Battle Sorcerer - need help to optimize

[Emmerlaus]

Ok, I have to make a Dragonborn of Bahamut with Battle Sorcerer class...

But I want to surprise the group and being able to disable traps... I want to be able to wear shield also to get Shield Ward, wich I think would be useful for a guy in Full plate.

Ok, heres what I came up with, we start at level 8 by the way:

1/Beguiler
1/Fighter
6/ Battle Sorcerer

Feats:
1- Chaotic Mind (Dragon Magazine):

Get two skills as class skills for free. I choose Use magic Device (to be the second cleric ans such) and from the Beguiler class, I get skills and I get Armored Caster as a class feature, useful later in the build.

2- (Fight from Fighter class): Shield Specialization

Get a +1 to shield is nice and the only prerequite for Shield Ward

3- Im getting the Dragonbord Sorcerer class variant to get Draconic Heritage as a bonus feat, getting Rust Dragon to ave the Search skill (always liked Rust Dragon)

4- Battle Caster (my lev.3 feat)... I want to start with a fullplate.

5- Arcane Disciple (Celerity domain):

Character is Chaotic Good and worshipping Olidamarra and Hlal (Draconomicon, dragon deities). It cancel one of the malus of having one less spell know per pay and Celerity domain will be useful)

THE FEAT IM GONNA GET AT NEXT LEVEL:

Practiced Spellcaster : To cancel the malus of my two level in other class into the saving throws of the spells. And if I get a other Fighter class to get either Improved Shield Bash or Shield Ward, wont affect the saving throws.

=====

Is there other ways to optimized this build? I chosen as spells:

Sound Lance
Entice Gift (for the thematic and to remove weapons and shield from enemy)
and a few more...

And by the way, I know Battle Sorcerer is kinda weak but I want to try it very badly... And I know optimizing a character is hard when Optimizing on trapsearching also but we are only three players (one of the other player is gonna be a cleric) and I know my GM just LOVE PASSIONALY dungeons and putting traps along the way... And since we had no rogue...

Tell me what you think!

[hex0]

I'd probably trade in the Fighter and Beguiler levels for two levels of Paladin of Freedom.

Also, the Summon Elemental reserve feat is a better choice for trap disarming. :smalltongue:

Edit: but if you are dead set on trapfinding, I'd reccomend Spellthief over Beguiler for a dip.

[Randomguy]

You should probably use your chaotic mind feat to get search and disable device as class skills.

Spellthief or cleric with the kobold domain would both get you trapfinding, and they'd work better than beguiler.

The armoured mage ability beguilers have only works for beguiler spells: it won't let you cast sorcerer spells in armour. A level of spellthief and the master spellthief feat would.

Use a two handed bludgeoning weapon, like a maul or greatclub, and cast greater mighty wallop on it once per day to do a bit more damage. Some other good spells are fist of stone, enlarge person, greater enlarge person, greater magic weapon, haste, bulls strength, bears endurance, heroism, heroics, so on.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

First of all, what base race are you applying Dragonborn to? I'd recommend Lesser Aasimar (PGtF), which is Humanoid instead of Outsider but gets all the other benefits (Wis +2, Cha +2). As per the Humanlike Races sidebar on page 150 of Races of Destiny, a Humanoid Aasimar has the Human subtype, which means you can take Able Learner from that same book, since Beguiler gets UMD as a class skill.

1. Able Learner is better. Armored Mage only works on your Beguiler spells, its benefit does not extend to spells you cast from any other class, it says so right in the class feature description. Get a Rod of Bodily Restoration and a Healing Belt in MIC and just skip it if all you want UMD for is to be able to heal/fix/etc.

2. You'll still suffer arcane spell failure for using a shield.

3. Trapfinding and Search are completely worthless. Get the Summon Elemental reserve feat in CM and you have a disposable minion that can't feel pain and only gets sent back from whence it came if defeated. That can walk down every hallway, open every door/chest/coffin/etc. for you, and otherwise trigger every trap so no party members need even take the risk or invest the skills. You're probably better off getting the Metamagic Specialist ACF in PH2 over trading your Familiar for Draconic Heritage.

4. Battle Sorcerer + Beguiler + Battle Caster does not allow you to cast in full plate. You would need Battle Caster twice to cast in full plate, or just once if you wear mithral full plate. You're going to be good aligned, so just take Arcane Preparation instead and cast ((Rod of) Extended) (Greater) Luminous Armor from BoED every day. Get a Rod of Bodily Restoration (MIC) and you can fix the Str damage sacrifice that happens when the spell ends.

