Help optimizing an Anima Mage!

[Kuroimaken]

Okay, base line is this... I made a Bard/Binder/Anima Mage for a PbP campaign (yes, I realize it's not the most optimized thing ever...) and I'm trying to figure out the best ways to optimize him. Inspire Courage optimization is out due to him not being exalted, and Dragonfire Inspiration to a lesser degree due to him not having taken the appropriate feats for it yet. I'm thinking I could probably work something out with the Anima Mage abilities and MAYBE some Sublime Chord shenanigans, but at the moment I'm stumped... Help?

EDIT: Something tells me I should have taken Precocious Apprentice...

[Rebel7284]

Anima Mage wouldn't advance bardic music.  That's probably bad since a lot of powerful bard abilities are keyed off of it.  Bard 9, Binder 1, Sublime Chord 2, Anima Mage 8?

[Kuroimaken]

I'm starting at level 10. Best Bard song is Inspire Courage, which my trusty Vest of Legends should be able to cover. Also, Extra Music covers the number of songs per day.

[Straw_Man]

*sighs* Kuro, you've been posting for awhile. You know a build, even a build stub helps out Characopt a ton  . Do you have any roles in mind?

Theres no vestige that advances bard song that I know of, so thats going to be pretty brutal. I'd suggest getting at least 3 levels of bard but swapping out inspire competence for something more sexy. Unless your Illumian though your going to need more as bards cant qualify for Prec. App. since they don't start with the ability to cast 1st level spells. Again, tell us what you have, since I can't think of much else to add with what you've given.

[Straw_Man]

Here's your source for all your Binder goodies   http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=137.0

Off the top of my head though, Naberius for social, Karsus for UMgoD, Paimon to fight, Focalor to debuff. Not too impressed with 2nd level vestiges myself, so get at least 5 EBL.

Btw, which game is this for? This build might  be tough to play in a highly optimised game. Can you rebuild some stuff, or retrain?

[Todd]

Metamagic is the heart and soul of Anima Mage optimzation.

Quicken and Persistant are great like always.  Chain and Twin can be fun on a lot of Bard spells.  Depening on  your DM though Heighten might be the best of all, rasing save DCs and more.

Note - you REALLY need to have Sublime Chord in this build for expanded spell selection.

[Kuroimaken]

*sighs* Kuro, you've been posting for awhile. You know a build, even a build stub helps out Characopt a ton  . Do you have any roles in mind?

Well, that's the thing. I don't have any clue what role an Anima Mage is supposed to fill. My initial build stub was Bard 4/Binder3/Anima Mage 10/X?? but I realize that's quite suboptimal. I'm assuming that no matter -WHAT- I do, either spell progression or Binder progression will take a hit.

Theres no vestige that advances bard song that I know of, so thats going to be pretty brutal. I'd suggest getting at least 3 levels of bard but swapping out inspire competence for something more sexy. Unless your Illumian though your going to need more as bards cant qualify for Prec. App. since they don't start with the ability to cast 1st level spells. Again, tell us what you have, since I can't think of much else to add with what you've given.

You're right, I'm either gonna have to go Illumian or swap Bard for something else. Thanks for the heads-up.

And swapping Inspire Competence (as well as countersong) is a no-brainer... I'm already THERE.

Btw, which game is this for? This build might  be tough to play in a highly optimised game. Can you rebuild some stuff, or retrain?

A Necessary Evil, over at Myth-Weavers. I don't think there'll be a -lot- of optimization going on there, anyhow.

[Kuroimaken]

Also, I just checked out the Illumian entry, I didn't see anything about them being allowed to take Precocious Apprentice either... o_O

[Straw_Man]

Also, I just checked out the Illumian entry, I didn't see anything about them being allowed to take Precocious Apprentice either... o_O

The Krau sigil heightens your spell by one, ergo a first level spell becomes 2nd and meets your Anima Mage requirement. This still requires bard 2, as thats when you get 1st level spells, but never fear, Krau and his Precocious buddy is here.

Bard level one gives you a cantrip, Krau heightens this to a 1st level spell, which then qualifies you to take Prec. App. as your 1st level feat, and Ding! Bard 1/ Binder 1 with that and Improved Binding as your 3rd level feat lets you get Anima Mage by level 3 

Bard 1/ Binder 1/ Anima Mage 8
Train out Prec. App. at level six and you get bet your feat investment.

It'll be a very interesting build. I'm at work right now Kuro, but I think I might be able to make you a very interesting Shadowcraft Mage build here 

[Kuroimaken]

The Krau sigil heightens your spell by one, ergo a first level spell becomes 2nd and meets your Anima Mage requirement. This still requires bard 2, as thats when you get 1st level spells, but never fear, Krau and his Precocious buddy is here.

Bard level one gives you a cantrip, Krau heightens this to a 1st level spell, which then qualifies you to take Prec. App. as your 1st level feat, and Ding! Bard 1/ Binder 1 with that and Improved Binding as your 3rd level feat lets you get Anima Mage by level 3

Bard 1/ Binder 1/ Anima Mage 8
Train out Prec. App. at level six and you get bet your feat investment.

It'll be a very interesting build. I'm at work right now Kuro, but I think I might be able to make you a very interesting Shadowcraft Mage build here

Actually, Krau just gives you an increase in caster level; it doesn't allow you to cast more spells, unfortunately.

