Mercenary builds: Oread Geomancer (Sorcerer)

My build for a thematic, acid-based Oread Geomancer mercenary, made for Core difficulty or below. DLC "Lord of Nothing" required!

Disclaimer + About the Build

Primary role: aoe damage.
Secondary roles: buffs, crowd control.

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I've been meaning to do a Geomancer because of its connection to Final Fantasy Tactics, which is my all-time favorite game. The Oread was a natural choice for a thematic build because of its connection to the earth/environment, which fits the Geomancer class fantasy nicely. Since the class already has the acid affinity passive, I wanted to make something different since every build you find online focuses on fire, ice, or lightning. I hope you like it!

This build can also be used for a main character! Azata is the most fitting theme-wise, but you can do anything you like as long as you make appropriate alignment choices.

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Ok, that being said, let's be clear: this is a theme-focused build. As such, I avoided multiclassing and made flavour choices to keep the theme of the character. Yes, I know Crossblooded Sorcerer is better, I know this is not the best race ever etc.

This is not an Unfair build, so we're allowed some flavour over min-maxing everything. :)

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The portrait I'm using for it (along others for Oreads) can be found here[www.nexusmods.com] if you want it. Please note that it is AI generated, which I agree is lame, but It's really really hard to find human-created art of this race... let alone one that fits the exact character idea I had.

Character Creation

Attribute	Choice	Comment
Race	Oread - Gemsoul	Fits the theme in both roleplaying and gameplay.
Background	Wanderer - Hermit	Another thematic choice.
Stats	10-13-14-10-10-20	We take some of CON here because of the Geomancy ability that uses a bit of your health to enhance your spells. The rest can be changed a bit according to your needs, so this is my recommendation for a balanced character. You can obviously take points from STR or INT if you really want to, but it's not needed. I'd rather not go with negative stats for this one.
Skills	Persuasion, Use Magic Device or Nature.
Bloodline	Elemental - Earth	This will convert all of your elemental damage into acid as soon as level 1. It's great.
Deity	Green Faith	RP choice. You can also go for Irori or Torag if you want a different alignment while still being rp appropriate.
Alignment	Any

Leveling Progression

All 20 levels into Geomancer.

Level	Feat	Bonus Choice	Comment
1	Spell Penetration	Greater Spell Penetration	Standard start for all spellcasters. Can't run from the feat tax.
2
3	Spell Focus: Evocation
4		+1 DEX
5	Metamagic: Selective Spell		Since this build is all about aoe damage, we can't go around killing our buddies. You won't be able to use it right now for your level 3 spells, so be careful with the damage. If you need help with how to use metamagic, check the Metamagic for Dummies section at the end of this guide.
6
7	Greater Spell Focus: Evocation	Favored Terrain: Underground	Favored Underground will help with the huge amount of cave maps you'll find in this game.
8		+1 CHA
9	Elemental Focus: Acid
10
11	Metamagic: Bolster Spell		More damage? Yes, please.
12		+1 CHA
13	Ambuscading Spell	Favored Terrain: Abyss (pick it twice for a bigger bonus).	If you hit an enemy before they had their first turn, they will be flat-footed, receiving the -2 penalty from this feat. Another way of making the enemy flat-footed is by being invisible, for which you can use your Greater Invisibility spell. This won't work on most bosses because they have true seeing, unless it gets dispelled.
14
15	Greater Elemental Focus: Acid		Build is officially done :)
16		+1 CHA
17	Improved Initiative
18
19	Any teamwork feat.	Favored Terrain: Desert (first) and Underground.	Here I recommend you take any teamwork feat, assuming you're also going to pick the same on at least one other companion. Allied Spellcaster is a good option if you have another spellcaster using it. Otherwise, Shake it Off is also fine.
20		+1 CHA

Mythic Progression

Level	Choices	Comment
1	Ascendant Element: Acid	Now you can start doing actual damage.
2	Spell Focus (Mythic): Evocation
3	Favorite Metamagic: Selective	Now you don't have to worry about using higher spell slots.
4	Spell Penetration (Mythic)
5	Favorite Metamagic: Bolstered	Now ALL of your spells can be bolstered + selective. Pretty cool, huh?
6	Second Bloodline: Draconic (Green)	A bit of extra damage is always welcome.
7	Last Stand
8	Sorcerous Reflex	One free cast every battle. :) Just don't use Cold Ice Strike since that is already a swift action.
9	Archmage Armor
10	Improved Initiative (Mythic)	At this point you can take anything you want.

Spells

Most of those are suggestions and you should pick according to what your party needs or already has.

