Water Savant with Earth mixed in

[vraelliott]

I'm looking to play a Human Sorcerer after I level my Dwarven Fighter (in retrospect, it should have been a human khopesh fighter, but it was my first toon).

As I'm learning more about the game, I'm trying to get a good build going for my Sorc so that I have no regrets.

Human Sorcerer, unknown alignment (there are tradeoffs for all of them, as far as I can tell, I was thinking Neutral for Stability items or something Good), 32-Point Build

STR: 12 (or 10 w/ a 16 CON)
DEX: 10
CON: 15
INT: 8
WIS: 10
CHA: 18

Looking at the end game, I'm thinking of doing a Water Savant (all three tiers) but also throwing some AP's at force and acid enhancements.

Skills: Concentration and UMD Maxed

Feats:
1: Combat Casting, Empower
3: Toughness
6: Extend
9: Force of Personality
12: Spell Focus: Conjuration or Evocation
15: Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
18: Spell Penetration

I might change something around there and put Maximize in their, what do you guys think? Maybe a Mental Toughness?

Enhancements:
All of the Glaciation Enhancements
Water Savant
Energy of the Dragonblooded III (but not 4, I wouldn't take three but you need it for the Savant)
Improved Empower II
Sorcerer Charisma III
Human Charisma I
The rest go into Force (primary) and Acid

Spells:
1st: Magic Missile, Mage Armor, Niac's, Jump (Niac's become a "spell like ability", swapped our for shield when I get that)
2nd: Blur, Resist Energy, Knock, Snowball Storm (swap Snowball for something else when I get Savant 2)
3rd: Haste, Frost Lance, Acid Burst, Displacement (same for Frost Lance @ 18 when I get Savant 3)
4th: Phantasmal Killer, Solid Fog, Ice Storm, Force Missiles
5th: Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Dismissal, Teleport (?)
6th: Disintegrate, Greater Heroism, Otiluke's Freezing Sphere or Acid Fog
7th: Finger of Death, Otto's Sphere of Dancing, Banishment? Mass Protection From elements?
8th: Polar Ray, Summon Monster VIII, Symbol of Death?,
9th: Wail of the Banshee, Energy Drain?, ??

I want some CC and some nuking ability, and I'd like to be able to do some self-heals thanks to UMD. I'm not sure if I'll be able to raise dead, but that'd be nice.

I probably forgot something, I'll double check it later. I'm basically looking for advice on what you guys think of what I've got and if you guys think I need to improve some stuff.

[Spontiff]

I'm looking to play a Human Sorcerer after I level my Dwarven Fighter (in retrospect, it should have been a human khopesh fighter, but it was my first toon).

As I'm learning more about the game, I'm trying to get a good build going for my Sorc so that I have no regrets.

Human Sorcerer, unknown alignment (there are tradeoffs for all of them, as far as I can tell, I was thinking Neutral for Stability items or something Good), 32-Point Build

STR: 12 (or 10 w/ a 16 CON)
DEX: 10
CON: 15
INT: 8
WIS: 10
CHA: 18

Looking at the end game, I'm thinking of doing a Water Savant (all three tiers) but also throwing some AP's at force and acid enhancements.

Skills: Concentration and UMD Maxed

Feats:
1: Combat Casting, Empower
3: Toughness
6: Extend
9: Force of Personality
12: Spell Focus: Conjuration or Evocation
15: Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
18: Spell Penetration

I might change something around there and put Maximize in their, what do you guys think? Maybe a Mental Toughness?

Enhancements:
All of the Glaciation Enhancements
Water Savant
Energy of the Dragonblooded III (but not 4, I wouldn't take three but you need it for the Savant)
Improved Empower II
Sorcerer Charisma III
Human Charisma I
The rest go into Force (primary) and Acid

Spells:
1st: Magic Missile, Mage Armor, Niac's, Jump (Niac's become a "spell like ability", swapped our for shield when I get that)
2nd: Blur, Resist Energy, Knock, Snowball Storm (swap Snowball for something else when I get Savant 2)
3rd: Haste, Frost Lance, Acid Burst, Displacement (same for Frost Lance @ 18 when I get Savant 3)
4th: Phantasmal Killer, Solid Fog, Ice Storm, Force Missiles
5th: Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Dismissal, Teleport (?)
6th: Disintegrate, Greater Heroism, Otiluke's Freezing Sphere or Acid Fog
7th: Finger of Death, Otto's Sphere of Dancing, Banishment? Mass Protection From elements?
8th: Polar Ray, Summon Monster VIII, Symbol of Death?,
9th: Wail of the Banshee, Energy Drain?, ??

