Wilphe
Adventurer
Hmmm...
Epic D&D campaign (still recruiting)
- Thread starter Dharuhk Svahre
- Start date
Hmmm...
Jemal
Adventurer
Er.. Sequester works against divinations that Detect or Locate.. such as the appropriately named spell trees "detect X" and "Locate Y". Assuming it prevents against True Seeing/Invisibility is giving it far too much power & Credit, especially since it specifically states that items such as Gem of Seeing and Robe of Eyes locate you.. Robe of Eyes is based off True Seeing, and Gem of Seeing is quite literally just a device that allows you see as though using the True Seeing spell.
rangerjohn
Explorer
Oh, so its useless at the level it is made for? Only useful against minions. The only things in the srd I have found without true seeing so far are animals, elementals and Le Shay. Oh, and golems/Colossi, but they are immune to magic. The colossi even generating anti-magic fields.
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Far from useless. You're overstating the prevalance of True Sight, even at epic levels. Most monsters that have True Sight are outsiders. Very few non-outsiders have True Sight unless they have caster levels and can cast it (in which case it can also be dispelled).
True Sight itself also has limits, one of which is range. That's why, for example, I'm bothering to take the Greater Invisibility invocation for Omega. He can attack from 500 feet away. True Sight doesn't go that far. In fact, no divination does.
As long as he's in a position to control the range of the engagement, he can attack invisibly. It's the same reason I'm not stressing over Blindsight.
True Sight itself also has limits, one of which is range. That's why, for example, I'm bothering to take the Greater Invisibility invocation for Omega. He can attack from 500 feet away. True Sight doesn't go that far. In fact, no divination does.
As long as he's in a position to control the range of the engagement, he can attack invisibly. It's the same reason I'm not stressing over Blindsight.
rangerjohn
Explorer
So invisbility is not useless to a blaster, but is to a melee character. Such as the swordsage or my original idea. I am really beginning to think a gish is not viable at epic level. All the buffs are counteracted, or superseded by items. So its better to go straight blaster or warrior.
On another note, your counting on a lot of long range encounters, mostly outside. Just about any building is going to put you within range.
On another note, your counting on a lot of long range encounters, mostly outside. Just about any building is going to put you within range.
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Yep. Invisibility is nice when you can get it, but it isn't the cornerstone of the concept. Omega ought to do fine when he's visible too.
As for gishing, I think the key is to use your buff spells to save money on items...and then to spend that money on a really GOOD item that you wouldn't otherwise be able to afford.
For example, Sequester isn't that much different than Greater Invis + Mind Blank. So if you can cast those two spells, then you can save 600 grand on a ring of Sequestering, get the same basic functionality, and spend that cash elsewhere. Spell Compendium also makes some juicy buffs like Wraithstrike available that are hard to get in other ways.
The effectiveness of a gish pretty much hinges on your willingness to plod through every book to cherry pick the spells that synergize best. If that's not your idea of fun, then a gish might not be the best choice for you at level 30.
As for gishing, I think the key is to use your buff spells to save money on items...and then to spend that money on a really GOOD item that you wouldn't otherwise be able to afford.
For example, Sequester isn't that much different than Greater Invis + Mind Blank. So if you can cast those two spells, then you can save 600 grand on a ring of Sequestering, get the same basic functionality, and spend that cash elsewhere. Spell Compendium also makes some juicy buffs like Wraithstrike available that are hard to get in other ways.
The effectiveness of a gish pretty much hinges on your willingness to plod through every book to cherry pick the spells that synergize best. If that's not your idea of fun, then a gish might not be the best choice for you at level 30.
rangerjohn
Explorer
Your right. But its worse than that. Not only would I need to read through every spell, but every opponent. Then since I'm so new to them all, I would still make mistakes. While he wouldn't need a ring of sequestering, he would need the animal line items, unless I'm missing something. The items blow the spells out of the water. If I were to go cleric at this level, all I see is a healer that uses persistant divine power and divine favor, effective but not interesting, and that's only with the right equipment. Paticulary something that would allow touch attacks.
rangerjohn
Explorer
On another note, how do you cast 10+ level spells? Those with meta-magic effects. I see the rules for getting the spells to that level, but not the rules for having access to them.
Jemal
Adventurer
Oh where to begin..
Invisibility is FAR from pointless. As Shayuri pointed out, not EVERYTHING has see invis/true seeing, even at epic. Most PC's do, because most players are worried about covering every possible eventuality(though thats another rant)
The ability to cast lvl 10+ spells is granted by the Epic Feat "Improved Spell Capacity". It requires max lvl spellcasting and each time you take it it grants you access to spell slots of one higher level, for use with metamagic feats.
If by "the animal line" you mean Bulls strength/Cats grace/etc, then you are correct that the BASE spells are worse than items, but if you have access to Spell Compendium, you'll find that is not the case..
As for the cleric, I have to correct you there - Have you never heard of CoDzilla? Clerics are even better buffers than normal mages. Divine Power, Divine Favour, and Righteous Might(Just to name a few from CORE) are the cornerstone and by themselves put a cleric on par with a fighter. Then they get other bonuses and options... Spell immunity, healing, divinations, Greater Magic Weapon, Magic Vestement, and of course various attack and utility spells. I never felt that the fighter-mage was about casting a bunch of buffs and then just being a fighter, I always love the utility and options the spellcasting provided.
