Author Topic: Playing a Base Archivist 1-20  (Read 2293 times)

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Omarvelous

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Playing a Base Archivist 1-20
« on: March 05, 2011, 01:05:35 AM »
Hello!  I am in the process of creating a character for a fairly new game (3 sessions under the belt so far) and am very attracted to the Archivist for their wide range of spells and how awesome they are at helping other party members with Dark Knowledge.

The character will be starting at 1st or 2nd level, and if all goes well this campaign will go all the way to 20 or possibly beyond.

All 3.5 books are allowed, anything else can be approved on a case-by-case basis but there needs to be a very good reason for it to be allowed.  As far as what spells are available, anything in those books exist in the world, and I will need to rely on gather information and creating a network of contacts, especially for harder to find spells (something from a Divine Bard or Divine Wizard variant, for instance).

The party make-up is currently a Shifter Druid who is planning to go Moonspeaker, a Psychic Warrior basically filling the meatshield role, a jack-of-all trades rogue, and possibly a monk (the last two are being played by completely new players, and the last one has been missing most of the sessions so at this point I'm assuming she won't be involved).

My primary focus is buffing my party mates, with hopefully an adaptable secondary focus (crowd controlling, debuffing, blasting, or healing as need be).  I am not interested in making a grossly overpowered character but our DM throws some pretty challenging stuff at us, and given what I've experienced with him before, balance will be rewarded (as opposed to being really awesome at just summoning or something like that).

Character details:
After thinking about it for awhile, I'm pretty much settled on Whisper Gnome, but a convincing argument for Strongheart Halfling/Human may sway me.  We have a stat array of 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 10 or 32 point buy, so these are the stats I'm looking at currently:

Str: 8
Dex: 12
Con: 18
Int: 18
Wis: 12
Cha: 12

These are the feats I have planned out so far, with 11 levels of Archivist and 1 Sacred Exorcist (we're allowed 1 flaw):

1: Knowledge Devotion, Extend Spell
3: Trivial Knowledge
6: Persistent Spell
9: Divine Metamagic: Persistent Spell
12: Extra Turning

Beyond taking Archivist to 11, I'm unsure where to go from there.  I understand that Archivist 20 is viable, but I am trying to find other options.  Any thoughts about what I have now and where to take the character past 12 will be greatly appreciated.  Feel free to bring up any details I should have included and I will be happy to reply and/or edit this post.

Thanks in advance for your time!
-Omar

Edit: I was very quickly talked into incorporating DMM: Persist despite some initial hesitation.
« Last Edit: March 05, 2011, 06:04:09 PM by Omarvelous »

Sobolev

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Re: Playing a Base Archivist 1-20
« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2011, 02:20:17 AM »
Hello!  I am in the process of creating a character for a fairly new game (3 sessions under the belt so far) and am very attracted to the Archivist for their wide range of spells and how awesome they are at helping other party members with Dark Knowledge.

The character will be starting at 1st or 2nd level, and if all goes well this campaign will go all the way to 20 or possibly beyond.

All 3.5 books are allowed, anything else can be approved on a case-by-case basis but there needs to be a very good reason for it to be allowed.  As far as what spells are available, anything in those books exist in the world, and I will need to rely on gather information and creating a network of contacts, especially for harder to find spells (something from a Divine Bard or Divine Wizard variant, for instance).

The party make-up is currently a Shifter Druid who is planning to go Moonspeaker, a Psychic Warrior basically filling the meatshield role, a jack-of-all trades rogue, and possibly a monk (the last two are being played by completely new players, and the last one has been missing most of the sessions so at this point I'm assuming she won't be involved).

My primary focus is buffing my party mates, with hopefully an adaptable secondary focus (crowd controlling, debuffing, blasting, or healing as need be).  I am not interested in making a grossly overpowered character but our DM throws some pretty challenging stuff at us, and given what I've experienced with him before, balance will be rewarded (as opposed to being really awesome at just summoning or something like that).

Character details:
After thinking about it for awhile, I'm pretty much settled on Whisper Gnome, but a convincing argument for Strongheart Halfling/Human may sway me.  We have a stat array of 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 10 or 32 point buy, so these are the stats I'm looking at currently:

Str: 8
Dex: 12
Con: 18
Int: 18
Wis: 14
Cha: 10 (I was considering switching Wis and Dex, but I'm not sure about completely ignoring bonus spells)

This is what feats I have planned out so far, with all levels being Archivist (we're allowed 1 flaw):

1: Knowledge Devotion, Spontaneous Healing
3: Trivial Knowledge, re-train Spontaneous Healing to Touch of Healing
6: Improved Initiative
9: Insightful Reflexes (unless I dump Wis and make Dex 16, then probably Extend or Heighten Spell)

Beyond taking Archivist to 11, I'm unsure where to go from there.  I understand that Archivist 20 is viable, and I'm hesitant to go the DMM Persist route.  Any thoughts about what I have now and where to take the character past 11 will be greatly appreciated.  Feel free to bring up any details I should have included and I will be happy to reply and/or edit this post.

