Deep in the swamplands there are tales of a being bound in flame, possibly the spawn of an ancient red dragon who fell in the region ages ago. Their true motives are unknown, some believe the swamp itself had chosen a guardian, others believe that this walking wildfire is the result of some sort of occult. Whether to be hunted or admired, one thing is true, their flames burns all.
Enter Reshka, The Fire-Mire Sorcereress. Kind of like before I’ll break this build down into 5 level increments. This time capping at level 10, gonna be a quick one. This build is reliant on feats and spells, focusing on fire abilities with the secondary focus invoking that swamp dweller feel. So let’s begin!
Reshka is a level 10 Sorcerer. Surprisingly vanilla, but effective nonetheless.
Starting off with race, Half-Orc is great because of their favored class bonus as a sorcerer grants them a bonus 1/2 point of fire damage to spells that deal fire damage per level. So at level 10 you have a static bonus of 5 fire damage every time you cast spells like fireball!
Being a denizen of the mire and having to deal with occultists I’ve chosen a very cool alternate racial trait aswell;
Warded Skin: You gain spell resistance against divine magic equal to 6 + your level. Additionally, divine spells cast on you by demon worshipers have a 10% chance of failure. This replaces orc ferocity.
Now on to the ability scores, in order of importance. I think it’s a good idea to reign down fire from range, but if an enemy gets too close you’d want to be able to melee well enough to survive.
Charisma is the main stat for a sorcerer, it dictates spells, DCs, times per day uses of certain bloodline powers.
Constitution because most spell casters are like glass cannons, having more HP won’t hurt.
Strength for the unfortunate moments where melee is the only option, this decision will become clear later in the build.
Dexterity to help avoid getting hit, because you’re squishy.
Wisdom for the will save and a couple of skills.
Intelligence for the skill points per level.
Let’s continue, with class features and feats!
Bloodline Power: Pick the Draconic bloodline. Red, brass and gold dragons are fire energy types. Reshka is of a red dragon bloodline.
Bloodline Arcana: Spells cast with an energy descriptor that matches your draconic bloodline’s energy type, now deals +1 point of damage per die rolled.
Bonus Spells – Mage Armor at 3rd level. Resist Energy at 5th level.
Claws: You can grow claws as a free action. These claws are natural weapons, allowing you to make two claw attacks as a full attack action using your full base attack bonus. Dealing 1d4 points of damage plus your Strength modifier. At 5th level, these claws are magical weapons for overcoming DR. You can use your claws for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.
Dragon Resistances: You gain fire resistance 5 and a +1 natural armor bonus.
Bonus Feat – Eschew Materials: Material components costing 1 gp or less are hand waved for casting spells that require them. Saving you some of that sweet gold.
Level 1 Feat – Spell Focus, Evocation: Add +1 to the DCs of all saving throws against spells cast from this school.
Level 3 Feat – Mage’s Tattoo, Evocation: You cast spells from this school at +1 caster level. Additionally, you gain a single spell-like ability usable up to three times per day. Spell-like ability is Dancing Lights.
Level 5 Feat – Greater Spell Focus, Evocation: Add another +1 to the DCs
Bonus Spells – Fly at 7th level. Fear at 9th level.
Claws: The damage increases by one step to 1d6 points of damage and an additional 1d6 points of fire damage on a successful hit.
Dragon Resistances: Your fire resistance increases to 10 and natural armor bonus increases to +2.
Bonus Feat – Quicken Spell: Casting a quickened spell is a swift action. However a quickened spell uses up a spell slot four levels higher than the spell’s actual level. Example: The spell Mudball is a 1st level spell, in order to quicken it you’ll have to consume a 5th level spell slot. Casting a quickened spell doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity.
Level 7 Feat – Elemental Focus, Fire: Add +1 to the DCs of all saving throws against spells that deal fire damage.
Breath Weapon: Depending on what dragon you picked your breath weapon could be the shape of a line or a cone. Dealing 1d6 points of fire damage per sorcerer level. Those caught in the area of the breath weapon receive a Reflex save for half damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier. You can use this ability once per day. Talk about bad breath.
Level 9 Feat – Intensified Spell: An intensified spell increases the maximum number of damage dice by 5 levels. You must actually have sufficient caster levels to surpass the maximum in order to benefit from this feat. No other variables of the spell are affected, and spells that inflict damage that is not modified by caster level are not affected by this feat. However an intensified spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell’s actual level. Example: The spell Burning Hands is a 1st level spell, that caps at maximum 5d4 fire damage, intensifying it will increase the damage to 10d4 at the cost of a 2nd Level spell slot.
Which now brings us to the spells. There are alot of spells, and I know when you reach the point where you’re looking at the sorcerer spell list you’ll find spells you simply can’t go without. For Reshka we needed to pull off that swamp vibe still so here’s a list of spells I’ve decided to lock in for level 10, except 0 level spells as it wasnt necessary.
1st level spells
Adhesive Spittle: You spit a tanglefoot bag at an enemy, which can entangle them lowering their Dexterity with a penalty of -4 and also a penalty of -2 to their attacks. Lower Dex means lower Reflex saves.
Burning Hands: You’re gonna love this spell aslong as it’s intensified. 15 ft cone of fire that ignites and burns flammable objects is also great for inducing mayhem.
Mudball: Whip this at the enemy to blind them. Need I say more?
Ray of Enfeeblement: Make the enemy feel weak and feeble, a classic.
Ray of Sickening: Give an enemy a -2 penalty to attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks and ability checks. That’s sick.
2nd level spells
Create Pit: Battlefield control, reposition or shooting fish in a barrel, whichever comes first.
Flaming Sphere: Moving an orb of fire around in a fight is super cool, and can also help in a dicey encounter.
Raven’s Flight: Use this spell only as a first action in a situation where you need to reposition yourself. You turn into a blurred shape of a raven with a fly speed of 50 ft for a round.
Scorching Ray: Solid damage dealer spell, more precise than Burning Hands.
3rd level spells
Fireball: The OP classic spell. Fire is love, fire is life!
Swarm of Fangs: Swarms are nice against cannon fodder enemies, just make sure you don’t get caught up in it’s devouring path.
Tiny Hut: Because home, is where you cast this spell.
4th level spells
Volcanic Storm: When you want a cinematic cutscene on how you destroyed the GMs encounter.
Vomit Twin: You spew out an ooze copy of yourself next to you. Every time you move, it moves in any direction you want. When you’ve setup your twin in a good location you can swap places like using the Teleport spell. Just make sure you keep your twin form triggering an attack unto it as it weak. You can puke up a new copy as long as it’s still within the spells duration, which is 1 round per level.
5th level spells
Hungry Pit: Like Create Pit, but worse. Any who fall victim to the Hungry Pit very seldom survive.
]When it comes to gear that’s completely up to you. I usually don’t fight with armors with arcane spell failure chances as a spell caster. This sorcerer has claws too, so no need for a weapon in my opinion. However like before I did make a small list of wonderous items that can help elevate the build.
Wonderous Items
Pauldrons of the Serpent – 3,000gp: Grants you a +2 dodge bonus to AC against attacks of opportunity. +2 CMD against bull rush, grapple, reposition, and trip.
Slippers of Spider Climbing – 4,800gp: Allows you to walk on vertical surfaces and ceilings while keeping your hands free. Climb speed 20 ft.
Sorcerer’s Robe – 5,000gp: Swift action use your Bloodline Power along with a spell you cast.
Staff of Curses – 43,500gp: A decent handful of spells and the ability to curse an enemy on a successful hit, acting as a quarterstaff aswell. There are alot of wonderous staves, definitely look into them!
