Post by Test on Apr 8, 2012 1:08:02 GMT
BEING UPDATED ONCE AGAIN
You can see the original Bane build, and spell selections here.
Introduction:
The name Bane came from my goal when I made the character - I wanted a character that could become the 'bane of Pelor'. His build has been posted on our guild forums since mid 2010 and was used to demi sorcerers by a few of my guildies almost immediately - so I figured I would post him here. That was a couple of years ago now. The build remains the same (with the addition of Paragon levels stuff) but the spell book has largely changed.
The huge advantage for a sorcerer is the massive amount of spell slots. The second big advantage a sorcerer has is channelling. Channelling lets you cast with additional caster levels. This means, in simple terms, you get more spell penetration. Consequently more spells hit.
It can be very tempting to splash a sorcerer with one level of paladin for the huge bonus to saves. My overwhealmingly strong advice is don't - you loose much more than you gain. If you want a build with high saves I would suggest checking out one of the other available sorcerer builds.
When he was first made he was designed to be a fully Ely and Aboleths focused Sorcerer, aiming at destroying the mobs of those two runs through both intense insta-killing ability and max damage output where possible (due to the restraints of spell book size it misses one 'ideal' spell in order to maintain the best possible DCs). That stage in his development was when the maximum level for characters on HG was 60 and he was easily capable of running Ely and he ran many 4 man Elys (Bard, Sorc, Druid, Shifter) 2 man Abo 1s (Sorc, Shifter) and 4 man Abo 2s (Bard, Sorc, Palli, Shifter) at that time.
Presently Bane is going through a period of adjustment to be still able to do those runs in very small groups but also to cater to small group Abyss runs and other coming runs.
Bane can be highly effective in every area of the Hells and has solo mage run every Hell layer. When the module level cap was 60 he ran 3-6 man Hell runs on several layers with ease, 3 man Elysium runs and even two toon Abos1 runs.
What this build has:
1. Max Spell foci for Evocation Damage spells
2. Maximum DC Wierds for mobs that are immune to Death Magic
3. Maximum DC to insta-kill the monsters that SHOULD NOT be damaged while need to be killed quickly before spamming damage spells, ie. Machines(Disintegrate) and fumes(Gust of wind).
4. Maximum DC for Necromancy - CoD a staple in Ely and Aboleths
5. x2 Greater Ruin/rest
6. Very high Lore skill
7. Access to all other essential spells on specific Ely and Aboleths monsters on which damage spells are not effective.
8. Maximum Charisma.
Cons and its possible solution:
1. No Bigby 9. This is rarely an issue but can make Orthon Fists interesting.
2. No Conjuration focus for Evards. I simply use a Helm of Zeal with a Greater Focus Conjuration aug. Ultimately there are enough other damage options in the build that this is not a huge issue. My main damage spells are Thunderclaps, Reverse Gravity and Freezing Sphere.
3. No Orbs spells. Once again I simply use Thunderclaps and Sphere spells instead.
Subraces:
There are several things to consider when making a sorcerer regarding subraces. The first one is that your Ultra-Rare choices for sorcerer subraces essentially all suck. I have provided an Ultra-Rare option and an Open subrace option below so that people can work up to Beyond Ultra-Rare characters. The key thing to keep in mind though is that the Ultra-Rare step is really just a transition along your path to Beyond Ultra-Rare - and if you can muster the funds to avoid if from the start, do so!
My present suggestions for subraces are:
Open Subrace: Yuan-Ti
Ultra-Rare Subrace: Dragonblooded
Beyond Ultra-Rare Subrace: Radiance Genasi
Why are there two current builds for Bane?
There are two current builds for Bane because of the diverse requirements of end game runs on Higher Ground. Those two characters are named slightly differently, as Bane and B4ne.
Bane is actually the third tweak of the original Bane build and takes on advice and suggestion both posted on the forums and from in game discussions over many years. It continues the original build 'concept' of an Elysium and Aboleths focussed sorcerer that can easily run the Hells. This is the 'true' Bane build. (My current Bane is a former DSM and not the original sorcerer.) Note here that the Bane build has always made use of items to make this combination of runs possible for one sorcerer to effectively cover.
B4ne is the fourth reincarnation of the original Bane. It uses different spell focusses and is centred upon play within the Abyss. (This character was the original Bane toon.)
