Nightmare Spinner worth the 9/10 CL progression?

[Takhisis]

I want the honest opinions of all of you here. Recently, I have been trying to build a flavorful villainous arcane caster who is not a necromancy specialist but rather a specialist of mind effecting magics, mainly illusion and enchantment type spells. I of course, wanted a fun, flavorful but still playable PrC for the character, and I am looking at the nightmare spinner from CM. It seams to fit the bill for what I am looking for, but it has 9/10 CL progression(as in gets CL/spells per day/spells known increase every level except 1st, like the Pale Master.). So, I want the honest opinions of all of you here, dose that make the class unplayable or is it still good enough to work well. I think it dose due to some of the powerful abilities(more spell slots and strong fear effects, for example), but I want to know your opinions, first.

 

[Dandu]

It's probably not worth it.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

It's only one caster level, cripes. Purely from an optimization standpoint, I guess losing even one is an unforgivable sin. But seriously..."is it worth it"? It's just one caster level! If you like what the prestige class adds to the character (not just mechanically, but also fitting your image of what he should be) then take it.

 

[Dandu]

It's only one caster level, cripes. Purely from an optimization standpoint, I guess losing even one is an unforgivable sin.

Not necessarily, but in this case, you don't get enough to justify it.

 

[Crothian]

It's not the best, but it is playable. As long as the other PCs are not over doing the optimizing and the DM is not running you through modules and adventures that assume peak PC performance you should do fine.

 

[Runestar]

Depends - does that loss of 1 lv mean the loss of the highest level of spells?

 

[Takhisis]

It's only a 5 level class, and yes, you would still get 9th level spells, you would just be 1 level behind, as if you where a sorcerer as appose to a true wizard. I think I found a better class, though. The Fiend Blooded from heroes of horror, it as well is a 9/10 class and sorcerer only, but it dose not lose CL until the last level of the class which means I will still have full 9th level spells, and full spells known as well because the class gets new spells added to it's list at certain levels, one of which is level 10. So It would not be like I was losing spells known. I would not take the class until 10th level, though, because if you take it earlier then 10th you don't get the bonus 9th level spell because you won't be able to cast 9th level spells at that point. And since you don't lose spells known with the class because of the bonus spell it gives you, the only real downside is the CL loss which you can take care of with practiced spellcaster.

Also, unlike the nightmare spinner, this class gets some seriously powerful abilities. Such as at certain levels you can add a necromancy, illusion, enchantment or [fire] descriptor spell from ANY list to yours, and you get assorted resistances and by the end of the class(the full 10 levels.) you get a +2 to intelligence, Constitution Dexterity and Strength and +1 to charisma, as well as a crapload of resistances, spells normally off limits to an arcane caster.

While it's not directly an enchantment/mind-effecting/illusion focused class, it dose allow a sorcerer to cast True Dominate and Monstrous thrall, which is more then enough to make it worthwhile for a mind controlling type sorcerer.

 

[Dandu]

I would advise taking the 10th level of Fiend Blooded. I actually have a Fiend Blooded build you may want to use for your sorcerer:

Sorc4/Ruathar3/Fiend Blooded9/Fatespinner4

Use Heighten Spell and Versatile Spellcaster to enter Ruathar early. FAQ confirms that this works.

 

[Takhisis]

I see, that build looks interesting, but I need to know what sourcebook the Ruathar is in since I've never heard of that class. Also, dose that build not get a bonus 9th level spell or do you take fiend blooded levels in a way/pattern which allows you to gain a bonus 9th level spell?

 

[Ahnehnois]

Nightmare Spinner is a decent, if rather specialized class.

Ruathar is a very nice class in RotW that gives 3 levels with casting and a few other bonuses.