I want some CC and some nuking ability, and I'd like to be able to do some self-heals thanks to UMD. I'm not sure if I'll be able to raise dead, but that'd be nice.

I probably forgot something, I'll double check it later. I'm basically looking for advice on what you guys think of what I've got and if you guys think I need to improve some stuff.

Combat casting is a waste IMO as you could take Quicken instead. Take Toughness at level 1 instead and fit in maximize somewhere. Force of personality is nice for leveling up but at endgame you will have FOM and SR most of the time, so you may want to save your free feat swap to switch in something else at cap. Mass protection from Elements a waste for a sorc but the single target version is worth taking. Blowing an extra feat on evocation for +1 when your tophitting spell has no DC should be reconsidered; Heighten on the other hand will give you alot more +

For level 9 MASS HOLD MONSTER is the obvious answer to ??, tho you may want to slot in Crushing Despair at level 4 for the -5 to will saves for 15 seconds if you want it to land on Epic. Spell pen you can max at +3 as enhancement (at a high cost) but it will never be high enough and will be the main reason you will ponder multiple TRs

[ProdigalGuru]

Take build points from DEX and WIS for your boost to CON.

Mass Protection from Elements is fine.

Water plus Earth equals Mud.

You sure you want to be a Mud Savant?

[Asmodeus451]

delaying spell focus Evocation till level 12 is a BAD idea, as it is a requirement for ANY savant at level 6.

Maximize is a must for any damage caster, i would recommend taking both Max and empower, but if you only take 1, take Maximize.

Combat Casting is a waste, Quicken is much better, and the added SP cost is minimal, especially on a Sorc.

drop 2 points from Str and get 16 Con, you'll thank yourself later.

As a water Savant, most of your main spells won't even have a DC, so Greater SF is a waste as well.

Force of Personality would not be a feat i personally would take, but to each thier own isuppose.

as to your spell list, Mage armor is a useless spell. it doesnt stack with armor bonuses you will get from equipment. Shield is useful at low level, but nightshield is better at mid-levels IMO.

i would recommend picking 2 elemental lines and sticking with them, as it is bossible to max out both. so take either Acid OR Force, tryinng to take both will leave you with 1 great and 2 mediocre lines, rather than 2 great ones.

[vraelliott]

I'm pretty sure.

There are a lot of great ice spells at higher levels and acid spells at lower ones (Acid Burst).

I'm trying to stay away from Fire because a friend of mine is a Fire Savant and I'd kind of like to do Ice as kind of a challenge and I'd like to try to not use Wall of Fire.

I was thinking about quicken, and we'll see. I don't really like having to turn on and off metamagic feats. I think I'll have a decent enough concentration if I take Combat Casting. I'll think about it.

What about Skill Focus: UMD? Would this be worth it if it was making or breaking using Heal Scrolls?

Alright, I'm hearing you.

So Maximize and Toughness at First, and then what?

I think I might go with Acid until I get the Force Missiles spell, and then switch to Force. I think I'm going to go with Mage Armor for the first few levels and then swap it out.

I was thinking I would take extend (for haste, displacement, blur, GH, etc) and empower. Everyone says to take Maximize, and I think I probably will. I'll have to play around with the planner some more.

[Loftus]

Sounds like mud to me...

[Shyver]

delaying spell focus Evocation till level 12 is a BAD idea, as it is a requirement for ANY savant at level 6.

Maximize or Empower is required for Savant I @ 6.
Spell Focus: Conjuration or Spell Focus: Evocation is required for Savant II @ 12.

