I was wondering if I could call upon the collective wisdom of those who have played before me to assist in a change of events that has left me perplexed on the future development of my primary character.
The Disclosures: Let me start off by saying that I have never played LG with a character higher than this one, so my high-level play experience is limited. This is the reason I am seeking outside advise from those more experienced.
The question is, where to go from here given that certain access has become available that makes me question whether to follow my pre-conceived development plan. Lets start with the current and proposed build first, and then move on to the issues after that.
Draxx, Kobold Sorcerer 6/Ruathar 3/MotAO 1
(Metamagic Specialist Alt Class Feature,
Dragonblood Sorcerer Racial Substitution at 4th)
HP 53 (-1 due to Draconic Rite of Passage)
STR 6 (+2 Ioun Stone, and yes, I know I am Shadow bait)
DEX 16
CON 14 (+2 Amulet of Health)
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 20 (+2 Cloak of Charisma, 2 stat boosts)
Fort: +7
Ref: +10
Will: +12
(Vest of Resistance +2, +1 sacred bonus to Will)
AC 23, Touch 14, Flat Footed 20, (Gr. Mage Armor, Mithral Shield, Size & Nat Armor)
Initiative +3 or +8 (Nerveskitter)
Grapple -2 (BAB 5, STR -3, Size -4) – use Anklets to get out
Feats:
Arcane Preparation (pre-requisite for MotAO) at 1st
Empower Spell at 3rd
Practical Metamagic: Empower Spell at 6th
Cooperative Spell (pre-requisite for MotAO) at 9th
(Quicken Spell at 11th – bonus feat from MotAO)
(Craft Wondrous Item at 12th)
(Practical Metamagic: Quicken Spell at 15th)
Spells Known:
0th: (6/day)
Detect Magic
Read Magic
Prestidigitation
Message
Caltrops
Mage Hand
Mending
Amanuensis
Stick
1st: (8/day)
Charm Person (1/day – Draconic Rite spell-like ability)
Grease
Ray of Enfeeblement
Guided Shot
Nerveskitter
Friendly Face
2nd: (7/day)
Glitterdust
Scorching Ray
False Life
Invisibility
(Mirror Image or other at 11th)
3rd: (7/day)
Greater Mage Armor
Dispel Magic (swapped out for Dragonskin at 14th)
Fly
(Snake’s Swiftness, Mass at 11th)
4th: (6/day)
Evard’s Black Tentacles
Orb of Force
(Ruin Delver’s Fortune at 11th)
(Enervation at 13th)
5th: (4/day)
Teleport
(Wall of Force at 11th)
(Telekinesis at 13th)
6th:
(Disintegrate at 12th)
(Contingency at 13th)
(True Sight, Probe Thoughts, Dispel Magic (Greater) or other at 15th)
7th:
(Limited Wish at 14th)
(Reverse Gravity, Energy Immunity or other at 15th)
Equipment:
Vest of Resistance +2
Cloak of Charisma +2
Amulet of Heath +2
Anklet of Translocation
Armband of Elusive Action
Dragon Mask
Gloves of the Starry Sky (not used anymore, provided Magic Missile at lower levels)
Hellcat Gauntlets
Hat of Disguise
Heward’s Handy Haversack (a must)
Ioun Stone, +2 Strength
Lesser Rod of Extend Spell
Talisman of the Disc
Wand of Magic Weapon (3 charges)
Wand of Cure Light (11 Charges)
Wand of Lesser Vigor (35 charges)
Wand of Summon Monster I (6 charges)
+1 Mithral Buckler
War Mastiff w/ barding (mount)
various mundane items and a number of scrolls
Gold on hand: ~1750gp
The Issue: I have recent come across access to both a Belt of Battle and a Circlet of the Mage. I also have favors that will allow me to go back and purchase them at any time. This has caused me to question my original path towards Quicken Spell.
I have heard that higher level encounters end rather quickly, so Quickening spells seemed like a good advance to making myself more useful in combat. I would use Arcane Prep to ready the spells used in most encounters, and then use the Metamagic Specialist function to get off those that I didn’t prepare.
