Playing a Beguiler

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Hello all. I'm currently playing in a 3.5e campaign and am looking to change character to a beguiler. I have experience playing a rogue, and I know these follow a similar line, but was wondering what other BoMers' opinions on playing one is.

Our current party contains:
A halfling sorcerer
A dragonborn scout
A half orc paladin
A changeling favoured soul

And my previous character was an elven druid (with a shapeshifter variant).

Any general advice is also welcome.

 

I would say a beguiler is able to be a little more of a smartaleck than the standard rogue. Though you won't be able to backstab as effectively, and your low HP mean you should keep a low profile in melee (IIRC you've only got 4 HD, right??) your abilities to trick your enemies make you valuable. Put as many points into Use Magic Device so you can hopefully provide as much magical healing support as possible -- the Paladin can only heal so much and your favored soul may be better off using his time in other ways. Your Sorcerer may be able to use any device that has a sorcerer/wizard spell in it, but you'll be able to use anything left over as well as druid, wu-jen and other non-sorcerer magic items.

I'd use a reach weapon and / or a crossbow. At higher levels, give yourself and your allies improved invisibility. Use your whelm spells to soften up the opposition for the heavy hitters. Don't bother putting ranks into other CHA based skills unless they will help you in combat-- you're got a CHA heavy party. I'll mention some more once I get home and take a peek at the PH2 a bit more closely.

 

Why does everyone presume characters are male

As a beguiler you'll have spells to help soften up enemies quite early on. You can cast Sleep at first level which will help with larger groups of enemies

You may want to look up rules on feinting. The Beguiler at heart is a sneaky character, not neccessarily stealth orientated as the rogue, but more a psychological hiddeness, charming people to see things aren't out of the ordinary, hiding in illusions and fast-talking your way into and out of trouble.

Ultimately you'll be the much needed quick wit of the party, an assistance in espionage and scouting, a caster useful for weakening and evading enemies, plus a backup rogue and diplomat. You have a moderate BAB as well so won't be too bad in combat either, if you have higher dex make sure to get Weapon Finesse when you can with your chosen weapon (if applicable)

 

Get Arcane Disciple [Healing] and/or [Travel] and you'll be the party's swiss army knife

Really nice class, I can't wait till one of my current characters dies so I can play one (not that I want my chars to die, though )

 

In general, quite good, although I'm not a fan of warlocks/beguilers/warmages/dread necros for encroaching on what I consider a sorcerer's general niche.

The beguiler offers you the skills of a rogue - in fact, since you will probably want to max intelligence, much more than a rogue is likely to have - but in combat they have to rely on their spells rather than direct attack. Seriously, poor BAB and low HD means that weapon attacks are... well, less than optimal. In that, you are in fact more similar to a bard. On the other hand, you get a fair bit of battlefield control and some other tricks up your sleeve. Combat will, in fact, possibly be your weakest spot - you are a good scout and great skillmonkey/face, and I can suggest that you do the talking in most of the situations.

Consider taking shadow evocation/conjuration and their variants for extra punch in combat. If you can take the Shadowcraft mage prestige class from Races of stone, you're golden. If not, try to take it. Heighten spell + silent image => win, as far as that class is concerned. As you have dispel/greater dispel, another strategy you may want to consider is going for counterspelling, grabbing a few feats to help (reactive counterspell, anything that boosts your dispel checks, and the Archmage ability) and shut down any caster you want.

Ok, so your party has gotten a boost in the arcane department and lost some healing and conjuring power, as well as your melee presence. You can compensate for the loss in divine spellcasting by maxing UMD, and given how drop-dead useful the skill is, you should max it regardless of all else. You can use shadow conjurations/Shadowcraft mage to compensate for some of the conjurations you've lost - at least in utility, if not in actual combat power. You're no druid, but then again... druids are almost in a world of their own.

As for melee-ing, consider the possble uses of your spells to find... aid. This depends on what your DM thinks about mind control - you have a paladin in the party - but in general at least combat applciations of dominate could be accepted. With the vast majority of your spells coming from 2 schools, spell focus is not a bad idea... and opens the door to Archmage, which is always nice for a level or two.

What books are acceptable for the campaign? Given the beguiler's focus on non-damage spells and options, I always wondered if Vow of Nonviolence isn't a good option... and a dash of incarnum for the veil that boosts enchantment DCs might be handy as well.

 

8people, IIRC the beguiler has a poor BAB, not a moderate one.

I have to concur with the idea that charming opponents into fighting for you would be a sweet way to help the party. At low levels it takes some good roleplaying (and a good CHA score!) to pull off, though. At the least you should be able to get a charmed opponent to stay out of a fight!

 

Ah yes, my mistake, I thought poor BAB had +0 for two levels for a while there, just checked again

Could charming enemies be useful as a method of espionage collecting maps and things.

 

Huh, what game is this guys?

 

Sure, you get them high enough on the diplomacy table and they tell you all they know. Helpful, iirc, means that they can take serious risks in order to help you, so I think they'd even divulge secret information.

It's 3.5th incarnation, as augmented in Player's Handbook II, to be exact. I get the feeling that 3rd edition almost has more base classes than 2nd edition had kits. Well, maybe not - but count prestige classes and it blows 2nd edition right out of the water.