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The Demiurge Molecule: A Sorcerer's (and Elementalist's) Handbook (by DuelistDelSol)
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<blockquote data-quote="Nibelung" data-source="post: 6712051" data-attributes="member: 74499"><p><strong>Originally posted by DuelistDelSol:</strong></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Part Eight: Paragon Paths</strong></span></p><p></p><p>At 11th level, your character can select a Paragon Path to follow, gaining new features and new powers to add onto your own abilities. This is a very big opportunity cost, and Sorcerers don't have a lot of Paths to choose from, so it's a choice you cannot take lightly. Thankfully, a lot of the choices fit quite snugly with the Souls they require, so that's something.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Class Paths</strong></span></p><p></p><p><strong>Arcane Wellspring (PHB2) - Dragon, Wild</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #008000"><strong>Strategy:</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span>Multitargeting, General DPR</p><p><strong><span style="color: #008000">Overall Rating:</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: #00ccff">Light Blue.</span></strong> Honestly, there's not one thing about this power that is bad for either Dragon or Wild Sorcerers; it gives them double-target attacks, with or without the AP, and just spreads damage around like a good Sorcerer PP should. While it doesn't exclude Storm and Cosmic Sorcerers from taking this path, almost all of the features and powers require the two PHB2 disciplines to function.</p><p></p><p><strong>11th Level Feature (Double Resistance):</strong> This is always excellent for <span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Dragon Sorcerers</strong></span>, since by now you know what elements are favored in your campaign and can adjust accordingly, but Wild Sorcerers need to make sure they have feats already in play so that the double roll doesn't just make their Resistance feature slightly less useless. This fuels your powers, though, so it's good all around.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Split Spell Action):</strong></span> While this does overlap with one of the newest Arcane paths, specifically <em>Speaker of the Xaos</em>, it's not restricted to particular elements, and works with all of your Arcane single target powers, making them much more worthwhile to take.</p><p><strong>16th Level Feature (Antagonistic Transposition):</strong> Much better for <span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Wild Sorcerers</strong></span>, since they have DPR feats that want you to teleport enemies as a product of attacks. Entropic Whirlwind, one of your level 29 dailies, approaches very close to Gold for all disciplines with this path, due to having what amounts to an At-Will teleport until they save from that power's effect.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>11th Level Encounter Power (Twin Bolt):</strong></span> Most of the time, your resistances just won't work this encounter, and you need a hard hitting power that will do great damage against two targets, instead of pretty good damage against one. Well, here's your power; being double-typed and matching your Resistances is fantastic.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>12th Level Encounter Utility (Sorcerous Wings):</strong></span> Give yourself a couple turns of hoverable flight, and spread even more damage around to those that attempt to make opportunity attacks against you, with your modifiers intact due to the Arcane keyword being present.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>20th Level Daily Power (Sorcerous Metamorphosis):</strong></span> Basically the daily version of Sorcerous Wings, except you're insubstantial and phasing, and you also deal damage to enemies you pass through. A shame it doesn't give you a speed boost, but draw yourself a path to where you can bowl over as many enemies as possible while also provoking opportunity attacks. Considering that monsters may know your abilities by this point, especially if you've cracked out Sorcerous Wings this encounter, they may not bother attacking you on this turn, but that just means you were able to relocate yourself on the battlefield to a more advantageous position and still cranked out respectable damage all over the board.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Blizzard Mage (AP)</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #008000"><strong>Strategy:</strong></span> Cold DPR, Control</p><p><span style="color: #008000"><strong>Overall Rating:</strong></span></p><p><strong>Black.</strong> The features and powers barely mesh, the former doing absolutely nothing to support the Cold damage type. They front decent control, especially in the AP feature, but nothing else meshes. That Daily is mighty tasty, though...</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Icy Action):</strong></span> Everything you target on an Action Point attack is slowed (save ends). Definitely one of the better parts of the feature, since Sorcerers can always use some sort of control on their powers. With the existence of World Serpent's Grasp, this is even better.</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>11th Level Feature (Walk Through Winter):</strong></span> You'd be better off getting teleportation options, honestly. Especially if you act at Range, this benefit may never come up.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>16th Level Feature (Chill Winds):</strong></span> Your multitargetting bent can allow you to have this make an impact on your already stellar targeting capability, but it's only ever one square.</p><p></p><p><strong>11th Level Encounter Power (Winter's Clutch):</strong> Slide+immobilize is great control for Melee enemies, but the damage is mediocre. The leaderlike secondary benefit is very out of place, but can definitely be helpful.</p><p><strong>12th Level Daily Utility (Cloak of Freezing Wind):</strong> The random push wants you to be a Wild Sorcerer, but the damage shield itself would prefer you be a Dragon Sorcerer. Skirmishers want to make sure that enemies stay close by so that they can inundate them with blasts and bursts, and Artillery won't be targeted often by Melee attacks. It's very handy, but your enemies may not care about you anyway.</p><p><span style="color: #ff9900"><strong>20th Level Daily Power (Blizzard):</strong></span> After nine levels of frank mediocrity, we capstone with this utterly gorgeous daily. It's a Close burst 10 that's completely friendly, deals enormous damage, prones, gives all of your friends resistance to Cold, and a HUGE autodamage and autoslide aura that procs every time you start your turn. There really is no better Close burst in the game for you, quite honestly, and if you're starting your game at 20th level or higher, you'd be completely justified in taking this path.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Celestial Scholar (AP) - Cosmic</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #008000"><strong>Strategy:</strong></span> Phase Versatility</p><p><span style="color: #008000"><strong>Overall Rating:</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Blue.</strong></span> This really does help you out with making your Phases as powerful as they can become with the level 11 features, but the powers, save perhaps for the daily, don't really take advantage of this, relying way too much on effects instead of damage.