Leon - Human Sorcerer 8
Str 10
Dex 14 (+2 Gloves)
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 10
Cha 20 (+2 Cloak, 2 stat boost)
41 HP
AC: 19(MA, +1 Mith Buckler, RoP +1), Touch: 13, Flat-footed: 17
Initiative: +2
Fort: 5
Reflex: 7 (Weasel familiar)
Will: 7
Vest +1 added.
BAB, Grapple: 4
Skills:
Concentration +13
Gather Information +9
Knowledge (Arcana) +13 (+1 from Dragonborn Register)
Profession (Gambler) +5
Sense Motive +1
Spellcraft +15 (+1 from Dragonborn Register)
Feats:
Spell Focus (Evocation)
Draconic Heritage (Brass)
Draconic Power (+1 CL, +1 DC)
Leadership (Bard 5/FvS 1 Diplomacy/Knowledge/Backup healer)
Spells:
Level 0 - 6 - Detect Magic, Ray of Frost, Disrupt Undead, Light, Acid Splash, Dancing Lights, Mage Hand, Open/Close
Level 1 - 8 - Mage Armor, Burning Hands, Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement, Lesser Orb of Sound
Level 2 - 7 - Scorching Ray, Mirror Image, See Invisibility
Level 3 - 6 - Fireball, Fly
Level 4 - 5 - Evard's Black Tentacles
Equipment:
Wand of Magic Missile - Always useful
Cloak of Charisma +2
Safewing Emblem - Bought earlier on before learning Fly
+1 Mithral Buckler - Part of AC boost spending
Ring of Protection +1 - Part of AC boost spending
Gloves of Dexterity +2 - Part of AC boost spending
Vest of Resistance +1
Heward's Fortifying Bedroll - Seemed useful at the time, only been able to use it once so far to no consequence
Infinite Scrollcase - Due to my large amount of scrolls
Anklet of Translocation *Access available for 1 more AR*
Healing Belt
GP: ~2000
I'm sure the experienced players can tell by my selection that I'm built for damage output while staying out of harm's way (very often I have no time for the extra defenses like Mirror Image and Fly and have to start blasting away while my party surrounds and defends me). I am, of course, not completely satisfied with the selection as I'll be less useful in a fight against monsters with SR, and especially those with Fire resistance, immunity or absorption. This almost led me to choose Orb of Force as my Level 4 spell, but Evard's seems to be a more sensible choice for now.
Feat selection is quite straightforward, getting a bonus caster level and extra DC to that Fireball was my goal.
I only reached 8 recently so it's a way till 9 (I'm obviously taking Fatespinner), but I'm looking for any advice on that precious feat and future spell selections, and opinions on my current spell, equipment selection and etc.
I'm looking at Piercing Evocation or a Metamagic feat, and Greater Invisibility for the next Level 4 spell.
Thanks for reading.
Hi looking for advice on some stuff regarding my sorcerer.
Leon - Human Sorcerer 8
Str 10
Dex 14 (+2 Gloves)
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 10
Cha 20 (+2 Cloak, 2 stat boost)
41 HP
AC: 19(MA, +1 Mith Buckler, RoP +1), Touch: 13, Flat-footed: 17
Initiative: +2
Fort: 5
Reflex: 7 (Weasel familiar)
Will: 7
Vest +1 added.
BAB, Grapple: 4
Skills:
Concentration +13
Gather Information +9
Knowledge (Arcana) +13 (+1 from Dragonborn Register)
Profession (Gambler) +5
Sense Motive +1
Spellcraft +15 (+1 from Dragonborn Register)
Feats:
Spell Focus (Evocation)
Draconic Heritage (Brass)
Draconic Power (+1 CL, +1 DC)
Leadership (Bard 5/FvS 1 Diplomacy/Knowledge/Backup healer)
Spells:
Level 0 - 6 - Detect Magic, Ray of Frost, Disrupt Undead, Light, Acid Splash, Dancing Lights, Mage Hand, Open/Close
Level 1 - 8 - Mage Armor, Burning Hands, Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement, Lesser Orb of Sound
Level 2 - 7 - Scorching Ray, Mirror Image, See Invisibility
Level 3 - 6 - Fireball, Fly
Level 4 - 5 - Evard's Black Tentacles
Equipment:
Wand of Magic Missile - Always useful
Cloak of Charisma +2
Safewing Emblem - Bought earlier on before learning Fly
+1 Mithral Buckler - Part of AC boost spending
Ring of Protection +1 - Part of AC boost spending
Gloves of Dexterity +2 - Part of AC boost spending
Vest of Resistance +1
Heward's Fortifying Bedroll - Seemed useful at the time, only been able to use it once so far to no consequence
Infinite Scrollcase - Due to my large amount of scrolls
Anklet of Translocation *Access available for 1 more AR*
Healing Belt
GP: ~2000
I'm sure the experienced players can tell by my selection that I'm built for damage output while staying out of harm's way (very often I have no time for the extra defenses like Mirror Image and Fly and have to start blasting away while my party surrounds and defends me). I am, of course, not completely satisfied with the selection as I'll be less useful in a fight against monsters with SR, and especially those with Fire resistance, immunity or absorption. This almost led me to choose Orb of Force as my Level 4 spell, but Evard's seems to be a more sensible choice for now.
