Greetings Fellow gamers,
A player in my RotR campaign is looking at a crossblooded sorcerer. (Draconic, and Rime Blooded). She's looking to take the Irrisen Icemage feat, and going for Dragon Disciple. She might even take a level in fighter to qualify for the Eldritch Knight Prestige class (and to get point blank and precise shots for her ray spells).
She's building an avenging ice-valkyrie sort of concept.
Items on her shopping list:
Belt of Giant Strength
Headband of Alluring Charisma
Robe of Arcane Heritage
+1 Longspear
+2 Mithral Chain shirt
What are your suggestions? I think she's leaning more towards the Dragon Disciple. Should she dip into eldritch knight?
What are some other feats, spells, and magical items that will make her a good middle-line fighter (not hanging back with the archer and wizard, but not quite up front with the Samurai and Magus.
Trying to get some inputs for things we may not have thought about.
Very Respectfully,
--Bacon
Dot
I got him to send me the stablock:
Very Respectfully,
--Bacon
Ylloura Hannara Aureale
Female Human (Ulfen) Fighter 1/Sorcerer (Crossblooded, Wildblooded) 5
LN Medium humanoid (human)
Hero Points 1
Init +4; Senses Perception +5
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Defense
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AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+6 armor, +2 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 43 (1d10+5d6+9)
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +2
Resist cold 5
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 longspear +7 (1d8+5/×3) and
dagger +6 (1d4+3/19-20/×2)
Ranged light crossbow +5 (1d8/19-20/×2)
Sorcerer (Crossblooded, Wildblooded) Spells Known (CL 5th; concentration +10):
2nd (5/day)—rage, flurry of snowballs (DC 17)
1st (8/day)—shield, mage armor, chill touch (DC 16), snowball (DC 16)
0 (at will)—disrupt undead, ray of frost, detect magic, read magic, prestidigitation (DC 15)
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Statistics
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Str 16, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 20
Base Atk +3; CMB +6; CMD 18
Feats Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Eschew Materials, Irrisen Icemage, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot
Traits failed winter witch apprentice, reactionary
Skills Bluff +9, Craft (armor) +7, Craft (weapons) +7, Knowledge (arcana) +10, Linguistics +2, Perception +5, Spellcraft +9 (+10 to identify spells or magical effects with the cold descriptor.), Survival +4, Use Magic Device +9
Languages Common, Draconic, Giant, Hallit, Skald
SQ cold steel, hero points, mutated bloodlines (draconic [silver dragon [cold]], rime-blooded)
Combat Gear Potion of cure light wounds (3); Other Gear +2 Mithral Chain shirt, +1 Longspear, Crossbow bolts (30), Dagger, Light crossbow, Belt of giant strength +2, Headband of alluring charisma +2, Backpack, masterwork (6 @ 21 lbs), Masterwork tool (Craft [armor]), Masterwork tool (Craft [weapons]), Sorcerer's kit, Wrist sheath (1 @ 1 lbs), 69 PP, 97 GP, 5 SP
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TRACKED RESOURCES
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Cold Steel (Frost 2 rds) (8/day) (Sp) - 0/8
Crossbow bolts - 0/30
Dagger - 0/1
Irrisen Icemage (3/day) - 0/3
Potion of cure light wounds - 1/3
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Special Abilities
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Cold Steel (Frost 2 rds) (8/day) (Sp) Touch a weapon to grant the Frost power for 2 rds.
Energy Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Failed Winter Witch Apprentice (Spellcraft) +1 to Spellcraft when identify spells or magical effects with the cold descriptor.
Hero Points (1) Hero Points can be spent at any time to grant a variety of bonuses.
Irrisen Icemage (3/day) All of your spells with the cold descriptor are cast at +1 caster level. Any spell with a different energy descriptor is cast at –1 caster level.
Point-Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into melee.
Rime-Blooded The wintry origin of your magic flows like ice water in your veins.
