Post by Enius the White on Dec 8, 2011 22:14:22 GMT
Shock and Claw (19 Sorc / 41 BDD)
An open subrace Dragonstorm Mage
An arcane caster can be one of the funnest classes to play on HG. It can also be a steep learning curve for newer players. Even with an effective build, knowing what to cast, when and on what, requires practice and can change drastically with each new area. One way to minimize this complexity, while still enjoying the lightning cracking, thunder clapping goodness of raw arcane power is the Dragonstorm Mage or “DSM”. The innately limited breadth of DSM class spells means that you get to focus on much fewer spells, while still being effective as HG's damage dealing, crowd controlling, mobile draconic artillery! Just make sure that you learn to recognize kick-back mobs later in the game, as your AoE or rapid fire attacks must not be used around them. When in doubt, ask before you pull the trigger.
This build is an adaptation of my hardcore DSM named “-HC-DC-”. It takes a while to get the full DSM/BDD (Blue Dragon Disciple) benefits, but then this build matures into a high damage, unconventional Sorc with some tricks up it's sleeve. Very fun to play.
DC can be a problem for open subrace caster builds, so this build focuses on using very high SP as a cornerstone to it's damage output. With 61 effective base caster levels the initial damage package boosted by 150 lore is big, and will cut through most SR nicely, leaving the weaker DC to sort out the final wallop. Our BDD aura gives us an effective +2 to DC (-2 to enemy saves) as well.
The stat bonuses for using BDD control class will not only give us huge HPs (Toughness + 9 Epic Toughness + 8 bonus Constitution), but will also provide some saves, ability check resistance, skills, and 4 much needed main stat (Cha) for “free”.
Recent summons upgrades have made the Dragon Knight epic spell useful, and our free Dragon Knight summon will ultimately be as ornery as any on HG. This build also takes full advantage of the standard new summon 1-9 spells, having the ability to summon the highest level/grade of these from various spell levels. So, even when soloing or low on spells, someone (or something) will always have our back!
If a Blue Dragon Disciple can't be of Half Blue Dragon subrace, then who can?
"Half-Dragon - Blue"- requires Human (adds wings)
CHR +1,
STR +2
INT -2
Immunity Damage Type: Electrical: 65%
Damage Vulnerability: Acid: 100%
Speaks: Draconic
Dragon Disciples using the open Half-Dragon subraces (Half-Dragon - Black, Blue, Green, Red, or White) have lesser requirements, due to their dragon heritage. They require one Epic Toughness less in order to gain the benefits. For example, at level 20, they require Epic Toughness 4, instead of Epic Toughness 5, to gain the characteristics.
As with any open subrace, you may use a vial of dragon blood right after creation to get a specific bonus feat or vulnerability amelioration.
Alignment: Any Evil
Abilities:
Stat / Starting / Subrace mod/ At 60 with +14 gear/Double Demi
Str / 8 / 10/ 42/46
Dex / 12 / 12/ 26/30
Con / 12 / 12/ 36/40
Wis / 8 / 8/ 22/26
Int / 14 / 12/ 32/36
Cha / 18 / 19/ 62/66
All ability points go into charisma.
Saves: at 60 with +14 gear/Double Demi
F – 64/66
R – 53/55
W – 59/61
HP: at 60 with +14 Constitution on gear = 1492
HP: at Double Demi with +14 Constitution on gear = 1612
AC will vary significantly for this build dependent on armor/robe, shield, and gear quality. It gets the full +16 from Draconic Armour/Tumble. Obviously, the higher the AC the better. The general gear related trade-off will be +1 SP (robes) and spell slots (Tia gear) vs AC. Your Dragonfear Aura drops your enemy's attacks by 2, increasing your (and your close-by party members') effective AC.
Class progression
Sorc 1-5 BDD 6-15 Sorc 16-20 BDD 21-31 Sorc 32-40
Feats:
Pre-epic feats:
Luck of the Heroes
Spell focus Evocation
Greater spell focus Evocation
Maximise spell
Toughness
Extend Spell
Empower spell
Resist energy: Electricity(Prerequisite: fortitude save bonus +8)
Epic feats:
Epic Toughness 1-9
Epic Spell Focus Evocation
Legendary feats:
Greater CHA 1-3
Legendary Evocation
Legendary Luck
Legendary Spell Penetration
Other:
Tome – Use Spell Penetration Tome at lvl 41
Artifact - The Orb of Dragonkind (gives a nice breath, poison immunity and 8 regen). A Charisma arti works as well, or even better, with +1 DC, but is much harder to get.
