Pale Master equipment

[Keylon]

I've reworked this quite a few times and heres my latest equipment set proposal, please note that this equipment set will work regardless of whether the built is 18Wizard/2Rogue, 18Wizard/2Monk, or 20 Wizard. This is assuming you have the necessary past lives.

-Head: Epic Mask of Tragedy w/Feather Fall in yellow slot
-Neck: Torc of Prince Raiyum-de II
-Trinket: Litany of the Dead
-Cloak: Epic Cloak of Night
-Belt: Rahkir's Belt/Eerie Belt
-Ring 1: Rahkir's Ring/Sanura's Ring
-Gloves: Min II GS SP Gloves
-Boots: Epic Boots of Corrosion w/Toughness in blue slot and w/CON+6 in colorless.
-Ring 2: Greater Enchantment Focus of Inner Focus +10 w/Large Guild Augment for +80SP.
-Bracers: Bracers of the Demon's Consort
-Armor: Epic Robe of Shadow
-Goggles: Concordant Opposition HP Goggles
-Main Hand: +5 Supreme Tyrant Green Steel Longsword of Existential Stalemate: STR+6, EX CON+3
-Off Hand: Epic Kundarak Warding Sheild w/+7 enhancement in violet slot and w/-15% ASF in blue slot.

These are the effects you get with all this equipment:
1. Greater Potency 7.
2. Superior Corrosion 6.
3. Superior Nullification 9(See notes on this below).
4. Greater Enchantment Focus.
5. Greater Necromancy Focus.
6. 5% arcane lore (See notes below).
7. Guards: Concordant Opposition, Disintegration, Nightmare, Demonic Shield, Demonic Retribution, Boon of Undeath.
8. DR 5/Good(See notes below).
9. Concentration +10.
10. 200% Fortification, when in form.
11. Superior False Life.

Notes:
1. Superior Nullification 9 is from the Shadow Robe, if you choose to get the pale master set you can get Epic Nullification 9 (60%). Or if you'd prefer to have some arcane lore and don't mind using superior nihil clickies you can put on Rahkir's set and get 5% with .5 crit range.
2. I chose the Epic cloak of night over the Epic Envenomed Cloak for a couple reasons: Firstly, its much easier to obtain than the Epic Envenomed Cloak. Secondly, it gives 5 DR/Good which is far more useful than the extra 20 HP that +7 CON bonus would have added. Thirdly, nightmare guard is far superior than the Epic Envenomed Cloak's Poison Guard, just because it's an insta-kill with no save. Fourthly, of all the things you can add on that blue slot in the cloak the only viable thing is Good Luck +2 which is really a small bonus considering you'd give up everything I'd mentioned above. Finally, Greater might of abishai is difficult to attain on this built without sacrificing equipment.
3. For those of you wondering this built is going to have shield mastery, though probably not improved shield mastery.

Any coments/add-ons you'd like to mention about this equipment set?

[sephiroth1084]

What is the Epic Mask doing for you?

The Lion-Headed Belt Buckle (epic optional) is one of the strongest guard effects you can have, as it essentially gives all of your spells +2 to their DCs against anything stupid enough to hit you.

Mineral II looks like a waste. A set of Ash II gloves would give you Enervation guard and the HP. An option could also include making a Tempered greensteel item with Earth on tier III for a +10 Concentration and +3 Con skills (essentially a +13 Concentration item) in the slot with your +45 GS HP. That ring just looks like it could be doing something better, although I haven't really ever considered the Conc-Opp weapon and shield combo, which makes a difference in equipment.

The Epic Cloak of Night is nice, but I don't think it actually does enough for you to warrant wearing it on a caster, particularly one who wants to get hit. If you wanted the 3-piece Abishai set, you could go Helm, Cloak, Boots and slot Heavy Fort on the cloak. +2 Luck is actually pretty good, particularly if you are interested in UMD.

[balancetraveller]

Well to be honest, I think you are wasting quite a lot of your slots over marginal benefit if none at all... How much do you gain from the ToD set & the Mask when you already have the Robe on you?? Instead I'd use an Epic Ring of Elemental Essence and that's 2 slots freed, and arguably more powerful.

[wax_on_wax_off]

I looked up Epic Mask of Tragedy on DDOwiki as I remember that it has been upgraded to get superior void lore but wasn't sure what else (consider that this layout already has epic robe of shadow).

What does epic mask of tragedy have now?
Anyone want to update the picture if they have a current epic mask of tragedy on DDOwiki?

[Keylon]

So about what you guys said, I guess I was a little vague when I first outlined this:
1. The Lion-headed Belt Buckle while decent will prevent me from having a TOD set.
2. I need that Ring 2 so I can get greater enchantment focus, all of the other items (Eardweller, Elder's Cap, Staff of Petitioner, Epic Spectacles of Spirit Sight) just don't fit here.
3. Epic Ring of Elemental Essence while good doesn't give me a boost to untyped damage, though I could get it slotted in and use the Epic Elder's Cap for enchantment focus and forget about that extra Ice Storm damage.
4. I like that point about the Min II gloves and the Abishai set though that sounds very workable.
5. The Epic Mask of Tragedy has: Greater Potency VII, Major Void Lore, WIS+6, Superior Nullification VII, and an Empty yellow slot.