Feat selection is quite straightforward, getting a bonus caster level and extra DC to that Fireball was my goal.
I only reached 8 recently so it's a way till 9 (I'm obviously taking Fatespinner), but I'm looking for any advice on that precious feat and future spell selections, and opinions on my current spell, equipment selection and etc.
I'm looking at Piercing Evocation or a Metamagic feat, and Greater Invisibility for the next Level 4 spell.
Thanks for reading.
I'd say retrain spell focus to Empower Spell and take Rapid Metamagic as your 9th level feat. It's fantastic being able to move AND fire off an empowered whatever..scorching ray, ray of enfeeblement, magic missile...and then of course fireball once you have 5th level slots...Sculpt Spell is another option to give you more placement options with your fireball and other area spells...How has Draconic Power been paying off for you? I imagine once you hit 10/11th level it won't be as significant, since your fireball and scorching ray will have capped their damage at that point...probably another good candidate for retraining eventuall too.
I'd say retrain spell focus to Empower Spell and take Rapid Metamagic as your 9th level feat. It's fantastic being able to move AND fire off an empowered whatever..scorching ray, ray of enfeeblement, magic missile...and then of course fireball once you have 5th level slots...Sculpt Spell is another option to give you more placement options with your fireball and other area spells...How has Draconic Power been paying off for you? I imagine once you hit 10/11th level it won't be as significant, since your fireball and scorching ray will have capped their damage at that point...probably another good candidate for retraining eventuall too.
I don't know how Rapid can really work, since all my spells are Std action casting times. Retraining Spell Focus is something I was considering, and Empowered is a good idea. Sculpt is something my DM has been advising me on too.
Draconic Power has been working well, getting me my extra missiles and extra ray earlier. I'm the sole arcane caster in the party, and that extra CL has helped quite a bit in taking bad guys with DR down quickly.
Of course like you said it would be a likely choice for retraining once I reach 11 when everything I have is maxed out, unless I take an Orb (for those with SR) and it gives me that one more die of damage.
Rapid Metamagic removes the penalty for applying metamagic to a spell spontaneously. Normally a sorcerer who casts an empowered fireball takes a full round action to do so. A sorcerer with Rapid Metamagic still takes only a standard action. A sorcerer with Rapid Metamagic can also take advantage of quicken spell.
Ah, thanks, it makes sense to me now.
Of course like you said it would be a likely choice for retraining once I reach 11 when everything I have is maxed out, unless I take an Orb (for those with SR) and it gives me that one more die of damage.
Orb of Force caps out at 10d6, and it's the only one (other than sound) that doesn't have to deal with immunities and resistances.
Orb of Force caps out at 10d6, and it's the only one (other than sound) that doesn't have to deal with immunities and resistances.
Seems I didn't notice that detail before... The other orbs cap at 15 so I thought it would too.
Well it'll be on its away at 11 then I guess.
Seems I didn't notice that detail before... The other orbs cap at 15 so I thought it would too.
Well it'll be on its away at 11 then I guess.
OoF never seems to go out of style ... especially if you Empower it. You will always need something that (except for a miss chance on the ranged touch), will work against any opponent, even though it may not have optimal damage.
I still use Force Orbs at level 14 when you absolutly, positively need to put some numbers on a creature, especially incorporeals.
Just my few coppers ...
OoF never seems to go out of style ... especially if you Empower it. You will always need something that (except for a miss chance on the ranged touch), will work against any opponent, even though it may not have optimal damage.
I still use Force Orbs at level 14 when you absolutly, positively need to put some numbers on a creature, especially incorporeals.
Just my few coppers ...
Orb of Force is a decent catchall, especially if you combine it with something like guided shot. However, at the higher levels, instead of doing some 50 damage a round, it's usually better to apply some controlling mechanism to the bad guys to mitigate effects to the party. Stopping the party from taking 100 damage, or setting up your fighter to do 200 damage is generally more effective than plinking away for 50 points. Especially in combats against multiple enemies, something like Solid Fog to keep the bad guys coming on one by one is usually a better option. Of course, incorporeals are always annoying... but wall of fire does nice thing to them, half of the time
Orb of Force is a decent catchall, especially if you combine it with something like guided shot. However, at the higher levels, instead of doing some 50 damage a round, it's usually better to apply some controlling mechanism to the bad guys to mitigate effects to the party. Stopping the party from taking 100 damage, or setting up your fighter to do 200 damage is generally more effective than plinking away for 50 points. Especially in combats against multiple enemies, something like Solid Fog to keep the bad guys coming on one by one is usually a better option. Of course, incorporeals are always annoying... but wall of fire does nice thing to them, half of the time
Definitely agreed. At APL 14 doing around 50 damage pales in comparison to taking an opponent out of the fight.
