Not QUITE a Warmage- (de)Gimp my Gish!

[Magesmiley]

Another thought for a fighting caster type is to grab the feat from complete adventurer that lets you multi-class as a monk and a sorcerer (and which lets you stack levels for a couple of abilities). Load up the various spells that could help you in combat for your sorcerer spells and have at it.

Just a thought.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You know...I hadn't considered that at all.

Assuming you have to take both @2 monk & @2 sorc levels, what are the bennies?

(You're new to the thread- the DM has posession of all my Completes.)

 

[Magesmiley]

I'm at work right now, so no book, but I want to say that the benefit was that you get to stack both classes for figuring monk AC bonus, you get to add Cha bonus (instead of Wis) to AC for monk, and you can continue advancing as a monk even though multi-classed. (If someone else can confirm or correct this, it would be much appreciated).

I suspect that would cover your AC issues pretty well, while also giving you some combat ability. Tack a mage armor spell on top of that and you're looking pretty fair for combat. The occasional shocking grasp added to an unarmed strike could be rather amusing.

 

[Magesmiley]

Back again. The feat is called Ascetic Mage. It grants the abilities I mentioned, plus you can burn spells as a swift action to give you a bonus to hit and damage equal to the spell's level for one round. The big problem with the feat is that it requires you to be able to spontaneously cast 2nd-level arcane spells (in addition to having improved unarmed strike). However, since your DM is working with you, maybe he'd let you have the feat instead of your familiar (even though you don't meet the prerequisite). Allowing this feat to a lower-level sorcerer/monk doesn't strike me as being horribly overpowered.

I actually think that the prerequisite is too high - it makes it considerably more difficult to qualify for the feat, given the monk's inability to mix levels - you'd have to take sorcerer for 4 levels, then take monk, which would incur an XP penalty while you did so.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'll look into that a little more- thanks! Since my PC is now going to be an Air Genasi with 2 planned levels of Ftr, he'll never get 9th level spells. Intermixing a little Monk might not be too bad...

One of my fellow soon-to-be-partymembers (we start this Saturday) brought over HIS CompArcane last night, and I did a little rethink. While things like Reach Spell and Split Ray might work well for a Warmage who has a huge list of such spells to concentrate upon, a sorcerer doesn't have quite that kind of spells known list to maximize those feats. It would also seem that WF: Ranged touch spells, and Ranged Spell Specialization might not be as appropriate.

Thus, I think I'm going to try to play up the "stormy" side of the PC- something I should have done in the first place.

Soooo- I'm thinking that the Born of Thunders (or whatever its called) that lets me cast mixed electrical/sonic spells with some knockdown potential is a possibility...possibly Explosive spell as well.

Thanks for all the input, everyone!

 

[Zimbel16]

Still, things aren't bad- I'm sitting here with racial abilities, Arcane Caster1/Ftr1, Lt. armored spellcasting, a big weapon, and a revised list of feats which needs to be pared down to the 9 he'll take over time:

1) Point Blank Shot (improve utility of his archery & ranged touch spells)
2) Precise Shot (improve utility of his archery & ranged touch spells)
3) Weapon Focus: Ranged Touch Spells
4) Energy Substitution: Electrical (bump number of electrical spells)
5) Ranged Spell Specialization (further improve accuracy with ranged touch spells)
6) Empower Spell (50% increase in variables related to a spell, inc. damage)
7) Sculpt Spell (change spell's area of effect)
8) Battle Caster (now that my PC will have Armored Spellcasting: Light)
9) Arcane Strike (channel spell energy into melee strikes- based on spell level)*
10) Split Ray (doubles # of rays from a ray spell)
11) Reach Spell (makes touch spells into ranged touch spells)
12) Combat Casting (utility)
13) Energy Admixture (a little jolt in EVERY attack spell)

In paring this down to 9, I'm thinking Admixture is an early one for the chopping block, but what about Split Ray and Reach Spell?

Since it sounds like you're planning to play long-term, and focus on ranged spell attacks, I have the following suggestions:

1) Kill Combat Casting. If you're in Melee combat, you're doing something wrong (since you're planning to focus on missile combat/spells). At high levels, it becomes effectively worthless.
2) Feats 1-3 above. Only use these if you plan to focus nearly exclusively on ray spells. Otherwise, it's probably better just to ignore them. In any case, at mid-high level, your touch attack should be good enough that Precise shot and Weapon Focus really won't help much.
3) Arcane strike is questionable, if you're focusing on missile attacks/spells.
4) Split ray and Empower Spell are awesome (the former only if you have a number of rays).
5) I'd recomend cutting down on the non-caster levels if you want to focus on ranged spells at high levels. Each non-Caster level you take is a large cost (at mid-high level) - it affects SR, damage, spells/day, and spells known.

 

[FireLance]

I'll look into that a little more- thanks! Since my PC is now going to be an Air Genasi with 2 planned levels of Ftr, he'll never get 9th level spells. Intermixing a little Monk might not be too bad...

