Some Quick Character Help[3.5]

[Org]

Hello everyone. I am a late sub in for a game of DnD.

I want to be a caster, but I am unsure of which is the least complicated to use, as I really haven't played for several years. Priest is not what I want. So between Sorcerer and Wizard. Maybe Druid. But I never really thought the Druid was good.

Then, just a few more things I need help.
What are some good starter spells and feats? I always have trouble with what to choose as a caster.

Thanks ahead of time!

Edit:
Also, to see what you can pick from that I can easily reference, I have the PHB 1, and the Spell Compendium.

[Lhurgyof]

Sorcerers are certainly easier to use than wizards, so I'd say go with that.

[sdream]

Super easy - go warlock, you only get a few abilities, and one of them is always:

I zap that guy!

Also you can use magic items an wands easily, and detect magic at will.

I went with:
1 - Always see in the dark and invisible things
2 - Always able to talk to animals
4 - Big bonuses to diplomacy, intimidate, bluffing
6 - Short range teleport at will, can bring friends
8 - Dispel magic at will
10 - I zap that guy, and his two friends!
11 - I laugh at spell resistance when I zap you!

Warlock is from Complete Arcane, the payback for so few abilities is they can use them nonstop. Not quite as powerful as a real caster, but has caster abilities and is infinitely easier to use (also a lot tougher).

I also picked up Fey Heritage feats from complete Mage - some extra DR and a few more spell like abilities (once per day).

[Lhurgyof]

Super easy - go warlock, you only get a few abilities, and one of them is always:

I zap that guy!

Also you can use magic items an wands easily, and detect magic at will.

I went with:
1 - Always see in the dark and invisible things
2 - Always able to talk to animals
4 - Big bonuses to diplomacy, intimidate, bluffing
6 - Short range teleport at will, can bring friends
8 - Dispel magic at will
10 - I zap that guy, and his two friends!
11 - I laugh at spell resistance when I zap you!

He said he only has the PHB and a Spell Compendium.

[sdream]

He said he only has the PHB and a Spell Compendium.

That he can easily reference... if he wants easy to play, he might be willing to ask his DM for a hand.

[Kylarra]

I'd just play a psion. Take a few blasty powers and get a pet rock.

edit: not quite a warlock, but I can't resist the chance to throw out dragonfire adept who plays similarly in that they have an at will attack and invocations.

[Keld Denar]

If you want to play a Sorcerer, I can come up with a pretty decent spell list for you, on the spot, from memory, if you give me a level. The nice thing about a Sorcerer is that if you have someone help you come up with a diverse and powerful set of spells, you can pretty much do whatever you want, and everything you have will be a giant bag of awesome.

That would probably be the easiest option for you as a player. The only thing you can really screw up on a Sorcerer is spell selection, and if we do it for you, its foolproof!

[Org]

Level one.

[Gerrtt]

Druid's great and you can't really mess it up. You can also play it a number of ways without really compromising your build:

1: Blaster - Not the most efficient way to play, but you can. They get spells like call lightning, flame strike, fire seeds, etc. Send your Animal Companion in to distract the enemies and keep you safe while you nuke from afar or turn into a hawk and rain your destruction from the sky with the help of natural spell (the natural choice *wink*).

2: Pets - Use augment summoning (requires Spell Focus Conjuration) to make beefier summons at every level of Summon Nature's Ally, which you can cast spontaneously as a druid. Heck, you could even turn in to a hawk and summon them from the sky with Natural spell...just saying, keeps you safe...

3: Melee - Wild Shape...yum. Combine that with your various buff spells (bark skin, bear's endurance, bulls strength, produce flame, the list goes on and on) and your flank producing class feature (Animal Companion) and you can take on just about anything.

4 Support - Druids get cure spells, status restoration spells, buff spells (for you and your party) and some debuffs as well. You can do this role from afar with wild shape and natural spell, but not without a way to make your cure spells into ranged touch spells...I feel like there's a way in complete divine but the exact feat is escaping me right now.

In short, the druid is versatile, flexible, and far from not very good. The other upside is that with enough time you can be all those things with the same build because druids automatically know all spells of the levels they can cast:

Assuming Human:
1) Spell Focus Conjuration
1) Human Bonus Feat: Augment Summoning
3) Extend Spell (For Longer Buffs and Summons)
6) Natural Spell (DO IT!)

Then you can do whatever you want with feats, depending on how you feel your druid is going.

Hope that helps without shattering your opinion about druids or discouraging you from playing an arcane caster.

[subject42]

If you're stuck with Core, I really suggest a sorcerer. See if you can get your DM to be a bit more lenient with the spell retraining rules until you get a handle on it, though.

If you can go outside of core due to the books that other players possess, the Beguiler and Dread Necromancer are great for beginning casters.

[Keld Denar]

Are you gonna be level 1 forever? Do you anticipate leveling up quickly? What relative goals do you want your sorcerer to be capable of? I really like the idea of a Sorcerer who uses a little bit'o Fell Draining from LM to turn every spell into a mini-Enervation, but I dunno if you'd have access to that book. You mentioned spells from PHB and SpC only, but what about PrCs or feats?

