TalonOfAnathrax
2018-04-12, 01:37 AM
I decided to make a Sorcerer whose powers come from the blood of distant Draconic ancestors, now awakened withing her. Faint memories of flying and fighting throughout the Planes drove her to dissatisfaction with her life, and so she drove deeper within the dreams. One day - magic! Knowledge skills from the scattered memories of distant ancestors! Actual physical mutations!
Her long-term goal would be becoming a Dragon. Shapechange will do nicely - by then she hopes she'll be able to get an item to avoid ageing or some way to make it permanent.
Of course this means taking a lot of Draconic Feats for fluff reasons. Thing is that those are pretty terrible, and I know it. Please help me make the character playable at low levels, remain vaguely relevant at mid levels, and stay useful at high levels! I'm not asking to be Tier 1, but keeping on theme and staying Tier 2 would be nice.
Basic idea:
Human with 2 flaws (-3 to Reflex saves and -2 to melee attacks for example) and the dragonblood sorcerer substitution level (no familiar, UMD as a class skill, +2 to Knowledge (arcana), Draconic Heritage feat) to get 5 Draconic feats at level 1: Draconic Heritage, Draconic Toughness (so +10 HP), Draconic Knowledge (+5 to all Knowledge rolls and every Knowledge skill is a class skill, so I can put one rank in them and then use them with a decent bonus), Draconic Vigor (self-healing in combat), and Dragon Wings (terrible now but unlocks a better feat),
Then at level 3 I'd take Draconic Legacy to add a few spells to my spell list, and level 6 I'd take Improved Dragon Wings (short-term flight that becomes good flight at level 12). Level 9 would be Draconic Senses (Blindsense seems necessary at that level) and then I would pick up Versatile Spellcaster and a few Reserve Feats (Fiery Burst, Minor Shapeshift) or another few Draconic Feats (Draconic Resistance, Draconic Claws) for flavor. Knowledge Devotion seems good too, but I don't know if it would still be useful at that level. The whole thing is straight Sorcerer until level 20, no more substitution levels.
The thing is that I'd love to get into a Dragon-themed PrC. This led me to this second build:
Same level 1 with the flaws, substitution level and 5 Draconic Feats. But then I was thinking of taking 3 Human Parangon levels: this would make me lose a level of spellcasting and give me +2Cha, but it would also let me get UMD as a class skill for Sorcerer and give me enough skill points and a bonus feat to qualify for Dracolexi at level 6. Dracolexi would make me lose another spellcaster level (so I'd be 2 whole levels behind at level 6) but I'd be in a sweet themed PrC that'd help me stay relevant at higher levels (a few extra spells added to my spell list at a lower level than they should be, and free Empower to all my blasting spells is just beautiful). OF course then I'm 2 levels behind. Should I not take Human Parangon and qualify for Dracolexi 1 level later (and not get good UMD, not lose a spellcasting level and have to take Eschew Materials as a feat which pushes Draconic Legacy and all the other feats back another level)? Should I be going for an entirely different Dragon-themed class? Dragonheart Mage gives more Draconic feats but it also causes the loss of 2 caster levels...
Spells:
Spells are a big deal when it comes to staying relevant as a Sorcerer. What do you think of these?
lv 1: Charm Person, Color Spray, Mage Armor, Grease, Kelgore's Fire Bolt,
lv 2: Wings of Cover, Alter Self, Scorching Ray, Mirror Image, Invisibility,
lv 3: Dispel Magic (later retrained to Dragonskin), Fireball, Stinking Cloud, Hesitate,
lv 4: Voice of the Dragon, Polymorph, Dragon Breath, Assay Spell Resistance,
lv 5: Dominate Person, Baleful Polymorph, Teleport, Contact Other Plane,
lv 6: Greater Dispel Magic, Probe Thoughts, Lesser Dragonshape,
lv 7: Plane Shift, Spell Turning, Greater Shadow Conjuration,
lv 8: Polymorph any Object, Mind Blank,
lv 9: Shapechange
Am I missing anything? I'm hesitant about Contact Other Plane, and I wonder if Lesser Dragonshape can't just be replaced by casting Polymorph. And is Probe Thoughts likely to be of use to a Sorcerer?
