A Minimal Mailman

[Anthrowhale]

A conversation here (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?628087-What-is-the-earliest-the-mailman-build-can-come-online) made me wonder: What is the least investment you can make and still function as an effective Mailman (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?447435-quot-The-Mailman-A-Direct-Damage-Sorcerer-quot-(from-Wizards-forums)) build?

To handle that, we need to define 'effective'. There's a vast range of possibilities, but a baseline around a 4 member party facing a CR = ECL opponent across 4 encounters matches game expectations. This suggests a benchmark around a significant chance of delivering 50% damage to the hit points of a CR = ECL opponent (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J7KongPAMxJCKuSlDFIyRKj7YPWsTP2fJUh_tuS16Qs/edit#gid=1854430337) across 4 encounters.

Thinking about this a bit, it seems that a minimal approach requiring race, familiar, 4 feats and 4 spells is viable. I'll outline this next, but comments are welcome.

Silverbrow Human Sorcerer [Dragonblood Sorcerer 1 ACF, Planar Sorcerer 5 ACF, Fire Sphere (+1 caster level for fire)]
Human: Bloodline of Fire //+2 caster level with fire spells
Dragonblood Sorcerer 1: Lose familiar for Draconic Heritage[Sapphire Dragon] //Make Knowledge[Dungeoneering] a class skill
1. Fiery Spell //+1 damage/die for fire spells
3. Ocular Spell //Turn 2 precast spells into rays.
Planar Sorcerer 5: Lose Level 2 spell for Force-Charged Energy //Half damage is force
6. Practical Metamagic: Ocular Spell //Ocular Spell becomes +1 metamagic

Spells:
1. Lesser Orb of Fire
2. Force-Charged Energy Planar Sorcerer ACF
4. Orb of Fire
4. Mark of the Enlightened Soul

This provides something pretty close to the target damage/level in the first round of combat.


Level
Target
Damage
Method


1
7
2d8 fire (9)
Lesser Orb of Fire


2
11
3d8 fire (13.5)
Lesser Orb of Fire


3
14
3d8 fire (13.5)
Lesser Orb of Fire


4
25
4d8+4 fire (22)
Fiery Lesser Orb of Fire


5
29
4d8+4 force/fire (22)
Fiery Lesser Orb of Fire


6
35
10d8+5 force/fire (50)
Ocular Lesser Orb of Fire + Ocular Fiery Lesser Orb of Fire


7
44
10d8+5 force/fire (50)
Ocular Lesser Orb of Fire + Ocular Fiery Lesser Orb of Fire


8
49
(10d8+5)*1.5 force/fire (75)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + Ocular Lesser Orb of Fire + Ocular Fiery Lesser Orb of Fire


9
66
(10d8+10)*1.5 force/fire (82.5)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + Ocular Fiery Lesser Orb of Fire twice


10
69
(5d8+5)*1.5 + 13d6 force/fire (86.75)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + Ocular Fiery Lesser Orb of Fire + Ocular Orb of Fire


11
82
(5d8+5)*1.5 + 14d6 force/fire (90.25)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + Ocular Fiery Lesser Orb of Fire + Ocular Orb of Fire


12
99
30d6+15 force/fire (120)
Ocular Fiery Orb of Fire + Ocular Orb of Fire


13
99
30d6+15 force/fire (120)
Ocular Fiery Orb of Fire + Ocular Orb of Fire


14
99
(30d6+30)*1.5 force/fire (202.5)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Fiery Orb of Fire twice


15
113
(30d6+30)*1.5 force/fire (202.5)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Fiery Orb of Fire twice


16
120
(30d6+30)*1.5 force/fire (202.5)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Fiery Orb of Fire twice


17
123
(30d6+30)*1.5 force/fire (202.5)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Fiery Orb of Fire twice


18
152
(30d6+30)*1.5 force/fire (202.5)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Fiery Orb of Fire twice


19
178
(30d6+30)*1.5 force/fire (202.5)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Fiery Orb of Fire twice


20
205
(30d6+30)*1.5 force/fire (202.5)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Fiery Orb of Fire twice



Books used:
Dragon #330 (Fire Sphere) //Thanks to Elves
Dragon Magic (Mark of the Enlightened Soul)
Lords of Madness (Ocular Spell)
Planar Handbook (Planar Sorcerer 5)
Player's Guide to Faerun (Bloodline of Fire)
Races of the Dragon (Dragonblood sorcerer 1, Draconic Heritage, Practical Metamagic)
Sandstorm (Fiery Spell)
Spell Compendium ([Lesser] Orb of Fire)

[JNAProductions]

I'd add Searing Spell, since Fire Immunity isn't terribly uncommon.

[Anthrowhale]

I'd add Searing Spell, since Fire Immunity isn't terribly uncommon.

Very few are immune to force damage though.

