Sir Zachary
2015-11-16, 05:01 PM
Practical Pyromancy Handbook
WIP. Please give me any suggestions to improve the flaming fury that the fire of my ire can bring.
So you want to have the so-called phenominal cosmic power, but in the style of a blazing conflagration? Well I'm your man. I will be focusing on the Arcane Spellcasters in this handbook. It takes more than just specializing in evocation to call yourself a Pyromancer. In this handbook I attempt to keep the fun that is being the one who bring fiery doom upon their enemy while still being relevant to the party as a 20th level character. What you want is to get rid of those pesky resistances and immunities, those fools with evasion and the ones who think they can dodge your rays. Let's get started.
Ratings:
Bad
An alright choice
Pretty Good
Almost Required
CLASSES
Sorcerer: Yes, yes I know all about the famous Mailman and his heroics, HOWEVER! without spell research the sorcerer's just a little bit weaker than the Wizard in fiery and furious firepower. The sorcerer might cast a hundred fireballs but the wizard spent some time in the library and drops Firestorm without endangering his party.
Wizard: The gold standard, if you will. The wizard's spell research means your spell list is limited only by your downtime and gold. And trust me it is well worth the investment to gain limitless use of a spell for the future. After all if those researched spells results in more looted bodies it will certaily pay for itself and more.
Wu Jen: Basically a wizard by another name and eastern flavor. The Wu Jen's elemental focus lends itself to some small boosts to Pyromancy but sadly they do not have the Wizard's vast spell list. Don't underestimate the power of Watchful spirit and Spell Secret though. This sits really close to gold for me.
FEATS
SEARING SPELL: I think this gets the point across. +1 slot to make your spells ignore fire resistance and deal half damage to those with Fire Immunity. You make your numbers big enough and it won't matter if they only take half.
Fiery Burst: With this you get a competence bonus to your caster level with fire spells which means more damage dice for the 1d6/caster level spells. The sooner you get this the sooner you can get the maximum damage from your fire spells. The best part is probably the ability to turn a spell you are sitting on and probably won't use into unlimited ammo.
Fiery Spell: Yet another +1 slot metamagic that will give your spells more damage. For every die of damage you deal +1 more fire damage. Could be better but damage is damage. Sometimes this means the differences between a single digit HP enemy that can still attack and a dead/unconcious enemy.
Practical Metamagic: The reason to go Sorcerer over Wizard. This is where one could argue the Sorcerer does this job better. With a few other tricks you can reduce metamagic costs to nothing.
Arcane Thesis: You will take this. This is how we make scorching ray into the Death Star Super Laser. Combine with the above for even more fun.
Easy Metamagic: This one anyone can take(unlike practical metamagic) and get this: You can't lower it below the orignal spell level but you can use this to give your metamagic'd spell a +0 modifier.
Energy Substitution X: With this +0 slot metamagic you can change your damage type to sonic and rarely run into immunity or resistence. In that way this is better than Searing Spell except you are not really a Pyromancer anymore if you don't burn anything. I would not take it as it conflicts with the character concept. If you are okay with casting Fire Storm only in name then go for it. You could of course take Energy Substitution Fire and then get the next part of the chain...
Energy Admixture: Double damage, simple as that. Take it in fire and you'll be dealing double damage. Don't forget about your "+1 damage per damage die" bonuses from Raging Flame and Fiery Spell.
Empower and Maximize spell: If you can take both and use both then do it. Combine with the metamagic reducers to make it viable. While there are many math debates about which of these is better, but matter of the fact is that you are doing bigger damage than you would otherwise. If you can only pick one I would choose Maximize because it is consistent even though empower has the potential to do more damage. Do note that Empower will synergize with Fiery spell if you interpet the 1.5 meaning you roll 1.5 more dice rather than rolling 1.0 dice and then adding half.
Quicken Spell: Every caster that can take this should take this. It is like Natural Spell for Druids and Power Attack for Fighters. Even if you were not a Pyromancer you would take this.
