What are some ways I can make a subpar subclass as powerful as, if not more so than, the other members of the party, perhaps to the extent of being borderline broken? I'm thinking of having a Red Dragonborn pyromancer wizard who is more or less the party leader. However, there is a certain list of things I'm really wanting to use for this build. Among them are...
Spells:
Fireball
Scorching Ray
Suggestion
Fear
Counterspell
Dispel
Magic Missile
Shield
Mage Armor
Illusory Dragon
Incendiary Cloud
Teleport
Mass Suggestion
Meteor Swarm
Shapechange
Scrying
Conjure Minor Elementals
Conjure Elementals
Dimension Door
Disintegrate
Eyebite
Feats:
Skilled
War Wizard
I know it's rather specific, but can anybody suggest any cantrips, any other spells, feats, and which background I should probably use, among other things, to make it work?
Here's the deal: if you want to be a single-element caster you're going to need a backup plan. There's several creature groups that'll give you trouble:
Incorporeal creatures such as shadows and specters resist all "energy" types (acid/cold/fire/lightning/thunder)
Fiends (devils are immune to fire, demons and yugoloths resist cold/fire/lightning)
Slaad resist all energy types
Fire-based elementals, dragons, and giants are immune
Any enemy fully submerged in water will have resistance
Elemental Adept can help in a lot of those cases, but you're already starting with a lower INT modifier than "optimal" wizard races and it won't help against the monsters that are immune.
Magic Missile is your backup plan early on, but it loses its kick by the time you get 3rd level spells. You're going to want other 3rd-5th level spells you can fall back on when fire damage and Magic Missile won't cut it; either spells that deal other types of damage, or utility spells like Magic Weapon, Levitate, Haste,Slow, or Enlarge/Reduce that can disable enemies or empower your allies. Here's a list of damaging 1st-5th level wizard spells that don't use any of the energy damage types. Erupting Earth is a nice 3rd level option; not as damaging as Fireball, but it seems thematically appropriate, deals magical bludgeoning damage and turns the area into difficult terrain. Dragon's Breath is another thematic option that you can use to strengthen an ally but I wouldn't recommend getting close to enemies yourself.
With all that in mind, I'd recommend going with School of Evocation and focusing on increasing your INT. Sculpt Spells will make it easy to make use of large area spells like Fireball without hurting your allies. Potent Cantrip and Empowered Evocation will improve your damage, Empowered Evocation will also make your Magic Missilereally strong if you've boosted your INT mod since the INT bonus will get added to every dart. That makes it a valid fallback option again once you hit 10th level. Forget about War Caster until you've maxed your INT; just stay away from enemies as best you can, falling back on Shield and Misty Step if you ever get into trouble. Sculpt Spells will help make sure you can hurt your enemies no matter where you are on the battlefield.
What are some ways I can make a subpar subclass as powerful as, if not more so than, the other members of the party, perhaps to the extent of being borderline broken? I'm thinking of having a Red Dragonborn pyromancer wizard who is more or less the party leader. However, there is a certain list of things I'm really wanting to use for this build. Among them are...
Spells:
Feats:
I know it's rather specific, but can anybody suggest any cantrips, any other spells, feats, and which background I should probably use, among other things, to make it work?
Here's the deal: if you want to be a single-element caster you're going to need a backup plan. There's several creature groups that'll give you trouble:
Elemental Adept can help in a lot of those cases, but you're already starting with a lower INT modifier than "optimal" wizard races and it won't help against the monsters that are immune.
Magic Missile is your backup plan early on, but it loses its kick by the time you get 3rd level spells. You're going to want other 3rd-5th level spells you can fall back on when fire damage and Magic Missile won't cut it; either spells that deal other types of damage, or utility spells like Magic Weapon, Levitate, Haste,Slow, or Enlarge/Reduce that can disable enemies or empower your allies. Here's a list of damaging 1st-5th level wizard spells that don't use any of the energy damage types. Erupting Earth is a nice 3rd level option; not as damaging as Fireball, but it seems thematically appropriate, deals magical bludgeoning damage and turns the area into difficult terrain. Dragon's Breath is another thematic option that you can use to strengthen an ally but I wouldn't recommend getting close to enemies yourself.
With all that in mind, I'd recommend going with School of Evocation and focusing on increasing your INT. Sculpt Spells will make it easy to make use of large area spells like Fireball without hurting your allies. Potent Cantrip and Empowered Evocation will improve your damage, Empowered Evocation will also make your Magic Missile really strong if you've boosted your INT mod since the INT bonus will get added to every dart. That makes it a valid fallback option again once you hit 10th level. Forget about War Caster until you've maxed your INT; just stay away from enemies as best you can, falling back on Shield and Misty Step if you ever get into trouble. Sculpt Spells will help make sure you can hurt your enemies no matter where you are on the battlefield.
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