D&D 5E Fire Attacks

[Warpiglet-7]

I’ve been having fun with fire as an elven wizard. I did take Elemental Adept as a feat, so that helps. But I always make sure fire isn’t the only thing I do. I find players who over-specialize then whine about it extremely irritating because they’ve basically done it to themselves.

agreed. This came about by chance...just a flavor thing. Never felt like playing a tiefling and so ignored flames of Phlegethos. But then saw gfb and firebolt could activate it.

but Yes, hoping to use the gimmick/flavor some.

Initially I was trying to make a spell/magic using character on a non full caster chassis by mixing racial magic, 1/3 casting and feats.

then I liked the idea of a non evil infernal crime boss...who flames up when mad.

I know, I know, weird. However I think it will be fun. I see this guy as a mix between Hellboy, Danzig and an overweight mammon devil.

Trying to get the mechanics to support it. In the end, he would be beat out by a pure Eldritch Knight with shield Spell and war caster but I wanted to go against the standard recs and play this idea.

if he is not too hamstrung by a lot of fire assets, he seems like he will be fun.

my other choice is between criminal and charlatan. Keep wavering. And finally, it all got kicked off by thinking of mammon’s greed, but I like glasya’s thieving spells. Fierna’s might fit better in some ways though...

 

[Oofta]

Yes your point is well taken. Of course that sounds like the worst case scenario!

I am playing a tiefling Eldritch Knight. Theoretically, he could not cast and do more regular fighter stuff.

here is the ‘build’ though I hate that term!

I am playing a tiefling criminal Eldritch Knight.

he is Glasya subtype with some natural illusion. But I digress. I saw gfb and firebolt as possible cantrips at 3rd....then for a feat at 4th could take flames of Phlegethos! You can see where that is going. Angry burning devil!

for fire immune folks I could just take a few swipes with a great axe (as of 5th). Not as exciting maybe but I guess still a contribution.

Yeah, the trick I think is to have some other way of contributing or not be so focused on one theme that you don't have alternatives when you need them. I probably should have known before I asked the player if he wanted to join when someone else moved out of state. Nice guy but every single PC is a female (drow if allowed) spellcaster that focuses on fire or a halfling rogue. I was hoping he'd play the latter this time.

In any case, if the character sounds fun go for it. Just watch out for those adult red dragons with their fire giant allies!

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Yeah, the trick I think is to have some other way of contributing or not be so focused on one theme that you don't have alternatives when you need them. I probably should have known before I asked the player if he wanted to join when someone else moved out of state. Nice guy but every single PC is a female (drow if allowed) spellcaster that focuses on fire or a halfling rogue. I was hoping he'd play the latter this time.

In any case, if the character sounds fun go for it. Just watch out for those adult red dragons with their fire giant allies!

I am seriously thinking about magic initiate for booming blade and Eldritch blast! Though I can take magic missile as soon as third....

 

[cbwjm]

Or just improve Elemental Adept as we did. The 1's become 2's for damage is pretty lame IMO, so allowing "immunity" to become "resistance" makes up for that. It really isn't OP at all so I highly recommend the change in the feat.

I'm tempted to improve it by changing the 1s become 2s, and instead give each fire spell +1 damage/damage die. Some may consider that too much of a boost but I don't think I'm overly concerned about it

 

[Merudo]

I think being so laser focused on one damage type is generally a bad idea, especially fire. It's right up there with necrotic as the most common resistance or immunity.

Necrotic is actually rarely resisted. You are probably thinking of Poison or Cold.

 

[Shiroiken]

Fire based characters work quite well, so long as you have a non-fire based cantrip and maybe 1 non-fire spell at higher levels. We had a gold dragon sorcereress with Elemental Adept that was amazing, but when we started to get high level, she eventually took a couple of non-fire spells to make sure she was always relevant (if not as useful).

 

[jmartkdr2]

Another option: if you're a sorcerer there's a metamagic in the class features UA that allows you to switch damage types on a spell. It costs points, but unless the whole campaign is about going to the City of Brass and fighting salamanders and efreet (or what happened with Oofta's game) then you're only going to need to use that once in a while.

It's okay to be sidelined occasionally. And fire resistance, while the most common, isn't actually common in regular play.

 

[Flamestrike]

Just curious if anyone has much experience with fire based characters.

I am looking at a tiefling with flames of Phlegethos and firebolt and green flame blade.

fire is frequently resisted and at times immunity plays a role (devils, dragons elementals) in particular.

thanks for ante red dragon sorcerer or other anecdotes...

Take the Elemental Adept feat. Ignore Fire resistance, and get a slight damage buff.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Another option: if you're a sorcerer there's a metamagic in the class features UA that allows you to switch damage types on a spell. It costs points, but unless the whole campaign is about going to the City of Brass and fighting salamanders and efreet (or what happened with Oofta's game) then you're only going to need to use that once in a while.

It's okay to be sidelined occasionally. And fire resistance, while the most common, isn't actually common in regular play.

it think this is the sort of guidance I was looking for.

I think it adds variety if your main routine is not always optimal. As long as you have some other reasonable contribution to make of course...