Associated Bloodline: Boreal.
Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a spell with the cold descriptor, you may select one target of the spell to be slowed (as the sp
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Born in Irrisen in 4688AR. She isn't aware of it yet, but she is a descendant of the Witch Queen Baba Yaga. She was smuggled out of Whitethrone by members of the Heralds of Summer's Return. They convinced a merchant named Orthanus De'Regone to take her from the region. He took her back to Magnimar and adopted her with his wife.
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If your player (or you, as it may be) enjoys the character, then no, its not crazy.
Most of it comes from proper planning; what abilities or powers do you want out of each class? Which aspect of your character (magic or martial) appeals to you most? Remember that both Eldritch Knight and Dragon Disciple charge you caster levels as a balancing factor, so not only will you be out one caster level for the level of Fighter you took, but you'll also be out more caster levels from the Prestige Class. You need to decide if that's worth it to you. I imagine it is, because you're taking Crossblooded Sorcerer!
Generally speaking, your best bet is likely to go the full 10 levels in Dragon Disciple, then grab Eldritch Knight levels until 20th, assuming your goal is to maximize your Base Attack Bonus, that is.
is she already 6th level? it seems to me that if she wants that kind of build her best bet would be to switch to an aasimar... its thematic for a Valkyrie, and the SLA would let her start out fighter 1/sorc 1 and then go straight in to eldritch knight starting at 3rd... its not great for her casting early on but it is great for her combat ability and in the long run it works out to exactly the same casting ability (you lose the casting level from EK1 earlier, but more EK levels in the build equals better gish). from there, dragon disciple is still a valid option (its really just a question of how martial you want to be). i played an aasimar 'dragonknight' who went pally 2/gold dragon sorc 1/EK 2 to get in to dragon disciple (just 4 levels for a bunch of tasty goodies, and then back to EK), and he worked out well.
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its not just aasimars- any wizard can do it just by choosing the scryer subschool (of divination). i'm sure there are other ways too... (tengu with the tengu wings feat could, for example). and the reason people (or that I at least) suggest using that option isn't to be annoying, or to discourage other races/builds if you want to play them, it's because these sorts of casting/melee hybrids are already generally less effective than a straight class character and the early entry options help to close that gap some.
you have to try hard to be bad at it.
that depends a lot on where/how you play... i'm playing in an absolutely brutal campaign right now where everyone is highly optimized and the only reason we haven't TPKed (more than once) is because our incredibly efficient healer invested in (and has used) several breath of life scrolls (we're still not high enough level to cast it normally).
even outside of campaigns like that, a caster/melee hybrid just is not going to be as good at either as a straight melee or straight caster, which is why when people ask about those specific builds the suggestions typically involve the few options for not being as far behind in both as you normally would be. i seriously doubt that all anyone is suggesting anymore is taking early entry EK levels "for any caster-build" because its obviously a worse caster build than just taking 20 levels of caster. (honestly, the more pervasive 'no, do this instead' is suggesting everyone take 1 level of crossblooded sorcerer draconic/orc for the scaling bonus damage)
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Its still cheesy. I mean all i see for any caster-build anymore is no forget that, get this sla early and do this...like how optimized to you need to be for a game where you roll dice? Like you have to try hard to be bad at it.
I know what you mean, but in OP's case his build isn't even optimised. Dragon Disciple is excellent, but with that many Sorcerer levels, they need to be powerful Sorcerer levels. Cross blooded is awful unless you are minimising spell casting. Nate Lange is right, Ylloura is going to be a very weak spellcaster, may as well go DD for 10 and Ek the rest of the way.
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Just FYI - technically Wildblooded and Crossblooded archetypes cannot mix. Of course, if you're fine with it as the GM, then it's cool of course.
As for which (or both) prestige classes... both lose 1 caster level at 1st, but Dragon Disciple loses more along the way. Can also do a common 4 levels of Disciple, then take Eldritch Knight when you'd be losing another caster level anyways.
