D&D 5E Draconic Sorcerer or Wizard Next Up

[Wyvernhand]

Dewd, just because something has the word "dragon" in it, doesn't mean its gonna make you more dragony, or a better Sorcerer. You can bring all the fluff of a Draconic Dragonblooded Sorcerer/DragonDisciple to the table with only half of the suck on a simple Dragonblooded Sorcerer20 chassis.

With regards to the guy who says you HAVE to PrC a Sorcerer, I counter this with "at what cost". I could spend 3 feats to get into Mage of the Arcane Order (commonly cited), which, if I'm not human, is all of my feats up to level 6, or I can grab some early power combos like Fell Draining + Practical Metamagic (Fell Draining) and pop off some 1st level Fell Draining Sonic Snaps and some 2nd level Fell Draining Magic Missiles. With careful spell preperation, you can overcome most of the lack of versatility. Its not that hard.

Even skill points are a rough investment for a Sorcerer. You generally gotta keep your Concentration up, and its generally not a bad idea to keep ranks in Spellcraft. Well, that's all of your skill points/level unless you are human or have a +1 or higher Int (and Int isn't a real priority stat, unlike Cha, Con, and Dex). Other good skills include Bluff and crossclass ranks in UMD. If I have to amp up a whole bunch of knowledge skills or other misc skills like Profession: Gambler to qualify for PrCs, I'm either gonna detract from the stuff I want to do, or from the stuff I need.

So yea, it sucks that you don't have any class abilities. Bummer. But you're a freakin spellcaster. You're best off focusing on that glorious glorious fact. Take abilities that are gonna make you better today rather than aiming for some pie in the sky PrCs.

 

[Jack Simth]

It looks like he's only doing Core, which I don't think Gray Elf is in. I'm (probably) wrong though.

Gray Elf is specifically in the Monster Manual (and made it into the SRD). Draconic is from Races of the Dragon, which is very much not Core.

 

[Empirate]

Both Incantatrix and Mage of the Arcane Order give a refund on your feat investment, in that they grant bonus feats. If you're going the metamagic route, Incantatrix is invaluable. If you want more spells known, Mage of the Arcane Order virtually provides limitless options. Also, Fell Draining Magic Missile is really nothing you couldn't do while taking one of the two.

 

[Trance-Zg]

For draconic sorcerer I would recommend human for base race(wood elf and star elf are also good options), but star elf smells like rotten cheese. Draconic/wood elf gives you +4 str racial and if you get your str to 18 with longspear gives you very good melee control in lower levels.

for prestige class I suggest Dragonheart mage(Races of the Dragon, pg.88), it will cost you 2 spellcasting levels but your dragonbreath feat will rock and you get 3 bonus draconic feats. Take 1 of them draconic toughness and you won't have any HP problems.

 

[Gray Lensman]

Quotes from the SRD

Gray Elf Traits (Ex)
These traits are in addition to the high elf traits.
+2 Intelligence, -2 Strength.

This does NOT help my CON because I still get the -2 CON and +2 DEX(Although it would allow me to put the 16 in INT and paly a Wizard instead of Sorcerer

These Are the Books I have, Plus whatever I can glean from the web

PHB (3.0 so I have to look at SRD as well)
PHB II
MM
DMG
Comp Divine, Arcane, Adventurer, Warrior
Eldritch Might I, II, III
Races of Destiny, Stone and Wild and Races of the Dragon
Savage Species
Epic Level handbook
Arms and Equipment Guide

Each of these characters I am working on start at level 3 and get played one on one to seven or so. Then they are retired to NPCs in our original Campaign World. So I am under some restrictions on race / class

For this character draconic or half dragon is a must but I can do human or elf (spellscale has been considered and could be used) and Sorcerer or Wizard (Actually I suppose I could Multiclass Sorc/Wiz but I am already slowed down by the draconic template so why would I)

The role comes first to a point but there is no harm in trying to max out a character within that role

For that matter the LA really doesn't matter either because of the eventually retirement to NPC status

 

[Empirate]

Why does Star Elf smell like rotten cheese to you? Still less versatile than a Human, still takes a hit to Con... Cha bonus. OK. Is that such a big deal?

