D&D 4E Sorcerer and Themes in 4e?

[fireinthedust]

I've discovered that Essentials has Themes, and as I'm thinking of playing Living 4e on these boards again, I'd like to update a character I had there (before an overhaul; I'm guessing due to the hacker?) to include the new rules options... or just start from scratch.

I wanted to make the ultimate Genasi Elemental Tempest. I figure that if I take the right Sorcerer path, plus the right Theme, and the Extra Manifestation feat, I can cover more of the elements at once.

Which Sorcerer path would work best? Lightning? Elemental? Wild or Dragon?

Genasi would be Con/Int, so Elemental would seem the best choice; but lightning has some great powers. I'll have to re-read the Themes to see if I can use those to fill int he conceptual gaps.

Thoughts?

 

[pemerton]

Just a quick reply - for themes, have a look at Primordial Adept in Heroes of Elemental Chaos.

 

[sabrinathecat]

Themes aren't just Essentials. They can apply to all classes.

 

[Herschel]

Elemetal Initiate is also a strong theme. The extra skill, +1 Will at 10 are nice, though your mileage may vary on the Encounter Reaction.

I love Genasi, but while Storm Sorcerer is the most thematic, their stats line up terribly. Elementalists are better due to CON but the build isn't as good. If you go that route, depending on comfort and it sounds like you don't need heavy optimization, you could start with a 16 CHA and 18 CON (post-racial boosts) and go from there (though personally I'd take accurate implement and an accuracy feat early).

My suggestion is go Warlock or Swordmage|Warlock. CON/INT fits the stat arrays perfectly and Sorcerer King, Infernal and even Vestige can be reflavored as making your pact with a primordial such as Kossuth (fire), Yan-C-Bin and Akadi. Swordmage|Warlock is your best bet for Elemental Tempest because one of the big benefits is Shocking Flame in Paragon with Sormsoul and Firesoul each lending a damage boost to melee attacks. That said, I'm not a big fan of Firesoul otherwise. For firey-themed Genasi I prefer Cindersoul.

Malec-Keth Jannisary is also a very strongly elemental-flavored Paragon Path for Swordmages.

 

[Garthanos]

Themes aren't just Essentials. They can apply to all classes.

And usually work much better with non-essentials classes. In particular they suck with martial essentials.

 

[sabrinathecat]

Sadly, few of the books published produced themes that I found more interesting than the ones included in original 3 dragon issues. Mind you, since I'm working with the older character builder, I have to manually add it in and read through the pages and 5 books each time I want to look into themes.

 

[fireinthedust]

Does the Dragon annual have the article? I don't have DDI anymore, and I'm not thinking of investing this late in the game. Dunno that I'll go for 5e, either, as I've gotten no mileage out of my 3e or 4e books beyond one solid 4e campaign and some false-starts. And they look great...

 

[Garthanos]

I like the Themes in Fae Wild but Also the Darksun themes.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

There are some great themes in many places, which is why it seems worth having compendium access. I have to observe though that the best "burn it all down" build is not Sorcerer, but Mage. You can also leverage some stuff in HotEC, but I think fundamentally you want to be a Mage. The school bonus combined with your Genasi soul bonus makes you pretty darn good! You can of course mix in warlock, swordmage, probably a few others for more interest.

 

[Jhaelen]

I think I have to disgree with this. I'm currently playing a Dragonborn Dragon Magic Sorcerer (Paragon Path Ninefold Master) specialized in fire (approaching level 14), and I doubt there's any way for a Mage to compete. The character is the most powerful striker _and_ controller in our group by a wide margin.

It's a Dark Sun campaign, so I picked the Templar background (theme) which is awesome, since it adds Leader-like powers to my repertoire.