Bane's Current Spell Book:
9 = Wierd, Energy Drain, BB9, Mordenkainens Disjunction
8 = Horrid, Premo, Mindblank, BB8
7 = Claps, Delayed Blast FB, Banish, Prismatic Spray
6 = CoD, Disint, Freezing Sphere, EV, U2D
5 = Energy Buffer, Flensing, Break Enchantment, Lesser Mantle
4 = Evards, Vortex of Teeth, Bestow, Remove curse, Enervate
3 = Mestil's Acid Breath, Gust, Scint Spheres, Neg Burst, Clarity
2 = GV, Flame Wep, Combust, Melf's Acid Arrow, Darkness, Shock Wep
1 = Expedious Retreat, Endure Elements, Neg Ray, Ray of Enfeeblement, Protection from Alignment, Color Spray
You can cancel Evards (and Vortex of Teeth) with the '!cancel aoe' SIMtool command. It might be a good idea to put this in a quickbar slot or a voicebind command if you have installed the Additional Quickbats (downaload link, place it in the nwn override folder).
Other builds:
If you would prefer a damage focussed sorcerer I would suggest:
Autocaster spells(in order of importance):
Etheral Visage, Premonition, Energy Buffer, Expeditious Retreat, Endure Elements, Less Mind Blank, Empowered Less Spell Mantle, Protection from Alignment, Elemental Shield.
You should then use shadow shield from your Tia staff.
NB. I will shamefully admit that both Azpride and I have in the past intentionally morded people wearing Elemental Shield and Mestil's Acid Sheath if they obviously did not understand positioning - and caused party kick back by wearing those buffs. Keep in mind that several people might consider doing that. Do not use those buffs in group runs if you do not know which mobs will potentially cause area wide kick back.
General Play Ideas
For damage spells I use empowered everything, well maybe not everything - as I will cast normals after I run out of empowered. Empowered gives you a much better damage output and you should have the spell slots to cover that.
Great Thunderclap is your friend. Use it often and use it with abandon. If being chased by an angry Osy, thunderclap it to knoc it down. If being irrutated by a slutty Erinyes, give her the clap. I am sure you are seeing a theme here. Clap everything. It does amazing damage and KDs stuff. KD mobs dont hit sorcs... mkay?
Reverse Gravity breaks monsters. Mkay?
Disintegrate. If your stuck cast disintegrate. Did I mention that you should quickslot Disintegrate? After 50+ runs with another well known sorc player I am willing to agree with popular opinion that he may only know one spell on that toon. Disintegrate. His toon is something like 6x Demi. This tells you something about just how powerful you will be when you are using Disintegrate in Hells on a pure sorcerer. My favorite Disintegrate targets are Delf's armies of lemures and machines.
Order of Operations for Playing in Hells
Ok average Hells spawn - pre-Cania.
The Rule that Rules them All: Knock shit down. If it is on its ass it can not hit you. This means if something - anything - is coming toward you, put it on its ass. Thunderclap is your friend.
Step 1: Use Mords on any Raks to drop mantles, then Weird them.
Step 2: Make sure your charged up - this could mean Channeling or it could mean feeding from ED. If you are going to feed the two best targets are Kockrakons and Erinyes. Don't use more than three at absolute most at any time.
Step 3: Wierd and CoD what you can if needed.
Step 4: Disintegrate, disintegrate and disintegrate some more. This is the main step. In Tia you may possibly not cast any other spell but this, CoD and Evards until the consorts spawn.
Step 5: Damage Time - Thunderclap, Reverse Gravity, Freezing Sphere, Combust and Melf's Acid Arrow rock. Most things will take Soic damage, so you have another excuse to cast endless Empowered Thunderclaps here.
The next thing to keep in mind is Cold (Freezing Spheres) on tigers, Pfs and Barbazus, and Acid (Melfs Acid Arrow) on Corneys and Malebs.
To boost your damage throw down Evards and DoT relevant targets with Flensing. This needs to be done regularly and repeatedly as Pfs and comical party members will no doubt gust it.
Your over all principle here is to remember that Disintegrate is the bread and butter of your toon. Balance is important though, as the sorc is the toon that can handle all arcane roles - so big damage should come as well.
For spell use in the Abyss I suggest checking out Herc's Spell Guide. It is really cool!
Ultimately you should check the Hell Bestiary and the Abyss Bestiary.
If you want to learn about how to better deal with spell resistance issues you should read TheRaja's post Spell Resistance: how to deal with it.
What to do with your Epic Spells
Death of Magic
This is most definately one of the most powerful epic spells in Higher Ground. You should use it on these occasions:
1. To stop any boss or miniboss from drinking heal potions when they reach badly injured. This is of particular significance on the Hell run Min.
2. To spawn mobs that cast spells. You can use this in Hells, the Abyss or just about anywhere. Likewise you can stop random spawns from casting if they land on you.