Pandect - Acid resist
Skills:
Concentration Max (lets you cast while being attacked)
Lore Max (boosts your spell damage)
Parry Max (greatly reduces critical hit damage taken)
Tumble 30 (increases your AC, but only up to 30, as your draconic armor does the rest)
Remainder into Discipline and/or Craft Armor (depending on armor choice etc.)
After you gain 30 levels of BDD, you become a transformed Dragon Disciple and can use your PC Scry to change your appearance and/or activate tails.
Spell Selection recommendations:
DSM class spells use Sorcerer level + Blue Dragon Disciple level (including legendary) to calculate caster levels. In addition, they count as Evocation (our Legendary focus) for determining DC, and receive +1 spell penetration for every 10 caster levels over 20 (+4 at lvl 60). DSMs also add half their caster level to their Lore skill for casting DSM spells. Lore is effective up to 150. That's where we'll be firing from. Summon Creature 1-9 are DSM spells, and therefore use your Evocation focus and the full 61 caster levels to determine summon power.
- Level 1: Negative Energy Ray (does Positive damage), Lesser Orb of Electricity, Lesser Orb of Sound, Shocking Grasp, Expeditious Retreat
- Level 2: Gedlee's Electric Loop (targets which fail a Reflex save are dazed), Shock Weapon, Ghostly Visage, Summon Creature 2, Vocalize
- Level 3: Lightning Bolt does (3/4 casterlevel) d6, 2/3 Elec and 1/3 Divine, Scintillating Sphere, Summon Creature 3, Displacement
- Level 4: Elemental Shield (duration multiplied by 10; provides Elec / Sonic immunity and Elec kickback), Orb of Electricity, Orb of Sound, Stoneskin
- Level 5: Ball Lightning (no longer limited to 1 ball per target; does 2/3 Elec and 1/3 Slashing damage), Energy Buffer, Lesser Mind Blank, Summon Creature 5
- Level 6: Chain Lightning (does 1 additional point of damage per die; 1/2 Elec and 1/2 Divine), Tenser's Transformation, Summon Creature 6
- Level 7: Great Thunderclap, Greater Orb of Sound, Static Field,
- Level 8: Greater Sanctuary, Greater Spell Breach, Summon Creature 8
- Level 9: Meteor Swarm (becomes Thunderstorm; does 1/2 Elec, 1/2 Sonic, 1/2 Positive), Summon Creature 9
Spell selection can be adjusted by individual choice and play style, as well as areas of preference. Ghostly Visage will only work with this build (i.e. offer 1 round of etherealness) if you have an item with Greater Spell Focus Illusion on it. Darkness is a good alternative otherwise.
You have the following defensive buffs:
Stoneskin
Energy Buffer
Tenser's Transformation
Displacement
Expeditious Retreat
Elemental Shield
Keep your Dragonfear Aura up at all times.
Be careful with Elemental Shield around KB mobs. The damage they take when hitting you will echo kickback damage back at you and your party.
Comments:
- Blue Dragon Disciples get very nice stat bonuses. In order to gain the stat bonuses at BDD level 35 (lvl 54) you will have to seek out a particular object, in addition to having all 9 Epic Toughness feats. Once you find it, you will have to return at BDD level 40 (lvl 59) to gain the final bonus. Ask for the location in game.
- You get free channeling 1, as a “pure” Sorcerer. This gives you +1 extra SP, on top of your +4 from DSM. In total you should get max SP of 75 (60 base, 8 feats, 4 DSM, 3 channeling). SP is 73 with just the free channeling. If you use the caster robes “Wraps of Fistandilius” instead of medium armor, you get +1 more. You could also use a SP ego item (instead of a DC one) for +1 (total max SP 77). You could even use a SP arti (not recommended) to max out at 78. The build's designed base SP of 74 (free channeling, w. Wraps of Fist.) is very good, and enough for most applications.
- As a DSM, only certain spells combine your Sorc and BDD levels for your Caster Level. These are the spells that you will generally be using as the 19 Sorc levels are not enough to make most other spells effective. The level based boost that DSMs get to lore is the trade-off, and is very noticeable on the spell damage front.
- Unlike fire based spells, electric and sonic (our genre) work under water.