The Force-Charged Energy ability given by the Planar Sorcerer 5 ACF seems much more efficient since it requires a spell instead of a feat, doesn't increase the spell slot level/casting time, and spells are more effective against incorporeals. It's close to being Searing Spell + Transdimensional spell as a +0 metamagic.

[JNAProductions]

Very few are immune to force damage though.

The Force-Charged Energy ability given by the Planar Sorcerer 5 ACF seems much more efficient since it requires a spell instead of a feat, doesn't increase the spell slot level/casting time, and spells are more effective against incorporeals. It's close to being Searing Spell + Transdimensional spell as a +0 metamagic.

Huh. Neat.

Well, there's that solved. :)

[Anthrowhale]

I noticed that Ocular Spell requires Knowledge[Dungeoneering] as a prereq which is available via the Dragonblood Sorcerer 1 ACF. I also added a few details and a list of sources.

[Particle_Man]

Versatile Spellcaster lets you put out the higher level spell slots more often, at a cost of the lower level spell slots. Does that fit your criteria?

[Anthrowhale]

Versatile Spellcaster lets you put out the higher level spell slots more often, at a cost of the lower level spell slots. Does that fit your criteria?

Versatile Spellcaster is an amazing feat, but it appears worse than the existing 4 feats for our purposes here. Essentially, the 2-for-1 trade in versatile spellcaster appears incompatible with doing something 4 times per day. It's perhaps the top 5th feat if you want to invest more.

[rel]

Stacking damage with spells is always costly so a minimal investment mailman will probably rely on delivering a nasty rider effect instead.

If your GM rules Fell Drain applies per instance of damage, then your 'build' can be as simple as:
fell drain + metamagic cost reducers + clever spell selections

[Anthrowhale]

Stacking damage with spells is always costly so a minimal investment mailman will probably rely on delivering a nasty rider effect instead.

If your GM rules Fell Drain applies per instance of damage, then your 'build' can be as simple as:
fell drain + metamagic cost reducers + clever spell selections

Rider effects seem a bit hit-or-miss which violates the concept of delivering the mail. For example, in an undead-centric campaign, the Fell Drain is meh. The 'disabling' rider metamagics that I see are Radiant Spell (+2, Will fail => Blind for rounds) and Slimy Spell (+1, Refl fail => nauseated). Maybe something could be done with these?

[One Step Two]

I really like how this build is tied together. With the minimal approach to resource expenditure, after level 6, you still have 4 feats to tailor your build to suit any campaign, or simply take ones that are more flavorful. Any PrC that doesn't hamper your casting is a choice rather than a requirement, which is great as well. Competent and plenty room to be super flavorful, or up your power as you wish.

[nedz]

Silverbrow Humans are descended from Silver Dragons - so Draconic Heritage[Sapphire Dragon] might not fly at some tables. Draconic Heritage[Silver Dragon] may be expected.

Below caster level 15 Split Ray - Scorching Ray is the highest damage 4th level ranged touch spell. At CL 15 it's finally overtaken by Split Ray - Rainbow Beam. Orb of X is good but both of the above are better and the difference is often significant - dependant on caster level.

Against Undead it's hard to beat Disrupt Undead, Greater; but this is obviously situational.

[Anthrowhale]

...
Thanks---that was the goal :-)

Silverbrow Humans are descended from Silver Dragons - so Draconic Heritage[Sapphire Dragon] might not fly at some tables. Draconic Heritage[Silver Dragon] may be expected.
It's a little bit worse than this because Bloodline of Fire says you are descended from an Efreeti. So fluffwise we are dependent on being descended from three bloodlines.

This can be reduced. There are several ways to get access to Knowledge[Dungeoneering] eliminating the need for Draconic Heritage[Sapphire Dragon]. Silverbrow could potentially be eliminated by using Dragonborn. Each of these choices induces some alternate costs.


Below caster level 15 Split Ray - Scorching Ray is the highest damage 4th level ranged touch spell. At CL 15 it's finally overtaken by Split Ray - Rainbow Beam. Orb of X is good but both of the above are better and the difference is often significant - dependant on caster level.

I avoided Scorching Ray here because spell resistance becomes increasingly common at higher levels.

[Elves]

Silverbrow Humans are descended from Silver Dragons - so Draconic Heritage[Sapphire Dragon] might not fly at some tables. Draconic Heritage[Silver Dragon] may be expected.

Silverbrow human with Draconic Heritage [Sapphire Dragon] could be seen as a mechanical representation of a "sapphirebrow human".

[nedz]

Silverbrow human with Draconic Heritage [Sapphire Dragon] could be seen as a mechanical representation of a "sapphirebrow human".

Dragon Magic should really have created templates so that you could have Silverbrow Dwarves etc.
It's not that hard to reverse engineer such a set of templates I suppose, and then design one for Sapphire Dragons, but it would, obviously, not be RAW.

What you have with your suggestion is a mashup because things like Feather fall and the Disguise bonus are part of the Silverbrow pseudo template connected to Silver Dragons and not Sapphire.