3. To insta-kill the flux in Abo 2.
4. To make friendly casters able to cast spells in the Rona temple during its duration.
Starfire
Starfire does a massive amount of magical damage - and it is guaranteed to always do damage.
You can use Starfire to knockdown mobs. I particularly like using that knockdown effect on Raks and Rajas to give me time to mord/breach them and then Wierd them.
Transmute Barrier
This creates a wall around you. I quite like using this in Ely by time stopping after agroing Pelor, putting up a wall (with him in it), and running out of the wall before it spawns into place. This contains him nicely for the fight.
You can also use this when absolutely necessary to regroup within during a bad random - or if you just really need space from mobs (such as if everyone else is in limbo and you are out of GV).
Paragon Epic - Karsus' Avatar
You get this epic in Paragon levels of the build. When you cast the epic you drain the power of a deity for the duration of the spell - and for a turn, all of your spells are auto-extended, empowered, and maximized, and have 2 DC added. This is officially known as the 'teach me how to PWN' epic.
Abilities:
Assist Other (Player Tool 2):
Pick up any player who is knocked down, even though you are not a Bard. It can save time and prevent the death of a party member.
Channelling
Channelling allows you to cast with additional spell levels. Using channelling can be highly important for making kills on otherwise difficult targets. The commands are as follows, play around with them and see how helpful this is:
!mm channel 0
!mm channel 1
!mm channel 2
I have these set up on Voice Bind.
Other SIMtools commands
!password password
Sets your password. Set your password to '-' to stop having a password. Your password is linked to your CD key.
!cancel aoe
This command will instantly remove all of your AOE spells. This can be very important if KB is becoming an issue.
!filter checks
!filter sr
!filter saves
To easier analyse important caster combat checks familiarize yourself with the filter commands above. Those three are your must use filter commands if you want to see what is going on with your spell casting. Use all of them until you read in green letters something like: will be sent as system messages...
Now do a right click on the thin bar above the combat log window right to the chat window. A radial menu will appear and the left bottom option says: exclude combat info. Activate that and enjoy.
What happens now, after you did that, is that you will no longer see all the attack rolls and damage spam, but just the spell resistance, DC checks and saves. With that reduced information, you get all you need and can even check during fights occasionally if your spells are successful.
If you want to see for some reason still all the spam, then !filter brief helps reducing this a bit, without loosing any information.
!qb list
Lists any quickbars you have saved.
!qb save slot name bar
Saves one of your quickbars into the specified slot (which must be a number from 0 to 9). You must specify 1, 2, or 3 for the bar parameter; 1 is the normal quickbar, 2 is the Shift quickbar, and 3 is the Ctrl quickbar.
!qb slot
Restores the specified quickbar. At this time, only spell slots can be restored. In the future, feats and some other abilities will be restorable as well. It is unlikely item slots can be restored due to technical limitations.
The Build:
My version of him is 5x, has two manned Abo1, 5 manned Abo 2, four manned Ely many times and 3 manned several different Hell runs. (As a lvl 60)
It can get huge insta kills and is very effective with damage (but not quite as damage focussed as my wizard).
Gear:
Staff of the Axerian Grandmaster
Amulet of the Axerian Grandmaster
Cloak of the Axerian Grandmaster
Robes of the Innate Occult
Mask of the Blood War
Forbidden Rites
Corruption of the Blood
Mote of Fearlessness
Rampart of the Pact Primeval
Once demihood is achieved the Rampart of the Pact Primeval is probably the best Asmodeus Artifact to use, although the Styxwalkers boots are definitely nice to have on runs with a lot of amnesia, such as Stygia, Maladomini and Cania. That being said you can also address this issue by wearing the Grand Signet of Talisid.
Depending on your other gear you will probably want to use your gloves slot to pick up any missing stats. Rings will be specific to the run - and may include a Tia Ring.
Items that you should carry:
Greater Rod of Resurrection
These are important as you do not loose any bonuses when resurrecting fallen party members. Until you can get hold of one of these just use scrolls. You can access a lesser rod for this purpose somewhere in a low level area of the module.
Bountiful Beaker of Healing
Until you can get one of these you can just use standard potions.
Soul Jar
Grapes of Plenty
Grand Signet of Talisid
Amnesia immunity ring.
The Fine Print
You can use this to save Biorejuvenators. You'll lose a couple of spell slots using this but it is worth it.
Biorejuvenators
Never hesitate to use them if necessary. It can save the party from a wipe.
Stone of Succor
These will return you to your party if you Limbo during a run - without having to run the Limbo maze.