- The Strength allows you to make many strength KD checks, and has become more useful than ever in the hells and beyond. You are not a tank, but you are a dragon at heart. If, say, a Pit Fiend breaches the line, you can step up and tango with it for a few rounds to keep it from routing your squishier casters. If the other casters and you can finish it off instead of fleeing in GV with tanks needing to fall back from the line, then everyone will be happy.
- Your Fort save is good. Reflex will be a weakness. Your will save is just high enough that you should not be getting amnied every time you cross the river on Tia runs.
- You have over twice the HP of most other Sorcerers. This will help you survive without the extra buffs that they enjoy. You will be less heavily impacted from loosing your buffs from AoE mords, death, etc.
- Blue Half-Dragons have 100% Acid damage vulnerability. Ouch! This is your Achilles heel, and the price for going the Half-Dragon route. You must get your hands on 1 or 2 rings with nice acid immunity to offset this. Augs can also easily provide 20% (or more) extra each. This vulnerability might have been a deal breaker before randomized loot was implemented. Now, it is not that uncommon to find individual items with as much as 90% acid immunity added. Your BDD electric immunity offers a bit more than normal room on this front (i.e. you do not need any Electric immunity from gear, so pile on the Acid!). You also have a nice Sonic immunity buff (Elemental Shield), so choose Acid over Sonic as well.
- Your empowered Greater Orbs will land for up to 1200-1500 each.
- You have lots of great Summons; use them. Spawn an area in GS, then use a summon to lure/condense them into a nice tight kill zone for your Hellballs and AoEs. Is a tank getting overwhelmed? Buy them a round or 3 to recover by throwing a summons in as back-up. Avoid summons when KB mobs are around. Unsummon your summon immediately if it gets feared, or it can spawn up a whole map. Practice controlling your summons by right clicking on it's player menu picture.
- Ball Lightning is your bread and butter. Use your meta-magic feats (e.g. empowered) to spread this spell over other levels of spell slots. Try it once (you get it at Level 20) and you'll be hooked. Do not use this around party KB mobs, as the multiple hits each trigger the KB damage for all your (former ) friends. If you are taking too much personal KB from a mob, then use individual impact spells, like orbs, instead.
- Meteor Shower becomes Thunderstorm for Dragonstorm Mages. It does savage AOE damage, provided your targets do not have evasion.
- You get 5 Epic Hellballs that knock down your opponents. These DSM special Hellballs do not break loot. Mass your enemies, then alternate Hellball -2 Meteor Showers - Hellball - 2 Meteor Showers... Once the sparks start to fly, it's tough to rival the AoE damage destruction/carnage of a DSM.
- With only 19 lvls of Sorc, you do not get HG Epic Spells. The evocation epic is weak anyway, and reading a Spell Penetration Tome gives you room for 3 needed feats.
- You can wear medium armor without spell failure, if you find some gear with “medium armor proficiency” added. An alternative is to use the Paly splash version (see below) to get this proficiency. You can use any shield that has no net spell failure. This gives you a good range of gear setups. Great if you are just starting out.
- Dragonfear Aura: The Aura lasts 1 round per BDD level (including legendary levels, since our control class is also BDD), but has unlimited uses. It terrifies your opponents, inflicting penalties to attack, skills, and saves on them while they are in the aura. This build will offer a -2 aura. This helps your effective AC and DC, and your entire party will enjoy it. Keep it up at all times.
- Wing Buffet: The wing buffet attack does 1d12 points of damage to every creature in a large-sized area, for every 5 XDD levels. 8d12 at level 60 for us. It also knocks each target down if they fail a reflex save against a DC equal to the character's XDD levels (maximum of 50). The buffet also clears away AoE effects in the area like a Gust of Wind. Your Hellballs will be your KD tool, not this, but the AoE gusting will have it's uses throughout many HG encounters.
- Arcane scrolls are a great way to enhance your versatility. Greater Sanctuary, Mind Blank, Stone to Flesh, Black Blade of Disaster, just to name a few.
Variations:
- Use the open subrace, Yuan-Ti ("Yuan-Ti"- requires Human), with Bonus Class Sorcerer, gives 20% bonus XP from the start. This will naturally help to level faster. You will need to take the 10th Epic toughness, instead of Legendary Spell Penetration. You will get an extra CHA at the start, so take Greater CHA 1-4 (+1 DC over ½ Dragon), and drop Leg. Spell Pen.
- You can splash a level of Paladin after lvl 21. This gives you very high saves, at the cost of 2-3 (Incl. Wraps of Fistandilius) caster levels (SP, spell damage, etc). If you splash Paly, you will get medium armor prof.(DSM can use without spell failure) and shield prof. Use Lawful Good alignment from the start for the paly splash version.
