Beguiler: Broken spells? Things to watch out for as GM?

[Darklone]

Title says it all... I'm going to have a high Int Beguiler in my group with Fey Power...

Second question: Is there some errata somewhere or why should a beguiler need Charisma? He's only casting with Int... and he has enough skill points that a high charisma isn't mandatory.

 

[Flatus Maximus]

Second question: Is there some errata somewhere or why should a beguiler need Charisma? He's only casting with Int... and he has enough skill points that a high charisma isn't mandatory.

A Beguiler doesn't have to have a high Cha, but it's nice. First, look at the skill list: Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Use Magic Device. Second, the Surprise Casting class ability uses Bluff. You don't have to max-out Cha, but you'd probably want it fairly high, right?

 

[Animal]

Charisma also helps with charm spells. and beguilers like to cast them a lot.

 

[Voadam]

Beguilers have to watch out for combats where they face foes their magic can do little against. Undead, Constructs, Plants, Vermin, Oozes are all immune to mind-affecting spells. They don't have good work arounds for creatures with high SR or very good will saves either.

They are a lot like the play dynamics of rogues, mechanically powerful against some things, significantly nerfed down to NPC expert level of contribution other times. Loading up on a few wands with UMD at higher levels is a decent strategy for both. Very fun for roleplay potential with high social skills and charm magics but their combat effectiveness can be very foe dependent.

 

[Sharkon]

I you do not want the party's beguiler to be overpowered you must not give him the following items :
1)a belt that grants a +10 bonus to bluff
2)''veil of allure'' from MIC that gives him a +2 DC on enchanment spells

 

[Runestar]

Beguilers have to watch out for combats where they face foes their magic can do little against. Undead, Constructs, Plants, Vermin, Oozes are all immune to mind-affecting spells. They don't have good work arounds for creatures with high SR or very good will saves either.

Illusions should still work fine against them, namely the glamers (or arguably even better since mindless entities shouldn't have the mental capacity to debate if the scene in front of them is real or fake). These typically don't allow for saves or sr, but is very subjective to DM fiat since its effects are really codified in the rules.

If your beguiler splashes 1 lv in a prc (like mindbender) to delay advanced learning, this will allow him to acquire the various shadow spells more easily (for example, he can take shadow conjuration at lv8).

 

[krupintupple]

the only spell i ever outright banned during play was one from the spell compendium called 'distract':

1 round per level, 1 creature per level, medium range, will save, no verbal casting component.

doesn't sound too bad, but anyone hit by it takes -4 to concentrate, search, spot and listen AND can only take a single move OR standard action per round. my player said it was reasonable, so i compared to slow, and explained that a 1st level spell that removes an action is pretty unbalanced. he didn't believe me, so i had a enemy caster use it and it nearly resulted in a TPK, cause the group's front-liners didn't realize they couldn't run, since they were locked in battle. also, they consistently failed to note the thieves sneaking up on them.

also, 'power word: pain' from races of the dragon.

people have yelled at me for saying that it's a broken spell, but please hear me out - it does damage based on your total hit points. it is close range and offers no save, but if you have less than 50 hit points, it lasts 4d4 rounds, doing a d6 per round. most characters under 5th level are going to have less than 50 hit points, so basically, it's just a really way for the DM to say "Ok, you were hit with power word: pain. um...i rolled a 9, so you take 1d6 over the next 9 rounds." i realize this isn't an insta-death to most, but anyone under 3rd level just died, unless their cleric just so happens to have a full compliment of spells and potions.