 

[Trance-Zg]

Why does Star Elf smell like rotten cheese to you? Still less versatile than a Human, still takes a hit to Con... Cha bonus. OK. Is that such a big deal?

getting +4 to charisma is a lot. Ok, the LA pays it back but it's the best power for sorcerer and as I stated CON doesn't mean that much as PrC that I stated gets good F.S. and draconic toughness gets your HP almost above clerics.

 

[Empirate]

Star Elf only gets +2 to Cha. Is the rest from the Draconic template? If so, there's two sources of that "cheese".
Also, lower Con is always bad, since you could have even more HP with Draconic Toughness with better Con. The PrC you suggested loses two levels of spellcasting progression, which is horrible for a primary caster. I'd condone one level at most for a Wizard, and not even that for a Sorcerer, unless it gets you a ton of great new options.

 

[Gray Lensman]

Gray Lensman, I urge you to read through Races of the Dragon and throw every bit of fluff you find out of your mind. The WotC writers have absolutely no idea how to play their own game and their suggestions for race and class combinations are often atrocious.

For example, elves making great wizards is a persistent theme throught the entirety of 3.5E, but the default elf race sucks at being a wizard. The default elf does not get anything that makes them better at wizardry compared to Humans or even Dwarves.

If your aim is to make a mechanically optimized character, you've got to dissociate yourself from the fluff like a proton from hydrochloric acid.

Read your guide, thats good work. As for races of the dragon, if you delete all the fluff, what's left

For draconic sorcerer I would recommend human for base race(wood elf and star elf are also good options), but star elf smells like rotten cheese. Draconic/wood elf gives you +4 str racial and if you get your str to 18 with longspear gives you very good melee control in lower levels.

for prestige class I suggest Dragonheart mage(Races of the Dragon, pg.88), it will cost you 2 spellcasting levels but your dragonbreath feat will rock and you get 3 bonus draconic feats. Take 1 of them draconic toughness and you won't have any HP problems.

I don't have any info on star elves. And Dragonheart mage looks good but if I go wizard I won't be able to use it (of course I could drop in a level of bard along the way)

Actually, I may be leaning towards the Gray Elf and Wizard placing the 16 in INT will end up 18 and help with skills as well. As In:

CHA 10+2=12
WIS 13+0=13
INT 16+0=18
CON 14+2-2=14
DEX 13+2=15
STR 13+2-2=13

Also allows me to move the 13 to WIS improving saves and the 10 to CHA where it becomes 12. If I go human then whichever class I take I will be limited to 16 initially altho I admit going human will aslo help with skills and feats.

Oh, one other thing, the Cleric/Wizard may have been an item creation kinda fellow but this B*&%ch is pure nuker.

 

[Gray Lensman]

Well, this one has sort of been aborted. It is going to be done as a HIGH (25 or 30) level NPC from the begining to use in another campaign and retained for the developing world.

This also means I can play with it even better <<BIG FREAKIN GRIN>>

Gonna stick with Gray Elf for the INT bonus for skills and go with Sorcerer as a class.

Take the Dragonblood Sorcerer Subsitution Level to get Draconic Heritage (Prismatic Dragon) for free, leaving a Feat to pick.

Gonna take the Draconic Racial Class all the way to half dragon. Am I reading this right, once I take the 4th level all HD would bump up to d6?

Then Sorcerer to level 13 (taking the appropriate Dragonblood Sorcerer Substitution Levels) making sure I pick up the skills and feats necessary for Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil (Goes with the Prismatic Dragon quite well I think)

And the nuker thing is gone as well, she gonna be a generalist due to campaign needs.