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MAHOTSUKAI

Introduction

The art of maho, or "black magic", concentrates on harnessing the negative energies not only of the world, but of all planes of existence, and on shaping them to do one's bidding. Necromancy is only one of the ways its power is made manifest. Casting undefiable curses, bringing down the worst of diseases, concentrating negative energies into single, devastating blasts of pure power, summoning the foulest of undead abominations, the most terrifying extra-planar horrors and bending the wills of even the most powerful creatures to command them at a whim - these are all part of maho. It's a dangerous art; all who willingly bind themselves to the great evil are steadily drawn it into chaos and madness, sapped of their free will and ultimately of life. Only the most powerful of wizards can withstand the corruption for longer periods of time, but even then nothing is certain. In the end, the dark magic always has its way.

Character Concept

The title of mahotsukai is reserved only for the strongest of will and blackest of heart. Malicious, cunning and powerful, a mahotsukai is an extremely skilled necromancer, evoker, conjurer and enchanter, certainly not one to be trifled with. Patient and skilled in the art of deception, a mahotsukai often conceals his real intentions and acts as a councelor or aide to those in power, but he is not to be trusted. Personal gain is never the concern of a mahotsukai, only great power, through which ultimate evil and chaos can be unleashed.

In Neverwinter Nights, this amounts to the ability to cast spells of the highest level (level 9 and epic ones) and a specific spell selection (see below). The wapon of choice is entirely up to you and doesn't really matter, since you won't be fighting in melee anyway, and the one Pale Master exclusive staff that can be found isn't especially useful. You will also have limited spell choices at level up because of the Pale Master class and will have to scribe them from scrolls, but their amount per day will be the same as if you were a pure Wizard.

The character's alignment is a choice for you to make based on personal preference, but since the concept is of a twisted necromancer bent on unleashing great chaos, it should not be any good or neutral. Read the descriptions carefully and decide which fits your character best. The alignment I found most fitting was Lawful Evil, but any of the three will work equally well, depending on your choice as to which stage of corruption has befallen your character.

You will be raising Intelligence with every single extra attribute point that you recieve (every four levels) to gain additional benefits as a spell caster (beating enemy spell resistance, skill modifiers).

Keep Concentration, Spellcraft and Lore maxed out at all times to raise your efficiency and allow the use Epic Spells. Others skills I recommend you take are Persuade, Listen (both of which are cross-class skills for a Wizard, but class skills for a Pale Master, which means a considerable boost once you start levelling as one), Tumble (allows you to avoid attacks of opportunity and gives you a +4 natural AC bonus by the end) and Spot.

Character Statistics And Feat Progression

RACE: Human
CLASS: Wizard (Necromancer)
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil
ATTRIBUTES: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 14, Wis 8, Int 18, Cha 8
SKILLS: Concentration 4, Spellcraft 4, Lore 4, Persuade 2, Listen 2, Tumble 2, Spot 2

Level 1: (Wizard 1) Combat Casting, Spell Penetration
Level 2: (Wizard 2) --
Level 3: (Wizard 3) Spell Focus (Necromancy)
Level 4: (Wizard 4) --
Level 5: (Wizard 5) Maximize Spell
Level 6: (Wizard 6) Greater Spell Penetration
Level 7: (Wizard 7) --
Level 8: (Wizard 8) --
Level 9: (Wizard 9) Spell Focus (Evocation)
Level 10: (Wizard 10) Quicken Spell
Level 11: (Wizard 11) --
Level 12: (Wizard 12) Greater Spell Focus (Necromancy)
Level 13: (Wizard 13) --
Level 14: (Wizard 14) --
Level 15: (Wizard 15) Toughness, Greater Spell Focus (Evocation)
Level 16: (Wizard 16) --
Level 17: (Wizard 17) --
Level 18: (Pale Master 1) Improved Initiative
Level 19: (Pale Master 2) --
Level 20: (Pale Master 3) --
Level 21: (Pale Master 4) Epic Spell Penetration
Level 22: (Pale Master 5) --
Level 23: (Pale Master 6) --
Level 24: (Pale Master 7) Improved Combat Casting
Level 25: (Pale Master 8) --
Level 26: (Pale Master 9) --
Level 27: (Pale Master 10) Epic Spell Focus (Evocation)
Level 28: (Pale Master 11) --
Level 29: (Pale Master 12) --
Level 30: (Pale Master 13) Epic Spell: Dragon Knight, Epic Spell: Epic Warding
Level 31: (Pale Master 14) --
Level 32: (Pale Master 15) --
Level 33: (Pale Master 16) Automatic Quicken Spell I, Automatic Quicken Spell II
Level 34: (Pale Master 17) --
Level 35: (Pale Master 18) --
Level 36: (Pale Master 19) Epic Spell: Greater Ruin, Automatic Quicken Spell III
Level 37: (Pale Master 20) --
Level 38: (Pale Master 21) --
Level 39: (Pale Master 22) Superior Initiative, Epic Spell Focus (Necromancy)
Level 40: (Pale Master 23) --

