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So, I was thinking about creating a "redeeming" Kobold taking a divine class to help those he can. Traveling around and attempting to help undo the destruction that his kind (real dragons) might have done. I was hoping through buff spells to become decent at combat.
I was planning on using a manufactured weapon and multiattack with Kobold's bite/tail and DD's claws, taking at least Tail Terror and Kobold Confiedence. I'm not sure about Dragonic Paragon as the Breathe Weapon seems really bad still, doesn't do anything for the Dragonic Aspect/Energy Resistance, and only gives a 20ft fly speed compared to the 60ft just a few levels later. Unsure of where to go from there.
The obvious starting place seems Cleric, since Scaled Disciple's first sentence deals with domains, but it mainly deals with adding Dragonic Bloodline spells to spells you can caster. However Oracle can have some great uses with the Curse half scaling with other classes and the Life Mystery being extremely powerful after leaving Oracle. There is also the Shaman which I have no idea how useful that would be, or the animal companion classes, Druid/Ranger/Hunter, which seem like they would end up gimped as they have more stuff that scales with class level.
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Cleric is not a suitable choice, since the feat talks about spontaneous spellcasting. The first sentence just refers to spells included in the dragon domain (reported in the Editor's Note), but in no way gives you domain powers and/or bonus spell slots.
As it is, you only have three options to choose from:
- Oracle
- Inquisitor
- Hunter
which get all staggered as soon as you start getting levels into DD.
Inquisitor's best trait is Bane, it comes online just in time, but it doesn't work on a multi-weapon build. Both Inquisitor (Divine Huntsmaster) and Hunter give you a nice buddy to help you not to die and automatic bonuses to your terrible stats via Animal Focus, but both will stop at level 5, becoming soon obsolete. Therefore, you don't want to choose a class based or level-dependent class features.
On the other hand, spellcasting is the only thing that progresses (sort-of), and since you want to get Kobold Confidence, meaning you'll need to have at least 13 Cha, I suggest you go all in with a Cha-based Dual Cursed Oracle build with the Lore/Nature/Lunar mystery. They will all give you Cha to AC and CMD/Ref, allowing you to be less MAD. Together with Misfortune and Fortune from the Dual Cursed archetype, you get three nice non level-dependent revelations that will stay strong throughout all the game.
Feat-wise, you have a choice to make: if you want to focus on combat, you qualify for the Eldritch Heritage[Orc] feat chain which will help your sub-par Str; if you want to focus on spellcasting, try to get Favourite Prestige Class and Prestigious Spellcaster to keep up your CL everytime DD doesn't improve it.
An example for a combat-focused build would be:
Stats: 15-4 12+2 14-2 10 7 16
Traits: Divine Favor (> Divine Favor), Irrepressible, [Community Minded (> Orc 1st level power), Drawback]
Feats:
1 O - Kobold Confidence, M: Cha-to-AC
2 O -
3 O - Tail Terror, M: Misfortune
4 O - +1 Str
5 O - Scaled Disciple, M: Fortune
6 DD -
7 DD - Skill Focus [Survival], B: Power Attack
8 DD - +1 Str
9 DD - Eldritch Heritage [Orc]
10 DD - B: Toughness
11 DD - Improved Eldritch Heritage [Orc]
12 DD - +1 Str
13 DD - Favored Prestige Class [+hp], B: Quicken Spell (> Divine Favor)
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Cleric is not a suitable choice, since the feat talks about spontaneous spellcasting.
Except for one little important thing.
Spontaneous Casting
A good cleric (or a neutral cleric of a good deity) can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that she did not prepare ahead of time. The cleric can “lose” any prepared spell that is not an orison or domain spell in order to cast any cure spell of the same spell level or lower (a cure spell is any spell with “cure” in its name).
And to back it up, the magic section has this.
A good cleric (or a cleric of a good deity) can spontaneously cast a cure spell in place of a prepared spell of the same level or higher, but not in place of a bonus domain spell.
*
Now as far as options go, I agree that Life Oracle is a strong choice.
To mimic dragons a bit you could try the Reliquarian(Occultist archetype) to have a unique 'horde' of religious artifacts.
Without feats the animal companion won't advance with a Hunter, so the Feral Hunter archetype is nice.
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Cleric is not a suitable choice, since the feat talks about spontaneous spellcasting.Except for one little important thing.
Spontaneous Casting
A good cleric (or a neutral cleric of a good deity) can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that she did not prepare ahead of time. The cleric can “lose” any prepared spell that is not an orison or domain spell in order to cast any cure spell of the same spell level or lower (a cure spell is any spell with “cure” in its name).And to back it up, the magic section has this.
A good cleric (or a cleric of a good deity) can spontaneously cast a cure spell in place of a prepared spell of the same level or higher, but not in place of a bonus domain spell.
Irrelevant. Cleric levels still do not count as divine spontaneous levels for the purposes of the feat:
Benefit(s): You gain a +1 bonus to your caster level when casting spells included in the dragon domain* or subdomains. Your spontaneous divine spellcasting qualifies in place of arcane casting for the dragon disciple prestige class, and you may increase spellcasting in your spontaneous divine class as you progress in dragon disciple levels. Add the bonus spells gained from the blood of dragons ability to those you can cast as divine spells.