Now that I have access to items that will essentially let me “quicken” spells easier and earlier, blowing two feats on quickening spells seems not as useful as it once was. The advice I seek is what to use in its place.
I was initially drawn to selecting Metamagic feats such as Split Ray or Sculpt Spell. They make certain spells nice (sculpted EBT & Glitterdust come to mind, as well as split Enervations, Scorching Rays), but they don’t seem to cover many spells in my selection.
I then though of Maximize Spell, with Practical Metamagic: Maximize to reduce the spell slot premium to 2. Its two feat slots, but Maximized (and Empowered) Rays of Enfeeblement, False Life, Scorching Rays, Orbs of Force, and Enervation are tempting.
I would welcome any thoughts on the matter, insights into alternates, as well as any ideas that I may have completely overlooked. Thank you.
Trevor Wells
I -do- have a few pieces of advice, however.
1) If you're not using it, sell it. I'm not sure what good the talisman of the disc is doing you, or the wand of SM I. Magic missile, on the other hand, is useful all the time, I'd keep the gloves of the starry sky for now unless you're -really- pressed for cash.
2) You have to be the smartest sorceror I've ever seen.
3) Split Ray and Sculpt Spell are both quite powerful choices. You won't be sorry with either one. Transdimensional spell is good, but orb of force is good enough unless you're swarmed with undead. Since you have Evards, I'm sure you're not from Keoland. Non-lethal spell is the other one that comes up fiarly often. You have some options here as well, so don't worry about that either.
4) I've got a number of high-level characters, and my sorceror is 11th level. Fights seem to last just as long as they did at first level. However, instead of miss, miss, miss, hit (APL 2), it's hit, hit, hit, critical (APL 12). It's a bloodier combat, but not that crazy.
5) My sorceror has used a lot of the all-day spells to substitute for Quicken Spell. For example, Overland flight means that I'm already airborne, so I don't have to waste a round casting Fly. Similar to how you use False Life and Mage Armor.
Overall, I think the Belt of Battle goes a long way, and that Quicken spell for a sorceror is good, but not 100% essential.
Circlet of the Mage seems less impressive to me. How often do you run out of spells? Better value than memento magica, but still seems unnecessary.
Here is some advice on what arcane casters ideally *should* be doing. I have cannibalised it from several other people so don't give me the credit for it, I just summarised what I thought were really good points.
(Props go out to CuWyrmling and others, too many to remember)
Target all three saves?
CuWyrmling articulated this best: "do you have an option for opponents with ungodly high fort/ref/will" (spells with no save at all are often very good - the thing to avoid is having a wide array of spells that all target the same save and can be negated by a save or evasion)
Notice your opponent!
See invisibility/dragonsight/faerie fire/glitter dust
Do direct damage
kabooom!/Orbs are your FRIEND!
Control the battlefield
Grease/Wall of Force/Wall of Ice/Evards
Be mobile
FLY/Swift Expeditious Retreat/Dimension Door/BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH A GRAPPLE!
Do ability damage
Enervation/Ray of Enfeeblement are good ones of these
Deal with SR
Orbs/Boreal Wind/Blast of Sand
Deal with high AC opponents
Viscid Globs/Glitterdust/Area of Effect
Deal with energy resistances/immunities
Rods of substitution/Other spells/Magic Missle!
Deal with a civilian situation
Glitterdust/Charm spells
Power-down an opponent with 82 spells up?
Reciprocal Gyre/Greater Dispel Magic
Buff your comrades?
Haste/Mass Fly
Glitter dust, for example, can be used on crowds of civilians because it doesn't kill anyone. A blind civilian isn't really at much of a disadvantage; the assassin/hill giant/half-dragon stirge was going to be able to hit them anyway.
Wall of ice and grease are good battlefield control (as is SM IV, in a different kind of way).
However, you don't have anything like bestow curse or ray of enfeeblement or even reduce person to penalize your foes. Dispel also can work here, targeting weapons/armour/glowing crystal skulls can help.
