D&D 3.5 - Complete Mage [OEF]

CHAPTER 1
FUNDAMENTALS
28
Best Spells: For a summoner, taking summon monster I
through summon monster IX is a foregone conclusion. The
following list of spells assumes that the summon monster
spells are taken in additional to these suggestions. Most of
your spells come from the conjuration school.
1st—Unseen Servant: One of the most underestimated and
eminently practical spells in the game. The invisible form
created by this conjuration can save your neck in more than
a few difficult situations. For example, while unseen servant
cannot effectively trigger traps with the 20 pounds of force
it is capable of applying, it can certainly drag 100 pounds of
weight through a trigger area.
2nd—Summon Swarm: A handy spell that nauseates your
target while simultaneously subjecting it to disease, poison, or
wounding attacks (depending on whether you prefer swarms
of bats, rats, or spiders).
3rd—Vipergout (Spell Compendium): This truly disgusting
spell enables you to literally spit celestial or fiendish viper
snakes from your mouth, holding them back until needed or
spewing nearly all of them out in a single round.
4th—Dimensional Anchor: This spell is instrumental in
preventing creatures that are summoned using the planar
binding spells from escaping with teleportation or dimensional
shifting abilities. Any summoner planning to use a
planar binding spell would be wise to learn an appropriate
magic circle spell to strengthen the trap as well.
5th—Summon Undead V (Spell Compendium): This is the first
level of undead summoning at which the caster can choose
between creatures that are neither skeletons nor zombies. A
wizard summoner can afford to add all five summon undead
spells to his spellbooks, but a sorcerer might want to be
more selective.
6th—Planar Binding: The spell lets you attempt to trap up to
three outsiders of no more than 12 Hit Dice, which can then
be forced to do your bidding. This kind of coercion, however,
becomes much easier if the outsider is offered a reward or
bribe. Lesser planar binding and greater planar binding also have
their uses if you are not limited by spells known.
7th—Dragon Ally (Spell Compendium): What could be more
impressive than producing a dragon? This spell calls a single
dragon of up to 22 Hit Dice that barters for its service in
exchange for gold, gems, or both.
8th—Fierce Pride of the Beastlands (Spell Compendium): For
absolutely no XP or gp cost, this spell summons 2d4 celestial
lions into your service, followed by 1d4 celestial dire lions 10
minutes later. Depending on your alignment, the alternatives
to this spell, abyssal army, heavenly host, and hellish horde, are
all available to you as 9th-level spells.
9th—Call Marut (Spell Compendium): Despite the 500 XP
cost of this conjuration, few spells conjure forth a more reliable
or powerful ally to serve your cause for 1 hour.
Spells to Avoid: Summoners have most of their spells plotted
out for them. Despite the seemingly predictable direction
your choices might take, try to avoid the following two spells,
especially if you have a limited number of spells known.
Mount: Unless you anticipate that a 75 gp light horse or 30
gp pony will be difficult to acquire, this spell is not worth
the investment. If you are in need of a horse that can be
summoned out of thin air, it's better to wait for the phantom
steed spell.
Vile Death (Spell Compendium): Unless your intention is to
set free the fiend you summon from the Abyss into an undead
body, this spell guarantees no service to the spellcaster. It's
far more practical to open with a persuasive offer or bind the
creature until it agrees to serve you in some capacity.
WARRIOR
Where most arcane spellcasters are physically frail and need
to be protected by their companions, you have never accepted
the weaknesses of your profession. In fact, your party is hard
pressed to keep you out of the fight. You feel the most alive
in combat. Magic is your melee weapon, which you use to
shore up any perceived weaknesses.
Personality: Warriors are not satisfied to merely cast
spells from behind the front line of fighters. They want to be
the front line and have the fighters back them up. Warriors
represent a decidedly aggressive variety of arcane spellcaster.
They are not above augmenting party members with their
spells, but always boost themselves first. This might seem
like selfish behavior, especially when there are already ablebodied
melee fighters in a party, but the warrior strives to
hold her own in combat. If there's one defining quality that
every member of this archetype shares, it's that they all have
something to prove.
Strengths: Unlike a fighter, who stands out with his
swords and armor, the warrior is an unassuming spellcaster
who can appear to be far less threatening than she
is. This gives warriors the element of surprise when their
arcane-assisted prowess surfaces without warning. Warriors
regularly exploit the powerful advantage that lies in others'
tendency to underestimate them.
Weaknesses: Any warrior spellcaster must find a way
to overcome or otherwise cope with the drawbacks of a low
base attack bonus, low AC, and/or low hit points. If you can't
find a way around at least two of these disadvantages, you're
better off avoiding this archetype.
Best Classes: Other than the duskblade (Player's Handbook
II), no arcane spellcaster can effectively pursue this
role without some early multiclassing. Even a single level of
fighter or barbarian can dramatically extend the life span (and
utility) of a sorcerer or wizard bent on becoming a warrior.
That said, with the right spell selection, any arcane caster
can eventually achieve the ability to hold her own in a fight.
The sorcerer probably has an edge on the wizard, since her
ability to cast the same few spells many times per day grants
her an edge over the wizard's versatility. Both the warmage
and the bard enjoy better AC and hit points than a typical
arcane spellcaster, but they lack the spell selection required
to shine in this role. The hexblade (Complete Warrior) is
certainly a viable warrior candidate, but the class has only
limited arcane spellcasting power.
Best Prestige Classes: For warriors who are strictly
devoted to fighting, the eldritch knight, however straightforward,
offers a fighter's base attack bonus while only giving up
two levels of spellcasting: one to pick a melee class proficient
with all martial weapons and one within the prestige class.