Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 tweedledope May 25, 2008 12:55:20	I'm working on a fire-themed caster and I've really come to an impasse. I can't figure out exactly how I want to structure my build, nor have I come up with one that I really like. Here are a few details as to what I'm working with and what I'd LIKE to work with. Fire Mephling - +1 CL to Fire spells. NO LA. DM gave them 40' Base Speed. Elemental Savant - Gives me the thematics but, -2 CL is killer. Must play a sorcerer...DMs rules. Searing Spell - Must have. Double damage to cold-based critters, ignores resistances and 50% dmg to immune critters. Still really good. Stats are high. 18, 16, 16, 14, 14, 12. All books, mags, online available. We start at 3rd level and will probably level rather quickly. So, what advice do you all have? I've thought about Battle Sorcerer variant so I have a LITTLE battle power but, the loss of spells is hurtful. Secondly, I don't really know of what PrC combos/feat combos would work well with this. Pyromancer somehow? Ideas?
#2 rhatahema May 25, 2008 13:21:53	If you have access to Dragon Magazine, you can choose a sphere (crystalkeep.com has information in thier class section.) Fire sphere raises your caster level by 1 for fire spells, and reduces the CL of cold spells by 2. If your DM was willing to drop the LA on a fire mephling, would he do the same for the fire gnome (also from planar handbook)? They recieve +2 CL on fire spells.
#3 tweedledope May 25, 2008 13:57:53	If you have access to Dragon Magazine, you can choose a sphere (crystalkeep.com has information in thier class section.) Fire sphere raises your caster level by 1 for fire spells, and reduces the CL of cold spells by 2. If your DM was willing to drop the LA on a fire mephling, would he do the same for the fire gnome (also from planar handbook)? They recieve +2 CL on fire spells. Probably not as gnomes don't exist in his world. He also has some strange fetish for Mephlings so, that's kinda the reason I went with them. I knew that I would be the 'DM favorite' if I played one. LOL
#4 tytalus May 25, 2008 14:41:45	Bloodline of Fire [PGtF], if you can take FR regional feats. A +2 caster level for fire spells is very nice.
#5 theabyssdragon May 25, 2008 15:36:53	CL shouldn't be an issue for you as long as you stay pure caster. What you need to worry about is your save DCs, you're gonna want to get those as high as possible. Spell focus and greater spell focus evocation/conjuration would be a good start. Elemental savant, at the cost of 2 caster levels, gives you a +2 DC boost to any spell with your chosen element; I wouldn't take it all the way to 10th though, becoming a fire elemental could be very bad for you if you come up against something that does cold damage.
#6 tweedledope May 25, 2008 16:37:53	CL is nice to have though because Elemental Savant (so far, the only viable PrC) loses 2 CL. Also, since we start at level 3, the ability to up my caster level for extra damage dice are amazing.
#7 morvik May 25, 2008 17:02:34	Not sure if you would want to go with it, but in the magazine compendium, theres the Force Missle Mage which basically uses alot of magic missles, 2nd lvl it gives you the option to cast them as another energy time ie. fire. Then just pick up firey spell, and argent savant (fire adaptation). In the end you should be casting by lvl 11 7d4+21 damage and its only a 1st lvl spell.
#8 surreal May 25, 2008 22:30:09	How about Silver Pyromancer? (Eb:5N) You'll probably need to grab Sacred Exorcist before it in order to get the turning prereq, but it makes your CL = ECL and adds the paladin spells to your list, as well as making half your fire damage divine in nature. Toss on a level of sandshaper before that and you're sitting on a nice spell list. With Searing Spell, the SP's sacred flame, and the 5th level sorcerer planar sub level which converts half of energy to force damage, I think you'll bypass just about any possible immunity (you might have to discuss with your DM just how exactly that gets divvied up... I'm not even sure how it would work). Or just go up to SP5 and turn all your energy damage into sacred energy.
#9 hogarth May 25, 2008 22:58:04	I'd suggest the Fiend Blooded PrC for some extra spells known; you'd need some way of getting Know: Planes, though.
