Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Talen Lee 04-25-05, 09:17 AM	So yeah, I got roped into a new game, and am thrilled. I had to create a character, literally, on the fly, with a pretty solid basis, and am now being given the opportunity to fine-tune things (running into combat with half of my feats unselected, woo!). Since the party lacked for arcane clout, but was combat-intense, I ran the Battle Sorceror from the Complete Arcane past him. The response was positive, and thus was born Ceralith Dawnstrider. Human Battle Sorceror 7. Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 21 (19) Feats selected: Power Attack. That leaves me with 3 others. I've done well for hit points (47), and the DM is permissive with books, provided I like them for balance as well. While I lacked for a character concept, I quickly impro'd something up; Ceralith is a one-eyed noble with a draconic heritage, and he's a hard-edged man to deal with. His spells, picked quickly, were all fire-based - Scorching Ray and Fireball are his only definite spells right now. He has scales on his hands and forearms, and he can make fire dance along his hands (with no mechanical effect). Equipment was also picked blandly - he has a sword, some armour, a headband of Charisma +2. That's clearly not what I'm planning on sticking with. So. 1. Can anyone think of a good class to blend in with Battle Sorceror, that I could have taken earlier, or that I could be taking soon, that won't hurt my spellcasting? The character may overrule some options, but I'm mainly interested in ideas at this point. 2. If there is no suitable alternative, does anyone have any ideas on how I can acquire a familiar that can hold its own in combat, helping me out rather than hiding in my pack? The character isn't a scout, and doesn't intend to be or have any part in that. The druid and rogue in the party can attend to that role, and he considers himself a warrior. 3. Any must-have spells for a blaster mage? I'm trying to avoid the painful savables, but alas, Fireball is my only 3rd level spell. Any sourcebooks I should be double-checking?
Talen Lee 04-25-05, 08:33 PM	Bump. Less than eight hours and it's already on the third page. Dayumn!
Korasukage 04-25-05, 11:06 PM	I am really unsure if there are any prc's geared towards your overall idea. One of the simplist builds you could do is.... fighter 1/battle sorceror xx/ek xx This way you would have 9th level spells and still be decent in combat. Here are some feats that might be interesting given your whole dragon/fire kinda a theme... draconic bloodline[this is from dragon it would add more spells known] draconic heritage draconic breath[being able to breath fire is just to cool...and you could add metabreath feats if you wanted or use the breath enhancing spells in draconomicon] arcane strike searing spell[not sure how handy it would be but if alot of your spells are fire it might prove rather useful] draconic presence dragon familiar[I believe this gives you a wyrmling dragon as a familiar, this would definetly be a more combat oriented familiar. I think gold would be best as they receive the alternate form ability so they can appear as a cat if you wanted :devil: ] Hope this helps Kor
Animefunkmaster 04-25-05, 11:53 PM	o.o… It is amazing; I am doing the same thing and need a little bit of help as well. I am sure you mean you are using the battle sorcerer variant from UA, and not anything from complete arcane. Owell, so here are my thoughts if you want to be a melee B****, I do mean this btw, your tank will hate you. So, to start things off you need to decide what you want to do with yourself (I am basically melee but have some nice spells). I would highly suggest a level in fighter and going into the spell sword (channeling spells is always a good option), and finishing off in the Eldritch Knight. Grab battle caster (ask the DM if you take it twice will it allow you to outfit yourself in full plate), use the spell sword’s ignore spell failure to outfit yourself with a medium shield. Then the feat arcane strike will finish this nice little combo off. If you can buy a spell storing sword that would be great too. So in a full round you would average 1 spell (spell storing), 2 spells (multi channeling), 4 attacks + arcane strike to all of them. This will defiantly make your tank sick to his stomach. This will also kill a lot of your spells per day; I suggest buying scroll to cast into spell storing. Ask the DM if you can take mirror spell (Warcraft Campaign setting, pre req, magical energy control… does nothing at all… iron will), the feat lets you cast a mirrored