I'm currently making a level 1 CG Half-Elf face of the party Arcane Sorcerer that I wish be good at magically influencing people and metamagic.
These are the spells I think I going to have on my spell list, but I'm not 100% confident about my spell selection, and I have no idea what spells I'm going to take later. So, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cantrips: Detect Magic, Light, Ghost Sound, Prestidigitation,
1st Level: Sleep, Charm Person
I hate to say it but I would drop charm person and take silent image instead. It has wider application, and isn't as dependent on the GM to decide how it works.
For cantrips I would probably drop Ghost Sound for now and take acid splash instead. You really don't have anything for continued use in a fight -- acid splash will at least give you a means of "doing something" if combat drags on without resorting to expensive alchemical items or mundane attacks.
I would take a familiar and use it to gain info on people too.
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For cantrips I would probably drop Ghost Sound for now and take acid splash instead.
I'd respectfully disagree: Ghost Sound is one of the most powerful cantrips by far - a full blown auditory illusion, which only gets better as you level. Much more utility than Acid Splash - which is a touch attack (nice) but does less damage at a much lower range than that crossbow your character can use.
I'd keep the Ghost Sound, but switch out Light for Dancing Lights - they can still be used for illumination, but can also be used as signals and to fool the enemy. Ghost Sound + Dancing Lights for the impression of a bunch of people in the dark carrying torches, or a ghostly humanoid form with sound effects - at will.
Charm Person I also like, but as Abraham says, it depends a lot on how your DM plays it - it can be anything from the best thing in your arsenal to completely pointless just by DM whim and style. It also depends on how many 'humanoids' you're likely to run into over the course of your first few levels. It's obviously a better choice for urban settings than, say, a trackless wilderness.
I've never been a big fan of Sleep: it only ever hits 4 Hit Dice worth of creatures, and they get to save - it loses utility at a rate of knots as you level (but you can switch out spells later on as a sorcerer). If you have a two-handed weapon / high strength user in your party my personal favourite level 1 arcane spell is Enlarge Person - better stats, better reach, and (most important) the damage of their weapon increases with size - a large sized greataxe or greatsword does 3d6 even before you factor in the guy's increased Strength. But that really depends on who else you have and personal style.
If in doubt always go Mage Armour - you're no good to anyone dead.
Well, charm person and it's later level equivalents are one of the main focuses of this character, so I don't really want to drop it. But I'm certainly willing to trade Sleep out if there's something better.
Actually, I was just sitting here thinking that Dancing Lights would be a better use of my spells known. So I'm definitely going with that.
Since I'm getting rid of Sleep which would you suggest I replace it with: Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Mage Armor, or Shield?
PS. I'm going with a Raven familiar.
Well, charm person and it's later level equivalents are one of the main focuses of this character, so I don't really want to drop it. But I'm certainly willing to trade Sleep out if there's something better.
Actually, I was just sitting here thinking that Dancing Lights would be a better use of my spells known. So I'm definitely going with that.
Since I'm getting rid of Sleep which would you suggest I replace it with: Colour Spray, Enlarge Person, Mage Armor, or Shield?
PS. I'm going with a Raven familiar.
Color Spray is a top notch spell at low levels.
some good stuff
While I like ghost sound as well, at lower level I would stick to the acid splash for the time being...
Now ghost sound would be on my list of spells to pick up (as would message and mending probably), and at later level I would probably switch out the acid splash -- but at low level having a touch attack that you can use at will an unlimited number of times gives the sorcerer a nice fall back -- especially with a lack of other offensively minded spells. The fact it ignores spell resistance is useful too.
However if not acid splash then at low levels daze isn't a bad choice -- and since it and sleep are both enchantment spells if you grab spell focus(enchantment) it will affect both spells you have for combat (sleep and daze).
Of course you will trade out daze almost as soon as you can.
I'm not fond of mage armor for sorcerer's at low level. Not that it's a bad spell -- but getting scrolls of it or a wand is generally a better choice in my opinion. In fact I would probably even be willing to bite the bullet and use a buckler and (possibly studded) leather at level 1 (I have done this before -- no not great fun but it's generally not that bad, honest).