[Elves]

This is great PO. Instead of getting lost in a rat race of escalating numbers that consume everything about your build, identifying the target numbers and meeting them so that the rest of your build is free to be whatever you want, flavor even.

Something you could add is Sorcerer Sphere (fire) from Dragon 330 for +1 fire CL, -2 cold CL. Doesn't help once the orb is maxed but helps during the 2-5 stretch when you aren't quite meeting target.

[Anthrowhale]

This is great PO. Instead of getting lost in a rat race of escalating numbers that consume everything about your build, identifying the target numbers and meeting them so that the rest of your build is free to be whatever you want, flavor even.

Something you could add is Sorcerer Sphere (fire) from Dragon 330 for +1 fire CL, -2 cold CL. Doesn't help once the orb is maxed but helps during the 2-5 stretch when you aren't quite meeting target.

Good idea---I adjusted the OP. The weakest point now is level 5, where the damage is ~24% below target. Perhaps the good news here is that at levels 4&5 you can afford 2 spells/encounter, so in the plausible scenario where you survive the first round you can get up to target in the second round.

[Elves]

Easy enough to solve by taking Easy Metamagic (Dragon 325) instead of Practical Metamagic.

[Anthrowhale]

Easy enough to solve by taking Easy Metamagic (Dragon 325) instead of Practical Metamagic.

I'm not quite following. Ocular Spell is only a useful damage increase when you can cast it twice before an encounter. Across 4 encounters, that means 8 spells/day. I believe the first level where you have enough L2+ spells to burn on that is level 6.

I guess you could work with Ocular + Versatile + Easy Metamagic which would come online at level 5. However, that would make things worse at level 4 due to the lack of fiery spell, so it seems like a wash.

[Elves]

Wasn't looking at spells/day. 1. Empower, 3. Easy MM (empower) then retrain at 6th would solve it, but maybe retraining offends your sense of elegance.

[Anthrowhale]

Wasn't looking at spells/day. 1. Empower, 3. Easy MM (empower) then retrain at 6th would solve it, but maybe retraining offends your sense of elegance.

That works. Using retraining, it looks like you can do:

Human: Bloodline of Fire
1. Empower Spell
3. Easy Metamagic[Empower]
6. Retrain Easy Metamagic[Empower] to Ocular Spell
6. Practical Metamagic[Ocular Spell]
7. Retrain Empower Spell to Fiery Spell
8. Retrain Bloodline of Fire to Empower Spell
9. Retrain Fiery Spell to Easy Metamagic[Empower]
16. Retrain Easy Metamagic[Empower] to anything else.
18. Retrain Empower Spell to Maximize Spell

This looks like:



Level
Target
Damage
Method


1
7
2d8 fire (9)
Lesser Orb of Fire


2
11
3d8 fire (13.5)
Lesser Orb of Fire


3
14
3d8 fire (13.5)
Lesser Orb of Fire


4
25
4d8x1.5 fire (27)
Easy Empower Lesser Orb of Fire


5
29
4d8x1.5 force/fire (27)
Easy Empower Lesser Orb of Fire


6
35
10d8 force/fire (45)
Ocular Lesser Orb of Fire twice


7
44
10d8+5 force/fire (50)
Ocular Lesser Orb of Fire + Ocular Fiery Lesser Orb of Fire


8
49
(10d8+5)*1.5 force/fire (75)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + Ocular Lesser Orb of Fire + Ocular Fiery Lesser Orb of Fire


9
66
10d8*2 force/fire (90)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + Ocular Easy Empower Lesser Orb of Fire twice


10
69
10d8*2 force/fire (90)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + Ocular Easy Empower Lesser Orb of Fire twice


11
82
10d8*2 force/fire (90)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + Ocular Easy Empower Lesser Orb of Fire twice


12
99
13d6+13d6*1.5 force/fire (113.75)
Ocular Easy Empower Orb of Fire + Ocular Orb of Fire


13
99
14d6+14d6*1.5 force/fire (122.5)
Ocular Easy Empower Orb of Fire + Ocular Orb of Fire


14
99
30d6*2 force/fire (210)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Easy Empower Orb of Fire twice


15
113
30d6*2 force/fire (210)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Easy Empower Orb of Fire twice


16
120
30d6*2 force/fire (210)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Empower Orb of Fire twice


17
123
30d6*2 force/fire (210)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Empower Orb of Fire twice


18
152
30*6*1.5 force/fire (270)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Maximize Orb of Fire twice


19
178
30*6*1.5 force/fire (270)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Maximize Orb of Fire twice


20
205
30*6*1.5 force/fire (270)
Mark of the Enlightened Soul + L5 slot + Ocular Maximize Orb of Fire twice



This involves enough extra complexity that I'll leave it here.

[Elves]

Yeah, the added complexity isn't worth it. Minimal is about effort as well.
It's a good build and a good approach. Would be interesting to see more PO from you since you're known for very high-concept stuff.