Draconic fire, nearly pure
These notes follow Patch 8, released 15 April 2025. This starter is Draconic Bloodline with a fire ancestor. Storm Sorcery is a different path: flight after a leveled spell, then lightning and thunder at sorcerer level 6.
Pick Red, Gold, or Brass so the ancestry damage is fire. Red also adds Burning Hands. While you wear no armour, Draconic Resilience sets your base Armour Class to 13, and it does not stack with Mage Armour. Each sorcerer level adds 1 hit point.
Stay sorcerer through level 6 before any warlock level. Elemental Affinity at sorcerer 6 adds your Charisma modifier when you cast a spell that deals your ancestry's damage. Scorching Ray is on the sorcerer list at level 3: three rays of 2d6 fire, each with its own attack roll, and one more ray for each slot level above 2nd. The Charisma bonus from Elemental Affinity lands on each ray.
The optional dip is one level of The Fiend. Command is on that list at warlock level 1. The pact slot comes back on a short rest, and warlock levels stay out of the sorcerer slot total. Withers can insert that level later for 100 gold.
Patch 8, released 15 April 2025, is the final major content patch.
Draconic Bloodline at level 1 sets your base Armour Class to 13 while you wear no armour, and that bonus does not stack with Mage Armour. Each sorcerer level adds 1 hit point. Red, Gold, and Brass are the fire ancestries. Red adds Burning Hands.
Elemental Affinity: Damage at sorcerer level 6 adds your Charisma modifier to the damage of a spell that matches your draconic ancestry.
Scorching Ray is a level 2 spell learned by sorcerers at class level 3. It hurls 3 rays of 2d6 fire, each with its own attack roll. Upcasting adds one ray per slot level above 2nd. Elemental Affinity: Damage applies to each ray.
Command is learned at level 1 by The Fiend.
Warlock spells are always prepared. Pact slots return on a short rest.
Multiclass spell slots add the other caster levels together and leave warlock levels out of that sum.
The hat, once the ox reaches Last Light
The Hat of Fire Acuity is on the Strange Ox from Act 2 on. In the Emerald Grove the ox does not carry it. Killing the ox there drops the Shapeshifter's Boon Ring.
At Last Light Inn the ox stands by Dammon, in the stables. Kill it there and the hat drops. If the protection around Last Light falls, the ox disappears from the inn and survives. It shows up in Rivington, on a hill west of the requisitioned barn, and the hat is still on it.
The hat drops when the ox dies in Act 2 or Act 3. Help the Devilish Ox walks it into the Lower City alive. Deliver it and the ox lives, so the hat stays with the ox. Killing the ox also removes its summon from Gather Your Allies.
The Hat of Fire Acuity is carried by the Strange Ox at Last Light Inn in Act 2 and again in Rivington in Act 3. Killing the ox in the Emerald Grove drops the Shapeshifter's Boon Ring, because the ox does not have the hat until Last Light.
The hat drops only if the Strange Ox is killed in Act 2 or Act 3. If the protection around Last Light falls, the ox disappears and survives to be met later.
Help the Devilish Ox requires the ox to survive the grove and Last Light. Delivering it alive to the Lower City leaves the ox alive, and the hat is not received. Killing the ox removes it from Gather Your Allies.
Rays first, then the control spell
While you wear the hat, dealing fire damage grants Arcane Acuity. The passive adds the condition for 2 turns, once per attack. Each ray of Scorching Ray is its own attack roll, so each ray that deals fire damage can add acuity. Further applications add to the duration. The condition stops at 10 rounds. Each remaining round adds 1 to your spell attack rolls and to your spell difficulty class. Taking damage cuts 2 rounds off.
Deal the fire damage first, then cast the control spell while the bonus is up. Hold Person is on the sorcerer list at sorcerer level 3. Command is the reason for the Fiend level. Quickened Spell is a metamagic choice from sorcerer level 3. It costs 3 sorcery points and casts an action spell with your bonus action, so the rays and the control spell fit on the same turn.
Charisma is the spell score for both classes. Constitution is hit points and concentration. A hit also shortens the acuity condition, so the stack can fall off even when the spell is still up.
Fire Acuity grants Arcane Acuity for 2 turns whenever you deal fire damage, once per attack. Each ray of Scorching Ray counts, because each ray makes a separate attack roll.
Arcane Acuity adds 1 to spell attack rolls and to spell difficulty class for each remaining turn. A new application adds to the duration. The maximum duration is 10 rounds. Taking damage reduces the duration by 2.
Hold Person is learned by sorcerers at class level 3.
Quickened Spell is a metamagic option from sorcerer level 3. It costs 3 sorcery points and makes an action spell use a bonus action instead. Two metamagic picks arrive at sorcerer level 2, and another at level 3.
Fire immunity and resistance
A creature immune to fire takes no fire damage from Scorching Ray. The hat grants acuity when you deal fire damage, so an immune target adds none. Elemental Adept: Fire lets your spells ignore fire resistance, and the fire damage dice cannot roll a 1. Immunity stays on the examine sheet. Carry another spell for that fight.
The breakpoints page is the slot math for the warlock level. The storm page is the other sorcerer starter. Withers can still rebuild the class from level 1.
Elemental Adept lets your spells and attacks ignore resistance to one damage type you choose. When you deal that damage with a spell, you cannot roll a 1. Fire is one of the choices.
The character level cap is 12. Withers charges 100 gold to rebuild class and ability scores from level 1. Race, background, and appearance stay.
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