Greetings Fellow gamers,
A player in my RotR campaign is looking at a crossblooded sorcerer. (Draconic, and Rime Blooded). She's looking to take the Irrisen Icemage feat, and going for Dragon Disciple. She might even take a level in fighter to qualify for the Eldritch Knight Prestige class (and to get point blank and precise shots for her ray spells).
She's building an avenging ice-valkyrie sort of concept.
Items on her shopping list:
Belt of Giant Strength
Headband of Alluring Charisma
Robe of Arcane Heritage
+1 Longspear
+2 Mithral Chain shirtWhat are your suggestions? I think she's leaning more towards the Dragon Disciple. Should she dip into eldritch knight?
What are some other feats, spells, and magical items that will make her a good middle-line fighter (not hanging back with the archer and wizard, but not quite up front with the Samurai and Magus.
Trying to get some inputs for things we may not have thought about.
Very Respectfully,
--Bacon
Dragon Disciple first - definately. It advances the bloodline and a Dragon Disciple basically is a 'switch hitter' caster/melee.
Once she progresses as far into Dragon Disciple as far as she wants to go then going EK after is alright. Basically I'd summarize it as - If she wants to use manufactured weapons then go EK, if they are using more natural attacks go into back into sorcerer or finish Dragon Disicple.
Greetings Fellow gamers,
A player in my RotR campaign is looking at a crossblooded sorcerer. (Draconic, and Rime Blooded).
Hello fellow GM. Players can be pretty sneaky. Dragonic is Crossblooded and Rime is Wildblooded. Crossblooded and Wildblooded has been specifically ruled to not stack for sorcerers.
Link: http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fz#v5748eaic9rai
*With you being GM, you can always allow her to do have these bloodlines.
That's a good point about the cross-blooded and wild-blooded.
I think I will allow it. For now. If it gets silly, we'll have to drop Rime-Blooded for Boreal (which is still in concept for a vengeful winter witch type character and wouldn't be a wild-blooded bloodline). I think it's viable, since you are taking the Will save hit, and the reduction in caster level.
I think it also works because we've got a full sorcerer (Abyssal) in the party too (who keeps toying with the idea of taking a barbarian level to represent the possession by a daemon of Lamashtu, but hasn't bit the bullet on that one yet.
A full-grown adult inspired very heavily by Disney's Frozen. Hey, who am I to judge where inspiration comes from, right?
Very Respectfully,
--Bacon
For those interested: Party Composition for my Rise of the Runelords campaign:
Andrew Darkwell Male Human Fighter 5/Ranger 3
Kiirn Vornseth Male Human Bard 8
Hatashi De'Regone Male Human Samurai 6/Fighter 2
Alysangela Female Half-Elf Sorcerer (Abyssal) 8
Yurak Vallond Male Dwarf Magus 8
Fagan Starseeker Male Dwarf Inquisitor (Desna) 7
Kidala Viskalai Female Human Fighter(Brawler) 3/Rogue (Thug) 2
Shalelu Andosana Female Elf Fighter 4/Ranger 5
Ylloura Hannare Aureale Female Human Fighter 1/Sorcerer (Crossblooded/Wildblooded) 5
Some of them are Cohorts though... I feel like I am DMing a Suikoden game
Your group is going to tear through RotRL with that many people, even if half of them are cohorts. I am currently playing in a RotRL game with only 4 party members, and no cohorts, and we have only run into trouble 1 time and that was because of the ridiculous critical damage an ogre hook can do.
Well, they are at the Graul Farmstead right now, and have been on the recipient end of an ogre hook already (no crits yet though)
In general, I add +2 to all of the critters with levels, and all of the non-level beasties I add at least 1 (up to three), or boost hit dice by 2+ if they are a solo beastie. I also have a Co-DM who gets to control some of the villains.
