The Original Sorcerer (33/365)
Joshua William Numenor has had a long and storied history with me.
He was initially a priest of a vengeance god called Norstra and apparently being a man of the cloth wasn't his calling because after a hobgoblin scored two crits in a row I needed a new character for that game.
Numenor's next appearance was also the one which set the course for the character thereafter. It wa a story I was writing in class, when I had spare time. Just something to keep myself occupied when I was done with my work and Numenor was featured as a Sorcerer, the youngest to ever acheive "Master Rank" by mastering at least 10 of the 15 'elements' of sorcerery. In that story Numenor was one of the handful to have mastered 14 of them. This established Numenor being a hugely powerful arcanist and it also established his lichdom though it's never entered into anything but that story and the necroverse.
His incarnation in my Necroverse was that of a, as homicidalsh33p would say, thousand year badass who literally destroyed a planet and then tore part of reality as an accidental byproduct.
In virtually every incarnation, Numenor's been in a tall, imperial looking man in his mid to late fifties. Tanned skin, close cut hair and pale eyes, clean shaven. He tended to wear red robes, cut away from his legs to allow free movement and abbreviated armor (in D&D it was ornamental, not functional). The one thing that's stayed with him since his debut as a sorcerer was the fact he wore a belt with chains looping across both hips; seven to a side. Each chain was thin, supple steel and enameled a different color; the chains represented his mastery of specific disciplines and elements. The only one he'd never mastered was the mental disciplines.
Numenor's list of influences and inspirations is lengthy but the standouts are: Diablo Mage, Lord Soth, Dark Schnieder, Simon R Green's Merlin ("Powerful beyond hope or reason").
As for his build? Well, he's a wizard. Kind of. I guess. I call him a sorcerer though his actual class is wizard. He's not specialized (for reasons that become apparent later) though I have given it some thought off and on.
Previously, I focused him on elemental feats but those....don't work as well as I thought they did. While Numenor is focused on elemental spells the feats I thought worked don't really so I've had to recreate the character from the ground up.
To begin with Numenor is giving up his familiar for the Eidetic Spellcaster variant (Dragon Magazine). While he still has to expend money to learn spells he doesn't need to maintain a spellbook anymore which is why I call him a 'wizard' in quotation marks. He has to prepare spells and all normally but the flavor of it is that he's much closer to a sorcerer than a traditional wizard. Anyway.... He also uses the Domain Wizard variant feature from the SRD and his Arcane Domain is the Storm Domain. The spells are damn useful.
I am using a houserule for Wizards that drops scribe scroll at first level and adds it to the list of bonus feats, giving the wizard just a regular bonus feat at 1st level. If that wasn't an option then I'd drop all the wizard bonus feats and grab the variant feature that gives me fighter bonus feats.
Level
1 Wizard Collegiate Wizard, Empower Spell, Iron Will
2 Human Paragon
3 Human Paragon Spell Focus (Evocation), Spell Focus (Conjuration)
4 Human Paragon
5 Wizard
6 Wizard Storm Bolt
7 Incantrix Chain Spell
8 Incantrix
9 Incantrix Skill Focus (Spellcraft)
10 Incantrix Widen Spell
11 Incantrix
12 Incantrix Piercing Evocation
13 Incantrix Piercing Cold
14 Incantrix
15 Incantrix Fiery Burst
16 Incantrix Maximize Spell
17 Archmage
18 Archmage Residual Magic
19 Wizard
20 Wizard Searing Spell
I wouldn't exactly call the build itself weird but I did make some....interesting choices didn't I?
I'll be the first to admit Numenor works better as gestalt, there's no getting around that fact but single classed he works somewhat, at least.
Wizard is self explanatory really. It's the only class that allows him unprecedented spell versatility -- he can know any spell afterall.
Human Paragon is probably the only really 'weird' class choice I made but I like it -- I get more weapons, better HD, and light armor. On top of that I can grab a random class skill and a bonus feat. To top it off I get two levels of casting and a +2 bonus to any stat. I can't think of a downside. Okay, so I lose a level of spellcasting overall....I honestly don't care. I still get 9th level spells.
Archmage is sort of a given -- Mastery of the Elements and Mastery of Shaping, both are awesome. Tangentially, a Sorcerer Archmage is scary to contemplate.