Thanks in advance for your time!
-Omar

I'll read over this in a moment, but my first reaction is to the party makeup.  If you play this right you will blow the bleep out of the other party members.  It's something you want to consider if you want to do.
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Endarire

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Re: Playing a Base Archivist 1-20
« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2011, 03:15:29 AM »
If you focus on buffing, Divine Metamagic: Persistent Spell is quite logical.  It lets your party stay buffed all day!
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Omarvelous

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Re: Playing a Base Archivist 1-20
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2011, 03:22:43 AM »
@Sobolev That's part of the reason I want my primary role to be buffing them.  If you think even despite that I'll be outshining them, please let me know.

@Endarire From what I gather (with my admittedly limited limited knowledge) the best spells for DMM Persist are used on yourself.  I'm not interested in providing more than utility in combat and want to help my party become awesome.
« Last Edit: March 05, 2011, 03:24:34 AM by Omarvelous »

Rejakor

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Re: Playing a Base Archivist 1-20
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2011, 03:44:24 AM »
There are plenty of DMM Persist spells that can be used on the party.

And touch range for that matter.  It's just so good that even if you're not using it optimally it's still good.

Omarvelous

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Re: Playing a Base Archivist 1-20
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2011, 03:50:06 AM »
There are plenty of DMM Persist spells that can be used on the party.

And touch range for that matter.  It's just so good that even if you're not using it optimally it's still good.


Does this still apply if I do not want to use any Nightstick cheese?

JaronK

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Re: Playing a Base Archivist 1-20
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2011, 07:30:08 AM »
@Endarire From what I gather (with my admittedly limited limited knowledge) the best spells for DMM Persist are used on yourself.  I'm not interested in providing more than utility in combat and want to help my party become awesome.

Consider Righteous Wrath of the Faithful (all nearby allies get an extra melee attack and some other abilities), Lesser Mass Vigor/Vigorous Circle (Fast Healing for nearby allies), Recitation (defensive boosts to nearby allies) and so on.  DMM:Persist can absolutely boost the party if you focus on that.

But yeah, straight Archivist is a LOT stronger than the Rogue or Monk (especially played by newbies) and if you're not careful you could easily outshine the other two as well (less so the Druid).

JaronK

Rejakor

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Re: Playing a Base Archivist 1-20
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2011, 09:30:40 AM »
DMM Persist without nightstick cheese is 1-2 persists.  Still generally worth it for the cost of 2 feats. (Persist Spell, DMM:Persist).  Extend is good on it's own.  And the Planning Domain gets Extend for free.

JaronK

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Re: Playing a Base Archivist 1-20
« Reply #8 on: March 05, 2011, 09:32:28 AM »
Also remember that you can persist a spell, then extend it.  Now it lasts 48 hours... this effectively doubles the number of spells you can have up at once.

JaronK

Omarvelous

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Re: Playing a Base Archivist 1-20
« Reply #9 on: March 05, 2011, 11:05:25 AM »
The DMM Persist points are duly noted, looks like I will definitely be incorporating Sacred Exorcist into this build (I'm loathe to give up caster levels for fluff reasons).  I feel as though I still want to go Archivist 11 before prestiging, but I will consider going in at level 9 as well.

As far as party balance goes, along with the primary focus on buffing others, I also have the boon of a very experienced DM who knows how to throw challenges at us that test the entire party.  I think a combination of his skill, some caution on my part, and the concept of the character should allow the others to have plenty of places to shine.  A big reason that I wanted to play Archivist is that the amount of holes I can fill are ridiculous (and the party as currently constructed has quite a few) I will be more than happy filling said holes while allowing the others to do what they do best (and make them better at doing it).

Even though it will be awhile from now, does anyone have any suggestions as to directions to take the character from 12th level assuming Archivist 11/Sacred Exorcist 1 in some order?  The Archivist Handbook doesn't really offer any ideas that I've seen, and I would like to plan ahead.

Many thanks to all of you for the great feedback!
« Last Edit: March 05, 2011, 03:09:28 PM by Omarvelous »