Split Ray/Twin Spell: Split for when your Arcane Thesis is a ray and Twin for when it is Orb of Fire or similar spells. More spells, more power. Combine with Quicken for even more dakka. If you are stacking up metamagic reducers you can use both on a ray.
Elemental Spellcasting [Fire]: You cast [Fire] spells at +1 caster level. This is one of those sweet untyped bonuses so it stacks with everything. Its prerequisites are easy too. You'll be hitting the level caps on those d6/caster level spells as you level up but you'll still be dishing out that fiery fury sooner than normal. It will also be good for overcoming spell resistence
Persistent Spell: Being the supreme master of fire mean not getting burned if someone happens to catch you with spell turning or worse some wannabe throws a fireball at you. With this you can eventually persist Energy Immunity [Fire] so you don't find yourself in such situations. Even so it is mostly to keep your buff spells going so you can keep on burning. However if you are not going Incantatrix the slot adjustment might be too much.
Ocular spell: If you take this then you'll do well to get split ray as well and combine them to unload a shower of doom. If you're a sorcerer then you can combine this with Arcane Spellsurge and make your Occular spells Arcane Fusions. After using your full-round Ocular spells as a standard action, you'll still be able to cast a standard action spell as a swift action. If that" standard as swift" is an arcane fusion you'll be doing more damage than can be bothered to calculate. Oh, and you still have your move action to duck behind your frontline because the survivng enemies will be after you for this one. Just make sure not to get caught by spell turning when you do this.
Explosive spell: Now doing AoE damage is battlefield control.
Invisible spell: So you enjoy some grilled cheese? Adding this +0 metamagic along with metamagic reducers can help get rid of any left over slot increases.
SPELLS
Now for the fun part. I have spent a lot of time carefully combing through the many fire spells so that I might find the best ones for you, dear reader. Now maybe I have not looked at EVERY WoTC Fire spell, but I am pretty sure I am close. These are the tools you will use to unleash your ire.
1st level:
Lesser Fire Orb: For until you get normal Fire Orb.
Grease For utility but also so you have something to burn. Make your enemy drop his weapon and then light his greasy hands on fire with Fiery Eyes. Alternatively just put it on the ground they stand on and light that on fire. Works best if you wait for them to slip and fall prone and then light it up to make them waste actions. Enemy falls. ->stands up as a move-> you light them on fire->Falls prone again to stop drop and roll as a move and still requiring another move to get up again.
Fiery Eyes:This Wu Jen gem is a good way to give yourself a way to do damage at level 1 without expending your precious few slots. With some creative uses you can cause flammable structures to collapse on your enemies or just set their clothes or the ground they stand on on fire. With a duration of 1 minute you'll basically have this for an entire encounter.
Raging Flame: An excellent spell for buffing your own fire spells and can catch the enemy by surprise when mundane fire flares up. Since it scales with damage die the spell will stay relevant.
Slow burn: While it gives a debuff to your fire spells it has its utility for extending the life of torches. Sometimes you don't need to just cast Light, you need to light up a camp site.
2nd Level:
Combust: If you have a familiar that can easily deliver this touch spell without much risk then go for it. The initial effect doesn't allow a save and does 1d8/caster level which means it scales better than poor ol' fireball. It also has a save or catch fire which both damages your enemy's flammable equipment (how about the enemy mage's spellbook or maybe their enchanted cloaks?) and them. Damage over time isn't such a big deal in D&D but any extra damage is more than you would otherwise be doing.
Burning Sword: You won't be using this into later levels but it will certainly be nice to spread the joy that is Pyromancy to the poor souls without spellcasting. Give this to your crit fishing rogue and you have some scary damage for the level you get this.
Fiery Furnace: Not so much for during combat, but can be good for setting up traps if you lure your enemy into the effected area while your party has endure elements or similar active. The -4 to saves is especially nice since it is very likely your enemies will be wearing "any sort of armor."
Flame Dagger: Another way to spread the joy of [Fire]. While strength can't be applied to damage the fact that it is a touch attack means that your melee ally can power attack it up so it might be worth it for them. Not exactly a good spell for higher levels though. The Blade version of this gives you a scimitar but it is for Druids. You could get it through spell research, but it probably isn't worth it.
