Metamagic and You: A Thesis

[Widow]

The Dark Scholar prestige class from "The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde" has a "Book Mastery" ability that it gets at each level save 2nd and 7th which is very similar to Loremaster secrets. One of them reads as follows:

Bool of the Skilled Tongue: Knowledge(history) 14 ranks;
cast spells two or more levels lower than your maximum spell level with out verbal components.

The first level of the Prestige class doesn't advance spellcasting, but other than that Silent on all of your spells except your highest two levels might be worth a dip.

That is an interesting class, looks like it belongs in the immortality handbook as well.  The last ability is age 1 year for every 2.

[RelentlessImp]

Discussion about quicken spell moved here.

[Ramaloke]

Yes, another of its neat abilities is the ability to use divine scrolls (available at level 15 iirc).

[KellKheraptis]

Does anyone have a link to the Thaumaturge?  I tried to find it on the Wiki and turned up nothing.

EDIT : Another build for you, especially for blasters!

Wizard 5/Metaphysical Spellshaper 3/Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions 7/War Mage 5

What it gets :
-4 free metamagic feats (or 3 and an ACF)
-Free metamagic application from MPSS
-One level reduction to all spells cast with metamagic from MPSS
-Spontaneous casting of all metamagic spells
-No caps on spells based on levels (hello 40 dice Hail of Stone)
-+3 damage/die
-Cha to AC to yourself and 2 allies
-Free Widen and Enlarge when outside (hello Acorn of Far Travel)
-Ability to affect things multiple times by playing pinball with spells
-Free crafting XP and GP by harvesting monster parts
-Unlimited use of scrolls for spell prep without destroying the scroll or other writing
-Autofilling of area spells in cramped spaces
-Can even make portals!  This dude can transport armies with a single teleport!
-Stoneskin as a capstone that grants DR Unlimited/Adamantine
   -Gets it's own header...this means with Greater Ironguard, you are immune to weapons.  Period.  Let that
    Frenzied Berserker smash your head all he wants, it won't do a bit of good.

All in all, extremely versatile, no banned schools, can easily pull off eternal spells ready with a Persistent Unfettered Heroism and Chaotic Spell Recall combo-ed with Chaos Aligned Casting.  Oh, and crafting won't cost you a dime in gold or xp if you kill the right things.  Kinda makes you a bit of a Mengele of Monsters, but oh well.  Isn't that kinda the Wizard Shtick to begin with?

[McPoyo]

Where is SotLWT from?

[KellKheraptis]

Where is SotLWT from?

Tome, linky here.  Found it while digging up the Thaumaturge (it's buried in a Sorc thread on Frank and K's forum).  Absolute joygasm of wizardly abilities...dispelling is a valid tactic with this guy, and your no save/no sr blasts are an actual serious health hazard.  Free widen and enlarge is cool too.  Heh, TML's TK would RAPE with the cap removed and double range.

[RelentlessImp]

Does anyone have a link to the Thaumaturge?  I tried to find it on the Wiki and turned up nothing.

It's in the most recent version of the Tomes compilation, here. I think it's the updated version of Frank & Suulin's Sorcerer.

[KellKheraptis]

Does anyone have a link to the Thaumaturge?  I tried to find it on the Wiki and turned up nothing.

It's in the most recent version of the Tomes compilation, here. I think it's the updated version of Frank & Suulin's Sorcerer.

Joygasm!  This thing is a BEAST.  Let's see...

Thaumaturge 5/Metaphysical Spellshaper 3/Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions 7/War Mage 5
As the above, only gets sudden metamagic (hello Unfettered Heroism), another metamagic feat, and can now run the full gamut of Sor/Wiz/Cleric/Druid spells spontaneously, trading the familiar for Aligned Casting and using Unfettered Heroism with Chaotic Spell Recall to lay the hurt nonstop.  Oh, and spontaneously at that.  Add in Arcane Spellsurge and possibly Rapid Casting for full Quicken support of all spell slots (as your 9th's will take a full round action to cast).

[RelentlessImp]

Does anyone have a link to the Thaumaturge?  I tried to find it on the Wiki and turned up nothing.

It's in the most recent version of the Tomes compilation, here. I think it's the updated version of Frank & Suulin's Sorcerer.

