Renaissance Drow (A build by request)

[sigtrent]

From Sigtrent's Build Request Thread

Build Name: Renaissance Drow
Author: Sigfried Trent
Requester: Taiken
Last Updated: 07/22/10

Key Words [Drow, Sorcerer, Battle]

Objectives
The request wanted a fighter/sorcerer, wasn’t interested in min/maxing and wanted to avoid paladin specifically. For the update I’m also following the spirit of the original which was to make a “pretty good” sorcerer mixed with just enough combat skill to let you “play” in combat and to help with solo play. Warforged is an obvious choice, but this time I don’t want to dump charisma and make a pure no-save caster and warforged isn’t so good for that.

Design
I want to have various combat tools here but not really focus on DPS, and on the casting side I want to minimize the impact of the multi classing and keep a decent casting profile.

I spread stats around taking advantage of Drow’s cheap dex and charisma. Generally all stat picks but charisma are at 1pt per pick. Taking Heavy Repeater at level 1 gives the build a nice damage tool for early game play that to some extent forgives the low hit points. For Melee the build should use two handers for the good base damage and a tad extra strength damage. If you keep strength enhanced it should remain viable for a fairly long time by which spell casting should be well established.

All said and done, its a pretty good socerer, but by the time you get to twenty you start to wonder why you took that fighter level way back at level 1 and that collection of heavy repeaters isn’t helping much on the epic and raid runs your doing while the capstone is starting to look pretty shiny... And that is the life of the battle caster wtih a shallow splash, however its pretty easy here to lesser reincarnate +1 and drop the fighter and crossbows and even tweak your charisma up the final notch.

Yet when you are at first level, the fighter level makes those early levels all the easier and those repeaters seem pretty bad ass compared to your spells making you wonder what those mana points are for anyway. Perspective changes everything.

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.5.1
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 20 Lawful Good Drow Male
(1 Fighter \ 19 Sorcerer) 
Hit Points: 178
Spell Points: 1899 
BAB: 10\10\15\20
Fortitude: 9
Reflex: 9
Will: 10

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(28 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             14                    14
Dexterity            16                    17
Constitution         12                    12
Intelligence         10                    10
Wisdom                8                     8
Charisma             18                    26

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               5                    13
Bluff                 4                     9
Concentration         3                    24
Diplomacy             4                     8
Disable Device        n/a                   n/a
Haggle                4                     8
Heal                 -1                    -1
Hide                  3                     3
Intimidate            4                     8
Jump                  2                     2
Listen               -1                     1
Move Silently         3                     3
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform               n/a                   n/a
Repair                0                     0
Search                0                     2
Spot                 -1                     1
Swim                  2                     2
Tumble                n/a                   n/a
Use Magic Device      n/a                   n/a

Level 1 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Repeating Heavy Crossbow
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy I
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness I


Level 2 (Sorcerer)
Spell (1): Mage Armor
Spell (1): Acid Spray
Enhancement: Sorcerer Energy Manipulation I
Enhancement: Sorcerer Energy of the Dragonblooded I


Level 3 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Selected) Extend Spell
Spell (1): Shield
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Fluidity I
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Sorcerer Charisma I


Level 4 (Sorcerer)
Spell (1): Soundburst
Enhancement: Sorcerer Lineage of Energy I
Enhancement: Sorcerer Lineage of Elements I
Enhancement: Sorcerer Elemental Manipulation I


Level 5 (Sorcerer)
Spell (2): Web
Enhancement: Sorcerer Energy Manipulation II
Enhancement: Sorcerer Elemental Manipulation II


Level 6 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Spell
Spell (2): Resist Energy
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Fluidity II


Level 7 (Sorcerer)
Spell (3): Haste
Enhancement: Sorcerer Charisma II


Level 8 (Sorcerer)
Spell (2): Blur
Spell (3): Acid Blast
Enhancement: Sorcerer Lineage of Elements II
Enhancement: Sorcerer Elemental Manipulation III


Level 9 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Selected) Heighten Spell
Spell (4): Wall of Fire
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Sorcerer Spell Penetration I


Level 10 (Sorcerer)
Spell (2): Scorching Ray
Spell (3): Displacement
Spell (4): Solid Fog
Enhancement: Sorcerer Spell Penetration II


Level 11 (Sorcerer)
Spell (5): Cone of Cold
Enhancement: Sorcerer Lineage of Energy II


Level 12 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Selected) Maximize Spell
Spell (3): Halt Undead
Spell (4): Stoneskin
Spell (5): Cloudkill
Enhancement: Sorcerer Charisma III


Level 13 (Sorcerer)
Spell (6): Greater Heroism
Enhancement: Sorcerer Lineage of Deadly Elements I
Enhancement: Sorcerer Energy Manipulation III


Level 14 (Sorcerer)
Spell (4): Dimension Door
Spell (5): Teleport
Spell (6): Chain Lightning
Enhancement: Sorcerer Lineage of Elements III
Enhancement: Sorcerer Lineage of Deadly Energy I


Level 15 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Penetration
Spell (7): Finger of Death
Enhancement: Sorcerer Lineage of Energy III


Level 16 (Sorcerer)
Spell (5): Break Enchantment
Spell (6): Disintegrate
Spell (7): Banishment
Enhancement: Sorcerer Lineage of Deadly Energy II
Enhancement: Sorcerer Lineage of Deadly Elements II