And then there's Incantrix; a Forgotten Realms PrC. It's an interesting class all around but I'm taking it for two reasons, really (Okay, technically 3). One is the bonus metamagic feats. Two is for the ability to spontaneously add metamagic feats to spells as I'm casting them. The third reason is because, as a capstone, all the levels are reduced by one level (So Widen Spell is 2 levels higher rather than 3). Given how much this build relies on metamagic Incantrix is a shoe-in.
And speaking of metamagic let's get into the feats, eh?
At first level I'm getting Collegiate Wizard for the bonus spells at every level. Best way ever to get wizard spells without paying for them. Next comes Iron Will which is sort of overkill for my Will Save but I need the feat for Incantrix. And I grab Empower Spell even though it's utterly worthless to me at this level. But it's a feat I'll be using alot later on so I might as well get it, yeah?
At 3rd level I'm also getting my bonus feat from Human Paragon and I'm getting Spell Focus in both Conjuration and Evocation. Not only does this give me most of the required feats for Archmage but it also ups my save DCs for the two schools of magic I'll be using most often.
Now starting at 6th level things get fun. This is when I 1) Start casting 3rd level spells and 2) I get Storm Bolt. Given the Numenor has always relied on elemental damage, the reserve feats are the perfect for letting him consistently pump out elemental damage without using up spell slots.
At 7th level I'm taking the first level of Incantrix and that means my first bonus metamagic feat (along with giving up Enchantment). The feat I'm grabbing is Chain Spell but Numenor is all about large scale devestation; he's a fucking terror on the battlefield. He doesn't do small things and this is the influence from Dark Schneider from Bastard!
At 9th level I grab Skill Focus for Spellcraft which serves two purposes. It gives me the final required feat for Archmage but I also get a boost to my spellcraft checks which is what most of the Incantrix's class abilities are based on.
At 10th level I'm a 4th level Incantrix and I get another bonus metamagic feat which I choose to be Widen Spell -- after all, what's better than a Widened Fireball? xp Or hell, even a widened lightning bolt.
12th level is Piercing Evocation. I'm not stupid; evocation spells and particularly elemental damage is a good way to get neutered late game. So, this feat gives me the ability to do something every time I use an evocation spell. Not much, maybe but something.
13th level is my 7th level of Incantrix -- bonus feat time. I chose to get Piercing Cold which allows me to bypass cold resistance and immunities (though not the subtype).
15th level and I grab Fiery Burst which is another reserve feat and lets me lay down more damage without using spell slots.
And 16th level is my final level of Incantrix which means one last bonus feat -- Maximize spell in my case. What feat is better for inflicting absolutely horrid damage (Maximized Disintegrate maybe?)
18th level is my next feat and I get Residual Magic. It's a tactical feat but I'll only be using the Lingering Metamagic ability. It's a since, simple, way of beefing up my spells because I spam metamagic with it (Like casting an Empower Lightning Bolt one round, then a maximized one the next round but I can add empowered to the second one anyway xp).
And my level final comes at 20th level when I grab Searing Spell which is the fire version of Piercing Cold. Gotta love it.
Aside from that, Numenor would get a great deal of mileage from certain magic items (Rings of Mystic Fire/Lightning, Metamagic Rods, etc) and maybe even a fair amount of usage from scrolls and wands. We'll see.
Siege Engineer, Knob, Alikin, Hidden Talent Fighter, Multiterrain Shocktrooper, Ubertrooper, Warblade/Lurk Concept Char, Balthas Kasra, Kurth, Alarian Thrakos, Tarman Vorse, Spellsmiter, Highlander Build, Original Gideon, Dragonmage, Melee-ist Fighter, Skarn Bloodclaw, Paladin of Revelry, "Standard Fighter", Master of Chains, Mounted Archer, Arisias, Whirlwind, Vykes, Anarok Tor, Cerberus Ranger, Kobold Pick Fighter, Magekiller, Ebin, William Corshek, Grappler, Stormlord Cleric, Storm Mage, Lucky Adventurer, Toguro Character, Slashing Killer, Meta-Mage, Voice of Gruumsh, Hunter of Man, Force Mage, Bardic Dervish, Halberdier, Assassin Homage, Dragoon, Draco-Blade, Wordspeaker, Missile Mage, Direfrost Sorcerer
He was initially a priest of a vengeance god called Norstra and apparently being a man of the cloth wasn't his calling because after a hobgoblin scored two crits in a row I needed a new character for that game.