Furthermore
Without feats the animal companion won't advance with a Hunter, so the Feral Hunter archetype is nice.
Feral Hunter still suffers from the lack of progression in the Animal Focus and Wild Shape class features, which will stop to a +2 enhancement bonus to a single stat and medium-sized animals respectively, which I don't think are worth the much slower spell progression.
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Yes, as written, a cleric can qualify but not gain extra spells per day. That is a minor tweak however.
What do you mean with "minor tweak"?
If you are referring to the spellcasting, it's not only that they don't get extra spells per day, they completely stop progressing in spellcasting. Therefore, a 5 Cleric / 10 DD character would still cast spells as a CL 5 Cleric. Not minor at all.
Giving wizards full BAB is also a "minor tweak", but good luck.
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A minor tweak to the wording that makes the feat worthwhile for every divine class that qualifies to take it.
So pretty much every divine class:
- Clerics can spontaneously convert prepared spells into Cure/Inflict spells- Warpriests can spontaneously convert prepared spells into Cure/Inflict spells
- Druids can spontaneously convert prepared spells into Summon Natural Ally spells
The only divine spellcasting classes which still do not qualify despite this very lax interpretation are Paladin and Ranger, which do not even deserve to be called spellcasters. Honestly, I am quite sure this is not the intended use of the feat.
Saying "the cleric is a spontaneous divine spellcaster because they can spontaneously cast cure spells" is like saying "the occultist is a spontaneous divine spell caster, because they cast spontaneously and can cast cure spells, which are divine."
A Reliquarian Occultist (who can get the dragon domain) might be fun for this though.
We'll, cleric not qualifying makes me sad, but oh well.
Thanks for the heads up about Orc bloodline. I forgot about that. Is Orc the best one to use? I know there are some other ones out there that add strength, but ai only see Orc mentioned.
Life Oracle has a lot more stuff that scales with Oracle level, is it worth it at all to take life over lunar or nature?
Lastly, what does the occultist have over the Oracle other than domain spells?
An example for a combat-focused build would be:
Stats: 15-4 12+2 14-2 10 7 16
Traits: Divine Favor (> Divine Favor), Irrepressible, [Community Minded (> Orc 1st level power), Drawback]
Feats:
1 O - Kobold Confidence, M: Cha-to-AC
2 O -
3 O - Tail Terror, M: Misfortune
4 O - +1 Str
5 O - Scaled Disciple, M: Fortune
6 DD -
7 DD - Skill Focus [Survival], B: Power Attack
8 DD - +1 Str
9 DD - Eldritch Heritage [Orc]
10 DD - B: Toughness
11 DD - Improved Eldritch Heritage [Orc]
12 DD - +1 Str
13 DD - Favored Prestige Class [+hp], B: Quicken Spell (> Divine Favor)
Aren't you forgetting at least 1 lvl of sorcerer/bard/summoner? Since the pre of DD is to be able to cast 1st lvl arcane spells without preparation?
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See the original post? It starts with a link, click that link and read the feat description.
As an alternative, consider Paladin (oath of vengeance) 4/oracle 1/DD. A few extra hp, Cha to saves, and churning extra channel energy into more smites is great for a multiattacker.
Here I am to stir the pot again! Get ready for this because people will argue, but there has yet been no RAW counterpoint:
Shaman qualifies for Scaled Disciple, since the Shaman class feature "Spirit Magic" grants the class full spontaneous spell slots and casting.
As such, I've been working on a cheesy but fun build for the past couple years that uses this fact to full advantage.
Race: Angel-blooded aasimar with the kobold base (see: Small Aasimar)
Alternate Racial Trait: Scion of Humanity (lol, I know)
Trait: Adopted -> Tusked for a bite attack (lol, again)
First level feat: Racial Heritage (Kobold)
Starting at level 1, thanks to the Angel-blooded aasimar I can transform into a Lizardfolk once per day to gain a +2 strength and claw attacks.
I also take the Shapeshifter Hex to gain the ability to shift into a lizardfok more often.
I take Shaman to 6 to get Wandering Hex, so that I get Arcane Enlightenment, and pick out wizard spells every day.
At level seven I take Dragon Disciple all the way, with Favored Prestige Class and Prestigious Spellcaster x3.
The result is a highly flexible character that has the medium armor, bab, armored and prepared casting, and hp of the Shaman, with the ability to cherry pick key wizard spells on a daily basis. The hexes also provide all-day utility, and are flexible depending on how the party is composed.
I use every boost from Dragon Disciple, including intelligence, to great effect.
We'll see how it plays at higher levels, as I've only taken it to level 3 so far.
Yeah, cool.
Except the whole challenge of the build is going Kobold, a 5 RP race.
Not Aasimar, a 15 RP race.
Of course you'll get a cheesy build if you start with a race literally 300% as strong as what the OP asked.
The recommendation of starting class still holds for either race. I was just sharing my build.
Snag a 1d6 natural tail swipe and few spells from the sorcerer/wizard list before going into DD