Help on Cold Spell Specialist

[Broccoli21]

I am making a sorcerer that focuses on cold spells, wondering if you guys could help.
focus on high damage and reducing metamagic costs. primary blaster
books:anything but dragon magazines

32 point buy, draconic human
2 flaws, spell-gifted(evocation) and quick traits
energy affinity (cold) variant
banned enchantment and illusion, specializing in evocation

i was thinking:
wizard 5, incantatrix 8, frost mage 4, archmage 1 (mastery of shaping)
feats:
snowcasting
frozen magic
cold spell specialization
frostfell prodigy
arcane thesis (polar ray), DM ruling that metamagics can't go under +0
arcane thesis (cone of cold)
piercing cold (from frost mage)
storm magic
empower spell
energy gestalt
corrupt spell
twin spell
one more feat

getting a ring of cold snap so my caster level will be +8 when casting arcane thesis spells.

any tweaks? other good builds for cold specialists???
Are warmage or sorcerer any good? what about wu jen or druid???

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Always take 10 levels of Incantatrix before anything else.

Best cold spells are in Conjuration. Orb of Cold, for example.

[Kylarra]

Cold Spell Spec is pretty unlikely to come into play, unless you plan on making the temperature change yourself, same with frostfell prodigy and probably storm magic.

Since snowcasting and frozen magic are required for frost mage, you can't really avoid those unfortunately. If you want to make snowcasting useful, try to get eschew materials to cover it.


Winter's Blast reserve feat should cover storm magic's place easily. Giving you a +1 cl on your cold spells without needing a storm. Also a mini cone of cold at will.


Alternately, a psion pulls off blaster better than an arcanist imo.

[lord_khaine]

About the snowcasting, there is a magic item in the winterbook, that contains a infinitive supply of snow.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Ray of Frost + Water might make snow in a pinch...

[Kylarra]

About the snowcasting, there is a magic item in the winterbook, that contains a infinitive supply of snow.

It depends on how you read the feat, but if you can get your DM to agree with it, more power to you.

[Kanosint]

If you or the DM don't have aversions to Third party, there's always the book 'School of Evocations' by Legends & Lairs... There's a great PrC in there, Winter whatever... The Level 10 ability makes you immune to Fire (if you know it's coming) and the absorbed energy BRINGS BACK A SPELL SLOT OF THAT LEVEL... It's... Potent, especially if taken with Frost Mage... Cold Subtype without the fear of flame? Lovely stuff :P

The book also contains a few useful spells, so it's worth checking out.

[Broccoli21]

does eschew materials make it so you don't have to use snow on snowcasting???

also, i plan on using magic items to simulate low temperatures and a small storm. what spells are good for this??? I know only of cold snap.
winter's blast sounds like a good feat, although increasing caster level past +5 is not that great, due to damage caps.

[Kylarra]

Well regardless, Frostfell prodigy is marginally useless, because unless your entire party is suited for <0 temperatures, you're not going to be in them often enough for it to be in effect. I suggested the winter's blast because your storm magic also only gives +1 cl if you're in a storm, and thus if your primary focus is cold spells, you might as well just take the reserve feat for a +1 that isn't situational.

[Zaq]

You said you have dwagondwagondwagondwagon heritage, right? The feat Draconic Aura, from Dragon Magic, has an option (Energy) which increases the save DC of your spells (and other abilities) with the chosen energy type... in this case, Cold. Since you have dwagondwagondwagondwagon blood, the bonus increases with your level, so that's a nice boost to your Cold spells right there.

[Broccoli21]

winter's blast is WAY better than storm magic. yea, draconic aura sounds good. i am now taking 3 flaws (dm rules that i can be posessed by demons), so im thinking of taking draconic breath. are there any other feats I should take??? do you guys think wizard is better than sorcerer??? sorcerer allows the draconic feats, but wizard gets 1 more bonus feat.

Also: are there any other ways to decrease metamagic costs???

[SoD]

Banned schools? For a sorcerer?