</p><p></p><p><strong>11th Level Feature (Celestial Action):</strong> Unfortunately, the three types that Cosmic Sorcerers favor most aren't actually very prevalent in the Sorcerer list. You can get a good selection of Cold powers, sure, but Psychic and Radiant are relatively rare types; only getting bonuses to them, and at +2 to both attack and damage, is kind of a letdown. Build around it and it'll work for you, of course.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Cosmic Concordance):</strong></span> Especially with the next feature, this makes your defining feature much, much more flexible, as you're not forced to go up the ladder, but can go right back down if you wish.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Phase Focus):</strong></span> The feature this entire path rides on. You upgrade either of your three Phases - Phase of the Sun throws damage around even more judiciously, Phase of the Stars gives you a Free Action teleport when missed on top of an IR teleport when hit, and the Phase of the Moon... gets autodamage when enemies adjacent to you fail their saving throw. Not entirely sure why, but alright. At least the other two upgrades are fantastic.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>16th Level Feature (Celestial Defense):</strong></span> A welcome boost to all of your defenses, especially now that you can control what Phase you're in for the most part.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>11th Level Encounter Power (Celestial Sigil):</strong></span> This basically serves to give you your Phase benefit on your own turn. Otherwise, the damage is awful, and the original target may not even be affected by the autodamage if you're in the first two phases. The Star Phase's teleport could be decent to whisk yourself over to the target, but that's still not enough to be impressive.</p><p><strong>12th Level Encounter Utility (Celestial Resistance):</strong> You're required to both be locked down to your current Phase and absolutely need the small boost to resistances or the emergency shift. It is a proper Soul Resistance, so it will pierce, but it ends as soon as you switch Phases, which is too limiting for the Cosmic Sorcerer.</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>20th Level Daily Power (Celestial Seal):</strong></span> Guaranteed save-ends immobilization has its benefits, but the damage is awful, and none of the benefits, all of which tie to your upgraded phase and not your original, are anything noteworthy.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Demonskin Adept (PHB2)</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #008000"><strong>Strategy:</strong></span> DPR, Off-Leader</p><p><span style="color: #008000"><strong>Overall Rating:</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Light Blue.</strong></span> Boy, is this path powerful; even one of its biggest detriments is easily solved by just throwing a certain cheap Cloth armor enchantment over yourself. While this path definitely has an offensive bent to it, it has a very weird focus in giving Leadery abilities... though it's certainly not bad in that regard.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Demon Fury):</strong></span> If you're willing to put yourself wide open for dangerous situations, it's a boost to attack rolls that your entire team can enjoy.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Variable Resistance):</strong></span> Quite good for Dragon Sorcerers, of course, but it's finally a fix for <span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Wild Sorcerers</strong></span>, who can choose from the entire spectrum of damage types to resist. Of course, it does nothing for Storm and Cosmic Sorcerers. Ah well.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>16th Level Feature (Glimpse of the Abyss):</strong></span> This is a coin that has two very distinct sides - if you don't have immunity to blinds, this is deep <span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Red</strong></span>, as -5 to attack rolls and granting combat advantage is much too strict a penalty. However, if you're wearing a <em>Robe of Eyes</em>, it's a brilliant addition to all of your critical hits.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff9900"><strong>11th Level Encounter Power (Demon-Soul Bolts):</strong></span> Why yes, this can potentially be a triple-hitter. I suppose it's also a decent triple-target power, but you're basically emulating a slightly better version of Hand of Radiance once per encounter at that point. Just go with the triple-hitter.</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>12th Level Daily Utility (Demonic Wrath):</strong></span> If you're not afraid to hover around bloodied, this is an alright boost to your attacks, I suppose. It's a little meek, but it won't go away when you're healed up; it'll just be surpressed until you're back to bloodied.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>20th Level Daily Power (Swords of the Marilith):</strong></span> The damage and coverage is nowhere near as large as Blizzard's was, but the benefit is slightly better, as you buff ACs instead of adding Cold Resistance. Keep in mind it doesn't move with you, so you'll have to plant yourself on a point where both your enemies and allies want to meet and throw down your Swords there. In that case, though, this adds some much needed off-Standard damage, something you always like, and substantial buffing, something you almost never get.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Dragonsoul Heir (PHB2) - Dragon</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #008000"><strong>Strategy:</strong></span> Defense</p><p><strong><span style="color: #008000">Overall Rating:</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: #800080">Purple.</span></strong> Until 20th level, this path does almost nothing for you, as Dragon Sorcerers are just not fragile enough to warrant the small amount of boosts gained here. Nor are the first two powers any special. The daily's fantastic, but that's not a reason to slave through nine levels of nothing.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>11th Level Feature (Draconic Durability):</strong></span> Pray tell me why you need two more healing surges? Are you going through them that quickly?</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>11th Level Feature (Draconic Resilience Action):</strong></span> Decent, but it only comes up once every other encounter, and at this level, you'll be getting a whopping 5 temp hitpoints. I guess you can't complain...</p><p><strong>16th Level Feature (Dragon Soul Resistance):</strong> This is worth it if you're getting that much use out of your resistance, but DMs may just not send you monsters that fit this type.</p><p></p><p><strong>11th Level Encounter Power (Breath of the Dragon Soul):</strong> It's quite a big AOE, and if you picked Thunder as your Resistance, you can make this a Close blast 6, but the damage is a little lame. I dunno, maybe I'm not just feeling this path.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>12th Level Daily Utility (Dragon's Revenge):</strong></span> For Skirmisher Dragon'sorcs, which was what this path was made for, it's a pretty nice addition to your normal stock of shields.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>20th Level Daily (Veil of the Dragon):</strong></span> It's bothersome that you have to wait this long, but here it is. You gain yet another shield to use on top of a great Close burst, and, best of all, gives you a punishing Melee Basic Attack. It justifies all the defensive boosts you're given at the outset, as otherwise you have little in the way of reasoning for monsters to just wander away from you besides meek Dagger hits. It still doesn't put the path at a higher echelon, but at least it's not useless now.