Prestige classes for GOD

[Treantmonklvl20]

Malconvokers(and summoners in general) are awesome synergy with a party that has one or more Rogues.

The Celestial Monkey of flanking aid-another just gave the Rogue Sneak Attack and +4 to hit! And it forced the monster to waste one of it's attacks killing the monkey, effectively lowering the damage dealt to the Rogue!
One of the top ten uses of a 1st level spell slot, IMHO.

Agreed except I need to point out that Celestial Monkeys are too small to flank.  However, you have large enough options for flanking with SM I.  Aid another is very handy with low level summons.

Celestial Monkeys however make GREAT trap detectors!  Many a poor celestial monkey has met his end by my Malconvoker

[X-Codes]

Celestial Monkeys however make GREAT trap detectors!  Many a poor celestial monkey has met his end by my Malconvoker

Remember, summoned monsters don't actually die, even though they feel the pain of death before going poof into dust and the re-materializing on their native plane.  In the case of celestial monkies, that generally means that you're going to get some holy shit thrown at you when the party starts plane-hopping.

[Archmage Joda]

Back to prestige classes for GOD in general (capitalizing it like that makes me think it should be some kind of acronym), what about the Escalation Mage in Eberron? Also, are there any other noteworthy GOD classes in Eberron other than Recaster?

[Treantmonklvl20]

Celestial Monkeys however make GREAT trap detectors!  Many a poor celestial monkey has met his end by my Malconvoker

Remember, summoned monsters don't actually die, even though they feel the pain of death before going poof into dust and the re-materializing on their native plane.  In the case of celestial monkies, that generally means that you're going to get some holy shit thrown at you when the party starts plane-hopping.

Our DM ruled that it is always the same monkey - and yes - he hates me and is likely stockpiling lots of celetial shit to fling should I ever visit his home plane - though that's unlikely.     (since Summon Elemental Reserve feat I've been using an Earth Elemental though)

 

Back to prestige classes for GOD in general (capitalizing it like that makes me think it should be some kind of acronym), what about the Escalation Mage in Eberron? Also, are there any other noteworthy GOD classes in Eberron other than Recaster?

I'm afraid I'm not up on my Eberron.  FR has some good options though.  Certainly Incantatrix is good for any kind of Mage, there's also one in Ancient Empires of Faerun - but I don't remember what it's called (not the Nar Demonbinder!). 

Actually, because BC and Buffing is not SL dependant - you can actually do reasonbly well with Hybrids as well.  UM is quite good, but I did some playing with the Eldritch Theurge and came up with some builds that looked decent despite the more difficult requirements (depending how your DM rules EB with caster level - this may even be cheatable with Practiced Spellcaster, but not by RAW I believe).  I can promise you that despite Warlocks not being the most optimized class - Chilling Tentacles at will is VERY fun.  I don't recomend Mystic Theurge to anyone though Arcane Heirophant is a good PRC -but more of a combat-oriented one than a GOD wizard.  Wildshape is for Melee characters. 

Abjurant Champion is a great PRC not limited to Gishes - don't remember if I mentioned that in the guide.  If I didn't - I should have with a  beside it.  Free quickened spells are awesome.

The Shadowcraft mage of course is really great - but it makes a good "God" too, largely due to the versatility of Shadow Evocation/Conjuration in terms of BC, not because they get over 100% blasting power.  Even a non-heightened spell abuse Shadowcraft Mage should be a good God wizard.

Generally - any PrC that enhances, or at least does not detract from your ability to control the battlefield is a decent option.  Look for full spellcaster progression - or a big payoff for giving up those caster levels.

[Heliomance]

With the Incantatrix, is it worth being a Specialist, or does the loss of three schools hurt too much?

[Treantmonklvl20]

With the Incantatrix, is it worth being a Specialist, or does the loss of three schools hurt too much?

I definitely would avoid focused specialist - but a regular specialist?  Sure.  Give up Enchantment, Necromancy, Evocation.

I wouldn't dip Red Wizard either 

[Heliomance]

Necro has a lot of good debuffs though. Think I might actually go generalist and take the first Elven Wizard sub level. It seems better than specialisation in every way.

[BowenSilverclaw]

Make sure to pick up a Hummingbird Familiar if you go Elf Generalist

[Heliomance]

Why? I was planning to keep the bonus feat at 5th, for more metamagic when I hit Incantatrix.

[BowenSilverclaw]

+8 Initiative, that's why

[Treantmonklvl20]

Necro has a lot of good debuffs though. Think I might actually go generalist and take the first Elven Wizard sub level. It seems better than specialisation in every way.

"seems" and "is" are two very different things.

The Elven generalist gets one extra spell of his highest level.  So if you compare a 9th level Elven Generalist and a Conjurer, they have the same number of 5th level spells, but the Conjurer has an extra 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st level (and 0 level too - but who cares).  Also - the Conjurer gets Abrupt Jaunt which is more than enough reason to specialize on its own.

[Kaelik]

"seems" and "is" are two very different things.

