A all UMD/runearm/magic build?

[EssenceofEvil]

So..I was playing my archer.. healing myself with that eternal cure minor wounds wand and thought: "I bet this heals a lot better with that Artificer capstone.."




...and then it hit me.. Has anyone ever tried a all UMD [ie wand or scroll], runearm, spell casting artificer kind of build? I would think that in order to make it effective it would need 3 wizard pasts for the +2 for wands dc and possibly a fourth life with artificer for the active past life feat that adds 15% to retain essence.


Any ideas or possibilities?

[Deathdefy]

I actually wrote up a Wandificer for myself a few months back. Never did it though as I wasn't sure how Spell Penetration works in relation to wands, and at the time - Drow being endgame - it would have been a poor decision for something that might just end up as a Web slinger.

Wands DC:
Base 10
Spell Level 4 (Phantasmal Killer)
Int modifier 29 (Completionist Drow, 2 x Great Int Feats, 3 x +1 Int Twists, 6 from ED, +5 Tome and Litany + the Rest) <-- So, literally ever non-temporary thing possible - pretty unrealistic.
PL: Wizzies 6
Echoes: Magister 2
Wand DC Enhancements 3
=
54 PK Wand

52 Web Wand (from lower spell level)... but maybe +3 from Cleric PLs? I doubt it, but am not sure since I don't really understand what "use a wand like a staff meaning you're casting the spell" means for feats such as SF: Conjuration or PL: Wizard or Passive PL: Cleric.

It would be a very fun build though. At the least it could raise a lot of eyebrows in EH.

[EssenceofEvil]

..yeah I was just thinking of it.. dreaming of the crazy looks I got blasting stuff with all those eternal wands lol I never made a artificer to cap.. how much damage some of those do with the capstone and W&S IV???

[Deathdefy]

..yeah I was just thinking of it.. dreaming of the crazy looks I got blasting stuff with all those eternal wands lol I never made a artificer to cap.. how much damage some of those do with the capstone and W&S IV???

Not much sadly; 10d6 fireball + 75% or whatever it is I think is the most damaging normal wand. Maybe epic Winter's Wrath / Cacophonic Verge / Brimstone Verge would be better? I haven't looked at it too much to be honest.

For red names and bosses I'm certain the usual repeater + rune arm would be better.

Insta-kill on a Phantasmal Killer wand for trash would be where it's at. The wand only has a 1 or 2 second cooldown vs the 8 seconds of casting Finger of Death or Phantasmal Killer normally, so you could insta-kill rooms faster than anything but implosion / wail / Everything is Nothing, and you'd never have to wait for their larger cool down.

[droid327]

1) How expensive would this be, using all those consumable casting devices?

2) It would pretty much have to be a post-20 switchover...I cant imagine playing up to 20 as a wandificer

3) There are too few high-spell-level wands, and too few ways to boost them to effective levels, compared to weapon damage or runearms. No SP boosts (AFAIK?), only one enhancement line for damage and DC.

4) Artis really dont have the SP pool to support being a primary caster with lots of wand support, either.

[wetlandsnj]

I am also kinda interested in this idea. The capstone for arti says:

Artificer Arcane Empowerment: The patterns of the most complex magical formulae are like children's drawings to you. You treat any non-scroll activated equipped item that casts spells (such as wands, rods, armor, or other activated items) as if they were staves, increasing their caster level to equal yours as well as increasing Save DC's to (10 + your Intelligence bonus + level of spell) if it would be an improvement. These increases are applied after Artificer Knowledge, so do not stack.

One queston I have is that the caster level is increased to yours part so does this effect the DC of the wand at all? Or is the DC of the wand just 10+int mod+orginal caster level of the wand? I have a feeling this is the case though.

The damage would be as if cast by a leel 20 mage so there is a boost there but will any of the enhancments add to it or item bonuses?

I still thinkthis would be interesting as a secondary bonus thing for the character though. Might give it a try still.

[EssenceofEvil]

The idea was to use the rune arm blasts as well as wands with my idea. You use wands but you also use rune arms for blasting ****. Wands/ clickies/rune arms. Just nothing but these. The right rune arm and the right enhancements makes me seeing in the end.. People using more run arm blasts than wands.


Edit:....and scrolls

[Jaid314]

caster level won't help with DC.

minor side note, if you're looking for good blasting wands, don't discount the one out of diplomatic impunity

also consider the wand of eternal charm monster out of tempest spine... obviously, not a blasting wand, but i'd say it definitely has some potential use