The pale, charming sorceress (Sorcerer 29 / Cleric 1 / Pale Master 10)

[Aquarius]

Hello all!

Wanted to play another sorcerer spellcaster, different from the lv 40 pure sorceress I had the joy to level; this has been an extremely learning experience, as it was the first time I played a full arcane caster. Thinking about which spells to use and to choose at each level up, which are the foes’ weak saves, safely avoiding attacks from enemies in order to preserve the (few) hitpoints gained at each level.

Now I would like to add another challenge for me: how to treat with enemies with high spell resistance for non-lv 40 pure sorcerers: PM has been chosen both for critical/stun/hold/paralysis immunity and extra AC, at the cost of less spell penetration.

This caster is a lawful neutral character, that specialized in enchantment spells to let evil foes kill themselves, so to avoid as much as possible to directly harm them. Her parents told her that she could generate flames from her fingers since she was a baby, without any teaching, and she was almost always able to convince others to do what she wanted from them.

This sorceress has been designed to play on World of Greyhawk PW (mid-magic server), where expertise and improved expertise have been disabled when casting;  if one wishes to play it in modules or other gameworlds where these two feats can be freely used when casting, either scribe scroll and another feat can be removed for them (I would choose maximize feat, but only because removing spell focus in enchantment would hinder the build concept).

 

Advantages:

• 7 lv 9 spellslots available (9 if charisma is capped);
• Critical hit immunity;
• Immunity to some mind-affecting statuses: paralysis, stun, hold;
• Maximum spellcasting flexibility thanks to still/maximize/empower spell feats;
• Empowered summons thanks to cleric’s animal domain;
• Divine shield for +11 dodge AC (17 if charisma is capped –> easy dodge AC cap with divine shield + haste);
• Can cast freely while wearing armor and shield, increasing her protection from attacks;
• +20 AC from epic mage armor helps freeing those precious slots for wearing immunity items or ability increase equipment;
• 50/+20 damage reduction from epic warding spell, which absorbs for a total of 29 rounds up to 1,450 damage before collapsing
• greater STR (pre-requisite for power attacks) allows for more carrying capacity;
• can make scrolls for everyday usage;
• Undispellability from “dispel” line of spells;
• Pixie familiar (sorcerer) and vampire rogue (PM) can support pc in roguish tasks;
• Crit immunity greatly helps “damage shield tactics”, increasing flexibility and keeping hitpoints as much high as possible.

 

Downsizes:

• weak saves (partially mitigated from spellcraft skill);
• difficulties when facing spell-resistant enemies;
• crit immunity comes late (lv 40);
• Mordenkainen Disjunction could be a serious threat, due to the lower caster levels (than a pure sorcerer/wizard).

 

Now on to the build:

Sorcerer(29), Cleric(1), Pale Master(10), Human

STR: 14
DEX: 8
CON: 12
WIS: 8
INT: 12
CHA: 18 (32)

Human: (Quick to Master)
01: Sorcerer(1): Power Attack, Still Spell
02: Sorcerer(2)
03: Cleric(1): Divine Shield, Domain Animal, Domain Air
04: Sorcerer(3): CHA+1, (CHA=19)
05: Sorcerer(4)
06: Sorcerer(5): Scribe Scroll
07: Sorcerer(6)
08: Sorcerer(7): CHA+1, (CHA=20)
09: Sorcerer(8): Spell Focus: Enchantment
10: Sorcerer(9)
11: Sorcerer(10)
12: Sorcerer(11): CHA+1, Empower Spell, (CHA=21)
13: Sorcerer(12)
14: Sorcerer(13)
15: Sorcerer(14): Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment
16: Sorcerer(15): CHA+1, (CHA=22)
17: Sorcerer(16)
18: Sorcerer(17): Maximize Spell
19: Pale Master(1)
20: Pale Master(2): CHA+1, (CHA=23)
21: Sorcerer(18): Epic Spell Focus: Enchantment
22: Sorcerer(19)
23: Sorcerer(20)
24: Sorcerer(21): CHA+1, Epic Spell: Epic Mage Armor, (CHA=24)
25: Sorcerer(22)
26: Sorcerer(23): Automatic Still Spell I
27: Sorcerer(24): Automatic Still Spell II
28: Sorcerer(25): CHA+1, (CHA=25)
29: Sorcerer(26): Automatic Still Spell III
30: Pale Master(3): Great Charisma I, {Darkvision}, (CHA=26)
31: Pale Master(4)
32: Pale Master(5): CHA+1, (CHA=27)
33: Sorcerer(27): Epic Spell: Epic Warding
34: Pale Master(6)
35: Pale Master(7)
36: Sorcerer(28): CHA+1, Great Charisma II, (CHA=29)
37: Sorcerer(29): Great Charisma III, (CHA=30)
38: Pale Master(8)
39: Pale Master(9): Great Charisma IV, (CHA=31)
40: Pale Master(10): CHA+1, (CHA=32)

