Evoker FvS

[Matuse]

The best option, is to max everything, through 3 FVS/Wiz/Sorc/Bard/Cleric past lives, but that is not realistic for most.

Why Bard and Cleric?

Bard does absolutely nothing for this character. +2 Enchantment save is extremely mediocre except for the occasional dancing ball. Certainly not worth drowning yourself in 3 past lives.

Cleric giving +1 Conjuration is great for Wiz/Sorc and their CC spells. For a FvS, the benefit is marginal at best.

Divine Conjuration spells (where DC actually matters):
Heals vs undead
Cometfall
Deific Vengeance

So...really, just Cometfall. Personally, I don't ever even consider taking Cometfall on a FvS. Level 6 has choices enough already, and a spell which does a fraction of the damage of Blade Barrier and checks against the same save (and is thus as equally pointless against evaders as BB) does not come close to making the list.

[Habreno]

Why Bard and Cleric?

Bard does absolutely nothing for this character. +2 Enchantment save is extremely mediocre except for the occasional dancing ball. Certainly not worth drowning yourself in 3 past lives.

Cleric giving +1 Conjuration is great for Wiz/Sorc and their CC spells. For a FvS, the benefit is marginal at best.

Divine Conjuration spells (where DC actually matters):
Heals vs undead
Cometfall
Deific Vengeance

So...really, just Cometfall. Personally, I don't ever even consider taking Cometfall on a FvS. Level 6 has choices enough already, and a spell which does a fraction of the damage of Blade Barrier and checks against the same save (and is thus as equally pointless against evaders as BB) does not come close to making the list.

Cometfall is useful for casters if you can't instakill them, and that includes both Arcane and Divine, the latter which have higher Fort saves. Both have absolute **** reflex saves and stay down a while with a Cometfall.

Limited use, but still worthwhile to use. I can understand a Soul not fitting it, though.

[-Zephyr-]

So...really, just Cometfall. Personally, I don't ever even consider taking Cometfall on a FvS. Level 6 has choices enough already, and a spell which does a fraction of the damage of Blade Barrier and checks against the same save (and is thus as equally pointless against evaders as BB) does not come close to making the list.

I enjoy cometfall but not for the knockdown effect; just because it's a ranged nuke, contrary to BB.
But I agree, I would never grind 3 cleric lives just for that spell.

[Fefnir_2011]

As for the feat selection, since you'll have 3 sorc pl and the active wiz pl, you can easily afford dropping gsf:evo. Take shield mastery instead.
My min/max mind had trouble accepting this at first, but the added survability of just wearing a tower shield (and you can make some awsome alchemical tower shields for evokers) is far more enjoyable that just 1 DC on a build that already has evocation DCs through the roof.

This seems to make the most sense to me, thanks. I'll have a good alchemical tower shield once I put some tiers on it and decide between healing or light for my metal, so it might be good to pick up shield mastery.

I actually can't say i ever recall seeing something proc a blue shield on my Implosion, which is what I'm worried about most along with Blade Barrier. I suppose if I do see them in the new content I can always do some TRs while my other toons are at cap.

Is 45 the breakwater mark for divines as well as arcanes? I ask because once I
a) do the 3 sorc lives
b) run eVoN6 and get my helm shard
c) get my refined water spirit for my tier 2 alchem

I'll be sitting at 45 evocation even without the -2 to saves my aura provides. If I only need 1 PL sorc to hit a 45 implosion with my aura, it might be prudent to do 1 sorc and 3 wizard instead of the opposite.

The best option, is to max everything, through 3 FVS/Wiz/Sorc/Bard/Cleric past lives, but that is not realistic for most.

I'm already going to be grinding more than I would prefer for my wizard to hit 45 Necro/Enchant, and I kind of feel like if I'm going to do that many PLs on my Evoker, then why am I not doing my last life as a wizard?

EDIT: Oh, and I can see where he's coming from on the cleric PL, as my FvS/Monk has 1 of those and it seems to give me a slightly higher rate of knockdown. I can't see doing 3 Cleric PL just for that though.

[Crann]

Cleric for Cometfall, Bard for Greater Command.

Not realsitic, not worth the grind to me, but if you want the "Ultimate" Caster....thats your lineup.

Don't discount the utility of GC as epic CC. Had a few Arcaneless runs first life, and a few enemy mobs sitting out a fight is a good thing.

[Crann]

So...really, just Cometfall. Personally, I don't ever even consider taking Cometfall on a FvS. Level 6 has choices enough already, and a spell which does a fraction of the damage of Blade Barrier and checks against the same save (and is thus as equally pointless against evaders as BB) does not come close to making the list.

What do you use against clusters of casters?

Or against multiple casters even before Implosion.

Or against high SR Drow casters short of relying on a bunch of wiz PL's?

Again not advocating 3 cleric lives just for one spell, or 3 Bard lives for another.

[WruntJunior]

Cleric for Cometfall, Bard for Greater Command.

Not realsitic, not worth the grind to me, but if you want the "Ultimate" Caster....thats your lineup.

Don't discount the utility of GC as epic CC. Had a few Arcaneless runs first life, and a few enemy mobs sitting out a fight is a good thing.

Multiple bard pastlives don't add to greater command dc. "You were a Bard in a past life. You occasionally find yourself humming a merry tune. Each time you acquire this feat you gain +2 to saves vs. enchantments and illusions. You gain 1 bard song usage. This feat can be stacked up to three times." One past life gives you a feat you can take for +1 enchantment...but as you don't take sf/gsf:enchant, it's not even worth considering.