The Elven generalist gets one extra spell of his highest level.  So if you compare a 9th level Elven Generalist and a Conjurer, they have the same number of 5th level spells, but the Conjurer has an extra 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st level (and 0 level too - but who cares).  Also - the Conjurer gets Abrupt Jaunt which is more than enough reason to specialize on its own.

And the Elven Generalist has no schools banned, so he has Greater Heroism, Contingency, Heroics, ect.

And he has a Familiar that gives him +8 to Init. And that Familiar can also have Imbue Familiar, effectively a single 6th level slot to quicken several level 3, 4, and 5 spells.

Abrupt Jaunt is exceedingly good at low levels, and the best thing ever in the level 1 Color Spray game, but past level 5 it's not a superior choice, and either way is equally valid.

Personally, including the SpC and other sources, no schools banned (or Evocation after scribing Contingency, or using Illusion for it) is easily worth it. Especially given an Incantatrix. Because that third school is painful no matter what you choose, but the first is just fine.

[ninjarabbit]

The conjurer could easily take the obtain familiar feat if he wanted the benefits of one, including the imbue familiar trick. There's no guarantee that the DM will allow a hummingbird familiar since it's Dragon material

The shadow evocation line of spells give you all the evocation spells you need including contengency. Spells like mind blank and protection from evil shut down a good chunk of enchantment spells and many enemies are immune to most enchantment spells, heroism and greater heroism are nice but easily replaceable with spells from other schools. Necromancy is a pretty easy school to dump too, yeah it's got some nice debuffs but nothing that's irreplaceable or you absolutely need to be an effective wizard.

The extra spell slots you get from being a specialist or focused specialist are a pretty valuable resource. The elven generalist only gets one extra spell slot while the specialist gets up to 9 (1 per level) extra spell slots and the focused specialist is getting up to 18 (2 per level) extra spell slots.

My opinion is that the benefits of the extra spell slots outweigh the loss of 2 or 3 schools since there are 3 schools that are easily dumpable.

[Treantmonklvl20]

I think Ninjarabbit has read my stuff 

Well said!

[ninjarabbit]

I think Ninjarabbit has read my stuff 

Sorry but all I have are barbarian levels

[BowenSilverclaw]

As long as you invest 2 skill points

[ChristopherGroves]

I say "yes" to the Escalation Mage.

Treantmonk (and others):

It's a six-level prc that gives you 1/level free metamagic (well, you have to make a spellcraft check to pull it off ... but you should be able to do that) ... heighten, empower, widen, quicken (at 5th in the PrC) ... and then at 6th you basically get one more free of each ... so 6 of your choice then one heighten (+1), one empower, one widen and one quicken.

They do not require you to have the metamagic feats prior (just one to enter the class).

[Archmage Joda]

actually, it's a caster level check, not a spellcraft check.

[Echoes]

I say "yes" to the Escalation Mage.

Treantmonk (and others):

It's a six-level prc that gives you 1/level free metamagic (well, you have to make a spellcraft check to pull it off ... but you should be able to do that) ... heighten, empower, widen, quicken (at 5th in the PrC) ... and then at 6th you basically get one more free of each ... so 6 of your choice then one heighten (+1), one empower, one widen and one quicken.

They do not require you to have the metamagic feats prior (just one to enter the class).

actually, it's a caster level check, not a spellcraft check.

Really, Escalation Mage is a way to get Sudden Quicken 6/day. The Heighten is capped at a +1 and Empower isn't terribly useful for BC (except for summoning). Widen can be useful if you see a need to cover huge areas, but otherwise it's really all about the Quicken. Granted, you need to be able to make DC 16 + Spell Level x 2 caster level checks to pull it off, but *shrug*. A 9th-level spell would take a DC 34 (16 + 18) caster level check. 20th level, orange ioun stone, ring of arcane might gets you to 22. Still need a 12 to make it work. And unlike the other Escalations, failing the caster level check means you don't cast the spell (though you don't lose it either) in addition to taking 5 points of damage per spell level and being slowed for rounds/spell level.

A Conjurer 3/Master Specialist 10/Escalation Mage 6/Archmage 1 would have a CL of 24 for conjuration spells, giving him only a 55% chance to quicken a 9th-level spell for free. Of course, MS 10 as a Conjurer lets you quicken any conjuration spell with a casting time of 1 standard action 3/day anyway, so you can save your Escalation quickens for lower-level spells. With a CL of 24 for conjurations, you can auto-quicken spells 4th-level or lower, get 5th-level spells on a 2, 6th on a 4, 7th on a 6, and 8th on an 8.

So, yeah. It's no Incantatrix, but every 5th-level Wizard can qualify out of the box. It's a decent PrC with dead-easy requirements that gives you some flexibility with actions. And actions are the single most important thing in D&D.

[ChristopherGroves]

Exactly that.  Good catch on the CL check as opposed to Spellcraft check.

So, any wizard combo that has CL increases it really does become free quicken 7/day.