Scorching Ray: A favorite for metamagic combos for its high single target damage for a spell with such a low level. It is vulnerable to anti-magic fields unlike the other favorite, Orb of Fire. Even so split ray is cheaper than twin spell, so I say go for it.
3rd level:
Fire Wings: Another Wu Jen gem. Almost exactly like fly except with a longer duration of 10 min/level. The flaming wings means no somatic components and you'll be more noticable, but if you just have a long way to go then use it. It also looks pretty cool. You are a Pyromancer after all.
Fireball: It has a time and a place as a mook slayer. If there is a group of weak enemies that needs clearing then launch the fireball to wipe them out so your party has something better to do with their actions like getting to the BBEG. Otherwise don't bother with this spell if you expect any serious combat.
Flashburst: Save or be blinded and dazzle no matter what. Just make sure you warn your party members when you use this spell.
Wreath of Flames: Not actually meant to be used, you see. When you cast this it is as a deterrent, and you look scary. The range is personal so if you have a familiar suited for combat you can share it to buff them. Not really all that strong either way though.
Explosive Runes: It does Force damage but certainly fits the flavor. It is also a much better trap than Fire Trap.
4th level:
Blistering Radiance: Sort of like Flashburst but at a range. Once again enemies will be dazzled without a save and take a small amount of fire damage each round. It has a duration so you can do some metamagic effect stuff with Incantatrix.
Channeled Pyroburst: I bring this up only to point out what not to do when designing a spell. It looks really cool until you realize that spending two rounds casting fireballs has a higher max damage and higher minimum damage than spending two rounds powering this up. Don't put this on your character sheet.
Explosive Rune Field: If you set it up right it will make the enemy easy pickings by the time they get to you. They either move at half speed and likely start their next turn in the field and make a save anyway or move at full speed and roll the save. Either way there is risk going across the field for the enemy.
Firestride Exhalation: I want so very bad to actually use this spell because of how cool it is but we mages are but squishies. Maybe for a gish build. Perhaps you can come up with something to do with it.
Metal Melt: I can not tell you how many times this has become useful in a campaign. This thing can be a life saver especially when metal is in the shape of sharp and pointy objects of your doom. This might destroy gear you wanted to loot, but defeating the enemy means you live to loot another day.
Orb of Fire: This is the kind of spell you want to metamagic up because it goes through antimagic fields and can cause an enemy to be dazed. Do you know what is immune to daze? As far as I know, no one. The damage is pretty solid too especially when you are using caster level boosters.
Parboil: Stick it to those high and mighty "God" and "Batman" casters by going after their puny fort save and deaing a huge amount of intelligence damage. Can cause an int-based caster to go be crippled or go comatose if you use empower and maxmize. The metamagic probably isn't needed for the enemy fighter-types though. Who said Evocation lacks save-or-sucks?
Searing Exposure: For when you need to bring them back alive you can merely weaken them with this spell. No need to get merciful weapons or magic. Even if the non-lethal damage isn't enough your fighter-type's raw strength should finish it with the non-lethal unarmed strike to knock out your VIP(Victim In our Protection).
Wall of Fire: Combining with metamagic to boost damage creates a battlefield control spell that keeps the enemy away by the deterrence of the damage they would take. If they are undead and therefore not afraid of fire they take double damage. Looks like a winning situation. If they are not undead and walk through anyway they will find themselves easy pickings for your fighter-types. See a patern here? Even with the binary nature of HP a guy who is almost killed by you is setting up your fighter-type's cleave chain. If you can gurantee a one shot for your fellow party memebers or make the enemy waste time going around or dispelling it you are coming out ahead. Even so, many times it is better to "nuke 'em" with more straightforward methods.
5th level:
Fiery Tentacles: Like the black ones but on fire. This is pretty much the battlfield control of the orignal while adding the style of a Pyromancer. You are better off using the orignal if having flaming tentacles doesn't matter that much to you.
Earth Reaver: Damage without a saving throw along with a reflex save or fall prone, meaning evasion doesn't matter and you made your tripper very happy by giving him a bunch of enemies that are going to provoke AoO by getting up.