Remember, unlike the fighter, as an Arcanist you have controlling options that are far better. Wall of force, solid fog (as Maesto mentioned) Transposing spells etc. The important thing is to communicate with other players about what spells you have and how you like to use them. Then there can be team work.
I know a few casters that spend most of their actions keeping themselves alive, whilst my cleric notes that he could have saved the caster, and the caster could have removed the bad guy that was about to take out half the party...
Remember, Otiluke's resilient sphere is great for stopping yourself being attacked - however, if you then sit in it for five rounds buffing whilst the party is dying, your essentially a wasted slot at the table and aren't providing arcane support. Same goes with damage spells. If instead of orb of force, you could have flown next to the bad guy (assuming no AoOs via anklets or something) then transposed the fighter, who then comes out of delay and full attacks, you are already doing MUCH better...
Also, with the number of Anklets/Quicksilver boots/etc that are around on PCs these days, don't run an Anticipate teleport field WITHOUT telling the party. One party almost died because the player told this to the GM, but NOT to me, and when my Cleric ankleted the party had 3 rounds of fighting a lethal encounter without their divine support.
That caster almost died, hopefully it taught him a lesson.
/rant
Orb of Force is a decent catchall, especially if you combine it with something like guided shot. However, at the higher levels, instead of doing some 50 damage a round, it's usually better to apply some controlling mechanism to the bad guys to mitigate effects to the party. Stopping the party from taking 100 damage, or setting up your fighter to do 200 damage is generally more effective than plinking away for 50 points. Especially in combats against multiple enemies, something like Solid Fog to keep the bad guys coming on one by one is usually a better option. Of course, incorporeals are always annoying... but wall of fire does nice thing to them, half of the time
I was not saying it was the best option in every situation .. only that it has staying power as a spell where other lower-level damage spells fall off in utility. Sometimes doing 50 damage after the fighter just dealt a few hunderd IS the best option.
I would never recoomend NOT have decent battfield control - just have a means of doing some damage to opponents.
I think Maesto is of a similar opinion, wasn't targeted at any one person, more at the stereotype of non-team casters..
Orb of Force is a decent catchall, especially if you combine it with something like guided shot. However, at the higher levels, instead of doing some 50 damage a round, it's usually better to apply some controlling mechanism to the bad guys to mitigate effects to the party. Stopping the party from taking 100 damage, or setting up your fighter to do 200 damage is generally more effective than plinking away for 50 points. Especially in combats against multiple enemies, something like Solid Fog to keep the bad guys coming on one by one is usually a better option. Of course, incorporeals are always annoying... but wall of fire does nice thing to them, half of the time
However, as others have said, sometimes empowered orb of force still is the best option. So long as it does something nothing else in your spell selection does, it's a nice option to have.
It's a pretty good "ready to disrupt casting" spell, for example, especially against demons using spell-like abilities (where readied silence doesn't work and a lot of other spells run into SR/resistance problems). It's also good for just reliable damage when you want to finish off a badly injured enemy (denying them actions altogether is generally better than putting them in a solid fog). Its Medium range is useful, too, for encounters in fairly open terrain. And then there are the tables where you don't have a fighter doing 200 damage/round - where your melee-damage-dealer is a melee rogue without deathstrike bracers, for example, and the encounter is against golems.
I think the last time Azrien used empowered orbs of force was to finish off an APL 14 golem encounter - there were paired golems, the rest of the party had dropped the other one, but both would heal at the start of the round unless both were down. Empowered orb of force x2 (using belt of battle) dropped the second golem and ended the encounter. The time before that was before she got Moonbow, when Empowered Orb of Force was her catchall Medium range spell - she fought the first two encounters in that mod from 200ft away, because they were all grapplemonsters with big reach, and she didn't want to waste actions teleporting out of grapples. I probably should have used empowered orb of force as my ready-to-stop-casting in another recent mod, instead of spiritwall, but I didn't think of it (it was against a demon using spell-likes, and the orb would've hampered the party less than spiritwall did).
It's a nice spell. It's not a must-have, but my L15 sorcerer has gotten quite a lot of good use out of it. Just don't spam it every round for the sake of doing some damage, and you should be okay.
