Draconic Feats

[RagnaroksChosen]

Hey Playgrounders, looking through the dragon books and cArcane... Just wondering if a build that involves mostly draconic heritage feats would work...

Though i do have a few more questions regarding them
1. how are they power wise? any stand out for good or bad?
2. is there a way to get them on a non sorcerer by RAW?
3. Would they be any good in a gish build?
4. Pretty much any other thoughts or feelings on them?
5. How do they compare to the Fey/infernal/celestial heritages?


Thanks all

[MountainKing]

It's been a while since I played him, but I had a sorcerer who had almost exclusively Draconic Heritage feats. As far as power/utility goes, really, only the resistance and Legacy feats make a whole lot of difference (and even then, they're circumstantial). Really, they're more about flavor than anything else, though I suppose you could try to work together some kind of gish build focusing on improving your natural weapons from Draconic Claws using transmutations, feats like Arcane Strike and Imp. Natural Weapon, and an Amulet of Mighty Fists (which I *believe* applies to natural weapons as well as unarmed attacks).

As far as comparison goes, I like the Infernal heritage line the best, though the Celestial line does have some situational perks that make it really nifty too (arcane searing light, what?)... Really, if you're going for power over flavor, the Celestial/Infernal heritages are probably your best bet, since they're the shortest.

...My own question, where does one find the Fey Heritage line?

[Fax Celestis]

The heritage feats from Dragon Magic are incredible when put together. Here's an example: Astraea.

Sure, she's spent five feats, but she gets Low-Light Vision, Darkvision 60', Blindsense 20', Cold Resistance 16, +5 on saves vs. cold, sleep, and paralysis, 2 HP per heritage feat (for 10 extra), and +5 on knowledge checks.

The thing about this type of feat is that the more you take, the better they get.

[RagnaroksChosen]

Complete mage i belive they where made to interact with warlocks more... one of them i belive gives you +1 cl and +1 dc or some thing like that... and another gives you DR...

I know that the breath one can be good.. and the Reddragon heritage feat looks amazing... 1d8 per spell level 15 foot cone that if they fail there save does an aditional 1d8 per spell level the round after.... not bad...

do you think that sacrificing a spell to use these abilities are worth it?

[RTGoodman]

...My own question, where does one find the Fey Heritage line?

I believe they're in Complete Mage.

Like Fax said, all the Heritage feats and similar (Abyssal Heritor feats, etc.) are best when you take a bunch. So, even if they're mediocre separately, they'll at least be a BIT better once you have more.

EDIT: Silly ninjas...

do you think that sacrificing a spell to use these abilities are worth it?

I've never played a Sorcerer, but I would probably say yes. One of the big problems of Sorcerers is that they lack versatility (or, at least, have to rely on scrolls/wands/whatever to be versatile), so anything that lets you trade out some spells for a different ability seems like a good thing. With that feat you mention, for instance, a Sorcerer wouldn't have to spend a Spells Known slot on Burning Hands or whatever, and could learn something less blasty (or a different kind of blasty) instead.

[Darrin]

1. how are they power wise? any stand out for good or bad?
2. is there a way to get them on a non sorcerer by RAW?
3. Would they be any good in a gish build?
4. Pretty much any other thoughts or feelings on them?
5. How do they compare to the Fey/infernal/celestial heritages?

1. Meh. The biggest problem with them is sorcerers get so few feats, they've got much more important things to spend their feats on. Wizards at least get a bonus feat every 5 levels, but sorcerers get bupkis.
2. Dragontouched feat or one-level dip into Dragonfire Adept. Dragon Magic p. 18.
3. Probably not. Gishes require so many feets to stay competitive, both for spellcasting and for melee, that trying to pick up draconic feats is probably something they just don't have room for.
4. Dragonfire Strike is a good way to convert sneak/skirmish/sudden strike damage into energy damage and thus avoid damage immunities enjoyed by constructs/plants/oozes/undead. Dragonfire Inspiration can get up to seven flavors of awesome if optimized with Inspire Courage/Words of Creation/etc.
5. There's a bit more variety with the Draconic feats, but it's difficult to get a lot of them to synergize well. As for the Fey/Fiendish/Celestial Heritage stuff... SLAs and bonuses to a few saves? Bleah, no thanks.

In the game I'm currently running, I made some homebrew modifications to the Sorcerer class. At 1st and every 5 levels, they gain a bonus feat they can spend on any metamagic, item creation, bloodline, or heritage feat. The sorcerer in the group has been gorging himself on these draconic feats like they're candy, but he's only 5th level at the moment and so far the only one that's been out-and-out useful is Draconic Breath, but that's mostly because he's playing a pure enchanter with no direct-damage spells at all.

[RagnaroksChosen]

hmm interesting... besides taking a DFA dip or the dragon blood sorcerer sub levels to get the heritage feats?

It seems like these feats could be more beneficial to non sorcerers.

[The Glyphstone]

If you like Draconic Heritage feats, you should definitely be a Sorcerer/Dragonheart Mage from Races of the Dragon. They get bonus Heritage feats at 2nd, 4th, and 8th levels, along with a beefed-up version of the Draconic Breath feat. It costs 2 casting levels along the way, but you still get 9th level spells by the end, and focusing on Heritage feats isn't the mark of a WIN D&D MOAR character, who'd care more about Thou Shall Not Lose Caster Levels.

[RagnaroksChosen]

If you like Draconic Heritage feats, you should definitely be a Sorcerer/Dragonheart Mage from Races of the Dragon. They get bonus Heritage feats at 2nd, 4th, and 8th levels, along with a beefed-up version of the Draconic Breath feat. It costs 2 casting levels along the way, but you still get 9th level spells by the end, and focusing on Heritage feats isn't the mark of a WIN D&D MOAR character, who'd care more about Thou Shall Not Lose Caster Levels.

I'll have to check that out. thank you!


Still no way of getting the heritage feats without being a sorc?

[Mephit]

If you like Draconic Heritage feats, you should definitely be a Sorcerer/Dragonheart Mage from Races of the Dragon.

If we're aiming for bonus feats, be dragonblooded. You can then take the substitution level and swap your familiar for Draconic Heritage.

[Darrin]

Still no way of getting the heritage feats without being a sorc?

Dragontouched feat, Dragon Magic p. 18. Lets you take Draconic Heritage feats as if you were a sorcerer equal to your class level.

[RagnaroksChosen]

Dragontouched feat, Dragon Magic p. 18. Lets you take Draconic Heritage feats as if you were a sorcerer equal to your class level.

hmm seems like a duskblade could use some of the draconic feats like draconic claw.
Free attack every time you cast a spell :)