Help picking the last three spells for my sorcerer.

[ShadeRaven]

Hi there. After quite a bit of a break from 3.5 I was invited to a 3.5 campaign and decided to make a blaster sorcerer (suboptimal I know, but I just felt like it). So far it is going pretty well with me being able to outburst the mountain raging rune scared berserker against nonresistant enemies without really overshadowing everyone in the usual 10+ level spellcaster fashion. Now my DM has decided that we are getting truly out of whack for the challenges Eberron can offer and decided to cap us at lvl 13 in a E6 fashion with the only character progression available after that being a feat per each 12K accumulated XP.

I am playing a silverbrow human sorcerer 6/Paragnostic Apostle 2/Sacred Exorcist 1/Silver Pyromancer 3 and I am about to get my last level for the campaign.
Currently my most noteworthy spells are Arcane Fusion, Favor of the Martyr, Celerity, Lesser Orb of Fire, Raging Flame and Firebrand backed up with Arcane Thesis: Orb of Fire and Lesser Orb of Fire and Practical Metamagic: Empower Spell. My playstyle mostly around tossing empowered Orb of Fires and Lesser Orbs of Fire... sometimes both with Arcane Fusion... sometimes out of my turn with Celerity. It's all fun and games, and while 50% of their damage is unresistable thanks to the Sacred Flame feature of the Silver Pyromancer - fire resistance and immunity is still a problem (or at least a considerable speedbump and drain to my spell reserves). The lvl 13 Cap unfortunately means that I wont be able to reach the fourth level in the Silver Pyromancer PrC and get the 100% Sacred Flame feature, so I though that using my remaining spells to diversify my character a bit is a good idea. Unfortunately my 3.5 knowledge is a bit rusty so I have little idea how viable my idea is and if it can be improved.

I have a few thousand grans in my picket so my first idea was to pick Contingency with my 6th level spell know, to get the Extra Spell: Dragonic Polymorph with my first 12K XP feat and to cough the cash for an attuned shard with Tenser's Transformation for my Drake Helm.

This will allow me to follow the casting of Tenser's Transformation with a Contingent Draconic Polymorph into a 12-headed hydra. It will amount to a 12 attacks at +23 for 2d8+12 with a 10 feat reach as a single attack action so that I can latter go into the Spring Attack Feat.

1. Does that seem like a good idea?
2. Would spring attack allow me to make all the 12 attacks or just one of them?
3. If I have permanent grater magic fang cast on my human form would that help my hydra polymorph and will it affect only one of the bite attacks or all of them with the CL-scaling enhancement bonus?
4. Are there some good feats for natural attacks that I should consider (Power Attack, Sprint Attack, Combat Reflexes and Weapon Focus is what I have in mind at the moment)?
5. My AC will suck (32 with mage armor). Will my 26 Con (we play with the new Con score adjusting the target's hp) be enough to keep me alive in melee for a while at lvls 13+? I can add a blur or a shield spell I guess, but that's about it.
6. Erm... can hydras wear rings or cloaks?:) Will getting a ring of protection be worth it and will my cloak of resistance continue to function while in hydra form?

P.S: I am not interested into polymorphing into a war troll or any other creatures with reputation for being evil due to roleplaying reasons.

[Darrin]

1. Does that seem like a good idea?


It's difficult for me to tell. I can only guess at the optimization level of your DM and the other players. My biggest concern is... sorcerers don't usually win D&D by going into melee. But if you're having fun, that's more important than winning.



2. Would spring attack allow me to make all the 12 attacks or just one of them?


It's... not clear. On the one hand, Spring Attack doesn't allow a standard action (like flyby attack) because of the way it's worded, and "attack action" is not explicitly defined by the rules. On the other hand, the wording on the hydra doesn't specify the action type, so by RAW, I think this would be allowed.



3. If I have permanent grater magic fang cast on my human form would that help my hydra polymorph and will it affect only one of the bite attacks or all of them with the CL-scaling enhancement bonus?