A few other things (some more specific than others):
- Kill Mirror Images (Quickened Whirling Blade is usually the best option if you have it, Quickened/Magic Missile probably the second-best) - it's a common and annoying buff spell that other PCs often have trouble with
- Cope with enemies with Freedom of Movement and Magic Circle vs X - these protections are long-lasting and tend to shut down huge swathes of spells if you can't dispel them, so you either need to be good at dispelling or have a wide variety of options
- Cope with undead, and other enemies immune to mind-affecting and death effects
- Deal with (lesser) globes of invulnerability (the problem with having all your high-level spells as utility and relying on metamagicked low-level spells for offence)
- Deal with monsters with ALL high saves and/or resistance to all elements (except sonic - sonic resist is very rare)
- Fight at Long range OR defend the whole party against attacks from Long range OR be able to get the whole party into Close-Medium range quickly
- Fight swarms and large groups of mooks
- Get yourself out of a grapple
- Reveal invisible creatures
- Deal with incorporeals
My only real suggestion is to swap greater mage armour out for haste at some point. Only becuase I think all sorcerors shoudl pack haste, and I am grumpy that as a cleric I have to do all the buffing
Unless you have a very consistent party with some odd meleers, I don't think Mass Snake's Swiftness is that great of a spell - Haste/Righteous Wrath of the Faithful interfere with it and at 11th+, that ought to be most of the time. You might think about Phantom Steed from PHB instead - when horses can fly at 280 feet per round, you really don't have to worry about many things getting to you. Yet at the same time, you don't miss encounters while moving 200 miles a day.
I think the one issue your character seems to have is that you're not really going to be casting spells from your 1st-3rd level slots in combat, yet you don't have the 10 minute/level spells that a high level Sorcerer can keep up all day. See Invisibility as an example - at 12th, with a Lesser Rod of Extend Spells, it lasts 4 hours. Yes, you have a Dragon Mask, but you're using up your Swift actions via Nerveskitter and Quickened Spells. Not to mention, if you have See Invis always up, you don't get surprised by the invisible opponents.
The other issue is divination spells you - might consider Arcane Sight and Chain Spell as a feat - then you can Dispel Magic all the magic items that someone is carrying. That could override See Invisibility as a spell known.
Wes
Circlet of the Mage seems less impressive to me. How often do you run out of spells? Better value than memento magica, but still seems unnecessary.
First of all, thank you for all of the advise. Sometimes you get too closely involved in the details of a character build that you cannot always see the bigger picture. It is helpful to have some objective outside feedback.
Wow, I really blew it on the "Circlet of the Mage." I can see now where I stepped astray on this one. When I originally looked up the "Circlet of the Mage" in the MIC, I must have actually read the description for the "Circlet of Rapid Casting". No wonder it seemed too good to be true.
Thanks again, Trevor
I'd take CWI at 11th and Quicken at 12th.
Unfortuneatly, I think that the bonus feat from MotAO has to be a Metamagic Feat at 11th. Otherwise, that is sound advise.
Thank you for the tips on the potential holes in my spell selection. I can honestly say that the Arcane Sight / Chain Spell feat has never even crossed my mind and seems like a very appealing tactic. Maybe a look at what other current and future chainable spells I could utilize would make this a very viable path.
Trevor
Don't buy the Belt of Battle, make you character effective in a way that doesn't use a underpriced magic item that either shouldn't exist or should cost around 100k.
Wes
Well, maybe the Belt of Battle -is- underpriced. But when I'm fighting enemies who have them, I'm not sorry I have one of my own.
Likewise, I don't feel bad using items/spells/feats that are effective, especially when I'm up against templated advanced critters with all kinds of craziness themselves.
Quicken spell would still be good, even with a Belt of Battle. And I recommend taking Practical Metamagic (Quicken Spell.) That will allow you to chuck empowered quickened scorching rays for the same +4 cost that normal casters use for quickened spells.