#10 surreal May 25, 2008 23:43:30	Oddly enough, I would normally stay away from Elemental Savant... except it actually has knowledge (planes) which is needed for all the PrCs that we want.
#11 kuroimaken May 26, 2008 3:33:26	Hmmm. Do you want to stick heavier on the side of flavor or on the side of usefulness? Basically, if you want to go more with the flavor of a fire-themed caster, you'll probably know at least one fire spell of every level, right? I'd suggest looking up the Shugenja's list on Complete Divine (not actually taking it, though, since they haven't seen an update since... forever) so you can get a bit more inspired on what your spell list might look like. For beating anything down using fire spells, you're already setting yourself up pretty nicely with your initial build. But if you are wanting to do other things too, you should look into PrCs that expand your base spell list like the previously mentioned Sandshaper and the Divine Oracle. Maybe, just for the heck of it, you could go Fire Shugenja then Mystic Theurge for a dual source of fiery attacks ("My soul burns! FEEL THE RIGHTEOUS, FIERY ARCANE MIGHT FROM HEAVEN!!!"). Not very optimized, but it fits the flavor, right?
#12 adslahnit May 26, 2008 5:20:36	A 1-level dip in Sanctified One (Kord) makes you lose 1 level of spellcasting progression, but it does let you convert the fire damage of any spell you cast into raw divine damage at the time of casting, thus bypassing fire resistance/immunity while still being able to exploit cold vulnerability. Sanctified One requires +5 BAB though, so it's hard to enter for a caster.
#13 hogarth May 26, 2008 8:28:19	Oddly enough, I would normally stay away from Elemental Savant... except it actually has knowledge (planes) which is needed for all the PrCs that we want. The planar substitution levels for sorcerer give knowledge (planes) as a class skill, too. I like the Pathfinder version of the sorcerer with the Fire elemental bloodline, but that's not really a 3.5E class.
#14 tweedledope May 29, 2008 17:34:25	Any chance the Pathfinder Sorcerer is OGL and I could see how it works? :D
#15 hogarth May 29, 2008 20:59:36	Any chance the Pathfinder Sorcerer is OGL and I could see how it works? :D Yes, the rules are available as a free download from Paizo's web site. Or if you like I could send you the relevant bit of the rules in a message.
#16 zax May 29, 2008 21:55:39	find a way to get practical metamagic (searing spell)
#17 phoenix00 May 29, 2008 23:37:57	A 1-level dip in Sanctified One (Kord) makes you lose 1 level of spellcasting progression, but it does let you convert the fire damage of any spell you cast into raw divine damage at the time of casting, thus bypassing fire resistance/immunity while still being able to exploit cold vulnerability. Sanctified One requires +5 BAB though, so it's hard to enter for a caster. Damn I was going to say all this.
#18 loganic1 May 30, 2008 0:25:11	Yeah, I imagined a caster character which had an obscene with fire, in an almost zen like way. Maybe with a perm immolation, if you can get fire immunity. I had figured he'd meditate in a little magical bonfire Too bad there aren't any fire countertypes to the ice environment druid spells.
#19 hogarth May 30, 2008 6:08:38	Here's a summary of what the Pathfinder sorcerer gets (with the Elemental bloodline) that a regular sorcerer doesn't:
#20 Midnight_v May 30, 2008 7:14:39	Hmmm, level are you? None the less I've been building blasters alot of late for people I suggest. I suggest Scupt spell Exposive spell Practical metamagic: explosive spell Arcane thesis: Fireball. Combo and well... energy substitution. . . I mean... I'm just saying, just in case. This lets you use your fire spells as battlefield control knocking up to 120 feat away and prone and dealing an extra 12d6 damage per scupted exposive fireball (if cast as a line) I would also suggest if you have the investiture available taking Feats: Dreadful wrath Fell frighten. and potentially lingering or entangling spell I dont' rember which one is supposed to be good. As for spells, well the fire spells Burning hands is made dangerous by that combo on low ref monsters, scorching missle is obvious, fireball is listed. So you can milk those as offense for a long time. the rest is just movement spells (flight, blink, dimension door, whatever) but the important thing is a definitive spell list for utitlity. as damage is easier to cover.