Building a Pathfinder Sorcerer.

[13ones]

So I'm part of a pathfinder tournament as some of you know. Now after the first round (which I had to miss due to work) I was told there was a sever lack of solid arcane casters. I think they said they had only one cleric in the entire roster of 30 people. So they gave me the option to either hold with the rogue character I submitted, or, since I had not established myself in the first round to change my character entirely and play a blasty spell caster.

After looking between Wizards and Sorcerers I've settled on Sorcerer because they seem endlessly more interesting to myself.

I've decided to go Half-Elf for my race. As for blood line I've narrowed it down to these: Aberrant Bloodline, Efreeti Bloodline, Marid Bloodline, Serpentine Bloodline, Protean Bloodline.


The rules for the tourny will follow in the next post as they are a fair bit longer.

[13ones]

- Characters are made with 25 point buy.
- Core races (from Core Book) only.
- Classes can be drawn from any of the available books.
-Specify any alternate racial features, what favoured class bonuses you are using, etc. During character creation.
-The level for the first module is 4, 8 for the second, 12 for the third and so on.
-For 8th level You receive 27 000gp with the maximum you may spend on any item is 8 500 gp
-At first level, all character receive the maximum hit points for their hit dice; at each additional level, characters receive 1/2 the maximum, plus one. (e.g. A fighter would receive 10 hit points at first level, and 6 (10 divided by 2 = 5; 5 + 1 = 6) at each additional level).
-Item Creation feats, such as scribe scroll, are not allowed, if your character would receive such a feat as a class feature, check the 'Further Rules' section.
- Characters can be of ANY alignment, classes which have specific rules about associating with characters of certain alignment (e.g. Paladins), these rules are waived.
=Characters MUST have an in character reason to be involved in the story, see 'Setting' for more details.
- Include one or two short sentences describing what role(s) you expect your character to fill in the party.
- There is no item creation, or crafting of any kind; use the following substitutions.
- Alchemists receive the 'Extra Bombs' feat instead of 'Brew Potion'
- Cavaliers receive 'Skill Focus (Handle Animal)' instead of the 'Expert Trainer' class feature
- Witches cannot select the 'Cauldron' hex.
- Wizards receive 'Spell Focus' instead of 'Scribe Scroll'.
-The Leadership feat (and any other method of gaining a companion other then a class feature) is not allowed.
- Clerics and Druids with the Nobility Domain receive 'Persuasive' instead of 'Leadership'
- Oracles of the Nature Mystery replace 'awaken' with 'animal growth' for bonus spells.
-Other then firearms, NO variant or additional rules from Advanced Players Guide, Ultimate Magic or Ultimate Combat are allowed. This includes but is not limited to:
- Hero Points
- Armour as Damage Reduction
- Traits
-Following the first round, item and equipment selection will be purchassed from a 'shop list' available following the module. This may restrict access to many items, including special materials (like mithral and adamantium), scrolls, adavanced firearms, etc.
- Each player receives one 'free pick' each round, which is not from the shop list.

Entirely Banned Items
-Marvellous Pigments
- Incense of Invocation

[Curious]

Alright, my advice for the most powerful build possible? Ditch the bloodlines you've got now, go Arcane. Be a human rather than half-elf, take the human favored class bonus that gets you an extra spell every level. Make sure to grab good low-level debuffs like Color Spray and Grease. Fly is good if you have room for it, and Haste is fantastic if you are in a party.

[13ones]

I'm not trying to min-max. I'm trying to strike a balance between what seems fun for me and what is actually kinda useful. Arcane seemed rather boring. *shrug*

Thanks for your contribution anyways.

[Retech]

Armor as damage reduction will probably work in your favor.

But blaster sorcerers in Pathfinder are much weaker than in 3.5, so it might not actually be that feasible.

---

Although, one route could be to go ninja (rogue but more versatile. I think it can choose any rogue talent). Then take the sniping talents and really buff your stealth check to +50 or something (not too difficult).

Pick up a rifle as a firearm and start sniping things from afar. They won't be able to find you if you have any cover at all.

[13ones]

Le bump for the great justice!

[subject42]

Be a human rather than half-elf, take the human favored class bonus that gets you an extra spell every level.

That favored class bonus is from the APG. According to the OP, no variant or additional rules from Advanced Players Guide.