Spell Level	Comment
1 - Mage Armor, Grease, Magic Missile, Shield.	Keep Mage Armor and Shield on yourself. Reduce/Enlarge Person are also good options to buff your party.
2 - Burning Arc, Mirror Image, stat buffs	Burning Arc will be great to hit multiple enemies, but most of your damage will get resisted for now. Glitterdust/Pit/Web are good cc options. If you have Nenio or Ember with you, make sure to pick whatever you didn't get with them to cover most options.
3 - Fireball/Lightning Bolt, Haste, Displacement, Heroism, Magic Weapon Greater.	Lots of good options. Again, check which ones of those you already have with other characters so you can cover most buffs and pick more damage spells here. At this level, you're either very close to your first mythic point or already got it, so you won't have to worry about enemies resisting your damage.
4 - Invisibility Greater, Acid Pit, False Life Greater, Protection from Energy (communal), Dimension Door.	Invisibility is one the best spells here and it is probably what you'll be using most. Dragon's Breath is a very versatile damage spell, but can be skipped if you want to get more buffs since it does the same damage as the ones you got from your previous level.
5 - Acidic Spray, Animal Growth*, Icy Prison, Stoneskin Communal.	Acidic Spray is a better choice over Cone of Cold because it applies a dot that continues to damage enemies on the next turn, unless you want to also take Cone for the different aoe shape. Animal Growth should only be taken if you have an animal companion in your party.
6 - Chain Lightning, Acid Fog, Cold Ice Strike*, + stat buffs, Greater Heroism, Sirocco.	Acid Fog should only be used with selective metamagic to defend against a lot of melee attackers, but do remember that enemies inside it will have higher chance to avoid ranged attacks, so your bow characters will hate you. Cold Ice Strike is amazing because it is a swift action, meaning you can use it and then use another regular spell on the same turn. Again, lots of good buffs here; try to get most of them with your other party members so you can focus on damage. You won't have that many casts per day to afford all of them.
7 - Caustic Eruption, True Seeing Communal, Legendary Proportions	Caustic Eruption is the only damage spell for you here, being an upgraded version of Acidic Spray. Legendary Proportions is expensive, so save some casts to buff your melee fighters on harder fights.
8 - Seamantle, Stormbolts, Mind Blank.	Yes, Polar Ray is cool, but you are not a ray caster so you'll never hit with it (same deal with Hellfire Ray). Leave it to your local ray caster if you have one and pick Stormbolts instead. There's also Dragonkind III if you fancy (you can cast spells while in dragon form, but can't use wands and rods). Just make sure to pick the green dragon for the acid breath attack.
9 - Meteor Swarm, Winds of Vengeance, Heroic Invocation.	Selective+Bolstered Meteor Swarm + Geomancy = chef's kiss.

Equipment

A list of some good/thematic equipment for the build. Use whatever else you can find until you get the good stuff.

Slot	Name	Source	Description
Weapons	Purple Stone Knife*	Act 1, Market Square	+1 to the saving throw DC for all Evocation spells.
	Ashmaker**	Act 4, Bad Luck Tavern (Familiar Face)	+2 bonus to attack rolls and caster level for Evocation spells.
	Heartbreaker***	Act 5	+2 bonus to DC for Evocation spells.

* The knife can be destroyed or lost via your mythic choices or story events, so be careful.
** You need to have saved the guy from the vescavors during the assault on Leper's Smile in act 2. To do this, you'll need to pass the checks to help him, and use a potion of cure serious wounds from your inventory (make sure to buy one before!), or have someone who can cast the same version of the spell. Then, you'll find him at the tavern and get your item.
*** This is only available on the trickster or demon mythic path. To get it, you need to kill Nocticula.

Side note: if you're using any melee weapon, make sure to go to your cantrips (lvl 0 spells) and right-click any one of the damage ones, like acid splash. This will make it your auto-attack, preventing you from going to melee range to attack enemies in real-time mode and die in the process.

Cloak	Cloak of Carnage	Act 3, Ivory Sanctum, Baphomet statue puzzle	+5 to arcana checks and +2 saving throw DC for Evocation spells.
Head	Clemency of Shadows	Act 3, Relic Decree (Stone of Ghostly Pathways)	+2 INT, casting a spell on an enemy makes them entangled and suffer 1d6+3 bludgeoning damage each round. Goes well with your geomancy effects for extra damage and cc!
	Headband of Mental Perfection +6	Act 5, Skeletal Salesman (ask him to bring magical items)	+6 enhancement bonus to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.
Neck	Amulet of Unforgiving Elements*	Act 3, Chilly Creek	When you deal elemental damage, the enemy must pass a fortitude saving throw or suffer 2d6 damage of that element each time they fail the saving throw for 3 turns.