Fire and Brimestone: But why? The damage isn't any better than Orb of Fire. Because dear reader, Sickened creatures have lower saves which makes a follow up spell more likely to succeed. Combine with Fiery Furnace to cripple your enemies against your save-or-dies. Sometimes against a BBEG you need to bring down the saves before you can use your "I win" buttons.
Fire Shield, Mass: While the normal one is kind of "meh" this can give your entire party effective evasion against the right opponent(like Dragons.) After all you are a Pyromancer. You melt away the cold and master the flames.
Firebrand: Fireball multiplied by 10 with way more control over who gets hit. Each of the bursts can only effect one creature. This is effectively fireball without the chance of roasting your party while also dealing some lingering damage to any survivors or whoever enters the squares next round. This will be your best AoE damage spell that doesn't endanger your allies until Fire storm.
Shroud of Flame: Get rid of concealment on the enemy for everyone in your party while also lighting the enemy on fire so they shine nice and bright so the party can't miss them. True seeing is nice for you and all, but you don't want to cast it on everyone.
Wall of Magma: An even more deterring battlfield control spell that forces a creature to expend 20 ft of movement to move through one square of the wall. Both sides emenate waves of heat though so it might hurt your allies if they don't watch their distance.
6th Level:
Fires of Purity: When the person you buffed attacks they burn the enemy, when the enemy attacks they get burned. The target of this spell also only takes half damage from fire and gets evasion vs fire based attacks.
Scalding mud: For setting up traps. A pretty situational spell though. unfortunatly good fire magic is scarce at this level.
7th Level:
Delayed Blast Fireball: The biggest fireball brother(besides Meteor Swarm but that spell is a disappointment). The delay means this is good for setting up a trap for an enemy that isn't aware of you.
Fire Storm: This is the best [Fire] AoE. It is a Druid spell however so you will need to spell research for it but I think it is worth it. For when you just need to wipe out a general area of mooks while also damaging the BBEG and keeping your party safe it is simply the best.
Scalding Touch: Daze the enemy with a touch once per caster level, you say? Well if you follow some of this guide's suggestions your caster level with [Fire] is pretty good. Once again if your familiar can deliver this without much risk you get a crazy number of save or sucks from one spell.
8th level:
Deadly Lahar: Might be useful. The slow is nice, but the damage could be higher.
Incendiary Cloud: Fog cloud but on fire. Split up the enemy: While some of them are defeated by the burn damage you and the party deal with the rest.
9th Level:
Erupt: Thinking of using spell research to get this one? This has to be the most underwhelming description of an eruption I've read. 200 points of damage doesn't cut it and the damage from the Heat Metal effect certainly isn't either. Right now with much lower slots you do hundreds upon hundreds of damage with metamagic'd up spells. Unless making an area unable to support plant and animal life for a year is important to you.:smallconfused: Whatever burns your boat, I guess.
Detonate: Save-or-die and hurt everything around them. This is an impressive spell with an impressive effect. A simple way to delete an enemy who is threatening but has a puny fort save like say...a caster.
Internal Fire: Nearly identical to Detonate but without the explosion. Seems like Wu Jens got screwed here at first, until you see they can target more than one creature. Pump up that caster level, mate.
Transmute Rock to Lava: Looks impressive and can spell doom for the targets in a save-or-suck situation but there are better save-or-sucks you could be using.
Meteor Swarm: SIGH The damage this spell does was impressive...5 levels ago, I guess. Fire Storm is just better as you can be doing so much more with this slot like, say, stopping time.
Gate: Three words. Primal. Fire. Elemental. You've come this far so it is time to enjoy having the ultimate in Fire elementals at your command.
Changelog:
11-16-2015 to 11-17-2015(From late at night to around 2:00 AM): It begins. Intro, Classes, Feats and Spells sections written out. Could probably include more feats and classes. Still have not settled on a title.
11-17-2015(2:30-3:20 PM) Language errors fixed. Added Explosive spell. Added Invisible Spell. Revised descriptions.
