Arcane Casting Draconic PC

[Thanee]

Yeah, natural attacks are a bit weird, but not as bad as grappling.

Not sure if you have figured out claw/claw/bite already... claw attacks are primary (both) and the bite is secondary, so only the bite is at -5, both claw attacks are at full BAB. And yeah, no extra attacks from high BAB. You can mix natural weapon attacks with manufactured weapon attacks, though. For example, you could wield a sword in one hand and attack normally (including full BAB attacks) and in addition make one claw and one bite attack (both secondary, when mixing attacks like this all natural weapons are secondary), since you only need one arm for the sword. If you were using a shield (or a two-handed weapon), only the bite attack could be added.

As for the character, focussing less on offensive magic, and more on support (buffs, utility) would be a good idea, if you really want to go with the half-dragon, because lacking behind 3 levels in spellcasting is not good for offensive spells. There are some pretty good support spells, though, which would work well in combination.

Half-Dragon Human, 1st-level Fighter/6th-level Sorcerer/1st-level Spellsword/1st-level Eldritch Knight

For armor, get a suit of +2 twilight mithril full plate with a quite acceptable ASF of 5%.

With some spells like Shield, False Life, Dragonskin, Haste, etc. he should do alright. Take a look at those nice low-level swift spells in Complete Adventurer (i.e. Critical Strike, Wraithstrike). Avoid offensive spells, that have a save. Something like Magic Missile or Scorching Ray would work well, to have some attack spell, for situations when melee isn't quite an option.

Practiced Spellcaster will help with the caster level, Power Attack for damage, Combat Expertise + Improved Trip to make use of that high Strength, and to be able to go on the defensive, if needed. He has a total of 7 feats this way, so he could afford those easily.

Get good Con and decent Dex in addition to the obvious good Str and Cha.

Get magic items to further boost Str, Con and Cha. Maybe Dex, too.

For example (32 PB):

Str 14 +8 (Half-Dragon) +4 (belt of giant strength)
Dex 14 +2 (gloves of dexterity)
Con 15 +2 (Half-Dragon) +1 (4th level) +4 (amulet of health)
Int 12 +2 (Half-Dragon)
Wis 10
Cha 14 +2 (Half-Dragon) +1 (8th level) +2 (cloak of charisma)

And don't forget the vest of resistance...

Bye
Thanee

 

[Ferrum]

The question is; how to get his attack bonus up. Obviously, fighter levels would do it. Those sacrifice sorcerer levels. Maybe some mix of the two? I think that's a bad idea given that I only have 9 class levels to play around with. High STR would improve his attack bonus, but I fear not enough. An 18 STR, easy to get with the +8 from Half-Dragon, is only +4 and a 9th level Sorc is +4 for a total of +8. Not a whole lot at 12th level. In fact, very very bad. Magic?

Could always use the Battle Sorcerer variant in Unearthed Arcana. Give up 1 known spell per level and 1 cast per spell level per day, and gain d8 hit die and cleric BAB. Think that would work excellently with a half dragon template.

 

[DreamChaser]

On a slightly related note, exactly what does a cone look like on a grid. I know it starts at an intersection and expands from there, but what would, say, a 15 ft. cone look like? I know it's a quarter circle, but is it like a line that affects all squares it passes through?

Basically a quarter circle. Start at the intersection and go out the measured length at right angels. Then fill in from there. As a quick guide, the center (at 45 degrees) will also be that length.

15 ft.

X X X
X X
X


For lets say a 35 ft.

X X X X X X X
X X X X X X
X X X X X X
X X X X X
X X X X X
X X X
X



For lets say a 60 ft.

X X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X X X
X X X X X X
X X X X
X X
X

 

[InVinoVeritas]

Then he will want to consider making a barbarian with minimum levels of sorcerer and then going dragon disciple.

This would only work in a reallyyy high level game though.

Personally, I prefer starting with Barbarian and adding a little bit of Bard. The extra skill points gets you the 8 ranks in Knowledge (Arcana) faster, you get good Reflex and Will saves on top of Fortitude, you get more hit points, and you get to Inspire Courage. Your spells aren't as good, but you don't choose Dragon Disciple for the spells.

 

[Pinotage]

Basically a quarter circle. Start at the intersection and go out the measured length at right angels. Then fill in from there. As a quick guide, the center (at 45 degrees) will also be that length.

15 ft.

X X X
X X
X

Thanks! I found the templates in the back of the DMG. Kept looking for them in the PHB and couldn't find them. The other 15 ft. one looks a bit odd since they attempted to keep it symmetric, but otherwise it makes sense.

Pinotage

 

[Vysirez]

Could try a 1/2 dragon Duskblade(from PHB2). Gets full BAB, and a good amount of casting, though lower level spells. Also gets some nice abilities to fire off spells while in melee. Downside is the spell selection is somewhat bad. No good buffing spells, mostly damage spells really. The advantage of a duskblade is that a straight 9th lvl duskblade will have better BAB and better casting then a multiclass fighter/sorc/EK or whatever. This will help counter the level loss from the +3LA.

The main problem is that for a fighter/mage type build you are all ready having a hard time keeping both BAB and casting up. You add in another +3LA from 1/2 dragon and it's hard to work things out. It's cool for a concept but hard to make effective. Ultimately I think your best bet is to go with either a duskblade or the Gish build posted above and just focus on buffing spells. With a Gish build, plus 1/2 dragon, you are going to loose caster levels. So you might just focus on maxing out your BAB and let spells be a bit more minor. With a duskblade the spells are just extra damage on top of your normal attacks.

One thing you might ask your DM about is Arcane strike, it's a great feat for Gish builds, but the feat only affects a single weapon. However I have seen some discussion about how it impacts natural weapons. Ultimately you might want to find out how your DM wants to work it. If you burn a slot in arcane strike would it affect 1 claw? both claws? all your natural attacks? If it's just one claw I don't think it would be worth it. If it's both claws or all natural attacks I think it might be worth taking.

 

[Balgus]

I may be a lil late considering all the input that has already been shared...

but you may wanna check out Savage species. They have a couple celestials that you can sub in for blue/silver dragon. Plus, there are actual dragon templates at the end of the book JIC you wanna just play a blue dragon. Maybe act as your cohort's mount... while making him the target and you can be casting spells in the background...

 

[Brujj]

The campaign my friend is running, is an evil, Underdark Campaign set in Forgotten Realms (of course). I have a level 5 Human Warlock, level 9 Dragon Disciple (of Green Dragon) I let my DM pick for me. Since i am LE, that gave me a 50/50 chance, so we rolled 1d100. with blue being under 50, and green being over.

Did this for SEVERAL reasons, first, i can (now at 9th level DD) fly and shoot my warlock eldritch blasts from 250 feet away at targets. Secondly, with the increases in Str, my human warlock/DD (1 level away from being a half dragon) has now 30 Str (with 1 magic item,a nd has read a book of Gainful Exercise +2). He can do a claw attack, with insane Str, and channel an eldritch blast through that attack at the same time. DD also gets +to Cha, which helps out the Warlock class a lot as well. after i hit level 10 DD, i will level my warlock levels more to get the rest of that good stuff. if you have never played a D&D warlock..i suggest it. Sorcererr? BAH. lol. Warlock is the way to go.

 

[Moggthegob]

One of the most successful uilds I have seen for dragon disciple was a duskbadewho for story reasons went DD. its pretty cool, shocking grasp's extra 5d6 never gets old.