frozen mage of the north

[Nightsong]

I have been playing a frost maiden on and off. This is a very fun toon too play. Then as I often do I got thinking . I have an extra toon in my vault why not come up with concept of frost wicth of Auril . I had a few idea's I do know I am going with archmage. I am looking for workable concept . I have even tossed around the idea of blood mage since the north is pretty primitive culture wise. The North I am referring is the great glacier area. I thought of pale master but I do not want too excluded from most of server lol . One thing I will have is if can hit anything with or not is a spear instead of staff or frost axe even if it is just for show.

Thanks guys I look forward too your suggestions ( I am open too magey mage or gish) (but I will not use fire spell's unless I go arch mage and change the damage type

[V'rass]

Don't have to worry about being a pale master if you hide the most obvious indication you are one... that being your skeleton arm. Cover it up completely and no one will ever know.

[Nightsong]

True (: could cover the sketal arm in ice (:

[chad878262]

Are you going for a Frost blaster type or a DC caster with Frost as an afterthought?

One thing you need to take in to consideration is the Archmage ability to change the energy type of spells does not work with the Frost Mage Piercing cold ability. In my opinion Frost Mage and Archmage simply don't have much synergy unless you are just going AM 4 to get more caster levels, spell like abilities or making your AoE's safe for allies.

For a Frost Mage I think a Sorcerer/Acrane Scholar has a lot of synergy. bulk up on Cold spells with S10/AS10/FM10. Or if you want PM go S5/AS5/PM10/FM10. Arcane Scholar practical metamagic has great synergy with a sorcerer blaster type and Palemaster defenses would of course be welcome. For a Wizard you could of course drop AS and go W6/AM4/PM10/FM10 with one SLA and the ability to convert spells to cold. You would not get the piercing cold on converted fireballs or anything, but would work thematically.

[Nightsong]

So blaster or Dc . I am torn actually wich would fit the ice wicth of auril better ?

[DeepFriedMoose]

When I think of Ice Mage, I think of blasting, and raining sleet down upon your enemies.








Of course... I'm picturing the Ice King from Adventure Time, so that's not probably too helpful, although I think it would be fun to play... >.>

[Monnock777]

wizard 17/ frost mage 10/ shadow dancer 3

this would be a good fit, good DC, Hips, Int for skills.

[metaquad4]

Add in ASoC 10, and you'll have a golden build.

ASoC 10/Wizard 6/SD 4/Frost Mage 10.

No point in having 7 wizard and 3 SD, since the practiced spellcaster bug was fixed. You'll cap out at 30 CL no matter what, and 1 SD gives more skill points and a better HD than 7 wizard.

http://nwn2db.com/build/?206229

You can keep it as a tiefling, they have some nice frost-like skins to them. Or, you can replace the race with human, and replace the extra feat extend spell. Then replace extend spell at level 18 with practised spellcaster. Then replace practised spellcaster with your choice of epic spell (vampiric feast being the most worthwhile).

[Moltrazahn]

10 pm. 6 fm. 8 am. 6 wizard.

Why? Well...

Immunity to critical = put on mirror image, shadow shield, immunity to all elements and you now are immortal when it comes to melee. The only way to bypass mirror image is by doing critical. Which you are immune to.
From an rp standpoint... you can claim to be so cold that your nerves simply dont trigger.

Fm 6 makes you immune to cold. Saves you a spell!

Archmage 8.
Get mastery of shaping = your ice blast wont hurt allies. Spam that aoe!
Get mastery of elements = convert all elemental to cold. To futher drive in the cold-theme. Some Meteors are ice-cubes anyway!

I wont lie. Arcane scholar of Candlekeep is a loss. Utility vs. Survival... however i personally prefer safety over utility. There is a lot of farming between you and max level, and if you can feel 100% safe while farming rather then kiting mobs around... well, id be a tank rather than "risk it".

This however means youd need the following.
Spell focus: ×2 (evocation & necro perhaps), skill focus (concentration), skill focus (spellcraft), spell penetration.

On top youd want extend spell... not a lot of free picks. Id myself want imp. Combat expertise (to keep mirror images going) and maybe more metamagic.

Anywho. This is what i would do for a frost type. Some prefer the massive utility of AsoCk and i cant really blame them. So it comes down to your personal preference really.

[metaquad4]

I'd advocate SD over Palemaster for safety. As far as PvE goes, you'll be nigh-invulnerable to most mobs, and you'll be able to sneak through zones. Your only counter will be spot/listen or an AoE that you step in that really messes up your day (you can protect against most effects though). Plus, with SD, you can get by quite a few situations without even needing to buff. Simply put, SD protects against a lot more than PM does and it offers good QoL (the ability to not buff and still be able to protect yourself).

Immunity to cold isn't really that worthwhile for 6 levels (and a class that requires a feat, at that). Frost Mage's saving grace is the ability to penetrate cold resistance. And that fire vulnerability can hurt (if you get breached in PvE in an area with fire damage, or anytime in PvP)

Archmage is an alright class. However, most of the AoE ice spells are not actually that good. True, you can convert some of the decent ones. Though, you'll need to toughen through evasion at the higher levels, which does kill a lot of AoE damage. Plus, I've found the higher level mobs have better saves. Additionally, you end up losing spellslots for its effects which does hurt your sustainability some.

ASoC will net you the ability to empower polar rays and horrid wilting (a fairly reliable AoE spell at higher levels, as evasion can't protect against it), as well as giving you superior access to maximize and empower on other levels.

I haven't even factored in PvP yet, either. For that, Archmage isn't very worthwhile for PvP, and Palemaster protects against fewer players than Shadowdancer does. Most of the builds that use heavy crit damage don't have a very high spot/listen (they'll need in the 60s-70s of spot and listen to see you). And SD ends up protecting against more than just critical hits as well.

In addition, SD gives you two things:
1) It allows you to hit with your ranged touch attacks (orbs, lesser orbs, and polar ray make up a fantastic offense) far easier by catching enemies flat-footed.
2) It gives you evasion, making you nigh-immortal when it comes to reflex-based damage spells and effects.