I think the last time Azrien used empowered orbs of force was to finish off an APL 14 golem encounter - there were paired golems, the rest of the party had dropped the other one, but both would heal at the start of the round unless both were down. Empowered orb of force x2 (using belt of battle) dropped the second golem and ended the encounter.
I remember this encounter! I felt so good because I finally used wall of force to good effect to seperate the second golem from the party, only to discover that we NEEDED to have them both near us.
However, as others have said, sometimes empowered orb of force still is the best option. So long as it does something nothing else in your spell selection does, it's a nice option to have.
Sure - I know that you've gotten good use out of it, and I know others who have as well (myself included). I did say it's a decent catchall
I have seen it's use fall off recently though, probably mostly in the level 14+ region.I'm trying to remember when the last time I used a L4 orb spell for damage was, though (with my archmage). I've used maximised lesser orbs a few times just for the "we want 40 damage now against unbeatable SR", but I can't actually remember preparing an orb spell since losing elemental mastery. Nor can I remember the last time I prepared an orb of force, let alone cast one.
That said, you can enjoy my shame from a relatively recent module. I had an open 8th level slot and the feat Alacritous Cogitation. Whatever the hell we were fighting was fairly atypical of it's sort; it had 24 hitdice and saves that started at +23 or something silly (they'd laughed at the DC 31 saves I'd thrown at them, and I'd targetted their weak save). The things had perfect flight, fast healing, a truckload of immunities, and were consistently doing 50 damage a round to the entire party (which we were largely unable to mitigate), and we were entirely greater invisible at the time (and furthermore, they were stuck in a freezing fog). The only weakness they had was cold vulnerability, and the best option I could come up with was to alacritously cogitate a Polar Ray and zap him for 19d6 (effectively empowered) (I had a way of penetrating their SR). Thinking back, I should've alacritously cogitated for an empowered orb of cold for 15d6 empowered twice, but it would've ended up being much of a muchness (18% or so edge on the 15d6x2.25 over 19d6*1.5).
Anyway, apologies for derailing the thread
Back on topic, I agree with the suggestion of Empower - metamagics are the playthings of sorcerors; make the most of them. I haven't had experience with Rapid Metamagic yet (I'm still working towards it with my sorceror), but a couple of friends who play sorcerors highly recommend it (and quicken spell at L12). Spellwise, it looks like you've got most of the bases covered already. You've got long range and area damage (fireball), high output damage (empowered scorching ray, or you'll get to that soon), a catch-all "You take damage" with empowered magic missile, and an anti-SR spell with the lesser orb (also empowerable. Seeing a trend here?). I'd suggest that Burning Hands has probably outlived it's usefulness now, however. If you've only just hit level 8, you have a spell swap available, and I'd look at changing Burning Hands for something else. Given that you have Ray of Enfeeblement, Lesser Orb of Sound and Scorching Ray, I'd suggest looking at Guided Shot to increase your chances of hitting with those spells.Looking towards the next couple of levels, I'd decide if you want to take a teleportation type spell, such as Dimension Door or Teleport. If you want dimdoor, I'd advise taking it at 9th, rather than orb of force or greater invisibility. Being able to shuttle party members around is incredibly powerful. At 10th level, I'd consider using the sorceror spellswap to retrain Mage Armour into something else, too.
Otherwise, go the Perrender
my 2c,
Jolyon
Looks like Empower should be on the top of my list then. Followed by Rapid and Maximize or even Quicken.
Any suggestions for the Level 2 and Level 3 spells? I get one of each next level.
Level 2 - 7 - Scorching Ray, Mirror Image, See Invisibility
Level 3 - 6 - Fireball, Fly
Any suggestions for the Level 2 and Level 3 spells? I get one of each next level.
Some suggestions, in no particular order per level:
2nd level:
Glitterdust (Possible blindness, and points out invisibles for the rest of your party)
Resist Energy (Self-explanatory)
Rope Trick (Safe resting place)
Summon Monster II (supposed to be the most cost-effective level for SM)
Web (Lock down the enemy)
3rd level:
Haste (+1 to hit & AC, extra attack; worthwhile if boots of speed are rare/unknown in your area)
Heroism (+2 to hit)
Magic Weapon, Greater (makes a weapon +2)
Protection from Energy (also self-explanatory)
Slow (has a chance of nerfing a large number of enemies)
Personally, with my only character around this level being an archer without boots of speed, I would lean toward Haste for the 3rd level spell. Then again, at only 375 gp per scroll, it might be fine that way. And, of course, if you have an abundance of Beguilers around the same level in your area, that can affect some weighting of spells, since Beguilers cast similarly to Sorcerors, but off a largely predetermined list including spells like Haste...
What about items? Anything anybody thinks I should aim for next?