Dragonfire Adept

[Adindra]

Having recently discovered this class and found that it is amazingly flavorful and has some decently powerful abilities i was wondering if anyone else had some thoughts on it either thematically or from a power perspective, i would love to hear someone else's opinion on the class!

[Fouredged Sword]

It falls roughly with warlock in power, at tier three. You may or may not be able to qualify for metabreathe feats due to the lack of cooldown period of your breathe weapon.

Not a bad class by any means, dragon magic has some auras that would do you good if you want to spend a feat or two on one or two of them.

turns into a one trick pony fairly quickly though. Some nice abilities, but you only get a few and none of them are ground shattering like a fullcaster's spells.

[Tvtyrant]

Its high Tier 4/low Tier 3 (like a Warlock, but better IMO). The best thing about the DFA is how SAD the class is; Con is the only really necessary stat. Since you don't have spell failure and you don't make attack roles you can max con and wear plate mail/tower shield without proficiency to get a massive AC and it doesn't effect your primary form of attack. If you take Dragonborn of Bahamut as your racial template, you can use their breath ability to gain access to Metabreaths to apply to the DFA and thus maximize/nova its breath abilities.

[Adindra]

Oh wow I didn't even think about the armor thing ill have to check that out!

[Draz74]

IMO, it's the best-designed "caster" class in the game. (Ardent might be better-designed if its Mantle Lists were just chosen a little better ...) It's hard to make it too powerful or too weak, and it contributes well to speed-of-play and a low-bookkeeping, fun play experience.

I do wish there was just a little bit more variety in good Invocation and Breath Effect options, but it could be a lot worse.

Note that you do have spell failure, on your Invocations (not your Breaths). So if you want any Invocations that aren't 24-hour buffs, you may still want to avoid heavy armor. There are some decent in-combat Invocations that are painful to avoid. Chilling Fog is awesome, and Frightful Presence and Terrifying Roar are pretty good too.

[Big Fau]

Be aware that not being proficient with an armor means you apply its ACP to all Str and Dex-related checks or skill checks, including Initiative.

[deuxhero]

And note that that means you take no penalties if your ACP=0.

[Xtomjames]

Two things to note, Dragonfire Adepts have access to all invocations as do Warlocks. This means all Warlock invocations apply to this class.

As far as I can tell you do not need to go into the dragonborn racial class to apply metabreath feats.

Taking a level of fighter will fix the armor proficiency and tower shield issue.

[Yorrin]

Two things to note, Dragonfire Adepts have access to all invocations as do Warlocks. This means all Warlock invocations apply to this class.

As far as I can tell you do not need to go into the dragonborn racial class to apply metabreath feats.

Both of these are subject to DM approval. For example, at my table I keep the Warlock and DFA invocations seperate, but allow metabreath feats on the DFA's breath weapon (so sue me, I know that neither of those is the most popular ruling:smalltongue:).

[Xtomjames]

Well, everything is at the DM's discretion. But as RAW, neither are limited to the class.

[nightwyrm]

The OP could check out the DFA handbook here:
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19870954/The_New_Dragonfire_Adept_Handbook!

With the exception of a full caster, the DFA is one of the best battlefield controller available.

[Cog]

Two things to note, Dragonfire Adepts have access to all invocations as do Warlocks. This means all Warlock invocations apply to this class.
Then why, exactly, does Dragon Magic have separate lists for Adept invocations and Warlock invocations?


As far as I can tell you do not need to go into the dragonborn racial class to apply metabreath feats.
Metabreath feats require a breath weapon with a recharge time. The basic Adept weapon does not have one.

Strictly speaking, you don't need dragonborn, as there are other ways to get a recharge time. You do need something, though.

[Yorrin]

Well, everything is at the DM's discretion. But as RAW, neither are limited to the class.

Draconic invocations and Warlock invocations are listed separately, and there are several places where there's a Draconic invocation that has the exact same name/effect as a Warlock invocation. Moreover the list of draconic invocations (pg 78) states that "The invocations available to dragonfire adepts are described in this section" which is a seperate section from the warlock invocations in that same book, which have a line stating that "because the powers of warlocks are tied to their dark nature, they're usually incompatible with draconic magic." Seems pretty clear they're intended to class-exclusive. Many DMs will let you pick freely, but it's pretty clear to me that they're supposed to be separated.

[chainer1216]

Draconic invocations and Warlock invocations are listed separately, and there are several places where there's a Draconic invocation that has the exact same name/effect as a Warlock invocation. Moreover the list of draconic invocations (pg 78) states that "The invocations available to dragonfire adepts are described in this section" which is a seperate section from the warlock invocations in that same book, which have a line stating that "because the powers of warlocks are tied to their dark nature, they're usually incompatible with draconic magic." Seems pretty clear they're intended to class-exclusive. Many DMs will let you pick freely, but it's pretty clear to me that they're supposed to be separated.

not to mention that in a dragon magazine (or a wizards online thingy) theres a feat that lets a warlock grab an invocation from the DFA's list, or vice versa.

[Draz74]

Some of the DFA Invocations are strictly better than their Warlock near-equivalents, and vice versa. I think it's pretty blatant both by RAW and RAI that they were supposed to pick from separate lists.

Letting them pick and choose from each other's lists isn't going to break anything, but it is a house rule.

[Amnestic]

Two things to note, Dragonfire Adepts have access to all invocations as do Warlocks. This means all Warlock invocations apply to this class.

This is false. Warlock Invocations and DFA Invocations are separate lists. WotC offer an online feat (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/frcc/20070613) by the name of Infernal Adept which allows crossover, but it (obviously) costs a feat and has invocation level restrictions applied.

However: Allowing free crossover between their lists will not break either class but rather offer more customisation choice. It is, in my eyes, a reasonable request to make of your DM.

[Vortling]

Not noted yet is the Dragon Spirit Cincture. Neck slot item from Magic item compendium that increases the damage of your breath weapon by 1d6 damage. It also ups the save if you hold a weapon that does the same type of damage as your breath weapon, which is fairly easy to swing with a masterwork dagger and a lesser weapon crystal.

[Amnestic]

Not noted yet is the Dragon Spirit Cincture. Neck slot item from Magic item compendium that increases the damage of your breath weapon by 1d6 damage. It also ups the save if you hold a weapon that does the same type of damage as your breath weapon, which is fairly easy to swing with a masterwork dagger and a lesser weapon crystal.

Belt slot, not neck.

[Draz74]

Not noted yet is the Dragon Spirit Cincture. Neck slot item from Magic item compendium that increases the damage of your breath weapon by 1d6 damage. It also ups the save if you hold a weapon that does the same type of damage as your breath weapon, which is fairly easy to swing with a masterwork dagger and a lesser weapon crystal.

Might as well make it a masterwork longspear, so you can take AoOs and maybe get some Imperious Command action going.

[Prime32]

Be aware that not being proficient with an armor means you apply its ACP to all Str and Dex-related checks or skill checks, including Initiative.So be a (dragonborn) warforged with Adamantine Body.