Based on my experience, Aberrant isn't great for building a blasty sorcerer like you plan to make. Of the ones you listed, Marid would probably be the most useful for blastiness, since you can load up on fire spells and then switch the damage type on the fly.

[navar100]

Arcane is not boring. You get juicy stuff:

Arcane bond: Once a day as a standard action cast a virtual Silent and Still Spell since your Bonded Item can cast a spell. You can also enchant it as if you had the appropriate item creation feat. This is beyond your normal casting so you cast one more spell per day, and it could be your highest level.

Sorcerers like metamagic because it makes their spells more versatile. Arcane bloodline increases the DC by 1 for a metamagicked spell. As the levels increase a few times per day can cast a metamagicked spell as a standard action.

More spells at 9th, 13th, and 17th levels. More spells is always good.

20th level capstone isn't that great compared to other bloodlines, but it's not useless. All metamagic is now a standard action which does help. Saving charges on items is ok. That's probably more helpful for a campaign than a tournament. Pathfinder staves only have 10 charges, though can be recharged. Stretching a staff for more than 10 charges before you can recharge it during downtime can be helpful in hectic adventure arcs.

[13ones]

Thank you both for your added advice.

[13ones]

And I'm not really looking to be a support caster, more of an all out "pow pow" damage dealer simply because we have a lot of support along side the melee at the moment.

[Curious]

That favored class bonus is from the APG. According to the OP, no variant or additional rules from Advanced Players Guide.

Favored classes are included in the core rules, OP mentions you must specify chosen bonus, implying you can choose any.

[13ones]

So I narrowed it down further to Marid, serpentine or Protean.

[DeMouse]

Le bump for the great justice!

Le bump

Le

Get. Out.

For the sorceror I would consider figuring out what your favored damage spell is going to be and take the spell perfection feat for it so you can add quckened without raising the spell level.

[Stone Heart]

Favored classes are included in the core rules, OP mentions you must specify chosen bonus, implying you can choose any.

Except anything but the hp or skill point are not listed in the original rules but as a variant in the APG, implying to me that its not allowed.

Edit:on the SRD is even listed under alternative rules.

[El Dorado]

Arcane is not boring. You get juicy stuff:

Arcane bond: Once a day as a standard action cast a virtual Silent and Still Spell since your Bonded Item can cast a spell. You can also enchant it as if you had the appropriate item creation feat. This is beyond your normal casting so you cast one more spell per day, and it could be your highest level.

Arcane bond gives the wizard (not the item) the ability to cast an extra spell once per day. That spell is neither silent nor stilled.

Spoiler

Show

A bonded object can be used once per day to cast any one spell that the wizard has in his spellbook and is capable of casting, even if the spell is not prepared. This spell is treated like any other spell cast by the wizard, including casting time, duration, and other effects dependent on the wizard's level. This spell cannot be modified by metamagic feats or other abilities.

[DeMouse]

The key to building a good blasty sorceror is to pick your favorite spell and build around it.

Draconic bloodline of your preferred spell's type is highly reccomended for the extra +1 damage per dice as is the spell perfection feat.

Another option is to choose one of the various elemental bloodlines for the better powers and bonus spells even though the +1DC isn't quite as good as the draconic arcana.

My personal favorite bloodline is stormborn just for the cool factor of the level 15 ability.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core...born-bloodline

If you really want to stay versitle in how you blast then the other option is to go orcish bloodline which gives +1 damage per dice to all spells and then use the human favored class bonus to diversify your blasting.

[13ones]

Well I liked the Serpentine Bloodline mostly for the Summon Monster VII spell, which would have let me summon up a t-rex. For the Marid I just found the ability to switch all spells and effects to cold really neat (meteor swarm or Black Tentacles with cold damage? Awesome). And the Chaos bloodline just sounded...really cool XD.

[13ones]

Tnhe longer I go without deciding the more options appear.

[navar100]

A bonded object can be used once per day to cast any one spell that the wizard has in his spellbook and is capable of casting, even if the spell is not prepared. This spell is treated like any other spell cast by the wizard, including casting time, duration, and other effects dependent on the wizard's level. This spell cannot be modified by metamagic feats or other abilities.

The bonded object is casting the spell, not the wizard.

[NNescio]

A sword can be used to whack people...

A spellbook can be used to prepare spells...

A scythe can be used to make trip attacks...