Joygasm!  This thing is a BEAST.  Let's see...

Thaumaturge 5/Metaphysical Spellshaper 3/Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions 7/War Mage 5
As the above, only gets sudden metamagic (hello Unfettered Heroism), another metamagic feat, and can now run the full gamut of Sor/Wiz/Cleric/Druid spells spontaneously, trading the familiar for Aligned Casting and using Unfettered Heroism with Chaotic Spell Recall to lay the hurt nonstop.  Oh, and spontaneously at that.  Add in Arcane Spellsurge and possibly Rapid Casting for full Quicken support of all spell slots (as your 9th's will take a full round action to cast).

Oh god, that's brutal. Hilariously, stupidly brutal. But they have to take downtime to research the non-core Sor/Wiz/Cleric/Druid spells, so they won't be pulling all the non-core tricks off the bat. Not that they have to.

[KellKheraptis]

Does anyone have a link to the Thaumaturge?  I tried to find it on the Wiki and turned up nothing.

It's in the most recent version of the Tomes compilation, here. I think it's the updated version of Frank & Suulin's Sorcerer.

Joygasm!  This thing is a BEAST.  Let's see...

Thaumaturge 5/Metaphysical Spellshaper 3/Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions 7/War Mage 5
As the above, only gets sudden metamagic (hello Unfettered Heroism), another metamagic feat, and can now run the full gamut of Sor/Wiz/Cleric/Druid spells spontaneously, trading the familiar for Aligned Casting and using Unfettered Heroism with Chaotic Spell Recall to lay the hurt nonstop.  Oh, and spontaneously at that.  Add in Arcane Spellsurge and possibly Rapid Casting for full Quicken support of all spell slots (as your 9th's will take a full round action to cast).

Oh god, that's brutal. Hilariously, stupidly brutal. But they have to take downtime to research the non-core Sor/Wiz/Cleric/Druid spells, so they won't be pulling all the non-core tricks off the bat. Not that they have to.

6 Words for ya : True Believer, Tome of Ancient Lore.  1 spell/day for the rest of eternity   Even if you assume only 1 year between levels 1 and 10, that's 365 spells that don't suck, non-core.

When I get back, I'll drop one that gets double auto-enlarge, auto-widen, and uncapped blasting, with any luck also including 3 levels of Spellwarp Sniper.  Lowly fireball becomes a Dragunov

[BeholderSlayer]

How are you applying action points to the use of a feat? I can't find anywhere that says that you can do this, only class features with a limited uses per day.

Nevermind, I was looking at ECS rather than UA. Do you even need to bother with chaotic-aligned casting and Chaotic Spell recall? The UA version appears to allow spell recall by default.

Also, the uncapped magic just seems to scream at me "RED WIZARD ME!!!!"

[Echoes]

How the hell did they ever print Miser with Magic  ? Seriously, if psuedo-official (as in, licensed 3rd party stuff ala dragon and BoEF) is allowed, that feat is the best thing any spellcaster can take.

Spellcraft check DC 10 + (2 * spell level) = DC 10 - 28. As a Wizard, you will never fail this check ever, assuming you start with an Int of 18. By level 9 (the earliest you can take the feat) the DC to retain a 5th-level spell is 20. Your Spellcraft check is 12 (ranks) + 2 (synergy) + 5 (Int 20 [18 + 2 level ups]) = 19. You succeed on a 1 without trying to optimize your check at all, and your check will remain 1 below the DC until you hit 16, when your check actually equals the DC. At no point do you fall behind the curve.

This is as good if not better than Natural Spell (except Druids can take it too, albeit they'll need to actually work to keep their Spellcraft check high enough).

[RelentlessImp]

How the hell did they ever print Miser with Magic  ? Seriously, if psuedo-official (as in, licensed 3rd party stuff ala dragon and BoEF) is allowed, that feat is the best thing any spellcaster can take.

Spellcraft check DC 10 + (2 * spell level) = DC 10 - 28. As a Wizard, you will never fail this check ever, assuming you start with an Int of 18. By level 9 (the earliest you can take the feat) the DC to retain a 5th-level spell is 20. Your Spellcraft check is 12 (ranks) + 2 (synergy) + 5 (Int 20 [18 + 2 level ups]) = 19. You succeed on a 1 without trying to optimize your check at all, and your check will remain 1 below the DC until you hit 16, when your check actually equals the DC. At no point do you fall behind the curve.

