Iron Sorcerer - Sor(16),ASC(10),Clr(2),M(2)

Introduction

Drawing from a range of Disciplines, the Iron Sorcerer is one who seeks to master the arts of Magic, without leaving himself totally defenseless. The newest generation of Iron Sorcerer's may be of any alignment, but those who dedicate themselves to Evil may opt to become Obsidian Sorcerers instead.

This is a power build that attempts to maximize both Sorcerer Spell DC and AC. It is a primary spell caster, and can't swing a sword to save its life. The Original used Paladin 2 to boost saves, but it has since been found that at high levels, the Sorcerer's protective buffs grant him immunity to so many things that the additional Saves were largely pointless. Furthermore, it has since been found that Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep (abbreviated henceforth as ASoCK) discount Metamagic is extremely powerful, and is pretty much a must have for any Sorcerer power build. To this end, Paladin levels were dropped in favor of ASoCK, resulting in Version 2.

Version 2

Version 2 Description

Sorcerer 16 / Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 10 / Cleric 2 / Monk 2

Pros:

• Full Level 30 Sorcerer Caster (with Practiced Caster)
• High Spell DC
• Fairly good AC (and Deflect Arrows)
• Able to further boost AC with Divine Shield
• Usable under any magic setting (although the Spell List should be Tailored accordingly)

Version 2 Pros:

• Gains ASoCK for discount Metamagic
• Monk 2 provides Deflect Arrows. This helps especially a little against those ManyShot Rangers, although it does not stop One Shot.
• Much better Stealth Detection setup. Heroism and Clairaudience/Clairvoyance give a buffed Spot AND Listen score of 44 (Listen helps detect Ranger/Druids with Camouflage/Mass camouflage that can't be spotted).
• Does not have to be Good or Evil, can choose to be Neutral so that mind affecting spells cannot be blocked by the Protection from alignment spell.

Cons:

• Horrible melee (without appropriate buffs)
• Low HP
• No Epic Spells

Version 2 Cons:

• Loss of Paladin levels means lower Saves
  • However, Monk splash and Luck of Heroes help boost Saves a little.
  • Furthermore, at high levels as Sorcerer Buffs protect against most things which rely on Saves, so that high Saves are rendered somewhat obsolete.
• Loss of Sorcerer Epic Feats means Lower Charisma (lower Spell DC)
• Loss of UMD
  • However because it has Monk splash, it can still use Monk Boots
  • Because It has Cleric splash, it can also cast still cast Cleric Spells from scrolls
  • The loss of UMD mainly means Iron Sorcerer v2 can't cast Druid and Bard spells from scrolls, and cannot use any non-class gear (like the Eldritch Knight Chain shirt which requires modified UMD of 15).

Iron Sorcerer v2 vs Obsidian Sorcerer

• Iron Sorcerer v2 and Obsidian Sorcerer are highly similiar in many respects, with similiar stats, spell DC and ASoCK discount Metamagics. But there are some differences:

Iron Sorcerer Pros

• The Iron Sorcerer v2 has a few bonus feats from the Cleric splash and can gain +3 AC, +30 HP from Toughness and Deflect Arrows (relative to the Obsidian Sorcerer).
• The Iron Sorcerer v2 has a maxed listen Score letting him detect Rangers/Druids (These 2 can use Camouflage/Mass camouflage to boost their Hide score to undetectable levels, leaving Listen as the only way of targetting them).
• The Iron Sorcerer is alignment free, and can be Good, Evil or even Neutral.
  • A non-Evil Iron Sorcerer v2 does not take extra damage from Smiting Paladins, although he is still subject to the higher AB (chance to hit).
  • A Lawful Neutral Iron Sorcerer is neither Good nor Evil, and therefore his mind affecting spells cannot be blocked by the Protection from alignment spell.

Obsidian Sorcerer Pros

• Obsidian Sorcerer has Aura of despair which inflicts a -2 penalty on all Enemy saves (although that only works when Enemies are close, and you normally don't want to be close to Enemies).
• Obsidian Sorcerer has Blackguard dark blessing which adds his Cha bonus to Saves, and therefore has much better Saves.
  • However, Monk splash and Luck of Heroes help boost Iron Sorcerer v2 Saves a little, but overall the loss is still quite significant.
  • Furthermore, at high levels as Sorcerer Buffs protect against most things which rely on Saves, so that high Saves are rendered somewhat obsolete.
• Obsidian Sorcerer has slightly better BAB (16 with 4th attack vs Iron Sorcerer v2 of 15 with only 3 attacks)
• Obsidian Sorcerer has maxed UMD. Comparatively speaking, this lets him cast Bard and Druid only spells from scrolls, and use certain cross class gear, which the Iron Sorcerer v2 cannot (although being an actual Monk, the Iron Sorcerer v2 can still use Monk Boots).