[sephiroth1084]

So about what you guys said, I guess I was a little vague when I first outlined this:
1. The Lion-headed Belt Buckle while decent will prevent me from having a TOD set. ToD sets are not all that impressive for wizards. You gain +10% damage to your necro spells over what you're getting from your robe, or an effect that ends up being a bit weaker than Greater Arcane Lore, but partially stacks with it, which is its real benefit, but you don't have GAL anywhere.
2. I need that Ring 2 so I can get greater enchantment focus, all of the other items (Eardweller, Elder's Cap, Staff of Petitioner, Epic Spectacles of Spirit Sight) just don't fit here. The Mask is doing almost nothing for you--you can replicate the important effects with either a Crystal Cove dagger (guess you missed the latest round of CC) or one of the new alchemical weapons/shields, although that interferes with other slots. What are you using Greater Pot VII for?
3. Epic Ring of Elemental Essence while good doesn't give me a boost to untyped damage, though I could get it slotted in and use the Epic Elder's Cap for enchantment focus and forget about that extra Ice Storm damage. The Cap looks better than the Mask for this set-up.
4. I like that point about the Min II gloves and the Abishai set though that sounds very workable.
5. The Epic Mask of Tragedy has: Greater Potency VII, Major Void Lore, WIS+6, Superior Nullification VII, and an Empty yellow slot.

You have Superior Void Lore and Superior Null IX on your robe, Wis +6 on your Conc-Opp items, so all this is giving you is Greater Potency VII, which is not all that impressive, particularly since you can use clickies for individual elements for more damage and without taking up a slot.

I think you'd be better off carrying whichever Amrath belt works for the elements you tend to use most often, wear the LHBB most of the time and swap to the belt(s) for clickies then change back.

LeLoric has a pretty good list of stuff to aim for on a Pale Master.

I'd list mine, but I don't use the Shield Mastery stuff at present, so I tend to run around with the Epic Staff of Inner Sight most of the time, or an Epic Greenblade + CC dagger combo when I'm nuking with non-Necro spells.

You could also stick regular Enchantment Focus in a yellow slot and eat a loss of 1 DC, or swap to Vampire form in quests when you expect to be using a lot of enchantments. Not ideal, but the game has shifted enough that you don't have to lean hard on enchantments most of the time.

[Keylon]

You have Superior Void Lore and Superior Null IX on your robe, Wis +6 on your Conc-Opp items, so all this is giving you is Greater Potency VII, which is not all that impressive, particularly since you can use clickies for individual elements for more damage and without taking up a slot.

I think you'd be better off carrying whichever Amrath belt works for the elements you tend to use most often, wear the LHBB most of the time and swap to the belt(s) for clickies then change back.

LeLoric has a pretty good list of stuff to aim for on a Pale Master.

I'd list mine, but I don't use the Shield Mastery stuff at present, so I tend to run around with the Epic Staff of Inner Sight most of the time, or an Epic Greenblade + CC dagger combo when I'm nuking with non-Necro spells.

You could also stick regular Enchantment Focus in a yellow slot and eat a loss of 1 DC, or swap to Vampire form in quests when you expect to be using a lot of enchantments. Not ideal, but the game has shifted enough that you don't have to lean hard on enchantments most of the time.

3 things:
First how do you do the blue writing?

Second Epic Belt of the Mroranon would do me a much better service than Epic Lion Headed Belt Buckle. (I can put Good Luck+2 on my boots and I can get those Ash II gloves without fort loss.)

Third the Amarath clickies are exclusive and only last 9 minutes total, I have plenty of Superior Nihil VI clickies so that's why I wouldn't mind so much scrapping the TOD set and getting the Epic Ring of Elemental Essence + Epic Belt of the Mroranon.

[sephiroth1084]

3 things:
First how do you do the blue writing?

Next to where it says "Fonts" there is a big 'A' with an arrow next to it. Click that to choose the color of your text.

Second Epic Belt of the Mroranon would do me a much better service than Epic Lion Headed Belt Buckle. (I can put Good Luck+2 on my boots and I can get those Ash II gloves without fort loss.)
That would depend upon what you end up doing with your overall equipment. The Epic Cloak of Night gives you Nightmare Guard (I'd say not as good as Roaring), Invisibility Guard (sometimes useful, but more often it is going to be detrimental as you shed aggro that you actually want), and DR 5. The DR is nice, but you could use Stoneskin in its place if it means that much to you, or wear the Epic Golden Greaves instead of the Boots of Corrosion--you would lose a blue slot and a colorless, but Toughness isn't needed on a PM unless you're tanking raid bosses. Swapping to the Golden Greaves and Envenomed Cloak will likely result in the same HP, the same number of slots, a higher Fort save, 1 less DR (but nothing will bypass it), and +5 to your saves, which I don't see anywhere else, and which is actually a pretty good thing to carry. Yes, the KWS has Resist +6, but the Epic Shield of the Scorpion ends up being better a lot of the time as it also comes with Greater Spearblock on it (10 DR vs. piercing, ie archers).

