Ultimate Magus no 9th level spells?

[Fallenibilis]

I was going to play a human wizard4/beguiler1/UM10/Archmage5 build but when i did the math i realised that the charcter will only get up to 8th level spells for wizard. Did i do the math wrong or im correct? If someone could tell me whats up or a way around this problem it would be very helpfull also i was planing on making the character exalted so if the fix involves anything "unsavory" im afraid it wont be an option to me.

Thank you

 

[DumbPaladin]

No, you're doing the math correctly. I just did it myself.

Ultimate Magus' price to pay seems to be giving up those last few levels of casting, but your build would cast spells as a 16th level Wizard and an 11th level Beguiler. That's supposed to be the appeal. You do have to pay a price for it.

 

[Fallenibilis]

Thanks. Now the question i guess is are 8th level spells going to be enough as the groups primary/only arcane caster?

 

[Andras]

If you take Beguiler 2, Wizard 3, UM10, Archmage 1-5 you should get 9th level Wiz spells with Practiced Spellcaster (Beguiler) taken at 3rd.

Should be CL 11 with both classes when you get to UM7, so you can choose to give the increase to the Wizard casting, that gets you 9th level spells.

 

[Flatus Maximus]

The work-around: You need to take Practiced Spellcaster (Complete Mage) as your 3rd level feat, applied to Beguiler, so that when you enter UM, your Wizard *CASTER LEVEL* is actually lower than your Beguiler *CASTER LEVEL*, so you choose to bump the Wizard level. Then at UM 4 the *CASTER LEVELS* are tied, so you choose to bump Wizard again. At UM 7 you bump Beguiler.

So, you should have spells knows as an 18th level Wizard (9th level spells, w00t), spells known as a 9th level Beguiler, with caster level = 22 for Wizard and caster level = 17 for Beguiler.

Edit: Ninja'd, but just take 1 Beguiler/4 Wizard, then UM, then Archmage.

 

[Corwin of Amber]

If you're willing to go Illumian from races of destiny with the Karu Sigil you can increse your CL for Beguiler up to +6 with Practiced Spellcaster so that all of the UM levels that say lowest or equal level class all increase Wizard resulting in 19th level Wizard with a CL of 25 and 8th level Beguiler with a CL of 19. This costs you effectively 2 feats (one for Practiced Spellcaster and no Human bonus feat). However, you do get an additional sigil that combines for great bonuses like + to saves or use dex/con/str to determine bonus spells (if that ever becomes worth it to you). Other than lacking the bonus feat and gaining the sigil, Illumians are just like humans and have the highest class as favored.

 

[Fallenibilis]

[MENTION=55114]Flatus Maximus[/MENTION]- THANK YOU!!! I was worried that i might be a detriement to my party but i wont be so thanks again!

[MENTION=95636]Corwin of Amber[/MENTION]- I wouldnt mind playing an Illumian but my DM wont let us play any race outside ot the core races but thanks for trying to help me.

 

[jefgorbach]

try arguing Illiumian is directly from WOTC and thus "core" since not third-party??

 

[Empirate]

Here you can find the Ultimate Magus handbook. Since it's a really complicated class, this handbook even does some of the math for you! Beguiler 1/Wizard 4/Ultimate Magus 10/Archmage 5 seems pretty optimal to me, taking Practiced Spellcaster (Beguiler) at level 3. My favorite Metamagic Feats to go with this are Extend Spell, Sculpt Spell, Split Ray or Empower Spell, and Quicken Spell.