Party Appropriate Sorcerer

[Bobby Baratheon]

Been a while since I've been on Giantitp - it's good to be back. :smallsmile:

My "dilemma" is that I'm joining a new D&D group with a rather . . . odd party composition. The party consists of: two (yes, two) monk/rogues, a fighter, a bard and a alchemist homebrew class (basically alchemical savant made a full class, but with no actual spellcasting). I decided to play a full caster based one 1) they're fun and 2) this party desperately needs one. From the DM's comments, it seems that the party is geared towards a straightforward fighting style of hitting things in the face really hard until they die.

Now, obviously, optimization is not really a need here. In fact, the last sorcerer character I played (an unseelie dragonspawn sorcerer/anima mage/eldritch theurge that was practically unkillable and killed the boss of the entire campaign in one round) would probably outshine the party so hard at everything it wouldn't even be funny or fun.

So, I want to tone things down significantly this time around without nerfing my character into the ground. I have eight levels to play with and the associated wealth by level (which is 27k ish, off the top of my head). I'm thinking sorcerer/anima mage (getting in via feats)/sandshaper would be a sane and reasonable combination that would still allow for a flexible and interesting character. So, this is what I've got so far (NOTE: the DM agreed to ignore the stupid restriction of light armor casting that makes battle sorcerer dumb, and for the stalwart HP bonus to apply at every spellcasting level since I am still paying the price):

Race: Silverbrow human with magic blooded and unseelie fey templates.
Level 1) dragonblooded stalwart battle sorcerer (Draconic Heritage [class], Spellfire Wielder [1st level feat], Draconic Power [silverbrow bonus feat], Empower Spell [flaw], Bind Vestige [flaw])
Level 2) stalwart battle sorcerer
Level 3) stalwart battle sorcerer (Improved binding [3rd level feat])
Level 4) dragonblood stalwart battle sorcerer
Level 5) anima mage (retrain bind vestige to touchstone)
Level 6) sand shaper (blue dragon lineage [6th level feat])
Level 7) anima mage
Level 8) anima mage

Aaaand that's it so far. It's not a particularly powerful build, but it does have a few things going for it, like survivability (1d8+2+con hp is not bad at all, especially since the +2 is carrying over to the prestige class levels), a certain degree of flexibility (spells known lost through sorcerer variants are sort of made up for by sand shaper bonus spells), and reliable if low damage output (blue dragon lineage is surprisingly good with a high Cha, as it is not hindered by spell resistance and does not allow a save). Cons are plenteous, especially when compared to an actual sorcerer. The idea here is for a reasonably strong character that can contribute in combat while providing magical support. I don't want to drastically alter the group dynamic, especially coming into the campaign midstream, so I figured this was a nice middle ground.

What changes, if any, would the playground recommend? Is this too strong or too weak for the group in question? I don't have any information on the other player's builds other than their classes, but the classes chosen are quite telling. Any particular magic items I should consider other than the obligatory cloak of charisma and my personal favorite, empowered spellshards? Thank you for your time!

[Gildedragon]

So if you're doing retraining and getting into PRCs to bootstrap yourself... You might be playing at a harder level than the other PCS
Dip 1 into binder, don't sweat the lost CL

So healing and buffing is already covered by the alchemist savant...

I'd go for a ranged attacker: Yeah I know arcane archer is pretty bad BUT it might fit nicely with the group

Or you could go
Sorcerer into Prestige Bard
The party seems to be lacking a dedicated face, and that could do the trick

But all this is pointless without a key datum
What do you want to play? Who do you want your character to be?

[Bobby Baratheon]

Yeah it's kind of hard to reign in the munchkin in me at times :smallamused:

Mainly, I want to be an archetypical blaster with a wasteland vibe. The guy who embodies the power of the storm and lays waste to enemies through lightning and whirling sand. Anima mage is included because I can't really resist adding in a prestige class that useful and that easy to get in to, and because it does sort of fit with the character. I mean, who better to turn to for aid when you're wandering the desert alone? It also adds a bit of a sinister and supernatural element to the character, and maybe provides the reason why he wanders the deserts alone (until whatever circumstances co-opted him into the party happened, obviously). That is, in broad strokes, the character I want to play. Tough enough to survive combat, but with decent amounts of magical dakka to fall back on. I don't plan on picking overpowering spells or any of the cheesier combos - I just like having a reasonably strong chassis.

Hopefully this helps clear up my character concept and what I'm looking for - I don't really want a different build that might fit better so much as practical ways to make this build fit into the existing group dynamic. Hopefully, as I learn more about the group I'll be able to better tailor what I have.

TL; DR: I want to play a wasteland blaster type with a sinister, intimidating vibe. How can this combination of classes fit into that concept without using a different build entirely and without destroying parity within the group?

EDIT: with regards to taking binder - I already lose a spellcasting level from sand shaper, so I'm kind of iffy on losing another one and being a full spell level behind. The caster level does get made up through draconic power and dust magic, though.

[BowStreetRunner]

Just a random thought - if you pick up the 5th level of sorcerer at some point you can grab the domain access ACF from Complete Chamion and select a suitable domain (one of the domains in Sandstorm would be likely) that works with your theme.