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Dragon Guardian (AP) - Dragon</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #008000"><strong>Strategy:</strong></span> Off-Defender</p><p><strong><span style="color: #008000">Overall Rating:</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Blue.</span></strong> This is the defensive gait of the Dragon Sorcerer done right, though you need to make a good effort to shore up any holes you may have in your basic defenses. Regardless, it's a well thought-out Path, and quite advisable for Dragon Sorcerers.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Dragon Breath Action):</strong></span> Suddenly those bland Close blast 5 powers become much more valuable, as when you spend an action point, your Close blasts gain the largest critical hit range obtainable in the entire game.</p><p><strong>11th Level Feature (Guardian's Resistance):</strong> Give yourself another element to resist, one that perhaps you've come across much more often in your campaign. However, in five levels this may become less necessary on the offensive side.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>16th Level Feature (Indomitable Breath):</strong></span> All of your close blasts ever ignore all resistances and immunities. While it doesn't completely invalidate your Resistance feature, it'll certainly make it less important for your favorite powers.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>11th Level Encounter Power (Guardian's Breath):</strong></span> Here we come upon one focus of this path besides nullifying resistances - marking. On this, you mark everything you hit with a friendly Close blast 3, providing quite a lethal punishment for ignoring you. Be prepared for some hefty aggro, though, or have some of your damaging shields up to provide a brutal Catch-22.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>12th Level Daily Utility (Shield of Dragon Might):</strong></span> You needed a way to buff your defenses up? Here you go. And in case you guessed wrong twice on the resistances you needed today, how about a third one?</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>20th Level Daily Power (Lasting Breath):</strong></span> This potentially triple-typed power can absolutely rip encounters apart, considering the huge punishment attached to the mark, but this time, it's a save-ends mark, and since enemies know exactly what happens when they ignore you, you're going to get major aggro sent your way. Make sure you're ready before sending this out, because the battle's going to swing wildly around until they all save.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Essence Mage (AP)</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #008000"><strong>Strategy:</strong></span> General Offense / Defense Mix</p><p><span style="color: #008000"><strong>Overall Rating:</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Blue.</strong></span> You do need to find some sort of way to add damage types to your powers, since you need dualtyped powers to fuel the extra damage option, but the action point feature is incredible, and your other powers and features help you out in several other ways. A nice pick.</p><p></p><p><strong>11th Level Feature (Energy Essence):</strong> It's a great source of extra damage, but it's incredibly picky. The power needs to deal two types of damage; it can't just have two seperate damage keywords. Arcane Admixture is good for this, and is highly recommended to shore up a hole in your power list for this feature.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Essential Action):</strong></span> Spend your action point right when your turn begins and use an Arcane power immediately, so that you get all of your attacks that round incorporating this insane boost.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>16th Level Feature (Essential Resistance):</strong></span> While it's a decent feature at face value, remember that this applies to all forms of Resistance you gain, including your own innate resistances and your 20th Level daily, which is incredibly cool.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>11th Level Encounter Power (Essence of Arcane Blood):</strong></span> It automatically qualifies you for <em>Energy Essence</em>, and you can modulate the damage type amongst all options in case you know the enemy's vulnerabilities ahead of time, but it's still a single target power with mediocre damage and a benefit that, while definitely good in its being guaranteed, just isn't a rare trait anymore. Does combo well with <em>Essential Action</em>, though.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>12th Level Encounter Utility (Essence Form):</strong></span> This is only slightly worse than some of the best Religion and Paladin encounter utility powers, and if you can't hit with an Arcane AOE power this turn, there's little hope for you anyway.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>20th Level Daily Power (Protective Essence):</strong></span> While the burst itself is pretty darn good, what with it being friendly and dealing respectable damage all around, the autodamage upon each "use" of an Arcane power (you don't have to hit with it), plus the huge defensive boost in the Resist 8/9 All makes this quite a solid capstone to an all-around good Paragon Path.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Lightning Fury (AP) - Storm</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #008000"><strong>Strategy:</strong></span> Lightning DPR</p><p><strong><span style="color: #008000">Overall Rating:</span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff9900">Gold.</span></strong> Very rare is there a path that just works for a build. Very rare is there a path that has absolutely nothing bad about it. This is one of them - with a brain cell or two, you can avoid every single penalty this path tries to throw at you, and it basically becomes the defining Paragon Path for a Storm Sorcerer. With Mark of Storm and a Lightning Lancing Dagger, there is no other substitute.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Electric Action):</strong></span> The main point of this path is to just spread Lightning damage all around the battlefield like an absolute lunatic, and this is one way to do it. Spend an action point, and bam, up to three creatures around you are hit based on your secondary stat.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Unstoppable Lightning):</strong></span> Lightning Resistance isn't pierced anymore, it's just gone. Furthermore, Lightning immunity, one of the biggest problems that face most damage-focused Sorcerers, gets reduced to half-level Resistance instead. Brilliant!</p><p><span style="color: #ff9900"><strong>16th Level Feature (Lightning Field):</strong></span> This is hilariously easy to exploit. Slide enemies adjacent to you with Lightning powers, wade into the battlefield, be utterly annoying. This is the second way of dealing buttloads of damage all across the field, and it's glorious.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>11th Level Encounter Power (Furious Bolts):</strong></span> Hey, look, it's Chaos Bolt, except every hit makes another attack, it's Lightning damage, and you get a potentially humongous boost to your next attack roll. This is super cool.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>12th Level Daily Utility (Lightning in the Blood):</strong></span> All of your Lightning powers add a full die to their damage rolls for the rest of the encounter. They don't grow a die size, they become one die more (so 2d8 becomes 3d8, 1d10 becomes 2d10, 1d4 becomes 2d4, etc). Sold.