Powergamers! Help Min/Max my Sorcerer!!

[Xarls Taunzund]

Pawsplay's build is not a bad one, especially considering how few critters are immune, or even resistant to acid. Also, once you get third level spells, as your first or second choice you will want haste, this spell can effectively double the movement rates of all of your party members. I have seen many battles won through the added manueverability of then entire party.

 

[Dragonblade]

Well with those kind of stats you can afford to do more than one thing well. Have you considered Mystic Theurge? It works a little better if you go Wiz/Cleric, but Sorc/Cleric can work as well, it just delays your ability to take MT levels.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/mysticTheurge.htm

Combine that with Practiced Spellcaster (increase caster level by 4 max of Char Lv) and it overcomes a lot of the level loss due to the multiclassing, though you will need to take it twice.

Mystic Theurge is cool but you effectively lose 3 casting levels from each class. By the time I'm level 7, I'd only have the spellcasting ability of a 4th level character in terms of spell levels I have access to even with Practiced Spellcaster boosting my existing caster level.

And being able to cast cleric spells in addition to sorcerer spells is just not worth the spell level loss to me. For sheer min/maxing, I want to find a cool prestige class with lots of cool powers that takes nothing away from the sorcerer.

However, the Evangelist class from Dragon Magazine would be a good combo with Sorcerer and Mystic Theurge if I wanted sheer number of spells and maximum flexibility. Something to consider.

 

[Xarls Taunzund]

Have you considered the Exalted Arcanist from the Book of Exalted Deeds? Only 5 levels, you lose one caster level and get to add ALL Sanctified spells to your list of spells known.

 

[pawsplay]

Nice build pawsplay. I see you like the acid.

However, when it comes to taking the Sorcerer Heritage feats, I think the Celestial Heritage feats in PHB 2 give more bang than the Draconic ones. I will take another look. And also at the Fatespinner prestige class.

You have my interest piqued with the Summon Monster spell. What would you do with the summoned creature? Personal defense? Scouting?

Lantern archons are on the IV list; they have unlimited aid, which translates into unlimited (albeit slow) healing. Large elementals are good beaters. Creatures from the lower lists are good, especially in numbers, to rush opponents with lots of AoOs, such as hydras or spiked chain wielding vampires. Summoned monsters can also walk through traps. Many of them are suitable as very temporary mounts. Hound archons have a formidable aura of menace, which may cause a bad guy who flubs his save to take a penalty to saves. They can also detect evil and speak. In fact, all archons can use tongues, making them usesful as translators and very handy as summonable creatures.

One particularly handy aspect for arcane casters is that you can summon creatures with difficult to beat DRs. For instance, if you're fighting demons, you can summon devils or more demons. If you're fighting celestials, you can summon archons.

A group of weaker creatures could be ordered to accompany you, providing constant cover and allowing you to move about without drawing AoOs.

Large numbers of lantern archons can also deliver hideous amounts of untyped damage in the form of their light rays.

 

[Solarious]

I strongly suggest taking Versatile Spellcaster from Races of the Dragon. Sacrifice 2 lower slots to power spells a level higher! Also, PHII offers the metamagic specialization in exchange for a familiar, which allows you to metamagic spells Int + 3 times without increasing casting time.

However, I believe Sorceror spell selection is very important, perhaps even more important than charting out a PrC. When selecting spells, try to choose those which have maximum effect or multiple uses: for example, when choosing a 6th level spell, pick up something like Disintegrate, which opens up doors and is a save-or-die rather than a pure blasting spell like Chain Lightning.

As for a good PrC, you can't really beat an Incantatrix for sheer utility and brokeness, and it can be easily made setting-neutral. Full casting progression, excellent abilities, and eases some of the sting from entering the class. Just select Necromancy as your prhibited school, which is anywhere from 50-75% negative energy based... not particularly effective at times in AoW. In fact, I'll need to list the advantages so I don't pass them over inadvertantly.

• 3 bonus metamagic feats: more than a Wizard recieves in the equivilant 10 levels! Instantly makes up for the Iron Will prequisite.
• Full spellcasting progession: don't loose any spells known/spell slots, and don't fall behind on spell level progession, which already hurts as a Sorceror.
• See and Strike Etheral: Ghosts (and this is an undead heavy campign, I hope you realize by now) can be blasted without worrying about hitting teammates or that irritating 50% miss chance.
• Hardy Spirit: As befiting an undead-heavy campaign, there are energy drain effects aglore. And death effects are -always- a good thing to be immune to, undead or no.
• Instant and Improved Metamagic: Complements your metamagic focus well. More metamagics without the extra time are always good, plus Improved will give you more of an excuse to flex those Empowered Maximized Scorching Rays for only the cost of 5th level slot, the same as a regular Maximized Scorching Ray! Better yet, a Empowered Maximized Ray of Eneveration (Empowerment is optional, really), which reduces mighty giants into meerly competent melee combatants, standard melee monsters into mewling cats, and the infirm into sobbing heaps on the floor that can't even carry their own equipment anymore.
• Drain Item and Send Away: The icing on the cake.

