How does Dragonfire Inspiration work, exactly?

[Quietus]

Unfortunately, I haven't got access to my Dragon Magic copy right now, so I can't look up what prerequisites it has... a good bit of google-fu has suggested that you need to have the Dragonblood subtype, and that the only way to get that is through a feat that requires a level of Sorcerer, or a template. Of course, there's dragonborn, but ... from what I've read on these forums, that doesn't seem right.

Say one of my players wants to play a Dragonfire Inspiration bard. What would she have to do in order to do so as a human?

[quick_comment]

Dragon Magic has dragonblooded racial variants. The dragonblooded human (called a silverbrow human) gives up the extra skill point per level in exchange for the dragonblooded subtype (and low light vision I think)

[Quietus]

Ohhh, I see. Alright, thanks, I'll pass this on to the player. :D

[UserClone]

You could also take the feat that does not require a level of Sorc.

Or you could be any of the alternate races from Dragon Magic, like the Glimmerskin Halfling. (Note: if you are a Silverbrow Human, you'll be doing Cold damage, not fire, since your ancestor breathes cold. It's a logical extension of the text of the feat, c'mon now.)

Or you could be a kobold, Dragonborn (any), a dragon, a half dragon (any), a draconic (any), a Spellscale, or any other creature which has the dragonblood subtype.

[Ernir]

There's another feat in Dragon Magic, Dragontouched. It gives the Dragonblood subtype, along with a few other very minor pluses.

*Casts protection from ninjas*

[Sinfire Titan]

There are two feats that grant Dragonblood. Dragontouched, a feat from Dragon Magic, and Dragonic Heritage. The latter requires Sorcerer levels, the former does not.

Edit: Ninja'ed.

[Fcannon]

You can also dip a level into Dragonfire Adept, which would also give you the breath weapon and an invocation.

[Tengu_temp]

Realmshelps to the rescue!

[Quietus]

Awesome, thanks guys - I'm going to stick to the racial stuff for now, as this player isn't all that deep into optimization, so giving her options that she can pick through based on fluff will be plenty.

With that sorted out, does anyone know the names of those items/spells that increase Inspire Courage bonuses? I know there's a badge - how much did that cost, anyway? And some swift-action spell that gave a bonus as well. I know Words of Creation doubles your bonus, but that would be going over the top with regard to this group's optimizing level... but bringing her Inspire Courage up to +3/+4 by third level won't hurt.

[Person_Man]

Also, remember that there is a built in trap to optimizing damage, especially with Dragonfire Inspiration. If everyone in your party deals +Xd6 damage every combat, then the DM just needs to make every encounter harder to compensate. So you should only use it sparingly. The same thing can be said for any powerful combo in D&D (Leap Attack + Shock Trooper, Polymorph, Celerity, etc).

[UserClone]

You could just include creatures that are immune/resistant to, for example, fire, once in a while.

[Quietus]

I'm aware. That's less of an issue due to the fact that we tend to maximize hit points for everyone, players and monsters alike. Throwing a few extra d6's will just mean the combats last less time, which is a good thing in this case - sometimes our fights drag on, and I intend to avoid that. Of course, I also somewhat avoid it by not having anything have a specific number of hit points... I'll go anywhere from average to max, and end the fight when something dramatic happens, or when it starts to get boring. But players love rolling fistfuls of dice, and giving me big numbers, which this will let them do.

So, does anyone know the name of those equips/spells?

[Amiria]

Song of the Heart => feat (ECS)
Inspirational Boost => spell (SC)
Badge of Valor (from the Regalia of the Hero) => item (MIC)

[Quietus]

Awesome, thank you very much!

Have a cookie.

[Draz74]

The Badge of Valor can be difficult to find in the book, since it's in an Item Set instead of the basic "Clothing" chapter. It's on Page 208. It costs 1400 gp, but has some limits on its use.

[Doc Roc]

To be clear, DFI's technically got a wider band of applications that just inspire courage. All it cares about is that you are doing damage with a weapon. This includes weapon-like spells, such as moonblade.

[quick_comment]

It also does not need to deal fire damage. It can deal any elemental type, depending in your draconic heritage.

(Sorry, if you take draconic heritage: force, DFI does nothing)

[Fax Celestis]

To be clear, DFI's technically got a wider band of applications that just inspire courage. All it cares about is that you are doing damage with a weapon. This includes weapon-like spells, such as moonblade.

So if you have a flame blade ad are under the effects of a DFI...are your flames on fire?

[Lamech]

Is Dragonfire inperation a bonus? I don't think so, so it should stack with it self. Don't let this happen. My interpertation may be wrong as well.

