(Pathfinder) Help me pick spells for a Calavier/Dragon Disciple?

[Roxxy]

She is primarily intended as a melee character. My desire is for a dragon knight type character. As such, her spell selection should be spells that improve her combat utility.

Here is her build [T'ien Lung dragons are from 3.5 Oriental Adventures, and their elemental type is Fire (30 foot cone). All other materiel is from the Core Rulebook, Advanced Player's Guide, and Ultimate Combat.]:

Lei Wan Song

Female Neutral Good Human

Sorcerer 1 (Draconic [T'ien Lung] Bloodline)/Cavalier (Order of the Shield, Emissary Archetype, horse mount) 5/Dragon Disciple 4

24 Str
14 Dex
13 Con
14 Int
10 Wis
16 Cha

BAB 8
CMB 15
CMD 17

AC 22
Flat Footed 20
Touch 12

HP 70

Fort 7
Ref 4
Will 5

Feats

Arcane Armor Training
Power Attack
Mounted Combat
Ride By Attack
Mounted Archery
Vital Strike

Skills With Ranks

Ride 10
Handle Animal 10
Knowledge: Arcana 10
Spellcraft 10
Sense Motive 10
Intimidate 5
Diplomacy 5

Equipment

+2 Keen Jian Longsword

Masterwork Lance

Masterwork Composite Longbow +7 Str

Masterwork Silver Dagger

+3 Mithril Kikko Armor

Belt of Giant Strength +4

Headband of Charisma +2

Type 2 Bag of Holding

Spells Known

6 0
3 1
1 2

Spells per day

7 1
4 2

What spells should she pick?

Do you like her build? Any questions or problems with it?

[grarrrg]

You should have another Feat in your build, 5 from levels, 1 from Human, 1 from Draconic Bloodline (Dragon Disciple level 2)

I would advise against Archery, your Dex is low, and you lose Bab from Sorc/Dragon Disciple, and Mounted Archery still leaves you with a penalty on top of that. You're probably better off using a couple of your Spells Known on blasting spells.

I did a thread on Dragon Disciple optimization not too long ago... here it is (www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229425). Poke around for ideas.

Wound up making a Human/Genie/Dragon/Demon/Orc (Suli is a Human+Genie, the other 3 are Bloodlines) through the use of Crossblooded, and the Eldritch Heritage feats.
Final build had (before spells/equipment) +10 Str, +6 Con, +5 Natural Armor

In your case, I would recommend against Crossblooded, as it gives a -2 Will Save. Unless you take the Iron Will feat at some point, but even then your Will save is pretty low.
The Eldritch Heritage feats might be worth a look though.

[Roxxy]

Archery is only a secondary method of combat for me. I'm mostly a melee character.

I made Power Attack my Dragon Disciple bonus feat, then picked up Trick Riding.

Here is the spell list I'm considering:

Prestigitation
Message
Mage Hand
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
Read Magic

Shadow Weapon
Mirror Strike
Expeditious Retreat

Bull's Strength

Does this make a good build?

Is there a magic item I could pick up to get more spells known so I can pick up Cat's Grace?

[grarrrg]

An alternative would be to enter with either Bard or Summoner.
Pros: No chance of spell failure in Light Armor (saves a feat), slightly better HP/Bab (if using Fractional), Bard has good Ref save. Both have other, minor bonuses.
Cons: Worse spell selection, slower spell level gain.

Bard is largely Enchantment/Illusion spells, and would give some rounds/day of Performance (LOTS of various effects if you use Archetypes).
Summoner is mostly Buff spells. I would recommend the Master Summoner (www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner/archetypes/paizo---summoner-archetypes/master-summoner) archetype, you get a worse Eidolon (won't matter), but you get extra uses of the Summon Monster ability.


Archery is only a secondary method of combat for me. I'm mostly a melee character.
...
Prestigitation
Message
Mage Hand
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
Read Magic

Shadow Weapon
Mirror Strike
Expeditious Retreat

Bull's Strength

I still say Magic Missile (or similar) would be a better option than spending feats on Archery.

And since you plan on being Mounted fairly often, I would skip Expeditious Retreat.
Shadow Weapon only seems handy if you find yourself without a weapon. Do you plan on being captured/imprisoned?

As for additional spells there is the feat Expanded Arcana. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/expanded-arcana). You can add 1 spell from your List to your spells Known. OR you can add 2 spells if they are both lower than your highest capability.

Also, it'd be nice to have some Swift/Immediate action spells, but there are no good low level choices for you, and you're much too low a caster to worry about 'Quicken' yet.