Rune of Return
These are useful in all areas, but basically a necessity if you plan to run the Abyss. You can however simply buy teleportation gems until you manage to buy or farm one of these.
Wands: Clarity, Stone to Flesh (Stygia Shop), Remove Fear (Stygia Shop), BBOD (Stygia Shop), Timestop (Thids)
Scrolls: Mind Blank, Greater Sanctuary, Mordenkainens Disjunction (for Mords Spawning - to save on your active casts at level 9)
Drow Wardstone
This is the key to get through a locked gate on the way to the Aboleths run starting point.
Alternate Items:
Belt of the Axerian Grandmaster
Robes of House Jadon (+1 DC)
Mote of Myriad Mysteries
Styxwalkers
Other Gear that may help a lot or that some people might want to use:
Ring of Abyssal Sorcery
Helm of Zeal
Wrap of Fistandantilus
The Ur-Ward
Wellspring of Power
Silver Nimbus
Thanks:
Thanks to the various people who have helped along the way of this character's progression with ideas or feedback including:
Azpride
JeanHelix
Xiayu
Shakua
TheRajah
Thanks also to people whose posts or forum ideas have helped me develop the formatting of this post, or some of the support ideas that go along with it:
Rainsanctum
Vichya
Paradoom
Intended Next Steps:
Add a Secret Subrace version
History:
Apr 9, 2012: First posting of the build here
Apr 9, 2012: Formatting and Screenshot added
Sept 3, 2013: Second post set up for original lvl60 build and new build
Sept 4, 2013: UR and Open race versions added
You can see the original Bane build, and spell selections here.
Introduction:
The name Bane came from my goal when I made the character - I wanted a character that could become the 'bane of Pelor'. His build has been posted on our guild forums since mid 2010 and was used to demi sorcerers by a few of my guildies almost immediately - so I figured I would post him here. That was a couple of years ago now. The build remains the same (with the addition of Paragon levels stuff) but the spell book has largely changed.
The huge advantage for a sorcerer is the massive amount of spell slots. The second big advantage a sorcerer has is channelling. Channelling lets you cast with additional caster levels. This means, in simple terms, you get more spell penetration. Consequently more spells hit.
It can be very tempting to splash a sorcerer with one level of paladin for the huge bonus to saves. My overwhealmingly strong advice is don't - you loose much more than you gain. If you want a build with high saves I would suggest checking out one of the other available sorcerer builds.
When he was first made he was designed to be a fully Ely and Aboleths focused Sorcerer, aiming at destroying the mobs of those two runs through both intense insta-killing ability and max damage output where possible (due to the restraints of spell book size it misses one 'ideal' spell in order to maintain the best possible DCs). That stage in his development was when the maximum level for characters on HG was 60 and he was easily capable of running Ely and he ran many 4 man Elys (Bard, Sorc, Druid, Shifter) 2 man Abo 1s (Sorc, Shifter) and 4 man Abo 2s (Bard, Sorc, Palli, Shifter) at that time.
Presently Bane is going through a period of adjustment to be still able to do those runs in very small groups but also to cater to small group Abyss runs and other coming runs.
Bane can be highly effective in every area of the Hells and has solo mage run every Hell layer. When the module level cap was 60 he ran 3-6 man Hell runs on several layers with ease, 3 man Elysium runs and even two toon Abos1 runs.
What this build has:
1. Max Spell foci for Evocation Damage spells
2. Maximum DC Wierds for mobs that are immune to Death Magic
3. Maximum DC to insta-kill the monsters that SHOULD NOT be damaged while need to be killed quickly before spamming damage spells, ie. Machines(Disintegrate) and fumes(Gust of wind).
4. Maximum DC for Necromancy - CoD a staple in Ely and Aboleths
5. x2 Greater Ruin/rest
6. Very high Lore skill
7. Access to all other essential spells on specific Ely and Aboleths monsters on which damage spells are not effective.
8. Maximum Charisma.
Cons and its possible solution:
1. No Bigby 9. This is rarely an issue but can make Orthon Fists interesting.
2. No Conjuration focus for Evards. I simply use a Helm of Zeal with a Greater Focus Conjuration aug. Ultimately there are enough other damage options in the build that this is not a huge issue. My main damage spells are Thunderclaps, Reverse Gravity and Freezing Sphere.
3. No Orbs spells. Once again I simply use Thunderclaps and Sphere spells instead.
Subraces:
There are several things to consider when making a sorcerer regarding subraces. The first one is that your Ultra-Rare choices for sorcerer subraces essentially all suck. I have provided an Ultra-Rare option and an Open subrace option below so that people can work up to Beyond Ultra-Rare characters. The key thing to keep in mind though is that the Ultra-Rare step is really just a transition along your path to Beyond Ultra-Rare - and if you can muster the funds to avoid if from the start, do so!