Equipment
Armor – Wraps of Fistandilius (+1 SP and spell slots), or the best medium armor that fits your needs (With paly option, or Med armor prof on item)
Helm – Resistances, and +14 abilities in order of importance: Char, Dex, Con, Wis, Str, Int (aug with acid immunity?)
Bracers - Resistances, and +14 abilities in order of importance: Char, Dex, Con, Wis, Str, Int (aug with acid immunity?)
Cloak – Tia (or defensive gear)
Belt - Tia (or defensive gear)
Boots - Tia (or defensive gear)
Staff - Tia
Amulet - Tia (or defensive gear)
Off hand – The UR-Ward (caster shield with Shield Prof. included and spell slots) For the Paly splash version, the best shield that you can find without spell failure (look for added property -% arcane spell failure). You are not relying on EV, so you could find some pretty amazing options.
Ego aug - DC
References:
Here is the DragonStorm Mage quasiclass on HigherGround document, copied for convenient reference from:
highergroundpoa.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=info&action=display&thread=6677&page=1#1178496218
Requirements
- To qualify for Dragonstorm Mage the character must have 10 levels of Sorcerer, 10 levels of Blue Dragon Disciple, Greater Spell Focus (Evocation), and the Resist Energy (Electricity) feat before level 22.
Combat Caster
- Any light or medium armor worn by the Dragonstorm Mage has its spell failure chance reduced to zero.
Epic Spells
- On achieving Dragonstorm Mage status at level 20 or 21, the character is automatically given Epic Spell (Hellball) and Epic Spell (Dragon Knight) as bonus feats.
Spells
- Some spells, listed below, use Sorcerer level + Blue Dragon Disciple level (including legendary levels if the character's control class is Sorcerer or Blue Dragon Disciple) to calculate caster levels. In addition, all these spells count as Evocation for determining DCs, and receive +1 spell penetration for every 10 caster levels over 20. The caster may add half their caster level to their Lore skill for casting DSM spells. Lore is effective up to 150 Lore for them.
- Level 1: Negative Energy Ray (does Positive damage), Lesser Orb of Electricity, Lesser Orb of Sound, Shocking Grasp, Summon Creature 1
- Level 2: Gedlee's Electric Loop (targets which fail a Reflex save are dazed), Shock Weapon, Summon Creature 2
- Level 3: Lightning Bolt does (3/4 casterlevel) d6, 2/3 Elec and 1/3 Divine, Scintillating Sphere, Summon Creature 3
- Level 4: Elemental Shield (duration multiplied by 10; provides Elec / Sonic immunity and Elec kickback), Orb of Electricity, Orb of Sound, Stoneskin, Summon Creature 4
- Level 5: Ball Lightning (no longer limited to 1 ball per target; does 2/3 Elec and 1/3 Slashing damage), Energy Buffer, Summon Creature 5
- Level 6: Chain Lightning (does 1 additional point of damage per die; 1/2 Elec and 1/2 Divine), Summon Creature 6, Tenser's Transformation
- Level 7: Great Thunderclap, Greater Orb of Electricity, Greater Orb of Sound, Static Field, Summon Creature 7
- Level 8: Summon Creature 8
- Level 9: Meteor Swarm (becomes Thunderstorm; does 1/2 Elec, 1/2 Sonic, 1/2 Positive), Summon Creature 9
Dragon Knight
- Blue Dragon Disciple and Sorcerer levels stack for the purposes of acquiring the improved Dragon Knight summon.
Hellball
- The Dragonstorm Mage's Hellball does Elec/Positive/Divine/Magic damage instead of the normal damage types, and doesn't break loot like the normal Hellball.
- The Dragonstorm Mage receives 1 additional use per day for every 10 levels of Blue Dragon Disciple they have, including legendary levels if the Mage's control class is Blue Dragon Disciple.
