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6 years ago ::
Jun 24, 2007 - 2:20PM
#1
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Date Joined:
May 27, 2005
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Optimizing the Fiend-Blooded (for spells known) The Fiend-Blooded Prestige Class in Heroes of Horror has a lot of interesting things going for it. Quick review: Requirements:
- Nongood humanoid
- Feats: Blood Calls to Blood, Eschew Materials
- Ability to spontaneously cast 2nd-level Arcane Spells
- 8 ranks each of Concentration, Knowledge (arcana), and Knowledge (the Planes)
Benefits:
- +1 level of existing spellcasting class (at levels 1-9)
- Assorted minor resistances and boosts to stats and AC
- And the major focus of this post, Fiendish Sorcery
Fiendish Sorcery, given at every even-numbered level of the class, gives the character a new spell known of any level he can cast, as long as it is from the Enchantment, Illusion, or Necromancy school, OR contains the [Fire] descriptor. At first glance, that doesn't seem too huge, but there are some wrinkles that make all the difference. First off, the spells can be from any caster list. They can even be spells normally limited to divine spellcasters, which means that a Sorceror who takes a few levels of this class can add spells to his repertoire that he would otherwise have almost no way of accessing. Secondly, in addition to the obvious Sorceror and Bard, this PrC is theoretically accessible by all the new limited-spell-list spontaneous casters: Beguilers, Warmages, and Dread Necromancers. And for them, this class can be huge. The intention of this thread is to attempt to gather a comprehensive list of spells which are available for the Fiendish Sorcery class feature, and are so powerful or broadly-enough useful that they justify the move into this PrC for some or all of the classes eligible for it. The general format of spell entries will look something like: [INDENT] Spell name (Classes and levels) [Sourcebook] - spell description. Recommended for which Fiend-Blooded entry classes.[/INDENT] Important Notes and Questions (will be edited as necessary)
- The Knowledge (the plains) requirement is cross-class for almost all classes that would seek entry into the PrC. There are a few ways around this (feats, splashing other PrCs, planar substitution levels) so in general we will be treating the PrC as if it can be entered as early as level 6. Nonetheless, the Knowledge (the plains) requirement is one you should keep in mind.
- I have been searching for, but so far unable to find, a definitive answer for what level the Fiend-Blooded would treat a spell as being, if it appeared on multiple other class spell lists at different levels. For the sake of safety, I'll be assuming that he's required to assume it's generally the highest available option (Wiz/Sorc instead of Domain spell or Trapsmith spell-list, for example.) If anyone has a definitive answer on this issue, please post it in the thread.
- It is worth pointing out that the Fiend-Blooded gets poor BAB, hit points, and skills/level. This means that for classes like Beguiler, it can be a significant change in focus to take more than a few levels of the class. Another thing to keep in mind, anyway.
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6 years ago ::
Jun 24, 2007 - 2:20PM
#2
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Date Joined:
May 27, 2005
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Necromancy:
[INDENT]Favor of the Martyr (Paladin 4) [SpC] - 1 min/level of immunity to nonlethal damage, charm and compulsion, pain, and a ton of other stuff.
Heart Ripper (Assassin 4) [SpC] - Instantly kills (by ripping out the heart of) any target, or stuns for 1d4 rounds if that target has HD higher than your caster level. Fortitude negates.
Harm (Cleric 6, Destruction 6) [PHB] - 10 damage per caster level (max 150), will save for half.
Blood to Water (Cleric 7) [SpC] - 2d6 Con damage to up to 5 living creatures.
Mantle of Pure Spite (Spite 8) [HoH] - For 1 min/level, every time any opponent hits you, you get a cumulative +1 attack, damage, and DR/- against that opponent, and can overcome his DR.
General of Undeath (Cleric 8) [SpC] - Increases for 1 day the HD of undead you can control by an amount equal to your caster level.
Heat Drain (Cleric 8) [SpC] - 1d6 cold damage per caster level (max 20d6) to all living creatures within 20 feet of you, and you gain 2 temporary HP per affected target. Fortitude negates.
Bite of the King (Gluttony 8, Hunger 8) [SpC] - Swallow whole any target no larger than you, sending it to a "stomach dimension" where it takes damage every round until it can escape. [/INDENT]
Fire:
[INDENT]Lesser Orb of Fire (Sorc/Wiz 1) [SpC] - 1d8 fire damage, +1d8 for every two caster levels beyond 1st. No save, no SR.
Scorching Ray (Sorc/Wiz 2) [PHB] - 1-3 rays each doing 4d6 fire damage with no save.
Orb of Fire (Sorc/Wiz 4) [SpC] - 1d6 fire damage per caster level (max 15d6) no save, no SR, plus fort save or be dazed for one round.[/INDENT]
Enchantment:
[INDENT]War Cry (Bard 2) [SpC] - swift action to cast, +4 on attack/damage for a charge, then cause enemy to save or panic for one round.
Dreaming Puppet (Oneiromancy 5) [HoH] - take control of the body of a sleeping creature for 1 min/lvl.
Cloak of Hate (Bard 5, Cleric 6, Sorc/Wiz 6, Spite 6) [HoH] - for 1 day/lvl, the target has one degree worse reactions from all NPCs, -10 to diplomacy to change those reactions, and is always viewed in the worst possible light by anyone.
True Domination (Domination 8) [SpC] - Make one humanoid target do anything you want, for 1 day/level, as Dominate Person (but with -4 penalty to saves once the creature is enchanted.)
