So maximizing illusion spell dc's on a Deep Imaskari Wizard.

[zoroastor]

So I am still messing around with a build for a dc Imaskari caster. I am thinking of looking to add shadow adept into the mix, and grab the first four levels of Blood Magus for the scroll and potions ability and some bonus HD. Should I also be considering grabbing Archmage for the CL bonus? Or should I instead look towards say ASOC so I can use the spell focus slots to get more of my DC spells availiable to me at any one time?

[chad878262]

W23/BM4/SA3 is all you need. Adding 4 levels of Archmage for the extra CL is fine, but costly in feats. ASoC doesn't really give you anything, if you want to cast save or x spells 1 level higher take silent or still spell. If you want to cast them 2 levels higher take Empower (can work with Phantasmal Killer for example). 3 levels you take maximize and 4 levels take Quicken spell.

taking 4 levels of Archmage loses you an epic feat (Drops Wizard to 19) in addition to the required pre-epic feats... ASoC does the same and even worse the more levels you take.

[zoroastor]

what would the DC's be like with that build, and wouldn't maxing out Shadow Adept at 10 bring bigger bonuses, namely the +3 CL and the free teleporting?

[chad878262]

+2 DC on Illusion and Necromancy spells comes at level 1 shadow weave user. The other benefits are 'fine' but not sure they are better than Getting to W20 for the extra epic feat. You already have +1 Spellpower as well as +1 from Bloodmagus for 32, so you won't gain an additional DC until 35 which you won't get from Shadow Adept 10 unless you also take Blood Magus to 6 and take Practiced caster (because you lose a CL at BM5).

If you want more CL than fine, you can take more levels of SA, but it won't help your DC's and you are already immune to greater dispel so I would rather have the extra Wizard Feat. Theoretically you could go to SA 6 (So W20/BM4/SA6) which would still get the bonus epic feat at W15 and 20 while granting + 2 saves vs. illusion, enchantment and necromancy, Shadowshield 2/day for 30% concealment for 3 minutes and Darkvision. You don't really get anything for W21-23 so no loss to get the extra SA abilities. However, taking 7-10 costs a feat and is not mechanically worth it IMO. That said, if you want it from an RP standpoint go for it! If you can manage it from a leveling perspective you could go to W9/BM4/SA7 in pre-epic, so that going to W16/SA10/BM4 will cost you only a pre-epic feat since you would get bonus epic feats at W10/15. However... At this point I would be looking at how to get BM6 which would then get CL to 35 for the extra DC.

Clear as mud, right?

[zoroastor]

So out of all the prcs's which combo would give the highest possible CL and DC? other than of course mating BM6 with SA 10?

[Hawke]

Moved to a more appropriate place.

[chad878262]

It would take me far too long to theory craft all the possibilities. Theoretically if you could get Archmage 6, SA10, and BM6 (only allows 8 Wizard levels, but seems possible) you would have a Caster level of 30 + 3 (AM) + 3 (SA) + 2 (BM) = 38, giving you +3 to your DC over a CL30 caster. However, you lost 2 epic feats which would have given you +1 DC to all spells as well as more spell slots from INT, and you have little to no free feats in your build plan.

You also have to consider that RWoT grants +1 DC at 1st level to the chosen spell school and gets +5 Caster Levels for 10 levels so 10 levels of Red Wizard grant +3 DC's.

So if we are talking maximum power building goodness for illusion my guess is you need 10 levels of Red Wizard, 3 levels of Shadow Adept (this works as Shar is an acceptable deity in Thay), and 4 Archmage, this would be CL38 (5 from RW, 1 from SA for illusion/necromancy and 2 from AM) and would have a flat +3 to DC's (2 from SA for Necromancy/illusion and 1 from RW). So, if we assume an INT of 34 (Fox Cunning) that would be 10 + 12 (INT) + 6 (CL 38) + 1 (RW) + 2 (SA) + 3 (Epic Spell Focus) = 34 + Spell Level or DC 43 Weird.

I have heard Wizard builds can hit 44 DC's, which may come from getting to 32 INT/36 w/ fox cunning or I could be failing to consider something else that increases DCs...

[zoroastor]

How would you get 32 int? I mean, an Imaskari starts at 20, can gain 1 per four levels, so 27. You still would need at least 5 more int from epic feats, and there just doesn't seem to be enough to get there.

[chad878262]

How would you get 32 int? I mean, an Imaskari starts at 20, can gain 1 per four levels, so 27. You still would need at least 5 more int from epic feats, and there just doesn't seem to be enough to get there.

Everyone gets an epic feat at 21, 23, 25, 27 and 29 so that is your +5 INT. If you have a bonus wizard feat that's a 6th feat which I would use for Vampiric Feast. If you have an additional bonus epic feat (for instance if you get to W15 and have 10 and 15 in epics) I would take epic focus Necromancy. Of course you could skip Vamp Feast if you are truly just trying to maximize DC's, but I think that would be a mistake.

[zoroastor]

Why vampire feast?