Would it be possible to take, say, draconic fire and elemental water? Basically any cross blood that has opposing elemental types.
Would it be possible to take, say, draconic fire and elemental water? Basically any cross blood that has opposing elemental types.
There's no reason why not. In fact, if you are going to do crossblooded/elemental or crossblooded/genie then you kind of want to take an elemental/genie type that doesn't match your dragon's element.
The reason for this is that the elemental/genie arcana allows you to swap the energy type of a spell's damage, but it does not change the descriptor of the spell. That means you can cast fireball which gets you a +1 damage per die, and swap out the fire for cold damage, and you still keep the +1 damage, because the [fire] descriptor has not changed.
On the other hand, if you went for fire dragon/fire elemental, you could take cone of cold or lightning bolt and swap the damage for fire, but you would not get the +1 damage per die for those spells since they still have the [cold] or [electricity] descriptors.
BTW, you should definitely check out the Marid bloodline. I like it better than the water elemental bloodline.
Peet
I guess I am also trying to max out my element immunities. I want permanent resists as high as I can get them. I have a cool concept for an epic lvl game, just need to figure how to pull it off properly... The dm like to throw out 600 dmg element attacks. I called shenanigans, but I was summarily dismissed for it.
I guess I am also trying to max out my element immunities. I want permanent resists as high as I can get them. I have a cool concept for an epic lvl game, just need to figure how to pull it off properly... The dm like to throw out 600 dmg element attacks. I called shenanigans, but I was summarily dismissed for it.
In that case I would make sure you either take 2 levels of rogue or get a Ring of Evasion. At high levels they can be a lifesaver. Also make sure your reflex save is high if possible.
I'm taking two levels of paladin with a ring of evasion. Is there a feat that lets you stack sorc levels to determine smite dmg?
The reason for this is that the elemental/genie arcana allows you to swap the energy type of a spell's damage, but it does not change the descriptor of the spell. That means you can cast fireball which gets you a +1 damage per die, and swap out the fire for cold damage, and you still keep the +1 damage, because the [fire] descriptor has not changed.
From the Elemental Bloodline Arcana - "The spells type changes to match your bloodline"
I always thought this means the opposite of what you said. If a cold spell is turned to fire then Elemental Focus (Fire) would affect it. Could someone clarify?
The reason for this is that the elemental/genie arcana allows you to swap the energy type of a spell's damage, but it does not change the descriptor of the spell. That means you can cast fireball which gets you a +1 damage per die, and swap out the fire for cold damage, and you still keep the +1 damage, because the [fire] descriptor has not changed.From the Elemental Bloodline Arcana - "The spells type changes to match your bloodline"
I always thought this means the opposite of what you said. If a cold spell is turned to fire then Elemental Focus (Fire) would affect it. Could someone clarify?
You are right.
The reason for this is that the elemental/genie arcana allows you to swap the energy type of a spell's damage, but it does not change the descriptor of the spell. That means you can cast fireball which gets you a +1 damage per die, and swap out the fire for cold damage, and you still keep the +1 damage, because the [fire] descriptor has not changed.From the Elemental Bloodline Arcana - "The spells type changes to match your bloodline"
I always thought this means the opposite of what you said. If a cold spell is turned to fire then Elemental Focus (Fire) would affect it. Could someone clarify?
A damaging energy spell has an energy type and an energy descriptor. These things need not be the same. For example, using the steam caster feat changes a fire spell to the water descriptor, but the damage remains the fire type.
Using the elemental substitution feat (or a similar sorcerer power) changes the type of energy damage done by the spell. The type is used when the damage is compared against energy resistance. The descriptor of the spell, however, does not change.
The text for the bloodline arcana of the draconic bloodline says: "Whenever you cast a spell with an energy descriptor that matches your draconic bloodline's energy type, that spell deals +1 point of damage per die rolled." (emphasis mine)
Note though that I personally think this is a loophole and is not rules as intended, so your GM may overrule this. But it is definitely RAW.
Elemental focus, on the other hand, works with type, not descriptor. So changing the type does affect whether Elemental Focus works or not.
Peet
Here is the full text
Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a spell that deals energy damage, you can change the type of damage to match the type of your bloodline. This also changes the spell's type to match the type of your bloodline.
When you use the bloodline to change a cold into fire (for example) the spell is no longer cold in any way. Elemental Focus (Cold) no longer would apply and Elemental Focus (Fire) would.
Ok it is a type (i think), all of the genie bloodlnes change the descriptor of the spell but the elemental bloodline says that it changes the spell's type (after saying that it changes the spell's damage type), so since iirc spell's don't have types but have descriptors i would go with typo.
Here is the full text
Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a spell that deals energy damage, you can change the type of damage to match the type of your bloodline. This also changes the spell's type to match the type of your bloodline.When you use the bloodline to change a cold into fire (for example) the spell is no longer cold in any way. Elemental Focus (Cold) no longer would apply and Elemental Focus (Fire) would.
So you are saying that where it says "type" in bold in your quote, that this is actually a typographical error and it should read "descriptor"?
I think if you said that to your GM he would likely buy that. But officially, if it is an error, the wording stands as RAW until it appears in a FAQ or errata.
Peet
I really don't care about the extra damage I deal. Most of the monsters have DR/ shenanagins anyway. I am trying to mitigate incoming damage.
Maybe I am going about this the wrong way. Here is the scenario. We are in an arena and the only way out is to die. No summons into the playing field, but we did gate in a colossal blue dragon that died in the first round after taking over 800 dmg from three attacks (even after being healed for 282). The field is about 900 ft long and 300 ft wide. There are over 50 cr 20+ mobs who some took over 600 dmg from combined teamwork. At the end of the arena is a Titan whose miniature is the dm, he has pretty much told us that there is no way to win or talk our way out of this one... After we die, then we can leave the arena in theory. He follows no epic level guide lines that I can see. Enemy always saves, and we never save (so it seems). Our star player is a 85 lvl archmage who just keeps shaking his head at how powerless he is in the whole thing. I want to try some creativity, but I need survivability to do so. I am going to build my character as a 30 sorc/ pal ? I am going to focus on battlefield control.
Well, it's really hard to say if your GM is just making everything up as he goes along. Even epic rules weren't really meant to go to level 85.
For a game like this I would probably want to play a mostly mundane attack kind of character, since you can do that all day, whereas casters can only do thing so often before they run out of gas.
But, assuming your GM allows you to take multiple bloodlines for eldritch heritage (which at level 85 it's hard to imagine why not, since you have so many feats), having a decent charisma and using the Eldiritch Heritage chain of feats would allow your melee guy to also get STR bonuses from the orc and abyssal bloodlines (total of +6 each) and you could go dragon disciple for another +4, and these bonuses will stack with any others you get. You could also get the orc 15th lebel ability to turn into a giant for another +6 size bonus to STR. Use your spells to buff, get out of jams, and influence the battlefield, rather than blast, which will be kind of a waste at that level.
As for resistances you could take multiple dragon types or elemental types to gain resistances to more than one, though Eldritch Heritage doesn't lead to the level 20 abilities (unless your GM houserules them).