Version 2 Character Creation

Race: Human

Alignment: Any Lawful (but on PWs, recommendably Lawful Neutral)

	Base Values	Racial Modifiers	Final Values
Str	13	13	13
Dex	10	10	10
Con	14	14	14
Int	14	14	14
Wis	8	8	8
Cha	17	17	24

Attributes

• All 7 level up points go to Cha, boosting Charisma to 24.
• Str 13 is Power Attack and Divine Shield requirement
• Dex is suboptimal. You need to either buff yourself with Cat's Grace (on low magic settings) or get +8 Dex equipment (on high magic settings).

BAB: 8 + 5 + 1 + 1 = 15

HP: (16*4) + (10*4) + (2*8) + (2*8) + 60 Con Bonus + 30 Toughness = 226 (+30 if using Beetle Familiar)

Saves

Fort: 5 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 14 +2 Con

Will: 10 + 7 + 3 + 3 = 23 -1 Wis

Reflex: 5 + 3 + 0 + 3 = 11 +0 Dex

+1 to All from Luck of Heroes

+6 against spells with Spellcraft

(+1 If using Rabbit Familiar)

And Evasion

Spell DC:

+1 Spellcasting Prodigy 
+7 Cha Bonus 
+3 Level 30 caster 
----
11

+4 (if using Nymph Cloak +8)
----
15

AC with Epic Gear:

10 base
+12 Tower shield +8
+10 bracers of armor 10
+8 Mithril full plate
+8 Cloak of Protection +8
+5 Natural Armor Amulet +5
+5 Boots of the sun soul +5
+3 Dex bonus (with +8 Dex equipment)
+3 tumble
+1 Luck of Heroes
----
65

+ 11 Divine Shield (with +8 Cha equipment)
----
76

(You can also gain a relative +10, if you debuff your Enemy with Bigby's Interposing Hand)

Version 2 Overview

Feats

Character Feats

1. Spell Casting Prodigy

1. Able Learner

3. Skill Focus Concentration

6. Empower Spell

9. Skill Focus Spellcraft

12. Power Attack

15. Divine Shield (must take on Cleric 1 or 2)

18. Practiced Caster Sorcerer

21. Armor Skin OR Tower Shield Proficiency

23. Still Spell

25. Autostill 0-3

27. Autostill 4-6

29. Autostill 7-9

Cleric Bonus Domain Feats

1. Earth for Toughness

2. Luck for Luck of Heroes

• The Autostill Feats allow you to use Mithril Full plate (+8 AC) and a fully enchanted Tower Shield +8 (+12 AC) with no risk of Arcane Spell failure. That a total +20 AC for 3 feats!

• In addition, Autostill lets you cast Stone Body/Iron Body on yourself, and gain a whole bunch of immunities, including Crit Immunity and Lightning Immunity.

• At level 21, you can choose between Armor Skin and Tower Shield Proficiency.
  • Armor Skin provides a flat +1 to AC
  • Tower Shield proficiciency lets you equip a Tower Shield (Base AC 4) rather than a Heavy shield (Base AC 2), which works out to be a net +2 to AC.
    • Tower Shield proficiciency is a better option if the most powerful shields available are Tower Shields.
    • If however, the most powerful Shields are Heavy Shields, then it makes little sense to take Tower Shield proficiency. Take Armor Skin instead.
• For the OC/MoTB, you can pretty much enchant your own Shields (including Tower Shields), so going with Tower Shield proficiency works well there.

Version 2 Skills:

With 14 Intelligence, and Human bonus skill points, this build gets approximately 5 skill points per level. The core 3 skills you should aim to max out are:

• 1. Concentration
• 2. Spellcraft
• 3. Tumble

Skills of Choice

• That leaves you with 5 - 3 = 2 Skills of choice.
• For Campaigns, I recommend at least 1 Convo skill. I normally recommend Diplomacy if you want to take the Good Path, and Bluff if you want to be Evil.
• For Campaigns, if you decide to take only 1 Convo skill, and you don't want the 2nd Skill of choice, then transfer 2 points from Int to Dex.
• For PvP, Spot and Listen help you detect Stealth. When enhanced with the appropriate buffs (Heroism and Clairaudience/Clairvoyance), you can easily achieve a naked Spot/Listen Score of 44, which should be enough to detect most sneakers. Spot also protects against Feint

The guide below tells you exactly how to handle your skill points on your first few levels.