Simply top with Archmage, and you're set. Good choices include Mastery of Shaping and Master of Elements, both essential for the burgoning incinerator of enemies. And think! Sonic damage to all your previously elemental spells. No one is safe.

You need to either take a feat to aliviate the pain of not having Knowledge (The planes), or talk to your DM about switching it from something else, like dropping Bluff or Craft (Alchemy). Either way is fine: Education gives you all the Knowledge skills, which helps when you want to identify monster weaknesses (and there are a lot of different monsters you might want to be aware of).

Sample build:
Human Sorceror 5
Feats: Education, Versatile Spellcaster, Iron Will
Spells:
0 - Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Message, Dancing Lights, Prestidigitation
1 - Ray of Enfeeblement, Grease, Magic Missile, Nerveskitter (SC)
2 - Scorching Ray, Glitterdust

Acid Splash as the obligitary damage cantrip, Detect/Read Magic for obvious reasons, Message for communication in compromised situations, Dancing Lights for instant searchlights without the pebble tossing nonsense, and Prestidigitation to keep clean, dry, and service many RP needs.

Ray of Enfeeblement: the great equalizer against anything with a disproportinately high Str score. Remains useful into the mid/high levels, especially metamagiced. Grease can help allies escape grapples, enemies to drop weapons, or trip up concentrated formations. Magic Missile is the all-purpose damage spell that doesn't miss (usually), and Nerveskitter (from the Spell Compendium) gives you the edge needed to throw out that first Ray of Eneveration before the enemies close in and befuddle your ability to not hit your own party.

Scorching Ray is a mainstay, dealing lots of damage even at higher levels (especially when metaed to size), and Glitterdust both blinds and eliminates invisibility effects with a double whammy.

That covers the basics. Grab Empower Spell at 6 for Empowered Ray of Enfeeblement goodness, and a choice spell. I also approve of Haste, since you can stick with Empowering 1st level spells, and you don't neccessarily need more blasting at the moment, since opponents are typically vulnerable to Enfeeblement and blindness effects when you aren't making your party speed demons. Commision wands or scrolls if you feel the need for burning zombie flesh in the morning.

Your Lesser Orb can wait until 7th, since they don't get good until the higher levels, and mind you they work great with metamagics. Oh yeah, pick up a Mithril Buckler, and magic it up to provide a more consistant defence than Shield. If you're really worried about Magic Missile, grab a Brooch of Shielding, or ask your DM if you can incorperate a Lesser Spell Immunity... purely to make it resemble a Shield spell, of course. Add the Animated quality, and it's nearly the same. Or you can add other qualities, like Heavy Fortification, or energy resistances, and so on.

The rest is up to you, can't do character for you!

 

[pawsplay]

Scorching ray is a great spell. The only reason I didn't put it in my build was the need for a continuing damage spell that could be cast as a single action, and draconic breath is fine for straight up damage. I would definitely make it a priority for a second level spell, though. It does solid damage and scales nicely.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

my bad. I dident understand you, now i realize you mean start with every ability score at starting at 1.

 

[Jack Simth]

Unfortunately, Aid is temporary HP, not healing, so it doesn't stack and it won't get rid of wounds already present.

All sources available? Including Dragon Magizine?

Look up the Dragon Magazine Bloodline feats - 325 and 311, I think it was - many of them give you an extra spell known from a specific list at each spell level, in return for dropping a particular type of spell from your class list. As a Sorcerer, Spells Known are your greatest weakness. These feats are really, really fun.

Other options include shooting for the Mage of the Arcane Order PrC - a Human Sorcerer, with Arcane Preparation, Cooperative Metamagic, and some other metamagic feat meets all the pre-requisites at 5th level, ready to take the class at 6th. With that route, you'll always be able to call up the PHB Sor/Wiz spell you want, provided it's of a spell level you can cast. As a Sorcerer, you shouldn't have any trouble paying off your spellpool debt at the end of the day. In fact, you really should pay ahead. You'll gain back the two mostly low-value feats (Cooperative metamagic and Arcane Preparation) you invested into getting into the PrC as you advance in the PrC (it grants two bonus feats).
A called spell only stays in mind for one minute per caster level, so most DM's won't let them be used to craft items - but they can be put into, say, Rings of Spell Storing, or Spell Storing weapons. However, if you know what you'll be doing, you can have exactly the right spell for the job - about once/day (half your caster level in called spell levels each day - one spell of the highest level you can cast, or a few lower-level spells).

