Born of Flame

[Rossebay]

So, I just had this (at least, I think it is) cool character concept.

A guy with wings of fire, able to basically shape and control fire and use it as a weapon as well as for defense. An elemental, almost, but he's got to have actual flesh and bone. Just someone in-tune with the element of fire, and a capable melee combatant.

At-Will fire abilities will work, if you know of any. Limited abilities would also work, but at-will is preferred.

And, hopefully, the build will work at a lower level (5)? I'd rather it not be a casting class, if at all possible.

I'm thinking Strength and Charisma being the two key ability scores here, but that's not as important. Anyway, can anyone help me out with this?

Edit: Celestial origins are also acceptable.

[Shadowknight12]

Fenixborn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10546572&postcount=18)? There's also the Phoedra, from one of the latest monster manuals (III, IV or V).

[hamishspence]

The Phoelarch race is in MMIII. It's LA +5 and has 7 racial hit dice.

So might not be ideal for this.

[HappyBlanket]

Swordsage with Desert Wind maneuvers. So much.

It's a capable melee combatant with plenty of flame to throw around. It's not quite at-will, but replenishing maneuvers mid-battle is easy (I... Think this requires a feat?). Your main stat is going to be Wisdom, however. Though Str is still important.

I'd give a better argument, but... I don't feel like it. So deal!

[Fax Celestis]

Phoe-Kun (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121942) Swordsage with a focus on Desert Wind sounds like it'd be just about perfect.

[Prime32]

The wings being made of fire can be just fluff.

I'd say a hellfire glaivelock/clawlock would be the best build for this (everything's at will). If using PF material, an oracle with the Flame mystery or a pyrokineticist could also work.

[KillianHawkeye]

I'd say pyrokineticist (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/pyrokineticist.htm), but it doesn't kick in until level 6 and while it doesn't require a caster (or psionic) class, it DOES require Concentration as a class skill if you want to get in that early. Also, it doesn't give you wings, but you can do an airwalking thing.

[The Glyphstone]

Winged Fire Genasi? Template is from Savage Species, don't remember which Faerun book the Genasi are in (or maybe Dragon Mag - elemental planetouched).

[hamishspence]

I'm pretty sure there's a spell somewhere that replaces the character's arms with a pair of fiery wings.

EDIT: Genasi are statted in FRCS.

[aquaticrna]

warlock with extensive re-flavoring?

edit: swordsaged!

[Kobold-Bard]

If you're open to homebrew I just found this (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?PHPSESSID=b5v9bfp3tlohndvl75cfnlhh01&topic=11099). It's the Pyrokineticist as a base class.

Maybe give it an auto-scaling Control Flames (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/controlFlames.htm) at-will instead of the Shape Fire ability, for further "I AM THE LORD OF FIRE!!!" feel.

[137beth]

It's LA +5 and has 7 racial hit dice.

So might not be ideal for this.

He asked for a lot of abilities, so it is inevitable that any race fitting the criteria will have an obnoxiously high LA. I strongly advice the OP not to select a race which automatically gives an at-will fire ability, as this will cause its LA to increase substantially. Instead, I suggest a fire mephling for race. The other abilities you can probably make up with magic items/class features (though you may need to play a caster to do so.)

[Rossebay]

I'd say pyrokineticist (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/pyrokineticist.htm), but it doesn't kick in until level 6 and while it doesn't require a caster (or psionic) class, it DOES require Concentration as a class skill if you want to get in that early. Also, it doesn't give you wings, but you can do an airwalking thing.

YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
That class. Exactly what I wanted! Thank you. ;D

Also using that Phoe-Kun race. Awesome!
In conjunction with Hand Aflame, that's 3d6 damage per hit, base. Really looking forward to this character.

[HappyBlanket]

YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
That class. Exactly what I wanted! Thank you. ;D

Also using that Phoe-Kun race. Awesome!
In conjunction with Hand Aflame, that's 3d6 damage per hit, base. Really looking forward to this character.

Um. I really would advise against the pyrokineticist. In the strongest possible way.

You can't enter the class until level five or six. And you don't get Hand Aflame by level eight. By that point 3d6 is nothing... Even a single classed Fighter is doing more damage than that by level three. And a Fighter can move while doing that kind of damage, whereas a Pyro can't. Further, that 3d6 is only going to be from one of your fists.

Fire Lash is a joke. The range is good for an AoO build, but the damage isn't useful at any level past first.

Bolt of Fire is, at best, 10d6 damage. At level 15 (the level it reaches that strength), this isn't a significant amount of damage. Better than the other two abilities though, for what it's worth.

Weapon Afire is better than Hand Aflame, at least. But a Pyro gets that at level nine. A swordsage gets an identical ability at level one.

Look, I won't bother with the rest. The point is that the Pyro's abilities are exceedingly underwhelming, and that a plethora of other classes will grant you abilities that are nearly identical, thematically appropriate, more useful, and attainable with far less level investment. The Swordsage can replicate pretty much any of the Pyro's class features with Desert Wind maneuvers, and the Swordsage can do it multiple times per encounter (a Pyro can use each once per day). And much sooner than the Pyro can.