Level 1: Monk 1: Gain (4 + 3) * 4 = 28 Skill points

• 4 to Concentration (Cross Class Total = 2)
• 4 to Tumble (Total = 4)
• 4 to 1st Skill of Choice (Spot) (Total = 4)
• 4 to 2nd Skill of Choice (Listen) (Total = 4)

• 4 to UMD (total = 2)
• 3 to Lore (Total = 4)

Save 5 points.

On level 1, UMD is a cross class skill, so every point increase in it costs 2 skill points. To bring it to 2, you need 4 skill points.

Level 2: Sorcerer 1: Gain 5 Skill Points

• 1 to Concentration (Total = 5)
• 5 to Spellcraft (Total = 5)
• 1 to Tumble (Total = 5)
• 1 to 1st Skill of Choice (Spot) (Total = 5)
• 1 to 2nd Skill of Choice (Listen) (Total = 5)

Save 1 points.

Level 3: Sorcerer 2: Gain 5 Skill Points

• 1 to Concentration (Total = 6)
• 1 to Spellcraft (Total = 6)
• 1 to Tumble (Total = 6)
• 1 to 1st Skill of Choice (Spot) (Total = 6)
• 1 to 2nd Skill of Choice (Listen) (Total = 6)
• 1 to UMD (total = 3)

Save 0 points.

Level 4 onwards: 5 Skill points per level

• 1 to Concentration (Total = Character Level + 3)
• 1 to Spellcraft (Total = Character Level + 3)
• 1 to Tumble (Total = Character Level + 3)
• 1 to 1st Skill of Choice (Total = Character Level + 3)
• 1 to 2nd Skill of Choice (Total = Character Level + 3)

Save 0 points.

When you take the 2nd Monk level (on level 23), you gain an extra 2 Skill points. Put these to UMD to raise it to 5. By Level 27, you should have 30 in your 5 core skills. Because the bonuses for Tumble and Spellcraft, stop at 30, you may instead leave them at 30, and put the points for them into UMD:

Level 28 onwards: 5 Skill points per level

• 1 to Concentration (Total = Character Level + 3)
• 1 to 1st Skill of Choice (Total = Character Level + 3)
• 1 to 2nd Skill of Choice (Total = Character Level + 3)
• 2 to UMD

Version 2 Character Progression

Class Level	Class	Feat	Free Feat	Attributes
1	Monk 1	Spellcasting Prodigy, Able Learner
2	Sorcerer 1		Familiar
3	Sorcerer 2	Skill Focus Concentration
4	Sorcerer 3			+1 Cha
5	Sorcerer 4
6	Sorcerer 5	Empower Spell
7	Sorcerer 6
8	Sorcerer 7			+1 Cha
9	Sorcerer 8	Skill Focus Spellcraft
10	Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 1		Maximize Spell
11	Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 2		Spell Knowledge
12	Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 3	Power Attack	Improved Empower Spell	+1 Cha
13	Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 4
14	Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 5		Quicken Spell
15	Cleric 1	Divine Shield
16	Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 6			+1 Cha
17	Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 7		Improved Maximize Spell
18	Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 8	Practiced spellcaster: Sorcerer
19	Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 9
20	Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 10		Improved Quicken Spell	+1 Cha
21	Sorcerer 9	Armor Skin OR Tower Shield Proficiency
22	Sorcerer 10
23	Monk 2	Still Spell
24	Cleric 2			+1 Cha
25	Sorcerer 11	Automatic: Still Spell 0-3
26	Sorcerer 12
27	Sorcerer 13	Automatic: Still Spell 4-6
28	Sorcerer 14			+1 Cha
29	Sorcerer 15	Automatic: Still Spell 7-9
30	Sorcerer 16

Levelling Notes

• You have a lot of flexibility in terms of Levelling. You can pretty much rearrange the levels as you please, since you have Able learner. The Feats on levels 25,27 and 29 MUST be given to Autostill, but all the other feats before then can be rearranged as you wish. Main requirement is that you take Cleric on a feat level for Divine Shield.

Version 2 Variants

Vary Monk and Cleric levels

The build above uses 2 Cleric / 2 Monk. However It is possible to switch this to 3 Cleric / 1 Monk. Note that the 3rd level of Cleric would net you multiclass penalty when taken, so it is recommended that you take it only at level 30.

