Playable in PvE from 1-40.PvP Lite (not designed for it, but it is an epic arcane caster).
Human, Any Lawful
Str 8 Dex 10 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 15 Cha 16
1 Sor (1): Luck of Heroes*, Spell Penetration 2 Sor (2): 3 Sor (3): Extend Spell 4 Sor (4): +1 wis 5 Sor (5): 6 Sor (6): Empower Spell 7 Clr (1): 8 Clr (2): +1 wis 9 Clr (3): Still Spell 10 Clr (4): 11 Clr (5): 12 Clr (6): +1 wis, Greater Spell Penetration 13 Clr (7): 14 Clr (8): 15 Clr (9): Maximize Spell 16 Clr (10): +1 cha 17 Clr (11): 18 Clr (12): Toughness 19 Sor (7): 20 Sor (8): +1 cha 21 Clr (13): Epic Spell Penetration 22 Sor (9): 23 Sor (10): 24 Sor (11): +1 cha, Great Cha 1 25 Sor (12): 26 Sor (13): 27 Sor (14): Great Cha 2 28 Sor (15): +1 cha 29 Sor (16): 30 Sor (17): Great Cha 3 31 Sor (18): 32 Sor (19): +1 cha 33 Sor (20): Great Cha 4 34 Sor (21): 35 Sor (22): 36 Sor (23): +1 cha, Epic Spell (Epic Warding), Epic Spell (Epic Mage Armor) 37 Sor (24): 38 Sor (25): 39 Sor (26): Great Cha 5, Epic Spell (Greater Ruin)* 40 Mon (1): +1 cha
Casts up to 7th level divine spells, 9th level arcane spells
FAQ: Q: Why combine sorcerer and cleric? And why in these proportions? A: The idea was to create a character with strong support power from cleric buffs and healing, while still providing the kind of magical firepower only a sorcerer can.
26 sorcerer levels plus epic penetration lets you crack most SR all of the time with your offensive spells. You should focus on no-save spells such as Bigby's and IGMS due to the need to split your base stats between wisdom and charisma, and because you aren't taking any spell focuses.
13 cleric levels give you access to 7th level divine spells, opening up a huge number of buffs, the Heal spell, the Resurrection spell, and more. You get a couple reasonably useful attack spells too - mainly holy word and harm, but depending on your domain choice you could also get Creeping Doom.
Overall the character is very good as a partymember - she's got excellent support capabilities because she can devote all her cleric spells per day to buffs and healing, and makes an excellent 'arcane artillery' caster because she can devote more of her sorcerer spells to doing damage.
Q: Why aren't you taking spell focus? A: Three reasons - one, because sorcerers have a limited number of known spells, it often benefits them to focus on no-save spells anyway. Second, feat starvation. Third, this build splits stat points between charisma and wisdom and is too feat starved to really pump charisma up high enough to get good save DCs for epic opponents.
Q: Why take charisma up to 28 then? Why not leave it at 20, free up great charisma feats, pump Con and do something else with starting stats for more hp, more skill points, etc? A: This is for bonus sorcerer spells per day. The character was designed with party play in mind, so she'd ideally have front-liner partymembers.
This could be a useful soloist variant on the build, however: change starting charisma to 15, starting int to 14, stop cha at 20, put the feats this frees up in to auto still spell and great con.
Q: Why 1 level of monk? Why not bard? Or paladin? A: Bard and paladin are both viable in this build. However, UMD from bard isn't as attractive because this character can already use scrolls and wands both as a cleric and as a sorcerer. And paladin isn't as attractive because it doesn't get tumble.
Monk gets tumble, discipline, and evasion. I'd say in a world with a lot of class or race or align restricted permanent magic items, bard for UMD would be a better choice, but in a world without many restricted items, monk is better.
Q: Why not take auto still spell? Clerics can wear armor, after all. A: Style, and because of the feat starvation. It's entirely possible to trade off some charisma in return for auto still spell. But you've got very reasonable spell and natural defenses without armor.
You might benefit from wearing armor while you level up, using the still spell feat on your sorcerer spells, however.
Q: You mention only using no-save sorcerer spells. So you basically mean, spam bigby and IGMS? A: You can use other spells and it's often good to have a couple attack options open, but you should assume most enemies will make their saves. I'd avoid death magic, and choose evocation spells primarily.
However, there's no getting around the fact that you trade off your ability to use many spells in this build in return for your cleric support powers.