[LafoMamone]

So...really, just Cometfall. Personally, I don't ever even consider taking Cometfall on a FvS. Level 6 has choices enough already, and a spell which does a fraction of the damage of Blade Barrier and checks against the same save (and is thus as equally pointless against evaders as BB) does not come close to making the list.

I would argue that cometfall is somewhat useful against stationary enemies, such as most archers and other ranged attackers (particularly of the skelly type), of which there might be enough to justify taking the spell.

Justifying 3 cleric PLs is a whole different matter though. I personally feel that divine casters need a few more offensive spells. I am willing to bet that these will probably be more abundant in the druid spell list, since theirs is traditionally more offensive in D&D.

[Fefnir_2011]

Justifying 3 cleric PLs is a whole different matter though. I personally feel that divine casters need a few more offensive spells. I am willing to bet that these will probably be more abundant in the druid spell list, since theirs is traditionally more offensive in D&D.

I think that's something all who play divines can agree upon. We really need spells like:

Storm of Vengeance (Level 9 Conjuration)
Earthquake (Level 8 Evocation)
Holy Word (Level 7 Evocation)
Wall of Stone (Level 5 Conjuration)
Insect Plague (Level 5 Conjuration)
Symbol of Sleep (Level 5 Enchantment)
Wind Wall (Level 3 Evocation)
Deeper Darkness (Level 3 Evocation)

In order to be casters beyond "Sometimes I heal and sometimes I cast". Hopefully some of these will come to us in the expansion, when druid gets them.

[Matuse]

Bard for Greater Command.

Bard past life gives +2 Saves vs Enchantment to YOU. It doesn't do anything for your spell DCs.

The active Bard PL gives +1 enchantment...but now you're burning a feat on it. There's no such thing as a FvS build with feats to spare.

I think that's something all who play divines can agree upon.

Yes, I wish that so much of the divine spell list wasn't complete garbage. Sorcs have genuinely difficult decisions at many levels about which spells to take. If the divine list was improved, it would give clerics one of the benefits they are SUPPOSED to have, which is full spell access.

[Habreno]

^ We kind of have that, it's just not as evident.

[Crann]

Bard past life gives +2 Saves vs Enchantment to YOU. It doesn't do anything for your spell DCs.

The active Bard PL gives +1 enchantment...but now you're burning a feat on it. There's no such thing as a FvS build with feats to spare.

Not sure what I was thinking on that one

[Fefnir_2011]

^ We kind of have that, it's just not as evident.

Capstone + PrE bonuses to their DC stat, wider spell choices, and bonus feats every 5 levels would make clerics the clear DC-based caster versus Favored Soul, but then Favored Soul would need 20% bonus damage from capstone and damage lines that actually enhance their good damaging spells for it to be the same situation as Wizards and Sorcerers.

I mean, I plan on going back to cleric on my FvS/monk, but I can't say there's any spell that i hated giving up. It was nice to have the choice, but it wasn't a hard one to make most of the time, nor did I swap spells as often as I do on my wizard.

[RumbIe]

OK this is an embarrassing question, but at level 20 you get a free feat. The DR for silver or cold iron. I am always confused by the way DR is listed. Do I want to select DR/Silver of DC/Cold Iron at 20?

Thank you for enduring my stupidity.

[good_ole_corwin]

OK this is an embarrassing question, but at level 20 you get a free feat. The DR for silver or cold iron. I am always confused by the way DR is listed. Do I want to select DR/Silver of DC/Cold Iron at 20?

Thank you for enduring my stupidity.

AFAIK it doesnt matter, there are no mobs that break either DR in the game at this point.

[Impaqt]

OK this is an embarrassing question, but at level 20 you get a free feat. The DR for silver or cold iron. I am always confused by the way DR is listed. Do I want to select DR/Silver of DC/Cold Iron at 20?

Thank you for enduring my stupidity.

Your DR Selection is going tobe defined by the path you choose at level 1.
Sovereign Host - Cold Iron
Silver Flame - Silver

THere is no functional Difference between the 2. the number of mobs with metallurgical weapons that bypass DR at end game is pretty darn close to 0.

[good_ole_corwin]

Your DR Selection is going tobe defined by the path you choose at level 1.
Sovereign Host - Cold Iron
Silver Flame - Silver

Partially correct. Silver flame gets DR 10/silver, Lord of blades gets DR 10/adamantine, Undying court gets DR 10/cold iron and Vulkoor get DR 10/good, BUT Sovereign Host can pick between silver and cold iron.

[Impaqt]

Partially correct. Silver flame gets DR 10/silver, Lord of blades gets DR 10/adamantine, Undying court gets DR 10/cold iron and Vulkoor get DR 10/good, BUT Sovereign Host can pick between silver and cold iron.

ohyeah, forgot about that. doesnt follow all the others for some reason.

[flotterjohnny]

I read a few times about the tactic to debuf with your longsword. Which weapon is a good choice? Thx!

[Matuse]

Ideally, Improved Cursespewing of Improved Shattermantle...but I've never actually seen both of those mods on the same weapon. Likely one of them will need to be not "Improved". Given the option, I'd take Cursespewing of Improved Shattermantle...the increase in the DC on Improved Cursespewing isn't all that much, where Shattermantle gives no save.

Plus, I find that spell resistance blocks my instakills more often than saves do.