Here is the Yuan-Ti open subrace, for that variation:
"Yuan-Ti"- requires Human (changes Appearance)
CHA +2
INT +1
DEX +1
WIS -3
STR -1
+5 spellcraft
SR 5 +1/lvl
Speaks: Draconic
Additional Reading:
Dragonstorm Mage:
wiki.hgweb.org/wiki/Dragonstorm_Mage
Dragon Disciple:
wiki.hgweb.org/wiki/Dragon_Disciple#Building_a_Dragon_Disciple
Great HG information for new players:
highergroundpoa.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=openbuild&action=display&thread=21174
An open subrace Dragonstorm Mage
An arcane caster can be one of the funnest classes to play on HG. It can also be a steep learning curve for newer players. Even with an effective build, knowing what to cast, when and on what, requires practice and can change drastically with each new area. One way to minimize this complexity, while still enjoying the lightning cracking, thunder clapping goodness of raw arcane power is the Dragonstorm Mage or “DSM”. The innately limited breadth of DSM class spells means that you get to focus on much fewer spells, while still being effective as HG's damage dealing, crowd controlling, mobile draconic artillery! Just make sure that you learn to recognize kick-back mobs later in the game, as your AoE or rapid fire attacks must not be used around them. When in doubt, ask before you pull the trigger.
This build is an adaptation of my hardcore DSM named “-HC-DC-”. It takes a while to get the full DSM/BDD (Blue Dragon Disciple) benefits, but then this build matures into a high damage, unconventional Sorc with some tricks up it's sleeve. Very fun to play.
DC can be a problem for open subrace caster builds, so this build focuses on using very high SP as a cornerstone to it's damage output. With 61 effective base caster levels the initial damage package boosted by 150 lore is big, and will cut through most SR nicely, leaving the weaker DC to sort out the final wallop. Our BDD aura gives us an effective +2 to DC (-2 to enemy saves) as well.
The stat bonuses for using BDD control class will not only give us huge HPs (Toughness + 9 Epic Toughness + 8 bonus Constitution), but will also provide some saves, ability check resistance, skills, and 4 much needed main stat (Cha) for “free”.
Recent summons upgrades have made the Dragon Knight epic spell useful, and our free Dragon Knight summon will ultimately be as ornery as any on HG. This build also takes full advantage of the standard new summon 1-9 spells, having the ability to summon the highest level/grade of these from various spell levels. So, even when soloing or low on spells, someone (or something) will always have our back!
If a Blue Dragon Disciple can't be of Half Blue Dragon subrace, then who can?
"Half-Dragon - Blue"- requires Human (adds wings)
CHR +1,
STR +2
INT -2
Immunity Damage Type: Electrical: 65%
Damage Vulnerability: Acid: 100%
Speaks: Draconic
Dragon Disciples using the open Half-Dragon subraces (Half-Dragon - Black, Blue, Green, Red, or White) have lesser requirements, due to their dragon heritage. They require one Epic Toughness less in order to gain the benefits. For example, at level 20, they require Epic Toughness 4, instead of Epic Toughness 5, to gain the characteristics.
As with any open subrace, you may use a vial of dragon blood right after creation to get a specific bonus feat or vulnerability amelioration.
Alignment: Any Evil
Abilities:
Stat / Starting / Subrace mod/ At 60 with +14 gear/Double Demi
Str / 8 / 10/ 42/46
Dex / 12 / 12/ 26/30
Con / 12 / 12/ 36/40
Wis / 8 / 8/ 22/26
Int / 14 / 12/ 32/36
Cha / 18 / 19/ 62/66
All ability points go into charisma.
Saves: at 60 with +14 gear/Double Demi
F – 64/66
R – 53/55
W – 59/61
HP: at 60 with +14 Constitution on gear = 1492
HP: at Double Demi with +14 Constitution on gear = 1612
AC will vary significantly for this build dependent on armor/robe, shield, and gear quality. It gets the full +16 from Draconic Armour/Tumble. Obviously, the higher the AC the better. The general gear related trade-off will be +1 SP (robes) and spell slots (Tia gear) vs AC. Your Dragonfear Aura drops your enemy's attacks by 2, increasing your (and your close-by party members') effective AC.
Class progression
Sorc 1-5 BDD 6-15 Sorc 16-20 BDD 21-31 Sorc 32-40
Feats:
Pre-epic feats:
Luck of the Heroes
Spell focus Evocation
Greater spell focus Evocation
Maximise spell
Toughness
Extend Spell
Empower spell
Resist energy: Electricity(Prerequisite: fortitude save bonus +8)
Epic feats:
Epic Toughness 1-9
Epic Spell Focus Evocation
Legendary feats:
Greater CHA 1-3
Legendary Evocation
Legendary Luck
Legendary Spell Penetration
Other:
Tome – Use Spell Penetration Tome at lvl 41
Artifact - The Orb of Dragonkind (gives a nice breath, poison immunity and 8 regen). A Charisma arti works as well, or even better, with +1 DC, but is much harder to get.