If you feel very strongly about being a Pyrokineticist, even after acknowledging it's weaknesses, then I can't stop you. But I'm ethically (yes, ethically) obligated to tell you that a Swordsage would be able to use maneuvers and stances like Nimbus, Conflagration, Greater Weapon Afire, and Fire Lash with far more competence.

Not to mention all the other fire based maneuvers the Swordsage gets.

[NamelessNPC]

If you still want to play a Pyrokineticist after that ^, then I suggest the Pathfinder pyrokineticist which is slightly better. You can find it here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-prestige-classes/pyrokineticist

He gets better fire resistances, more uses of nimbus (which does more damage), is actually proficient with the fire lash, has some fire manipulation abilities, and some weak cold damage attack

[Ashram]

For a second, I was going to suggest Pathfinder's Ifrit race, which is a Outsider (Native) with ties to the plane of fire. It's basically Pathfinder's fire genasi, but in context the write-up is more like a element-themed aasimar/tiefling. It comes with bonuses to Dex and Cha (Because quick like fire and a fiery personality) but a penalty to Wis (Impatient and hard to make focus). You get some casting bonuses if you're a Pathfinder sorcerer or cleric, and you get to cast Burning Hands once a day as a spell-like ability.

[Rossebay]

Um. I really would advise against the pyrokineticist. In the strongest possible way.

You can't enter the class until level five or six. And you don't get Hand Aflame by level eight. By that point 3d6 is nothing... Even a single classed Fighter is doing more damage than that by level three. And a Fighter can move while doing that kind of damage, whereas a Pyro can't. Further, that 3d6 is only going to be from one of your fists.

Fire Lash is a joke. The range is good for an AoO build, but the damage isn't useful at any level past first.

Bolt of Fire is, at best, 10d6 damage. At level 15 (the level it reaches that strength), this isn't a significant amount of damage. Better than the other two abilities though, for what it's worth.

Weapon Afire is better than Hand Aflame, at least. But a Pyro gets that at level nine. A swordsage gets an identical ability at level one.

Look, I won't bother with the rest. The point is that the Pyro's abilities are exceedingly underwhelming, and that a plethora of other classes will grant you abilities that are nearly identical, thematically appropriate, more useful, and attainable with far less level investment. The Swordsage can replicate pretty much any of the Pyro's class features with Desert Wind maneuvers, and the Swordsage can do it multiple times per encounter (a Pyro can use each once per day). And much sooner than the Pyro can.

If you feel very strongly about being a Pyrokineticist, even after acknowledging it's weaknesses, then I can't stop you. But I'm ethically (yes, ethically) obligated to tell you that a Swordsage would be able to use maneuvers and stances like Nimbus, Conflagration, Greater Weapon Afire, and Fire Lash with far more competence.

Not to mention all the other fire based maneuvers the Swordsage gets.

Which would be GREAT, but I can't use them bare-handed. I need weapons to summon the fire from the Swordsage class.

Anyway, my DM is allowing Hand aflame to basically be Hands Aflame. Both are getting the extra 2d6. So, at 8th level, I'll be dealing 5d6 per strike, at all times. With a level of monk, some Whirling Frenzy Barbarian, and a few in fighter, I'll get 6 attacks, each dealing 5d6, at bonuses of 9/9/9/9/4/4. I can rage 3/day, and it lasts long enough to finish off combat. When I can no longer rage for the day, I'll still be attacking at 9/9/9/4/4.

And if I really need to hit, I can forgo 2 attacks per round for 13/13/8/8. Or, I can even make only two attacks at a bonus of 15/10. Mind you, I haven't included my charge bonus which I'll be getting nigh every turn. And since I can fly for 9 minutes per day (should get me through encounters), it really won't be a problem.

So, level 7, my potential is 30d6+36 for a full round, which I can make after a charge. When raging is up, potential is still 25d6+20.

Now, I'm sure Swordsage has some 50d6 nuke that hits everything in a 30' radius or more that they (of course) get at level 6, and that's great, but they can't do it with their hands so I don't want any part of it.

[NamelessNPC]

You need to be lawful to be a monk, and chaotic to be both barbarian and pyrokineticist. Have you taken that into consideration? Your DM may give a rat's tail about that requirement, but maybe not.

[Rossebay]

You need to be lawful to be a monk, and chaotic to be both barbarian and pyrokineticist. Have you taken that into consideration? Your DM may give a rat's tail about that requirement, but maybe not.

Uhh, Chaos Monk, essentially. It's a build he toyed with a little bit. Not the same with the flailing strike, but similar.

[ZeroNumerous]

Which would be GREAT, but I can't use them bare-handed. I need weapons to summon the fire from the Swordsage class.

No, you don't. Magical weapons(or weapons with GMW cast on them) certainly help if you actually wanna hit anything, but you aren't require to use a weapon to do any of the cool fire manipulation.

[Anxe]

Perhaps you'd like to look at Lord Gareth's The Harrowed, homebrew class? There are two versions.


