My HotDQ character. PEACH

[Klorox]

DM wants to use PHB ONLY and standard array.

Please help me make the best draconic sorcerer for this game. Here's what I've got so far:

Half elf draconic sorcerer with the guild artisan background

STR 8 DEX 14 CON 16 INT 10 WIS 12 CHA 16

Cantrips: mage hand, prestigitation, minor illusion, flame bolt

Level 1 spells: sleep, shield

Skills: history, insight, perception, deception, intimidation, persuasion


I figure there's a decent chance I'll have an encounter with a dragon in this module, and with my high charisma, I'd love to excel when talking to it/them. The class covers this well.


Do I need all 3 social skills though? I could drop perception too, as I'd like to add arcana to my skills.

[Klorox]

I think I did alright, based on zero responses. ::shrug::

Am I better off switching DEX and CON?

[Mortis_Elrod]

14 is good enough for con so if you feel like you need better AC go ahead and switch them. Also if you want arcana drop intimidate, its good but deception and persuasion are he usual go to. Besides that everything seems fine to me.

[KingFerret]

I don't have any personal experience with the HotDQ module specifically so take any advice I give with a pinch of salt (as should be true for any advice you hear on this forum...)

BUT I would go for a higher DEX than CON. It makes very little difference tbh, both of them are at a good level and both increase your tankiness in different ways - but I would generally argue that Dex gives more benefits (initiative, stealth etc). The only exception to this would be if part of your strategy at later levels was going to focus specifically around very high value concentration spells (coming to mind would be a twinned haste on two martial allies) - in which case the higher Con for a more reliable concentration save would be more valuable. Alternatively if you were going to be focusing on blasting for example then, you still want to hold concentration usually, but it is less important than in the other example.

You also don't need all social skills - although if I'm playing a 'face' character I usually like to anyway. I would usually recommend every player have at least one of them, and then when trying to get something, make sure you word it in a way that is using that skill for example if I want to get some oranges:
"Give me them oranges or i'll rip off your arms and legs and build them into a modern art sculpture." (intimidation)
"Give me them oranges and I'll grant you a wish as I am secretly the Fey Lord of all citrus." (deception)
"Give me them oranges. Pretty please I really want them. I'm gonna make an orange pie." (persuasion)

SO not all are needed if you are canny with wording things so they play to your strengths.

GOod luck and have fun!

[Klorox]

Thanks guys.

One suggestion I received was to go variant human instead of half elf.

I'd drop history and intimidation.

My ability scores would be 8/14/14/10/12/16

I can definitely see myself doing this, but what feat would really be worth it? Elemental adept? Lucky? Warcaster?

Or is half elf the better option?

[Azgeroth]

useful things, speaking draconic (or being dragonborn)

there is a single call for a mechanics check, and arcana, not worth taking though..

otherwise, go for persuasion and deception, charlatan/criminal background is useful to assist in those deception rolls/antics.

otherwise, make sure you have draconic, anything will work.. oh, you wont face a lot of casters, there is a vampire but you dont have to fight it (i dont think)

i dont want to give away too much.. so ill leave it there.

[Klorox]

useful things, speaking draconic (or being dragonborn)

there is a single call for a mechanics check, and arcana, not worth taking though..

otherwise, go for persuasion and deception, charlatan/criminal background is useful to assist in those deception rolls/antics.

otherwise, make sure you have draconic, anything will work.. oh, you wont face a lot of casters, there is a vampire but you dont have to fight it (i dont think)

i dont want to give away too much.. so ill leave it there.

He draconic bloodline gives me that language, so we're good there.

[Klorox]

useful things, speaking draconic (or being dragonborn)

there is a single call for a mechanics check, and arcana, not worth taking though..

otherwise, go for persuasion and deception, charlatan/criminal background is useful to assist in those deception rolls/antics.

otherwise, make sure you have draconic, anything will work.. oh, you wont face a lot of casters, there is a vampire but you dont have to fight it (i dont think)

i dont want to give away too much.. so ill leave it there.

What's a mechanics check?

[Finger6842]

Thanks guys.

One suggestion I received was to go variant human instead of half elf.

I'd drop history and intimidation.

My ability scores would be 8/14/14/10/12/16

I can definitely see myself doing this, but what feat would really be worth it? Elemental adept? Lucky? Warcaster?

Or is half elf the better option?

All 3 of the mentioned feats are great. What weapon will you use? 1 handed then use a focus and ignore war caster and take lucky.

Personally I'd stick with half elf but then I think sleep immunity, charm resistance, darkvision and 2 extra proficiencies are the strongest combo in the game. I would swap DEX and CON as well.

I would drop intimidation and pick up another skill not covered by the party.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

I'm probably going to echo several other people but:

Con and Dex are both good, Dex is probably slightly better.

If you're looking to take Arcana, you can probably drop Intimidate, since you have both Persuasion and Deception, but I don't think you really need Arcana as a Sorcerer.

For feat recommendations, taking Resilient (Wisdom) never hurt anyone. Lucky, Warcaster, and Elemental Adept are also all good choices for a Dragon-Blooded Sorcerer.

[Klorox]

I'm going to go with the 16 DEX. This means I really don't need Flame Bolt yet (I'll pick it at level 4), as a light crossbow is basically the same until level 5 (right?).