My present suggestions for subraces are:
Open Subrace: Yuan-Ti
Ultra-Rare Subrace: Dragonblooded
Beyond Ultra-Rare Subrace: Radiance Genasi
Why are there two current builds for Bane?
There are two current builds for Bane because of the diverse requirements of end game runs on Higher Ground. Those two characters are named slightly differently, as Bane and B4ne.
Bane is actually the third tweak of the original Bane build and takes on advice and suggestion both posted on the forums and from in game discussions over many years. It continues the original build 'concept' of an Elysium and Aboleths focussed sorcerer that can easily run the Hells. This is the 'true' Bane build. (My current Bane is a former DSM and not the original sorcerer.) Note here that the Bane build has always made use of items to make this combination of runs possible for one sorcerer to effectively cover.
B4ne is the fourth reincarnation of the original Bane. It uses different spell focusses and is centred upon play within the Abyss. (This character was the original Bane toon.)
Bane's Current Spell Book:
9 = Wierd, Energy Drain, BB9, Mordenkainens Disjunction
8 = Horrid, Premo, Mindblank, BB8
7 = Claps, Delayed Blast FB, Banish, Prismatic Spray
6 = CoD, Disint, Freezing Sphere, EV, U2D
5 = Energy Buffer, Flensing, Break Enchantment, Lesser Mantle
4 = Evards, Vortex of Teeth, Bestow, Remove curse, Enervate
3 = Mestil's Acid Breath, Gust, Scint Spheres, Neg Burst, Clarity
2 = GV, Flame Wep, Combust, Melf's Acid Arrow, Darkness, Shock Wep
1 = Expedious Retreat, Endure Elements, Neg Ray, Ray of Enfeeblement, Protection from Alignment, Color Spray
You can cancel Evards (and Vortex of Teeth) with the '!cancel aoe' SIMtool command. It might be a good idea to put this in a quickbar slot or a voicebind command if you have installed the Additional Quickbats (downaload link, place it in the nwn override folder).
Other builds:
If you would prefer a damage focussed sorcerer I would suggest:
- the Elementalist
- Or... play a Wizard. I have found Wizards better for pure damage focus in terms of my own play style, OR,
- try a Searching, Rak grabbing Pure PM
Autocaster spells(in order of importance):
Etheral Visage, Premonition, Energy Buffer, Expeditious Retreat, Endure Elements, Less Mind Blank, Empowered Less Spell Mantle, Protection from Alignment, Elemental Shield.
You should then use shadow shield from your Tia staff.
NB. I will shamefully admit that both Azpride and I have in the past intentionally morded people wearing Elemental Shield and Mestil's Acid Sheath if they obviously did not understand positioning - and caused party kick back by wearing those buffs. Keep in mind that several people might consider doing that. Do not use those buffs in group runs if you do not know which mobs will potentially cause area wide kick back.
General Play Ideas
For damage spells I use empowered everything, well maybe not everything - as I will cast normals after I run out of empowered. Empowered gives you a much better damage output and you should have the spell slots to cover that.
Great Thunderclap is your friend. Use it often and use it with abandon. If being chased by an angry Osy, thunderclap it to knoc it down. If being irrutated by a slutty Erinyes, give her the clap. I am sure you are seeing a theme here. Clap everything. It does amazing damage and KDs stuff. KD mobs dont hit sorcs... mkay?
Reverse Gravity breaks monsters. Mkay?
Disintegrate. If your stuck cast disintegrate. Did I mention that you should quickslot Disintegrate? After 50+ runs with another well known sorc player I am willing to agree with popular opinion that he may only know one spell on that toon. Disintegrate. His toon is something like 6x Demi. This tells you something about just how powerful you will be when you are using Disintegrate in Hells on a pure sorcerer. My favorite Disintegrate targets are Delf's armies of lemures and machines.
Order of Operations for Playing in Hells
Ok average Hells spawn - pre-Cania.
The Rule that Rules them All: Knock shit down. If it is on its ass it can not hit you. This means if something - anything - is coming toward you, put it on its ass. Thunderclap is your friend.
Step 1: Use Mords on any Raks to drop mantles, then Weird them.
Step 2: Make sure your charged up - this could mean Channeling or it could mean feeding from ED. If you are going to feed the two best targets are Kockrakons and Erinyes. Don't use more than three at absolute most at any time.
