First level Scorcery Feats

albjohnson

Mongoose
Im about to write up a new 1st level scorcer and was looking for some ideas on what are the most useful feats to choose at first level :?: :?
 
from which country? male / female? educated / barbaric? evil cult / pious temple? sorcerous / scholarly? trickster / real wizard? martial arts guy?

it's difficult to give advice, if you know not the character idea :wink:
 
Didn't want to get too deep inon personal ideas, other characters read these posts. rearly wanted PC to be secret (for effect). Just wondered if thier were any generic feats that wre good starters for socrers in general.
 
Although Feats like 'Knowledgeable' [sp?] and 'Investigator' might seem logical, as a Scholar with a good Int bonus, you probably won't need the extra bonuses with all those skill ranks. You are going to max out in a lot of skills real fast. Most of the good Sorcery Feats like Ritual Sacrifice aren't accessible at first level either. Dodge might not be a bad idea- you will have no armor proficiency and are going to the weakest in hit point and 'not getting hit' is about your only defense.

If your game is heavy in roleplaying you can have fun with the 'Noble Blood' feat from Scrolls of Skeleos- with a noble title you are no longer consorting with dark powers, you're 'eccentric' 8). If you are willing to tempt the Dark Side, go with 'Spawn of Dagoth Hill' or 'Child of Jebbal Sag'. Both give you advantages in Sorcery, change any race's favoured class to Scholar and must be taken at first level anyway. Just note that some people tend to burn native Outsiders if they can find out who they are....

[To have some real fun, take both Noble Blood and the Spawn or Child Feat. There's some real mixed blood 8)]

If your GM will allow you to use Feats I designed for my sorcery system than check out the 'Childe' Feats in the topic 'Raven's Rules for Sorcery v1.1' topic somewhere nearby. Childe Feats are like Spawn of Dagoth Hill, they mean you have non-human blood. They have to be taken at first level and they give your character an advantage in using one sphere or school of magic, which can be a help at first level. The downside is that like 'Spawn' you are more vulnerable to Corruption.

Also if you are interested in helping me playtest the "Raven's Rules' system of Sorcery and the GM is okay with it, just pm me and I'll send you a copy of what I have so far.

Raven
 
Raven Blackwell said:
Dodge might not be a bad idea- you will have no armor proficiency and are going to the weakest in hit point and 'not getting hit' is about your only defense.

Too bad that dodge is also one of those feats which are not available at 1st level.
If you want to play with independent scholar, either Knowledgeable or Skill Focus: Knowledge(Arcana) are actually pretty good choises because you have to make Knowledge(Arcana) test every time you try to learn new spell, or you will end up with some random spell (if any)
 
As has already been written, try thinking long-term when you make up your sorcerer- consider what you'd like him to have at, say 12th or 15th level and then look at the prerequisites necessary to obtain the desired feats, so you'll be ready to start acquiring them at 1st level.

Since you're starting 1st level, you're limited in your magical potential, so you may need to carry a weapon or 2. Consider Blind-Fight - it can come in handy when you acquire touch spells, and allows you to hit "invisible" enemies, whether you're in the dark or they simply can't be seen. Another option is to look at Great Fortitude, since Fortitude is your weakest saving throw, and you'll need it for things like physical exertions or being stuck in a desert. Again, there's Spawn of Dagoth Hill or Child of Jhebbal Sag, but I'd check with your GM first, as you're really freaky and will be hard for any other humans (the other player characters) to deal with you.

Lastly, or am I referring you again to my first paragraph: look at the Sorcery Feats (listed bottom of pg 105 AE) - you don't qualify for any at first level, but you could acquire several at 2nd level, depending on what sorcery style you pick. So plan ahead, and good luck.
 
Korppis said:
Too bad that dodge is also one of those feats which are not available at 1st level.

Oh damn, that's right isin't it- you need a base Dodge bonus of +1 don't you. The rule book wasn't in front of me then and I usually start players at 3rd level to increase their chance of surviving theri first encounter.

As for freaky Feat choices, I've found it fun to have not-so-human players now and then. I've had three so far, though two have died and one is slowly losing their mind to the lure of forbidden power. 8)

Raven
 
Sorcerers tend to have high charisma for their magic attack bonus. If you would like to apply that to combat, you could take Weapon Panache from Shadizar City of Wickedness. It lets you replace strenght bonus for charisma bonus when using a melee weapon.

There are other great feats, but depend on role playing. I have always liked the Sleep Mastery feat. For a sorcerer it could mean that he can stay up later than normal at night poring over old tomes. Also, if your character has to perform a particularly lenghty ritual or spell, he can stay all night one a week and not be affected by fatigue. It also grants a +2 bonus to saving throws vs effects that would cause you to fall asleep (black lotus fumes) or prevent you fron awakening.

From Shadizar also, there is a feat that lets you memorize a number of writen pages, up to 3xinteligence modifier I think. I don't remember the name, something like Perfect Memory? This is kind of cool for a scholar, specially if you would have access to forbiden documents, arcane or not. A spy could make good use of this feat.

Defensive Martial Arts for an oriental sorcerer.
 
I had a scholar in my game take Knowledgable and he never regreted it, that man always knew exactly what he was looking at and what was going on (I also house ruled that the bonus applied to his Knowledge is Power checks as well).

Try shoring up your weak points: you'll never regret taking Toughness, likewise Great Fortitude will probably save your life at some point. Improved Initative is always a good feat, the first round is usually critical for a sorcorer as it is usually your best chance to either influence the rest of the fight with a well chosen spell or to find a safe place to hide.

Eyes of the Cat and Fleet-Footed are generally usefull for anyone.

You're gonna want to stay out of melee anyway, Point Blank Shot is a good choice. Don't forget that its bonus applies to any ranged attack you make, such as throwing alchemical items.

And of course my favorite feats for scholars are Steely Gaze and Menacing Aura, though you won't be taking them until much higher level.

Without knowing more about your scholar I really can't offer better advice than that. Later.
 
slaughterj said:
Eyes of the Cat, for sure, as you can't get it later without getting 2 levels of thief.
This is a good recommendation, for some reason I just didn't include it. I DO think that Great Fortitude should be considered, I guess Blindsight could be overlooked at first level, but Eyes of the Cat is a good recommendation.
 
I would take Knowledgeable, that's a great feat. I took it right away when I created my scholar. It's good to know a little a bit of this and that, and when you have a scholar with high intelligence and that feat you'll rock trust me.
Argo: you have a very nice house rule about Knowledge is Power. I'll have to convince our GM to do the same, thanks for that
 
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