I may be alone in the crowd with this one, but make certain you have Rope Trick and Extend Spell when you hit 6th level. It gives you a way up walls (rope has a climb DC of 5), lets you rest virtually anywhere (invisible, spells can't cross the interface, up a ways - will foil most opponents, unless you abuse the trick too much, in which case, your DM will find one of the opponents it won't foil), grants some measure of protection against Scry/Buff/Teleport (+5 bonus to the Will save vs. Scrying if the target is on a different plane - and Rope Trick makes a different plane for you to be on; likewise, Teleport only works on the plane you're on, and you're on a different plane in a Rope Trick - and even Discern Location starts out with what plane you're on, and gets more specific from there; Rope Trick Dimension # 13347? Umm.... I don't think anyone will have a prepared focus for it.....). Depending on interpertation, it can also be used as an archery platform, that leaves you invisible while firing.

The Planar Binding line is handy - you'll need four spells at any given point to pull it off properly - Magic Circle Against [Good/Evil] (3rd), Dimensional Anchor (4th), Dismissal (5th), and one of the Planar Binding spells (Lesser (6 HD critters, 5th), normal (12 HD critters, 6th), Greater (18 HD critters, 8th). Careful, though; Magic Circle Against Good is an [Evil] spell, so a Paladin will get upset with you if you keep Calling angels. Likewise, if you Call up an Evil creature, it's an [Evil] spell. Elementals are pretty safe, though. Gives you something of the Wizard's ability to prepare for a specific, known encounter - the Wizard can prepare the perfect spell, the Planar Binding Sorcerer can Call the perfect help.

The [Shadow] line of spells is very handy for a Sorcerer (although you don't need to worry about it much until 8th, with Shadow Conjouration) as it can duplicate a LOT of the utility spells - Shadow Conjouration (4th) can noteably duplicate: Phantom Steed, Sepia Snake Sigil, Sleet Storm, Stinking Cloud, Acid Arrow, Glitterdust, Web, Summon Swarm, Fog Cloud, Grease, Mount, and Mage Armor, in addition to Summon Monster I, II, and III. Also, it's a standard action to cast - instant flanking for the Rogue in the party, Will save or no. Shadow Evocation (5th) can do Fire Shield, Wall of Fire, Wall of Ice, Ice Storm, Resilient Sphere, Daylight, Tiny Hut, Wind Wall (although that one is particularly ineffective), Continual Flame, Darkness, Gust of Wind (ditto), and Floating Disk (ditto again) in addition to most of the standard damge-dealing spells. The particular benefit of a Shadow Evocation Daylight or Continual Flame is that there's a decent chance that your high-will save opponents will be left in the dark......
The other advantage of the [Shadow] line, of course, is all the nifty PrC's for it, as well as the nifty that you can actually use Spell Focus and Greater Spell focus (Illusion), as your Illusion save DC will get used a lot.

Meh, I'm done rambling for now.

Edit: Oh, not quite.
Unless your DM is using the Magic and Psionics are Different clause in the XPH, make sure to pick up Limited Wish at 14th. Duplicate a power - Psychic Reformation - to replace all your spells known for the last 6 levels at the cost of 300 xp. Only works under transparency, though.

 

[Solarious]

Scorching ray is a great spell. The only reason I didn't put it in my build was the need for a continuing damage spell that could be cast as a single action, and draconic breath is fine for straight up damage. I would definitely make it a priority for a second level spell, though. It does solid damage and scales nicely.

I used Scorching Ray because most of the 1st level spells are nondamaging, I didn't use Draconic Breath in my build, and Versatile Spellcaster could sac 2 1st level spells in order to squeeze more uses out, while still being able to reserve cantrip slots in order to cast anything you already sacrificed. Plus, I feel that the Summon Monster line doesn't really come into it's own until you get to elementals, at least. The higher you go, the more flexible the list becomes, and you can always snatch multiples from a lower tier with a higher spell.

I can't believe I forgot the Shadow emulation spells! Yeah, those are great, although I don't really feel they're worth devoting that many resources to optimizing them. For more spells, if you have access to the Spell Compendium, try to browse through it a few times. Mind you, Core has plenty of nasty tricks up it's sleaves in the first place already.

 

[Jack Simth]

Not quite. Its basically 4 14's and 2 12's. Not so overpowering.

Or it's three 18's, two 8's, and a 10. Or four 18's and two 4's (great for the Druid who plans on getting natural spell).