Hi all
Was wondering IF damage was the goal, what could a level 1 or 2 wizard (or Sorc) use to get the most damage possible of their cantrips and low level spells.
This is theory craft and not a serious build.
ie. Ray of frost, Point Blank Shot, Evoker. A never ending series of attacks that do 1d3+2
A crossblooded orc/draconic (black) sorcerer with PBS using a flask of acid as an alchemical power focus gets 1d3+4 damage per shot out of Acid Splash. There's a similar item that will do the same for Ray of Frost if you prefer cold.
The kobold favored class bonus can give him an added +1 damage to his acid spells per two levels; I think there's some other race with a similar bonus but I don't remember what race it is.
As a nice bonus, if you don't go kobold and pick a fairly non-weak race instead, this combination qualifies for Dragon Disciple and can make a fairly respectable gish at later levels.
The easiest way I know of to tack damage onto low level spells is with precision damage/sneak attack.
Benly wrote: A crossblooded orc/draconic (black) sorcerer with PBS using a flask of acid as an alchemical power focus gets 1d3+4 damage per shot out of Acid Splash. [snip] this combination qualifies for Dragon Disciple and can make a fairly respectable gish at later levels. Actually, that might be kind of fun. Sorc 1, Ninja 3 would give you 1d3+4+2d6 when you caught a victim flat-footed. Your draconic natural attacks would benefit too.
I'd probably swap Orc blooded for a Primal Elemental matching my Draconic energy type, unless I knew I was going to be able to avoid the light sensitivity somehow. Dazzle isn't /that/ bad but I think this character would want to eke out every plus to hit he could.
threemilechild wrote: I'd probably swap Orc blooded for a Primal Elemental matching my Draconic energy type, unless I knew I was going to be able to avoid the light sensitivity somehow. Dazzle isn't /that/ bad but I think this character would want to eke out every plus to hit he could. Eh, it's touch attacks and you lose the light-sensitivity at 9th level anyway. I don't think it's a big deal.
The main reason I lean towards orc over primal, though is that if you're making a crossblooded draconic sorcerer, dragon disciple is the obvious place to go with the build. Taking that into account, orc has two big advantages.
1: With the way dragon disciple's bonus spells work, you get both bonus spell lists on a crossblooded character. Orc's bonus list isn't incredible, but elemental's bonus list is worse, and in particular the four Elemental Body spells are incredibly redundant with draconic and dragon disciple both granting Form Of The Dragon.
2: Dragon disciple grants the dragon breath weapon and wings bloodline powers and (due to its wording) upgrades them, even if you select the crossblooded bloodline's other option. This means you're getting the level 9 and 15 powers from your alternate bloodline. Now, Elemental Summoning and Elemental Movement aren't bad, but dragon disciple is generally a melee hybrid class. Between dragon disciple's stat growth, Strength Of The Beast, and Power Of Giants, you're looking at a +16 Str increase, +6 Con increase, and +7 natural armor bonus before spells or items are taken into account. That's pretty nice is what that is.
Of course, either way it's in the character's future rather than the level 1 where you're plinking around with your Acid Splashes, but since the level 1 character works out about the same either way, I like the option of turning into a terrifying draconic titan later on.
edit: I forgot you don't lose the light sensitivity unless you take Fearless instead of Dragon Resistances, so you may end up keeping it depending on your tastes. Even so, I don't think -1 to hit under certain circumstances is really a big deal, and I'm pretty sure there are items that counter it anyway.
Am I missing a FAQ or errata or something?
PRD wrote: Point-Blank Shot (Combat)
You are especially accurate when making ranged attacks against close targets.
Benefit: You get a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at ranges of up to 30 feet.
As a general rule, weapon-like spells can be counted as weapons.
Another good addition is Liquid Ice as a focus for Ray of Frost; that's worth a +1 damage, for 40 gp. Pretty good buy for a low-level caster.
So a caster could go down that whole feat tree?
Wow. How did this elude me?