Very Respectfully,
--Bacon
The way this reads to me, is if people are trying to crossblood a bloodline and the same wildblooded version of said bloodline like crossblooding Draconic and Linnorm or Boreal and Rime. It doesnt really seem to address crossblooding complately separate bloodlines wild or not.
Are you kidding? It flat out says they are not compatable archetypes.
That is irregardless of Sorc Bloodline/Wildbloodline choice.It then goes on give recommendations for GMs that choose to ignore the actual RAW.
There is no example of the actual rule given, because the ruling is so simple: "no", you cannot have crossblooded and wildblooded.
They're saying IF your GM wants to break the normal rule and allow combining wildblooded/crossblooded (because they know some GMs will),
it's advisable to at least prevent using a sorceror bloodline and it's wildblooded variant as the crossblooded choices.
I got him to send me the stablock:
Very Respectfully,
--BaconYlloura Hannara Aureale
Female Human (Ulfen) Fighter 1/Sorcerer (Crossblooded, Wildblooded) 5
LN Medium humanoid (human)....
This character is all over the place.
What is the player trying to do? It looks like he wants to be everything... but will end up sucking at everything.
Is this a melee combatant? A caster? An archer? What is going on?
Based on the stats, he seems to wanna lean towards casting? Based on the feats he is a ranged spell slinger who focuses on ray attacks? But crossblooded makes pure casting hard. And... why such a high strength? And why a +1 longspear? Those imply a desire to actually thwomp things on the head...
Chill Touch is necromancy, despite the word 'chill' in its name, it has nothing to do with cold. It does negative energy damage.
Will it be able to do 'stuff'? Yeah, it’ll e able to do stuff. It isn't irredeemable or unplayable. It seems strangely pieced together, and it won't be great at anything, but it won't be at monk status or anything.
Another question springs to mind... where are the prestige classes? I thought this whole thing was about being a DD/EK combo'd... and yet this character has neither of these things. It qualifies for the 1st level of DD at 6th level (not after 6th level, at 6th level).
If it plans on melee, it should have more starting strength, it needs it to make up for the lack of base attack compared to other martials. And it should be aiming to get DD 4 asap for even more. Then either another 4 DD for robustness/features or EK 10 for the BaB.
And… what is the deal with being a blacksmith? That seems like an odd thing to tack on. And, does the back-story account for the draconic bloodline at all, or is that purely a mechanical advantage thing?
This character… seems, well… ugh. Incoherent.
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@Remy, I'm sorry it doesn't met with your preferred levels of optimization.
She isn't designed to be a optimal spellcaster, we don't have much in the way of that in our group. Especially since some of the players are new (only been playing tabletop RPGs for about a year) or who haven't played a d20 system.
The prestige classes haven't been added. The character just leveled and took the level in fighter to qualify for Eldritch Knight, if they still want to go that route, and will probably be taking Dragon Disciple next level.
We already have a full sorcerer in the party (as well as a bard and magus), so there is less of a need for a full caster, and with her limited spellcasting, she doesn't want to waste her ray spells, and point blank/precise shot is useful with any/all ranged attacks.
And while the chill touch spell is necromancy there is no prohibition to the casting of negative energy spells or necromancy spells that I am aware of. If I missed that, please let me know. Theme is one thing, but that doesn't mean that Ylloura can't take illusion or transmutation spells in addition.
Being a blacksmith is part of her upbringing. Her family has a history of craftsmanship, and she wants to maintain that legacy.
As far as the draconic legacy; there was a silver dragon in her ancestry prior to Baba Yaga's conquest of Irrisen. There is a prophecy that a dragon-child will arise from the people of Irrisen to save them from their eternal winter. It is believed that Ylloura may be the catalyst of that prophecy, and was smuggled out of Irrisen by her adoptive father.
I do thank you for your inputs.