Numenor's next appearance was also the one which set the course for the character thereafter. It wa a story I was writing in class, when I had spare time. Just something to keep myself occupied when I was done with my work and Numenor was featured as a Sorcerer, the youngest to ever acheive "Master Rank" by mastering at least 10 of the 15 'elements' of sorcerery. In that story Numenor was one of the handful to have mastered 14 of them. This established Numenor being a hugely powerful arcanist and it also established his lichdom though it's never entered into anything but that story and the necroverse.
His incarnation in my Necroverse was that of a, as homicidalsh33p would say, thousand year badass who literally destroyed a planet and then tore part of reality as an accidental byproduct.
In virtually every incarnation, Numenor's been in a tall, imperial looking man in his mid to late fifties. Tanned skin, close cut hair and pale eyes, clean shaven. He tended to wear red robes, cut away from his legs to allow free movement and abbreviated armor (in D&D it was ornamental, not functional). The one thing that's stayed with him since his debut as a sorcerer was the fact he wore a belt with chains looping across both hips; seven to a side. Each chain was thin, supple steel and enameled a different color; the chains represented his mastery of specific disciplines and elements. The only one he'd never mastered was the mental disciplines.
Numenor's list of influences and inspirations is lengthy but the standouts are: Diablo Mage, Lord Soth, Dark Schnieder, Simon R Green's Merlin ("Powerful beyond hope or reason").
As for his build? Well, he's a wizard. Kind of. I guess. I call him a sorcerer though his actual class is wizard. He's not specialized (for reasons that become apparent later) though I have given it some thought off and on.
Previously, I focused him on elemental feats but those....don't work as well as I thought they did. While Numenor is focused on elemental spells the feats I thought worked don't really so I've had to recreate the character from the ground up.
To begin with Numenor is giving up his familiar for the Eidetic Spellcaster variant (Dragon Magazine). While he still has to expend money to learn spells he doesn't need to maintain a spellbook anymore which is why I call him a 'wizard' in quotation marks. He has to prepare spells and all normally but the flavor of it is that he's much closer to a sorcerer than a traditional wizard. Anyway.... He also uses the Domain Wizard variant feature from the SRD and his Arcane Domain is the Storm Domain. The spells are damn useful.
I am using a houserule for Wizards that drops scribe scroll at first level and adds it to the list of bonus feats, giving the wizard just a regular bonus feat at 1st level. If that wasn't an option then I'd drop all the wizard bonus feats and grab the variant feature that gives me fighter bonus feats.
Level
1 Wizard Collegiate Wizard, Empower Spell, Iron Will
2 Human Paragon
3 Human Paragon Spell Focus (Evocation), Spell Focus (Conjuration)
4 Human Paragon
5 Wizard
6 Wizard Storm Bolt
7 Incantrix Chain Spell
8 Incantrix
9 Incantrix Skill Focus (Spellcraft)
10 Incantrix Widen Spell
11 Incantrix
12 Incantrix Piercing Evocation
13 Incantrix Piercing Cold
14 Incantrix
15 Incantrix Fiery Burst
16 Incantrix Maximize Spell
17 Archmage
18 Archmage Residual Magic
19 Wizard
20 Wizard Searing Spell
I wouldn't exactly call the build itself weird but I did make some....interesting choices didn't I?
I'll be the first to admit Numenor works better as gestalt, there's no getting around that fact but single classed he works somewhat, at least.
Wizard is self explanatory really. It's the only class that allows him unprecedented spell versatility -- he can know any spell afterall.
Human Paragon is probably the only really 'weird' class choice I made but I like it -- I get more weapons, better HD, and light armor. On top of that I can grab a random class skill and a bonus feat. To top it off I get two levels of casting and a +2 bonus to any stat. I can't think of a downside. Okay, so I lose a level of spellcasting overall....I honestly don't care. I still get 9th level spells.
Archmage is sort of a given -- Mastery of the Elements and Mastery of Shaping, both are awesome. Tangentially, a Sorcerer Archmage is scary to contemplate.