8-2-2016 The Final Grammar Check. This Handbook is done.
WIP. Please give me any suggestions to improve the flaming fury that the fire of my ire can bring.
So you want to have the so-called phenominal cosmic power, but in the style of a blazing conflagration? Well I'm your man. I will be focusing on the Arcane Spellcasters in this handbook. It takes more than just specializing in evocation to call yourself a Pyromancer. In this handbook I attempt to keep the fun that is being the one who bring fiery doom upon their enemy while still being relevant to the party as a 20th level character. What you want is to get rid of those pesky resistances and immunities, those fools with evasion and the ones who think they can dodge your rays. Let's get started.
Ratings:
Bad
An alright choice
Pretty Good
Almost Required
CLASSES
Sorcerer: Yes, yes I know all about the famous Mailman and his heroics, HOWEVER! without spell research the sorcerer's just a little bit weaker than the Wizard in fiery and furious firepower. The sorcerer might cast a hundred fireballs but the wizard spent some time in the library and drops Firestorm without endangering his party.
Wizard: The gold standard, if you will. The wizard's spell research means your spell list is limited only by your downtime and gold. And trust me it is well worth the investment to gain limitless use of a spell for the future. After all if those researched spells results in more looted bodies it will certaily pay for itself and more.
Wu Jen: Basically a wizard by another name and eastern flavor. The Wu Jen's elemental focus lends itself to some small boosts to Pyromancy but sadly they do not have the Wizard's vast spell list. Don't underestimate the power of Watchful spirit and Spell Secret though. This sits really close to gold for me.
FEATS
SEARING SPELL: I think this gets the point across. +1 slot to make your spells ignore fire resistance and deal half damage to those with Fire Immunity. You make your numbers big enough and it won't matter if they only take half.
Fiery Burst: With this you get a competence bonus to your caster level with fire spells which means more damage dice for the 1d6/caster level spells. The sooner you get this the sooner you can get the maximum damage from your fire spells. The best part is probably the ability to turn a spell you are sitting on and probably won't use into unlimited ammo.
Fiery Spell: Yet another +1 slot metamagic that will give your spells more damage. For every die of damage you deal +1 more fire damage. Could be better but damage is damage. Sometimes this means the differences between a single digit HP enemy that can still attack and a dead/unconcious enemy.
Practical Metamagic: The reason to go Sorcerer over Wizard. This is where one could argue the Sorcerer does this job better. With a few other tricks you can reduce metamagic costs to nothing.
Arcane Thesis: You will take this. This is how we make scorching ray into the Death Star Super Laser. Combine with the above for even more fun.
Easy Metamagic: This one anyone can take(unlike practical metamagic) and get this: You can't lower it below the orignal spell level but you can use this to give your metamagic'd spell a +0 modifier.
Energy Substitution X: With this +0 slot metamagic you can change your damage type to sonic and rarely run into immunity or resistence. In that way this is better than Searing Spell except you are not really a Pyromancer anymore if you don't burn anything. I would not take it as it conflicts with the character concept. If you are okay with casting Fire Storm only in name then go for it. You could of course take Energy Substitution Fire and then get the next part of the chain...
Energy Admixture: Double damage, simple as that. Take it in fire and you'll be dealing double damage. Don't forget about your "+1 damage per damage die" bonuses from Raging Flame and Fiery Spell.
Empower and Maximize spell: If you can take both and use both then do it. Combine with the metamagic reducers to make it viable. While there are many math debates about which of these is better, but matter of the fact is that you are doing bigger damage than you would otherwise. If you can only pick one I would choose Maximize because it is consistent even though empower has the potential to do more damage. Do note that Empower will synergize with Fiery spell if you interpet the 1.5 meaning you roll 1.5 more dice rather than rolling 1.0 dice and then adding half.
Quicken Spell: Every caster that can take this should take this. It is like Natural Spell for Druids and Power Attack for Fighters. Even if you were not a Pyromancer you would take this.
Split Ray/Twin Spell: Split for when your Arcane Thesis is a ray and Twin for when it is Orb of Fire or similar spells. More spells, more power. Combine with Quicken for even more dakka. If you are stacking up metamagic reducers you can use both on a ray.
