Sorcer Water/Cold savant ! let's discuss !

[letthal]

Hello there guys ! Im seeking for a little help from old and experienced players like you ! So! After 2 lifes as a monk, i've dedided to make a caster, WF sorc to be more specific. It'll be my 1st time as a caster so please show some forbearance about the build im about to show you. Im more than sure that there are a lots of huge mistakes, with Feats, Spells etc. That's why i want you guys to correct me. The main idea is to create a WF cold savant(evocation specialist) with addition to Acid ? that was my 1st quess because there are lots of monsters whose are immune to cold, and acid seems like the element which can hit almost everything. The only problem is that Acid spells are conjuration mostly, that's what concerns me mostly, since in feats i've taken only evocation focus. Maybe Air Savant would be better than Acid since most of the electrical spells are in the evo school. Im not pretty sure if the feats are right and the order of taking them is right too. I've considered changing extend for Conjuration focus maybe ? (conjuration seems to offer quite a lot too, power word kill, acid spells, web, sleet storm, etc.) Im not an expert in a spell choosing either. It would be nice if you guys could correct them too. I know it's a lot to ask, and there is a lot to change, but im looking forward to the ones accepting this challenge !

PS. Ik that Fire Savant is waayyyyyy better, fireball, firewall etc, it's so cool ! And so mainstream that i cant stand watching any fire spells anymore. So dont even try convince me to abandon my sweet cold savant(shattering bodies of my enemies, freezing them to the bones) and take the fire like a real pro sorc. Thank you for your attention!

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Water/Earth Savant
Level 20 Lawful Neutral Warforged Male
(20 Sorcerer) 
Hit Points: 242
Spell Points: 1933 
BAB: 10\10\15\20
Fortitude: 11
Reflex: 5
Will: 10

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(36 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength              8                     8
Dexterity             8                     8
Constitution         20                    20
Intelligence         12                    12
Wisdom                6                     6
Charisma             16                    24

Tomes Used
+3 Tome of Charisma used at level 1

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance              -1                    -1
Bluff                 4                     7
Concentration         9                    28
Diplomacy             4                     7
Disable Device        n/a                   n/a
Haggle                4                     7
Heal                 -2                    -2
Hide                 -1                    -1
Intimidate            4                     7
Jump                 -1                    -1
Listen               -2                    -2
Move Silently        -1                    -1
Open Lock            n/a                   n/a
Perform               n/a                   n/a
Repair                1                     1
Search                1                     1
Spellcraft            5                    24
Spot                 -2                    -2
Swim                 -1                    -1
Tumble               n/a                   n/a
Use Magic Device      6                    18.5

Level 1 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Monk
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Monk
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Evocation
Spell (1): Niac's Cold Ray
Spell (1): Acid Spray


Level 2 (Sorcerer)
Spell (1): Expeditious Retreat


Level 3 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Spell Focus: Evocation
Spell (1): Jump


Level 4 (Sorcerer)
Spell (2): Repair Moderate Damage


Level 5 (Sorcerer)


Level 6 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Selected) Maximize Spell
Spell (3): Frost Lance


Level 7 (Sorcerer)
Spell (2): Web
Spell (3): Acid Blast


Level 8 (Sorcerer)
Spell (4): Ice Storm


Level 9 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Spell
Spell (2): Knock
Spell (3): Haste
Spell (4): Dimension Door


Level 10 (Sorcerer)
Spell (5): Cone of Cold


Level 11 (Sorcerer)
Spell (3): Displacement
Spell (4): Repair Critical Damage
Spell (5): Break Enchantment


Level 12 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Selected) Heighten Spell
Spell (6): Acid Fog


Level 13 (Sorcerer)
Spell (4): Stoneskin
Spell (5): Niac's Biting Cold
Spell (6): Otiluke's Freezing Sphere


Level 14 (Sorcerer)
Spell (7): Finger of Death


Level 15 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Spell (5): Cloudkill
Spell (6): True Seeing
Spell (7): Otto's Sphere of Dancing


Level 16 (Sorcerer)
Spell (8): Polar Ray


Level 17 (Sorcerer)
Spell (7): Hold Person, Mass
Spell (8): Black Dragon Bolt


Level 18 (Sorcerer)
Feat: (Selected) Extend Spell
Spell (9): Wail of the Banshee


Level 19 (Sorcerer)
Spell (8): Power Word: Stun
Spell (9): Power Word: Kill


Level 20 (Sorcerer)
Spell (9): Dominate Monster

[Toro12]

Your going to want maximize and empower as soon as you can get them to power your SLAs.

I have a force/cold spec wizard , haven't found many cold immune mobs. Mostly skellies. Lots of things have some resistance but it tends to be minimal.

Icestorm , cone of cold , polar ray , outlukes & niacs does the job for me for a ton of stuff. That is without all the sorc boosts. Yes I have archmage missile spam w/ cyclonic blast but when not in sharadi it's probably less damage than some good sorc SLA spam.
Does seem like water is the weaker of the SLAs of the savants.

Not a huge fan of taking extend on a sorc , and not that late. If anything take it early and swap it late when your buffs last 10 min on their own.