Allowed Spell Choices

LEVEL 0
Acid Splash, Daze, Light, Ray of Frost, Resistance

LEVEL 1
Charm Person, Grease, Horizikaul's Boom, Ice Dagger, Iron Guts, Mage Armor, Magic Missle, Magic Weapon, Negative Energy Ray, Protection From Alignment, Ray of Enfeeblement, Scare, Shelgarn's Persistent Blade, Shield, Sleep, Summon Creature I

LEVEL 2
Balagarn's Iron Horn, Blindness/Deafness, Cloud of Bewilderment, Darkness, Death Armor, Ghostly Visage, Ghoul Touch, Invisibility, Knock, Lesser Dispel, Melf's Acid Arrow, Resist Elements, Stone Bones, Summon Creature II, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Ultravision

LEVEL 3
Clarity, Dispel Magic, Greater Magic Weapon, Gust of Wind, Haste, Keen Edge, Magic Circle Against Alignment, Mestil's Acid Breath, Negative Energy Burst, Protection From Elements, Slow, Stinking Cloud, Summon Creature III, Vampiric Touch

LEVEL 4
Bestow Curse, Charm Monster, Confusion, Contagion, Enervation, Evard's Black Tentacles, Fear, Ice Storm, Improved Invisibility, Isaac's Lesser Missle Storm, Lesser Spell Breach, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Phantasmal Killer, Remove Curse, Stone Skin, Summon Creature IV

LEVEL 5
Animate Dead, Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Dismissal, Dominate Person, Energy Buffer, Hold Monster, Lesser Mind Blank, Lesser Planar Binding, Lesser Spell Mantle, Mestil's Acid Sheath, Mind Fog, Summon Creature V

LEVEL 6
Acid Fog, Circle of Death, Ethereal Visage, Evil Blight, Flesh to Stone, Globe of Invulnerability, Greater Dispelling, Greater Spell Breach, Greater Stoneskin, Isaac's Greater Missle Storm, Mass Haste, Planar Binding, Stone to Flesh, Summon Creature VI, Undeath to Death

LEVEL 7
Banishment, Control Undead, Finger of Death, Great Thunderclap, Mordekainen's Sword, Protection From Spells, Shadow Shield, Spell Mantle, Summon Creature VII

LEVEL 8
Blackstaff, Create Undead, Greater Planar Binding, Greater Sanctuary, Horrid Wilting, Mass Blindness/Deafness, Mass Charm, Mind Blank, Summon Creature VIII

LEVEL 9
Black Blade of Disaster, Dominate Monster, Energy Drain, Gate, Greater Spell Mantle, Mordekainen's Disjunction, Summon Creature IX, Time Stop, Wail of the Banshee, Weird

This build concludes my Japanese culture and history themed series of strategies. Again, feel free to point out any mistakes that you may find and enjoy.

As a side note, I'm going to have a little rest from this, but when it's over - it'll be time for some munchkin/unlikely but fun characters

A spell I would advice any mage to get is the Ice Storm.

That spell have prooven extreemly usefull to me throughout my numerous playing as a sorcerer, and have startet to refere to it as my dragon/balor killing spell.

This is in no small part due to its "no save".

This spell is proberly my most used spell in the game.

LEVEL 4
Bestow Curse, Charm Monster, Confusion, Contagion, Enervation, Evard's Black Tentacles, Fear, Ice Storm, Improved Invisibility, Isaac's Lesser Missle Storm, Lesser Spell Breach, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Phantasmal Killer, Remove Curse, Stone Skin, Summon Creature IV

Ahh - okay, must have overlooked it (several times) ... my bad.