| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'm trying to make a viable Dwarven Sorcerer as unlikely as that sounds for an all-Sorcerer campaign we've got coming up. As with all characters I make, I'm trying to make him viable levels 1-20 and not reliant on any magic items to make the build function. This is what I've got so far...
Dwarven Sorcerer (Primal - Elemental Earth)
Rock Stepper, Stonesinger, favored class option for Sorcerers
Attributes: (20 point build)
STR - 10
DEX - 12
CON - 14 (+2 racial mod)
INT - 10
WIS - 10 (+2 racial mod)
CHA - 17 (-2 racial mod, +1 @ 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th & 20th)
Traits:
Deep Guardian +1 attack, +1 AC to summoned creatures with the earth sub-type or burrowing speeds
Glory of Old (+1 saves vs. spells, spell-like abilities & poison)
Feats:
1st - Spell Focus: Conjuration
1st - Eschew Materials
3rd - Augment Summoning
5th - Superior Summoning
7th - Improved Initiative
7th - Combat Casting
9th - Spell Penetration
11th - Quicken Spell
13th - Empower Spell
13th - Dazing Spell
15th - Spell Perfection: (???)
17th - Greater Spell Penetration
19th - Great Fortitude
19th - Lightning Reflexes
In combat, the character will focus on summoning Earth Elementals who will gain a variety of bonuses (+1 attack, +1 AC, +4 Strength, +4 Constitution, +1 attack and damage if both are on the ground, +1d6 acid damage per attack after 9th and last 3 rounds longer than normal when summoned) as well as shaping the battlefield through the various Pit Spells and contributing to damage with acid and earth-based attack spells. A Dazing Stone Call is a nice trick, for instance, when the battlefield allows for it. I'm still on the fence as to what spell to slip into that Spell Perfection slot.
Another direction I'm considering going is to replace the feats I've chosen with those below, to take the Arcane Bloodline via the Eldritch Heritage feats. I'm torn because, with so many spells per day at my disposal, I'm not sure the Arcane Bond is that huge of a boost and I'm on the fence as to the benefits of the other options as well. On the flip side I don't won't need Spell Penetration anywhere near as much as most full casters because so few of my spells allow it.
7th - Skill Focus: Knowledge - Planes
7th - Eldritch Heritage: Arcane Bloodline (Arcane Bond)
9th - Quicken Spell
11th - Improved Eldrtich Heritage: Arcane Bloodline (Metamagic Adept or New Arcana)
17th - Greater Eldritch Heritage: Arcane Bloodline (School Power - Conjuration)
At any rate, I'm looking for any advice, comments, insight or critiques. The rest of the party will be a female Kitsune Sylvan Bloodline Sorcerer (party leader) and two brothers whom are Draconic Sorcerers 12/Dragon Disciples 8 who intend to focus primarily on damage either at range, as AoE or in melee.
A Sage bloodline Sorcerer would be fine for a Dwarf, but they downright excel at being Empyreal. Is it required that you be Primal Earth?
A Sage bloodline Sorcerer would be fine for a Dwarf, but they downright excel at being Empyreal. Is it required that you be Primal Earth?
.
.Not at all, simply that Primal Earth offers all of the advantages I was looking for as well as fitting the concept perfectly.
automatic acid-based spells for favored class option
+1 point of damage/die at 1st
+1d6 acid damage per attack by summoned creatures at 9th
permanant Burrow speed at 15th
Empyreal allows you to use wis instead of cha.
Empyreal allows you to use wis instead of cha.
Yeah, I saw that. That's a big +2 DC swing, but by itself, that option doesn't make up for all the other things lost in my opinion. Most of my spells either target Reflex saves or don't allow saves at all and even so, My DC's should be pretty good.
Empyreal allows you to use wis instead of cha.
You could go crossblooded and use Empyreal and Primal Earth.
Summoning is tricky at low levels, when your summon times will be short, and your critters weak (often weak enough to ignore). Not sure how to compensate for that; keeping even minimum CHA means you don't have the points to build for anything else (like an Eldritch Knight). The first 6 levels are going to be very hard on you, I'm afraid.
Not as hard as rolling a Mystic Theurge, though, and people keep trying that. I'm sure you can make it work. Still...
As mentioned, Empyreal is a more viable dwarven sorcerer option. The bloodline powers aren't nearly as useful for the concept you've chosen, but you're looking at a +4 stat swing from running a CHA based sorcerer, and that's +2 on save DCs and more bonus spells per day. Plus, a healing power right up front, which will be invaluable in an all-sorcerer game.
|
@Daniel:
But then you lose out on spells, and that's a BIG deal, big enough to shy away from it.
Looks like you've got an idea in mind already: Go big with the summoning, give 'em some acid damage to boot, and support the party that way. Seems like a good fit, and you don't need sky-high charisma to make summoning effective as a strategy. Spell-wise, consider options that buff allies or that create difficult terrain for enemies to pass through. If you stick to summoning Earth elementals or flying allies, you can actually bypass a lot of the problems inherent with making terrain difficult.
Anything else is just gravy. Focus on learning a few utility spells that won't be Cha-based (staples, like Fly), and focus gear-wise on increasing your Charisma to decent levels, as well as defenses.
Truth be told, as I said, you seem to know what you're doing, so you probably had a lot of this in mind already, but hopefully I reminded you of something you may have missed. :P