Sleep is nice to hold on to until 4th level -- after which point you should ditch it immediately. Up until 4th you'll generally still be able to get at least one thing with it per combat and since it keeps checking until someone fails or everyone saves even if a few pass you don't lose the spell immediately.
Color spray retains usefulness for a long time (even at higher levels a chance to stun and disarm an opponent is nice) but that close range is a real bear at most levels.
If a little bit of thread recycling can be tolerated:
I've got a 2nd level human Sorcerer (Fey) bloodline with the following:
Stats: STR 10 DEX 14 CON 13, INT 10 WIS 10 CHA 16+2
Traits: Reactive, Missionary (Sense Motive)
Feats: Improved Initiative, Spell Focus (Enchantment)
Spells:
0: Mend, Mage Hand, Acid Splash, Light, Detect Magic
1: Sleep (Save DC 18!), Burning Hands (Save DC 15)
We are about 2 sessions away from making 3rd level.
I'm trying to decide what to take for my 3rd level Feat, and my next 1st level spell known.
We are rapidly getting to the point where "obnoxious save Sleep spell" is going to become less useful, though as a 1st level character it was "End fight."
My gut hunch on the spell is Silent Image. My gut hunch on the feat is Toughness, or possibly Spell Focus: Evocation.
My 2nd level spell (at 4th level) will probably be Scorching Ray. Sleep will get replaced with something, I'm not sure what, at 4th.
Mage armor is a lot better than Shield for a sorceror.
Mage armor can be cast on the monk, the horses, the animal companions, the fighter getting attacked by ghosts, or the person you are protecting.
At higher levels, it lasts for hours.
Shield is caster only, and doesn't last. Carry a scroll around if you're really worried about magic missile attacks.
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Mage Armor is worthless. Never take this spell ever. Realy people +4 armor bouns is not going to do a caster any good ever. If you have a monk or animal companion in the party it can help them. Plus have you ever played a Sorcerer or Wizard with enough ac to realy matter? you did you put points in to dex and cast mage armor and hade a good ac? Well I did untill the GM rolled a 20 and conformed the critical and killed him. DEX<CON for any caster you just need to be able to take a hit. So you can move out of the way and cast.
The top of the list 1st level spells.
Shield ( Usefull at all levels for stoping magic missile attacks. Thay hurt and don't miss. )
Identify ( Do i realy need to say why ? )
Charm Person ( Any time you can get a discount using a level 1 spell im all for it. Libral use on low level npc contunsly in your home area 100% worth the time to make friends. )
Magic Missile ( the hands down best 1st level damage spell. Empowered level 3 spell doing 5D6+5 forec damage no save no nothing take damage.)
Color Spray ( one of the most usefull 1st level spells and stays usefull for most of the game for close combat. )
Enlarge Person ( Usefull for other people if you want to buff some one to do the same damage as your magic missile? Or you could just cast Magic Missile. )
Jump ( Untill some one showed me how over powered this could be I did not beleave them. )
Mage Armor is a nice spell with a long duration -- but that's exactly why it's a waste of the sorcerer's spells known. Even a scroll will last you "long enough" in most cases (honestly the average dungeon including combat and searching isn't longer than 2 hours) and it doesn't really benefit from a high caster level. You don't really need to cast it regularly during battle, as such the time to get out an item to use for mage armor isn't an issue, and other first level spells will do you better with a better caster level/higher DC. Also Armor bonuses are amazingly easy to get even for a spell caster (or monk), while shield bonuses are much harder to get (in fact for a spell caster the best shield option is a magica mithral buckler while for the monk the only option is the shlield spell) and the fact that the shield spell doesn't last as long means that IF you want it you'll have to cast it early in the fight -- every fight that you want it too.
At 1st level, sleep is arguably the best spell available, but it loses effectiveness rapidly; daze has similar problems, so I seldom take both. Personally, I'm fond of the following selection for a 1st level sorcerer: acid splash, detect magic, mage hand, dancing lights; mage armor, sleep. I view mage armor like insurance: you might not need it, but when you do you need it bad. Note that I usually take Point Blank Shot at 1st level, which applies to acid splash and ray of frost (+1 on attack rolls and damage within 30 ft, please).