[Eldariel]

Vest of Legend [DMGII] increases your effective Bard-level by 5 for Bardic Music so that helps with Inspire Courage too. Also, Mw. Drums from Complete Adventurer increase the damage bonus in exchange for smaller anti-fear/charm bonus.

[ZeroNumerous]

I'd get Dragonblood then pick up Draconic Heritage(Fang), (Battle) or that chinese sonic-based dragon whose name escapes me.

[Quietus]

So if you have a flame blade ad are under the effects of a DFI...are your flames on fire?

Feel the burn, baby!

[Doc Roc]

So if you have a flame blade ad are under the effects of a DFI...are your flames on fire?

Blue instead of Red. Where is your fluff-fu? :)

[Doc Roc]

Vest of Legend [DMGII] increases your effective Bard-level by 5 for Bardic Music so that helps with Inspire Courage too. Also, Mw. Drums from Complete Adventurer increase the damage bonus in exchange for smaller anti-fear/charm bonus.

I favor the mandolin, which also works for this.

According to the table in Races of the Dragon, you could also do Sapphire heritage, I believe. At least one of the gem dragons offers up sonic.

[only1doug]

Dragon Magic has dragonblooded racial variants. The dragonblooded human (called a silverbrow human) gives up the extra skill point per level in exchange for the dragonblooded subtype (and low light vision I think)

Nope, the silverbrow human gives up a extra skillpoint / level for a featherfall SU ability a number of times a day based on character level (1/day at L1, 2/day at L5 etc) and a +2 racial ability at disguise (and disguise becomes always a class skill). Dragonblood subtype is considered to have as many disadvantages as advantages and therefore needs no balancing.

[Signmaker]

So if you have a flame blade ad are under the effects of a DFI...are your flames on fire?

Yo dawg, I heard you like heat so I put some dragonfire on your bladefire so you can scorch while you scorch.

I think the best part of dragonfire inspiration is the fact that you don't have to use it. While a DM will likely start throwing (insert element here) resistant monsters at you, you can just default back to Inspire Courage to compensate. Sure, it's less damage, but you also happen to be more accurate.

I believe there's also a 5000 gp ritual that allows one to change their 'base dragon' for the purposes of dragonfire damage type.

[Keld Denar]

Inspire Courage is a moral bonus, and since DFI is based on IC, it would probably be safe to say that its also moral bonus damage and wouldn't stack with itself. You can adjust the flavor of your DFI, but that requires either a sorcerer dip or the Dragontouched feat and then the Draconic Heritage feat, since bards don't qualify for Draconic Heritage (which is dumb....why do sorcerers get all the cool toys?).

Also, do not that DFI does NOT say it loses the moral bonus on saves vs fear and charm, only the moral bonus on attack and damage rolls, so DFI still gives that.

Words of Creation is generally misinterpretted. It only multiplies the BASE Inspire Courage (as shown in the example text in parenthesis in the rules text). It wouldn't mulitply Song of the Heart, Inspirational Boost, Badge of Valor, or the MW Instrument.

EDIT: Also, probably the best dragon is Pyroclastic. Its got sonic AND fire, so you can choose between the 2 as desired. Fire elementals? Pshaw!

[Signmaker]

Words of Creation is generally misinterpretted. It only multiplies the BASE Inspire Courage (as shown in the example text in parenthesis in the rules text). It wouldn't mulitply Song of the Heart, Inspirational Boost, Badge of Valor, or the MW Instrument.

Which is perfectly fine, because if you can't bother to live with only +9d6 with 9 levels of bard and a Vest of Legends, something is wrong with you.

Edit: I used to use battle dragon, but for ToS I'm sticking with normal fire damage. Simplicity is best.

[Doc Roc]

Words of Creation is generally misinterpretted. It only multiplies the BASE Inspire Courage (as shown in the example text in parenthesis in the rules text). It wouldn't mulitply Song of the Heart, Inspirational Boost, Badge of Valor, or the MW Instrument.

While widely debated, the example text only refers to the base case and thus only offers evidence for the base case. I'm not being XTREME here, so please don't bring up the (invalid) argument about death.. The actual feat just offers a doubling effect. Nothing really supports this RAW, and the intent is unclear. Now, most people do houserule it so it only doubles base, but that's just that, a house rule to preserve apparent intent.

[Foryn Gilnith]

Words of Creation is generally misinterpretted. It only multiplies the BASE Inspire Courage (as shown in the example text in parenthesis in the rules text). It wouldn't mulitply Song of the Heart, Inspirational Boost, Badge of Valor, or the MW Instrument.

While I agree with your interpretation, I oppose casually dismissing the alternate argument as a misinterpretation.