And then there's Incantrix; a Forgotten Realms PrC. It's an interesting class all around but I'm taking it for two reasons, really (Okay, technically 3). One is the bonus metamagic feats. Two is for the ability to spontaneously add metamagic feats to spells as I'm casting them. The third reason is because, as a capstone, all the levels are reduced by one level (So Widen Spell is 2 levels higher rather than 3). Given how much this build relies on metamagic Incantrix is a shoe-in.
And speaking of metamagic let's get into the feats, eh?
At first level I'm getting Collegiate Wizard for the bonus spells at every level. Best way ever to get wizard spells without paying for them. Next comes Iron Will which is sort of overkill for my Will Save but I need the feat for Incantrix. And I grab Empower Spell even though it's utterly worthless to me at this level. But it's a feat I'll be using alot later on so I might as well get it, yeah?
At 3rd level I'm also getting my bonus feat from Human Paragon and I'm getting Spell Focus in both Conjuration and Evocation. Not only does this give me most of the required feats for Archmage but it also ups my save DCs for the two schools of magic I'll be using most often.
Now starting at 6th level things get fun. This is when I 1) Start casting 3rd level spells and 2) I get Storm Bolt. Given the Numenor has always relied on elemental damage, the reserve feats are the perfect for letting him consistently pump out elemental damage without using up spell slots.
At 7th level I'm taking the first level of Incantrix and that means my first bonus metamagic feat (along with giving up Enchantment). The feat I'm grabbing is Chain Spell but Numenor is all about large scale devestation; he's a fucking terror on the battlefield. He doesn't do small things and this is the influence from Dark Schneider from Bastard!
At 9th level I grab Skill Focus for Spellcraft which serves two purposes. It gives me the final required feat for Archmage but I also get a boost to my spellcraft checks which is what most of the Incantrix's class abilities are based on.
At 10th level I'm a 4th level Incantrix and I get another bonus metamagic feat which I choose to be Widen Spell -- after all, what's better than a Widened Fireball? xp Or hell, even a widened lightning bolt.
12th level is Piercing Evocation. I'm not stupid; evocation spells and particularly elemental damage is a good way to get neutered late game. So, this feat gives me the ability to do something every time I use an evocation spell. Not much, maybe but something.
13th level is my 7th level of Incantrix -- bonus feat time. I chose to get Piercing Cold which allows me to bypass cold resistance and immunities (though not the subtype).
15th level and I grab Fiery Burst which is another reserve feat and lets me lay down more damage without using spell slots.
And 16th level is my final level of Incantrix which means one last bonus feat -- Maximize spell in my case. What feat is better for inflicting absolutely horrid damage (Maximized Disintegrate maybe?)
18th level is my next feat and I get Residual Magic. It's a tactical feat but I'll only be using the Lingering Metamagic ability. It's a since, simple, way of beefing up my spells because I spam metamagic with it (Like casting an Empower Lightning Bolt one round, then a maximized one the next round but I can add empowered to the second one anyway xp).
And my level final comes at 20th level when I grab Searing Spell which is the fire version of Piercing Cold. Gotta love it.
Aside from that, Numenor would get a great deal of mileage from certain magic items (Rings of Mystic Fire/Lightning, Metamagic Rods, etc) and maybe even a fair amount of usage from scrolls and wands. We'll see.
Siege Engineer, Knob, Alikin, Hidden Talent Fighter, Multiterrain Shocktrooper, Ubertrooper, Warblade/Lurk Concept Char, Balthas Kasra, Kurth, Alarian Thrakos, Tarman Vorse, Spellsmiter, Highlander Build, Original Gideon, Dragonmage, Melee-ist Fighter, Skarn Bloodclaw, Paladin of Revelry, "Standard Fighter", Master of Chains, Mounted Archer, Arisias, Whirlwind, Vykes, Anarok Tor, Cerberus Ranger, Kobold Pick Fighter, Magekiller, Ebin, William Corshek, Grappler, Stormlord Cleric, Storm Mage, Lucky Adventurer, Toguro Character, Slashing Killer, Meta-Mage, Voice of Gruumsh, Hunter of Man, Force Mage, Bardic Dervish, Halberdier, Assassin Homage, Dragoon, Draco-Blade, Wordspeaker, Missile Mage, Direfrost Sorcerer