This is as good if not better than Natural Spell (except Druids can take it too, albeit they'll need to actually work to keep their Spellcraft check high enough).

Well, it does have the limit of only being able to recover a limited number of spell slots per day. But yeah, it's muy uber.

[Echoes]

How the hell did they ever print Miser with Magic  ? Seriously, if psuedo-official (as in, licensed 3rd party stuff ala dragon and BoEF) is allowed, that feat is the best thing any spellcaster can take.

Spellcraft check DC 10 + (2 * spell level) = DC 10 - 28. As a Wizard, you will never fail this check ever, assuming you start with an Int of 18. By level 9 (the earliest you can take the feat) the DC to retain a 5th-level spell is 20. Your Spellcraft check is 12 (ranks) + 2 (synergy) + 5 (Int 20 [18 + 2 level ups]) = 19. You succeed on a 1 without trying to optimize your check at all, and your check will remain 1 below the DC until you hit 16, when your check actually equals the DC. At no point do you fall behind the curve.

This is as good if not better than Natural Spell (except Druids can take it too, albeit they'll need to actually work to keep their Spellcraft check high enough).

Well, it does have the limit of only being able to recover a limited number of spell slots per day. But yeah, it's muy uber.

Ah, didn't have the errata. That makes it less insane, although still essentially giving you an extra slot of your highest level and then some.

[KellKheraptis]

Well, it looks like it's roughly equal to CSR for regaining slots, though it wouldn't cost your familiar, and it wouldn't take an action (that I could see).  So with Unfettered Heroism tech, it's strictly superior IMO.  Nice find, Echoes.

[KellKheraptis]

Double posting for awesomesauce value :
Thaumaturge 4/Metaphysical Spellshaper 3/Seeker of the Lost Wizard Traditions 3/Incantatrix 10

-2 to final metamagic, -1 to each metamagic, uncapped spells, free metamagic from both MPSS and Inca, Spell Reflection to ricochet spells back off an enemy a bunch of times, scroll prep to use any scroll as an impromptu spellbook, AoE spells always use all their potential area if you so desire, and if you don't feel this last ability is needed, replace the 3rd level of Seeker with Tainted Sorcerer, for even more free metamagic.  Between that, MPSS's easily abused ability damage mechanic, and Inca getting it for free (basically), there shouldn't be a single combo out of reach.

Also, if you'd rather dedicate a bit more to seeker, go for at least 5th level, and go monster hunting with Harvest Magic, for basically free crafting by scavenging the corpse of magically inclined monsters you overpower with your obscene magical might.

Feats and Items of note :
-Miser with Magic, for a no-action recharge, usable 1/rd with Persistent Unfettered Heroism
-Initiate of Mystra, as you share the cleric list with clerics
-True Believer isn't needed, as you only need to sacrifice a 5th level divine spell slot to use...
-A Tome of Ancient Lore, for all the spells known outside of core you'll ever need

Let me know if I missed anything   If you get the Tome before entering Incantatrix, you can even snag all the spells of the school you're going to ban, and not be out a damn thing.

[PlzBreakMyCampaign]

The RAW thaumaturgist 3 Prc has an even better free but stackable with the regular version extend on (summon) spells

[GrokThis]

The Shadowcaster (ToM) will give you a bonus metamagic feat every other level from level 2 if you don't specialize in any one path. Not the strongest class to be sure, but maybe a slight dip for a free feat.

Still looking through Realmshelp? 'Cause I can name 3 feats off the top of my head not on the list.

EDIT: Ah, almost forgot. The Planar Handbook Wizard 14 substitution level is Enhanced Magic. 3/day cast a spell that would be maximized and enlarged on a particular plane, w/out level increase. Replaces a 7th level spell slot.

[nijineko]

any chance of a similar thesis with metapsionics?

[Andion Isurand]

How does this handbook feel about the Transcendent Spell feat?   (Warcraft RPG: Magic and Mayhem 33)

Basically for seven spell slots you remove any cap on spell variables that are based on caster level.