spell, which basically means it creates a second maximized fireball (or twined, or any other met magic you put on the original) at the cost of taking up another spell level equal to the original spell. Then you will be averaging 5 spells (1 spell storing +2 mirrored spells channeled) with your 4 attacks and arcane strike… if you twin the mirrored spells you are now hitting someone with 8 channeled +1 spell storing… no need to power attack now. Familiar time: this is really starting to bug me… I started a post asking for help optimizing a familiar and have come up with now responses. So here is what I have found/made up: There are some spells in the WotC web page that changes your familiar into things permanently (undead/outsider/elemental). However my personal favorite is my new combo (BEWARE IT IS A GAME BREAKER AND I DOUBT ANY DM WILL ALLOW THIS). First, let the druid in the party in on your plan. Get the feat: Dragon Familiar, Summon a wyrmling dragon. Kill it, (coup de grace works). Now have the druid reincarnate it. The DM now has to make a table of what kind of dragon body he gets reincarnated as… wait for him to do this and gives you your dragon. In character you can act surprised as your new dragon is in a young adult body (but still has the brain of a wyrmling) and no loss of level. The combo revolves around reincarnate saying word for word that the creature returns in a young adult body. It also helps that familiars don’t loose a level when they get resurrected. Info is totally from the PHB. My DM punched me, when I showed him this, and he wouldn’t allow me to play this out (for obvious reasons). If you reincarnate your familiar now though, it will come back as a magical beast, not an animal (as it’s type changes when you initially summon it), so most likely you will get some sort of buffed version of the animal. Some nifty things to do with your familiar is aid another (giving you more to hit or more ac), flanking (always good), trip (depending on your familiar), riding it as a mount (enlarging it first =P). Hope this helps.
Talen Lee 04-26-05, 12:26 AM	searing spell[not sure how handy it would be but if alot of your spells are fire it might prove rather useful]Whereabouts is this from? I am sure you mean you are using the battle sorcerer variant from UA, and not anything from complete arcane.Yes. Yes I am. My bad. Owell, so here are my thoughts if you want to be a melee B****, I do mean this btw, your tank will hate you.I somehow doubt it. See, we're level 7; she's a Warshaper, and I'm a battle sorceror. She's going to be a step or four ahead of me in hit points, since, at level 7, she has more than double mine. I'm not talking 10-20 difference here; we're talking 47 vs 101. I don't think the Tank will mind. I could crap lightning bolts and I doubt she'd care too much. So, to start things off you need to decide what you want to do with yourself (I am basically melee but have some nice spells).I'm finding myself leaning towards a melee caster who uses his spellcasting as battlefield control. One-on-one swift buffs, and ranged artillery (which proved to be invaluable in the first session - Scorching Raying away a half-dozen goblins left the Goblins' goon helplessly stymied). I would highly suggest a level in fighter and going into the spell sword (channeling spells is always a good option), and finishing off in the Eldritch Knight.Interesting, but I am the party's primary spellcaster. If these are the best options available to me, I'm going to have to put up with it, I think.
Torack 04-26-05, 02:12 AM	If you're going to be a blaster-type character, why not go for a Warmage instead? Get the energy substitution feat and change one energy type for another. Fire, as cool as it sounds, might not be the best energy-type around as a lot of creatures have damage resistance or immunity to fire. I'd say go with sonic damage or maybe ice.
Talen Lee 04-26-05, 08:15 AM	Warmage lacks the actual ability to hit things the Battle-Sorceror gives me. Thanks to the 3/4 BAB and the d8 hit dice, I'm more comfortable engaging in melee, and I don't particularly like to play heavily armoured folk anyway. I understand that Fire is a bad element to choose. Ignoring the issue of resistance (the DM has told me that he's not going to do much about resistances, preferring other types of damage), fire is thematically neat and works for now. I mainly want to reduce my reliance on high saves, or to power up those saves. Attack rolls around the theme are my ideal plan. Since he's hitting 8th and gaining a new level of spells, I'm thinking that Enervation is my best spell for that level.
