Question on Dragon Disciple


Rules Questions


I wanted to make my wizard into a dragon disciple but ran into a snag when it said that my character needs to cast arcane magic with out preparing it. But my question is that if i took the feat Spell Mastery would that count as being able to cast spells without preparing them. I know it only does it for as high as your int but still those spells dont need to be prepared ahead of time. I dont know if its possible to get a yes from the people in charge of pathfinder society but if it is that would be great. If not oh well it would have been sweet to see a wizard/dragon disciple.

Liberty's Edge

Three things.

1) The dragon disciple is specifically designed to interact with the idea that sorcerers have draconic bloodlines. A wizard/dragon disciple thus copletely violates the concept.

2) Being able to prepare a spell without a spellbook is not at all casting spontaneously. They are worlds apart.

3) There's still been no official word that I know of that any prestige classes, even the SRD ones, will be allows in PFS play.


The feat would not work, though you could take a single level dip into sorcerer then progress from there. The spell progression, as it's worded, could count towards any arcane spell casting class (including wizard). Though the flavor is geared more toward sorcerer's than wizards.


You might not even need a level dip. Don't some traits give you the ability to cast arcane spells without preparation? Just take one of those. Or, if your character is already in play, take the Extra Traits feat and then take one of those traits.

Too lazy to look up the traits now, though.

Grand Lodge

Shisumo wrote:

Three things.

1) The dragon disciple is specifically designed to interact with the idea that sorcerers have draconic bloodlines. A wizard/dragon disciple thus copletely violates the concept.

2) Being able to prepare a spell without a spellbook is not at all casting spontaneously. They are worlds apart.

3) There's still been no official word that I know of that any prestige classes, even the SRD ones, will be allows in PFS play.

The entire Core Rulebook is legal for PFS with some very minor requirements. This includes the Prestige Classes. In fact, if you look at the guide to organized play, you will see that it specifically allows certain prestige classes from other source (ex. the Living Monolith from the Osirion book) I'm not sure where you got that idea unless it's a remnant of Season 0.

The rest is accurate. You would need at least 1 rank of Sorcerer or another class that has spontaneous casting. I wouldn't say a wizard dragon disciple completely violates the concept, but it certainly doesn't make it easy. In fact in the write up it allows for the possibility of non-sorcerer dragon disciples

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Brian Turner 355 wrote:
I wanted to make my wizard into a dragon disciple but ran into a snag when it said that my character needs to cast arcane magic with out preparing it. But my question is that if i took the feat Spell Mastery would that count as being able to cast spells without preparing them. I know it only does it for as high as your int but still those spells dont need to be prepared ahead of time. I dont know if its possible to get a yes from the people in charge of pathfinder society but if it is that would be great. If not oh well it would have been sweet to see a wizard/dragon disciple.

Spell Mastery does not give you spontaneous casting. It merely allows you to prepare the specific spells without having your spellbook available.

Your only option if you're that desperate to get into this class is to take a level of sorcerer, bard, or some other spontaneous casting class. However you will not advance your wizard levels with that PrC.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

*wonders if anyone notices that the OP is over 2 years old, and that it is a PF RPG question and not a society question.*

Grand Lodge

Dragnmoon wrote:
*wonders if anyone notices that the OP is over 2 years old, and that it is a PF RPG question and not a society question.*

LOL

No, I hadn't. I just saw it pop up on the recent posts due to the new post by WesF. And now I feel silly :P


cblome59 wrote:
Dragnmoon wrote:
*wonders if anyone notices that the OP is over 2 years old, and that it is a PF RPG question and not a society question.*

LOL

No, I hadn't. I just saw it pop up on the recent posts due to the new post by WesF. And now I feel silly :P

Heh. I'm also feeling silly for picking up this old thread, thinking it was new.

Liberty's Edge

I know this is an old topic, but I'm trying to find out if the loophole I found is legit.

If a witch, Wizard or Magus took Preferred spell; does that qualify them for DD's spontanious casting requirement?

As a DM I'd allow it, but if I were to build for somebody else's game or a society session, would this be considered legal? If I don't get a response, I'll post this quandry as a a topic.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Gravefiller613 wrote:

I know this is an old topic, but I'm trying to find out if the loophole I found is legit.

If a witch, Wizard or Magus took Preferred spell; does that qualify them for DD's spontanious casting requirement?

As a DM I'd allow it, but if I were to build for somebody else's game or a society session, would this be considered legal? If I don't get a response, I'll post this quandry as a a topic.

I don't think it meets muster for PFS play. I certainly would not allow it. Your game is your game, you don't need anyone else's blessing to validate it.

Liberty's Edge

LazarX wrote:
Gravefiller613 wrote:

I know this is an old topic, but I'm trying to find out if the loophole I found is legit.

If a witch, Wizard or Magus took Preferred spell; does that qualify them for DD's spontanious casting requirement?

As a DM I'd allow it, but if I were to build for somebody else's game or a society session, would this be considered legal? If I don't get a response, I'll post this quandry as a a topic.

I don't think it meets muster for PFS play. I certainly would not allow it. Your game is your game, you don't need anyone else's blessing to validate it.

I am just checking, in case I brought this build to another table for myself to play. As a GM of my own game, I decide things on a case by case basis. If the general concensus is that this is a no go, then I'm not going to make the build.


Gravefiller613 wrote:
LazarX wrote:
Gravefiller613 wrote:

I know this is an old topic, but I'm trying to find out if the loophole I found is legit.

