Need some input on making a good-aligned Fire caster

[Jowgen]

I've been brought on board to help a new player joining our group come up with a viable character. The new player just very much wants something that goes with the image he has in his mind, and it's my job to make sure this is done in a way that's effective at our level and not too hard to use. I am not so much looking for a full build, as I am looking for suggestions on what to include, avoid or where to look for good material.

Specifications:

- We'll be playing ECL 13
- Material wise, everything 3e-3.5 1st party and Dragon Mag goes
- Action economy abuse via Celerity & co is banned
- Character must be all about firey spells (stuff that looks like fire but isn't fire is okay)
- Must be a spontaneous arcane caster
- Catfolk is preferred race, but might be substituted for something with similar feel if need be
- Must be good aligned, and ideally, should have a means to avoid collateral damage to innocents


Where I'm at:

I know direct damage casters are sub-par, lest you go for a mailman type thing. The issue with Fire damage is that everything and their dog has immunity/resistance to it. Searing Spell and Silverflame Pyromancer are two things that I can know can get around that. Optimizing for Orb of Fire & Co. is where I'm currently leaning, but really, this sort of character is way out of my area of expertise.

Any help would be much appreciated :smallsmile:

[Nifft]

IIRC Catfolk have a level adjustment, and that's always a terrible thing for a spellcaster to have.

Action Economy abuse... how does your DM feel about Arcane Fusion and Arcane Spellsurge? If those are allowed, then Sorcerer becomes more attractive.

Sand Shaper is a Fire-and-Desert themed PrC which goes nicely with Sorcerer. It's not inherently abusive but it's nice in the right setting, and it certainly takes a lot of pressure off your low-level spell choices.

Silver Pyromancer has some very strong builds.

Sanctified One of Kord costs 1 level of spellcasting but gets you "holy fire". (Take two levels for the saves.)

- - -

The way you avoid collateral damage to nearby innocents is you don't cast fireball in a crowded theater. Instead you cast scorching ray or combust or orb of fire.

[Masakan]

Actually your pretty much all set, though I would suggest looking up tibbits over catfolks just to get around that nasty LA problem.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Catfolk can work as long as they can begin play with the +1 LA already bought off (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm), which means they paid 3,000 xp at party level 4, so by ECL 13 they should have been able to catch back up considering lower level characters gain more xp per encounter. If the character would still begin play behind in xp and levels, they should take Item Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm) which would have given them a 10% bonus to all current and future xp before paying that 3k. At ECL 13 this is at least 7.8k bonus xp, so they'll actually begin play at least 4,800 xp ahead of everyone else, minus what gets spent on permanency, magic item creation, etc.

I would recommend playing a Psion or Wilder instead of an arcane caster. The energy powers are modal, you can pick fire every time you use them but if you run into fire-immune opponents (or worse, such as iron golems) you can use the same powers to deal a different type of energy damage. Here's a superb Psion Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=10238.0), though the Catfolk's Cha bonus could make Wilder slightly more attractive. If using Wilder, be sure to get clarification from the DM on the last line of the Wild Surge class feature, as it implies that you don't actually pay any augmentation costs for a power when using Wild Surge, regardless of how much of it is contributed by Wild Surge itself.

If using a Cha-based class, throw on the Magic-Blooded template from Dragon 306 p64, which is 3.0 but easily adapted to 3.5 (change the Magic Aura and Undetectable Aura spell-like abilities to Magic Aura twice/day, but each mode only once). That gives Wis -2, Cha +2, and some other minor benefits for a +0 LA.

Bard would actually be a superb choice if optimized for Dragonfire Inspiration, and with Sublime Chord you can still get up to 9th level spells. Use a bow to take advantage of the Catfolk's high Dex, since it will still benefit from Inspire Courage, and consider taking Spell Thematics (PGtF) to change the visual appearance of your spells to look like fire or smoke. For the final build go (Savage) Bard 8/ Dragon Devotee 1/ Virtuoso 1/ Sublime Chord 1/ Virtuoso 9. Another option would be the Heartfire Fanner prestige class in Dragon 314 p18, but it's tied to a neutral organization with a leader who's only ECL 11. You would need to spend a feat on Dragontouched to get Dragonfire Inspiration, but if you can take two flaws (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm) (more here (www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?258440-The-quot-Best-quot-Flaws#30)) for two extra feats it will be a lot easier. Obligatory Bard Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=8284) link.