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>20th Level Daily Power (Bolt of Power):</strong></span> This power would be rather mediocre if it wasn't for the existence of <em>Maiden's Waking</em> and <em>Superior Will</em>. With those two safeguards in play, spreading the ongoing Lightning damage carries no danger. Missing will ruin your day, but really, when this power is the worst part of the path and it's still awesome, why beg for more?[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Luckbender (D385) - Wild</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #008000"><strong>Strategy:</strong></span> Wild Soul efficiency, Critical hits</p><p><strong><span style="color: #008000">Overall Rating:</span><span style="color: #0000ff"> Blue.</span></strong> While it doesn't really do enough to fix the Wild Soul resistance feature, it gives it a valiant shot, plus the latter feature does save you a feat five levels early and invalidates Strength completely for you. That's something, I guess.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>11th Level Feature (Chaos Soul):</strong></span> You either get your first resistance, or you can roll for a replacement. You don't roll two and take either result, which is a major downer. It still gives you about an 18% chance of getting the one you want instead of a 10% chance, so that's an improvement. Or something.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Luckbender's Action):</strong></span> So, you have a 50/50 shot at regaining the use of your lowest level Encounter power, huh? You do have some very enticing Encounter powers in your level 1 and 3 lists...</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>16th Level Feature (Lucky Number):</strong></span> Oddly thematic, and incredibly good for your damage. Everyone loves an unnatural crit range, especially when you don't need to be at Epic Tier for it.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>11th Level Encounter Power (Fortunate Turn of Events):</strong></span> Either get Sorcerous Blade Channeling or Staff Expertise, depending on your implement of choice and how close you are to the target, so that you don't suddenly provoke opportunity attacks. A nice touch is that it also attacks all enemies around the original target, which makes this a rather decent little pseudo-AOE that rides off of your Immediate action.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>12th Level Daily Utility (Even the Odds):</strong></span> Light Blue only because you can't guarantee you'll get full use out of such a Daily, but the potential to affect practically any d20 roll ever made, and either enable or deny that roll's success or failure, is fantastic.</p><p><strong>20th Level Daily (Just Not Their Day):</strong> The damage has the potential to match the damage of the best diced power in the game for Sorcerers (6d10 from level 29's Necrotic Storm), but the Control it fronts forth isn't all that special. Still, it's something competent to pull out in solos.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Primordial Channeler (AP) - Wild</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #008000"><strong>Strategy:</strong></span> Wild Soul efficiency, Debuffing</p><p><strong><span style="color: #008000">Overall Rating:</span> <span style="color: #00ccff">Light Blue.</span></strong> It finally gives a purpose to the Wild Soul feature besides resistances that may never come up, and the powers and other features range from decent to pretty darn good. You need to have a way to roll more than once on the table for it to be of any use, though.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Primordial Manifestation):</strong></span> The engine that runs this path. If your Soul is currently giving you Resistance to any of four damage types, you add debuffs to all of your powers. My favorite is the Fire benefit, which hands out ongoing Fire damage to every target hit by your attacks. This doesn't depend on an action point - it just happens. Excellent (though the Thunder benefit sort of blows).</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>11th Level Feature (Primordial Action):</strong></span> An action point feature that's better than Lightning Fury's? Heresy!!</p><p><strong>16th Level Feature (Overwhelming Elements):</strong> Keep in mind this feature does not depend on what damage types you inflict on the enemies you attack. All of their resistances are debuffed with any attack you throw at them. Could be helpful for your allies if they're having problems with their damage types not going through.</p><p></p><p><strong>11th Level Encounter Power (Primordial Rage):</strong> Some solid side benefits, but it's only on a single target power, and really needs to be combined with your first feature's current debuff properly for it to work.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>12th Level Daily Utility (Primordial Boon):</strong></span> I like to this of this power as having a can of bugspray on you while going on a road trip. Are you going to be encountering mosquitoes every 5 minutes? Hell no, but if you're going to be, you have something on standby. Here, it's a huge source of elemental resistance that covers four damage types.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>20th Level Daily (Primordial Rift):</strong></span> It's incredibly rare - in fact, I think only the Wild Sorcerer PPs have this trait - to see a Range consisting of a dice roll. With Resounding Thunder, this can become a Close blast 13, and considering its friendly nature and how it hands out no-save Stuns (and whatever the hell your Primordial Manifestation is doing as well), it follows the tradition of most Sorcerer PP level 20 dailies in being potentially devestating. Sure, you'll sadface when it's a close blast 2, but the secondary benefit is worth it, as it adds another Resistance from your Soul table. You can combo this with Primordial Manifestation if you roll right to gain two benefits on all of your powers. I actually feel like this might be my favorite path of all the Sorcerer PPs, just for how cool this path is, both flavor- and mechanicwise.[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Wild Mage (PHB2) - Wild</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #008000"><strong>Strategy:</strong></span> General DPR</p><p><strong><span style="color: #008000">Overall Rating:</span> Black.</strong> I really do hope you like rolling dice, because this Path practically demands that you marry your d20s and d6s. The powers are quite nice, but the features are either dangerous or very underwhelming.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>11th Level Feature (Chaos Action):</strong></span> You roll a d6 whenever you spend an action point to gain one of six random benefits. They're all nice on paper, but depending on how you're positioned (or just if you rolled a 3), they could be incredibly useless.</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>11th Level Feature (Wild Surge):</strong></span> You will prize every moment that you roll a 4 or 6 on this table, but the other four "benefits" are all detrimental to you and consist of way too many risks and caveats to be reliable. You want to pull this out when you're absolutely desperate for something to happen besides more 1s.</p><p><strong>16th Level Feature (Critical Surge):</strong> Congratulations, you gain a DPR bonus of 0.5 per target.