At 2nd level, another general purpose/utility cantrip like ghost sound, prestidigitation, or read magic is normally my choice. At 3rd level, it's hard to resist ray of enfeeblement, especially with the Arcane bloodline granting identify as a bonus spell. At 4th level, web is probably my number one spell choice and it's time to swap out sleep for color spray.
After that, I tend to choose spells so that I have several damage (acid arrow or scorching ray, fireball/lightning bolt or vampiric touch, etc.), disabling (glitterdust or hideous laughter, ray of exhaustion or stinking cloud), and buff/utility (bull's strength or resist energy, fly or haste, etc.) options. For damaging spells, unless there's an underlying theme to the character concept, I prefer having spells that use several different types of energy (so, I'll probably take scorching ray over acid arrow if I have acid splash as a 0-level spell). Note that in early middle levels (4th-7th), damage can be reasonably effective, but starts losing out during late middle levels (7th-10th) as the game transitions to high level play.
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Jump level 1 +10 to your acrobatics for jumping.+20 at level 5, +30 at level 9.
10 + 1 trained ranks + 0dex mod = min distance coverd 12 feet avrage distance coverd 20 ft max distance coverd 22 feet.
level one Caster with a 10 dex.
level 5
20 + 5 trained ranks + 0 dex mod = min distance coverd 21 feet avrage distance coverd 23ft max distance 25ft.
level 9
30 + 9 trained ranks + 0 dex mod = min distance coverd 24 feet avrage distance coverd 26ft max distance coverd 28ft.
level 1 bard, monk, rogue, and Barbarian ( +4 becous of fast movement )
10 + 4 trained ranks +2 dex mod = min distance coverd 17 feet avrage distance coverd 21ft max distance coverd 23ft.
level 9 see above Monk ( +12 becous of base speed incresses )
30 + 12 trained ranks +3 dex mod = min distance coverd 25 feet avrage distance coverd 27ft max distance coverd 29ft.
BTW top of a building is only a DC 40.
how far was it to the other side?
How do you figure that the top of a building is only a DC 40?
It's DC = Height in feet X 4.
So unless you have some rather flat, squat buildings at only 10 feet tall it's going to be much higher than 40.
A two story building that is 10 feet tall per story with 5 feet of roof/structure is going to be 25 feet tall...
That's a DC 100 for a jump of 25 feet tall.
This is of course assuming you have 10 feet to run before you jump otherwise the DC doubles.
Also there is this pretty line too:
"No jump can allow you to exceed your maximum movement for the round."
So if you jump as a move action the farthest you can go is your movement (since you move then take another move action) IF you full round run instead you could go up to quadruple your base movement (provided you aren't in heavy armor), but then you've spent the entire round on a running jump.
Finally it also assumes that the conditions for your jump are perfect -- not even gravel on the ground (as gravel or sand gives a + 2 to the DC) a cavern is a +5 to the DC while slopes, slipperiness, and stability of the ground all create issues too.
EDIT:
Don't forget that monk could spend a Ki point at fifth level and beyond for a +20 (untyped bonus) on his acrobatic checks for jumps.
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How do you figure that the top of a building is only a DC 40?
It's DC = Height in feet X 4.
So unless you have some rather flat, squat buildings at only 10 feet tall it's going to be much higher than 40.
A two story building that is 10 feet tall per story with 5 feet of roof/structure is going to be 25 feet tall...
That's a DC 100 for a jump of 25 feet tall.
This is of course assuming you have 10 feet to run before you jump otherwise the DC doubles.
Also there is this pretty line too:
"No jump can allow you to exceed your maximum movement for the round."
So if you jump as a move action the farthest you can go is your movement (since you move then take another move action) IF you full round run instead you could go up to quadruple your base movement (provided you aren't in heavy armor), but then you've spent the entire round on a running jump.
Finally it also assumes that the conditions for your jump are perfect -- not even gravel on the ground (as gravel or sand gives a + 2 to the DC) a cavern is a +5 to the DC while slopes, slipperiness, and stability of the ground all create issues too.
Damn man that stuff is OP... You can Jump up to your move... Whooooooaa...
Actually I did a dwarven monk once named Mario...
Bet you can guess his favorite tactic for taking things out.
At level 10 I could make a 30 foot tall jump by assuming a 1 on the dice.