Complete Arcane Arcane caster levels

[RolandOfGilead]

Ok, based on Complete Arcane, this character is possible:

Human Wizard 1/Rogue 4/Assassin 4
Feats:
Scribe scroll (B) Practiced Spellcaster (Wizard) ,Craft wand (1st level)
3rd Obtain Familiar (All arcane levels stack for familiar, qualifies for Arcane caster level 3 because of practiced spellcaster)
6th Practiced spellcaster (Assassin)
9th Imrpoved Familiar
Now you can have an imp familiar (Your arcane caster level is 8 in Assassin class) Your familiars bonuses will be based on a 5th level wizard (Obtain familiar) and you can cast shocking grasp for 5d6 damage.. pretty cool combo.. i'm sure it can be maximized more.. but I like the idea of an assassin with an imp familiar.. it can change its shape to spy for him, it can commune with the infernal realms, it regenerates, its saves and attacks will be impressive as he has a thief bab not wizard, his INT is his key stat for Assasin spells, wizard spells, assassin deathstrikes and high int means alot of skill points and languages (again, useful to an assassin who may pose as some other race/culture). Craft wand is the question mark.. I like it, because he can craft his shocking grasp wands or whatever else he wants. Any suggestions? I briefly considered trying to work in Arcane Strike from Complete warrior. but I like this build a lil more. what do you think?

 

[Diirk]

You don't qualify for craft wand until 5th level and practised spellcaster is capped by HD, so you can't take it at 1st

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Well, you might be able to take Practiced Spellcaster at 1st-level, it just won't provide any benefits. I think it has a 5+ skill requirement, though, so 2nd-level is the earliest it can be taken.

 

[RolandOfGilead]

Ok, you caught me on craft wand. How about precocious apprentice instead?
as for Practiced spellcaster, requires 4 ranks in spellcraft.
So you can take it at 1st.

But thats just technical stuff. What do you think?

 

[Diirk]

Its a decent concept, but you're spending an awful lot of feats on it. You might want to investigate getting the imp with just leadership instead, then advancing it by character class...

 

[moritheil]

Its a decent concept, but you're spending an awful lot of feats on it. You might want to investigate getting the imp with just leadership instead, then advancing it by character class...

It won't have half his hps . . . which are admittedly rather scarce.

 

[Diirk]

Well, that can be both a plus and a minus... however I just checked and imps have no con modifier, so its quite likely it will tend to be more of a minus than a plus With a decent con score however, you'd find that leadership cohorts gain hp at a far quicker rate than they would as a familiar: (class hd + con) vs (1/2 your class hd + 1/2 your con).

You also lose out on a few other nice things, like share spells and improved evasion. Depending on what class you pick with leadership tho, you can get some nice abilities out of it, plus familiars don't gain feats or ability points (apart from int, depending on the familiar).