One final word of advice: if you're going to be a primary caster with three or more non-caster levels, you should consider taking Practised Spellcaster.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Many more thanks are obviously in order!

At this point, Myrskytar Keitolainen is:

1) ...only going to take 2 fighter levels. Everything else will be Sorcerer Levels. As an Air Genasi w/2 Ftr levels, he'll probably never get to cast 9th level spells unless the campaign goes Epic. Do not hold your collective breath.

2) ...keeping the Point Blank Shot and Precise shot. There will be some rays and orbs in his repetoir, as well as Melf's AA, but most of his attack spells will be area effect. However, even though his precision spellpower is going to be minimal, he's still going to need those 2 feats for his longbow (and whatever he keeps in his Quivver of Ehlonna). Sometimes you need a needle and not a caber.

3) ...keeping Arcane Strike for when he needs to be subtle in tight quarters. +x/+x in melee combat may just save his boo-tay.

4) ...not going to take Battle Caster. Due to his racial mods, he's going to have a +4 Dex bonus, which no armor heavier than Chain Shirt handles better.

The remaining 6 Feats at this time are:

Sculpt Spell
Explosive Spell
Born of 3 Thunders
Energy Substitution: Electricity
Skill Focus: Concentration
Empower Spell

However, I'm giving strong consideration to Energy Admixture (MORE DAMAGE!!!) and Transdimensional Spell to replace one or both of the last 2 Feats listed. TS may turn out to be vital- I have no idea how many incorporeal/ethereal/whatever critters the DM is planning to toss at us, and my PC is the main arcane howitzer.

 

[Taren Seeker]

If you are the howitzer then Empower is vital. Also I noticed you want to take Melf's, but I would suggest Scorching Ray instead since the Orb spells do better than Melf's. Practiced Spellcaster would also serve you well. I'd drop SF: Concentration for that one. It's nice to get a high conc score but once you hit mid range you shouldn't have a lot of trouble casting defensively. If you are going to use any of the swift melee spells (Blades of Fire, Critical Strike, etc) they don't provoke AOO's anyways.

I'm not sure what you mean about Battle Caster. A Chain Shirt still has significant SF.

Also as an FYI, you described Split Ray as doubling the # of rays. In fact it only adds 1 extra ray. I know you're not taking it but it could come up one day.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If you are the howitzer then Empower is vital.

One thing I was noticing at one point in my Feat selection was that the PC was loading up on Feats that caused him to bump up his spell level by +2...it was getting silly. With a level of Ftr and a +1LA, its going to take a while before he even gets 2nd level spells.

Thematically, the primary Feats the PC needs are ESub:Electricity & Born of 3 Thunders- both of which, fortunately, don't require a level bump. However, I still need to find a Metamagic feat that works for the PC that also doesn't have an "any other Metamagic feat" prereq somewhere in there.

Which is why I haven't eliminated EmpSpell...yet.

Also I noticed you want to take Melf's, but I would suggest Scorching Ray instead since the Orb spells do better than Melf's.

Melf's major appeal is that it does continuing damage, hurting Target A while I can turn my attention to Target B. That could come in handy against enemy spellcasters.

One thing I'm trying to do is get at least 1 spell from each of the various elemental damage types, so that I can have a little fun with the ESub:Electricity and Sculpt Spell Feats, while still having some flexibility. Melf's is also one of the few Acid spells available.

Practiced Spellcaster would also serve you well. I'd drop SF: Concentration for that one. It's nice to get a high conc score but once you hit mid range you shouldn't have a lot of trouble casting defensively.

Ok...then SF: Concentration is gone...but with only 2 non-spellcasting class levels and a +1LA, he wouldn't get full use out of Practiced Spellcaster. He'd be close, but I'm a bit of a stickler on things like that. That's part of why I dropped almost all the stuff that synergized with ranged touch attacks.

So at this point, I think I'll keep the EmpSpell but sub out SF:Con for Transdimensional.

If you are going to use any of the swift melee spells (Blades of Fire, Critical Strike, etc) they don't provoke AOO's anyways.

I don't recognize those. Where are they from?

Going just by spell name, I'm not sure I'd want Critical Strike- I'm looking for attack spells that DO damage, not enhance it.

I'm not sure what you mean about Battle Caster. A Chain Shirt still has significant SF.

While my DM didn't permit me to run a Warmage, he gave my Sorcerer the ability to cast without ASF in Light Armor- as well as Monkey Grip (or Powerful build- he hasn't decided which yet)- in place of a familiar.

Thus, Battle Caster is useable by the PC, but all of the Medium Armors have lower dex mods than his current dex. So instead of burning the Feat, I'm going to use some of my cash on a mithril breastplate- if mithril exists in his campaign. Otherwise, it will be a MW chain shirt.

Also as an FYI, you described Split Ray as doubling the # of rays. In fact it only adds 1 extra ray. I know you're not taking it but it could come up one day.

Thanks-I'd probably not have made that mistake if my DM would pony up some money and buy his own doggone books as opposed to borrowing mine for a month+!