If I do that, what cantrip should I pick instead? Chill Touch has some nice utility if I go up against something that can regenerate or undead (IDK if there are any baddies like that in this mod).

[Clone]

Hi, DM who owns HotDQ and Tyranny of Dragons here.

I'll be frank when it comes to the dragons: yes you will eventually run into them, and they are the centrepiece of the campaign (its in the title), but try not to worry about that part. Being a dragon sorcerer will give you all the boosts to charisma checks you'll need.

As was suggested, grab Persuasion and Deception among your skills. They're great for almost any situation unless you want to start threatening people, in which case trade out one for Intimidation. Including any dragons you come across along the way.

Whats more important is how you are gonna be playing and what your team is like.

What are the other players' classes? What are the metamagics you want to pick up? What colour of Dragon are you? That will effect your choices in the future.

Personally I think that CON is more important for a Sorc who is in the backlines. It grabs you a bunch more health and your concentration saving throws are even better, which is important for spellcasters who use a lot of concentration spells.

Also for cantrip selection: I'd have two elemental types. One which is the same colour of your dragon type (firebolt for red dragon, chill touch for white etc) and another for either utility or variation if something is resistant to the damage type.

[Klorox]

Hi, DM who owns HotDQ and Tyranny of Dragons here.

I'll be frank when it comes to the dragons: yes you will eventually run into them, and they are the centrepiece of the campaign, but try not to worry about that part. Being a dragon sorcerer will give you all the boosts to charisma checks you'll need.
As was suggested, grab Persuasion and Deception among your skills. They're great for almost any situation unless you want to start threatening people, in which case trade out one for Intimidation. Including any dragons you come across along the way.

Whats more important is how you are gonna be playing and what your team is like.

What are the other players' classes? What are the metamagics you want to pick up?

Personally I think that CON is more important for a Sorc who is in the backlines. It grabs you a bunch more health and your concentration saving throws are even better, which is important for spellcasters who use a lot of concentration spells.

The rest of the party consists of a ranger, a cleric, a barbarian and a monk.

[Clone]

The rest of the party consists of a ranger, a cleric, a barbarian and a monk.

I'd suggest picking up Twinned Spell for one of your metamagic choices. Your teammates will love you for casting Enlarge/ Reduce on your Barbarian and Monk, or Haste on them at 5th level.
It also means you can double Hold Person too. It is expensive with your Sorcery Points, but it can be totally worth it.

If you like the idea of buffing your teammates with concentration spells then casting Fireballs or Scortching Rays, I'd have as high a CON as possible, or going Variant Human and grab Warcaster if you think you will want to get into melee sometimes. It will depend on how you want to play the character, but Twinning spells is one of the things which a Sorcerer can do that no other class can!

[Easy_Lee]

Sounds like you'll be filling the role of ranged / AoE damage with party face. Nothing wrong with that.

For damage, make sure you have coverage. If you focus fire spells, you should also have a cold / force / whatever spell ready for when fire won't work. Fire is one of the most resisted damage types, behind cold and poison.

Do you want to spend concentration on buffs, or on battlefield control? And do you want to use your spells in social encounters? That may affect your choice of meta magics. Twin is good for everything and exceptional for buffs, subtle is great for social / stealth, and quicken is great for damage.

Beyond that, how you play is a bigger deal than class selection. You have draconic already. Good. Play carefully and make sure you don't die.

[Theodoxus]

It also depends on if the DM is going to be going by the book or modding it. Tyranny of Dragons is ripe for modding, so it could easily be that you build your character a certain way and few of those situations actually come up. With the prevalence of the internet, surprising players is difficult - heck, your own inquiry (which I admire) is proof that running the game 'by the book' will cause few problems. Spoilers or not, if you prep for every encounter by building specifically for the encounters, you'll be stronger than the book was written for.

That's the primary reason when I was running ToD, I scoured the web for all kinds of interesting side plots, political intrigue, cult motivations and locales that the players would run into, but weren't part of the official storyline if they were lazy and just googled "how to build a strong character for HotDQ".

Now, for your actual inquiries, I think most of the answers have been given. I agree that Dex > Con for draconic sorcs. You're already proficient in Con Saves - that's equivalent to +4 Con bonus over other full casters. You gain a +1 HP per draconic HD - that's equivalent to a +2 Con bonus. You have the equivalent of Mage Armor on at all times, with the 13+Dex AC bonus - that saves a spell known/slot, a 16 AC is the envy of warlocks and wizards the world over at 1st level.

I would remain half-elf, though I concur that dropping intimidation for arcana would be the wiser move. I would not recommend intimidating a dragon, they're very large and have pointy teeth... There are a few encounters where darkvision would be useful - though not mandatory (especially if you have any humans, halflings or dragonborn in your party and will be using torches).

Your spells are fine, though you might consider dropping fire bolt for frost... the 10' slow can be a life saver if you end up having to kite. I'd also recommend going black or white dragon bloodline... because reasons.

Anyway, hope that helps a little bit - enjoy the game. FWIW, the sorcerer in the game I ran didn't cast a single spell until 4th level, simply running around as a "crossbowman guard" for the cleric. Not a single NPC knew he was a sorc, and the players only had meta-knowledge. It can work.