3 Cleric / 1 Monk

• Pros:
  • Gain Access to Level 2 Cleric spells, provided you have the Wis boosting Gear to cast them

• Cons:
  • You lose Monk Evasion and Deflect Arrows

Use Drow instead of Human

On PWs, you might substitute Drow rather than Human for the race. Drows lose the human bonus feat (drop Spellcasting Prodigy) but at the same time have bonus +2 Cha which boosts spells DC. So their effective DC is the same (although they gain +1 from Divine Shield). They also have Int bonus which permits them to have the same number of skill points as Humans. However, Sorcerer is not Drow favored class, so they end up with a heavy multiclass penalty on top of a +2 level adjustment!

• Pros:
  • You Gain Drow Racial bonuses
    • Free Weapon Proficiciency
    • Innate Spell Resistance
    • Immunity to Sleep
    • +2 Dex Bonus
    • +2 bonus to Spot, Listen and Search
    • +2 to saves vs Enchantment
    • As Elves, Drow are always automatically in Search mode.
    • The miscellaneous Drow spell like abilities

• Cons:
  • You also gain Drow Racial penalties
    • Light Blindness
    • -2 Con penalty
  • Levelling will be very very slow
    • Drow have +2 Level Adjustment
    • And you are further hit by multiclass penalty

On the whole, Drow ends stronger, but takes a much much longer time to get there.

Original

Original Description

Sorcerer 26 / Paladin 2 / Cleric 1 / Rogue 1

Pros:

• Full Level 30 Sorcerer Caster (with Practiced Caster)
• High Spell DC
• Fairly good AC
• Able to further boost AC with Divine Shield
• Usable under any magic setting
• Good Saves

Cons:

• Horrible melee (without appropriate buffs)
• Low HP
• No ASoC: no discount empower or maximize
• No Epic Spells

Iron Sorcerer vs Obsidian Sorcerer

• Iron Sorcerer has slightly higher Cha, and hence more bonus spells, better spell DC (better Save or Die spells), better saves (from Divine Grace) and stronger Divine Shield. Iron Sorcerer also has bonus Cleric domains for Toughness and Uncanny Dodge

• Obsidian Sorcerer has Full ASoCK and full discount metamagics (better damage spells), and +1 BAB, with a 4th attack. Obsidian Sorcerer has slight lower spell DC, but compensates for it with Aura of Despair, though only at close range.

Original Character Creation

	Initial Values	Final Values
STR	13	13
DEX	10	10
CON	14	14
INT	14	14
WIS	8	8
CHA	17	28
Base attack bonus		15
Fortitude save		22
Reflex save		22
Will save		17
Spell resistance		0
Hit Points		228 - (258 with Beetle Familiar)
Natural AC		13

• Race: Human
• Classes: Sorcerer 26 / Paladin 2 / Cleric 1 / Rogue 1
• Cleric Domains: -
• Build Nature:
• Alignment: Lawful Good until level 4
• Deity:

Saves

+6 against spells with Spellcraft

(Note: I am not sure of Epic Save progression. the saves listed for Sorcerer 26 are actually from Sorcerer 20)

Attributes

• All 7 level up points go to Cha. You also get another 4 Great Cha, boosting Charisma to 28.
• Str 13 is Power Attack and Divine Shield requirement
• Dex is suboptimal. You need to either buff yourself with Cat's Grace (on low magic settings) or get +8 Dex equipment (on high magic settings).

Spell DC:

+1 Spellcasting Prodigy 
+9 Cha Bonus 
+3 Level 30 caster 
----
13
+4 (if using Nymph Cloak +8)
----
17

AC with Epic Gear:

10 base
+10 bracers of armor 10
+10 Heavy shield +8
+8 Mithril full plate
+8 Cloak of Protection +8
+5 Natural Armor Amulet +5
+5 Boots of the sun soul +5 (UMD)
+3 Dex bonus (with +8 Dex equipment)
+3 tumble
----
62

+ 13 Divine Shield (with +8 Cha equipment)
----
75

(You can also gain a relative +10, if you debuff your Enemy with Bigby's Interposing Hand)

Original Overview

Feats

Character Feats

1. Spell Casting Prodigy

1. Able Learner

3. Power Attack

6. Divine Shield (must take on Cleric 1)

9. Practiced Caster Sorcerer

12. Empower Spell

15. Maximize Spell

18. Still Spell OR One of Your Choice

21. Great Cha

23. Great Cha

25. Autostill 0-3 OR One of Your Choice

27. Autostill 4-6 OR Great Cha

29. Great Cha

Sorcerer Epic Feats

23. Autostill 7-9 OR Great Cha

26. Great Cha

Cleric Bonus Domain Feats

1. Earth for Toughness

2. Luck for Kuck of Heroes

• The Autostill Feats allow you to use Mithril Full plate (+8 AC) and a fully enchanted Heavy Shield +8 (+10 AC) with no risk of Arcane Spell failure. That a total +18 AC for 3 feats!

