Warmage build help

[SliceandDiceKid]

I'm DMing for a group and my girlfriend frequently hops in to play. She's a warmage4 and just leveled up. She likes role playing and combat, but doesnt care about build or thoroughly learning the 3.5 system. I have very little knowledge of arcane PrCs. Where should I take the build?

Stats
8/18/16/18/8/14

Combat casting
Versitile spellcaster
Energy sub [lightning]

Intimidate
History
UMD
Arcana
Spellcraft
Concentration

She's got a horse and all sorts of mundane gear. Her bonus spell is tenser's floating disk to use as a hoverboard.

[Falcon X]

Good call, BTW of setting her up with Warmage. Warmage, Beguiler, and Dread Necro are some of the easiest and most flavorful classes for beginners who are mages.

The popular thought with building warmages is to keep finding new ways to get new spells. A warmage can be a beast if he has lots of spells. Check the handbook: http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=2816.0

I'd look at domains and extra spell. You might also look into getting Sanctified Spells (BoED) or Investitures (FC2).
Also, the June and July issues of 2003's Dragon Magazine gave us War spells and Dragon spells. RAW these feats might enable Warmage to learn Dragon or War spells. Just an thought...

[Grod_The_Giant]

I highly suggest Sandshaper, which shouldn't be too far out of your reach (you'll need a few cross-class skill ranks and a new feat). It's got some fun flavor, neat abilities, and as a bonus adds over 40 spells to your list of spells known, all for the low, low price of 1 caster level.

[ngilop]

War Mage from the dragonlance age of mortals!!!!

it gives you at 5th level +3 untyped dmg per die to your blasty spells

2 free meta magic feats and a AC buff on an ally equal to your Cha mod


it does a really good job of filling the gap that regulates the poor warmage to such a bad rap,
notably the lack of actual damage on a suppposed caster that is all bout dat damage

on to of that you cna go rainbow servant for extra goodness IF that is your route

[John Longarrow]

Lvl 5, I'd take a single level dip in Crusader (gives 5 maneuvers and a stance) for the fun martial stuff. This doesn't help with being more blasty, but gives some neat "Paladin-light" abilities that will make her character more versitile.
As soon as her BAB hits +4, spell sword for one level.
IIRC, she's got shield as a spell. If so, then go up Abjurant Champion. The HP and BAB will fit well with the "Fighting Mage" feel.

[Gwachitallemall]

Substitution of lightning or electricity? Second one qualifies you for born of three thunders, with 4 ranks of knowledge nature, makes all your spells do nasty damage. It dazes you, but stuns and knocks your enemies prone.

I'll leave it at that.

[Vedhin]

War Mage from the dragonlance age of mortals!!!!

it gives you at 5th level +3 untyped dmg per die to your blasty spells

2 free meta magic feats and a AC buff on an ally equal to your Cha mod


it does a really good job of filling the gap that regulates the poor warmage to such a bad rap,
notably the lack of actual damage on a suppposed caster that is all bout dat damage

on to of that you cna go rainbow servant for extra goodness IF that is your route

As a dedicated blaster caster fan, I approve the Warmage/War Mage idea. She'll need to pick up Eschew Materials and Weapon Focus (choose Ray as the weapon), on top of Combat Casting to get in (which is a pain, and I highly advise reducing the feat requirements). And for the record, the damage boost is +1/die at every odd level, and the AC boost is to one ally for each odd level. There are 5 levels.
Be aware that Dragonlance: Age of Mortals is third party.

If she wants to branch out from blasting, Rainbow Servant is a good plan. It might be too complicated if she doesn't care that much about learning the system though.


Edit: Could you tells us more about how she plays her character? That would help with finding a good PrC.

[SliceandDiceKid]

As a dedicated blaster caster fan, I approve the Warmage/War Mage idea. She'll need to pick up Eschew Materials and Weapon Focus (choose Ray as the weapon), on top of Combat Casting to get in (which is a pain, and I highly advise reducing the feat requirements). And for the record, the damage boost is +1/die at every odd level, and the AC boost is to one ally for each odd level. There are 5 levels.
Be aware that Dragonlance: Age of Mortals is third party.