And I'd grab that Belt of Battle when you can. It's a great item and it will give you two or three rounds of improved over the norm spells (Two if you use a standard and a move action, three rounds if you only use it to add empower to spells via the extra move action.)
Your sorcerer is significantly different from mine, so I can't really say much on spells to take. Although I do recommend taking Haste if you can squeeze it in. Haste in an early round can mean one LESS round of combat and one less action from the enemy.
BUT, I understand why you want the better AC granted by dragonskin and mage armor. My sorcerer was spared from a "confused barbarian smacks party member to death" moment by the extra AC granted by mage armor and haste.
The character is beginning to enter the levels where most melee types have
1. boots of haste
2. a wicked full attack, with or without boots of haste.
In addition many parties have
1. many spellcasters
2. all the generalists are no longer any good at melee (unlike in levels 5-9)
3. Clerics who can cast a L5 spell that gives extra attack AND +3 to hit/dmg if the party actually does have several melees.
4. an arcane caster (you) who can transport ALL the effective melees in the party with one spell anywhere on the battlefield (unless the melee is a gargantuan animal companion or something)
Which means haste stops being a whole party buff and is merely a minor defensive and movement buff, with a single party member possibly getting an extra attack. As a general rule casting a level 3 spell as your first std action in an APL12+ fight is usaully a weak action. Haste is no exception.
The best melee buff you can give in these levels is to teleport the melee(s) next to the monster right as they are ready to full attack. Doing this as your first action instead of haste will lead to much better results. If the party absolutely needs haste for some bizzare reason (mobilty perhaps) you can spellpool it. Don't burn a precious spell known on it.
Two very useful sorc buffs in the level 12+ game are phantom steed and GMW. GMW's cast by you and not the cleric free slots for things like delay death and freedom of movement. They use mid-level spell slots that you'll never burn down to in a normal adventure once you have level 6 spell slots. They can also be chained or extended with a lesser rod of metamagic, rather than a full rod of metamagic. As for phantom steed, if you've never been in a party where everyone has one, it is hard to describe how powerful that spell is. No matter what the terrain, every character can place himself anywhere on a large battlemap with only a SINGLE move action of the mount. Archers can full attack AND move to safety with no attack penalty if they move less than 240'. Spont casters can metamagic spells and move and all casters can move range to preferred distance with no concentration check to 240', or 10+spell level to 480'. It's incredible. It's also good for doing fast overland travel without bypassing encounters the way teleport and even wind walk can do.
That's an accomplishment for someone who is relatively new to the game and higher level play. Your instincts seem pretty sound, so I'll give one more piece of advice.
No matter what we say, trust your instincts. You know what encounters you dominated and which gave you trouble. As you level up your spell and feat selection should be oriented around taking something that would have made those "bad" encounters work out better, or converting more kinds of encounters from "average" contribution to "strong" contribution.
Take the stuff you wished you had in prior levels. For my sorceress every single level after level 2 was like Christmas for a 5 year old. It got sometimes so that the last few adventures before leveling I'd almost forget I didn't have the powers yet, and be dissapointed when I had to fall back on something else. Sometimes events will surprise you, exposing a weakness you had not noticed, and sometimes roleplay will dictate a spell choice. (my character was burning TU's to work off a curse by studying draconic lore she'd encountered earlier. She's not especially interested in it, but her bat familiar had about 6 months of TU's to pester her about taking the lesser dragonshape spell, and she wasn't very excited about her other L15 shortlist for L6 spells....so now her diminuative, strength 1 bat familiar gets to gorble out as a size large red dragon. It especially likes grappling opponents and performing strength checks heh)
I see nothing that copes with swarms, for example. Evards sometimes works but it is a BC spell, not direct damage. It locks people down so they can be killed, but its damage is negligable.
You've got empower spell. There's a reason fireball is a steriotype. It is range long, has a useful area and the immune critters are usually obvious (devils and fire creatures) and also not especially good AOE targets anyway.
Empowered fireballs are still fairly effective in the level 10-15 game. Obviously not as much at 15, but not so weak as to be meaningless.