Pandect - Acid resist
Skills:
Concentration Max (lets you cast while being attacked)
Lore Max (boosts your spell damage)
Parry Max (greatly reduces critical hit damage taken)
Tumble 30 (increases your AC, but only up to 30, as your draconic armor does the rest)
Remainder into Discipline and/or Craft Armor (depending on armor choice etc.)
After you gain 30 levels of BDD, you become a transformed Dragon Disciple and can use your PC Scry to change your appearance and/or activate tails.
Spell Selection recommendations:
DSM class spells use Sorcerer level + Blue Dragon Disciple level (including legendary) to calculate caster levels. In addition, they count as Evocation (our Legendary focus) for determining DC, and receive +1 spell penetration for every 10 caster levels over 20 (+4 at lvl 60). DSMs also add half their caster level to their Lore skill for casting DSM spells. Lore is effective up to 150. That's where we'll be firing from. Summon Creature 1-9 are DSM spells, and therefore use your Evocation focus and the full 61 caster levels to determine summon power.
- Level 1: Negative Energy Ray (does Positive damage), Lesser Orb of Electricity, Lesser Orb of Sound, Shocking Grasp, Expeditious Retreat
- Level 2: Gedlee's Electric Loop (targets which fail a Reflex save are dazed), Shock Weapon, Ghostly Visage, Summon Creature 2, Vocalize
- Level 3: Lightning Bolt does (3/4 casterlevel) d6, 2/3 Elec and 1/3 Divine, Scintillating Sphere, Summon Creature 3, Displacement
- Level 4: Elemental Shield (duration multiplied by 10; provides Elec / Sonic immunity and Elec kickback), Orb of Electricity, Orb of Sound, Stoneskin
- Level 5: Ball Lightning (no longer limited to 1 ball per target; does 2/3 Elec and 1/3 Slashing damage), Energy Buffer, Lesser Mind Blank, Summon Creature 5
- Level 6: Chain Lightning (does 1 additional point of damage per die; 1/2 Elec and 1/2 Divine), Tenser's Transformation, Summon Creature 6
- Level 7: Great Thunderclap, Greater Orb of Sound, Static Field,
- Level 8: Greater Sanctuary, Greater Spell Breach, Summon Creature 8
- Level 9: Meteor Swarm (becomes Thunderstorm; does 1/2 Elec, 1/2 Sonic, 1/2 Positive), Summon Creature 9
Spell selection can be adjusted by individual choice and play style, as well as areas of preference. Ghostly Visage will only work with this build (i.e. offer 1 round of etherealness) if you have an item with Greater Spell Focus Illusion on it. Darkness is a good alternative otherwise.
You have the following defensive buffs:
Stoneskin
Energy Buffer
Tenser's Transformation
Displacement
Expeditious Retreat
Elemental Shield
Keep your Dragonfear Aura up at all times.
Be careful with Elemental Shield around KB mobs. The damage they take when hitting you will echo kickback damage back at you and your party.
Comments:
- Blue Dragon Disciples get very nice stat bonuses. In order to gain the stat bonuses at BDD level 35 (lvl 54) you will have to seek out a particular object, in addition to having all 9 Epic Toughness feats. Once you find it, you will have to return at BDD level 40 (lvl 59) to gain the final bonus. Ask for the location in game.
- You get free channeling 1, as a “pure” Sorcerer. This gives you +1 extra SP, on top of your +4 from DSM. In total you should get max SP of 75 (60 base, 8 feats, 4 DSM, 3 channeling). SP is 73 with just the free channeling. If you use the caster robes “Wraps of Fistandilius” instead of medium armor, you get +1 more. You could also use a SP ego item (instead of a DC one) for +1 (total max SP 77). You could even use a SP arti (not recommended) to max out at 78. The build's designed base SP of 74 (free channeling, w. Wraps of Fist.) is very good, and enough for most applications.
- As a DSM, only certain spells combine your Sorc and BDD levels for your Caster Level. These are the spells that you will generally be using as the 19 Sorc levels are not enough to make most other spells effective. The level based boost that DSMs get to lore is the trade-off, and is very noticeable on the spell damage front.
- Unlike fire based spells, electric and sonic (our genre) work under water.
- The Strength allows you to make many strength KD checks, and has become more useful than ever in the hells and beyond. You are not a tank, but you are a dragon at heart. If, say, a Pit Fiend breaches the line, you can step up and tango with it for a few rounds to keep it from routing your squishier casters. If the other casters and you can finish it off instead of fleeing in GV with tanks needing to fall back from the line, then everyone will be happy.