My point is that there are a lot of ways to go with gear, but I don't think you've optimized the loadout here.
Third the Amarath clickies are exclusive and only last 9 minutes total, I have plenty of Superior Nihil VI clickies so that's why I wouldn't mind so much scrapping the TOD set and getting the Epic Ring of Elemental Essence + Epic Belt of the Mroranon.
Can you craft Superior VII or VIII clickies with Cannith crafting? What spells are you using to nuke, anyway? Do you even need the boost to higher level spells? There are certainly plenty of clickies floating around from random loot.

[Keylon]

actually I just bought a bunch of Superior Nihil VI clickies they were cheap, only 10k a piece.

And yeah that stone skin idea should work quite nicely since they are readily available at vendors (And knowing how many times I'll be running the shroud I can just make a lot of clickies).

My nuke spells are:
-Single Target: Necrotic Bolt, Necrotic Ray, Melf's Acid Arrow, LVL 5 DOTs (I don't use these 2 very often), Black Dragon Bolt,
-Multi. Target: Ice Storm and Acid Fog, sometimes Acid Rain.

The Epic Envenomed Cloak is still a long way away, but shouldn't be that impossible to get.

Oh btw do any of you guys happen to know the proc rate of the nightmare guard on the Mabar Cloak? (I'm referring to the Phantasmal Kill and Mind Thrust)

[sephiroth1084]

My nuke spells are:
-Single Target: Necrotic Bolt, Necrotic Ray, Melf's Acid Arrow, LVL 5 DOTs (I don't use these 2 very often), Black Dragon Bolt,
-Multi. Target: Ice Storm and Acid Fog, sometimes Acid Rain.

So you have a few Necro spells (maxed out with clickies or your robe), some level 5 spells that would benefit more from Superior Potency VI, Amrath belts or random clickies (or even spell potions...do they go above lvl 4?) and a level 8 spell that isn't benefited by any of what you have listed. Curious as to why you are focusing in both Acid and Cold. Acid, particularly on a PM feels weak, as you can't really comfortably use two of your better acid spells (Burning Blood and Acid Rain) as they are competing with several rather excellent spells for 3 spell slots at level 4. Acid Fog is similarly competing with strong spells at 6, and is still rather weak.

Honestly, I think Cold, Electric and Force are the best bets for a PM, as they conflict less with your important PM spells and cover your bases with single target, AoE and DoTs, with electric getting the short shrift for not having an AoE DoT. Force is a little problematic because its good AoE spells come in at level 8 and 9, outside of the common items and clickies to buff your damage spells.

I think Acid can work, but not sure it's ideal.

[Keylon]

So you have a few Necro spells (maxed out with clickies or your robe), some level 5 spells that would benefit more from Superior Potency VI, Amrath belts or random clickies (or even spell potions...do they go above lvl 4?) and a level 8 spell that isn't benefited by any of what you have listed. Curious as to why you are focusing in both Acid and Cold. Acid, particularly on a PM feels weak, as you can't really comfortably use two of your better acid spells (Burning Blood and Acid Rain) as they are competing with several rather excellent spells for 3 spell slots at level 4. Acid Fog is similarly competing with strong spells at 6, and is still rather weak.

Honestly, I think Cold, Electric and Force are the best bets for a PM, as they conflict less with your important PM spells and cover your bases with single target, AoE and DoTs, with electric getting the short shrift for not having an AoE DoT. Force is a little problematic because its good AoE spells come in at level 8 and 9, outside of the common items and clickies to buff your damage spells.

I think Acid can work, but not sure it's ideal.

Cold is only good for Ice Storm, which does about 550 damage before empower and maximize (Considering I keep them in the ice storm that is). I don't even carry polar ray anymore and frost lance is reserved for those few times when I fight stuff vulnerable to ice otherwise it goes unused.

Acid is awesome because of Melf's Acid Arrow it does more damage without metas enabled than magic missile can do with metas enabled. Also Black Dragon Bolt does crazy damage without metas enabled too and only for 15 sp. Acid Fog has little competition (there are no other lvl 6 spells it can be replaced by that are better than it), and is a far superior AOE than cloudkill and incendiary cloud because nothing is immune to it.

I do have electric enhancements but honestly all electric spells, except Eladar's, have a reflex save and since I never use metas on nuke spells chances are they will do half damage for about four times the cost of Melf's which will do more damage, so lightning just isn't very cost effective.

As for force I do have it but I honestly only care for it because of Ice Storm. Horrid Wilting couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, Meteorswarm is pretty useless in comparison to the others. Disintegrate would be good if it didn't cost so much to do mediocre damage. The missiles are okay but for 15 SP and they do less damage than Melf's Acid arrow to a single target I might as well get Acid Rain which does around 300 damage for the same SP cost.

I've done the math on this one Acid is a far more cost effective spell choice than most of the other ones.