Heck, I think I'm dropping Bard and going with Sorcerer instead; Bard would have too many things to keep up with (and after AM 10 I wouldn't be able to evolve binding and spellcasting together). This character is already a gish by default, I might as well go all the way about it.

GODS, my BAB will suck...

[Straw_Man]

I think I caught where I goofed, its not Krau, its Earth spell & Heighten, which incidentally leads into Shadowcraft Gnome.

Since you've decided to switch classes, may I suggest despite the extra MAD a specialist wizard is still very worth it?

[Kuroimaken]

I think I caught where I goofed, its not Krau, its Earth spell & Heighten, which incidentally leads into Shadowcraft Gnome.

Since you've decided to switch classes, may I suggest despite the extra MAD a specialist wizard is still very worth it?

Unfortunately, I don't have the attribute points to spare...

[Kuroimaken]

OK, right now the build stub is Sorc1/Binder2/Anima Mage 10. That leaves me 7 levels that I have no idea what to do with. I could either take 2 levels in Binder and thus achieve maximum binding ability (sacking one level of spellcasting in the process) or take 6 levels in sorc (or, more likely, something more appropriate) and achieve 18th level spellcasting. I'm seriously pondering which of the two is more effective.

[Rebel7284]

Spells > All in D&D.  Given the option between level 9 spells and more binding, take the spells.

[DaveTheMagicWeasel]

The Illumian entry trick is the Improved Power Sigil (Krau) feat, also in Races of Destiny.

[Kuroimaken]

The Illumian entry trick is the Improved Power Sigil (Krau) feat, also in Races of Destiny.

I'm still better off with a Sorcerer, I believe. Plus I hate Illumian flavor -- I don't want to be a bald guy whose head glows like a friggin' lamp.

Spells > All in D&D.  Given the option between level 9 spells and more binding, take the spells.

Yeah, but when my selection is as limited as it is... I mean, if I go down the 9th-level spell route, I'll have a single 9th-level, 2 8th-level, and 3 7th-level spells known. Can you point me out to a single 9th-level spell that's so good it's worth taking over everything else? Wish's XP cost is prohibitive, and Shapechange doesn't do a smear of good if you don't know what to change into (like me).

EDIT: Looking further at my options, if I increase the binder side (preferrably by means of KotSS -- I can select a damn good vestige as my patron vestige, PLUS no bad pact with it means I always get that nifty extra spell slot per day), my BAB goes up (always a good thing; my current build means I have +6 BAB at 13th level, which is HORRID), and my HP goes up (again, a good thing considering the Anima Mage's squishy d4 HD). Since I'm not so well-informed on sorcerer PrCs, are there any that'd be worth taking up to 7th level (or a combination thereof)? Considering the Anima Mage's vestige metamagic, it'd be better if it were a PrC that focused on metamagic.

[DaveTheMagicWeasel]

The Illumian entry trick is the Improved Power Sigil (Krau) feat, also in Races of Destiny.

I'm still better off with a Sorcerer, I believe. Plus I hate Illumian flavor -- I don't want to be a bald guy whose head glows like a friggin' lamp.

Oh I hear you on the flavour.  I was just throwing it out there as people seemed confused as to how the trick worked.

Spells > All in D&D.  Given the option between level 9 spells and more binding, take the spells.

Yeah, but when my selection is as limited as it is... I mean, if I go down the 9th-level spell route, I'll have a single 9th-level, 2 8th-level, and 3 7th-level spells known. Can you point me out to a single 9th-level spell that's so good it's worth taking over everything else? Wish's XP cost is prohibitive, and Shapechange doesn't do a smear of good if you don't know what to change into (like me).

EDIT: Looking further at my options, if I increase the binder side (preferrably by means of KotSS -- I can select a damn good vestige as my patron vestige, PLUS no bad pact with it means I always get that nifty extra spell slot per day), my BAB goes up (always a good thing; my current build means I have +6 BAB at 13th level, which is HORRID), and my HP goes up (again, a good thing considering the Anima Mage's squishy d4 HD). Since I'm not so well-informed on sorcerer PrCs, are there any that'd be worth taking up to 7th level (or a combination thereof)? Considering the Anima Mage's vestige metamagic, it'd be better if it were a PrC that focused on metamagic.

Incantatrix 7 is pretty good for metamagic.  Otherwise the usual suspects - IotSV, Mage of the Arcane Order, Fiend-Blooded for extra spells known.

The other thing with Sublime Chord is getting extra spells known - Arcane Disciple, Bloodline feats from Dragon Compendium, Knowstones, etc - with large sourcebook access there are ways.

[Kuroimaken]

Incantatrix 7 is pretty good for metamagic.  Otherwise the usual suspects - IotSV, Mage of the Arcane Order, Fiend-Blooded for extra spells known.

The other thing with Sublime Chord is getting extra spells known - Arcane Disciple, Bloodline feats from Dragon Compendium, Knowstones, etc - with large sourcebook access there are ways.

Incantatrix requires Spellcraft optimization, and I think it requires being a Wizard as well, neither of which are options for me, sadly. Fiend-blooded wouldn't fit for this particular campaign due to alignment issues, though Mage of the Arcane Order and IotSV sound cool.