Help me: Ideas and concepts for an arcane spellcaster level1

[Nox]

Hi all!

I am helping one of my players building his PC( level 1).

Since he almost doesn't speak English, he asked me to help him build his character.

Since I am not an expert and I do not know all the spells and feats on ravenloft I kindly ask you, experienced players and GM, to help me with some concepts and ideas for his character.

He wants to play a mage. I'd prefer a human character, but if you have any different ideas I am open to proposals.

I wish to have some advice ON your concepts (even though it doesn't have to be a mage, Any arcane caster would be fine).

Obviously I am looking for a very ravenloft-ish concept, so a mage based on mist spells could be a perfect example of what I call "a good advice".

He asked me some possibilities aside the classical "irresistible spell, Metamagic feats" and so on.

You can make a specialized character (eg pyromancer) or general caster. I feel specialized are more interesting but is up to you, and maybe ur concept is interesting on his own even as a general spellcaster.

You can also add details to the character, for example" haunted by a ghost" (as long as I can find some rule about that concept) , etc.

In short:
1) a concept, with class, race and optional details (like haunted, cursed or whatever you want)
2)suggested feats, spells,skills
3) anything you think could add something to the character.

[Jimsolo]

Which system/edition?

[jamesfirecat]

Hi all!

I am helping one of my players building his PC( level 1).

Since he almost doesn't speak English, he asked me to help him build his character.

Since I am not an expert and I do not know all the spells and feats on ravenloft I kindly ask you, experienced players and GM, to help me with some concepts and ideas for his character.

He wants to play a mage. I'd prefer a human character, but if you have any different ideas I am open to proposals.

I wish to have some advice ON your concepts (even though it doesn't have to be a mage, Any arcane caster would be fine).

Obviously I am looking for a very ravenloft-ish concept, so a mage based on mist spells could be a perfect example of what I call "a good advice".

He asked me some possibilities aside the classical "irresistible spell, Metamagic feats" and so on.

You can make a specialized character (eg pyromancer) or general caster. I feel specialized are more interesting but is up to you, and maybe ur concept is interesting on his own even as a general spellcaster.

You can also add details to the character, for example" haunted by a ghost" (as long as I can find some rule about that concept) , etc.

In short:
1) a concept, with class, race and optional details (like haunted, cursed or whatever you want)
2)suggested feats, spells,skills
3) anything you think could add something to the character.

Does he have any thoughts/suggestions/input on the personality of the character he wants to play?

[Skyrock]

If your player isn't particularly familiar with the rules and has trouble reading them up, I would recommend one of the invoker classes (Warlock or Dragonfire Adept) that have only few spell-like abilities, but can spam them at will. DFA is overall stronger, while the Warlock plays nicely with the Theurge to create a Warlock/Wizard or Warlock/Cleric hybrid to back up his standard tricks with situational spells. If he is the only arcane character, I'd rather go Warlock/Theurge. If he is playing along with another arcane, DFA is more fun.

---

The single greatest level 1 spell any arcane caster can learn is Grease. Very few monsters have 5 Balance ranks so they are automatically flat-footed (good), there is a good chance that they will fall down and trip (even better), and the duration scales with level.
As a side benefit it can also be used to disarm someone or to escape a grapple in a pinch.

It only begins to lose its luster at high levels when everyone is flying all the time, and 3.5 Ravenloft doesn't tend to run for that long (and few level 1 spells matter at that time anyway).

[Nox]

He's the only arcane class, We play in 3.5.
He usually do not roleplay much, so we can do whatever we want i suppose.
As far as I can tell he would like a character who wants to revenge for a loss, or something similar

I dont know much about theurge / DFA. Dont know them tbh.

I suppose we need someone with a decent range of spells, not only one or two.

He knows how to play 3.5, but he doesnt know ravenloft and he does not speak english at all.

[The Lesser Evil]

Warlock is from the 3.5 accessory book "the Complete Arcane."


Since I don't know what materials you have access to, I'll assume the thre core plus the basic Ravenloft stuff. Out of the base PHB, i think the sorcerer would be the easiest one to make and get to know. Since he's wanting a vengeance type motivation, that suggests to me that somebody offed the character's ancestor or whatever entity was responsible for giving his bloodline the arcane power it has. The assassination may have been because the ancestor was perceived as a threat, or it might've been more mysterious reasons. It was likely done by the Kargat or some other sort of mysterious organization that lets you intersperse the investigation across the campaign.

If you feel the player or group could use a helpful NPC or sounding board for their plans at times, you could have the character take the Haunted feat, representing his dead ancestor. If the player would like, he could take the various other feats like Ethereal Empathy and such to be able to interact with more spirits/ghosts as he levels up. This would of course put more pressure on you to put in more spirits floating around, but it could be interesting.