If she wants to branch out from blasting, Rainbow Servant is a good plan. It might be too complicated if she doesn't care that much about learning the system though.


Edit: Could you tells us more about how she plays her character? That would help with finding a good PrC.

We don't allow 3rd party. If one of my players wanted to homebrew something, I'd allow it if I believed it to be balanced.

She entered the game late. Her backstory is as a well-known bounty hunter. She's no menace to society, but she won't let anyone step on her toes. She's threatened to kill other party members (have I mentioned I love her? Lol).

She likes rushing into a cluster of enemies and using fire burst. Really effective on kobolds and troglodytes.

She likes blasting. Scorching ray has caught her eye.


Also born of three thunders looks INCREDIBLE!

[Vedhin]

She likes blasting. Scorching ray has caught her eye.

First off, a word of warning: Scorching Ray isn't that great. I highly advise blasters stay away from single-target attacks, as that's the schtick of mundane characters. You either end up being overshadowed by the fighter, or overshadowing the fighter.


Second, there aren't that many good blasting PrCs. If she's willing to pick up religious flavor, a cleric dip can get her into Silver Pyromancer (Faiths of Eberron, if I remember right). She won't get to add the paladin list to hers, because there's a clause barring warmages from that benefit. She also loses a spellcasting level within the class. On the other hand, she gets to beat fire resistance and immunity, and her caster level for fire spells is equal to her character level.

Another religious PrC is Sanctified One from Complete Champion. Picking Kord can get her the ability to ignore fire resistance/immunity, but she loses a spellcaster level and the fluff doesn't work well at all.

Complete Champion also has Paragnostic Apostle. If she's willing to get some Knowledge ranks, she can get several minor benefits, including partial ignoring of energy resistance and immunity, against targets of an opposed alignment.



Stormwrack has Stormcaster, which I highly recommend now that I've thought of it. It loses a spellcaster level on entry, but gets +2 caster level for a variety of descriptors, including electricity and sonic. It also picks up bonus sonic damage/die for electricity. 5th level gets an ability which is kind of like Born of the Three Thunders-- you can stun with all electricity spells. You don't get dazed, but you don't knock them prone and it's doesn't become part sonic damage.

For feats, get Reserves of Strength from the Dragonlance Campaign Setting. It allows her to increase her caster level, and ignore the caster level cap, by either being stunned for a few rounds, or taking some damage if she gains stun immunity (she'll want to gain stun immunity. The Magic Item Compendium has the Banner of the Storm's Eye which will accomplish this). The caster level increase is nice, but ignoring the cap is great for blasters. For example, a 15th level caster doesn't get much from a fireball spell, because it's capped at 10d6 damage. With Reserves of Strength, that 10d6 maximum is ignored, and it's simply d6/caster level. It requires the Iron Will feat to get though.

[Derpldorf]

She's only got 14 in her primary casting stat... Hope she doesn't want 5th level spells.

Its been said scorching ray isn't an optimal choice, but if she's deadest on rays you might consider taking a level of rogue and going Spellwarp Sniper.

[ngilop]

Actually dragonlance is not 3rd party..

its not first party either. and I am not really sure if 2nd party is even a thing but if it is that is
what dragonlance stuff is

its all officlialy liscened from WoTC, but the actual publisher is soverign press i do beleive.

I really really recommend at least looking the class over.

also you ban 3rd party but will alow homebrew.. that seems kind of odd to me.

gettign -10% spell fialure due ot armor, 2 free meta magic feats, +cha to up to 3 allies and +3 untyped
damage per die is honestly what the Warmahe should have been at the start, thats why i suggets it,

everything the warmage is griped about on forums is taken care of by this class.