Her long-term goal would be becoming a Dragon. Shapechange will do nicely - by then she hopes she'll be able to get an item to avoid ageing or some way to make it permanent.
Of course this means taking a lot of Draconic Feats for fluff reasons. Thing is that those are pretty terrible, and I know it. Please help me make the character playable at low levels, remain vaguely relevant at mid levels, and stay useful at high levels! I'm not asking to be Tier 1, but keeping on theme and staying Tier 2 would be nice.
Basic idea:
Human with 2 flaws (-3 to Reflex saves and -2 to melee attacks for example) and the dragonblood sorcerer substitution level (no familiar, UMD as a class skill, +2 to Knowledge (arcana), Draconic Heritage feat) to get 5 Draconic feats at level 1: Draconic Heritage, Draconic Toughness (so +10 HP), Draconic Knowledge (+5 to all Knowledge rolls and every Knowledge skill is a class skill, so I can put one rank in them and then use them with a decent bonus), Draconic Vigor (self-healing in combat), and Dragon Wings (terrible now but unlocks a better feat),
Then at level 3 I'd take Draconic Legacy to add a few spells to my spell list, and level 6 I'd take Improved Dragon Wings (short-term flight that becomes good flight at level 12). Level 9 would be Draconic Senses (Blindsense seems necessary at that level) and then I would pick up Versatile Spellcaster and a few Reserve Feats (Fiery Burst, Minor Shapeshift) or another few Draconic Feats (Draconic Resistance, Draconic Claws) for flavor. Knowledge Devotion seems good too, but I don't know if it would still be useful at that level. The whole thing is straight Sorcerer until level 20, no more substitution levels.
The thing is that I'd love to get into a Dragon-themed PrC. This led me to this second build:
Same level 1 with the flaws, substitution level and 5 Draconic Feats. But then I was thinking of taking 3 Human Parangon levels: this would make me lose a level of spellcasting and give me +2Cha, but it would also let me get UMD as a class skill for Sorcerer and give me enough skill points and a bonus feat to qualify for Dracolexi at level 6. Dracolexi would make me lose another spellcaster level (so I'd be 2 whole levels behind at level 6) but I'd be in a sweet themed PrC that'd help me stay relevant at higher levels (a few extra spells added to my spell list at a lower level than they should be, and free Empower to all my blasting spells is just beautiful). OF course then I'm 2 levels behind. Should I not take Human Parangon and qualify for Dracolexi 1 level later (and not get good UMD, not lose a spellcasting level and have to take Eschew Materials as a feat which pushes Draconic Legacy and all the other feats back another level)? Should I be going for an entirely different Dragon-themed class? Dragonheart Mage gives more Draconic feats but it also causes the loss of 2 caster levels...
Spells:
Spells are a big deal when it comes to staying relevant as a Sorcerer. What do you think of these?
lv 1: Charm Person, Color Spray, Mage Armor, Grease, Kelgore's Fire Bolt,
lv 2: Wings of Cover, Alter Self, Scorching Ray, Mirror Image, Invisibility,
lv 3: Dispel Magic (later retrained to Dragonskin), Fireball, Stinking Cloud, Hesitate,
lv 4: Voice of the Dragon, Polymorph, Dragon Breath, Assay Spell Resistance,
lv 5: Dominate Person, Baleful Polymorph, Teleport, Contact Other Plane,
lv 6: Greater Dispel Magic, Probe Thoughts, Lesser Dragonshape,
lv 7: Plane Shift, Spell Turning, Greater Shadow Conjuration,
lv 8: Polymorph any Object, Mind Blank,
lv 9: Shapechange
Am I missing anything? I'm hesitant about Contact Other Plane, and I wonder if Lesser Dragonshape can't just be replaced by casting Polymorph. And is Probe Thoughts likely to be of use to a Sorcerer?