[Iazani]

Stats:
Str 10, Con 16

Feats
- Extend
- Combat Casting
+ Mental Toughness
+ Maximize Spell

Spell list doesn't show a lot of promise for Extend feat, and Combat casting for 4 conc points? Trust me you wont need it that badly if you do this right... you WILL need lots of mana for that dps pouring out of you like... water? yes water... and if you want it to hurt bad maximize it.

Spells
1st MM is nice at lower levels i suppose... when you hit a higher level switch it. Mage Armor... you're a mage... you're going to get hit at higher levels... 4 AC is like wiley coyote putting an umbrella over his head with the boulders falling... Choose something other than a damage spell more or less for these two, I'll leave the choice to your imagination. It's your toon.

2nd Good.

3rd Fantastic!

4th Magnificent!!

5th See 7th...

6th Aww... Disintegrate??? C'mon you were doing great... although this makes life easier... just dump it and take BOTH Otiluke's Freezing Sphere AND Acid Fog.

7th Otto... we wonder about this man. But it works. Banishment will serve you well... although having it AND Dismissal is somewhat repetative. IMO, drop Dismissal and take Cyclonic Blast, will serve you well when facing enemy AOE abilities.

8th YES YES YES!!!

9th wail on them, then drain their energy and...

Yeah, TBH i'm not sure myself i'm a 18 sorc right now and i'm still debating on what my last lvl 9 spell will be. I'll prolly end up taking hold monster, mass

All in all, I think you have a fantastic build here... you've got a central focus with a couple great branches off of this little bonsai. Good luck with it!

[vraelliott]

Yeah, the spell list I provided in the OP is half end-game spells and half leveling spells, I'll admit that. I'll be experimenting with various things to see what works and swapping as I gain levels (ditching dismissal because I got banishment, for example).

I was taking extend for haste and displacement, mostly, since haste can never last too long and displacement has a pitiful duration.

Just a question, if I cast..Acid Burst, for example, with extend on, do I still spend extra SP even though that spell can't be extended? Cause then I could just leave it on.

I'll make up a build in the planner and post it in the next week.

BTW, I'm thinking of TR'ing this guy into a Self-healing, Warforged Archmage Wizard who tries to be a team player, dividing his spells between Buffs, Damage, and CC. Then I plan on TR'ing again into an Air Savant who should be a beast!

Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, I play Krilli (level 13 Dwarven "sword" 'n' board Fighter ATM) on Thelanis. The name of this toon is (probably) going to be Bidan. Other toons that I'll play once I hit 1000 favor are Arlanni (Rog2/RgR18 is the plan), Thanq (Pally), Kordik (Cleric). I have another slot that will probably be a self-healing Fighter 6/Rogue 2/Wizard 12 Warforged (or the same levels as a Human with FvS levels instead of Wizzy, we'll see) meant for Soloing.

[Asmodeus451]

...Just a question, if I cast..Acid Burst, for example, with extend on, do I still spend extra SP even though that spell can't be extended? Cause then I could just leave it on....

short answer, no.

metamagics that do not apply to the spell you are casting do not apply their added sp cost to that spell

[vraelliott]

Thanks, good to know.

I rolled him up to try him out (even though I don't have vet status yet, I played him to level 2).

He's not bad. I took shield at first for a little extra protection, then decided to swap it for Mage Armor because the short duration was annoying me.

So I have Niac's, Acid Spray (needed something with an AoE) and Mage Armor. I took Toughness and Mental Toughness (level 3 will be Maximize).

I like it. I solo'd the village quests in Korthos with a cleric hireling on hard and then ran S/R/E solo (no hireling, forgot to summon it) for the level.

I think I ended up with this:
S: 10
D: 8
C: 16
I: 10
W: 8
Ch: 18

It threw a couple of items at him from Krilli (a couple clubs and a +1 CHA cloak), a couple thousand more experience and I'll get Sorc's Cha 1 (saved an AP from level 1 for it).

So far I haven't missed Magic Missile. It kinda sucks at level 1 anyways. Maybe I'll take it at 3rd level when it starts getting a little better (more missiles).

[PwnHammer40K]

Water plus Earth equals Mud.

You sure you want to be a Mud Savant?

*casts Protection From Mud* please no I just bought this armor!