That depends on what natural weapon has been given the greater magic fang. If you have a bite attack in your human form, then it should still be present when you shift into a hydra. If you have it cast on your unarmed strike, this *should* still be available when you're in hydra form, but it won't really affect your bite attacks. If you cast it on a natural weapon that no longer exists in your hydra form, then the spell effect will either be dormant or fizzle away.



4. Are there some good feats for natural attacks that I should consider (Power Attack, Sprint Attack, Combat Reflexes and Weapon Focus is what I have in mind at the moment)?


You're a sorcerer. Hitting things is a meatbag job.



5. My AC will suck (32 with mage armor). Will my 26 Con (we play with the new Con score adjusting the target's hp) be enough to keep me alive in melee for a while at lvls 13+? I can add a blur or a shield spell I guess, but that's about it.


Yes, you're going to want a miss chance of some sort. Smoking weapon (+1 enhancement, Lords of Darkness) is usually cheaper than a minor cloak of displacement.



6. Erm... can hydras wear rings or cloaks?:) Will getting a ring of protection be worth it and will my cloak of resistance continue to function while in hydra form?


Hydras have front legs, toes/claws (hard to tell from the picture), and shoulders, so yes, they have all the requisite body slots. However, even though they have multiple heads, they have only one head slot.

[eggynack]

1. Does that seem like a good idea?
Partially. Tenser's transformation is weak, so I'd avoid that. Maybe spend that feat on searing spell instead, so you can get past immunity when it comes up. Draconic polymorph is probably fine though. You could also just spend that other feat in a different way. Like invisible spell to help modify your orbs down, while also being generally crazy.


4. Are there some good feats for natural attacks that I should consider (Power Attack, Sprint Attack, Combat Reflexes and Weapon Focus is what I have in mind at the moment)?
In line with what Darrin said, and as you've angled towards, the way a caster does things well is by casting. If you want a feat to make you better at hitting things, then take something that makes your spells that make you better at hitting things better. Like, for an arbitrary example, extend spell, to extend your new buffs. You get the ability to hit better, and also the ability to cast better. It feels like you're investing too much into this hitting things plan. A part of what makes a polymorph and stab plan good is that you're not spending all that many resources on it. You just cast the spell, and you're able to punch well. No feats or expenditures required.

[Khedrac]

3. If I have permanent grater magic fang cast on my human form would that help my hydra polymorph and will it affect only one of the bite attacks or all of them with the CL-scaling enhancement bonus?
Permanent Greater Magic Fang will not give you a CL-Scaling bonus - it will give you a bonus set at your caster level at the time you cast the spell.
Further, just as when cast on a creature with two claws, it does not give bonuses to both claws unless cast twice (or cast in the +1 to all attacks form), so it will not give more than +1 on more than one head per casting.


5. My AC will suck (32 with mage armor). Will my 26 Con (we play with the new Con score adjusting the target's hp) be enough to keep me alive in melee for a while at lvls 13+? I can add a blur or a shield spell I guess, but that's about it.
That's pretty good for a melee type (closer to excellent). General Playground wisdom is that miss chance (blur, displacement) is better than AC, that or to check out Greater Luminous Armor from BOED.


6. Erm... can hydras wear rings or cloaks?:) Will getting a ring of protection be worth it and will my cloak of resistance continue to function while in hydra form?DM's call and probably not.
Get an ally to cast Shield of Faith on you if you want the deflection bonus or get custom neck item made with the same effects (the one slot you know a hydra has).


P.S: I am not interested into polymorphing into a war troll or any other creatures with reputation for being evil due to roleplaying reasons.
Most people think hydras as pretty evil (though they are really just hungry unintelligent stomachs with a lot of mouths).

[eggynack]

that or to check out Greater Luminous Armor from BOED.

Nah, gotta be a prepared caster, for some reason. You can technically get a party member to do it, but that's a bit up in the air.

[ShadeRaven]

Sorry. I should have phrased some of the questions a bit more clearly.

1. By CL-scaling bonus I mean picking the option that enhances one of your natural weapons with a +1 enchancement bonus per four caster level. Scaling is probably misleading word hear. Basically my question was if one greater magic fang casting by a lvl 12 druid can give +3 attack and damage to all my bite attacks or only to one of them. As for the spell fizzling once I no longer have bite attacks (while in human form) - I don't believe this will be the case since the spell targets me and not my bite attack. It will just be dormant since there will be no bite attack benefiting from it at the moment.