Q: What cleric domains do you suggest? A: Plant is good because it gives you barkskin and creeping doom. Healing is excellent because it gives you Heal as a 5th and 6th level spell both. War is good because it gives you cat's grace and aura of vitality. _________________ Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
Edited By griphook on 12/02/05 20:32
A shower of sparkling missiles flew out of the girl's outstretched hands and blasted into the giant's chest, leaving a dozen gaping holes through its thick body. The creature tumbled, tripping over a fallen comrade as it died. The hillside was littered with smoldering bodies, a sizeable portion of a clan of fire giants having been laid low by the girl's magic.
Another giant came charging up behind it. And another behind that. A third followed some distance behind. It was a horrible realization for the sorceress: they were using each other for cover.
"I... must... not... run... away!"
Ravie closed her eyes tightly, concentrating on the remains of her power with that single thought. Her mind was going to explode, her veins were on fire. The magic was harder and harder to summon forth each time. But if she were to escape she'd have to abandon him... and that wasn't an option. She'd promised to protect Marcus until they reached Castanya. And so another barrage of sorcerous death flew from her hands, cutting down two of the advancing monsters.
She fell to one knee in exhaustion and the third giant, sensing a chance, charged forward. Marcus started towards her, the young boy's eyes tearing up with fear and worry. "Stay back!" she whispered, "I'm okay."
"I must not run away!"
It screamed in her mind. She was a mercenary at heart, this had started as just another job. Self-sacrifice didn't come easily to her, but she just couldn't let the beasts get their hands on the child. It went beyond the importance of his fate to her homeland's future. During their journey from his home in the West he'd become like a little brother to her; he was family now.
With a desperate effort Ravie called out to the Heavens and a wave of holy light surged out from her, striking the creature blind. Howling in surprise and dismay, unable to see the girl whose magics had inflicted such terrible loses on its Clan pass out from the effort, it fled into the trees. Its remaining comrades at the base of the hill followed, unable to see that the frail young woman with so much power had cast her last spell of that day. Unwilling to risk their lives, they abandoned their dead and wounded and returned to their lair in shame.
The fight was over. She had held her ground, she had protected Marcus, even though she had strained her powers to such a point that it would take weeks before she could invoke a spell without pain. The patrol found the child and his protector under two hours later, they had been close to the rendez-vous point and the battle had left a column of smoke marking its spot. Ravie was still unconscious; Marcus had somehow dragged her away from the bodies and was holding her hand as if worried she would disappear if he let go.
It was days before her eyes opened. The first thing she saw was a face more familiar to her than her own, and she blinked and mumbled, "Gaus... am I dreaming?" A pause, then, "... am I dead?"
Her oldest friend, the one she'd begun her adventures with so long ago, Gaus hadn't left her side since she'd been brought back. "No, Ravie... this is real." He squeezed her hand and smiled, but tears rimmed his eyes, "I was so afraid that I'd lost you."
Ravie felt warmth rush into her heart for the first time since before the battle on the hill. She and Gaus had been raised together since they were children, and though the tides of war had forced them to follow seperate paths for a time, now they were together again. This time, she vowed silently to herself, nothing would take her from his side. Swallowing to clear a lump in her throat, she spoke, "And Marcus?"
"He's fine... you kept him safe. The Crusaders are guarding him now; he comes to see you every day." Gaus nodded to an arrangement of flowers in a vase by her bedside, "He brought those for you."
"Thank God," she replied. But Gaus shook his head, still smiling, "No... thank you. You did something amazing. They are already calling it Ravie's Stand." But she was asleep again. The road to recovery would be long for her, but Gaus promised himself that she would not have to walk it alone. _________________ Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
I don't ever take ECL into account and you probably are but if I were building this (no comments necessary) I'd take cleric at level 1 - it will net you 8 skill points. Just a thought. I like the level split.
I play a wizard for the time being, and have never given thought to that ECL thing before ypu posted about it Xylo. It seems to me WIZ/SOR reduce your ECL no matter what combo level you have, so taking more Cleric early on would net you bonus xp longer. I gain more xp with a wiz 6/Rog4/SD2 than other lvl 12 chars have gotten at those encounters.
Interesting.
This character was sorta designed for working with a group on a regular basis and not so much for soloing... but maybe changing the pre-epic level progression to something like cleric 4/sorc 6/cleric 8/sorc 2 would be more beneficial.
Sorc level 6 being when you get access to those juicy 3rd-level arcane spells and when your ECL adjustment fades off made it an attractive early target. But cleric 4 would give you 2nd level cleric spells, for eagle's splendor and other stat buffs. _________________ Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
I forgot to mention 1 thing though, sorry. Nice character, and surely welcome in all adventuring groups. And as usual when you write a story, well worth the read.