Step 3: Wierd and CoD what you can if needed.
Step 4: Disintegrate, disintegrate and disintegrate some more. This is the main step. In Tia you may possibly not cast any other spell but this, CoD and Evards until the consorts spawn.
Step 5: Damage Time - Thunderclap, Reverse Gravity, Freezing Sphere, Combust and Melf's Acid Arrow rock. Most things will take Soic damage, so you have another excuse to cast endless Empowered Thunderclaps here.
The next thing to keep in mind is Cold (Freezing Spheres) on tigers, Pfs and Barbazus, and Acid (Melfs Acid Arrow) on Corneys and Malebs.
To boost your damage throw down Evards and DoT relevant targets with Flensing. This needs to be done regularly and repeatedly as Pfs and comical party members will no doubt gust it.
Your over all principle here is to remember that Disintegrate is the bread and butter of your toon. Balance is important though, as the sorc is the toon that can handle all arcane roles - so big damage should come as well.
For spell use in the Abyss I suggest checking out Herc's Spell Guide. It is really cool!
Ultimately you should check the Hell Bestiary and the Abyss Bestiary.
If you want to learn about how to better deal with spell resistance issues you should read TheRaja's post Spell Resistance: how to deal with it.
What to do with your Epic Spells
Death of Magic
This is most definately one of the most powerful epic spells in Higher Ground. You should use it on these occasions:
1. To stop any boss or miniboss from drinking heal potions when they reach badly injured. This is of particular significance on the Hell run Min.
2. To spawn mobs that cast spells. You can use this in Hells, the Abyss or just about anywhere. Likewise you can stop random spawns from casting if they land on you.
3. To insta-kill the flux in Abo 2.
4. To make friendly casters able to cast spells in the Rona temple during its duration.
Starfire
Starfire does a massive amount of magical damage - and it is guaranteed to always do damage.
You can use Starfire to knockdown mobs. I particularly like using that knockdown effect on Raks and Rajas to give me time to mord/breach them and then Wierd them.
Transmute Barrier
This creates a wall around you. I quite like using this in Ely by time stopping after agroing Pelor, putting up a wall (with him in it), and running out of the wall before it spawns into place. This contains him nicely for the fight.
You can also use this when absolutely necessary to regroup within during a bad random - or if you just really need space from mobs (such as if everyone else is in limbo and you are out of GV).
Paragon Epic - Karsus' Avatar
You get this epic in Paragon levels of the build. When you cast the epic you drain the power of a deity for the duration of the spell - and for a turn, all of your spells are auto-extended, empowered, and maximized, and have 2 DC added. This is officially known as the 'teach me how to PWN' epic.
Abilities:
Assist Other (Player Tool 2):
Pick up any player who is knocked down, even though you are not a Bard. It can save time and prevent the death of a party member.
Channelling
Channelling allows you to cast with additional spell levels. Using channelling can be highly important for making kills on otherwise difficult targets. The commands are as follows, play around with them and see how helpful this is:
!mm channel 0
!mm channel 1
!mm channel 2
I have these set up on Voice Bind.
Other SIMtools commands
!password password
Sets your password. Set your password to '-' to stop having a password. Your password is linked to your CD key.
!cancel aoe
This command will instantly remove all of your AOE spells. This can be very important if KB is becoming an issue.
!filter checks
!filter sr
!filter saves
To easier analyse important caster combat checks familiarize yourself with the filter commands above. Those three are your must use filter commands if you want to see what is going on with your spell casting. Use all of them until you read in green letters something like: will be sent as system messages...
Now do a right click on the thin bar above the combat log window right to the chat window. A radial menu will appear and the left bottom option says: exclude combat info. Activate that and enjoy.
What happens now, after you did that, is that you will no longer see all the attack rolls and damage spam, but just the spell resistance, DC checks and saves. With that reduced information, you get all you need and can even check during fights occasionally if your spells are successful.
If you want to see for some reason still all the spam, then !filter brief helps reducing this a bit, without loosing any information.
!qb list
Lists any quickbars you have saved.
!qb save slot name bar
Saves one of your quickbars into the specified slot (which must be a number from 0 to 9). You must specify 1, 2, or 3 for the bar parameter; 1 is the normal quickbar, 2 is the Shift quickbar, and 3 is the Ctrl quickbar.
!qb slot
Restores the specified quickbar. At this time, only spell slots can be restored. In the future, feats and some other abilities will be restorable as well. It is unlikely item slots can be restored due to technical limitations.