Monstrous Thrall (Domination 9) [SpC] - As True Domination, but works on any creature and is permanent.[/INDENT]
Illusion:
[INDENT]Manifest Desire (Oneiromancy 4) [HoH] - Show the target his greatest desire. Even if he saves to disbelieve, the image appears and you can learn his greatest desire.
Manifest Fear (Oneiromancy 4) [HoH] - As Manifest Desire, but the subject's greatest fear, and he must save every round he believes the illusion or become panicked.[/INDENT]
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6 years ago ::
Jun 24, 2007 - 2:32PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Jan 29, 2007
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Unfortunately, most DMs who get PHB II replace Blood Calls to Blood with Fiendish Sorcerer Heritage in the prereqs. Between that and having to waste precious skill points learning about grassy fields  , it generally becomes a subpar PrC. Note: Judicious use of this class feature can allow certain classes such as beguiler and warmage to enter the archmage PrC, conceivably at early levels. Take the class at 11th level, and keep going all the way. With an ioun stone for +1 caster level, there's no way you can go wrong. Just try to delay the class as long as possible, so you can use fiendish sorcery to get high-level spells. Great spells: Who needs dominate monster when you can get the Domination domain specific 9th-level spell monstrous thrall (recent: SC)? You can give it suicidal or evil commands, and it can't break free. Better than the original for all the same costs. Highly recommended for beguilers, but useful for anyone. Plague of undead (SC): grants relatively cheap undead minions to a warmage or beguiler. No point for sorcerers or dread necromancers, but nice for warmages. Flame strike: get corrupt spell for free, with no alignment problems. Fry that mutha! Anathema (Champs of Ruin): Cut off anyone from their divine patron, with none of the RP restrictions of the cleric version. Good for dread necrs, who have to deal with clerics and paladins all the time. Shadow landscape: Turn miles of land into your personal Plane of Shadowesque playground! Great for beguilers and dread necrs. Orb of fire: Get the all-important no save, no-SR fire spell, regardless of how the designers intended your original class to act. [s]Best of all: hellfire and hellfire storm. Get these domain-specific spells for free. Great for absolutely anybody, but perfect for warmage, who can metamagic them up to get around their annoying damage cap (which is automatically exceeded by anyone of high enough level to cast the spell) Goddamit, they're Evocation [Evil], not Evocation [Evil, Fire]. Dammit, dammit, damn it!
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6 years ago ::
Jun 24, 2007 - 3:28PM
#4
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Date Joined:
May 27, 2005
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These spell lists will obviously grow with time and people's suggestions. I'm trying to think of a better way to organize them (maybe by entry class, rather than by school? So we'd have a list of spells that would be good for beguilers, dread necros, etc...)
Also, another interesting element:
Qualifying for Reserve Feats:
Between all the spells that a Fiend-Blooded can potentially take, there are a lot of descriptors. Necromancy has [Cold] spells, some Bardic Enchantments have the [Sonic] descriptor, and of course there's the whole [Fire] subset. It's not at all unthinkable that you might want to add a Reserve feat to sharpen up some element of the casting that you'd been missing.
Fiery Burst or Winter's Blast could be taken with a mid-to-high level Fire or Necromancy [Cold] spell to add some repeatable damage-dealing to a Beguiler. Clap of Thunder could be quite useful as well -- not only doing damage on a touch attack, but potentially defeaning enemies.
Touch of Distraction might be useful for a Warmage with a lot of Reflex-save based spells, though the time he'd spend setting it up might not pay off.
Are there any other good Reserve feats that might potentially be opened by spells on the Fiend-Blooded list? I can't think of any [Water] or [Air] spells that fit, offhand, but if there's one out there it could be quite nice.
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6 years ago ::
Jun 24, 2007 - 9:38PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Jul 21, 2003
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Just want to say, this thread is a terrific idea. :D
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6 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2007 - 8:47AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Jan 29, 2007
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Just want to say, this thread is a terrific idea. :D
Damn right! 
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6 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2007 - 9:28AM
#7
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Cursed Blade (necromancy) - Assasin 4/Hexblade 4 - CW - wounds dealt be weapon can't be healed without a "Remove Curse". Combine with the feat Arterial Strike for slow bleeding death.
Hound of Doom (Illusion) - Hexblade 3 - CW - summon a dire wolf with your BAB, HP, and an AC bonus equal to your Cha bonus
Phantom Threat (Illusion) - Bard 1/Hexblade 1 - CW - target is considered flanked
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6 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2007 - 10:52AM
#8
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Monstrous Thrall is an iffy spell whether it is permanent (in the description text) or has a duration of 24 hours/level (in the upper text under duration) in the most up to date version in the spell compedium.
Originally Monstrous Thrall was in Complete Divine, it had a duration of instantaneous and if they failed the save it was a permanent domination. Yet to make up for this it had "XP Cost: 500 XP per Hit Die or level of the subject." The spell compedium version doesn't have the xp cost.
It matters little for a duration of 24 hours times a caster level of 17+ is 17+ days and almost never will you have a situation where you need a thrall longer than that, and you can't just recast it. Yet it is important to point out.
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6 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2007 - 1:04PM
#9
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One wonders how this class would work with a wizard and the spontaneous divination variant.
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6 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2007 - 1:46PM
#10
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One wonders how this class would work with a wizard and the spontaneous divination variant.
Able to cast some spells spontaneously doesn't make you a spontaneous spellcaster. A spontaneous spellcaster can cast all his spells spontaneously furthermore he can't prepare spells without certain feats or tricks.
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