[Troacctid]

Exalted Arcanist is not a bad option.

[Jeff the Green]

Hmm. Let's say a Sorcerer base. Pick up Nonlethal Substitution, Searing Spell, the Metamagic Specialist ACF, and Vow of Nonviolence. Also see if you can work out metamagic rods of Nonlethal Substitution. Load up on fire spells, but also illusions and some utility. Mailmanesque shenanigans as needed.

Most things immune to nonlethal aren't covered by the vow, so that's not an issue. There's the issue of not allowing allies to coup de grace the enemies you knocked out with your fire, but it's not exactly the biggest problem in the world. And if you accidentally hit a civy, no real harm done.

You could also go with VoP (preferably a modified one) to o, if the new player doesn't want to deal with wealth. Sorcerer's one of the better classes for that. Don't touch Vow of Peace. If you do go with VoP, pick up Nymph's Kiss, which will help with skills and faceness, both of which are nice on a Sorcerer.

For PrCs, Sacred Exorcist is nice and thematic, particularly if you pick up Southern Magician. Exalted Arcanist, as mentioned by Troacctid, gets you the option of Sanctified spells. Sandshaper would work too. Really most of the good Sorcerer PrCs will work.

I wish I could recommend Fire Bloodline, but it's atrocious, and doesn't really even give you fire spells.

Remember that Sorcs can get the occasional non-Sor/Wiz spell. Check Wu Jen and Druid; I'm fairly sure they get some interesting ones. (I know there's fire shuriken on the Wu Jen list, which is nice when you have a limited number of uses of fast metamagic.)

[DMVerdandi]

I would say

1.Sorcerer

2. Get the reserve feat, Fiery blast first and foremost

3.Other Feats to get:
A.Searing spell

B.Craft Staff (For Runestaves. Simply Use aid another, purchase a spell from a wizard and use it in the building of the staff)

C.Extend Spell

D. Versatile Spellcaster

E.Rapid metamagic

F.Iron Will


4. Spend your money on rune staves. And get a quiver of elhonna to store them

5.Learn Heroics and use it often.

6. PRC into Incantatrix at level 7, and I guess pick some more sorcerer levels up after you are done [sorc10/incantatrix10]

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

B.Craft Staff (For Runestaves. Simply Use aid another, purchase a spell from a wizard and use it in the building of the staff)

4. Spend your money on rune staves. And get a quiver of elhonna to store them

You can only be attuned to a single Runestaff at one time, and you have to pick which one you'll attune to during your readying of arcane spells (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/arcaneSpells.htm#sorcerersAndBards) (MIC p224), so there's not really a point to having more than one.

Note that there's no RAW limit to how many spells a given Runestaff can contain, and no limit to what level of spells it can contain. Since this character is already going to be good aligned, this is a prime opportunity to use the Ancestral Relic Runestaff (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/arcaneSpells.htm#sorcerersAndBards) trick. You can even make the base item an Elvencraft (Composite) Longbow with three Wand Chambers. Make each of the three weapon portions +1 Defending and use Greater Magic Weapon on each, Defending bonuses to AC stack with all other bonuses which would include other Defending bonuses.

When you meditate to upgrade an Ancestral Relic, you can replace existing properties with new ones, as the final item is determined anew each time you meditate and the only thing that's carried over from before is its value. You can swap out spells in your Ancestral Relic Runestaff for different ones, and if you only exchange spells for different ones of equal level the value won't be modified and the time it takes to perform is multiplied by zero, i.e. it's no action at all, not even a free action. You need to be in the area of a Hallow or Consecrate to modify it, so either get Incense of Consecration (BoED) so you can light it, change the Runestaff, and then extinguish it to preserve its remaining duration, or get Sacred Exorcist 5+ for Consecrated Presence which enables you to swap out Runestaff spells in combat. The spells you put on it will always be on the one Runestaff you're attuned to, so you'll immediately be able to cast them.

Also note that you can put spells of a higher level than you have spell slots for in the Runestaff, and use Versatile Spellcaster to cast them. Starting at ECL 13, you could begin play as a Sorcerer 4/ Ruathar 3/ Paragnostic Apostle 1/ Sacred Exorcist 5.