Transmuter...advice needed

[questbreaker]

hey im new here and dont know all the acronyms, so bear with me.

i am looking to make a wizard who specializes in the school of transmutation, but as i gaze through the spell compendium, i see that a lot of the transmutation spells are not available to the wizard. so i was hoping someone knew of a way to access all the spells of a specific school, and i dont care if i have to give up all the other schools.

also, feats/skills/prestige class/magic item/etc advice would be appreciated.

 

[FalcWP]

Hmm. Not really aware of any ways to do that off the top of my head. Things that could be helpful (though they don't entirely do what you want):

Go for a Mystic Theurge build, so you pick up a lot of the spells from a divine class.

Play an Artificer (Eberron Campaign Setting), and make items of whatever spell you want.

Bump up the Use Magic Device skill so you can use items of the spells that aren't on your class list.

Hopefully, someone will know a way to do exactly what you want.

 

[James McMurray]

It doesn't answer this question, but may help you get around another problem of the specialist: check out the alternative transmuter class features in UA. One of them lets you periodically choose a spell from another school and make it transmutation in your spellbook. This will give you limited access to the two opposition schools you choose.

 

[Engilbrand]

The Transmuter from Unearthed Arcana sounds about right. There's also a feat- I think it's in the Player's Handbook 2- that let's you add two to any Transmutation spell you cast that gives a bonus to an ability. Basically, Bull's Strength gives anyone you cast it on a +6 bonus instead of a +4.

 

[James McMurray]

The Transmuter from Unearthed Arcana sounds about right. There's also a feat- I think it's in the Player's Handbook 2- that let's you add two to any Transmutation spell you cast that gives a bonus to an ability. Basically, Bull's Strength gives anyone you cast it on a +6 bonus instead of a +4.

Really? That makes the PHB2 spell that adds +2 Str, Dex, and Con really nice! Chasing Perfection (+4 to all stats) also becomes a bit more beefy, as do the various Bite of the X spells from Spell Compendium. Is it worded in a way that it could affect Augment Summoning?

 

[questbreaker]

i want to be able to use ALL transmutation spells, even ones that are only available to druids, rangers, or clerics, but i want to use them as a wizard. things like animate fire, animate water, crumble, etc. is there a spellcasting class where you can pretty much choose your spells, so i would be free to pick any transmutation spell, regardless of what class it was originally for?

 

[coriolis]

The sha'ir – originally from Al-Qadim, and reprinted in the Dragon Compendium – casts spells retrieved by its familiar. Arcane spells are the easiest to retrieve, but he can try to retrieve divine spells also.

 

[Wish]

You're into custom class territory. What you're seeking doesn't currently exist.

 

[James McMurray]

The Generic Spellcaster in Unearthed Arcana and here in the SRD seems to be what you're looking for. It's designed for use in a campaign where only those classes exist, but if a DM doesn't mind it can be easily slid into a regular game. Our group has a generic warrior for a while and he was tough but not broken, despite having sneak attack and a fighter BAB.

They work mostly like sorcerers but with slightly fewer spells and bonus feats at the same progression as awizard, but chosen from a different list. They choose their spells from Cleric, Druid, and Sorcerer/Wizard lists so you can stock up on all sorts of transmutations.

 

[Engilbrand]

At the same time, you could always try to create a new Transmuter class that uses Warmage, Beguiler and Dread Necromancer as a base. Though these classes are Arcane, they do have spells that come from the Divine lists. You could give him strange boosts to himself and bonuses for the spells that he casts and then give him all of the Transmutation spells. You'd probably want to throw a couple of other spells, too, just because all of the classes seem to do that.