Raptoran Sorcerer sub levels

[big teej]

greetings playgrounders,

I recently acquired Races of the Wild, and I am eager to play a Raptoran when my Knight kicks it.

I'm looking at the racial sub levels.... and finding myself wondering (and doubtful) that they are worth what you lose.

level 1: "air magic" and elemental familiar
air magic adds the following spells to my spell list
4th: air walk
5th: control winds
7th: wind walk
8th: whirlwind

I get "air magic" whenever I take a sub level, not just this one. but I digress.

elemental familiar replaces the standard familiar with a small air elemental. awesome.

that's the first sub level

5th level
"command of the winds"
adds "gust of wind, whispering wind, and wind wall" to list of spells known. and wind wall is treated as a 2nd level spell.

this replaces my new 2nd level spell at 5th level.


11th level
"spell on the wing"
allows me to move, cast a spell, keep moving
in place of a 5th level spell known

the first and 5th level sub levels seem okay..... this last one though.... seems...

just horrible


thoughts?

[NNescio]

11th level
"spell on the wing"
allows me to move, cast a spell, keep moving
in place of a 5th level spell known

the first and 5th level sub levels seem okay..... this last one though.... seems...

just horrible


thoughts?

Well, to a caster, it's effectively Flyby Attack, and likewise better than Mobile Spellcasting. The primary use is to let you duck in and out of cover/range while casting spells.

It's not too bad, and if you are going to burn a feat on Flyby Attack anyway, you can at least use the extra feat to grab Extra Spell later on to grab a higher level spell known.

Still, yeah, that's one level where you are (temporarily) another spell level behind, which hurts.

[gbprime]

Definitely grab the 1st and 5th substitution levels and skip the 11th. Combined with a bloodline feat from Dragon Magazine Compendium (one of e alignment based ones like Axiomatic for example), and you've got a dozen more spells known plus some interesting air spell options for the price of a feat and a single 2nd level spell known.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Definitely grab the 1st and 5th substitution levels and skip the 11th. Combined with a bloodline feat from Dragon Magazine Compendium (one of e alignment based ones like Axiomatic for example), and you've got a dozen more spells known plus some interesting air spell options for the price of a feat and a single 2nd level spell known.

I've toyed with the idea of playing a raptoran fluffed as an aasimar. Add the Celestial Bloodline feat for more flavor for that.

[NeoSeraphi]

What gbprime said. The great thing about racial substitution levels is just because you took one doesn't mean you have to take them all. You can pick and choose, and the 1st and 5th level ones are pretty sweet, so take them and don't even look at the 11th level one.

(Air elemental familiars for the win)