Very Respectfully,
--Bacon
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She sounds awesome so im guessing her party role is being awesome. If she is enjoying her charector thats all that matters, I have been unabashedly a multiclasser the most famous (amongst my groups) was my wood elven (back in forgotten realms living city days) Ranger/rogue/cleric/barbarian whom was indeed very oh my what is that? Yet very very very effective. Good players can overcome mundane builds. I hope she takes both and loves it all.
By the way I agree everything food is indeed better with bacon.... well except cakes, cakes are best with icing.
Her role is being awesome!
She's middle-line support. She's not in front with the Samurai or Brawler. But she's not in the back with the Ranger(s) and Sorcerer. She tends to find herself positioning for maximum effect, much like the party Bard or Magus.
Providing flanking bonuses, targeting enemies that are engaged in Melee without suffering absurd penalties to her attack.
I guess we tend to build concept first and develop an interesting character rather than fill a role. Does this mean that sometimes the party doesn't have a trap-finder? or a healer? Yeah. But it sucks being force to play the 'cleic' or the 'rogue' because everyone else picked their concepts first.
Very Respectfully,
--Bacon
@Remy, I'm sorry it doesn't met with your preferred levels of optimization.
Mmm...
I wouldn't even begin to call it any level of optimization, maybe de-optimized?
The level of 'optional' or supplemental features put into that character certainly leads one to think that an optimizer was present... or assisted, in the character's creation. Except... it is barely functional... and is about to get worse.
The character lacks 'direction'. And if she just picked up a level of fighter...at level 6... whoa. I'm pretty sure I've never seen anyone do that, ever.
3rd level spells, or a level of fighter. Which she can't even use properly.
With a +7 to hit, she has the accuracy of like... a level 2 character. She gets 1 attack, and only does 1d8+5. A not optimized martial character does that much at level 1.
In melee, she is not functional.
To get her functional in melee is going to be rough. It seems like that concept is being tacked on to a base platform that simply can't quite handle it.
While the 14 Str is 'fine' enough, ideally it would be higher so she'd actually make up for using a less than full BaB progression. Otherwise she is going to be eternally 'behind the curve'.
She is already several feats deep into casting, with a focus on rays. Nothing wrong with that, expect with each level she takes now...that will get relatively weaker. Next level she can take EK or DD, sure... but then she'll be a 7th level caster, with poor defenses, low HP, bad melee attacks... and only 2nd level spells...
Even if this is somehow the 'direction' she wants to go, she is going to 'suffer' to get there. It is like the character was made to do one thing, and is now trying a complete concept 180 half way through... it'll get ugly.
It'll be a creeping kind of suckiness...with each level, the character will become less and less relevant and useful. Slowly the realization that straying from the original concept was her downfall, but by then you'll have sunk several levels into 'getting mediocre' at melee...and will just not be good at anything anymore.
Creating a melee/arcane caster is tricky, because if you don't do it right, you end up with a sub-par character. I'm not talking about a non-optimized character... but actually bad at what they're 'supposed' to be good at.
At 6th level, it has a +3 bab, 2nd level spells… and 3/1/2 pre-stat saves
Assuming DD from here…
At 7th level, +3 bab, 2nd level spells… and 4/1/3
At 8th, +4 bab, 3rd level slots (only BL spell known), 4/2/3
At 9th, +5 bab, 3rd level spells, 5/2/4
At 10th, +6/1, 4th level slots (only BL spell known), 5/2/4
So, it still looks funky at 10th level. You’ll get an iterative, finally, and that extra 4 strength is finally engaged. But even with that 20 strength, you’ll only be at +11 to hit, plus any weapon enchantments etc. So, you’re certainly no martial character. You’ve got some decent spells by this point at least though, so… you’re an okay fallback arcanist. Better hope your 4th level spell is freakin awesome though… because it is the only one ya know. And if you had stayed Sorc, you’d be using 5ths.