- Your Fort save is good. Reflex will be a weakness. Your will save is just high enough that you should not be getting amnied every time you cross the river on Tia runs.
- You have over twice the HP of most other Sorcerers. This will help you survive without the extra buffs that they enjoy. You will be less heavily impacted from loosing your buffs from AoE mords, death, etc.
- Blue Half-Dragons have 100% Acid damage vulnerability. Ouch! This is your Achilles heel, and the price for going the Half-Dragon route. You must get your hands on 1 or 2 rings with nice acid immunity to offset this. Augs can also easily provide 20% (or more) extra each. This vulnerability might have been a deal breaker before randomized loot was implemented. Now, it is not that uncommon to find individual items with as much as 90% acid immunity added. Your BDD electric immunity offers a bit more than normal room on this front (i.e. you do not need any Electric immunity from gear, so pile on the Acid!). You also have a nice Sonic immunity buff (Elemental Shield), so choose Acid over Sonic as well.
- Your empowered Greater Orbs will land for up to 1200-1500 each.
- You have lots of great Summons; use them. Spawn an area in GS, then use a summon to lure/condense them into a nice tight kill zone for your Hellballs and AoEs. Is a tank getting overwhelmed? Buy them a round or 3 to recover by throwing a summons in as back-up. Avoid summons when KB mobs are around. Unsummon your summon immediately if it gets feared, or it can spawn up a whole map. Practice controlling your summons by right clicking on it's player menu picture.
- Ball Lightning is your bread and butter. Use your meta-magic feats (e.g. empowered) to spread this spell over other levels of spell slots. Try it once (you get it at Level 20) and you'll be hooked. Do not use this around party KB mobs, as the multiple hits each trigger the KB damage for all your (former ) friends. If you are taking too much personal KB from a mob, then use individual impact spells, like orbs, instead.
- Meteor Shower becomes Thunderstorm for Dragonstorm Mages. It does savage AOE damage, provided your targets do not have evasion.
- You get 5 Epic Hellballs that knock down your opponents. These DSM special Hellballs do not break loot. Mass your enemies, then alternate Hellball -2 Meteor Showers - Hellball - 2 Meteor Showers... Once the sparks start to fly, it's tough to rival the AoE damage destruction/carnage of a DSM.
- With only 19 lvls of Sorc, you do not get HG Epic Spells. The evocation epic is weak anyway, and reading a Spell Penetration Tome gives you room for 3 needed feats.
- You can wear medium armor without spell failure, if you find some gear with “medium armor proficiency” added. An alternative is to use the Paly splash version (see below) to get this proficiency. You can use any shield that has no net spell failure. This gives you a good range of gear setups. Great if you are just starting out.
- Dragonfear Aura: The Aura lasts 1 round per BDD level (including legendary levels, since our control class is also BDD), but has unlimited uses. It terrifies your opponents, inflicting penalties to attack, skills, and saves on them while they are in the aura. This build will offer a -2 aura. This helps your effective AC and DC, and your entire party will enjoy it. Keep it up at all times.
- Wing Buffet: The wing buffet attack does 1d12 points of damage to every creature in a large-sized area, for every 5 XDD levels. 8d12 at level 60 for us. It also knocks each target down if they fail a reflex save against a DC equal to the character's XDD levels (maximum of 50). The buffet also clears away AoE effects in the area like a Gust of Wind. Your Hellballs will be your KD tool, not this, but the AoE gusting will have it's uses throughout many HG encounters.
- Arcane scrolls are a great way to enhance your versatility. Greater Sanctuary, Mind Blank, Stone to Flesh, Black Blade of Disaster, just to name a few.
Variations:
- Use the open subrace, Yuan-Ti ("Yuan-Ti"- requires Human), with Bonus Class Sorcerer, gives 20% bonus XP from the start. This will naturally help to level faster. You will need to take the 10th Epic toughness, instead of Legendary Spell Penetration. You will get an extra CHA at the start, so take Greater CHA 1-4 (+1 DC over ½ Dragon), and drop Leg. Spell Pen.
- You can splash a level of Paladin after lvl 21. This gives you very high saves, at the cost of 2-3 (Incl. Wraps of Fistandilius) caster levels (SP, spell damage, etc). If you splash Paly, you will get medium armor prof.(DSM can use without spell failure) and shield prof. Use Lawful Good alignment from the start for the paly splash version.