• In addition, Autostill lets you cast Stone Body/Iron Body on yourself, and gain a whole bunch of immunities, including Crit Immunity and Lightning Immunity.

• Note that in the NWN2 OC, there are 0 ASF Eldritch knight chain shirt (from Deekin), and 0 ASF mithril heavy shield available. If you want, you can use those rather than the still spell and 3x Autostill feats. You can instead take 2x Great Cha, to boost Spells per day, Spell DC, saving throw bonus and Divine shield. The remaining 2 feats can be any of your choice. I would recommend Spell pentration for the level 18 feat, and an Epic Spell (such as Vampiric Feast) for the level 25 feat.

Original Skills:

• With 14 int and human bonus, you get 5 skill points per level, and a few extra if you grab Rogue at level 1.

• With Rogue and able learner, this has access to Tumble and UMD

• The must-have skills are Concentration, Spellcraft, Tumble, UMD

• This leaves you 1 more skill of your choice (Convo skill for Campaign, Heal for PWs)
  • For Campaign Convo skill, I recommend Diplomacy if you want to take the Good Path, and Bluff if you want to be Evil.

• If you don't need this last skill, transfer 2 points from Int to Dex.

• Because of the 5 skill point carry over limit, you need to invest Concentration and Spellcraft cross-class at Rogue level 1. Then you can max them with 4 points at level 2, when you level in Sorcerer, and these become class skills.

• Summary: You get 36 skill points at Rogue level 1, you can only carry over 5. You have to spend 20 points in the above mentioned class skills, and save 5. You have 11 left to spend as you wish. My recommendations: Appraise (for slightly better prices), spot (for some protection against feint) and Lore.

Original Character Progression

Class Level	Class	Feat	Free Feat	Attributes
1	Rogue 1	Spellcasting Prodigy, Able Learner
2	Sorcerer 1		Familiar
3	Paladin 1	Power Attack	Smite Evil x1
4	Paladin 2		Divine Grace	+1 Cha
5	Sorcerer 2
6	Cleric 1	Divine Shield	Turn Undead, Bonus Domain Feats
7	Sorcerer 3
8	Sorcerer 4			+1 Cha
9	Sorcerer 5	Practiced Spellcaster : Sorcerer
10	Sorcerer 6
11	Sorcerer 7
12	Sorcerer 8	Still Spell		+1 Cha
13	Sorcerer 9
14	Sorcerer 10
15	Sorcerer 11	Empower Spell
16	Sorcerer 12			+1 Cha
17	Sorcerer 13
18	Sorcerer 14	Maximize Spell
19	Sorcerer 15
20	Sorcerer 16			+1 Cha
21	Sorcerer 17	Great Charisma
22	Sorcerer 18
23	Sorcerer 19	Great Charisma
24	Sorcerer 20			+1 Cha
25	Sorcerer 21	Automatic: Still Spell 0-3
26	Sorcerer 22
27	Sorcerer 23	Automatic: Still Spell 4-6, Automatic: Still Spell 7-9
28	Sorcerer 24			+1 Cha
29	Sorcerer 25	Great Charisma
30	Sorcerer 26	Great Charisma

Levelling Notes

• You have a lot of flexibility in terms of Levelling. You can pretty much rearrange the levels as you please, since you have Able learner. Only requirement is that you take Cleric on a feat level.

• In the scheme above, Rogue comes first for bonus skills, then 1 sorcerer to unlock spellcraft and concentration as a class skill. Then Paladin for early combat survivability, and to get the Lawful Good Requirement out of the way. Once you have taken all your paladin levels, you can start to drift towards evil if you wish.

Original Variants

One possible variant involves swapping Rogue for Monk. You lose UMD as a class skill, but you can still wear Monk boots without UMD. This frees up skill points to max out another skill.

Pros:

• Can Max out Another Skill
  • For PvP, maxing out Listen gives the Iron Sorcerer solid Stealth detection with the appropriate buffs (Heroism and Clairaudience/Clairvoyance)
  • For Campaigns, you might choose to max out another Convo skill.

Cons:

• Lose UMD as a class skill, but still retain the ability to wear Monk Boots. For the Iron Sorcerer, UMD lets him:
  • Use Gear meant for other Classes/Races. Depending on the Gear available, and the restrictions placed on them, this may or may not be important.
  • Cast Non-Sorcerer Spells from scrolls. With its Cleric Splash, the Iron Sorcerer can also cast most Divine Spells from scrolls. Without UMD, the main limit is that he cannot cast Druid and Bard spells.