So I want Craft Wand.. but without caster levels.

[Three_Haligonians]

Got a neat character in the works but I've hit a snag:

One of the feats I'd like is Double Wand Wielder from Complete Arcane. However, the character in question is not a spellcaster and one of the prerequisite feats is Craft Wand (which requires caster level 5 to take).

You can see the dilemma?

Is there anyway that a non-caster character could meet that requirement? Kind of a tall order I know, but I figure I should give it a try before I go to the DM and start asking for special dispensation and the like.

I should mention I do know about the warlock and its class ability to "fake out" craft feats but it doesn't fit the concept either.

If your curious, the concept is thus: A rogue who specializes in Bluff and Use Magic Device to pretend to be a wizard. I plan on taking as many of the Use Magical Device feats as I can, like Wandstrike, Magical Device Attunement.. and others I can find.

Thanks

J from Three Haligonians

 

[irdeggman]

Nope.

No way that I know of to get around a caster level prerequisite for feats.

UMD won't work to give the benefits of a feat, it will allow you to simulate having the feat to meet requirements for an item though.

 

[griff_goodbeard]

Do you have a specific build in mind or were you thinking straight rogue? There are a couple of PrCl out there that give you psuedo-caster levels for the purpose of item creation.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Go artificer man, go artificer. Aside from being quite possibly the most broken class in all of 3e, it has enough latitude that combining skills and feats should net you an appropriate feel to go along with your wands. It means no sneak attack unfortunately, but it can handle everything else. Just don't use magic all that much and concentrate on magic devices.

 

[Three_Haligonians]

Do you have a specific build in mind or were you thinking straight rogue? There are a couple of PrCl out there that give you psuedo-caster levels for the purpose of item creation.

Got some examples? I'm totally fine with the concept of PrCs if it will get me what I need.

J from Three Haligonians

 

[Darth Vyce]

Here are some rogueish type prestige classes that have an actual spell list. Might not be what you are looking for but at the very least they would allow you to create a character based on your concept.

Ebonmar Infiltrator (Cityscape)
Trapsmith (Dungeonscape)
Cultist of the Shattered Peaks (Lost Empires of Faerun)

Hope that helps some. Personally, I would go with Ebonmar Infiltrator. Throw in a couple levels of swashbuckler and rogue and you should be good to go.

 

[Shin Okada]

Here some ideas.

1: Mage/Rogue multiclass (+prestige class) build.

This is basic. Arcane Trickster in DMG will be the start. But Complete books has more of such prestige classes. Practiced Spellcaster feat will help you.

2: Beguiler (PHB II)

Full-caster. Can substitute a rogue for dungeon delving (has Trapfinding class feature and Search and Disable Device as class skills). Lacks damaging spells in it's class list. But it has UMD as a class skill. So eventurally you will start to use any wands.

3: Rogue/Cleric with Magic domain.

Well, even a level of cleric and Practiced Spellcaster feat will allow you to take Craft Wand feat. But if you really delve this build, Shadowbane Stalker class in Complete Adventurer is a perfect "solve everything" type of character. You can act as a rogue, make sneak attacks, cast Cleric spells (and Divine Insight spell boosts your skills), use spell slots for enhancing combat capabilities, and if you take Magic domain, you can use Sorcerer/Wizard wands without maximizing UMD.

4: Rogue or Scout 1/Warlock X

Warlock is the king of UMD. And with caster level (yes, caster level for his invocations), you can take Item crafting feats and at class level 12 you can provide ANY required spells for making magic items. For this way, I will start from a L1 of Rogue or Scout, and take Able Learner feat (in Races of Destiny) and give him at least decent Int (14 for point buy will be enough), then take warlock levels thereafter. Thanks to Able Learner feat, this character needs to spend only 1 point for any class skills of Rogue or Scout you took at the first level, even when he levels up as a Warlock.

Similar build can be made as Rogue or Scout 1/Wizard X and this works good, too. Wizard has high int and thus good amount of skill points to spend. And of course, you can take Craft Wand feat at L6 (Rogue or Scout 1/Wizard 5) as a bonus feat.

Edit : Special Offer ! All you need is a caster level.

Be some race with innate spell-like ability which has caster level equal to your character level. Drow, Duerger (double it's level!), and various planetouched races has such spell-like abilities.

Now even if you are a single class rogue, you can qualify for Craft Wand feat easily and use wands with UMD. And with UMD and some scrolls, you may craft your own wands.

 

[moritheil]

Shin has good ideas. One thing I would caution you about is the sub-par performance of the standard Arcane Trickster build at lower levels. Unless your DM allows shortcut methods of qualifying, the normal AT build is going to be underwhelming until a few levels in AT, which means character level 12+.

One thing Shin did not mention is Spellthief. In a magic-rich world with lots of enemy spellcasters, this class can be just as good as the normal rogue. In a magic-poor world or one where you rarely fight spellcasters, the class is basically 1/2 a rogue and 1/8 of a mage.

 

[Shin Okada]

One thing Shin did not mention is Spellthief. In a magic-rich world with lots of enemy spellcasters, this class can be just as good as the normal rogue.

Well, one player in our play group actually tried this class when Complete Adventurer was released. Unfortunately, he could not do well and eventually died.

While robbing various spells, spell-like abilities and special abilities seems attractive, in actual play, it is hard to ascertain what kind of ability an opponent has. Unless the PC knows about a specific foe beforehand, or a dungeon or castle is full of creatures or characters with same kind of abilities, he cannot rob much because he does not know what to steal. And even when he can, inflicting +1d6 damages is often simply better.

And, Spellthief's good save is will and not ref. And they don't have Evasion. Sometimes it is good because enemy casters tend to assume someone in light armer tend to have high ref save and low will save, and thus use will save spells such as Hold Person against a rogue type.

But that means, they are so vulnerable against most traps when they triggered. Also, they tend to die because of area spells. Of course, mages also don't have evasion and good ref save, and have even lower hp. But while mages and archers tend to take some distance from frontal group of PC warriors, a spellthief tent to be with them, as he must make sneak attacks. Thus, often "blown together" with warriors. As spellthief tend to have much lower hp total than warriors, he tend to die first. That was actually the cause of the spellthief PC of my friend.