Help me optimize a phaerimm killer

[Gaiden]

I am building a Forgotten Realms Shadovar Arcanist (Wizard 5, Shadow Adept 4) and want to optimize him to kill phaerimm. The back story behind this guy is that he has been sent to Myth Drannor to survey the number of phaerimm there and their threat level. A secondary goal is gain information around the surrounding ennvironment - Cormanthor and the Dale Lands.

I was originally going to build a noncaster, but the shadovars are all about the arcanists. Another important thing is that I am using 2E phaerimm (with the added benefit of absorbing or reflecting successfully resisted spells with their SR and I boosted their SR to be +1/sorcerer level, rather than +1/3 sorcerer levels). The 3E phaerimm is a joke compared to the original, so I buffed it up accordingly.

So, as overcoming spell resistance is so important, the character has to first and foremost be optimized to defeat SR. The spell penetration feat line are no brainers. I was also thinking the orange ioun stone would be a good choice (as many as he can afford as their bonuses are unnamed).

The question is, what other feats should he take and what spells. I was thinking he ought to be a specialist wizard - either enchanter, necromancer, or illusionist. I like the idea of taking evocation and transmutation as opposition schools but I still use 3.0 haste and losing that extra spell vs. a phaerimm will be deadly (oh I forgot to mention, the phaerimm also effectively have a split mind, so that they can both attack and cast at the same time - they cannot cast 2x - rather their magic and physical abilities can function simultaneously).

Does anyone have any opinions on 3.0 vs 3.5 school specialization. I am leaning towards 3.0 since I have kept much of the 3.0 spell formats. If I do go with 3.0 specialization, the character will take evocation as an opposition school.

The next thing is spell choice, which would be dependent on specialization.

Here is the build I have so far:

Specialist wizard 5/shadow adept 4

feats: spell casting prodigy (since he is a shadovar) (1st level), shadow magic(human bonus), scribe scroll (wizard 1st level), spell penetration (3rd level), quicken spell (wizard 5th level), greater spell penetration (6th level), insidious magic (shadow adept 1st level), pernicious magic (shadow adept 1st level), tenacious magic (shadow adept 1st level), combat casting.

The character will know alot about phaerimm - the equivalent of their entire stat block and descriptive text. So, he knows that their For and Ref saves suck, knows about the drawbacks of failing a SR roll, and knows about their preference to cast spells, viewing melee combat as base and degrading (used only as a last resort). He is also familiar with some phaerimm unique spells (like backlash - although 3.0 lists the spell as available to anyone).

The max caster level (for SR rolls) I have been able to achieve is 15: 9 levels, +4 GSP, +1 Spell Power (shadow adept), +1 orange ioun stone. Shadovars as a general rule view red wizards with contempt - so it is doubtful he would have a magic tatoo.

The character only has 6K gp left to spend so, his spells will be limited to what he learns each level + only a few. Here are ones that I was thinking of so far:

1st - chill touch, ray of enfeeblement, enlarge person, spirit worm, net of shadows, sleep, identify
2nd - resist energy, detect thoughts, see invisibility, false life, spectral hand, claws of darkness, death armor
3rd - dispel magic, ray of exhaustion, vampiric touch, haste
4th - dimensional anchor, globe of invulnerability, locate creature, phantasmal killer, shadow conjuration, enervation
5th - mind fog, shadow evocation, kiss of the vampire

All comments appreciated.

 

[Gaiden]

bump

 

[Seule]

Well, the obvious way to beat spell resistance, is to not give the option. There are a bunch of spells that simply don't allow spell resistance, including (unless I'm wrong) Glitterdust, Evard's Black Tentacles, the entire Summon Monster line, and anything that you actually cast on your companions to buff them.
Secondarily, is to neutralize the spellcasting of your opponent, and in that line Globes of Invulnerability and Silence are your friends. So is a companion who grapples.
Thirdly, Shadow Adept is the way to go here, I would have suggested it if you hadn't already taken it.

--Seule

 

[Seule]

Note: Although an Ioun stone may be an unnamed bonus, the same bonus still never stacks with itself, so you won't be able to get a benefit from more than one.

--Seule

 

[Gaiden]

Well, the obvious way to beat spell resistance, is to not give the option. There are a bunch of spells that simply don't allow spell resistance, including (unless I'm wrong) Glitterdust, Evard's Black Tentacles, the entire Summon Monster line, and anything that you actually cast on your companions to buff them.
Secondarily, is to neutralize the spellcasting of your opponent, and in that line Globes of Invulnerability and Silence are your friends. So is a companion who grapples.
Thirdly, Shadow Adept is the way to go here, I would have suggested it if you hadn't already taken it.