[Org]

Excuse me, I am to be level two.
Dwarf Sorcerer.

[Keld Denar]

Ok...level 2, good. What sources allowed for feats/PrCs?

[Org]

PHB for Feats, not sure what for Prestige.

[Gerrtt]

Are you glued to Dwarf for your race? That Charisma penalty might be rough to stomach at first.

If you really like the Constitution bonus you could consider the Gnome instead.

As far as feats and spells go, do you think you want to blast stuff, control the battlefield, or protect yourself and your friends?

[Org]

I like Dwarves.

[Keld Denar]

Eh, that makes it easy. Pick Spell Focus for 1-2 schools you like, maybe Greater Spell Focus if you really like a school (Conjouration, Illusion, and Necromancy are popular choices), at some point grab Empower spell as your all-purpose metamagic, and you should be good. Low tec, still strong simply because YOU ARE A FREAKIN SPELLCASTER.

One thing, you might want to push for though, is to play a Gold Dwarf (stated in the FRCS, but its EXACTLY the same as PHB dorf with -2 Dex instead of -2 Cha). If there's an elf for everything, why can't there be a dwarf?

So yea, Dorf Sorc2, make your feat Spell Focus: Conjouration and your 3 1st level spells be Grease, Ray of Enfeeblement, and Enlarge Person.

That gives you the strongest 1st level buff, the strongest 1st level no-save debuff, and the strongest 1st level disable. Alternatively, swap SF: Conjouration with SF: Enchantment and get Sleep isntead of Grease, or get SF: Illusion and get Colour Spray instead of Grease.

EZ as 3.14159...

Come back and talk to us again when you ding level 3, and we'll hook you up with more good spells.

[Gerrtt]

Fair enough. I like Dwarves too.

So, what do you want to do with your sorcerer?

[Org]

Thanks! I think I will do SF:Conjuration then.

@Gerrtt. I want to be able to nuke my enemy. Kill em fast, no survivors.
And maybe a few other tricks. Illusions.

Edit:Never mind about what was here.

[Keld Denar]

When you hit 4th level, I'd highly encourage you to pick up Glitterdust as your first 2nd level spell simply because it is SOOOOOOO good, but after that, Scorching Ray is a really good blasty spell for its level. That sucker will scale until about 11th level, and couples with Empower out of a 4th level slot VERY nicely for blowing your enemies up. It also has no save, which is always nice.

You don't need a lot of blasty spells, just a couple of REALLY good ones. For the bulk of your adventuring life, an Empowered Scorching Ray is gonna get the job done as well as any.

[HunterOfJello]

I would strongly encourage you to play a Gold Dwarf instead of a PHB dwarf.

They're exactly the same except Gold Dwarves have +2 Con, -2 Dex and receive bonus on attack rolls against abberations instead of Orcs and Goblins.

The Gold Dwarf race is featured in the Dungeon Master's Guide, so you're not even using a race outside of the core books.

~

A Gold Dwarf is an excellent race for a Sorcerer using core materials.

[Org]

I'll ask okay?

Spells!
I get 5 0-Level, 2 1st Level. I can cast 6-0 Level a day, 5 1st level a day. I have a Cha of 15.

0 level

Light
Detect Magic
Read Magic
Flare
Ghost Sounds

1st Level
Ray of Enfeeblement
Enlarge Person

[Keld Denar]

I'd swap Flare for Mending. Mending CAN be infinitely useful, especially if a bad guy partially sunders someone's weapon you you find yourself up to your elbows in Babau. It can't fix a broken weapon (needs Make Whole), but it can repair a damaged one! Not bad for a 0th level slot.

Flare is terrible. Such a minor penalty, totally not worth it.

I thought you said you were 2nd level? 2nd level nets you a third 1st level spell known.

[Lhurgyof]

Prestidigitation's a fun spell...

[HunterOfJello]

Prestidigitation's a fun spell...

Prestidigitation is a must. Read Magic isn't worth grabbing at all. Read Magic is fine for a wand, but Prestidigitation is godly.

Ray of Enfeeblement is a decent spell, especially because it doesn't offer a saving throw. However, you have no offensive spells.

You should grab at least one offensive spell like Magic Missle or one of the Lesser Orb spells from the Spell Compendium. Most people prefer Magic Missile since it scales better and does the same average damage as an Orb spell, but always hits and can't be resisted by damage type.

Later on you should consider grabbing Hail of Stone as a reliable AOE spell, until you can get a more powerful one.

[Optimystik]

The Gold Dwarf race is featured in the Dungeon Master's Guide, so you're not even using a race outside of the core books.

So it is! I never noticed that before. I thought they would only be in Faerun.

Page 171 for the curious.

[Org]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/so...d.htm#sorcerer

I only get 2 level 1 spells.

[SilverLeaf167]

Why exactly is prestidigitation so godly? It's fun?
And GODS, that's hard to spell.

[Org]

Here is another question.
How long is it good to stick with getiing Sorcerer levels?

And if I get any level in another class, which class is a good combo with Sorcerer?

[Kylarra]

Generally speaking for a blaster sorc, which is what you seem to want, you'll stick to sorcerer levels until 6, at which point you'll enter the prestige class of your choice.