The Build:
My version of him is 5x, has two manned Abo1, 5 manned Abo 2, four manned Ely many times and 3 manned several different Hell runs. (As a lvl 60)
It can get huge insta kills and is very effective with damage (but not quite as damage focussed as my wizard).
Optimized for (All numbers below refer to the final state of the respective build) | Level 60, Yuan-Ti (Open Subrace) | Level 60, Dragonblooded (Ultra-Rare Subrace) | Level 60, 5x Demi, Radiance Genasi (Beyond Ultra-Rare Subrace) | Level 80, 5x Demi Radiance Genasi (Beyond Ultra-Rare Subrace) |
Build | 60 Sorc | 60 Sorc | 60 Sorc | 80 Sorc |
Race/Subrace | Human / Yuan-Ti CHA +2, INT +1, DEX +1, WIS-3, STR -1, +5 Spellcraft, sr5 +1/lvl, speaks Draconic, speaks Yuan-ti | Half-Elf / Dragonblooded STR +2, CON +2, WIS -2, INT +2, CHA +2, +5 lore | Human / Radiance Genasi STR -2, CON +2, DEX +2, INT +2, CHA +6, 25% immune fire, free feat: Empower Spell, free feat: Silent Spell, free feat: Maximize Spell | Human / Radiance Genasi STR -2, CON +2, DEX +2, INT +2, CHA +6, 25% immune fire, free feat: Empower Spell, free feat: Silent Spell, free feat: Maximize Spell |
Abilities at character creation (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha) Creation/Boat | Str = 9/8 Dex = 11/12 Con = 12/12 Int = 11/12 Wis = 11/8 Cha = 18/20 | Str = 8/10 Dex = 12/12 Con = 12/14 Int = 12/14 Wis = 10/8 Cha = 18/20 | Str = 8/6 Dex = 10/12 Con = 14/16 Int = 14/16 Wis = 8/8 Cha = 18/24 | Str = 8/6 Dex = 10/12 Con = 14/16 Int = 14/16 Wis = 8/8 Cha = 18/24 |
Pre-epic and epic ability progression | Always take Charisma | Always take Charisma | Always take Charisma | Always take Charisma |
Legendary level ability progression | Always take Charisma | Always take Charisma | Always take Charisma | Always take Charisma |
Pre-epic feats Abbreviations: SpF - Spell Focus GSpF - Greater Spell Focus ESpF - Epic Spell Focus LSpF - Legendary Spell Focus PSpF - Paragon Spell Focas | Spell Penetration Greater Spell Penetration SpF Transmutation GSpF Transmutation SpF Illusion GSpF Illusion SpF Evocation GSpF Evocation | Spell Penetration Greater Spell Penetration SpF Transmutation GSpF Transmutation SpF Illusion GSpF Illusion SpF Evocation | Spell Penetration Greater Spell Penetration SpF Transmutation GSpF Transmutation SpF Illusion GSpF Illusion SpF Evocation GSpF Evocation | Spell Penetration Greater Spell Penetration SpF Transmutation GSpF Transmutation SpF Illusion GSpF Illusion SpF Evocation GSpF Evocation |
Epic feats | Epic Spell Penetration Great Charisma x 3 ESpF Transmutation ESpF Illusion ESpF Evocation | GSpF Evocation Epic Spell Penetration Great Charisma x 3 ESpF Transmutation ESpF Illusion | Epic Spell Penetration Great Charisma x 3 ESpF Transmutation ESpF Illusion ESpF Evocation | Epic Spell Penetration Great Charisma x 3 ESpF Transmutation ESpF Illusion ESpF Evocation |
Sorc bonus feats | Great Charisma x 6 | Great Charisma x 6 | Great Charisma x 6 | Great Charisma x 6 |
Legendary level feats | Empower Spell Legendary Spell Penetration LSpF Evocation LSpF Illusion LSpF Necromancy LSpF Transmutation Creat Charisma x 1 | ESpF Evocation Empower Spell Legendary Spell Penetration LSpF Illusion LSpF Necromancy LSpF Transmutation Creat Charisma x 1 | Legendary Spell Penetration LSpF Evocation LSpF Illusion LSpF Necromancy LSpF Transmutation Creat Charisma x 1 Epic Spell: Greater Ruin | Legendary Spell Penetration LSpF Evocation LSpF Illusion LSpF Necromancy LSpF Transmutation Creat Charisma x 1 Epic Spell: Greater Ruin |
Paragon level feats | PSpF Evocation PSp Knowledge Evocation Paragon Spell Penetration PSpF Transmutation PSpF Illusion PSpF Necromancy | |||
Tome | Wondrous Tome of Ancient Lore - Necromancy | Wondrous Tome of Ancient Lore - Necromancy | Wondrous Tome of Ancient Lore - Necromancy | Wondrous Tome of Ancient Lore - Necromancy |
Artifact | Lock of Sune Firehair's Hair | Lock of Sune Firehair's Hair | Lock of Sune Firehair's Hair | Lock of Sune Firehair's Hair |