Korasukage 04-26-05, 08:35 AM	Searing spell is from Sandstorm. As this is a metamagic feat it will hurt a little bit when using it, however. Being able to overcome fire resistance is immensely useful when using mainly fire based spells. I once had a pyro halfling use this feat...it was great! If you are going melee/blaster type than I would suggest this simple build... ftr 1/b sor9/ek 10 This nets you bab 16[sorry its bab 17 not 16], 9th lvl spls, saves of 12/6/9, the ability to cast in light armour and 2 bonus feats. This, coupled with arcane strike, would make for a solid ranged attacker(using scorching ray, enervation(great spell choice btw), fireball, etc) and melee fighter. If I may also suggest one of the orb spells as most of them do not allow a save or sr, IIRC. I will check my books later to make sure. Cheers :) Kor
Korg al Tarr 04-26-05, 11:52 AM	1. Can anyone think of a good class to blend in with Battle Sorceror, that I could have taken earlier, or that I could be taking soon, that won't hurt my spellcasting? The character may overrule some options, but I'm mainly interested in ideas at this point. Dragonslayer 1- draconomicon (you can take it the next level) need 2 feats and tumble ? you gain BAB +1 fort +2 will +2 +1 spellcasting and all armor prof. for Spellsword 1- CW- gives you the same then maybe EK
Khazra Reborn 04-26-05, 01:17 PM	Have you seen the PYROKINETICIST Prc in expanded psiconic hanbook. Its also here (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/psionicPyrokineticist.html) . If you could get the Dm to swap around knowldege psiconics for arcane & power point reserve for arcane caster level it would be great for the fire concept....shame it has no caster level increase :(
Korasukage 04-26-05, 01:45 PM	Another feat that is interesting is Netherese Battle Curse (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20050202a) [Lost Empires of Faerûn]. It could be a very handy ability in order to hamper your opponents in melee as well as to make them more susceptable to spells cast by your companions.
Animefunkmaster 04-26-05, 03:29 PM	Oh, well there are other options (I assumed you were going melee). If you want to be tricky, you could always go spell thief/warlock, sneak attack with your eldritch blast (XD) and steal their spells. Then move into any “dagger spell” PrC. Unfortunately I agree that nuking in armor should be with the war mage (bonuses to damage, sudden feats and advanced learning) or a wizard, or sorcerer. However the warmage puts you in a pickle, because you lack buffing spells (or any other spells that might be important). Also the warmage can hit when it counts (shocking grasp is a touch attack and can get you out of a jam, when your familiar holds the charge and full rounds with it, while you are flanking it). Ok, so sticking with the battle sorcerer I would go initiate of the seven-fold veil. The effigy master and the Elemental Savant are nice for casters (who need buffs). Heck you could even dip into first levels (spell word, blade singer, dragon slayer) and then EK to finish it off. Arch Mage would also be handy if you are attacking with fireballs and don’t want the party hurt. Umm, you have a lot of options for a straight nuking build. Hope any of that helps.
Big D 04-26-05, 04:23 PM	I'm playing with a similar concept for a cohort (see that thread, if it hasn't been buried already). Here's a couple of thoughts... I would strongly, very strongly, recommend looking at the fire orb spells. Grab point blank/precise shot early on, and you can stand behind the lines and lob high-damage spells at enemies in melee up front. Of the 3 main ranged touch spells, lesser (whatever) orb, scorching ray, and (whatever) orb, none have saves and only scorching ray has SR. Add in the usually low touch AC you'll see most of the time, and you can do fairly reliable single-target damage with 1/2/4 level spells. Natch, fireball at 3, if permitted, firebrand at 5, and disintegrate at 6. Beyond that, you'll probably be looking more at the "save vs. die/incapacitate" spells. I like the fire focus, although it does mean that you'll be hosed by resistances more often than with any other element. However, it does open an intriguing possibility... the fiery argent savant variant mentioned in Complete Arcane. I'm still very unclear as to what powers a fiery argent savant has (the fluff text attributes abilities to one that don't seem to exist--quick, name a fire spell that increases AC!). However, the first level alone gives you, at the cost of a caster level, +1 to-hit on all attack rolls with spells of