Why is knowing every possible opponent any more relavent for a fighter-mage than any other concept? I don't even think it's advisable unless your character's got the appropriate knowledge skills, b/c it leads to metagaming. (This fact and the fact that I know a lot about the monsters/powers/spells/etc at Epic is why I usually invest heavily in Knowledge skills at epic.)
Furthermore, I don't think it's physically possible to know every opponent. The majority of opponents in most Epic Games are NPC's rather than monsters, meaning they coulc be/do literally anything.
I don't want to sound harsh, but it seems like you're TRYING to come up with reasons not to play it.. If you don't feel like going through all the epic spellcasting work(It is very much like doing your taxes), then just make up something else. It's not like we're going to sneer and say "Oh that guy changed concepts b/c he couldn't do casting"..
If you're really worried about effectiveness, my character has several flaws.
Primarily, Dispels and Antimagic kick her ass. A lot of her defenses and abilities come from buffs. The weakness makes sense b/c she is a character who is becoming one with magic itself, and so if that wholeness is interupted, it leaves her weak and vulnerable.
She also has NO IMMUNITIES except for Disease/Poison and Crits, She's not sequestered, Permanently Invisible, or mind blanked.
Now, I could go back and rework her so that she's immune to everything and would never run into a situation she couldn't handle, but where's the fun in that? Epic Level to me isn't about creating a perfect character who has no weaknesses and can kill anything. Despite the fact that she has so many of what a lot of people would consider crippling flaws, I think she's going to be fantastically fun to play, and I think she's powerful enough to hold her own. That's all I believe matters.
And finally, Shayuri - See Invisibility has no range. But I think that's just as well, since without it your character would be nigh invincible at long range. Some of your spells don't even have an effect they can trace back to you, so you could just fly around bombarding and cackling in any outdoor encounter.
Invisibility is FAR from pointless. As Shayuri pointed out, not EVERYTHING has see invis/true seeing, even at epic. Most PC's do, because most players are worried about covering every possible eventuality(though thats another rant)
The ability to cast lvl 10+ spells is granted by the Epic Feat "Improved Spell Capacity". It requires max lvl spellcasting and each time you take it it grants you access to spell slots of one higher level, for use with metamagic feats.
If by "the animal line" you mean Bulls strength/Cats grace/etc, then you are correct that the BASE spells are worse than items, but if you have access to Spell Compendium, you'll find that is not the case..
As for the cleric, I have to correct you there - Have you never heard of CoDzilla? Clerics are even better buffers than normal mages. Divine Power, Divine Favour, and Righteous Might(Just to name a few from CORE) are the cornerstone and by themselves put a cleric on par with a fighter. Then they get other bonuses and options... Spell immunity, healing, divinations, Greater Magic Weapon, Magic Vestement, and of course various attack and utility spells. I never felt that the fighter-mage was about casting a bunch of buffs and then just being a fighter, I always love the utility and options the spellcasting provided.
Why is knowing every possible opponent any more relavent for a fighter-mage than any other concept? I don't even think it's advisable unless your character's got the appropriate knowledge skills, b/c it leads to metagaming. (This fact and the fact that I know a lot about the monsters/powers/spells/etc at Epic is why I usually invest heavily in Knowledge skills at epic.)
Furthermore, I don't think it's physically possible to know every opponent. The majority of opponents in most Epic Games are NPC's rather than monsters, meaning they coulc be/do literally anything.
I don't want to sound harsh, but it seems like you're TRYING to come up with reasons not to play it.. If you don't feel like going through all the epic spellcasting work(It is very much like doing your taxes), then just make up something else. It's not like we're going to sneer and say "Oh that guy changed concepts b/c he couldn't do casting"..
If you're really worried about effectiveness, my character has several flaws.
Primarily, Dispels and Antimagic kick her ass. A lot of her defenses and abilities come from buffs. The weakness makes sense b/c she is a character who is becoming one with magic itself, and so if that wholeness is interupted, it leaves her weak and vulnerable.
She also has NO IMMUNITIES except for Disease/Poison and Crits, She's not sequestered, Permanently Invisible, or mind blanked.
Now, I could go back and rework her so that she's immune to everything and would never run into a situation she couldn't handle, but where's the fun in that? Epic Level to me isn't about creating a perfect character who has no weaknesses and can kill anything. Despite the fact that she has so many of what a lot of people would consider crippling flaws, I think she's going to be fantastically fun to play, and I think she's powerful enough to hold her own. That's all I believe matters.
And finally, Shayuri - See Invisibility has no range. But I think that's just as well, since without it your character would be nigh invincible at long range. Some of your spells don't even have an effect they can trace back to you, so you could just fly around bombarding and cackling in any outdoor encounter.
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Nephtys
First Post
Improved Spell Capacity [Epic]
Benefit
When you select this feat, you gain one spell slot per day of any level up to one level higher than the highest-level spell you can already cast in a particular class. You must still have the requisite ability score (10 + spell level) in order to cast any spell stored in this slot. If you have a high enough ability modifier to gain one or more bonus spells for this spell level, you also gain the bonus spells for this spell level. You must use the spell slot as a member of the class in which you can already cast spells of the normal maximum spell level.
Special
You can gain this feat multiple times.
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