[Panzermeyer]

Yea if you are going to take extend, take it early. Otherwise there is really not a point to it.

Also I'd drop toughness. At cap it is only an additional 31 HP, that is not a ton.

When playing a Sorc you want to specialize in two elements for the very problem you talk about.

I have an Air Savant which I enjoy a great deal. The Air boost (wings) and immunity to knock down is pretty awesome.

The thing I would consider about being a fire savant, is that during the early mid level range, there are a ton of undead quests, that fire rips through. Lot's of people actually go fire savant till about 15-16 then just reset your enhancements and switch to a different savant.

With acid however you really do not have to worry about your DC's. A lot of the Acid spells don't require much of a save. So I would not worry much about your acid DC's.

You can also go Electric. Lot's of those spells are evocation and it provides some excellent synergy with Niac's and Electric Surge for dots.

[Seikojin]

when going pure dps caster, the only thing you really need to get advice on is gear, imho.

[letthal]

Your going to want maximize and empower as soon as you can get them to power your SLAs.

That might be true. But Conjuration focus is quite crucial early for niac's cold ray for example. It requires quite high DC.

I have a force/cold spec wizard , haven't found many cold immune mobs. Mostly skellies. Lots of things have some resistance but it tends to be minimal.

Force seems cool, but you cant get benefits from savants to boost ur force spells. Isnt it better to focus on spells you can boost with savant trees ? like acid ?

when going pure dps caster, the only thing you really need to get advice on is gear, imho.

Ow yea, forgot to mention about it. Some advice about the gear would be nice. So far i've got might of the abishai set of 3 items with the evo boost, vibrant purple ioun stone and elfcrafted docent.

[Toro12]

That might be true. But Conjuration focus is quite crucial early for niac's cold ray for example. It requires quite high DC.


Force seems cool, but you cant get benefits from savants to boost ur force spells. Isnt it better to focus on spells you can boost with savant trees ? like acid ?


Ow yea, forgot to mention about it. Some advice about the gear would be nice. So far i've got might of the abishai set of 3 items with the evo boost, vibrant purple ioun stone and elfcrafted docent.

Sorry if I wasn't clear , I was just using my wizard as reference that I had force SLAs to fall back on for low cost spam. I wasn't suggesting you look at force for an option for a sorc.
Just that I was saying even without savant boosts I found ice to be very effective.
-----
Max and empower early IMO are far superior to conj focus early. Free max+emp SLAs make early content (read as up to and including heroic gianthold) pretty much easy button. +s to your conj DC are made to look almost trivial by comparison.

[Loromir]

PS. Ik that Fire Savant is waayyyyyy better , fireball, firewall etc, it's so cool ! And so mainstream that i cant stand watching any fire spells anymore. So dont even try convince me to abandon my sweet cold savant(shattering bodies of my enemies, freezing them to the bones) and take the fire like a real pro sorc. Thank you for your attention!
[/code]

Just FYI...not many people are going to say "Fire Savant is waayyyyyy better". Ice is just as viable as Fire. Fire works out well in the Low Levels and pretty well at high levels, but is useless against most of the lvl 15-20 mobs. Ice seems to be useful from beginning to end.

Fire is good though.

[Livmo]

If you have access to the bladforgered race, then I would take the free LR and get rid of the 1 level of paladin instead of regular WF. Just my opinion, because I like the bladeforgered stuffs mo betta.

[Cardtrick]

That might be true. But Conjuration focus is quite crucial early for niac's cold ray for example. It requires quite high DC.

It is extremely far from crucial. DC matters, but one point isn't going to make nearly as much difference at low levels as +150 spellpower on your SLAs from Maximize.

Force seems cool, but you cant get benefits from savants to boost ur force spells. Isnt it better to focus on spells you can boost with savant trees ? like acid ?

Force is nice because it works on very nearly everything.

And you can boost it somewhat. The Eldritch Knight tree gives increases to Force spellpower. There's also a tier 5 ability in each savant tree to boost another type of spellpower; you can use it to boost Force.

That said, I like Acid. I don't have a problem with going primarily ice/acid.

Ow yea, forgot to mention about it. Some advice about the gear would be nice. So far i've got might of the abishai set of 3 items with the evo boost, vibrant purple ioun stone and elfcrafted docent.

If you stick with acid, be sure to get the Boots of Rock from the Cannith challenges. They're awesome for spellpower, and the guards proc all the time too.

Just FYI...not many people are going to say "Fire Savant is waayyyyyy better". Ice is just as viable as Fire. Fire works out well in the Low Levels and pretty well at high levels, but is useless against most of the lvl 15-20 mobs. Ice seems to be useful from beginning to end.

This used to be more true when we were all running a bunch of Amrath quests. Now, if you've got one or both of the expansions, it's easy to level to 20 without touching any devil-heavy content (except the Vale, but even there it's just the devils themselves that are immune -- fiend blood trogs/trolls/etc. just have a fairly small fire resistance). I just leveled a fire/force savant with a minor dip into acid and TRed him at 20, and it was incredibly easy.