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>11th Level Encounter Power (Tempest Surge):</strong></span> To have to pick the origin square before determining the size, while also having to determine how many squares you can exclude from a potential Burst 4, creates way too many conditionalities to make this power reliable in any sense.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>12th Level Daily Utility (Torrent of Power):</strong></span> This is probably what you signed up for. It's the Vorpal weapon enchantment, except it applies to all of your powers ever. Again, I hope you're a fan of rolling and rerolling dice, because considering how much you roll for some of your powers, you may be here awhile.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>20th Level Daily (Prismatic Bolt):</strong></span> Hey, it's a Prismatic daily again! It's single target, which is regretable, but check out what snuck into the riders: rolling a six gives you a dominated (save ends). Remember that you roll for effects even if you miss, so you might be able to pull a whopper out of your ass.[/sblock]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nibelung, post: 6712051, member: 74499"] [b]Originally posted by DuelistDelSol:[/b] [CENTER][Size=4][b]Part Eight: Paragon Paths[/b][/size][/CENTER] At 11th level, your character can select a Paragon Path to follow, gaining new features and new powers to add onto your own abilities. This is a very big opportunity cost, and Sorcerers don't have a lot of Paths to choose from, so it's a choice you cannot take lightly. Thankfully, a lot of the choices fit quite snugly with the Souls they require, so that's something. [CENTER][Size=3][b]Class Paths[/b][/size][/CENTER] [b]Arcane Wellspring (PHB2) - Dragon, Wild[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#008000][b]Strategy:[/b] [/COLOR]Multitargeting, General DPR [b][COLOR=#008000]Overall Rating:[/COLOR] [COLOR=#00ccff]Light Blue.[/COLOR][/b] Honestly, there's not one thing about this power that is bad for either Dragon or Wild Sorcerers; it gives them double-target attacks, with or without the AP, and just spreads damage around like a good Sorcerer PP should. While it doesn't exclude Storm and Cosmic Sorcerers from taking this path, almost all of the features and powers require the two PHB2 disciplines to function. [b]11th Level Feature (Double Resistance):[/b] This is always excellent for [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Dragon Sorcerers[/b][/COLOR], since by now you know what elements are favored in your campaign and can adjust accordingly, but Wild Sorcerers need to make sure they have feats already in play so that the double roll doesn't just make their Resistance feature slightly less useless. This fuels your powers, though, so it's good all around. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]11th Level Feature (Split Spell Action):[/b][/COLOR] While this does overlap with one of the newest Arcane paths, specifically [i]Speaker of the Xaos[/i], it's not restricted to particular elements, and works with all of your Arcane single target powers, making them much more worthwhile to take. [b]16th Level Feature (Antagonistic Transposition):[/b] Much better for [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Wild Sorcerers[/b][/COLOR], since they have DPR feats that want you to teleport enemies as a product of attacks. Entropic Whirlwind, one of your level 29 dailies, approaches very close to Gold for all disciplines with this path, due to having what amounts to an At-Will teleport until they save from that power's effect. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]11th Level Encounter Power (Twin Bolt):[/b][/COLOR] Most of the time, your resistances just won't work this encounter, and you need a hard hitting power that will do great damage against two targets, instead of pretty good damage against one. Well, here's your power; being double-typed and matching your Resistances is fantastic. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]12th Level Encounter Utility (Sorcerous Wings):[/b][/COLOR] Give yourself a couple turns of hoverable flight, and spread even more damage around to those that attempt to make opportunity attacks against you, with your modifiers intact due to the Arcane keyword being present. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]20th Level Daily Power (Sorcerous Metamorphosis):[/b][/COLOR] Basically the daily version of Sorcerous Wings, except you're insubstantial and phasing, and you also deal damage to enemies you pass through. A shame it doesn't give you a speed boost, but draw yourself a path to where you can bowl over as many enemies as possible while also provoking opportunity attacks. Considering that monsters may know your abilities by this point, especially if you've cracked out Sorcerous Wings this encounter, they may not bother attacking you on this turn, but that just means you were able to relocate yourself on the battlefield to a more advantageous position and still cranked out respectable damage all over the board.[/sblock] [b]Blizzard Mage (AP)[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#008000][b]Strategy:[/b][/COLOR] Cold DPR, Control [COLOR=#008000][b]Overall Rating:[/b][/COLOR] [b]Black.[/b] The features and powers barely mesh, the former doing absolutely nothing to support the Cold damage type. They front decent control, especially in the AP feature, but nothing else meshes. That Daily is mighty tasty, though... [COLOR=#00ccff][b]11th Level Feature (Icy Action):[/b][/COLOR] Everything you target on an Action Point attack is slowed (save ends). Definitely one of the better parts of the feature, since Sorcerers can always use some sort of control on their powers. With the existence of World Serpent's Grasp, this is even better. [COLOR=#800080][b]11th Level Feature (Walk Through Winter):[/b][/COLOR] You'd be better off getting teleportation options, honestly. Especially if you act at Range, this benefit may never come up. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]16th Level Feature (Chill Winds):[/b][/COLOR] Your multitargetting bent can allow you to have this make an impact on your already stellar targeting capability, but it's only ever one square. [b]11th Level Encounter Power (Winter's Clutch):[/b] Slide+immobilize is great control for Melee enemies, but the damage is mediocre. The leaderlike secondary benefit is very out of place, but can definitely be helpful. [b]12th Level Daily Utility (Cloak of Freezing Wind):[/b] The random push wants you to be a Wild Sorcerer, but the damage shield itself would prefer you be a Dragon Sorcerer. Skirmishers want to make sure that enemies stay close by so that they can inundate them with blasts and bursts, and Artillery won't be targeted often by Melee attacks. It's very handy, but your enemies may not care about you anyway. [COLOR=#ff9900][b]20th Level Daily Power (Blizzard):[/b][/COLOR] After nine levels of frank mediocrity, we capstone with this utterly gorgeous daily. It's a Close burst 10 that's completely friendly, deals enormous damage, prones, gives all of your friends resistance to Cold, and a HUGE autodamage and autoslide aura that procs every time you start your turn. There really is no better Close burst in the game for you, quite honestly, and if you're starting your game at 20th level or higher, you'd be completely justified in taking this path.[/sblock] [b]Celestial Scholar (AP) - Cosmic[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#008000][b]Strategy:[/b][/COLOR] Phase Versatility [COLOR=#008000][b]Overall Rating:[/b][/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Blue.