A bonded object can be used once per day to cast any one spell that the wizard has in his spellbook and is capable of casting, even if the spell is not prepared. This spell is treated like any other spell cast by the wizard, including casting time, duration, and other effects dependent on the wizard's level. This spell cannot be modified by metamagic feats or other abilities.

[navar100]

A bonded object can be used once per day to cast any one spell that the wizard has in his spellbook and is capable of casting, even if the spell is not prepared. This spell is treated like any other spell cast by the wizard, including casting time, duration, and other effects dependent on the wizard's level. This spell cannot be modified by metamagic feats or other abilities.[/SPOILER]

That means to account for how the spell effect is resolved, i.e. range, damage dice, overcome spell resistance, etc.

[xanmcdswan]

-Other then firearms, NO variant or additional rules from Advanced Players Guide, Ultimate Magic or Ultimate Combat are allowed. This includes but is not limited to:
- Hero Points
- Armour as Damage Reduction
- Traits

Does this mean no archetypes or alternate bloodlines from Ultimate Magic? If those aren't allowed, you could use the Orc Bloodline out of Orcs of Golarion (though I've seen it mostly on the SRD), which gives you plus 1 damage to each die in any damage spell. Really buffs up your damage. And while you are at it, if you should decide to play a Half-Orc, if you take the alternate Sorcerer class feature that gives you +1/2 fire spell damage per level, your fire spell damage is even crazier (fireball/burning hands become your go-to spells).

Furthermore, if the Ultimate Magic bloodlines/archetypes are allowed, for even more min/max you could take the Crossblooded Archetype and use the Primal Bloodline as your second bloodline (giving you a further plus 1 damage to each die in any fire spell). While this does limit your spells known, you certainly are a blasty cannon. At 8th level a fireball does 8d6 + 4 (Class) + 8 (Primal) +8 (Orc). Pretty powerful stuff I think.

[Zolthux]

You can try elemental bloodline modified to Primal from Ultimate magic, or just draconic.

either way, you have a +1 to each die you roll as long as it matches your energy type.

Focus on high dex and cha for sorcerer, and spam them ray spells (Scorching Ray for the most part), add some metamagic feats to it, and get spontaneous metafocus to not hamper your movement as you buff it.

Although if you plan on being level 10, you should probably stack up on spells like Enervation and get the Piercing Spell Feat (From UM i think) to bypass pesky DR. As fun as blowing stuff is, that level drain is made useful

[13ones]

Thanks everyone, for all this help.

Now one of the GMs let slip today that there will be dragon hunting in the next round. What should I expect?

[subject42]

Now one of the GMs let slip today that there will be dragon hunting in the next round. What should I expect?

Dealing with a dragon depends largely on how smart/evil your DM is.

A dragon is a creature that is bigger, tougher, stronger, smarter, and more experienced than basically any humanoid creature. They can cast spells intrinsically and come equipped with armaments that make the party fighter want to sit in the corner and cry. On top of that, they can fly and freaking breathe fire.

General rules of dragon hunting:

1. Do your research beforehand. Ie: don't go fighting red dragons with flamethrowers.
2. Don't fight the dragon where it can fly unless you can also fly.
3. Don't clump up. If you clump up you'll just eat a breath weapon.
4. Try to avoid ending your turn standing in its reach. Dragon full attacks hurt.
5. Ignore everybody who immediately screams SHIVERING TOUCH without reading the rest of this thread. It's a 3.5 only spell.
6. Remember that Dragons are also sorcerers.
7. Load up on spells that ignore spell resistance.

[13ones]

So I've found out more about the Dragon. Apparently a mountain covered island is the setting and based on that people are guessing either Black, Red, White, Magma or Umbral. Then one of the GMs just chuckled and said "The difficulty curve starts at Red guys." Then he went on about how they did the finally of the last tourny with some sort of Rivener or Reaver Dragon of some sort.

[Zolthux]

Hmmm...since you're fighting a dragon, you should get resist energy, Displacement/mirror Image, maybe Stoneskin...

The way I see it, if you want the fight the dragon, you need to be able to get around their energy resistance and high AC. So you're probably looking at ranged touch spells of a certain energy type. If you think it's going to be a fire dragon, you might wanna consider something in the lines of resist energy, Any damage-dealing spells, such as scorching Ray, and the elemental spell (Ice) feat?