that element, and +1 damage to *every* die of damage. O.K., let's do math. At level 17 (caster 16), you'll be able to Twin Spell Fire Orb (anybody know if Split Ray works for orb spells after CA threw away the ray/energy missile distinction?). With a couple of ranged touch rolls (+1 point-blank, +1 argent savant bonus, battlesorc BAB), you'll be able to do 30d6+30. With no save, no SR. Well, there are a couple of saves, but they're to prevent daze, IIRC. Nasties of equivalent power (Disintegrate, anything that one-shots) have save/SR. Another recommendation would be to grab Energy Substitution [something else]. You'd lose your argent savant bonuses, but it would save your hide when dealing with fire resistant/immune enemies. You're looking at steep spell limits with a Battlesorc, so you should probably angst over your spell list well in advance, deciding which spells you can skip in favor of similar ones from different levels. I'd recommend going for transport spells, buffs, and battlefield control spells (Stinking Cloud, Slow, Tentacles, perhaps the Invisibility spells, Dimension Door/Teleport, Repulsion, even Obscuring Mist/Fog Cloud or some Wall spells). If you can take it, I'd look at Nybor's Wrathful Castigation as well (save/SR, but it's fort vs. die, and then will vs. daze if they make that). I can't help a lot on prestige classes; the Battlesorc, unlike its cousin, gives up a lot to take most prestige classes. Even going ftr 1/eld kn 10 gives up HP (d8 to d6) and 2 full caster levels in exchange for 1 feat and 2 BAB. The big price you paid was spells known, and the only way you're going to get back those spells known is with a Spellpool, and I'm not crazy about the sacrifices a Battlesorc has to make to get into one. Oh, one last thing--get a mithral buckler. +1 AC up front, you don't need proficiency, and you can get up to +6 AC that stacks with everything else and doesn't take up any other slots. Your off-hand is still considered empty, and you can cast spells while holding a sword or xbow in the other hand (I don't think you get the shield bonus for that round if you are carrying something in your main hand, though, since you'd be using your off-hand for any somatics).
Kurama Youko 04-26-05, 06:25 PM	Arcane Strike from Complete Warrior is a must. Polymorph when your high enough lv. Dodge and Mobility round out the feat Suggestions. (Why Dodge and Mobility? Because you really want Mobility as a Spellcasting Fighter type.. you will be moving through threatened areas and that +5 potientally against AoO's will help alot.) When you get high enough maybe even mobile spellcasting. i wouldnt worry so much about getting the Fighter BAB.. You want to hit and move anyway so make sure thats what you focus on. Het Spring Attack when your high enough level. Add True Strike and Expedious Retreat as some buff spells. A Spellstoring weapon is a good idea. Forms to abuse while using Polymorph (when you get it.) Fire Giant, orge if you dont have enough caster levels for Fire Giant Yet. (Definitely Firblog or Sun Giant at higher levels.) Follow the Shadow Evocation and Conjuration Spells for the most part (They pretty much give you access to every Evocation and Conjuration Spell in the book, as well as allow you other flexabilities. Like creating Shadowy partially Illusionary Weapons or Armor.) If get some back up by creating Shadowy Monsters that you can control. When you have a chance to grab meta magic feats get, something like Still Spell.. just in case. Smart DM's know that a Casters / Fighter-Caster usually has problems with grappling. Dont get yourself caught up in that. Stick to the party Rogue like white on race when it comes to Combat Situations.. if he/she isnt a ranged sneak attacker and prefers to get into the mix and do her thing, follow her into the frey and share in her plentful sneak attacks.. (she'll need you for that, and you'll net her for the bonuses flanking provides as well as forcing the DM to play any many miny mo on who gets the monsters claws on the following round.) dont spend to much time on buffs.. if the buff isnt something you can do swiftly limit using those buffs on every other round. Make sure you do some damage every other round dont leave it up to your buddies while they are trying to do the best they can without such things as buffs. Spell Thermatics is a good feat to for the Shadow Line of Spells, i believe thermatics raises DC and thats something you definitely want with the shadow line of spells. Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus Illusion are very nice if you take those spells.