Elemental Spellcasting [Fire]: You cast [Fire] spells at +1 caster level. This is one of those sweet untyped bonuses so it stacks with everything. Its prerequisites are easy too. You'll be hitting the level caps on those d6/caster level spells as you level up but you'll still be dishing out that fiery fury sooner than normal. It will also be good for overcoming spell resistence
Persistent Spell: Being the supreme master of fire mean not getting burned if someone happens to catch you with spell turning or worse some wannabe throws a fireball at you. With this you can eventually persist Energy Immunity [Fire] so you don't find yourself in such situations. Even so it is mostly to keep your buff spells going so you can keep on burning. However if you are not going Incantatrix the slot adjustment might be too much.
Ocular spell: If you take this then you'll do well to get split ray as well and combine them to unload a shower of doom. If you're a sorcerer then you can combine this with Arcane Spellsurge and make your Occular spells Arcane Fusions. After using your full-round Ocular spells as a standard action, you'll still be able to cast a standard action spell as a swift action. If that" standard as swift" is an arcane fusion you'll be doing more damage than can be bothered to calculate. Oh, and you still have your move action to duck behind your frontline because the survivng enemies will be after you for this one. Just make sure not to get caught by spell turning when you do this.
Explosive spell: Now doing AoE damage is battlefield control.
Invisible spell: So you enjoy some grilled cheese? Adding this +0 metamagic along with metamagic reducers can help get rid of any left over slot increases.
SPELLS
Now for the fun part. I have spent a lot of time carefully combing through the many fire spells so that I might find the best ones for you, dear reader. Now maybe I have not looked at EVERY WoTC Fire spell, but I am pretty sure I am close. These are the tools you will use to unleash your ire.
1st level:
Lesser Fire Orb: For until you get normal Fire Orb.
Grease For utility but also so you have something to burn. Make your enemy drop his weapon and then light his greasy hands on fire with Fiery Eyes. Alternatively just put it on the ground they stand on and light that on fire. Works best if you wait for them to slip and fall prone and then light it up to make them waste actions. Enemy falls. ->stands up as a move-> you light them on fire->Falls prone again to stop drop and roll as a move and still requiring another move to get up again.
Fiery Eyes:This Wu Jen gem is a good way to give yourself a way to do damage at level 1 without expending your precious few slots. With some creative uses you can cause flammable structures to collapse on your enemies or just set their clothes or the ground they stand on on fire. With a duration of 1 minute you'll basically have this for an entire encounter.
Raging Flame: An excellent spell for buffing your own fire spells and can catch the enemy by surprise when mundane fire flares up. Since it scales with damage die the spell will stay relevant.
Slow burn: While it gives a debuff to your fire spells it has its utility for extending the life of torches. Sometimes you don't need to just cast Light, you need to light up a camp site.
2nd Level:
Combust: If you have a familiar that can easily deliver this touch spell without much risk then go for it. The initial effect doesn't allow a save and does 1d8/caster level which means it scales better than poor ol' fireball. It also has a save or catch fire which both damages your enemy's flammable equipment (how about the enemy mage's spellbook or maybe their enchanted cloaks?) and them. Damage over time isn't such a big deal in D&D but any extra damage is more than you would otherwise be doing.
Burning Sword: You won't be using this into later levels but it will certainly be nice to spread the joy that is Pyromancy to the poor souls without spellcasting. Give this to your crit fishing rogue and you have some scary damage for the level you get this.
Fiery Furnace: Not so much for during combat, but can be good for setting up traps if you lure your enemy into the effected area while your party has endure elements or similar active. The -4 to saves is especially nice since it is very likely your enemies will be wearing "any sort of armor."
Flame Dagger: Another way to spread the joy of [Fire]. While strength can't be applied to damage the fact that it is a touch attack means that your melee ally can power attack it up so it might be worth it for them. Not exactly a good spell for higher levels though. The Blade version of this gives you a scimitar but it is for Druids. You could get it through spell research, but it probably isn't worth it.