* Wait until someone from Chilly Creek comes to your city asking you to visit them again. Then go there and explore the bottom right corner of the map for some enemies. You need to have completed the Act 2 quest on Chilly Creek.

Bracer	Scorching Bracers	Act 3, Currantglen (Ulbrig quest)	+2 saving throw DC for Evocation spells.
Shirt	Elemental Imbuement	Act 3, Wintersun (Derakni cave)	When you suffer elemental damage, your next spell of that element will do +2 damage per die rolled.

Tips and explanations

The unique feature of this class, the Geomancy ability, is a toggle that damages you a little bit but applies an extra effect on your next spell cast according to the type of terrain you're on. You can check all of the effects on the next section.

You can actually preview which effect will be used before casting the spell, by checking the tooltip of the geomancy effect next to your character portrait (as shown on the image here). If you don't want to use the effect, just toggle it off before casting your spell. You won't receive damage by doing so.

Most of those deal an extra bit of damage to enemies, which is good in itself, but the really cool part is that they also apply some kind of crowd control, like blinding or stunning enemies. The save DC (chance to resist the cc) for this effect is the same as that of the original spell, so it will naturally be high.

So make sure to always toggle the ability on to buff every spell you cast. Unless you don't really need the exact effect or don't have enough health to pay for it.

As a side note: this build won't have a lot of casts per day, so it pairs well with another arcane caster (like a wizard or witch) so they can focus on the buffs and crowd control, leaving the damage to you. Otherwise, you'll have to carefully plan your casts per rest.

Make sure you check vendors for metamagic rods. This build won't take some metamagic like maximized or empower, so it is expected that you use rods for those. If you don't know how to use it, just put the rods on your belt (the slots below your character) and right-click the one you want to use. It will be used on the next spell you cast. Just remember to toggle it off if you don't want to use it.

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At level 9, you'll get the Elemental Blast ability. This can make the enemies vulnerable to acid, taking 50% more acid damage until the end of your next turn. You won't have a lot of uses of this ability, so it's best to use it to open combat with bosses or other hard enemies.

Geomancy Effects

Metamagic for Dummies

This section is destined for teaching new players how to use metamagic. If you're a veteran, you already know this. :)

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After getting your metamagic feat, open your spellbook (default key 'B' on pc) and click metamagic on the bottom-left corner.

On this screen, pick the spell you want to apply metamagic to and drag it to the square box on the left. We'll be using Fireball as an example.



As you can see on top of the box, we have two metamagic effects available to us, using the ones from this build: selective and bolstered. To apply those, you just have to click them. Here we are using bolstered only, but you can apply more than one if you wish.



You can see that our "result spell level" has changed. This means that our new bolstered Fireball will be a level 4 spell, instead of level 3 of the regular spell. This happens with all metamagic effects. Some will raise your spell level by 1, others can go higher. You can check this by seeing the "1" showing at the bolstered icon on top. Selective is showing a "0" because we have a mythic feat that prevents the spell level from going up with the effect, so the spell level remains the same with it.

Ok, now we can apply some customization to the spell icon. The idea here is that you can put some colored marker on the icon so you can distinguish it from the other spells, so you can know which one is the regular Fireball and which one is the modified one with just a glance. Sometimes you might wanna cast the regular version of the spell, not the metamagic one, so you know which is which by the marker you use here.

For example, we can put a red icon on the corners of our bolstered spells, then use another color for another effect, and so on. Let's make our bolstered Fireball now. When you are done, just click Write Spell. It will me moved to your spellbook as you can see here. Note that it is located within our level 4 spells, as explained before!



You can now have fun casting it! However, you should remember one thing: spells modified by metamagic become a full-round action. Which means you cannot move and cast them on the same turn. If you want to use the metamagic version, you can't waste your move turn.

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Let's say we want to use two metamagic effects on the same spell. Just repeat the process and click both effects when writing the spell.



Since this will have two effects, I'll use a different color marker. Write the spell when you're done.



Now, as you can see here, we have both on our level 4 spells page. This means we'll have three Fireball spells: a regular one, a bolstered one for more damage (red), and a bolstered+selective one that does more damage and doesn't harm allies (green). Yeah, your hotbars will grow up quite a bit when you start doing this for all spells.

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If you're following this build, later on you'll have the possibility of applying both effects to your spells without having them go up in level. This means that you can objectively modify all of your spells and only use the metamagic versions, taking the regular spells from your hotbars entirely. Of course, you still have to be careful not to move before using those. If you need to move, you will be then forced to either wait for your next turn or use a regular, no-metamagic spell.