[/b][/COLOR] This really does help you out with making your Phases as powerful as they can become with the level 11 features, but the powers, save perhaps for the daily, don't really take advantage of this, relying way too much on effects instead of damage. [b]11th Level Feature (Celestial Action):[/b] Unfortunately, the three types that Cosmic Sorcerers favor most aren't actually very prevalent in the Sorcerer list. You can get a good selection of Cold powers, sure, but Psychic and Radiant are relatively rare types; only getting bonuses to them, and at +2 to both attack and damage, is kind of a letdown. Build around it and it'll work for you, of course. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]11th Level Feature (Cosmic Concordance):[/b][/COLOR] Especially with the next feature, this makes your defining feature much, much more flexible, as you're not forced to go up the ladder, but can go right back down if you wish. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]11th Level Feature (Phase Focus):[/b][/COLOR] The feature this entire path rides on. You upgrade either of your three Phases - Phase of the Sun throws damage around even more judiciously, Phase of the Stars gives you a Free Action teleport when missed on top of an IR teleport when hit, and the Phase of the Moon... gets autodamage when enemies adjacent to you fail their saving throw. Not entirely sure why, but alright. At least the other two upgrades are fantastic. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]16th Level Feature (Celestial Defense):[/b][/COLOR] A welcome boost to all of your defenses, especially now that you can control what Phase you're in for the most part. [COLOR=#800080][b]11th Level Encounter Power (Celestial Sigil):[/b][/COLOR] This basically serves to give you your Phase benefit on your own turn. Otherwise, the damage is awful, and the original target may not even be affected by the autodamage if you're in the first two phases. The Star Phase's teleport could be decent to whisk yourself over to the target, but that's still not enough to be impressive. [b]12th Level Encounter Utility (Celestial Resistance):[/b] You're required to both be locked down to your current Phase and absolutely need the small boost to resistances or the emergency shift. It is a proper Soul Resistance, so it will pierce, but it ends as soon as you switch Phases, which is too limiting for the Cosmic Sorcerer. [COLOR=#800080][b]20th Level Daily Power (Celestial Seal):[/b][/COLOR] Guaranteed save-ends immobilization has its benefits, but the damage is awful, and none of the benefits, all of which tie to your upgraded phase and not your original, are anything noteworthy.[/sblock] [b]Demonskin Adept (PHB2)[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#008000][b]Strategy:[/b][/COLOR] DPR, Off-Leader [COLOR=#008000][b]Overall Rating:[/b][/COLOR] [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Light Blue.[/b][/COLOR] Boy, is this path powerful; even one of its biggest detriments is easily solved by just throwing a certain cheap Cloth armor enchantment over yourself. While this path definitely has an offensive bent to it, it has a very weird focus in giving Leadery abilities... though it's certainly not bad in that regard. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]11th Level Feature (Demon Fury):[/b][/COLOR] If you're willing to put yourself wide open for dangerous situations, it's a boost to attack rolls that your entire team can enjoy. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]11th Level Feature (Variable Resistance):[/b][/COLOR] Quite good for Dragon Sorcerers, of course, but it's finally a fix for [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Wild Sorcerers[/b][/COLOR], who can choose from the entire spectrum of damage types to resist. Of course, it does nothing for Storm and Cosmic Sorcerers. Ah well. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]16th Level Feature (Glimpse of the Abyss):[/b][/COLOR] This is a coin that has two very distinct sides - if you don't have immunity to blinds, this is deep [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Red[/b][/COLOR], as -5 to attack rolls and granting combat advantage is much too strict a penalty. However, if you're wearing a [i]Robe of Eyes[/i], it's a brilliant addition to all of your critical hits. [COLOR=#ff9900][b]11th Level Encounter Power (Demon-Soul Bolts):[/b][/COLOR] Why yes, this can potentially be a triple-hitter. I suppose it's also a decent triple-target power, but you're basically emulating a slightly better version of Hand of Radiance once per encounter at that point. Just go with the triple-hitter. [COLOR=#800080][b]12th Level Daily Utility (Demonic Wrath):[/b][/COLOR] If you're not afraid to hover around bloodied, this is an alright boost to your attacks, I suppose. It's a little meek, but it won't go away when you're healed up; it'll just be surpressed until you're back to bloodied. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]20th Level Daily Power (Swords of the Marilith):[/b][/COLOR] The damage and coverage is nowhere near as large as Blizzard's was, but the benefit is slightly better, as you buff ACs instead of adding Cold Resistance. Keep in mind it doesn't move with you, so you'll have to plant yourself on a point where both your enemies and allies want to meet and throw down your Swords there. In that case, though, this adds some much needed off-Standard damage, something you always like, and substantial buffing, something you almost never get.[/sblock] [b]Dragonsoul Heir (PHB2) - Dragon[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#008000][b]Strategy:[/b][/COLOR] Defense [b][COLOR=#008000]Overall Rating:[/COLOR] [COLOR=#800080]Purple.[/COLOR][/b] Until 20th level, this path does almost nothing for you, as Dragon Sorcerers are just not fragile enough to warrant the small amount of boosts gained here. Nor are the first two powers any special. The daily's fantastic, but that's not a reason to slave through nine levels of nothing. [COLOR=#800080][b]11th Level Feature (Draconic Durability):[/b][/COLOR] Pray tell me why you need two more healing surges? Are you going through them that quickly? [COLOR=#800080][b]11th Level Feature (Draconic Resilience Action):[/b][/COLOR] Decent, but it only comes up once every other encounter, and at this level, you'll be getting a whopping 5 temp hitpoints. I guess you can't complain... [b]16th Level Feature (Dragon Soul Resistance):[/b] This is worth it if you're getting that much use out of your resistance, but DMs may just not send you monsters that fit this type. [b]11th Level Encounter Power (Breath of the Dragon Soul):[/b] It's quite a big AOE, and if you picked Thunder as your Resistance, you can make this a Close blast 6, but the damage is a little lame. I dunno, maybe I'm not just feeling this path. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]12th Level Daily Utility (Dragon's Revenge):[/b][/COLOR] For Skirmisher Dragon'sorcs, which was what this path was made for, it's a pretty nice addition to your normal stock of shields. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]20th Level Daily (Veil of the Dragon):[/b][/COLOR] It's bothersome that you have to wait this long, but here it is. You gain yet another shield to use on top of a great Close burst, and, best of all, gives you a punishing Melee Basic Attack. It justifies all the defensive boosts you're given at the outset, as otherwise you have little in the way of reasoning for monsters to just wander away from you besides meek Dagger hits. It still doesn't put the path at a higher echelon, but at least it's not useless now.[/sblock] [b]Dragon Guardian (AP) - Dragon[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#008000][b]Strategy:[/b][/COLOR] Off-Defender [b][COLOR=#008000]Overall Rating:[/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000ff]Blue.