Pandect | Pandect of Darkest Secrets - Shields | Pandect of Darkest Secrets - Shields | Pandect of Darkest Secrets - Shields | Pandect of Darkest Secrets - Shields |
Abilities (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha) Including +14 bonus for immortals, and +16 bonus for the current version | Str = 20 Dex = 24 Con = 24 Int = 24 Wis = 20 Cha = 66 | Str = 22 Dex = 24 Con = 26 Int = 26 Wis = 20 Cha = 66 | Str = 22 Dex = 28 Con = 32 Int = 32 Wis = 24 Cha = 74 | Str = 26 Dex = 32 Con = 36 Int = 36 Wis = 28 Cha = 78 |
Skills @ Lvl60 | Concentration = 63 Discipline = 29 Lore = 63 Tumble = 30 | Concentration = 63 Discipline = 31 Lore = 63 Parry = 30 Tumble = 30 | Concentration = 63 Craft Armor = 5 Discipline = 35 Lore = 63 Parry = 30 Spellcraft = 50 Tumble = 30 | Concentration = 63 Craft Armor = 5 Discipline = 35 Lore = 63 Parry = 30 Spellcraft = 50 Tumble = 30 |
Gear:
Staff of the Axerian Grandmaster
Amulet of the Axerian Grandmaster
Cloak of the Axerian Grandmaster
Robes of the Innate Occult
Mask of the Blood War
Forbidden Rites
Corruption of the Blood
Mote of Fearlessness
Rampart of the Pact Primeval
Once demihood is achieved the Rampart of the Pact Primeval is probably the best Asmodeus Artifact to use, although the Styxwalkers boots are definitely nice to have on runs with a lot of amnesia, such as Stygia, Maladomini and Cania. That being said you can also address this issue by wearing the Grand Signet of Talisid.
Depending on your other gear you will probably want to use your gloves slot to pick up any missing stats. Rings will be specific to the run - and may include a Tia Ring.
Items that you should carry:
Greater Rod of Resurrection
These are important as you do not loose any bonuses when resurrecting fallen party members. Until you can get hold of one of these just use scrolls. You can access a lesser rod for this purpose somewhere in a low level area of the module.
Bountiful Beaker of Healing
Until you can get one of these you can just use standard potions.
Soul Jar
Grapes of Plenty
Grand Signet of Talisid
Amnesia immunity ring.
The Fine Print
You can use this to save Biorejuvenators. You'll lose a couple of spell slots using this but it is worth it.
Biorejuvenators
Never hesitate to use them if necessary. It can save the party from a wipe.
Stone of Succor
These will return you to your party if you Limbo during a run - without having to run the Limbo maze.
Rune of Return
These are useful in all areas, but basically a necessity if you plan to run the Abyss. You can however simply buy teleportation gems until you manage to buy or farm one of these.
Wands: Clarity, Stone to Flesh (Stygia Shop), Remove Fear (Stygia Shop), BBOD (Stygia Shop), Timestop (Thids)
Scrolls: Mind Blank, Greater Sanctuary, Mordenkainens Disjunction (for Mords Spawning - to save on your active casts at level 9)
Drow Wardstone
This is the key to get through a locked gate on the way to the Aboleths run starting point.
Alternate Items:
Belt of the Axerian Grandmaster
Robes of House Jadon (+1 DC)
Mote of Myriad Mysteries
Styxwalkers
Other Gear that may help a lot or that some people might want to use:
Ring of Abyssal Sorcery
Helm of Zeal
Wrap of Fistandantilus
The Ur-Ward
Wellspring of Power
Silver Nimbus
Thanks:
Thanks to the various people who have helped along the way of this character's progression with ideas or feedback including:
Azpride
JeanHelix
Xiayu
Shakua
TheRajah
Thanks also to people whose posts or forum ideas have helped me develop the formatting of this post, or some of the support ideas that go along with it:
Rainsanctum
Vichya
Paradoom
Intended Next Steps:
Add a Secret Subrace version
History:
Apr 9, 2012: First posting of the build here
Apr 9, 2012: Formatting and Screenshot added
Sept 3, 2013: Second post set up for original lvl60 build and new build
Sept 4, 2013: UR and Open race versions added