Clash of the Capstones

[Archmage Joda]

Well, in my planar chaos mage thread, CantripN's suggestion had the character taking all 6 levels of escalation mage and incantatrix only up to 9th lvl. His stated reason was that he preferred the spontaneous metamagic from the last escalation mage level over the metamagic reduction and final bonus feat from the last incantatrix. Which would you take?

[woodenbandman]

rebuild a level and take both

Depends on what level you take either. Spontaneous Metamagic works on any level of spell for free and is good for high level spells, but having a lot lot lot of extended enlarge person and quickened whatever is also good. It all really does depend on this. If you're getting the MM at lower levels, take that, otherwise take the reduction.

And if you're starting at a late level go for the latter.

[CantripN]

It really depends on your level of play. You can finish Escalation Mage by level 11, while you can only get that last Incantatrix level at level 15.

At low levels, the benefits of EM are greater since you can't afford to use your spell slots for (powerful) Metamagic, while the skill checks for Incantatrix are too high. At higher levels, I might well prefer the full Incantatrix, but think of what happens along the way (also, delaying the loss of a school is never bad).

In any case, whichever you take, your first EPIC level should be the other one.

[Archmage Joda]

Ok, I understand now. Thank you for your input in both threads, CantripN, and I'll have to look at the rebuilding rules again woodenbandman. Well, I guess that means it's time for this thread to go die in ignominy.