[/COLOR][/b] This is the defensive gait of the Dragon Sorcerer done right, though you need to make a good effort to shore up any holes you may have in your basic defenses. Regardless, it's a well thought-out Path, and quite advisable for Dragon Sorcerers. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]11th Level Feature (Dragon Breath Action):[/b][/COLOR] Suddenly those bland Close blast 5 powers become much more valuable, as when you spend an action point, your Close blasts gain the largest critical hit range obtainable in the entire game. [b]11th Level Feature (Guardian's Resistance):[/b] Give yourself another element to resist, one that perhaps you've come across much more often in your campaign. However, in five levels this may become less necessary on the offensive side. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]16th Level Feature (Indomitable Breath):[/b][/COLOR] All of your close blasts ever ignore all resistances and immunities. While it doesn't completely invalidate your Resistance feature, it'll certainly make it less important for your favorite powers. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]11th Level Encounter Power (Guardian's Breath):[/b][/COLOR] Here we come upon one focus of this path besides nullifying resistances - marking. On this, you mark everything you hit with a friendly Close blast 3, providing quite a lethal punishment for ignoring you. Be prepared for some hefty aggro, though, or have some of your damaging shields up to provide a brutal Catch-22. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]12th Level Daily Utility (Shield of Dragon Might):[/b][/COLOR] You needed a way to buff your defenses up? Here you go. And in case you guessed wrong twice on the resistances you needed today, how about a third one? [COLOR=#0000ff][b]20th Level Daily Power (Lasting Breath):[/b][/COLOR] This potentially triple-typed power can absolutely rip encounters apart, considering the huge punishment attached to the mark, but this time, it's a save-ends mark, and since enemies know exactly what happens when they ignore you, you're going to get major aggro sent your way. Make sure you're ready before sending this out, because the battle's going to swing wildly around until they all save.[/sblock] [b]Essence Mage (AP)[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#008000][b]Strategy:[/b][/COLOR] General Offense / Defense Mix [COLOR=#008000][b]Overall Rating:[/b][/COLOR] [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Blue.[/b][/COLOR] You do need to find some sort of way to add damage types to your powers, since you need dualtyped powers to fuel the extra damage option, but the action point feature is incredible, and your other powers and features help you out in several other ways. A nice pick. [b]11th Level Feature (Energy Essence):[/b] It's a great source of extra damage, but it's incredibly picky. The power needs to deal two types of damage; it can't just have two seperate damage keywords. Arcane Admixture is good for this, and is highly recommended to shore up a hole in your power list for this feature. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]11th Level Feature (Essential Action):[/b][/COLOR] Spend your action point right when your turn begins and use an Arcane power immediately, so that you get all of your attacks that round incorporating this insane boost. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]16th Level Feature (Essential Resistance):[/b][/COLOR] While it's a decent feature at face value, remember that this applies to all forms of Resistance you gain, including your own innate resistances and your 20th Level daily, which is incredibly cool. [COLOR=#800080][b]11th Level Encounter Power (Essence of Arcane Blood):[/b][/COLOR] It automatically qualifies you for [i]Energy Essence[/i], and you can modulate the damage type amongst all options in case you know the enemy's vulnerabilities ahead of time, but it's still a single target power with mediocre damage and a benefit that, while definitely good in its being guaranteed, just isn't a rare trait anymore. Does combo well with [i]Essential Action[/i], though. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]12th Level Encounter Utility (Essence Form):[/b][/COLOR] This is only slightly worse than some of the best Religion and Paladin encounter utility powers, and if you can't hit with an Arcane AOE power this turn, there's little hope for you anyway. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]20th Level Daily Power (Protective Essence):[/b][/COLOR] While the burst itself is pretty darn good, what with it being friendly and dealing respectable damage all around, the autodamage upon each "use" of an Arcane power (you don't have to hit with it), plus the huge defensive boost in the Resist 8/9 All makes this quite a solid capstone to an all-around good Paragon Path.[/sblock] [b]Lightning Fury (AP) - Storm[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#008000][b]Strategy:[/b][/COLOR] Lightning DPR [b][COLOR=#008000]Overall Rating:[/COLOR] [COLOR=#ff9900]Gold.[/COLOR][/b] Very rare is there a path that just works for a build. Very rare is there a path that has absolutely nothing bad about it. This is one of them - with a brain cell or two, you can avoid every single penalty this path tries to throw at you, and it basically becomes the defining Paragon Path for a Storm Sorcerer. With Mark of Storm and a Lightning Lancing Dagger, there is no other substitute. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]11th Level Feature (Electric Action):[/b][/COLOR] The main point of this path is to just spread Lightning damage all around the battlefield like an absolute lunatic, and this is one way to do it. Spend an action point, and bam, up to three creatures around you are hit based on your secondary stat. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]11th Level Feature (Unstoppable Lightning):[/b][/COLOR] Lightning Resistance isn't pierced anymore, it's just gone. Furthermore, Lightning immunity, one of the biggest problems that face most damage-focused Sorcerers, gets reduced to half-level Resistance instead. Brilliant! [COLOR=#ff9900][b]16th Level Feature (Lightning Field):[/b][/COLOR] This is hilariously easy to exploit. Slide enemies adjacent to you with Lightning powers, wade into the battlefield, be utterly annoying. This is the second way of dealing buttloads of damage all across the field, and it's glorious. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]11th Level Encounter Power (Furious Bolts):[/b][/COLOR] Hey, look, it's Chaos Bolt, except every hit makes another attack, it's Lightning damage, and you get a potentially humongous boost to your next attack roll. This is super cool. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]12th Level Daily Utility (Lightning in the Blood):[/b][/COLOR] All of your Lightning powers add a full die to their damage rolls for the rest of the encounter. They don't grow a die size, they become one die more (so 2d8 becomes 3d8, 1d10 becomes 2d10, 1d4 becomes 2d4, etc). Sold. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]20th Level Daily Power (Bolt of Power):[/b][/COLOR] This power would be rather mediocre if it wasn't for the existence of [i]Maiden's Waking[/i] and [i]Superior Will[/i]. With those two safeguards in play, spreading the ongoing Lightning damage carries no danger. Missing will ruin your day, but really, when this power is the worst part of the path and it's still awesome, why beg for more?