Ya’d have some extra nat AC from DD, but nothing to write home about, since you’re not able to really wear armor, your AC is likely still questionable, and your HP is filling in nicely with those d12s, but your Con of 13 is still not helping matters.
If you try to buff yourself to make you a better martial, you’ll find you dump turns in the beginning of combat too much, and if you don’t buff, you’ll find your effectiveness pales in comparison to your party’s other characters, you’ll feel like you’re not contributing as much. And when you do wade into melee, your AC and HP and horrible saves leave you very vulnerable to getting messed up. Falling back into the ranged caster role is an option, but… you just gave up a huge chunk of your caster potential for your less than great fighting skills…
Now, at 11th, your best option is EK… I mean, that is why you took the level of fighter (even if you took it 5 whole levels before it could even help you at all). So,
11th, +7 Bab, 6/2/4 saves, and still only 4th level slots (and only the one BL spell known)
At 12th, +8 Bab, 6/3/5 saves… and still only 4th level spells. (A full bab class could smoke you in melee, and a full caster is tossing 6th level spells here)
By 16th, +12 bab, 8/4/6 saves, and 6th level spells. Starting to look respectable, but… your effective bloodline level is now totally in the dust, as it is stuck at 10th level. Full martials are using more melee attacks, more reliably, and you’ve got decent spells now…but nothing like those 8th level ones your buddies have.
By this point, you’ve earned yourself enough bonus feats to actually pick up some martial ones, hopefully… and you’re starting to be semi-decent. You’ve got the basics covered at least.
TLDR: It’ll take until level 16 before this character gets beyond mediocre at fighting in melee, and even then it’ll be problematic… but at least it become ‘an option’.
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Creating functional builds, is not optimization.
I can create a Kobold PC with a 5 Constitution, and a single level in 20 different classes.
This PC may even be fun to play for some, but only with the expectation that the PC will be highly dysfunctional, and have a hard time with just about everything.
Just because you are not going out of your way to take mechanically inferior choices, doesn't mean you are an optimization-focused munchkin roll-player.
In fact, there is no difference between a superior, or inferior mechanically choice, in it's effect on the player's ability to roleplay whatsoever.
This is a rampant terrible myth, that has no basis in fact, and is about as logical as stating that wearing an "ironic" scarf in the summer makes you a better writer.
Those who make these claims need to stop lying to themselves, and others.
<shrug>
The player likes this character, so I guess that's what's important.
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<shrug>
The player likes this character, so I guess that's what's important.
As stated, many times, yes, that is what is important.
That player is also part of a group.
If the player is cool with being The Load, and the other players are cool with it too, then all is good.
The important part is to be aware of what the player is playing, and that everyone is as well, and fine with it.
That is really all that is being said.
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Shes a level 6 Ylloura Hannara Aureale sounds fine to me. I suppose all the people upset with her all have chosen a single path in life and havent deviated from it whatsoever. Wouldnt want a change in jobs to deviate from their skill progression. I am glad she is building her charector how she wants to.
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Let's not forget, that this is the Advice board, and this is a thread, asking for mechanical advice.
Noting the mechanical inferior choices the player has made, and the mechanical superior choices that could, and can make, is exactly what is being asked for.
Nobody is putting the player on trail, or saying anyone is having the wrong kind of fun, or anything like that.
There was a stated concept in mind, and it was asked that suggestions be made to keep within the concept in mind.
Usually, when someone asks this, they want to also have these options be superior, or at least, functional mechanically.
If everyone somehow got what you were asking for wrong, then it would be very helpful if you would state what exactly it is you really want.
OK,
I get what you are saying, blackbloodtroll. I apologize if I am sounding petulant.
The character, as indicated in the statblock posted above, exists. And wholesale reconstruction is not a viable option (unwilling/unable to spend the money for the retraining costs, etc.)
The player, based on my interpretations, wants to be able to do the following:
* Perform some manner of action every turn.