--Seule

Thanks for the feedback Seule. I agree with you about avoiding SR. I did not know that the spells you mentioned weren't affected by SR. IIRC, the majority of spells that ignore SR are those that create something or some effect that then effects a creature or summons something directly. Most of those spells are Evocation or Conjuration spells - at least ones that are attack spells (as opposed to utility or defensive). Conjuration spells coexist nicely with a 3.0 shadow adept necromancer, enchanter, or illuisionist. However, evocation spells are all penalized using shadow magic. Moreover, a 3.5 specialist has to choose two opposition schools: evocation and transmutation or conjuration seem like natural choices. Conjuration and evocation are particularly favorable given the illusionist's shadow spells. Of course, I'd like to hear opinions on school specialization between 3.0 and 3.5. Personally, I feel even with the changes the schools are not at all balanced. Divination is a perfect example. Granted, divination spells are useful, but what wizard in their right mind would give up two other schools to specialize in it. The only thing that is saving conjuration are the inclusion of transportation spells. And I fail to see how necromancy is any better than before. What the inclusion of ray of exhaustion and a few other choice spells suddenly warrants selecting two opposition schools?

Anyway, enough with the rant. Presuming I go 3.0 specialization and I choose evocation, I certainly could take some of those spells from the conjuration school. However, all of the benefits of the shadow adept PrC are associated with the suggested specialists' schools above. I included shadow conjuration and shadow evocation as spells but of course, they apply SR even if their doubled spell does not. I will strongly consider them as options. Thanks for the advice.

On the note of buffing, the character works independently. (All the more reason for summon spells, I know ). However, if you look at the spell selection, one avenue of attacking is to grapple the phaerimm. Yes I did say grapple the large creature with 4 arms and a bite attack only usable in the grapple. The reason for this is the tremendous number of ways to reduce the phaerimm's str. Phaerimm are not very strong to begin with and gaining levels as sorcerers doesn't help much. Sure they may have things like enlarge person, bull's strength, or tensor's transformation, but those spells are unlikely at best. More than likely, given a phaerimm's abhorence of melee, those are the last spells a phaerimm will know, nevermind have on as current buffs. A successful ray of exhaustion and/or ray of enfeeblement combined with enlarge and claws of darkness will end a phaerimm's arrogance real quick. Their average 13 str will be reduced by half. Their grapple bonus of +8+1/2 sorc level is going to be more like +2+1/2 sorc level. With a decent str, enlarge person and another MoF spell (5th level grants +4 competence bonus to grapple among other things - is for shar worshipers) the sorcerer should have something like a +13+str mod). Moreover, the claws slow a creature involved in a grapple, they are touch attacks (so can be used, as natural weapons, as a melee attack instead of a grapple check) and can be combined with chill touch. Finally, kiss of the vampire can allow a combined enervating or vampiric touch attack along with the standard attack from claws and chill touch.

One intersting thing about phaerimm is that all of their spells known as a sorcerer are considered spell like abilities so have no components. Otherwise silence would be the way to go. Even spell like abilities require concentration checks when grappled though.

On the ioun stone, this debate is going on in another thread

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1359644#post1359644

As far as I knew that rule of unnamed bonuses stacking only applied to spells with my evidence as defending weapons in 3.0 (which may have changed to 3.5).

 

[nikolai]

Just some seperate advice. If I were building a phaerimm killer I'd think about the following options.

• Improved Initiative. In spell duels you really want to go first.
• Conjuration. In 3.5e it ignores SR. Offensive "blasting" spells from this school is a must. Perhaps even Spell Focus to bump DCs up. Do a thorough check of what spells are available (maybe even Signature Spell, so you don't run dry).
• Spells that hinder casting. Ice Storm, and other stuff with continual damage. You don't want them to get a spell off.

There are several legitimate avenues you can go down, just one idea.

 

[Gaiden]

Just some seperate advice. If I were building a phaerimm killer I'd think about the following options.

• Improved Initiative. In spell duels you really want to go first.
• Conjuration. In 3.5e it ignores SR. Offensive "blasting" spells from this school is a must. Perhaps even Spell Focus to bump DCs up. Do a thorough check of what spells are available (maybe even Signature Spell, so you don't run dry).
• Spells that hinder casting. Ice Storm, and other stuff with continual damage. You don't want them to get a spell off.

There are several legitimate avenues you can go down, just one idea.

Ignoring SR seems to be the concensus here. Given the shadow adept's affinity for enchantment, illusion, and necromancy, are there any spells from those schools that ignore SR (that are attack spells) and if not, should I just nix the whole shadow magic route. I am trying to capture the flavor of the shadovars with this guy and so would much prefer to cast spells from the said three schools - even if this means overcoming SR. Any suggestions on spells to that end?

Nikolai - good call on II. I may sub out combat casting for it.