I went a very long time with my primary area spells doing little or no damage. Sometimes that was a problem, especially if I was the only arcane caster at the table. There's a reason I took cyclonic blast when I got access (it was a rare AOE damage spell that worked with a telekenetic theme).
Belt of Battle and quicken are complementary, not competitive.
When you need a lower level spell cast, you use quicken.
When you need a mid-high level spell cast, you use the belt.
When your swift action is already consumed...you can't use either anyway
Some examples from my play.
Sculpted grease and either solid fog or evards...use quicken
magic missile or whirling blade to clear images+TK...use quicken
open close+any nasty spell....use quicken
gust of wind into own solid fog+tk violent thrust...use quicken
tk violent thrust teammate+feather fall....no swift action left
lesser dragonshape famliiar (pinpoint)+glitterdust wand...no swift action
fatespinner reroll before my turn....no swift action left
any top tier spell cast twice - belt
wall of force (remove AOO)+chain levitate (party shoot over wall) - belt
evards+solid fog (enemies move 5' total even if not grappled) - belt
You'll find your own combinations. The belt is a more limited resource than top tier spell slots...even if you buy three it is usually a 1/encounter kind of thing. So quicken and existing swift action spells (nerveskitter, ruin delver's fortune etc) will be the usual thing that consumes your swift action, while belt of battle is saved for when you need to drop two powerful actions in one round, rather than one powerful action and one support/defensive/etc action.
Given that you are forced to take arcane spell prep and you ALSO have metamagic specialist you'd be shooting yourself in the foot to NOT take quicken.
I have to go against the grain and advise against haste (or mass snake swiftness for that matter, unless you can do it as a swift action).
I had been suspicious that Haste might lose its niche at higher levels, which was why I left it off my spell list. Thanks also for the tip on Phantom Steed. I have heavily relied on a mount (a dog of some kind) to keep myself mobile in combat up until this point. Having had one recently fried-out from under me has keyed me in to their relative frailty compared to mine, and that there is not much I can do to protect them from surprise encounters where the two advanced templated chimeras breath on the very first round for hundreds of points of damage. I am certain that I will take Phantom Steed in lieu of one of the other 3rd level spells proposed above in my build.
That's an accomplishment for someone who is relatively new to the game and higher level play. Your instincts seem pretty sound, so I'll give one more piece of advice.
Here's the funny thing ... I haven't played a character this high since 1st ed. My last high-level character was a 17th level magic user. I was 12 at the time. Needless to say, my role-playing style and the various game tactics required for play are vastly different now 25 years later. Normally, the home games I play in peter out when character reach around 6th-7th level. This is the primary reason I sough out LG was to keep some character continuity.
Hm...one other hole in your capability is a lack of area damage dealing.
Yeah, I know this is a hole. I recently retrained out of Draconic Breath, which was main mainstay damage dealer until Empowered Scorching Rays came along. I am going to miss riding along breathing acid on all the baddies and their minions ... but I needed the feat back. I will have to find a way to deal with swarms / AOE environments.
Belt of Battle and quicken are complementary, not competitive.
My thoughts on ditching Quicken Spell focused primarily on my misreading of the "Circlet of the Mage" item description, which apparently in my dyslexic state, I read the description text for the "Circlet of Rapid Casting" instead. Three Circlets of Rapid Casting would allow one to ponder ditching Quicken Spell all-together for these items - I am not even considering purchasing the Circle of the Mage.
Given that you are forced to take arcane spell prep and you ALSO have metamagic specialist you'd be shooting yourself in the foot to NOT take quicken.
Could not have said it better myself.
Thank you again for all of the advice and taking the time to actually write it out. Hopefully, you will be seeing me soon in the un-tiered madness APL16 Core Specials we have been promised.
Trevor Wells
But you don't have to hold a funeral for them. They're a spell construct like unseen servant. It'll take an hour to recast them for a whole party (10 min a pop) and there are issues with slow animal companions and such. (in a slow party, just cast for yourself and others who want them for tactical mobility)
They have their own limitations but they are awfully good.