Here is a link to a modified warmage, the standard warmage only gets a d4, while this one gets a d6. other than that identicle.
https://dl-war-of-the-lance.obsidianportal.com/wikis/war-mage

[Virdish]

For adding spells there is always rainbow servant. Which she should be able to get into at ecl 7 with no shenanigans

[Corlindale]

If she doesn't want to get into complicated rules and odd builds, why not just let her stay a Warmage? It's not optimized, sure, but it's perfectly viable and she will be able to contribute effectively to encounters. Has she indicated that she wants to spice up her class with PRCs?

I played a regular Warmage from level 1-16 once (then got in Archmage at the very end) and I had a lot of fun with it. I think it works really well for new players because you have a blasting spell for every situation at all times. If you want to expand her spell selection a little bit you could give her the Esoteric Learning alternate class feature from the PHB II so she can pick up a few spells like Mirror Image or Dimension Door.

[SliceandDiceKid]

She's only got 14 in her primary casting stat... Hope she doesn't want 5th level spells.

Its been said scorching ray isn't an optimal choice, but if she's deadest on rays you might consider taking a level of rogue and going Spellwarp Sniper.

She'll be raising cha as she goes? This is a non issue.

[SliceandDiceKid]

Actually dragonlance is not 3rd party..

its not first party either. and I am not really sure if 2nd party is even a thing but if it is that is
what dragonlance stuff is

its all officlialy liscened from WoTC, but the actual publisher is soverign press i do beleive.

I really really recommend at least looking the class over.

also you ban 3rd party but will alow homebrew.. that seems kind of odd to me.

gettign -10% spell fialure due ot armor, 2 free meta magic feats, +cha to up to 3 allies and +3 untyped
damage per die is honestly what the Warmahe should have been at the start, thats why i suggets it,

everything the warmage is griped about on forums is taken care of by this class.

Here is a link to a modified warmage, the standard warmage only gets a d4, while this one gets a d6. other than that identicle.
https://dl-war-of-the-lance.obsidianportal.com/wikis/war-mage

I have yet to allow homebrew. No one has suggested or asked about it. But if someone proposed something reasonable, I would consider it at the very least. Sorry if that offends you? My table, my rules. Just providing guidelines for input.

[SliceandDiceKid]

If she doesn't want to get into complicated rules and odd builds, why not just let her stay a Warmage? It's not optimized, sure, but it's perfectly viable and she will be able to contribute effectively to encounters. Has she indicated that she wants to spice up her class with PRCs?

I played a regular Warmage from level 1-16 once (then got in Archmage at the very end) and I had a lot of fun with it. I think it works really well for new players because you have a blasting spell for every situation at all times. If you want to expand her spell selection a little bit you could give her the Esoteric Learning alternate class feature from the PHB II so she can pick up a few spells like Mirror Image or Dimension Door.

She hasn't hinted at anything or asked for change, I just want to make sure she keeps enjoying the character. I have them all pretty hooked with the story.

She hands me her character sheet and grins and asks me to level her up. She's eager to know what new things she can do. I guess I was looking for something more interesting than the 1 spell slot warmage lvl 5 grants.

[Gwachitallemall]

I'm going to second Stormcaster, put four cross class ranks this level, then 4 more sixth level, grants you an extra known spell, the ability to get born of three thunders, and enter in 7th level. Actually, you get no 3rd level spells at 5th, they come at sixth it looks like, all at once. You know lightning bolt so you qualify for stormcaster.

[John Longarrow]

Oddly,

After you posted her background, I don't think Warmage would be the best match for what she is.
Beguiler works much better for a bounty hunter. More skills, better interpersonal skills, and lots of spells that drop but don't kill targets.

Especially if she is new to the game, I'd build up a 4th level beguiler and talk to her about the differences between each to see what she likes more.

Plus the pic for a beguiler is a hot chick in black leather... :sabine:

[Vedhin]

Actually dragonlance is not 3rd party..

its not first party either. and I am not really sure if 2nd party is even a thing but if it is that is
what dragonlance stuff is

its all officlialy liscened from WoTC, but the actual publisher is soverign press i do beleive.