[Skyrock]

Here is a bare-bones, mechanics-only write up for a Warlock/Wizard/Eldritch Theurge for the first few levels:

Race: Human

Ability score priorities:
STR --
DEX ++
CON +
INT +++
WIS -
CHA +

Level/Feat planning:

1. Warlock (Complete Arcane)

(F) Mortalbane (Book of Vile Darkness)
(F) Point-Blank Shot

Least Invocation: See the Unseen

2. Wizard
- ACF: Fighter Bonus Feat Wizard (UA, SRD link)
- ACF: Domain Wizard (UA, SRD link)
- ACF: Immediate Magic (PHB2) or Specialist Wizard (UA, SRD link)

(F) Precise Shot

3. Wizard
Necessary skills: Spellcraft 4 (to qualify for Practiced Spellcaster)

(F) Practiced Spellcaster (Warlock)

4./5. Wizard
Necessary skills by now: Knowledge (arcana) 8, Knowledge (the planes) 8 (to qualify for Eldritch Theurge)

6+. Eldritch Theurge (Complete Mage)

(F) ???

Least Invocation: ???

Notes:
- The first three levels are interchangeable. You can also start as a Wizard and only later dip Warlock at 2nd or 3rd. Warlock has the better hit die and can put Mortalbane to immediate use, so it is just the better pick at this point, but the power difference isn't dramatic.
- Go with the Domain Wizard ACF with any Domain that would fit the background. When in doubt, Conjuration is always an useful choice.
- Same with Immediate Action / Specialist Wizard ACF. They replace the familiar with a different benefit, and dread familiars are a very dubious class feature in Ravenloft, so getting anything else in exchange may be better. When in doubt, Immediate Magic: Conjuration (immediate action short range teleport a few times/day) is always a good pick.
- Level 6 is the point where you have paid all your must-have dues and can branch out into whatever looks fun (or pile up prerequisites to enter another Wizard PrC at level 16+ if you want to plan further ahead). You can also consider to retrain Mortalbane at this point if you use the retraining rules.

---

I am myself very partial to Warlock Theurge concepts. They have nearly the same raw casting power as a pure caster (the above build only loses 1 wizard level along the way), but back up their limited spells with at-will SLAs and a decent enough ranged touch weapon, the Eldritch Blast, giving them something useful to do every combat round without wasting spell slots.

Thematically, it goes perfectly with the revenge background story. Warlocks derive their power from pacts with fiends, fae or other otherworldly forces, and such a pact may have been sealed to fulfill the revenge. He might have been invested with the spellbook and the initial wizard training by his patron, or it may have been something he has seeked out later to better understand the forces he is dealing with.

EDIT: Oh, and if your player would prefer the Warlock side over the Wizard side, no problem either. Starting as a Wizard with the Precocious Apprentice feat (Complete Arcane p.181) to get an early level 2 spell and then going Warlock until he qualifies for the Eldritch Theurge, he would only lose 1 Warlock level and grab several invocations, earlier entry into the better invocations, Detect Magic at-will, DR 1/cold iron and the ever useful Deceive Item ability along the way, at the expense of being 4 levels behind as a Wizard.

[ewancummins]

Grease is handy for making a werewolf slip on the steps down to the boiler room. Then, you knock/ stuff him into the open boiler using the coal shovel, and roast his mangy arse.

Arkandale style.

[Nox]

Since I don't know what materials you have access to, I'll assume the thre core plus the basic Ravenloft stuff.

I have access to all the manuals, even though I did ask them to not play psionic character and not to use Tome of battle, since i dont like those manuals.

Here is a bare-bones, mechanics-only write up for a Warlock/Wizard/Eldritch Theurge for the first few levels:

Race: Human

Ability score priorities:
STR --
DEX ++
CON +
INT +++
WIS -
CHA +

Level/Feat planning:

1. Warlock (Complete Arcane)

(F) Mortalbane (Book of Vile Darkness)
(F) Point-Blank Shot

Least Invocation: See the Unseen

2. Wizard
- ACF: Fighter Bonus Feat Wizard (UA, SRD link)
- ACF: Domain Wizard (UA, SRD link)
- ACF: Immediate Magic (PHB2) or Specialist Wizard (UA, SRD link)

(F) Precise Shot

3. Wizard
Necessary skills: Spellcraft 4 (to qualify for Practiced Spellcaster)

(F) Practiced Spellcaster (Warlock)

4./5. Wizard
Necessary skills by now: Knowledge (arcana) 8, Knowledge (the planes) 8 (to qualify for Eldritch Theurge)

6+. Eldritch Theurge (Complete Mage)

(F) ???