* Does not want to step on the toes of the primary arcane spellcaster (a noob player who built an Abyssal Sorcerer)
* Wants to be able to assist in front-line combat, but cannot be the beat stick (that role belongs to the Samurai)
* Wants to be an ice mage, because she has a connection with the land of Irrisen.
* Is looking at Dragon Disciple and/or Eldritch Knight to become a more competent combatant without sacrificing her spellcasting completely. (She's fine with not having 9th level spells)
A lot of times, we can't rely on a 'build' as the advancement tends to be much more organic, and adaptive. We have a high degree of character/player turnover, so there might be a sudden change in the party, and then gaps need to be filled. (We just lost our paladin two sessions ago, and it was replaced by a Fighter/Ranger with archery style) We had an Abjurer Wizard, but he was recently slain. Our bard keeps toying with the idea of taking a level of paladin, and the Sorceress is toying with the idea of taking a level of Barbarian to represent the 'abyssal influence' that is hiding within her soul. An influence that may be getting ever more influential...
But, as for Ylloura, she's got a lot of backstory herself: She was smuggled out of Irrisen because some believed that she was the subject of a prophecy that a dragon child would rise up among the witches of Irrisen to defeat Baba yaga, and return summer to the lands. Her ancestry includes a silver dragon from prior to the time of Baba Yaga. She was adopted into a mercantile family and 'fluff wise' all of her sorcerer powers have suddenly just manifest. And with this power, she is trying to find her place in the world, and has taken to following the Samurai around like a sort or mentor (even though she probably has more in common with the Magus... she doesn't know the dwarf as well), and the Sorcerer has taken her under her wing. Even though they have drastically different casting styles.
Very Respectfully,
--Bacon
OK,
I get what you are saying, blackbloodtroll. I apologize if I am sounding petulant.
The character, as indicated in the statblock posted above, exists. And wholesale reconstruction is not a viable option (unwilling/unable to spend the money for the retraining costs, etc.)
The player, based on my interpretations, wants to be able to do the following:
* Perform some manner of action every turn.
* Does not want to step on the toes of the primary arcane spellcaster (a noob player who built an Abyssal Sorcerer)
* Wants to be able to assist in front-line combat, but cannot be the beat stick (that role belongs to the Samurai)
* Wants to be an ice mage, because she has a connection with the land of Irrisen.
* Is looking at Dragon Disciple and/or Eldritch Knight to become a more competent combatant without sacrificing her spellcasting completely. (She's fine with not having 9th level spells)A lot of times, we can't rely on a 'build' as the advancement tends to be much more organic, and adaptive. We have a high degree of character/player turnover, so there might be a sudden change in the party, and then gaps need to be filled. (We just lost our paladin two sessions ago, and it was replaced by a Fighter/Ranger with archery style) We had an Abjurer Wizard, but he was recently slain. Our bard keeps toying with the idea of taking a level of paladin, and the Sorceress is toying with the idea of taking a level of Barbarian to represent the 'abyssal influence' that is hiding within her soul. An influence that may be getting ever more influential...
But, as for Ylloura, she's got a lot of backstory herself: She was smuggled out of Irrisen because some believed that she was the subject of a prophecy that a dragon child would rise up among the witches of Irrisen to defeat Baba yaga, and return summer to the lands. Her ancestry includes a silver dragon from prior to the time of Baba Yaga. She was adopted into a mercantile family and 'fluff wise' all of her sorcerer powers have suddenly just...
The problem is going to be having enough HP and AC to survive up close and personal combat.
Having several levels of Sorc means a low HP pool already. Her saves aren't pretty. And her AC is mediocre at best... but, because it is coming from actually wearing armor... she has Arcane Spell Failure!!
If I sound overtly negative or Naysayer-y… it is only because I foresee this character going down a road into obsolete territory, where the player feels like they’re no longer contributing to the party like the other party members.
Hopefully they stay happy with the character, no matter how they approach it. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least provide the warning.