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Hopeless
2012-11-14, 05:47 AM
Had an idea for a character but need a second (or third!) opinion since these days there's a fifth edition coming out and thats not including Pathfinder or the original remakes.

I'm picturing a sorceress whose backstory is that she's the paternal granddaughter of an elf who abandoned her family upon the birth of her son but whose lineage remains strong in the family bloodline.

Albeit not a half elf she retains enough to pass as one and possesses the ability to cast magic as a result of that bloodline.

Trained by her great aunt who was killed before she was fully trained she has finished her own training using unconventional means, by that I'm seriously considering taking Martial Weapon Proficiency/ Swords and Light Armour Proficiency depending on either swapping out the Summon Familar ability or ignoring the light armour proficiency feat for the Toughness Feat (+3hp).

For spells have the usual Detect Magic, Read Magic and then Disrupt Undead and Dancing Lights (as it doesn't need a spell component) with Shield (as she can wear leather armour with a minimal chance of spell failure) and either Magic Weapon or the standard Magic Missile (leaning more towards Magic Weapon).

So stats wise; Str 16, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 17 please note these weren't rolled in that order merely assigned and I'm wondering if I should drop a point or two.

Hit Points will be a base of 7 or 10 with the Toughness feat, I don't see any reason to retain the Summon Familar ability as it doesn't mesh with the character as I see it and I've played in a game where the dm eliminated the panther familiar of a fellow player one of the very few occasions this ability has been used (There's more to that story than I've said but it isn't worth wasting time over it).

I see the character as having taken up a more martial stance to complete her arcane training being able to cast disrupt undead via a weapon she's holding and making use of the shield spell so she could eventually pick up two weapon fighting (sword and dagger) at some point and whilst it might be easier to multi-class I was wondering how this would work as a pure sorceror even with the hit point problem bolstering the defences and looking at buffs to back her up I was really wondering if this could work.

What do you think?

Is this plausible?

3.0: Turn this into an 0th level Ranger/Sorceror meaning new Feat list now replaced with Toughness if Sorceror hd at 1st level or take Extend Spell and Eschew Material and then ask about replacing the Summon Familiar with either Toughness or Eschew Material but no big deal if I can sue Ranger hd at 1st level.
Was wondering about Mage Armour instead of Magic Weapon but not Shield and give her a great ac but for short periods (AC: 10 (Base)+ 4 (Mage Armour)+7 (Shield but one direction only) +3 (Dex) = 24 at 1st level).

3.5: Not sure if the above remains available but if not stick with the basic idea originally typed at the top of this starting message.
(AC:10 (Base)+ 4 (Mage Armour)+4 (Shield but one direction only) +3 (Dex) = 21)

4th: Haven't even tried!!! Most probably should stick to Swordmage and have Sorceror as a multi-class feat.

Pathfinder: Sorceror with Fey heritage maybe having Eschew Material so can go with Mage Armour and Shield at 1st level not sure about the rest mind you don't have any of the books to double check.
(AC: Same as 3.5 I guess)

Still wondering if the character can get access to Eschew Material and then can select Mage Armour from 1st level would be the right way to go after all it only takes a natural 20 to beat that AC!

Firest Kathon
2012-11-14, 07:13 AM
Pathfinder: Sorceror with Fey heritage maybe having Eschew Material so can go with Mage Armour and Shield at 1st level not sure about the rest mind you don't have any of the books to double check.
(AC: Same as 3.5 I guess)

Sorcerors in Pathfinder get Eschew Materials as a free bonus feat at first level.


Still wondering if the character can get access to Eschew Material and then can select Mage Armour from 1st level would be the right way to go after all it only takes a natural 20 to beat that AC!

I don't see what should stop you from taking Mage Armor on first level. But keep in mind, a first level Fighter would only need a 15 to hit you... (+1 BAB, +4 Str, +1 Weapon Focus).

Hopeless
2012-11-14, 07:40 AM
Sorcerors in Pathfinder get Eschew Materials as a free bonus feat at first level.

I don't see what should stop you from taking Mage Armor on first level. But keep in mind, a first level Fighter would only need a 15 to hit you... (+1 BAB, +4 Str, +1 Weapon Focus).

Maybe given her background should invest in a bow instead?:smallsmile:

Sorry what got me thinking is that the first time I ran a sorceror was when my cleric was aged 60 years by the ghost of a black dragon and went up alevel afterwards and asked the dm about multi-classing as I was intrigued at how a sorceror worked (and being invested in item creation feats I figured certain spells would be useful in a potion form as he tended to only make healing potions and scrolls at that point) but the dm chose the spells the character knew which wasn't nice as he made him into a blaster mage even though this was now a heavily armoured 80 years old cleric with a former preference for melee over ranged combat!

The second was a halfling sorceress which was curbstomped because the dm believed they were reliant on wizard scrolls to learn new spells and for a while being the only arcane spellcaster meant being the one to select identify back in 3.0 rules and only multi-classed to rogue when the dm decided to impose 2e restrictions on multi-classing ignoring I was the only one to start the game declaring my character was going to multi-class at some point (either druid or ranger by that point looking at unearthed arcana book to avoid xp penalties)

This character was originally conceved as a former paladin turned bard at some point but since I don't know what edition she'd be run under I figured working out the kinks beforehand would help.

Can't help picturing the character being mistaken for a rogue or bard rather than a fighter which is why I thought about Ranger as an alternative multi-class given most adventures are usually not urban since most games I've played in have involved travel and not centred on a base settlement.

Anyway thanks for the advice if I ever get to the stage to run this character I'll post what happened, good or bad!:smallbiggrin: