Sorcerer Builds

[Spaniardl]

Hi, any suggestions for sorc builds on arelith? I would like to fit in monk speed, and epic spell focus trans. I was also wondering what i will miss out on if i do not have umd? Thanks

[StrykerMontgomery]

Well besides class restricted items, being a sorceror itself gives access to most of the arcane wands/scrolls with no UMD required.

The real question you have to ask is how much speed do you want and how much are you willing give up for it. Monk isnt a terrible option to skill dump into having access to both tumble and discipline, but if you lowr your caster lvls too much as a sorcerer, there is a price to pay for it.

Cha is usually a dump stat for monks, (while every other stat is at least some use to a monk) so i find such a multiclass to be difficult. If you are doing it just for the speed though, dont forget that expedious retreat is a lvl 1 spell and extend is an applicable metamagic feat. (Along with haste and mass haste). You could do a build that has auto quicken as well allowing you to easily cast said spells on the fly.

If you want the speed right away then take 3 monk lvls early on and 4th one at 30 for skill dump. (I guess you can go 6 monk and 24 sorceror if you reallly like that speed but remember less caster lvls mean less potent meteor swarms and less spell duration.)

Another benefit to this niche thing you want to do would be having access to evasion .although you will.need to find ways to increase your reflex to take advantage of it.

Don't worry, the more serious builders are on their way.

[Lurch]

Assuming that spell slot loss from polymorph gets fixed, here's something that I cooked up. It requires that you become a Harper.

Human Monk 3 / Sorcerer 22 / Harper Paragon 5

Gifts & Background:
Insight
Confidence
w/e minor gift strikes your fancy (languages, bluff, etc.)
Natural leader

Attributes:
8 Strength
8 Dexterity
8 Constitution (9 - 1 Natural Leader)
14 Intelligence
18 Wisdom (16 + 2 Gift)
20 -> 28 Charisma (17 + 2 Gift + 1 Natural Leader + 7 Levels + 1 Great Cha)

Skills: (187 points in total)
32 Concentration
33 Discipline
6 Lore (Harper pre-req)
8 Persuade (10pts, last 2 being cross-class, Harper pre-req)
4 Search (8pts, Harper pre-req)
32 Spellcraft
30 Tumble

36 free floating points left to spend wherever (bluff, heal, listen etc.)

Progression:
1-3: Monk - Toughness, Iron Will, Alertness // 6 Persuade
4-15: Sorcerer - Spell Focus: Transmutation, Greater Spell Focus: Transmutation, Extend Spell, Empower Spell
16-18: Harper Paragon - Favored Enemy: w/e (Bonus), Divine Grace (Free), Blind-Fight
19-27: Sorcerer - Armor Skin (21), Epic Spell Focus: Transmutation (24), Epic Mage Armor (27) (must be in that order)
28: Harper Paragon - Divine Shield (Free) // 30 Tumble
29: Sorcerer // 32 Concentration, 32 Spellcraft
30: Harper Paragon - Divine Might (Free), Epic Skill Focus: Discipline (Bonus), Great Charisma I // 33 Discipline

142 Base Hitpoints (lol)

Saving throws (naked & unbuffed, divine grace doesn't count towards cap, spellcraft not included):
20 Fortitude
22 Reflex
35 Will

27 Caster Levels

Notes:
Why go harper pre-epic and waste a bonus feat on favored enemy? Doing so raises BAB from 10 to 11, giving more attacks for tenser's transformation (It wields a longsword, monk UBAB doesn't apply). Otherwise we would need 4 monk, and I wanted to keep caster level as high as possible within these 3 classes.

Why no expertise? this build can reach over 80 Armor Class using zoo spells, epic mage armor, shapechange and haste (none of which are touched by spell breaches). Alternatively, Divine shield can also be used to max out dodge bonus in human form. Also the weakness of the build is its low 40-43 AB in tenser's transformation (other forms are even worse).

If you wanted, you could switch transmutation foci for expertise/improved expertise and epic prowess, though that would result in weaker zoo buffs and mordekainen's summons.

A word of warning: Starting off as a monk with 8 str/dex/con would be a painful journey. It's only done in order to gain 4 extra free floating skill points. If those don't matter to you, I advise starting as a sorcerer instead. In any case, things would get easier from level 4 onward as you gained access to polymorph scrolls as a monk/sorcerer.

[Wytchee]

Backgrounds are disabled, so no Natural Leader.

Also, I would never, ever take 8 con.

[Lurch]

In that case one may drop intelligence to 12 and get the same result with 33 less free skill points and +1 fortitude and +1 reflex saves instead.

And yes, the 8 constitution is questionable. I just wanted to milk polymorphing for all its worth. If one were so inclined, one could even gimp the charisma to 18 -> 20 and raise wisdom to 20 -> 26, which would result in even more AC (and better detect evil if that matters to you). It's not like you're able to cast those offensive spells while polymorphed, however I like stronger, longer-lasting and more numerous divine shields and divine mights, better fortitude and reflex saves in addition to more spell slots and reliable slow spells in human form.

EDIT: I wonder if it's possible to have black blade of disaster summon active while shapechanged, if you carefully time the shapechange casting between spell concentration checks?

EDIT x2: Apparently not. Polymorphed condition will break the spell according to NWNWiki.