Scorching Ray: A favorite for metamagic combos for its high single target damage for a spell with such a low level. It is vulnerable to anti-magic fields unlike the other favorite, Orb of Fire. Even so split ray is cheaper than twin spell, so I say go for it.
3rd level:
Fire Wings: Another Wu Jen gem. Almost exactly like fly except with a longer duration of 10 min/level. The flaming wings means no somatic components and you'll be more noticable, but if you just have a long way to go then use it. It also looks pretty cool. You are a Pyromancer after all.
Fireball: It has a time and a place as a mook slayer. If there is a group of weak enemies that needs clearing then launch the fireball to wipe them out so your party has something better to do with their actions like getting to the BBEG. Otherwise don't bother with this spell if you expect any serious combat.
Flashburst: Save or be blinded and dazzle no matter what. Just make sure you warn your party members when you use this spell.
Wreath of Flames: Not actually meant to be used, you see. When you cast this it is as a deterrent, and you look scary. The range is personal so if you have a familiar suited for combat you can share it to buff them. Not really all that strong either way though.
Explosive Runes: It does Force damage but certainly fits the flavor. It is also a much better trap than Fire Trap.
4th level:
Blistering Radiance: Sort of like Flashburst but at a range. Once again enemies will be dazzled without a save and take a small amount of fire damage each round. It has a duration so you can do some metamagic effect stuff with Incantatrix.
Channeled Pyroburst: I bring this up only to point out what not to do when designing a spell. It looks really cool until you realize that spending two rounds casting fireballs has a higher max damage and higher minimum damage than spending two rounds powering this up. Don't put this on your character sheet.
Explosive Rune Field: If you set it up right it will make the enemy easy pickings by the time they get to you. They either move at half speed and likely start their next turn in the field and make a save anyway or move at full speed and roll the save. Either way there is risk going across the field for the enemy.
Firestride Exhalation: I want so very bad to actually use this spell because of how cool it is but we mages are but squishies. Maybe for a gish build. Perhaps you can come up with something to do with it.
Metal Melt: I can not tell you how many times this has become useful in a campaign. This thing can be a life saver especially when metal is in the shape of sharp and pointy objects of your doom. This might destroy gear you wanted to loot, but defeating the enemy means you live to loot another day.
Orb of Fire: This is the kind of spell you want to metamagic up because it goes through antimagic fields and can cause an enemy to be dazed. Do you know what is immune to daze? As far as I know, no one. The damage is pretty solid too especially when you are using caster level boosters.
Parboil: Stick it to those high and mighty "God" and "Batman" casters by going after their puny fort save and deaing a huge amount of intelligence damage. Can cause an int-based caster to go be crippled or go comatose if you use empower and maxmize. The metamagic probably isn't needed for the enemy fighter-types though. Who said Evocation lacks save-or-sucks?
Searing Exposure: For when you need to bring them back alive you can merely weaken them with this spell. No need to get merciful weapons or magic. Even if the non-lethal damage isn't enough your fighter-type's raw strength should finish it with the non-lethal unarmed strike to knock out your VIP(Victim In our Protection).
Wall of Fire: Combining with metamagic to boost damage creates a battlefield control spell that keeps the enemy away by the deterrence of the damage they would take. If they are undead and therefore not afraid of fire they take double damage. Looks like a winning situation. If they are not undead and walk through anyway they will find themselves easy pickings for your fighter-types. See a patern here? Even with the binary nature of HP a guy who is almost killed by you is setting up your fighter-type's cleave chain. If you can gurantee a one shot for your fellow party memebers or make the enemy waste time going around or dispelling it you are coming out ahead. Even so, many times it is better to "nuke 'em" with more straightforward methods.
5th level:
Fiery Tentacles: Like the black ones but on fire. This is pretty much the battlfield control of the orignal while adding the style of a Pyromancer. You are better off using the orignal if having flaming tentacles doesn't matter that much to you.
Earth Reaver: Damage without a saving throw along with a reflex save or fall prone, meaning evasion doesn't matter and you made your tripper very happy by giving him a bunch of enemies that are going to provoke AoO by getting up.
