Help with a Spellfire Wielder

[Dragon-Rider]

I'll be playing in a new Forgotten Realms campaign in the near future and I was hoping to get some help designing my character. I've been wanting to play a Spellfire Weilder for a while now, but I've been having trouble coming up with an effective character build. The more I've given thought about how the mechanics of Spellfire work, the more I think it would be tricky to use well.

The allowed books are: PHB, MM, DMG, Player's Guide to Faerun, Magic of Faerun, Book of Exalted Deeds, Draconomicon, and Spell Compendium.

I haven't been given the details about starting level, but I believe that stat generation will be 32 Point buy. Could you guys help me out coming up with the first 8-10 levels of a Spellfire build?

My first thought was to go with a Cleric, Sorceror or Wizard and then take level of Spellfire Channeler, but since that prestige class does not give spell progression, I'd lose a out on spell ability. The upside though is I can craft wands to drain charges from and be able to use Spellfire quite a bit more than normal. I came up with a neat idea with the metamagic feat Delay Spell, but I don't know if it can work this way. Cast a Delayed spell with my charater as the target, then ready an action to absorb the spell so that when the spell goes off, I can gain spellfire levels. Only problem with that is that a Delayed Spell uses up a spell slot of +4 levels, so even if that does work, it would be a long time before I'd be able to use that tactic with anything higher than 1st or second level spells...

If you could give me some tips on how to effectively use Spellfire, I'd appreciate that as well. It seems a little tough to gain SPellfire levels since I'd have to ready an action to absorb spells, and my understanding of how spell absorption works is that the spell has to specifically target my character and won't work on are effect spells that my character happens to be in the area of effect. I could always ask the other spellcasters in the group to cast their unused spells on me before resting and attempting to re-memorize/pray for new spells, but I'm positive if I abuse that tactic the party will be woken up by attackers quite often.

With regard to the Spellfire Channeler prestige class, I'm not really sure how worth while it would be to take the higher levels of it. Drain permanent item would be very useful for gaining spell levels and the ability to fly with Spellfire would be very handy in many situations as well. The next abilities require a lot of spellfire levels to use or maintain, and unless I'm missing something, getting spellfire levels doesn't seem to be all that easy of a thing to do. Also, with the rules about using the increased Spellfire storage seem like I'd be wasting a lot of spellfire, since everytime a creature, spell effect or magic item touches my character, he'd lose Spellfire levels due to discharge. They also make me wonder how Magic items and buff spells with long durations effect Spellfire discharge. Would they constantly cause my character to discharge Spellfire until his storage is equal to or less than his Constitution score since they are constantly touching or effecting them, or would each spell effect and magic item only cause a single discharge each unless they are removed and re-applied/put back on?

Thanks in advance for reading my long post and for any help you can give me.
~Dragon-Rider

 

[Darklone]

Hmm. I'd drop the Spellfire thing and play a Spellthief. That's more like it should have been.

 

[Pyrex]

Similarly, I'd ignore the actual Spellfire class (which is seriously flawed) and play a Warlock, talk to your DM and see if you can agree on a couple of Invocations that allow you to absorb spells.

Warlock gets you the unlimited Eldritch Blast (which nets you far more d6's of damage in a day than Spellfire typically would) and flight, two of the signature powers from the novel.

Once you add a defensive-absorption* invocation and possibly a low-power healing invocation you're there.


*It doesn't necessarily even need to be absorption as such. Spending a standard action to gain SR for one round is a reasonable approximation.

 

[GwydapLlew]

RULE #1 - If you want to play a Spellfire Channeler, then play a Spellfire Channeler. If you want to play a caster with a neat trick, just take the Feat. Mixing up your priorities will make for a less-enjoyable character.

RULE #2 - There is nothing 'abusive' about having your caster buddies dropping unused spells on you. The books include scenes in which that very thing happens, so it's obvious that Ed Greenwood intended that to be a viable tactic.

RULE #3 - You are correct vis a vis absorbing spells; it takes a readied action to absorb a spell. You are also correct regarding the 'bleed off' of spellfire levels in you are over your normal storage capacity. Remember that your role as a Channeler is a blaster/sometime healer, and don't get in the front lines. Having seen a Channeler in action through about 10 levels of play, that whole 'ranged touch attack of raw magical energy that overcomes most DR' can easily make mincemeat of the BBEG. Seriously.

