Mid Level Blaster Options?

[Delandel]

I'm looking to make a sweet blaster build for an upcoming RHOD campaign. The DM is allowing basically all sources, so I expect to be with ToB melee and the likes, so I want to feel competent in my role. He has to perform well from levels 5-9 I believe.

My roll is 15 15 13 11 11 10

I don't know much about psionics, but I heard Psion Kineticist would be good for this. But is it better than what I've come up with so far?

Here's my idea:
Human Wizard Focused Specialist Evoker. Take Energy Affinity (Cold) variant for +1 CL when casting Cold Spells. For feats: eschew materials (1), energy substitution (human), snow casting (3), and energy admixture (wizard5). For gear, 3,000gp can go to buying an Empowered Spellshard of Scorching Ray.

At level 5 I can cast 2 Scorching (Freezing?) Rays for a total of 8d6 = 28 damage average, not bad at all. Three times per day I can empower it to do 42 damage average. Also have the situational Fireball, for a solid 7d6.

At level 6 I start the Paragnostic Apostle PrC and bump my CL casting Cold another +1 and slap on Arcane Thesis on my Scorching Ray. Now I'm casting Cold Scorching Rays at CL 11, which gives me my third ray, so 12d6 total, or I can admixture them to double the damage for a mere +1 adjustment, 24d6 = 84 average, and 3/day empowered for 126.

The build plateaus here, since advancing my CL doesn't mean much once I reach the 11CL cap on scorching ray, and my snowcasting feat suddenly turns into dead weight. Still, I'd rather be frontloaded than anything.

At level 9 I might take Piercing Cold or Fiery Spell. One lets me overcome resistance, one bumps my damage another +24 each admixture'd ray.

Any suggestions to make this better? Can a psion trump this somehow?

 

[Dandu]

A Focused Specialist Evoker is a poor choice because you get as many spells per day as a sorcerer, but you limit your schools dramatically. Let's face it, there's only a few blasting spells you want to take and rely on. Aside from those, you want defensive spells so you don't die, and ways to buff up your ranged attack.

I would suggest, rather, that you be a sorcerer who uses Magic Missile, Scorching Ray or Seeking Ray, Melf's Unicorn Arrow, Wings of Flurry, and one of the Orbs for damage.

You will want Heroism for +2 to attack, and Ray of Clumsiness to lower the enemy's dex so it is easier to hit their touch AC. True Strike could be useful to know as well if someone is under concealment or just really hard to hit. I'd pick up Glitterdust as well, because the enemy cannot dodge rays if they are blind.

Take Mirror Image and Wings of Cover for defensive countermeasures, and you should do ok.

So, to sum up,

1: Magic Missile, True Strike, Ray of Clumsiness
2: Seeking Ray, Wings of Cover, Mirror Image, Glitterdust
3: Heroism, Unicorn Arrow
4: Orb of X, Wings of Flurry.

Psions also make good blasters, as they can switch energy types on the fly and also have crystal based powers that deal damage without SR. Metapsionic feats are weaker than metamagic feats, but you can do respectable damage with augmentation. Just remember that without feats such as Overchannel, you cannot use more PP on a power than your levels in psion.

 

[Delandel]

Focused Specialist Evoker vs. Sorcerer boils down to this:
- spell progression one level faster, a bonus feat, more spells known, and more skill points
vs.
- 3 more schools of magic and access to the best blaster spell (Wings of Flurry) at level 8

If I was making a level 8+ blaster, I'd definitely go with sorcerer here. d6 uncapped CL, area effect, and painful debuff that can't hurt allies is NUTS. But what am I supposed to do for levels 5-7? Your blasting options are frankly awful at this range. Toss a seeking ray for 14 damage average? A core fighter easily does better than that, and indefinitely. A warblade... Let's not go there.

I agree, you only need one or two blasting spells to get the job done, the rest should be standalone good spells. That's what I'm trying to do with an arcane thesis'd Scorching Ray. I'm busting out good (I think?) damage at every level with one spell, but I also have enough spell slots for things like Glitterdust, Mirror Image, Enlarge Person, and the likes.

In fact, I'd argue a focused specialist has even more versatility than a sorcerer even with 3 schools banned. At level 5, he has two 3rd level spells known simply from leveling. At level 5, a sorcerer knows none. At level 6, the wizard knows four 3rd level spells. At level 6, the sorcerer knows one. What's the point of having all the schools available to you if you have such a meager amount of spells known? I bet you I can cherry pick more great spells as a focused specialist for every spell slot, even with only 5 schools available, than a sorcerer can with all 8 schools.

The extra feat is just insult to injury.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Welcome to the boards!

First, you might want to check out this book about [ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0976808501/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0974668133&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=06512S1JB6Z19TXEYW4E"]Power Gamer's Wizards[/ame] designs.

According to their analysis, specializing is the way to go (though they do have advice for Sorcerers and generalist Wizards as well). Now, that book only covers the 3.5PHB, so they don't have all of the nifty spells.

Neither do they examine the option of being a Focused Specialist (for the same reason), but my guess is that they'd find it to be a similarly beneficial deal...if you choose your opposition schools carefully. Personally, if you're going to blast, BLAST baby!

Second, unless your DM's a stickler for tracking components, I wouldn't bother with Eschew Materials- Empower is superior. I know you're talking about using an item for this, but there may be better things to use your money on so you're not dependent upon that item for your main damage boost. I'd also consider things like Silent or Still spell, Reach Spell, Explosive Spell, and Reserve feats, depending on your PC's nature and your DM's playstyle.

Third, if you don't go with Empower shard, those GP could go towards a MM wand, or maybe a Metamagic rod.