I have to go against the grain and advise against haste (or mass snake swiftness for that matter, unless you can do it as a swift action)
It has seen it's heyday.. however a sorcerer can drop preemptive hastes and as such make decent use of it.
See how your third level slots line up for use and it might be a reasonable use. But spells known should fit as a whole.
-James
I have to go against the grain and advise against haste (or mass snake swiftness for that matter, unless you can do it as a swift action)
Just for the OP - I suggested Haste because you could have used it at 11th, crafted 2-3 Belts of Battle, then retrained it for free at 12th. solbergb is correct here - Haste starts to lose its value when everyone ought to have it and you have more important things to be doing...
But, as you can't get CWI at 11th, that doesn't help much...
It's also worth considering that there are a lot of items out there that use up your swift actions (Greater Ring of Counterspells and Ring of Spell-Battle spring to mind but there are many other good ones). Belt of Battle is only one of the things that may eat away at the value of taking Quicken ...but Quicken is still nice.
Just for the OP - I suggested Haste because you could have used it at 11th, crafted 2-3 Belts of Battle, then retrained it for free at 12th. solbergb is correct here - Haste starts to lose its value when everyone ought to have it and you have more important things to be doing...
But, as you can't get CWI at 11th, that doesn't help much...
That makes sense .. but can't I just grab Haste through the Spellpool instead? My Spellpool access accomodates up to 3rd level spells.
That makes sense .. but can't I just grab Haste through the Spellpool instead? My Spellpool access accomodates up to 3rd level spells.
Yup, definitely don't get Haste - there are times that it is useful, but 3rd level slots are precious for a Sorcerer - GMW can be Chained, Dispel Magic can be Chained, Phantom Steed is amazing, Fireball is a solid Empowerable spell, Dragonskin is useful, and don't get me started on Heart of Water if you get access to that one...
-Matt
Bear in mind that there are both people who haven't seen access to boots fo Speed and Centaurs who can't use them.
Yes, but you will rarely have more than one of these at the table who ALSO has a primary role of "do damage with physical weapon".
I think in all the tables I've played from level 12+ (monk 16 retired, sorcerer 15) I can think of exactly one table where haste truly would have benefitted more than one guy at the table. That number goes up to maybe a half dozen if you also count animal companions that are not the pets of arcane hierophants (who ensure they get haste as needed) and who had strong enough individual attacks that hasting them had an impact on the fight.
You will also generally find that giving somebody like a non-haste Centaur or melee fighter without boots of haste a full attack round 1 will still result in a destroyed enemy, with or without haste. (they did after all get to level 12 without always having that benefit)
That makes sense .. but can't I just grab Haste through the Spellpool instead? My Spellpool access accomodates up to 3rd level spells.
You can, and when you run into the party that has 3-4 melee/archer types lacking boots of haste and where the cleric isn't covering it with righteous wrath of the faithful, you can still cover the party.
It's more likely to be an archer-heavy table or a druid-heavy table (no cleric-style divine caster)
Other sorcerers sometimes carry scrolls of haste, or even limited wish for it (although LW for righteous wrath is more common these days)
Yes, but you will rarely have more than one of these at the table who ALSO has a primary role of "do damage with physical weapon".
I think in all the tables I've played from level 12+ (monk 16 retired, sorcerer 15) I can think of exactly one table where haste truly would have benefitted more than one guy at the table. That number goes up to maybe a half dozen if you also count animal companions that are not the pets of arcane hierophants (who ensure they get haste as needed) and who had strong enough individual attacks that hasting them had an impact on the fight.
I've seen a lot more than that. I expect that's due to me living in a low-access region and biased by playing with one particular character without them a lot.
..which still doesn't necessarily make Haste worth taking.
Also get heart of earth over snakes swiftness mass. Your hp and freebie stoneskin will thank you for it.
In other words, since your temp HP are renewable, it's like getting to "heal" yourself. The freebie Stoneskin is a livesaver, too. Heart of Earth is like going from a d4 hit die to a d8 (+2 hp/lvl). Then False Life, assuming an average of 15 HP yielded, is like going to a d10. Empowered False Life (16-30 HP yielded) puts you kind of in the middle of having a d10 and a d12.