 

[Dragon-Rider]

Hmm. I'd drop the Spellfire thing and play a Spellthief. That's more like it should have been.

What book is Spellthief in? I'm not familiar with that Prestige Class, and would like to look it up. I am pretty set on playing a Spellfire Wielder though, I think it would be fun to try out.

Similarly, I'd ignore the actual Spellfire class (which is seriously flawed) and play a Warlock, talk to your DM and see if you can agree on a couple of Invocations that allow you to absorb spells.

Warlock gets you the unlimited Eldritch Blast (which nets you far more d6's of damage in a day than Spellfire typically would) and flight, two of the signature powers from the novel.

Once you add a defensive-absorption* invocation and possibly a low-power healing invocation you're there.


*It doesn't necessarily even need to be absorption as such. Spending a standard action to gain SR for one round is a reasonable approximation.

Warlock would be a great alternative, however the Warlock class is not allowed since the DM does not have the book (Complete Arcane I think) that introduces the Warlock.

RULE #1 - If you want to play a Spellfire Channeler, then play a Spellfire Channeler. If you want to play a caster with a neat trick, just take the Feat. Mixing up your priorities will make for a less-enjoyable character.

That's a very good point. I think I'll go with the Spellfire Channeler Prestige Class, and stop worrying that I'll be sacrificing casting or combat ability. This character would be more of a "Let's try this out" character than anything else and I could see myself having a lot of fun with being able to fire off powerful Spellfire blasts.

RULE #2 - There is nothing 'abusive' about having your caster buddies dropping unused spells on you. The books include scenes in which that very thing happens, so it's obvious that Ed Greenwood intended that to be a viable tactic.

I'll have to locate those scenes so that if my DM does have a problem with it, I can show them to him.

RULE #3 - You are correct vis a vis absorbing spells; it takes a readied action to absorb a spell. You are also correct regarding the 'bleed off' of spellfire levels in you are over your normal storage capacity. Remember that your role as a Channeler is a blaster/sometime healer, and don't get in the front lines. Having seen a Channeler in action through about 10 levels of play, that whole 'ranged touch attack of raw magical energy that overcomes most DR' can easily make mincemeat of the BBEG. Seriously.

Thanks for the tip about the role of the Spellfire Channeller. I think I was trying to do too many things with the one I've been kicking around in my head, which was causing me problems.

I'm still a little bit unclear about how the bleed-off effect works with worn magic items and long lasting or persistant spell effects (like Mage Armor), maybe someone could help clarify that for me.

Thanks again!
~Dragon-Rider

 

[Pyrex]

I'll have to locate those scenes so that if my DM does have a problem with it, I can show them to him.

Well, see, here's the problem.

The classic scene in the novel is of good old Elm throwing Lightning Bolts at Shandril to see how much energy she can store.

The kicker being under the 3E rules that just doesn't work...

When the novels were written Spellfire was a very powerful plot device. The 3E rules bear very little resemblance to what Spellfire was capable of in the novels. :\

IMO, the 3E rules are so poorly written as to be unplayable.

But if you absolutely have to use them, talk your DM into getting CArc so you can take Warlock levels until you qualify for Spellfire Channeler.

 

[RigaMortus2]

What book is Spellthief in? I'm not familiar with that Prestige Class, and would like to look it up. I am pretty set on playing a Spellfire Wielder though, I think it would be fun to try out.

It is in Complete Adventurer, and it is not a PrC. It is a base class, just like Warlock or Ninja or Scout.

 

[Aaron L]

IMO, the 3E rules are so poorly written as to be unplayable.

That's a bit of a stretch. We had a Spellfire Channeler for 4 years and never had a problem with the rules, and thought they worked quite well, actually.

 

[Dragon-Rider]

What were some of the things that the Spellfire Channellers you guys played with do to be effective? Specifically, what were some of the strategies they used to gain Spellfire levels and use their spell absorption abilities against enemy casters. What classes did they choose prior to becoming a Spellfire Channeller? I'm completely new to Spellfire so anything you guys can remember would help me out.

Thanks!
~Dragon-Rider