(Also, a minor nitpick...your level 2 and 3 would not be a dragonblood stalwart battle sorcerer, just a stalwart battle sorcerer. The dragonblood substitution levels are at 1 and 4. I'm sure you knew that but it looks wrong the way you presented it.)

[Gildedragon]

Ditch the Anima Mage. Yeah the free metamagic is great but that's gonna have you outshining the other PCs by a ton; and while it makes some sort of sense it isn't as closely tied to your character
You got an emphasis on the desert, on your dragon heritage, and also on your quasi worship of eldritch entities...

Something that would be great to have is the feathered cloak armor... If only for panache

Searing spell might be a good choice though if you're focusing on electric...

It might be interesting to use a warmage for the chasis instead of sorcerer...

[Bobby Baratheon]

Just a random thought - if you pick up the 5th level of sorcerer at some point you can grab the domain access ACF from Complete Chamion and select a suitable domain (one of the domains in Sandstorm would be likely) that works with your theme.

(Also, a minor nitpick...your level 2 and 3 would not be a dragonblood stalwart battle sorcerer, just a stalwart battle sorcerer. The dragonblood substitution levels are at 1 and 4. I'm sure you knew that but it looks wrong the way you presented it.)

Yeah as I was typing it I wondered it that was the correct way to put it. Edit done! I'll look into the domain options and see what my choices would be. That would be a suitable replacement for anima mage, I'd think.

@Guigarci: War mage could be interesting, but ultimately I'd think I'd miss the ability to pick what spells I have. That ability is admittedly hamstrung a bit by stalwart and battle sorcerer, but I'm not sure I want to lose it entirely. Anima mage is definitely the most expendable option here other than Spellfire Wielder as a first level feat. What could I replace it with? Maybe stormcaster?

EDIT: One level of Stormcaster + Energy Substitution (electricity) instead of Empower Spell would let me keep to my theme and be rather dangerous with blasting spells. I'd be an eighth level caster with access to only third levels spells, to be sure, but electricity/sonic spells would be cast at caster level 10 (including draconic power and dust magic). Could be worth, could not be worth it.

[Troacctid]

I like Nymph's Kiss, assuming you don't mind being good-aligned. Extra skill points are always welcome, and it comes with a great boost to saves and Cha-based skills as well.

Personally, I actually prefer Seelie over Unseelie Fey. You don't get wings, but the spell-like abilities are nifty. Of course, if Dragon Compendium templates are allowed, then you're probably doing yourself a big disservice by not being a Ghoulish Creature or Ghastly Creature, both of which come with undead immunities and ridiculous ability score mods. (Bodak Creature is overpowered as well, with its at-will AoE free action save-or-die attack once per round, but sunlight vulnerability is pretty rough if you want to be a desert guy.)

[Bobby Baratheon]

I like Nymph's Kiss, assuming you don't mind being good-aligned. Extra skill points are always welcome, and it comes with a great boost to saves and Cha-based skills as well.

Personally, I actually prefer Seelie over Unseelie Fey. You don't get wings, but the spell-like abilities are nifty. Of course, if Dragon Compendium templates are allowed, then you're probably doing yourself a big disservice by not being a Ghoulish Creature or Ghastly Creature, both of which come with undead immunities and ridiculous ability score mods. (Bodak Creature is overpowered as well, with its at-will AoE free action save-or-die attack once per round, but sunlight vulnerability is pretty rough if you want to be a desert guy.)

Nymph's Kiss would be nice, especially since the skill tax for Sand Shaper will leave me a little low on skill points. I think going undead might push it a bit too far, though. I wonder if the other players even know about the relative advantages of undeath, and it might be a bit grating for the new guy to have higher stats than everyone else thanks to excessive template stacking. I will take it into consideration, though.

Doesn't Seelie Fey have a +1 LA or am I confusing it with something else?

[Troacctid]

Doesn't Seelie Fey have a +1 LA or am I confusing it with something else?
It's +1 CR, same as Unseelie Fey.

None of the templates in Dragon Compendium list a change in level adjustment from the base creature. It's an error carried over from the original issues of Dragon Magazine, which were 3.0 material from back before there was such a thing as a level adjustment. (In 3.0, you simply couldn't play monstrous characters at all, IIRC.) The writers and editors who compiled the Compendium either forgot or chose not to update them with LA. Of course, under 3.5 rules, any quality that a template doesn't explicitly change is assumed to remain the same as the base creature, which means all the templates in the book are effectively +0 LA. This is a known dysfunction.

[Bobby Baratheon]

That does explain a lot about the Dragon Compendium templates. I'm still somewhat more inclined to Unseelie Fey because of flying and because Winter's Chill is an excellent way to make sure your debuffs connect, though it encourages a more aggressive playstyle that the -2 to Constitution does not help. That is a nice list of SLAs, though.

[Bobby Baratheon]

In case anyone's interested, I ended up going with dragonblooded stalwart battle sorcerer 1/anima mage 6/sand shaper 1. Lost one spellcasting level, but have a caster level of 9 thanks to draconic power and dust magic. Racewise, I went with a magic blooded silverbrow human as a simple option that still nets me a feat and a bonus to Charisma. I'm using the green lady as one vestige, with the other one being chosen as needed.