If a witch, Wizard or Magus took Preferred spell; does that qualify them for DD's spontanious casting requirement?

As a DM I'd allow it, but if I were to build for somebody else's game or a society session, would this be considered legal? If I don't get a response, I'll post this quandry as a a topic.

I don't think it meets muster for PFS play. I certainly would not allow it. Your game is your game, you don't need anyone else's blessing to validate it.
I am just checking, in case I brought this build to another table for myself to play. As a GM of my own game, I decide things on a case by case basis. If the general concensus is that this is a no go, then I'm not going to make the build.

Dragon Disciple says that you have to be able to cast 1st level arcane spells spontaneously, not just one 1st level arcane spell. Possibly if you took Preferred Spell twice, applying it to a different 1st level spell both times, then it would maybe pass muster, but that is a pretty heavy feat investment where the feats won't be giving you all that much. And I don't play PFS, but it seems likely a complete no-go there.

Liberty's Edge

roger that, I figured twice would be more acceptable, but I am also looking at the feat investment. just trying to see if it could be done reasonably to a magus without too multiclassing. As the boost from DD really work in the Magus's favor.


Gravefiller613 wrote:
roger that, I figured twice would be more acceptable, but I am also looking at the feat investment. just trying to see if it could be done reasonably to a magus without too multiclassing. As the boost from DD really work in the Magus's favor.

If you really want to go Magus / Dragon disciple look at the cabalist Archetype, it is a 3pp, but does an OK job at a spontanious magus, balanced if you remove/change the replacement for knowledge pool.

Liberty's Edge

I've seen some of the arguements that the knowledge pool is spontanious casting. I am not of that school. I look at it as a more adaptable constant mnemonic enhancer.

i'll take a look at the cabalist, or I'll work on an archetype.

Liberty's Edge

Gravefiller613 wrote:

I know this is an old topic, but I'm trying to find out if the loophole I found is legit.

If a witch, Wizard or Magus took Preferred spell; does that qualify them for DD's spontanious casting requirement?

As a DM I'd allow it, but if I were to build for somebody else's game or a society session, would this be considered legal? If I don't get a response, I'll post this quandry as a a topic.

I agree that it would not be allowed - how do you gain levels in Preferred spell? It is not a class.

Liberty's Edge

Theconiel wrote:
Gravefiller613 wrote:

I know this is an old topic, but I'm trying to find out if the loophole I found is legit.

If a witch, Wizard or Magus took Preferred spell; does that qualify them for DD's spontanious casting requirement?

As a DM I'd allow it, but if I were to build for somebody else's game or a society session, would this be considered legal? If I don't get a response, I'll post this quandry as a a topic.

I agree that it would not be allowed - how do you gain levels in Preferred spell? It is not a class.

The idea would be to mainain the magus spell progression in this build. This is not a super optimized idea. More along the lines of, "I wonder if this works"


Q: With a wizards Arcane Bond's power to allow for casting arcane spells spontaneously can they qualify for the Dragon Disciple Prestige Class?

A: (James Jacobs 11/20/09) First off... I'm not a big fan of saying what you can and can't do in your home game. And as a result, I'm generally hesitant to lay down the law for things like this, since I can see the attraction to go either way. What it really boils down to is if the GM wants to let wizards qualify for the class... that's cool. Arcane bond's power to allow a wizard to cast an additional spell was not intended to let wizards "sneak" into prestige classes that do this, but there's no game balance reason as to why they shouldn't be able to do it. But for materials we're publishing, though, and for building NPCs who might have this class, being able to cast arcane spells spontaneously means "being a bard or a sorcerer" at this point. [Source]


PRD, Dragon Disciple wrote:
Spellcasting: Ability to cast 1st-level arcane spells without preparation. If the character has sorcerer levels, he must have the draconic bloodline. If the character gains levels of sorcerer after taking this class, he must take the draconic bloodline.

Just out of left field, but wouldn't being able to cast a 1st-level arcane spell from a scroll work to qualify for this as well? I mean, if you are just buying the scroll, you aren't really preparing it the the traditional "how to prepare spells" sense.

and later, I will redefine the word "and" to allow all sorts of additional shenanigans.

Liberty's Edge

Caedwyr wrote:
PRD, Dragon Disciple wrote:
Spellcasting: Ability to cast 1st-level arcane spells without preparation. If the character has sorcerer levels, he must have the draconic bloodline. If the character gains levels of sorcerer after taking this class, he must take the draconic bloodline.

Just out of left field, but wouldn't being able to cast a 1st-level arcane spell from a scroll work to qualify for this as well? I mean, if you are just buying the scroll, you aren't really preparing it the the traditional "how to prepare spells" sense.

I like where you are going with that, though, i feel that it is a little cheat-y for me.

Mnemonic Enhancer and Spell Mastery, can simulate some spontanious spellcasting ability, IMO. Which I would say a feat heavy build of Heightenspell, Prefered Spell (Mneonic Enhancer), Spell Mastery, and Enschew Materials would simulate spontanious casting in a fair sense thus why I'm tossing out my idea with Magus.

I already would allow this is my game, as a player is investing feats and resources to a concept, I let them play that concept. However this is more about learning other GMs take on the idea, which is cool with me.

I've enjoyed the input and the debate.

and later, I will redefine the word "and" to allow all sorts of additional shenanigans.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Rules Questions / Question on Dragon Disciple All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.