Level 17 (Sorcerer)
Spell (8): Polar Ray
Enhancement: Sorcerer Lineage of Deadly Energy III


Level 18 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Penetration
Spell (7): Protection From Elements, Mass
Spell (8): Otto's Irresistable Dance
Enhancement: Sorcerer Lineage of Deadly Elements III


Level 19 (Sorcerer)
Spell (9): Wail of the Banshee
Enhancement: Sorcerer Elemental Manipulation IV


Level 20 (Sorcerer)
Spell (8): Incendiary Cloud
Spell (9): Meteor Swarm
Enhancement: Fighter Item Defense I
Enhancement: Sorcerer Energy Manipulation IV
Enhancement: Sorcerer Energy of the Dragonblooded II

Play
Early on that repeater can be devistating, especially if you have some twink ones lined up. At later levels you are a true blue sorcerer with a range of both damage and control casting. Remember all through our your hit points and defenses are fairly poor however, in a nod to the battle side of the build I included enough ASF reduction to wear leathers including the dragontouched leathers which would be your eventual goal and should just about fit your dex profile. There are times at early levels and even some mid levels where wearing armor is actually pretty nice. A good mithral light shield is a must if you want to make use of that though.

Variations
Its only a few small changes from a very standard drow sorcerer and all of them happen at level 1. Tomes are nice if you have them of course but I kept this one stripped down as a budget build as I often do with drow since they shine best when compared to 28pt builds.

[moorewr]

You'd want to steer clear of spells that rely heavily on your DC bonus - so no PK.. and your level mix means waiting a very long time for basic spells - level 11 for wall of fire.

You've got maximize listed twice for feats.

Even with all the bonuses in your list I'd still be concerned about hitting in the endgame.

[sigtrent]

Thanks for commenting. I noticed I didn't list the feats propperly in the build summary and forgot to include a spell list, which I generaly do for sorcerers.

I'm not generaly a big fan of fighter sorcerers but I get a lot of requests for them. It's not a bad character, just one that requires some sacrifices to make it work.

+27 to hit is pretty good. I'm not sure what you run with but even a pretty specced out fighter is rarely going to have much more than +30 when using power attack and they generaly use that almost all the time. And if this build used a divine power clickie (whcih most non straigh bab's do) they would get another +5 to hit. I can say from expereince most of my own builds at level 14 do not have even that good of an attack bonus most of the time and I have little trouble hitting monsters in high end elite quests with a few exceptions. I'd say anyone running 25+ is decently accurate, and 30+ is extreemly reliable, especialy if that number isn't using every possible buff available to you. IF you have to strain to hit those kinds of numbers you may have issues.

As for DCs, the intent is definatlely not to be casting spells that have DC values. Damage/Buffs are the predominant direction. I agree about getting spells late, it's one of the big problems with making sorc mulit class characters.

[moorewr]

I think you're right; you can buff high enough even for elite content, although your base BAB will still leave you at a disadvantage. Can't have everything.

My own sorc/paladin (a "tough" fire bug - low str, max CHA) is finding out in the endgame that the melees want to melee and they are wondering what I'm doing in the Reaver raid with a +20 to hit and no Otto's sphere of dance (I'm killing elementals, at least in theory ). All the major endgame content is like that - I sure wish I had Finger of Death, Flesh to Stone, Dance Party, and Disintegrate.

What's the quote? Oh, yes: "My advice would be never, ever multi-class."

.. but what's the fun of that?

Thanks for commenting. I noticed I didn't list the feats propperly in the build summary and forgot to include a spell list, which I generaly do for sorcerers.

I'm not generaly a big fan of fighter sorcerers but I get a lot of requests for them. It's not a bad character, just one that requires some sacrifices to make it work.

+27 to hit is pretty good. I'm not sure what you run with but even a pretty specced out fighter is rarely going to have much more than +30 when using power attack and they generaly use that almost all the time. And if this build used a divine power clickie (whcih most non straigh bab's do) they would get another +5 to hit. I can say from expereince most of my own builds at level 14 do not have even that good of an attack bonus most of the time and I have little trouble hitting monsters in high end elite quests with a few exceptions. I'd say anyone running 25+ is decently accurate, and 30+ is extreemly reliable, especialy if that number isn't using every possible buff available to you. IF you have to strain to hit those kinds of numbers you may have issues.

As for DCs, the intent is definatlely not to be casting spells that have DC values. Damage/Buffs are the predominant direction. I agree about getting spells late, it's one of the big problems with making sorc mulit class characters.

[sigtrent]

Ya... that's the problem with going multi class sorcerer. You find yourself looking at the pure sorcs and going... "I wish I could do that." They are a powerhouse class. For my money the most powerful in many ways, but if you dilute them you loose much of what makes them so good.

I think of Sorc/Fighters as a kind of do it yourself bard with direct damage spells instead of songs.

I tend to like wizard for making figting arcane characters because you can use feats to offset the loss of spell power. Even then, any wizard will look at a sorcerer wtih some measure of jealousy. They can spam all day long as a wizard must pick the time and place to cast.

Some folks (like me) just like the style of arcane fighters. There's something cool about casting and fighting but you have to kind of turn a blind eye to those who have opted for sheer specilized power becasue they will make you look kind of weak by comparison.