Least Invocation: ???

Notes:
- The first three levels are interchangeable. You can also start as a Wizard and only later dip Warlock at 2nd or 3rd. Warlock has the better hit die and can put Mortalbane to immediate use, so it is just the better pick at this point, but the power difference isn't dramatic.
- Go with the Domain Wizard ACF with any Domain that would fit the background. When in doubt, Conjuration is always an useful choice.
- Same with Immediate Action / Specialist Wizard ACF. They replace the familiar with a different benefit, and dread familiars are a very dubious class feature in Ravenloft, so getting anything else in exchange may be better. When in doubt, Immediate Magic: Conjuration (immediate action short range teleport a few times/day) is always a good pick.
- Level 6 is the point where you have paid all your must-have dues and can branch out into whatever looks fun (or pile up prerequisites to enter another Wizard PrC at level 16+ if you want to plan further ahead). You can also consider to retrain Mortalbane at this point if you use the retraining rules.

---

I am myself very partial to Warlock Theurge concepts. They have nearly the same raw casting power as a pure caster (the above build only loses 1 wizard level along the way), but back up their limited spells with at-will SLAs and a decent enough ranged touch weapon, the Eldritch Blast, giving them something useful to do every combat round without wasting spell slots.

Thematically, it goes perfectly with the revenge background story. Warlocks derive their power from pacts with fiends, fae or other otherworldly forces, and such a pact may have been sealed to fulfill the revenge. He might have been invested with the spellbook and the initial wizard training by his patron, or it may have been something he has seeked out later to better understand the forces he is dealing with.

EDIT: Oh, and if your player would prefer the Warlock side over the Wizard side, no problem either. Starting as a Wizard with the Precocious Apprentice feat (Complete Arcane p.181) to get an early level 2 spell and then going Warlock until he qualifies for the Eldritch Theurge, he would only lose 1 Warlock level and grab several invocations, earlier entry into the better invocations, Detect Magic at-will, DR 1/cold iron and the ever useful Deceive Item ability along the way, at the expense of being 4 levels behind as a Wizard.

Thank you!

[Jimsolo]

I wrote an article for HLG on ideas for aligning wizards with the cultural norms in Ravenloft, with sixteen 'archetype' casters.

You can find it here.

[Nox]

I wrote an article for HLG on ideas for aligning wizards with the cultural norms in Ravenloft, with sixteen 'archetype' casters.

You can find it here.

I'm checking it out right now! Thanks!

Edit: LOL, i read it about 2 days ago. I really liked that article, it gaves me some good ideas!

[brilliantlight]

If your player isn't particularly familiar with the rules and has trouble reading them up, I would recommend one of the invoker classes (Warlock or Dragonfire Adept) that have only few spell-like abilities, but can spam them at will. DFA is overall stronger, while the Warlock plays nicely with the Theurge to create a Warlock/Wizard or Warlock/Cleric hybrid to back up his standard tricks with situational spells. If he is the only arcane character, I'd rather go Warlock/Theurge. If he is playing along with another arcane, DFA is more fun.

---

The single greatest level 1 spell any arcane caster can learn is Grease. Very few monsters have 5 Balance ranks so they are automatically flat-footed (good), there is a good chance that they will fall down and trip (even better), and the duration scales with level.
As a side benefit it can also be used to disarm someone or to escape a grapple in a pinch.

It only begins to lose its luster at high levels when everyone is flying all the time, and 3.5 Ravenloft doesn't tend to run for that long (and few level 1 spells matter at that time anyway).

I have a RL campaign that has been going on for 5 years or so.

[brilliantlight]

One thing I would remind him of is that warlocks can be any chaotic which includes CN and CG. Recommend this highly to him. Evil characters tend to wind up freaks or becoming new NPC darklords.
The one problem with Conjuration is that summoned beings tend to get upset and often violent when they find they can't go home. That reduces the appeal of that specialization in standard RL.

[The Lesser Evil]

Yeah, conjuration sucks in Ravenloft, avoid specializing it in if you can. Summoned monsters are basically out, as the same type of monster you summon has to be native to the domain you summon it in, else the spell fails. (This removes the majority of outsiders, and any animals you could summon doesn't have the celestial or fiendish templates.

As previously mentioned above, called creatures can't be sent back.

[Skyrock]

I've recommended Conjuration for the Immediate Magic ACF, not for the spells. Teleporting 10' as an immediate action Int mod times per day is good for mobility and even greater as life insurance.

There are also plenty of good conjuration spells that aren't based on summoning. Grease, Glitterdust, Evard's Black Tentacles and Dimension Door alone are some of the grestest spells on the entire wizard list, and that is just the stuff from the SRD.