Archivist help... Redux

[Nifft]

DMM was mostly to be able to quicken a buff in the first round (and perhaps another buff in the second round if I eventually took 'extra turning')... not for the normal persitent metamagic cheese which is perhaps too cheesy and broken.

As far as the spell compendium goes, I might have issues getting spells off of that. As you know, the archivist only gets a couple of new spells each level. If scrolls are as hard to come by as I think (either in treasure or from shops), do you think that SC might not be as great a choice?

If scrolls are hard to come by, you will get a LOT of mileage out of playing a regular Cleric (or Cloistered Cleric).

Alternately, consider talking to the the other Cleric, and asking him to take the Scribe Scroll feat. Work together as a party, do great things.

Cheers, -- N

 

[paqqy]

Alternately, consider talking to the the other Cleric, and asking him to take the Scribe Scroll feat. Work together as a party, do great things.

That would be a great thing to do once we start the game. I'm a surprise player and no one is allowed to know about my participation until some point during the first session. As such, I can speak to the cleric (who is one of my good friends), but I can't coordinate anything like feats and spells. That leaves me in the position of deciding what I will play before I know how I will work with said player.

The best I can hope for is that he'll be using the Spell Compendium and can Scribe Scrolls without my direct influence. I've been trying to Gather Information from him and rolling 1 since he doesn't want to tell me until he's completely figured it out.

 

[paqqy]

My only question is, how long will it be (ie how much real time) before you see this fine piece of art in action?

I'm not sure what you mean about the question, but her goes:

The campaign begins in 2 weeks. I think that we might realistically level up once a week, so it'll be a while before he sees any cool mid-level action.

 

[Nifft]

That would be a great thing to do once we start the game. I'm a surprise player and no one is allowed to know about my participation until some point during the first session. As such, I can speak to the cleric (who is one of my good friends), but I can't coordinate anything like feats and spells. That leaves me in the position of deciding what I will play before I know how I will work with said player.

Well, it's honest to say that Scribe Scroll is a very powerful (and under-appreciated) feat in the hands of a Cleric, so you wouldn't be metagaming too badly to suggest it for his PC.

"Scribe utility stuff, prepare combat buffs" is my Cleric (and Druid) mantra.

Cheers, -- N

 

[paqqy]

Well, it's honest to say that Scribe Scroll is a very powerful (and under-appreciated) feat in the hands of a Cleric, so you wouldn't be metagaming too badly to suggest it for his PC.

"Scribe utility stuff, prepare combat buffs" is my Cleric (and Druid) mantra.

Indeed. I think it's a good mantra to have. I should pass that along.

In some instances, he's asking me for my opinion on his build, since he's never played a cleric before... yet because we're friends, I don't want him to think I've been manipulating his character to benefit mine. So I'm going to offer it to him, though I think he will only notice the relevance after we start playing.

You're giving me a good idea. Assuming he agrees to Scribe Scroll and has Spell Compendium, I wouldn't need the Spell Compendium book at all to be able to cast/learn spells from it... I can just pay him to make scrolls of the Cleric spells from SpC that I want and them into my book. That opens up that much-needed book slot. It would do very little for the Druid and Paladin spells though.

 

[Herobizkit]

The campaign begins in 2 weeks. I think that we might realistically level up once a week, so it'll be a while before he sees any cool mid-level action.

That's what I was looking for. I am in a similar situation in an upcoming adventure where I will be playing a Ranger 2/Bard 2 - I'm stoked about making the character, but saddened that it might see play MAYBE once a month, and the "cool bits" won't be seen for months, maybe even a year. If you plan to use your character pretty regularly, you may enjoy watching your build vision unfold before you get bored of it and want to play something else.

 

[Nifft]

You're giving me a good idea. Assuming he agrees to Scribe Scroll and has Spell Compendium, I wouldn't need the Spell Compendium book at all to be able to cast/learn spells from it...

Ask your DM if you're allowed to scribe spells from a book you don't "have".

IMHO that reeks of perverting the intent of his limitation. (I have no opinion on how good a limitation that is, but it seems popular, so maybe there's something to it.)

Cheers, -- N

 

[paqqy]

Ask your DM if you're allowed to scribe spells from a book you don't "have".

IMHO that reeks of perverting the intent of his limitation. (I have no opinion on how good a limitation that is, but it seems popular, so maybe there's something to it.)

Yeah. I personally like the limiitation when I DM, but not when I play. As a DM, it means that I don't have to read through 10 books to see what 1 player can do.

On the other hand, as a player, I find that there are often one or two spells or feats that I might want from a book or just a prestige class. The restrictions often limit my imagination (and perhaps, consequently, my ability to min/max).

For instance, in my ideal archivist build, I would have access to Complete Divine, Complete Champion, and Spell Compendium in addition to Heroes of Horror. That's 4 books altogether... yet I can only take 2-3 feats from Heroes of Horror, and only want a feat and two spells from Champion and a few spells from Divine that don't show up in the Compendium.

I've definitely been guilty in the past of whipping out a spell description that the DM wasn't prepared for (Rain of Black Tulips and Rain of Roses). I was pulling things from all over the place in that campaign... though everyone else was doing that too.

Blah

 

[paqqy]

That's what I was looking for. I am in a similar situation in an upcoming adventure where I will be playing a Ranger 2/Bard 2 - I'm stoked about making the character, but saddened that it might see play MAYBE once a month, and the "cool bits" won't be seen for months, maybe even a year. If you plan to use your character pretty regularly, you may enjoy watching your build vision unfold before you get bored of it and want to play something else.

I can't imagine playing in a monthly game. I always go for weekly games even though I don't have the time. A character progressing that slowly would be torture for me unless I had a weekly game to keep me sane.

 

[Herobizkit]

So paggy, now that you've decided what you're gonna play... wanna show us the build?