2. I said that my AC sucks, because the cleric in the party is rocking 40+ AC and still gets hit relatively often. I guess 32 will still help against irrelative and power attacks, but dragons and the like enemies with a couple of primary or secondary will go right past my AC even if I try to buff it. Actually I think mirror image and ray of dizziness will be my best bet against single strong opponent. I can fire both as an immediate action if I see someone pouncing on me although it will cost me 4th and 5th slot. I was considering Greater Mage Armor and another level in the paragnostic apostle that will allow me to increase the bonus it gives to +8, but in the end I decided 4 more AC is not worth the effort.

3. Yeah, I know hitting things is a fighter's job, but since our barbarian is casting spells... It's not meant to be a primary tactics anyway, just a fun thing to do occasionally once my spells are almost gone or when I am facing heavy fire resistance. Searing spell will be an amazing way to deal with the second problem though, thanks for the suggestion.

[Khedrac]

1. By CL-scaling bonus I mean picking the option that enhances one of your natural weapons with a +1 enchancement bonus per four caster level. Scaling is probably misleading word hear. Basically my question was if one greater magic fang casting by a lvl 12 druid can give +3 attack and damage to all my bite attacks or only to one of them. As for the spell fizzling once I no longer have bite attacks (while in human form) - I don't believe this will be the case since the spell targets me and not my bite attack. It will just be dormant since there will be no bite attack benefiting from it at the moment.
OK - just 1 buite and no, it won't fizzle while you are not in hydra form, but it might make biting your tongue dangerous.


2. I said that my AC sucks, because the cleric in the party is rocking 40+ AC and still gets hit relatively often. I guess 32 will still help against irrelative and power attacks, but dragons and the like enemies with a couple of primary or secondary will go right past my AC even if I try to buff it. Actually I think mirror image and ray of dizziness will be my best bet against single strong opponent. I can fire both as an immediate action if I see someone pouncing on me although it will cost me 4th and 5th slot. I was considering Greater Mage Armor and another level in the paragnostic apostle that will allow me to increase the bonus it gives to +8, but in the end I decided 4 more AC is not worth the effort.
Whatever floats your campaign. First off get an ioun stone for +1 AC.
You might want an item of barkskin - it boosts natural armour so it stacks with most other AC buffs.
First off I would ask the DM what item slots the hydra will have - then you can work out what to put in them.

[eggynack]

3. Yeah, I know hitting things is a fighter's job, but since our barbarian is casting spells... It's not meant to be a primary tactics anyway, just a fun thing to do occasionally once my spells are almost gone or when I am facing heavy fire resistance.
Indeed. But that's why you shouldn't be going that deep on it. The spell is gonna be sufficient for most purposes, and piling feats on top of that is largely extraneous. Less than extraneous, really. Casters are simply on a higher level with regard to the things they can do, so the best route is to get these kindsa effects almost incidentally, by boosting casting and then happening to boost your melee because your melee comes from casting.

Searing spell will be an amazing way to deal with the second problem though, thanks for the suggestion.

Yeah, it's a nice feat. You could look deeper into mailman stuff, cause that seems to be your general angle. Not that you should necessarily go all out with it, cause the full mailman just kills everything it comes in contact with with little interaction, but it's a good source for ideas of how to operate blasting-wise.

[Anthrowhale]

Can you retrain (as per PHB II) one level of Paragnostic Apostle into Silver Pyromancer? That will let you complete Silver Pyromancer as a capstone.

You might also look into the planar substitution level for sorcerers which makes half of your damage force.

[Troacctid]

Can you retrain (as per PHB II) one level of Paragnostic Apostle into Silver Pyromancer? That will let you complete Silver Pyromancer as a capstone.
Retraining doesn't work that way. You could only do that with a full rebuild.

[Anthrowhale]

Retraining doesn't work that way. You could only do that with a full rebuild.

Sorry, I meant rebuild. This seems like a very reasonable application: exactly what the rebuild system was designed for.