Hitpoints: 242
Skillpoints: 172
Saving Throws (Fortitude/Will/Reflex): 21/24/14
Saving Throw bonuses: Spells: +8
BAB: 19
AB (max, naked): 21 (melee), 18 (ranged)
AC (naked/mundane items only): 19/30
Spell Casting: Sorcerer(9)
Alignment Changes: 0

Concentration 43(44), Listen 43(42), Lore 7(8), Spellcraft 39(40), Tumble 20(19)

01: Concentration(4), Spellcraft(4), Save(8),
02: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(10),
03: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(12),
04: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(14),
05: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(16),
06: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(18),
07: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Tumble(5), Save(10),
08: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(12),
09: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(14),
10: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(16),
11: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(18),
12: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(20),
13: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(22),
14: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(24),
15: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(26),
16: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(28),
17: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Tumble(5), Save(20),
18: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(22),
19: Concentration(1), Listen(22), Spellcraft(1), Save(2),
20: Concentration(1), Listen(1), Lore(3), Spellcraft(1),
21: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(2),
22: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(4),
23: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(6),
24: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(8),
25: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(10),
26: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(12),
27: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Tumble(5), Save(4),
28: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(6),
29: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(8),
30: Concentration(1), Listen(10), Spellcraft(1),
31: Concentration(1), Listen(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(1),
32: Concentration(1), Listen(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(2),
33: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(4),
34: Concentration(1), Listen(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(5),
35: Concentration(1), Listen(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(6),
36: Concentration(1), Spellcraft(1), Save(8),
37: Concentration(1), Lore(1), Tumble(5),
38: Concentration(1), Listen(2), Lore(1),
39: Concentration(1), Listen(2), Lore(1),
40: Concentration(1), Listen(2), Lore(1),

 

For completeness’ sake, a similar class split has been used also by peterwiltshire1 in this build: however, charisma is not maximized, and empower spell has not been chosen.

 

Onwards to your comments/suggestions!

[Orion]

Hi Aquarius, thanks for posting!

I like the build, I think it is powerful. Lots of AC with divine shield and Palemaster, empowered summons are very nice to have as well, will make playing this build very easy. Also you don’t have to be evil, which is good as some players just can’t play an evil character.

I’d put Con to 14 and Int to 10 and shave off some skill points from Tumble, Spellcraft and Listen. Just for a little more HP, +1 fort and +1 concentration. I’d try to get Palemaster 10 as soon as practical after Sorc 27 (Epic Warding) for faster crit/sneak immunity.

I do like the Auto Still III here even if arcanist runes are available on WoG, it feels like you are playing the build as if the arcanist runes weren’t available.

[Aquarius]

Hey Orion, thanks for having replied!

Need to learn about a spell list, although IGMS/Bigbys will surely be in (maybe also Summon creature IX, there is a struggle with dominate monster); besides, I will take into consideration your suggestion about initial stats, better to improve hit points and saving throws (concentration is, also, a key skill for a caster. Ok for anticipating lv 10 PM, at the expense of delaying CHA: if CHA is capped, 2 lv 9 free slots can be obtained at lv 24; this can mitigate the temporary loss.

And, yeah, your observation is correct: even if there are runes and other goodies I could use in WoG, I often prefer to play a “general” build; this to avoid to significantly rely on specific items that may be rare to find, and to make things “harder”.

If the item is more general and sold in shops, then I don’t feel any constraint to their use.

[Author]

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