This is a somewhat complicated topic. The Dragonlance Campaign Setting is 1st party, the rest is 3rd party. However, the other Dragonlance material is "approved" of by WotC, much like Dragon Magazine.


I'm going to second Stormcaster, put four cross class ranks this level, then 4 more sixth level, grants you an extra known spell, the ability to get born of three thunders, and enter in 7th level. Actually, you get no 3rd level spells at 5th, they come at sixth it looks like, all at once. You know lightning bolt so you qualify for stormcaster.

If she's going into Stormcaster, Born of the Three Thunders is somewhat redundant.

[SliceandDiceKid]

Oddly,

After you posted her background, I don't think Warmage would be the best match for what she is.
Beguiler works much better for a bounty hunter. More skills, better interpersonal skills, and lots of spells that drop but don't kill targets.

Especially if she is new to the game, I'd build up a 4th level beguiler and talk to her about the differences between each to see what she likes more.

Plus the pic for a beguiler is a hot chick in black leather... :sabine:

Valid point. But when I asked what she wanted to do, she said kill things. When I asked how she said magic. Someone else actually picked warmage for her. It looked simple and powerful so I built one for her.

Also, nice.

[VoxRationis]

I'd just go straight warmage. If your girlfriend doesn't want to look through books and books to make her character, why make her look through books and books to play her character? Warmage by itself is reasonably viable, assuming other party members are covering the other bases.

[SliceandDiceKid]

I'd just go straight warmage. If your girlfriend doesn't want to look through books and books to make her character, why make her look through books and books to play her character? Warmage by itself is reasonably viable, assuming other party members are covering the other bases.

Fair enough. She pretty much outshines everyone else so far. The rest of the group is new but one guy.

[ngilop]

I have yet to allow homebrew. No one has suggested or asked about it. But if someone proposed something reasonable, I would consider it at the very least. Sorry if that offends you? My table, my rules. Just providing guidelines for input.

Oh, I m not offended. It just struck me as odd that you blanket ban all 3rd party,
but are completely open to homebrew. But as you said 'my table my rules'

[underlaud]

I was always partial to warmage/Force Missile Mage. You can deal a great deal of non blockable damage that you can change to elemental if needed.

http://dndtools.eu/classes/force-missile-mage/

[SliceandDiceKid]

Oh, I m not offended. It just struck me as odd that you blanket ban all 3rd party,
but are completely open to homebrew. But as you said 'my table my rules'

At this point everyone is really new (other than my neighbor who started playing with me). They're already a little overwhelmed with all the books available to them. Many of them are still learning RAW and RAI. A few still need help locating information on their character sheet. They've all fallen in love with the concepts of d&d, they're just not ready for the bite they're already chewing. On the flip side, I won't restrict the other half of the party who are excited about optimizing and delving through books to get that spell or feat which makes them giddy like a schoolgirl.

Another reason I won't allow it, is I don't have any experience with 3rd party material. I'm a year and a half into 3.5 with a small amount of 4th knowledge, and I haven't fully assimilated the common material. I'm fairly ignorant on the subject and am not prepared to bring any of it in now.

I was in an awful mood this morning and apologize for being standoffish. That's not who I try to be.

[Kane0]

It sounds like your looking for an options thats more fin that powerful, and seeing as your relatively new i'd advise against looking further than say the core books plus complete series.

Perhaps Argent Savant, Elemental Savant, Geometer and/or Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil? All of these are found in complete arcane, same book as the warmage.

P.S. That feat that allows you to ignore fire resistance/immunity with fire spells (mind blanking on the name right now, searing spell?) sounds like an excellent idea if she likes scorching ray, and if she likes to keep it simple then the sudden metamagic feats would be good for her too.

[Vedhin]

Elemental Savant

Please no. This class is just a horrible idea. Locking yourself into one energy type is shooting yourself in the foot, and the class doesn't even give any abilities to bypass energy resistance or immunity. And since Energy Substitution is required for entry, it's all downsides. Plus, you lose two spellcasting levels.