[/sblock] [b]Luckbender (D385) - Wild[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#008000][b]Strategy:[/b][/COLOR] Wild Soul efficiency, Critical hits [b][COLOR=#008000]Overall Rating:[/COLOR][COLOR=#0000ff] Blue.[/COLOR][/b] While it doesn't really do enough to fix the Wild Soul resistance feature, it gives it a valiant shot, plus the latter feature does save you a feat five levels early and invalidates Strength completely for you. That's something, I guess. [COLOR=#800080][b]11th Level Feature (Chaos Soul):[/b][/COLOR] You either get your first resistance, or you can roll for a replacement. You don't roll two and take either result, which is a major downer. It still gives you about an 18% chance of getting the one you want instead of a 10% chance, so that's an improvement. Or something. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]11th Level Feature (Luckbender's Action):[/b][/COLOR] So, you have a 50/50 shot at regaining the use of your lowest level Encounter power, huh? You do have some very enticing Encounter powers in your level 1 and 3 lists... [COLOR=#00ccff][b]16th Level Feature (Lucky Number):[/b][/COLOR] Oddly thematic, and incredibly good for your damage. Everyone loves an unnatural crit range, especially when you don't need to be at Epic Tier for it. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]11th Level Encounter Power (Fortunate Turn of Events):[/b][/COLOR] Either get Sorcerous Blade Channeling or Staff Expertise, depending on your implement of choice and how close you are to the target, so that you don't suddenly provoke opportunity attacks. A nice touch is that it also attacks all enemies around the original target, which makes this a rather decent little pseudo-AOE that rides off of your Immediate action. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]12th Level Daily Utility (Even the Odds):[/b][/COLOR] Light Blue only because you can't guarantee you'll get full use out of such a Daily, but the potential to affect practically any d20 roll ever made, and either enable or deny that roll's success or failure, is fantastic. [b]20th Level Daily (Just Not Their Day):[/b] The damage has the potential to match the damage of the best diced power in the game for Sorcerers (6d10 from level 29's Necrotic Storm), but the Control it fronts forth isn't all that special. Still, it's something competent to pull out in solos.[/sblock] [b]Primordial Channeler (AP) - Wild[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#008000][b]Strategy:[/b][/COLOR] Wild Soul efficiency, Debuffing [b][COLOR=#008000]Overall Rating:[/COLOR] [COLOR=#00ccff]Light Blue.[/COLOR][/b] It finally gives a purpose to the Wild Soul feature besides resistances that may never come up, and the powers and other features range from decent to pretty darn good. You need to have a way to roll more than once on the table for it to be of any use, though. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]11th Level Feature (Primordial Manifestation):[/b][/COLOR] The engine that runs this path. If your Soul is currently giving you Resistance to any of four damage types, you add debuffs to all of your powers. My favorite is the Fire benefit, which hands out ongoing Fire damage to every target hit by your attacks. This doesn't depend on an action point - it just happens. Excellent (though the Thunder benefit sort of blows). [COLOR=#00ccff][b]11th Level Feature (Primordial Action):[/b][/COLOR] An action point feature that's better than Lightning Fury's? Heresy!! [b]16th Level Feature (Overwhelming Elements):[/b] Keep in mind this feature does not depend on what damage types you inflict on the enemies you attack. All of their resistances are debuffed with any attack you throw at them. Could be helpful for your allies if they're having problems with their damage types not going through. [b]11th Level Encounter Power (Primordial Rage):[/b] Some solid side benefits, but it's only on a single target power, and really needs to be combined with your first feature's current debuff properly for it to work. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]12th Level Daily Utility (Primordial Boon):[/b][/COLOR] I like to this of this power as having a can of bugspray on you while going on a road trip. Are you going to be encountering mosquitoes every 5 minutes? Hell no, but if you're going to be, you have something on standby. Here, it's a huge source of elemental resistance that covers four damage types. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]20th Level Daily (Primordial Rift):[/b][/COLOR] It's incredibly rare - in fact, I think only the Wild Sorcerer PPs have this trait - to see a Range consisting of a dice roll. With Resounding Thunder, this can become a Close blast 13, and considering its friendly nature and how it hands out no-save Stuns (and whatever the hell your Primordial Manifestation is doing as well), it follows the tradition of most Sorcerer PP level 20 dailies in being potentially devestating. Sure, you'll sadface when it's a close blast 2, but the secondary benefit is worth it, as it adds another Resistance from your Soul table. You can combo this with Primordial Manifestation if you roll right to gain two benefits on all of your powers. I actually feel like this might be my favorite path of all the Sorcerer PPs, just for how cool this path is, both flavor- and mechanicwise.[/sblock] [b]Wild Mage (PHB2) - Wild[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#008000][b]Strategy:[/b][/COLOR] General DPR [b][COLOR=#008000]Overall Rating:[/COLOR] Black.[/b] I really do hope you like rolling dice, because this Path practically demands that you marry your d20s and d6s. The powers are quite nice, but the features are either dangerous or very underwhelming. [COLOR=#800080][b]11th Level Feature (Chaos Action):[/b][/COLOR] You roll a d6 whenever you spend an action point to gain one of six random benefits. They're all nice on paper, but depending on how you're positioned (or just if you rolled a 3), they could be incredibly useless. [COLOR=#800080][b]11th Level Feature (Wild Surge):[/b][/COLOR] You will prize every moment that you roll a 4 or 6 on this table, but the other four "benefits" are all detrimental to you and consist of way too many risks and caveats to be reliable. You want to pull this out when you're absolutely desperate for something to happen besides more 1s. [b]16th Level Feature (Critical Surge):[/b] Congratulations, you gain a DPR bonus of 0.5 per target. [COLOR=#800080][b]11th Level Encounter Power (Tempest Surge):[/b][/COLOR] To have to pick the origin square before determining the size, while also having to determine how many squares you can exclude from a potential Burst 4, creates way too many conditionalities to make this power reliable in any sense. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]12th Level Daily Utility (Torrent of Power):[/b][/COLOR] This is probably what you signed up for. It's the Vorpal weapon enchantment, except it applies to all of your powers ever. Again, I hope you're a fan of rolling and rerolling dice, because considering how much you roll for some of your powers, you may be here awhile. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]20th Level Daily (Prismatic Bolt):[/b][/COLOR] Hey, it's a Prismatic daily again! It's single target, which is regretable, but check out what snuck into the riders: rolling a six gives you a dominated (save ends). Remember that you roll for effects even if you miss, so you might be able to pull a whopper out of your ass.[/sblock] [/QUOTE]
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The Demiurge Molecule: A Sorcerer's (and Elementalist's) Handbook (by DuelistDelSol)
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