Proof that those interested in blasting shouldn’t be looking at the mage classes.
Character Progression
| Lvl | Class | BA | Fort | Ref | Will | Feat | Special | CL | SL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Human | — | — | — | — | Two-Weapon Fighting | Bonus feat | — | — | |
| 1 | Marshal | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | Skill Focus (UMD) | Skill Focus (Diplomacy), minor aura (motivate charisma) | — | — | |
| 2 | Artificer | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | — | Artificer knowledge, srtisan bonus, disable trap, item creation, Scribe Scroll | 1 | 1 | |
| 3 | Artificer | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | Item Familiar | Brew Potion | 2 | ||
| 4 | Artificer | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | — | Craft Wondrous Item | 3 | 2 | |
| 5 | Artificer | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | Quicken Spell | Craft homunculus, bonus feat | 4 | ||
| 6 | Artificer | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | Twin Spell | Craft Magic Arms and Armor, retain essence | 5 | 3 | |
| 7 | Artificer | 4 | 4 | 2 | 7 | — | Craft Wand | 6 | ||
| 8 | Artificer | 5 | 4 | 2 | 7 | — | Metamagic spell trigger | 7 | ||
| 9 | Artificer | 6 | 4 | 2 | 8 | Double Wand Wielder, Wand Mastery | Bonus feat | 8 | 4 | |
| 10 | Artificer | 6 | 5 | 3 | 8 | — | Craft Rod | 9 | ||
| 11 | Artificer | 7 | 5 | 3 | 9 | — | — | 10 | ||
| 12 | Artificer | 8 | 5 | 3 | 9 | Energy Substitution (elec) | Metamagic spell completion | 11 | 5 | |
| 13 | Artificer | 9 | 6 | 4 | 10 | Energy Admixture (elec) | Craft Staff, bonus feat | 12 | ||
| 14 | Artificer | 9 | 6 | 4 | 10 | — | Skill mastery | 13 | ||
| 15 | Artificer | 10 | 6 | 4 | 11 | Extra Rings | Forge Ring | 14 | 6 | |
| 16 | Artificer | 11 | 7 | 5 | 11 | — | — | 15 | ||
| 17 | Artificer | 12 | 7 | 5 | 12 | Craft Construct | Bonus feat | 16 | ||
| 18 | Artificer | 12 | 7 | 5 | 12 | Craft Contingent Spell | — | 17 | ||
| 19 | Artificer | 13 | 8 | 6 | 13 | — | — | 18 | ||
| 20 | Artificer | 14 | 8 | 6 | 13 | — | — | 19 |
Rapid Fire Wands
Dual wielding wands allows you to cast all of the following spells as an entire round (full round + swift):
- Energy admixed, twinned spell
- (Offhand) energy admixed, twinned spell
- Quickened, energy admixed, twinned spell
Meaning that if both wands contain the same spell, you will cast the spell 6 times in a given round, with each instance of the spell dealing an additional +100% electricity damage.
Blasting with Wands
Dual wielding wands of scorching ray will do 24d6 points of damage per casting, resulting in a total of 288d6 damage. Although this will allow no saves, it is still affected by spell resistance, and will require 36 ranged touch attacks. Using two wands in this manner will consume 22 charges in your main hand and 11 charges in your offhand. On average this is 3 such rounds per pair of wands. If you add split ray into the mix, you will do 384d6 damage requiring 48 ranged touch attacks and consuming 26/13 charges. This would be about 2.5 such rounds per pair of wands.
Blasting with a Staff
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Maintaining Some Versatility
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Why it’s a Poor Choice
Though simultaneously being a better blaster and maintaining at least limited versatility when compared to the Ultimate Blaster, being a blastificer is still a terrible waste of potential. An easier way to take advantage of the massive save DCs would be to load your staff with save-or-die and save-or-suck spells. Why use up half of your charges for multiple instances of a spell, when just one can kill? Using this strategy would free up most of your feats, allowing you to greatly increase your versatility by becoming either an item crafter or a buff/debuff monster.
If damage is what you’re after, look to the non-casters. A pouncing, leap attacking, frenzied, revenant blade can power attack for +100 damage per hit with 7 attacks per round. That’s 700 solid damage from power attack alone; that’s not including strength, weapon damage, or weapon enhancements. It also doesn’t include anything other than the two-weapon fighting tree for extra attacks. Not to mention that he is completely unbuffed and can do this every round from dusk ’til dawn.