5. Arcane Disciple does not automatically give you the domain's spells as spells known, it only makes them available to choose as spells known. Again, read the ability description, it makes it very clear. Nearly every spell on that domain list is already available as a Sorcerer/Wizard spell, so it's a complete waste of a feat.

Forget wearing armor, forget using a shield, and forget about finding traps. Get a Circlet of Rapid Casting (MIC) and cast Shield at the start of battle if you need to, or take Abjurant Champion (CM) and Quicken it for free plus you get a huge increase to its AC bonus. Get Arcane Preparation so you can cast Sanctified spells, and use (Greater) Luminous Armor, which Abjurant Champion also increases and Extends for free. Get the Summon Elemental reserve feat for a disposable trapspringing minion, or just take Leadership for a Beguiler cohort who can find traps and cast Haste and Glitterdust for you. Above all, forget about using Battle Sorcerer, there's just no benefit to using it over PHB Sorcerer.

Paladin (of Freedom (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#paladinVariantsFreedom SlaughterAndTyranny)) 2/ Sorcerer 4/ Spellsword 1/ Abjurant Champion 5/ Sacred Exorcist 8 is a very solid build, plus you can use wands of any spells on the paladin spell list. Get Combat Casting and Arcane Preparation at 1st and 3rd. Your 6th level feat should be Leadership or Practiced Spellcaster, with Arcane Strike (CW) at 9th and Minor Shapeshift (CM) at 12th. Take flaws (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm) if you can, and get both Power Attack and Heighten Spell at 1st level. Heighten Spell is great to use with Summon Elemental, if you can use flaws then get Versatile Spellcaster at 6th and Summon Elemental at 9th, and move Arcane Strike and Minor Shapeshift back. Also pick up Divine Might (CW) after you've started taking Sacred Exorcist, and note that once you hit Sacred Exorcist 4 you can trade out Dismissal for a different spell since its own Dispel Evil spell-like ability will meet that prerequisite.

[Manateee]

This is a really weak build.

Arcane Disciple doesn't work the way you think. It's a terrible feat for a Sorcerer - it doesn't add any spells known; it just adds spells to the list that you may select as spells known. Then, after eating one of your precious spells known slots, it adds unnecessary limitations on the spells, such as an offstat determining DCs and qualifications, and a 1/day limit.

If you can use Dragon magazine, you might want to use the Bloodline feats. They work the way that it looks like you're treating Arcane Disciple.

Alternatively, there's a variant in Complete Champion that gives you a domain, including its granted power in exchange for a level 2 spell known. It's still not a great trade, but it's nowhere near as bad as Arcane Disciple.

As far as the build itself, it's also pretty dire.

I assume you don't want to be talked out of Battle Sorcerer,the shield, or the Trapfinding. This is what I can do:

Dream Dwarf Trap Specialist Ranger 1/Dragonblood Domain Sorcerer 4/Runesmith X/Abjurant Champion Y
Feats:
(1) Heavy Armor Proficiency
(3) Scribe Scroll
(6) Parrying Shield

Dream Dwarf is a subrace with no Charisma penalty and a couple nice abilities for casters. Nothing great, but it keeps your casting from getting hurt too badly.

Trap Specialist is a variant Ranger in Dungeonscape. It gets Trapfinding in exchange for Track. Ideally, you'd also get the Wild Shape Ranger variant from Unearthed Arcana for fast movement, but that's a something-for-nothing trade in this build, which might seem kind of cheap.

Dragonblooded Sorcerer is in Races of the Dragon. It adds UMD to your skill list (for certain levels) and grants Draconic Heritage as a bonus feat in place of the familiar. Both of those sounded like things you want. It can also let you turn certain spells into Spell-like abilities, but the limits on that ability have me a bit confused w/r/t what to use it for.

Runesmith is in Races of Stone. It lets you cast in any armor and shield without penalty. It doesn't have great BA, but it has some really nice class abilities, so you might as well ride it out.

Abjurant Champion is just the ideal Fighter/Caster class. Whenever you can qualify for it, take it.

Parrying Shield is in Lords of Madness. It lets you add your shield bonus to AC, but it lacks the other features of Shield Ward. But it costs one fewer feat. Since I'm assuming Dwarf here, which already has benefits to most of the other factors, I'm going to treat them as a bit less important.

With this build, your BA might be a bit low, but you can always get an Aptitude weapon to deal with that.

I think that should cover your bases and leave you with a bit more freedom in build direction. You could still go Battle Sorcerer if you really wanted the extra point of BA, but it's really not worth it.

EDIT:
Rangers only get light armor? Blah.
Fighter + Shape Soulmeld (Thief's Gloves) + Open Least Chakra could work though, provided Parrying Shield is a Fighter bonus feat (I'm away from book). Just with fewer skills.