The trait Gifted Adept lets you cast a 1st-level spell as if you were 2nd level. Gifted Adept + Burning Hands = 2d4 damage to multiple enemies at first level.
Arma virumque wrote: The trait Gifted Adept lets you cast a 1st-level spell as if you were 2nd level. Gifted Adept + Burning Hands = 2d4 damage to multiple enemies at first level. If you really want to have fun with Burning Hands, make a gnome crossblooded orc/dragon or primal/dragon sorcerer with the Pyromaniac alternate racial trait and the Gifted Adept and Elemental Pupil traits to deal 3d4+7 damage with Burning Hands at first level. The trick will run out of gas after a few levels, but boy will it be a whizzer when you start.
If you have no problems with 3rd party material Classifieds: Pyromancer would be a definite plus to this idea…and since we don’t care to much about achieving high-level spells (since the focus is cantrips) then 4 levels of Fighter should be taken to take Weapon Specialization (ranged touch attacks).
Pyromancer 1/Cross-blood (Orc/Red Dragon) 1/Fighter 4
Cross-blood Sorcerer: +3 Damage per Dice
Pyromancer “Fire Mastery“: Add Charisma to damage for fire spells.
(Feat) Greater Fire Mastery: +1 damage to Fire Spells
(Feat) Supreme Fire Mastery: Doubles the bonus gained from “Fire Mastery” (essentially Charisma Modifier x2)
(Feat) Weapon Specialization (ranged touch attacks)
(Feat)Point-Blank Shot
Fire Orb (Pyromancer Spell) Charisma (+5 Modifier)
(Within 30ft) Damage: 1d3+17
(Beyond 30ft) Damage: 1d3+16
I didn't realise (or consider) that the Dragon Disciple would not only advance the non-draconic bloodline powers, but actually both grant and advance the draconic ones. It seems unintended at best, but I think you're right about the RAW. That does in fact make it awesome.
I think you'd have to pick between each spell list as normal, though, and I rather like the draconic spell list. With the exception of Fly, everything is pretty solid -- and even having a magical Fly in reserve or for use on other people isn't a bad thing.
Also, it's too cool to sneak attack in melee when you have all a dragon's natural attacks.
threemilechild wrote: I didn't realise (or consider) that the Dragon Disciple would not only advance the non-draconic bloodline powers, but actually both grant and advance the draconic ones. It seems unintended at best, but I think you're right about the RAW. That does in fact make it awesome.
I think you'd have to pick between each spell list as normal, though, and I rather like the draconic spell list. With the exception of Fly, everything is pretty solid -- and even having a magical Fly in reserve or for use on other people isn't a bad thing.
Also, it's too cool to sneak attack in melee when you have all a dragon's natural attacks.
It's not that Dragon Disciple grants both lists of powers, but rather that the prestige class explicitly grants certain bloodline powers at certain class levels whether you have gotten them as a sorcerer or not, and then upgrades them based on your effective sorcerer level, so you're free to pick the other side's powers instead. (There is the down side that it keeps you from getting the wings early via Robes of Arcane Heritage, though. Fortunately, Fly can tide you over.)
As for the bloodline spells, Blood Of Dragons explicitly does not act the same way as the normal bloodline bonus spells - it grants you your bloodline spells as soon as you have slots of the appropriate level. Basically, this comes down to whether you think that bloodline spells that a crossblooded sorcerer doesn't choose are still considered bloodline spells for that sorcerer. My belief is that they are, since they're still legal to choose for a later bloodline spell, but I could see a counter case being made.
Personally I'm not inclined to mix sneak attack into this - the build works very cleanly as it is, and I feel like you end up trading out more in lost spellcasting and bloodline powers for each die of sneak attack than it's really worth. Bear in mind that the claws explicitly get full Strength bonus each and the bite gets 1.5x Strength bonus, so it's in your best interest to get the huge boosts as quickly as possible even before you take spellcasting and other powers into account.
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