 

[Delandel]

Thanks for the link, I may look into it. Unfortunately since blasting is not very optimal, I can find almost no guides for optimizing such a goal, which is why I ask for advice here instead. Much easier to optimize with conjuration and the likes.

Eschew Materials is there simply to give me a -1 level adjustment with Arcane Thesis (Scorching Ray). It's dead weight by itself.

I couldn't afford Empower Metamagic Rod. Fortunately, Empower Spellshard fills the exact same role for me, for significantly cheaper. Good thing Scorching Ray is level 2!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm sorry I wasn't clear.

That book goes through ALL of the optimization paths possible with the 3.5 PHB- Blaster, Buffer, Controller, Summoner, Generalist or Sorcerer; plus each type of specialist, all with Feat choices & suggested spells.

...and gives you the stats to show why they choose one over the other. Their analysis will probably also help you recognize the statistical strengths and weaknesses of spells from non-PHB sources.

As anyone who has read enough of my posts about character design would agree, I'm rarely about optimizing a PC for pure combat. I like my PCs well rounded for their personalities and histories, and their combat capabilities reflect that.

However, THAT book will give you a blueprint for a very smooth & powerful game dominating wizard.

I own it because sometimes I want to play that spellcaster...or design a PC who is its antithesis.

I couldn't afford Empower Metamagic Rod. Fortunately, Empower Spellshard fills the exact same role for me, for significantly cheaper. Good thing Scorching Ray is level 2!

Right, which is why I suggested you take Empower as a feat and buy a Metamagic rod of something else...or some other 3Kgp magic item. While the freebie boosts to Empower via the item is great, its also a potential weakness if you lose it for whatever reason. At least with the feat, you never risk being able to Empower your spells.

Of course, if your DM is the sort who won't sunder or pickpocket or otherwise temporarily or permanently deprive you of a potentially powerful item, go for it!

 

[pawsplay]

Losing his spellpouch is also a risk.

 

[Dandu]

Magic Missile, Scorching Ray, and the Orb series have no material components iirc.

 

[Shin Okada]

If that is RHoD campaign, avoid wizard. It is a campaign with a kind of time-limit. A wizard will not have enough time to expand his spellbook. Thus, you will likely to end up having only 4 spells per spell level in your book. Also, that campaign is rather combat heavy (many encounters/day) . Thus, wizards' spell slots are often not enough.

If you are to be a blaster, I recommend Warmage. A Warmage automatically know all the Orb/Lesser Orb spells and many area attack spells. So, you don't need to worry much about opponent's energy resistance/immunity nor SR. Consider using PHB 2 alternative class feature to add spells which warmages can't usually have access to. Also, warmage is less squishy comparing to other mages, thanks to armor, shield, and d6 HD.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I'm looking to make a sweet blaster build for an upcoming RHOD campaign. The DM is allowing basically all sources, so I expect to be with ToB melee and the likes, so I want to feel competent in my role. He has to perform well from levels 5-9 I believe.

My roll is 15 15 13 11 11 10

I don't know much about psionics, but I heard Psion Kineticist would be good for this. But is it better than what I've come up with so far?

Here's my idea:
Human Wizard Focused Specialist Evoker. Take Energy Affinity (Cold) variant for +1 CL when casting Cold Spells. For feats: eschew materials (1), energy substitution (human), snow casting (3), and energy admixture (wizard5). For gear, 3,000gp can go to buying an Empowered Spellshard of Scorching Ray.

At level 5 I can cast 2 Scorching (Freezing?) Rays for a total of 8d6 = 28 damage average, not bad at all. Three times per day I can empower it to do 42 damage average. Also have the situational Fireball, for a solid 7d6.

At level 6 I start the Paragnostic Apostle PrC and bump my CL casting Cold another +1 and slap on Arcane Thesis on my Scorching Ray. Now I'm casting Cold Scorching Rays at CL 11, which gives me my third ray, so 12d6 total, or I can admixture them to double the damage for a mere +1 adjustment, 24d6 = 84 average, and 3/day empowered for 126.

The build plateaus here, since advancing my CL doesn't mean much once I reach the 11CL cap on scorching ray, and my snowcasting feat suddenly turns into dead weight. Still, I'd rather be frontloaded than anything.

At level 9 I might take Piercing Cold or Fiery Spell. One lets me overcome resistance, one bumps my damage another +24 each admixture'd ray.

Any suggestions to make this better? Can a psion trump this somehow?

You have the right basic idea, but I'd advise dropping focused specialist, it costs too much for what you gain, and I really doubt you'll need those extra spell slots to have things to do all day. I also think energy admixture is overpriced, I'd drop that. Take the cold reserve feat (Wintery Breath, iirc) so you have something to spam in a large encounter day, and also for the +1 cold CL, so at your starting level 5 you're tossing out two Scorching Freezing Rays. I'd drop Eschew Materials for Empower Spell. If flaws are an option, make sure to get Easy Metamagic on Empower. Now at level 5 with the above feats, you can drop 2 ranged touch attacks each for 6d6 cold damage for a 3rd level spell slot.

Alternatively, get Focus Caster (dragon mag and crystalkeep) instead of the +1 CL alternate class feature. It delays your awesomeness a level, but gives some nifty abilities you might like more. At Wizard 1, you deal +1 damage with all evocations. At Wizard 7, you ignore the first 5 points of an enemy's energy resistance (as in, treat it like it's 5 less than it is, to a minimum of 0). At Wiz 15 (which you'll never get to, of course) it also lets you 1/day ignore an energy immunity of a creature. I don't know, up to you which benefits you find better.

I'd recommend the appropriate veil from Magic Item Compendium, cheap items (part of a set) to 3/day as a swift action do extra damage to a foe you just damaged with energy type x, but unfortunately there isn't one for cold, only lightning, fire, and acid, as they're based on the prismatic spell line.