Good choices for a eclectic learning warmage//Dragon Flame Adept

[Kris Strife]

The campaign is just starting, but I'm wondering where to go later. Human, level one, taking the draconic racial class up to half dragon on the Warmage side (Yes, I know that slows spell gain, but it works with the character.) 10 12 16 14 10 16 for my scores, will be 18 12 18 16 10 18 at lvl 3. Feats are IUS and entangling exhalation, took endure exposure as my invocation. Its going to be a nautical campaign from the looks of things. What feats, PrCs etc should I be looking at?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

This is Gestalt, I'm assuming?

Why IUS? You can already use simple weapons, and at half-dragon 2 you'll get 2 claws and a bite. With your low BAB any secondary attacks aren't very likely to hit, plus you'd probably be better off to use a breath attack every round instead of attacking. I'd switch it out for Practiced Spellcaster to make up for your caster level loss in Warmage.

Get the feat Versatile Spellcaster from Races of the Dragon, it will give you access to the next higher level of Warmage spells (RAI (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4ask/20080603a)), including gaining knowledge of that level of spells since you know every spell of each level you have access to. That lets you get higher level spells with Eclectic Learning, and it also gives you quite a bit more versatility in how to spend your spells/day. I'd even get your first Warmage level before your third half-dragon level so you can take that feat at level 3, since those savage progressions don't require you to take every level of the template class as soon as possible. That way you'll still get 9th level spells by level 20, despite missing three Warmage levels for Half-Dragon.

I'd take the feat Dragon Breath from Races of the Dragon at level 6, so you can use your half-dragon breath attack every 1d4 rounds. Frightful Presence from the Draconomicon is also a good feat to have, since opponents who are both entangled and shaken will have a huge penalty on attack rolls and reflex saves.

You get Eclectic Learning at Warmage 3, 6, 11, and 16, so with Versatile Spellcaster those can be (adjusted) level 2, 4, 6, and 9 if you don't take any prestige classes. I'd probably get Shield, Water Breathing, Dispelling Breath, and Superior Invisibility in that case. Note that if all of your allies have Endure Exposure you can use Dispelling Breath without worrying about hitting them, and remember that you're always immune to your own breath weapons (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#breathWeapon). For your Invocations, be sure to get Draconic Flight, and switch it out for something else when you get the Greater version.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Why Warmage? Sorcerer, Wizard or Psion are all better Blasters. I direct you here (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=963854).

Also, since you have a breath weapon and can get the spell, this (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=963854) may be of interest.

[Kris Strife]

I get a level of each. I took the RotD version of the racial class which lets me take a class level first (half dragon does not give hit die) and I took warmage because making a favored soul that didnt get accepted put me off casters that dont get their full list automatically. I took IUS because I didnt find any of the simple weapons fitting. And DFA grants caster levels already.

And why take water breathing when I can get Aquatic adaptation and dispelling breath when I can get voracious dispelling.

[Keld Denar]

Warmage (blasting) plus DFA (blasting) seems a little....redundant. Usually in Gestalt you want to increase your versitility. With Sorcerer, you can improve your versitility and survivability. Taking spells like Mage Armor, Invisibility, and Mirror Image supliment your Invocations greatly. You wouldn't have to take Fly as a spell if you took the Draconic Wings invocation, but maybe you take Solid Fog as a spell because there is another invocation you want other than the Fog one.

I dunno if you can get it with Warmage, but Blinding Breath is a 4th level spell from SpC that gives your BW a chance to blind all foes who fail their saves vs your BW. Great since DFA gives you a free BW already!

As far as weapons...why do you even need one? Your BW has a 0 round recharge rate, so you can use it every round and it'll do more damage and have cooler effects than punching a guy for 1d3. At medium/high levels, you'll have so many other things to do in combat that even having a weapon will be second thought. Better spend that feat on something like Ability Focus (Breath Weapon) that will pay off in the long run!

[Kris Strife]

DFA is also good for battle field control and has a number helpful invocations to choose from.

I'm the heavy hitter of the group right now, and with eclectic learning it gives me extra options.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I get a level of each. I took the RotD version of the racial class which lets me take a class level first (half dragon does not give hit die) and I took warmage because making a favored soul that didnt get accepted put me off casters that dont get their full list automatically. I took IUS because I didnt find any of the simple weapons fitting. And DFA grants caster levels already.

And why take water breathing when I can get Aquatic adaptation and dispelling breath when I can get voracious dispelling.

Is this a gestalt (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/gestaltCharacters.htm) character, or are you multiclassing Dragonfire Adept with Warmage?

