of wizard now.

douglas said:
I still need to level up before I'd get all the way to CL 20, but yes, that would be a useful investment. Hmm, Strand of Prayer Beads = 25800 gp. Take off the Bead of Healing (-9000 gp) and the Bead of Smiting (-16800 gp) to leave just the Bead of Karma = 25800 - 9000 - 16800 = 0 gp . I'll take a few thousand of those for +4 caster level all day long, please. As strange as it seems, this has not been errataed,

... which is one of the things a DM is for....

douglas said:
but I won't object to paying the 20000 cost that is indicated by the reduction for when the Bead of Karma is missing.

That works.

douglas said:

Now I just need to learn Righteous Might so I can craft it. I haven't used the option of switching out a spell known on level up to 14th yet, can I do that now?

Yeah; sure. I'm flexible. I'm slightly curious, too, as to what you will be swapping out....

douglas said:
I can already craft the Ioun Stone, as no requirement beyond caster level 12 and Craft Wondrous Item is listed for any of them.

Yes, you can.

[douglas]

Jack Simth said:
DM fiat; Presitge classes are listed as an optional rule the DM must consider carefully; my take? You'd have to work for it - in this case, researching it's existance, finding someone who is already a member to tell you where to go (other than the lower planes, of course), getting there, and convincing the higher-ups that you are completely qualified.

I'd think a Knowledge: Arcana check would be enough to get started on the search for its existence and finding a member, but we'd still have to do a significant side quest for it. Might take a little while, but we've learned the Sorcerer can't complete his plot without interrogating a certain party member, and if the whole party goes... Details to be revealed in game, of course.

Jack Simth said:
Yeah; sure. I'm flexible. I'm slightly curious, too, as to what you will be swapping out....

Who needs Raise Dead when you have Resurrection?

[Jack Simth]

douglas said:
I'd think a Knowledge: Arcana check would be enough to get started on the search for its existence and finding a member

Depends entirely on how much time I want into it; Knoweledge Arcana might just give the name of an Archmage; then again, it might just give knoweledge that Archmages exist, while once known, a Knoweledge: History might give an idea on what regions have had Archmages in the past, and once there, Knoweledge (Local) or perhaps Knoweledge (Nobility and Royalty) might be used to find a specific person who is likely to know the next step....

douglas said:
, but we'd still have to do a significant side quest for it. Might take a little while, but we've learned the Sorcerer can't complete his plot without interrogating a certain party member, and if the whole party goes... Details to be revealed in game, of course.

Once I come up with them, yes.

douglas said:
Who needs Raise Dead when you have Resurrection?

Someone with only 5,000 gp to spare for diamonds?

[Violist]

Ahh, that idea for Prestige classes makes sense. Quicken spell is actually a highly tempting feat... the idea of hitting some creature with multiple evil spells in one round is somehow appealing to me.

Seems it'd be best to hold off on Archmage for one more level, at least 'til we've gotten ourselves buffed up in case we run into any more underrated encounters.

You're right about not using those two Metamagic feats... when I selected them I was going for least increase in spell levels... I could use the Limited Wish thing to swap them out for item creation feats, which, given the current state of the party, seems more useful.

So.. take a level in Wizard, end up with feats:
-Quicken Spell (levelling)
-Craft Magic Items and Armor (levelling)
-Heighten Spell (limited wish, useful for getting the DC up)
-{ItemCreation or MaximizeSpell} (limited wish, not decided which yet)

[douglas]

Violist said:
Ahh, that idea for Prestige classes makes sense. Quicken spell is actually a highly tempting feat... the idea of hitting some creature with multiple evil spells in one round is somehow appealing to me.

Quicken Spell could be useful, but it's rather expensive in terms of spell level cost. You'd have to use a 7th level spell slot just to toss out a 3rd level Quickened Fireball.

Violist said:
You're right about not using those two Metamagic feats... when I selected them I was going for least increase in spell levels... I could use the Limited Wish thing to swap them out for item creation feats, which, given the current state of the party, seems more useful.

Limited Wish will have to wait a bit, though, as it costs a minimum of 300 xp and you only have 38 above the minimum for 15th level.

Violist said:
So.. take a level in Wizard, end up with feats:
-Quicken Spell (levelling)
-Craft Magic Items and Armor (levelling)
-Heighten Spell (limited wish, useful for getting the DC up)
-{ItemCreation or MaximizeSpell} (limited wish, not decided which yet)

I've never really seen the point of Heighten Spell. Yes, it increases the save DC, but you could get the same increase in DC and get a host of other benefits at the same time for the same cost by simply casting a higher level spell.

Maximize Spell has a pretty narrow range of usefulness, I think. A Maximized Fireball would do approximately the average damage of a 17d6 damage spell. At your current caster level that makes it slightly more damage to a single target than Chain Lightning, which takes up the same level spell slot. For hitting many targets, that's only 2 dice more than Freezing Sphere, and it has a lower save DC. Disintigrate is also the same level.

Forge Ring would cover pretty much every remaining permanently equipped kind of magic item. Craft Rod would allow making the metamagic rods, though you need the metamagic feat in question too.

[Violist]

Although the type of enemy we've been fighting tends to appear in small groups - and I particularly didn't like being panicked.

Although, perhaps you're right... crafting feats and then spending XP to get some nifty magic equipment... so many options available. Ah well, nothing I've been doing is set in stone yet.

[Jack Simth]

Violist said:
Although the type of enemy we've been fighting tends to appear in small groups - and I particularly didn't like being panicked.

For that, convince the Favored Soul to pick up Hero's Feast, and get him to cast it for you every morning and every evening ... and never get panicked again!

[NullAshton]

My wealth-collecting has started. MUUWAAHAAHAA.