Equipment
Armor – Wraps of Fistandilius (+1 SP and spell slots), or the best medium armor that fits your needs (With paly option, or Med armor prof on item)
Helm – Resistances, and +14 abilities in order of importance: Char, Dex, Con, Wis, Str, Int (aug with acid immunity?)
Bracers - Resistances, and +14 abilities in order of importance: Char, Dex, Con, Wis, Str, Int (aug with acid immunity?)
Cloak – Tia (or defensive gear)
Belt - Tia (or defensive gear)
Boots - Tia (or defensive gear)
Staff - Tia
Amulet - Tia (or defensive gear)
Off hand – The UR-Ward (caster shield with Shield Prof. included and spell slots) For the Paly splash version, the best shield that you can find without spell failure (look for added property -% arcane spell failure). You are not relying on EV, so you could find some pretty amazing options.
Ego aug - DC
References:
Here is the DragonStorm Mage quasiclass on HigherGround document, copied for convenient reference from:
highergroundpoa.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=info&action=display&thread=6677&page=1#1178496218
Requirements
- To qualify for Dragonstorm Mage the character must have 10 levels of Sorcerer, 10 levels of Blue Dragon Disciple, Greater Spell Focus (Evocation), and the Resist Energy (Electricity) feat before level 22.
Combat Caster
- Any light or medium armor worn by the Dragonstorm Mage has its spell failure chance reduced to zero.
Epic Spells
- On achieving Dragonstorm Mage status at level 20 or 21, the character is automatically given Epic Spell (Hellball) and Epic Spell (Dragon Knight) as bonus feats.
Spells
- Some spells, listed below, use Sorcerer level + Blue Dragon Disciple level (including legendary levels if the character's control class is Sorcerer or Blue Dragon Disciple) to calculate caster levels. In addition, all these spells count as Evocation for determining DCs, and receive +1 spell penetration for every 10 caster levels over 20. The caster may add half their caster level to their Lore skill for casting DSM spells. Lore is effective up to 150 Lore for them.
- Level 1: Negative Energy Ray (does Positive damage), Lesser Orb of Electricity, Lesser Orb of Sound, Shocking Grasp, Summon Creature 1
- Level 2: Gedlee's Electric Loop (targets which fail a Reflex save are dazed), Shock Weapon, Summon Creature 2
- Level 3: Lightning Bolt does (3/4 casterlevel) d6, 2/3 Elec and 1/3 Divine, Scintillating Sphere, Summon Creature 3
- Level 4: Elemental Shield (duration multiplied by 10; provides Elec / Sonic immunity and Elec kickback), Orb of Electricity, Orb of Sound, Stoneskin, Summon Creature 4
- Level 5: Ball Lightning (no longer limited to 1 ball per target; does 2/3 Elec and 1/3 Slashing damage), Energy Buffer, Summon Creature 5
- Level 6: Chain Lightning (does 1 additional point of damage per die; 1/2 Elec and 1/2 Divine), Summon Creature 6, Tenser's Transformation
- Level 7: Great Thunderclap, Greater Orb of Electricity, Greater Orb of Sound, Static Field, Summon Creature 7
- Level 8: Summon Creature 8
- Level 9: Meteor Swarm (becomes Thunderstorm; does 1/2 Elec, 1/2 Sonic, 1/2 Positive), Summon Creature 9
Dragon Knight
- Blue Dragon Disciple and Sorcerer levels stack for the purposes of acquiring the improved Dragon Knight summon.
Hellball
- The Dragonstorm Mage's Hellball does Elec/Positive/Divine/Magic damage instead of the normal damage types, and doesn't break loot like the normal Hellball.
- The Dragonstorm Mage receives 1 additional use per day for every 10 levels of Blue Dragon Disciple they have, including legendary levels if the Mage's control class is Blue Dragon Disciple.
Here is the Yuan-Ti open subrace, for that variation:
"Yuan-Ti"- requires Human (changes Appearance)
CHA +2
INT +1
DEX +1
WIS -3
STR -1
+5 spellcraft
SR 5 +1/lvl
Speaks: Draconic
Additional Reading:
Dragonstorm Mage:
wiki.hgweb.org/wiki/Dragonstorm_Mage
Dragon Disciple:
wiki.hgweb.org/wiki/Dragon_Disciple#Building_a_Dragon_Disciple
Great HG information for new players:
highergroundpoa.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=openbuild&action=display&thread=21174