Session 35: Into the Mausoleum or Tabby Keeps DyingBuffs[spoiler]
Bolded are PersistedRance has: Mindblank (I burn all my 8th level slots to cover everyone), Glibness, Elemental Body[air], Mage armor, Telepathic bond, See Invis, Nondetection, Prot. from Good, Greater Arcane Sight, Freedom of Movement, and Divine Power. From Sebban he has:
Lesser Vigor, Recitation, Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, and Energy Resist 20 (acid/elec)
Sebban:
Lesser Vigor Recitation, Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, and Energy Resist 20 (acid/elec),
Lore of the Gods, Death Ward, Footsteps of the Gods (perfect fly 40), Divine PowerBlood KightsCommentary and Observations on Play[spoiler]Okay, at this point my Beguiler is probably playing less and less like beguilers most commonly do or will. The nature of the party and the campaign and encouraged me to make feat (extra spell) and spell choices (Divine power, Wraithstrike, Draconic Polymorph) that will likely have me playing more like a Gish. Well, it at least gives me the option to Gish along with all the standard Beguiler awesomeness. I'd been holding off on bringing out the Beguiler Draconic Polymorph smackdown to pleasantly surprise the DM but being one ally down prompted me to bring out the big sticks.
Some things to consider, if I had more standard Advanced Learning choices like Shadow Evocation or Conjuration the Freezing Fog could have been easily dealt with by creating as Shadow Gust of wind. Of course scrolls/wands or a Rod of Shadowblending (like I used to have) would have dealt as well.
Having Greater Arcane Sight up is VERY nice, particularly since so many of our foes are casters or minions of casters. So we find ourselves fighting very powerful and often highly buffed opponents. Holy crap, just realized that Greater Stoneskin is a custom spell (not in the books). It was granting them DR20/adamantine.
Though I have the option to be Gishy all the Beguiling spells continue to be great buffs and trouble shooting options. The toughness of our opponents however make it tough sometimes to choose the right spells or to know which ones will work. There is a lot of nice spells that I simply have not seen as viable due to the power (and often high saves) of our foes and so have not used.
The need to maximize all our actions leads me to often take more time on my turn than either me or the other players (and DM) would prefer. But as our groups running joke "you have played Velmont right?" hints, such min/maxing of actions are kinda necessary given the power of our foes. Basically min/max or die, or at least have less chance of dying hehe.
I have a feeling that Rance is likely to be acting more and more the Gish depending on our foes. Most charm/illusion spells are likely to give diminishing returns when used offensively. DO NOT underestimate the usefulness of Nondetection and at higher levels Mind Blank. Those spells will be what keeps many of your illusion buffs viable.[/spoiler]
Bonus Feature: The Aura of Suckage is Discovered (A humorous realization)[spoiler]
Carthus' player and I were discussing things the other day and we come to a realization. The badguys always seem to be rocking pretty hard. They seen to be well informed, prepared and powerful making good choices to see their plots succeed. We have always experienced the "Mushroom Factor" (feed crap and kept in the dark) but though we have seen it time and time again we have only just realized that we have some sort of magical affect on those who are our allies. The difference is even noticed when the same person/thing is an ally or enemy at different points in time.
I now believe we radiate some sort of Aura that only affects those allied or friendly to us. This magical effect causes allies to be dumbasses. They become generally uninformed dipshits that make bad/inefficient choices. Carthus prefers to call it the Aura of Fucktardness and it has been with us at least from our days of guarding the Caravan.
A couple examples, back then Cain (a now avowed enemy) who was much higher level prepared and cast retarded spells or took retarded actions that allowed for the death of many companions. As our adventures with him continued there was a pattern of poor choices so much so that I have in previous posting commented on the ineptness of our allies. At the time I wrote it off as the DM just not wanting the powerful NPCs to overshadow us but now I am not so sure. Since the party of our ways Cain has become a powerful, smart, and prepared Wizard with spell choices and defenses that have saved him several times. Perhaps this diabolical effect has been the cause of those woes.
Even Peril Prolient, a 20th level Wizard seems to have fallen victim to our Aura. He sought our help unsuspecting that doing so might be his demise. Alas when he decided to work with us he become our ally and was thus affected by the Aura. This once well informed, prepared, and powerful caster had his brains turn to mush. Saddly, or perhaps mercifully, he probably never even realized his loss. In the end he was another victim of our Aura, taken out by 4 beatsticks with his only attempt at defense being Greater Mirror Image. The Aura must of caused the True Seeing to slip his mind along with all other wizardly sorts of defenses.
Our powerful Aura does a great deal to explain a lot that has happened throughout the game. If only we had joined Velmont and his Conclave those many sessions back as we were considering we would have inadvertently brought them to ruin.
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Session 36: Darkmoon Kisses, Balor Deals, and Cain Runs AwayCommentary and Observations on Play[spoiler]Really don't have a lot to comment on from this session that has not been said in previous sessions. Sorry
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Session 37 & 38: Plans set and I've Trained Carthus WellCommentary and Observations on PlayOriginal Post[spoiler]Right now I am intending to stay pure beguiler but I have to admit that the Mindbender dip for telepathy is very tempting thematically for the character.
I do not need to delay Advanced Learning though as the DM is letting me hold off on choosing until a later leveling.[/spoiler]