Fire and Brimestone: But why? The damage isn't any better than Orb of Fire. Because dear reader, Sickened creatures have lower saves which makes a follow up spell more likely to succeed. Combine with Fiery Furnace to cripple your enemies against your save-or-dies. Sometimes against a BBEG you need to bring down the saves before you can use your "I win" buttons.
Fire Shield, Mass: While the normal one is kind of "meh" this can give your entire party effective evasion against the right opponent(like Dragons.) After all you are a Pyromancer. You melt away the cold and master the flames.
Firebrand: Fireball multiplied by 10 with way more control over who gets hit. Each of the bursts can only effect one creature. This is effectively fireball without the chance of roasting your party while also dealing some lingering damage to any survivors or whoever enters the squares next round. This will be your best AoE damage spell that doesn't endanger your allies until Fire storm.
Shroud of Flame: Get rid of concealment on the enemy for everyone in your party while also lighting the enemy on fire so they shine nice and bright so the party can't miss them. True seeing is nice for you and all, but you don't want to cast it on everyone.
Wall of Magma: An even more deterring battlfield control spell that forces a creature to expend 20 ft of movement to move through one square of the wall. Both sides emenate waves of heat though so it might hurt your allies if they don't watch their distance.
6th Level:
Fires of Purity: When the person you buffed attacks they burn the enemy, when the enemy attacks they get burned. The target of this spell also only takes half damage from fire and gets evasion vs fire based attacks.
Scalding mud: For setting up traps. A pretty situational spell though. unfortunatly good fire magic is scarce at this level.
7th Level:
Delayed Blast Fireball: The biggest fireball brother(besides Meteor Swarm but that spell is a disappointment). The delay means this is good for setting up a trap for an enemy that isn't aware of you.
Fire Storm: This is the best [Fire] AoE. It is a Druid spell however so you will need to spell research for it but I think it is worth it. For when you just need to wipe out a general area of mooks while also damaging the BBEG and keeping your party safe it is simply the best.
Scalding Touch: Daze the enemy with a touch once per caster level, you say? Well if you follow some of this guide's suggestions your caster level with [Fire] is pretty good. Once again if your familiar can deliver this without much risk you get a crazy number of save or sucks from one spell.
8th level:
Deadly Lahar: Might be useful. The slow is nice, but the damage could be higher.
Incendiary Cloud: Fog cloud but on fire. Split up the enemy: While some of them are defeated by the burn damage you and the party deal with the rest.
9th Level:
Erupt: Thinking of using spell research to get this one? This has to be the most underwhelming description of an eruption I've read. 200 points of damage doesn't cut it and the damage from the Heat Metal effect certainly isn't either. Right now with much lower slots you do hundreds upon hundreds of damage with metamagic'd up spells. Unless making an area unable to support plant and animal life for a year is important to you.:smallconfused: Whatever burns your boat, I guess.
Detonate: Save-or-die and hurt everything around them. This is an impressive spell with an impressive effect. A simple way to delete an enemy who is threatening but has a puny fort save like say...a caster.
Internal Fire: Nearly identical to Detonate but without the explosion. Seems like Wu Jens got screwed here at first, until you see they can target more than one creature. Pump up that caster level, mate.
Transmute Rock to Lava: Looks impressive and can spell doom for the targets in a save-or-suck situation but there are better save-or-sucks you could be using.
Meteor Swarm: SIGH The damage this spell does was impressive...5 levels ago, I guess. Fire Storm is just better as you can be doing so much more with this slot like, say, stopping time.
Gate: Three words. Primal. Fire. Elemental. You've come this far so it is time to enjoy having the ultimate in Fire elementals at your command.
Changelog:
11-16-2015 to 11-17-2015(From late at night to around 2:00 AM): It begins. Intro, Classes, Feats and Spells sections written out. Could probably include more feats and classes. Still have not settled on a title.
11-17-2015(2:30-3:20 PM) Language errors fixed. Added Explosive spell. Added Invisible Spell. Revised descriptions.
8-2-2016 The Final Grammar Check. This Handbook is done.