Original (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58810)
Revised (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188148)

[HappyBlanket]

Well, that's fine. If you're devoted to a class because of it's flavor, despite it's sup-optimal performance, that's perfectly fine. It's more than what some people can say for themselves, and I'm certainly not going to argue against that choice.

I will recommend that you trade those levels of Fighter for Psychic Warrior (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/psychicWarrior.htm), however. Psychic Warrior gains bonus feats at the same rate as a Fighter, but a Psychic Warrior has access to a wider range of feats. The Psychic Warrior also grants you a power point reserve (with additional points for a high Wisdom score), and will grant you Knowledge (Psionics) and Concentration as class skills. If you take two levels of PsyWarrior and one of Monk instead of Fighter before going into Pyro, you'll be able to accomplish your build at a lower level. I think you can hit the Barbarian levels before going into Pyro too.

The only sacrifice you make is one point of BAB. Which is not worth having to take a feat for the Power Point Reserve.

For people who are inspired to make pyro characters by this thread, who might be willing to go Swordsage, note that:

A) This has already been mentioned, but Swordsages don't require weapons to use their maneuvers. The Unarmed Swordsage is actually quite popular.

B) Swordsages do not learn overpowered maneuvers at any level. But if you're comparing them to a vanilla Pyro? Or to a Monk? To a Fighter or a Truenamer? Then yeah, of course they'd be over powered. With those base lines, an Evoker would be overpowered. But comparing a Swordsage to a Binder, Bard, or a Duskblade? Then the Swordsage is perfectly balanced. There's a world of difference between over powered and competent.

[Zonugal]

If I might offer up another possible build what about the Disciple of Mephistopheles from Book of Vile Darkness? Over ten levels you gain full BaB, strong saves in every department and some very flame-based abilities like:

Hellfire Grasp: +1d6 fire touch attack which can be thrown on top of any unarmed attack. Kind of meh but it's a 1st-level ability.
Fire Adept: +1 CL to fire spells.
Fire Resistance: 10 at 2nd level, 20 at 6th level.
Hellfire Blast: Ranged touch attack for 4d6 fire damage at will up to 30 ft away.
Flare: Once per day (CL 15).
Summon Hamatula: Summon (CL 15) 1 once per day at 5th level, summon (Cl 15) 1d4 at 9th level.
Hellfire: Three times per day cast the Hellfire spell (CL 15).
Fire Shield: Twice per day cast the Fire Shield spell (CL 15).
Hellfire Storm: Twice per day cast the Hellfire Storm spell (CL 15).
Body of Flame: For 10 minute a day the Disciple becomes flames (immunity to fire, damage reduction 30/+1 [whatever that translates to in 3.5] and anyone who strikes him may catch fire).

Although if you really want to go for power and full thematic actualization being a full-caster is probably your best bet. A prestige class like the Keneticist (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20030328b) is rather nice (although may require permission from your DM).

[Rossebay]

If I might offer up another possible build what about the Disciple of Mephistopheles from Book of Vile Darkness? Over ten levels you gain full BaB, strong saves in every department and some very flame-based abilities like:

Hellfire Grasp: +1d6 fire touch attack which can be thrown on top of any unarmed attack. Kind of meh but it's a 1st-level ability.
Fire Adept: +1 CL to fire spells.
Fire Resistance: 10 at 2nd level, 20 at 6th level.
Hellfire Blast: Ranged touch attack for 4d6 fire damage at will up to 30 ft away.
Flare: Once per day (CL 15).
Summon Hamatula: Summon (CL 15) 1 once per day at 5th level, summon (Cl 15) 1d4 at 9th level.
Hellfire: Three times per day cast the Hellfire spell (CL 15).
Fire Shield: Twice per day cast the Fire Shield spell (CL 15).
Hellfire Storm: Twice per day cast the Hellfire Storm spell (CL 15).
Body of Flame: For 10 minute a day the Disciple becomes flames (immunity to fire, damage reduction 30/+1 [whatever that translates to in 3.5] and anyone who strikes him may catch fire).

Although if you really want to go for power and full thematic actualization being a full-caster is probably your best bet. A prestige class like the Keneticist (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20030328b) is rather nice (although may require permission from your DM).

Whoooaaaaaa. What.

Definitely checking this one out.


Anyway, as an update, the session with this character went VERY well today. He really outpreformed the Knight he was paired up with, and his flight ability, along with the pounce ability, made him hit a lot more often from many more angles. Problematically, I lacked the durability of the knight, so he came in handy quite often.
As far as flavor went, it was fantastically hilarious.
And, I'll admit, the class abilities are a bit underwhelming, but when combined with the fact that I get 4 attacks off at 3d6+6 each at level 5, and at level 7 I'll get 6 attacks at 5d6 each (with a bit of DM feat-rigging), I shouldn't be falling behind my allies anytime soon.

tl;dr? Pyros are fun.
And I've come to the conclusion that no matter which class you are, Swordsage, Pyrokineticist or otherwise, setting everything on fire is a lot of fun.

[Circle of Life]

The spell Fire Wings gives you (curiously enough) a pair of fire wings.

Well, it actually turns your arms into sheets of fire that function as wings, but... yeah.

Complete Divine, possibly reprinted in Spell Compendium.