And though it's min/lvl, adding on Greater Heroism puts you over a d12, then the +4 boost to your Fort save is like having +8 Constitution (you already had the HP, now you've got the saves). Add on a Rat familiar, and suddenly your "virtual" Con is pretty huge. You're just lacking in base Fort at that point.
-Matt
Honestly I'd remove teleport and contingency. Teleport dosent benefit you as a sorcerer in any way when there is so many better 5th level slots you could fill that with. And contingency is great for a wizard, but other then mage armor what would you use it for?
Also get heart of earth over snakes swiftness mass. Your hp and freebie stoneskin will thank you for it.
Let be jump on the bandwagon here. I got access to all of the Heart of Spells and have all but fire in my spells known right know. They are worth it (air if only for getting all for and having immunity to crits and sneaks). Heart of Stone is great for the extra HPs. It plus an empowered False life put me at 100 hp as a 12th level sorcerer. Heart of Water is great for the Freedom of movement if nothing else (water breathing and swim speed are nice). Fire gives you fireshield and a bonus to speed (so you don't need boots of striding and springing). Getting Light Fortification for having two cast and immunity to crits and sneak attacks for having all four is just icing.
Honestly I'd remove teleport and contingency. Teleport dosent benefit you as a sorcerer in any way when there is so many better 5th level slots you could fill that with.
I don't think I could get rid of Teleport unless there was something very good to replace it ... its kind of a iconic power for arcane types and just seems so useful in so many situations. Aside from the other spells listed above (Wall of Force & TK), are there any suggestions for a replacement spell for Teleport?
And contingency is great for a wizard, but other then mage armor what would you use it for?.
I was planning on using Contingency for getting another spell off at the beginning of combat like Fly, Invisibility, Mirror Image, and TK at high enough levels. I also potentially planned on pumping a spell from the spellpool into Contingency to get around the whole full-round action to recall a Spellpoll spell in combat.
Also get heart of earth over snakes swiftness mass. Your hp and freebie stoneskin will thank you for it.
Can't argue with you here ... its a better protection spell, but it is a NONC spell and I don't have access ... yet.
Let be jump on the bandwagon here. I got access to all of the Heart of Spells and have all but fire in my spells known right know. They are worth it (air if only for getting all for and having immunity to crits and sneaks). Heart of Stone is great for the extra HPs. It plus an empowered False life put me at 100 hp as a 12th level sorcerer. Heart of Water is great for the Freedom of movement if nothing else (water breathing and swim speed are nice). Fire gives you fireshield and a bonus to speed (so you don't need boots of striding and springing). Getting Light Fortification for having two cast and immunity to crits and sneak attacks for having all four is just icing.
Maybe its playing a kobold and keeping with the "shoot and scoot" mentality, but I don't find myself needing too many HP as I am pretty good at staying out of melee range and using meat-shield to block charge lanes. The things that get me are usually AOE effects or ranged attacks .. both of which have been hurtful, but survivable without any extra protection. I just can't see dedicating four spells to self-buffing with this build .. especially giving up a 4th level spell known.
Thanks again everyone for the advise.
Trevor
HAHAHA DEATH DESTROYER OF WORLDS! I had a goliath imp crit greathammer that I critted on with power attack 15 itwas 40d6+216 damage. It was a frickin beautiful sight.
Contingency on the other hand...what spell are you intending to make contingent? L6 spells known are rare and precious. If you don't have a killer app to make contingent, then this spell isn't helpful.
Generally the best uses are for buffs you want to bring up in combat but won't have time to cast. A properly worded contingency can be triggered as a free action or by casting a specific (often swift or immediate action) spell.
It's often used to bring up a defensive buff when that circumstance arrives, but I find those to never work properly when my NPC's have them. They almost never get hit with the right kind of attack, or it doesn't do enough to protect them. Still, YMMV.