Aquatic Adaptation can only be cast on yourself, Water Breathing can be cast on the entire party. Dispelling Breath is an AoE dispel with up to +15 from caster level. It doesn't affect your allies, and it deals breath weapon damage plus any breath effect you choose to use. Voracious Dispelling works like Dispel Magic, which has a maximum of +10 from caster level, and deals a little bit of damage if it dispels anything. You only get three Lesser invocations, which should be Frightful Presence, Walk Unseen, and Draconic Flight, which should be switched to Voidsense when you get Greater Draconic Flight.

[Kris Strife]

This is gestalt, hence the // in the thread title... Thought that was a universal thing, sorry.

[Thurbane]

I second Mirror Image - I couldn't tell you how many times that spell has saved someone's bacon since I've been playing D&D...

[Chronos]

Warmage (blasting) plus DFA (blasting) seems a little....redundant. Usually in Gestalt you want to increase your versitility.Right; just think about what you're going to do in any given round. Sometimes, you want to throw a whole bunch of d6s at all of the enemy, and that's when you use your breath weapon. Or, wait, is that when you use your warmage spells? How do you decide which kind of blasting to use in any given situation? Sometimes, maybe you want to do something other than blasting, and then you... hmm... Then you can't use your breath weapon or your warmage spells.

Pick whichever kind of blasting you like better (I would recommend Dragonfire Adept, since there's no limit on how much you can use it, but that's a matter of taste), and keep that, and then replace the other side with something that is either useful in different situations than your DFA stuff, or which provides passive bonuses you don't have to use actions to benefit from.

[Kris Strife]

I'm wanting to make DFA be primarily a battlefield controller with blasting on the side and Warmage as the main blaster. Battle plan is:

1. Use breath weapon effects and invocations to lock down the battlefield.
2. Nuke with Warmage spells.
3. ?????
4. Loot the bodies!

[sainikudu]

Hey great post. Thanks very much . The post seems to be very much helpful.
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[Myrmex]

I'm wanting to make DFA be primarily a battlefield controller with blasting on the side and Warmage as the main blaster. Battle plan is:

1. Use breath weapon effects and invocations to lock down the battlefield.
2. Nuke with Warmage spells.
3. ?????
4. Loot the bodies!

I hear good things about Greater Fireburst.

[Kris Strife]

I thought someone else was using the same character type as me before I realized this was thread necromancy... :smallsigh:

[BenTheJester]

I'm the heavy hitter of the group right now, and with eclectic learning it gives me extra options.

What a wrong way of thinking.

I really don't get why you are taking Warmage. DFA has INFINITE BLASTING, even when you're done controlling the battlefield, you also blast with the DFA.

You claim "eclectic learning" gives you extra options. But you get EL like what, every 4-5 levels? And even if that wasn't bad enough, you can't even learn spells of your higher spell level known. While, if you take a different class(like sorcerer) you get MULTIPLE options at EVERY levels.

1- You don't need weapons
2- You absolutely should not have DFA AND warmage on a gestalt character
3- Play a Kobold if you go Sorcerer, and do the Greater Draconic Rite of Passage.

[BenTheJester]

Also, why Dispelling Breath over Voracious Dispelling?

A +10 cap to your dispel check is why.


Dispelling breath is awesome, it's an area spell that works like a targetted dispel on every target.

[Kris Strife]

Why I took DFA and Warmage: Because while DFA gives infinite blasting, sometimes you want to be able to target just one enemy instead of roasting everyone in an area.

And while it might not be an optimized combination (I'd rather play a character thats interesting to rp anyways), I'm having fun with it, dispite the dice trying to drive me insane. <.>

[Burley]

It's great that you're having fun with it, but here's two things to remember:
1) Ever spell on the Warmage list is also on the Sorc/Wizard list.
2) A lot of spells from the Warmage list are redundant when you have at-will area effects.

Some spells are still useful, though.

I'm actually running through an extremely similar issue of spell selection trouble for my Sorc/Warlock/Eldritch Theurge.
It's tough to pick blaster spells that can't be emulated by your blaster class.

[deuxhero]

Right; just think about what you're going to do in any given round. Sometimes, you want to throw a whole bunch of d6s at all of the enemy, and that's when you use your breath weapon. Or, wait, is that when you use your warmage spells? How do you decide which kind of blasting to use in any given situation? Sometimes, maybe you want to do something other than blasting, and then you... hmm... Then you can't use your breath weapon or your warmage spells.
.

Flyby attack+flyby breath allows you to do both.