Idea for sorcerers: What to do with that useless lvl 1 Elemental / burning / whatever ray ability

[Wildfire Heart]

Okay, so hear me out on this one: we all know that the ray 1st lvl abilities are basically useless. So what I propose is this: as either a second or third level spell that only sorcerers with the 1st level bloodline ability (ray) can take, is the spell

Elemental Barrage:
As a full round action, All of your uses of elemental ray for that day are fired. The range, etc for the spell is as normal, but if you target multiple enemies, they all must be within 30 feet of each other. Your bonus to damage due to level is halved.

So if you are a level four sorcerer taking this spell (assuming no CL+ or damage boost perks), you get 1D6 +1 per ray, with the option of splitting it over many enemies. Assuming that you have 20 CHA, that's a total of 8D6+8 damage, not bad at all for a 2nd level spell.

(the half level bonus and the full round action thing are optional, I just thought I'd make it less powerful. The damage otherwise would be 8D6+16 for a standard action in this case. Downside is, you can only use it once per day.

Either way, I'd like to hear what you guys think about this, because let's face it, as a sorcerer with those ray powers, you'd love to trade that first level ability in for just about anything else.

[Tamec]

I would have to disagree on a couple of points.

1. Wrong Forum - You will want to post this in another forum, I don't know which but I do know this is not a pfs specific issue.

2. Uselessness - I don't find it useless. It does more damage then Ray of Frost but less then scorching ray. It is a nice middle and nice to have blasts when out of magic missiles at level 1 and don't have to rely on only ray of frosts.

Finally it is probably not going to change any time soon as this has been core for years.

[Mystic Lemur]

Useless? I usually use those first at low level. Save my spells for real challenges. At high level, it's for backup. Of course, with the 15 minute adventuring day, it's rare to run out of spell slots.

[Andreas Forster]

I have to agree those are not useless at all.
In a home game, I once had a new player playing a sorcerer, and because she was new to the game we didn't bother going over that large (and for a new player, quite intimidating) amount of available spells, so she mainly used her acidic ray ability, which went totally fine and led to a fun experience for everyone.

Sure, at high levels, a sorcerer will use the ray less often, because by then there are more powerful abilities to use, but at low levels, the rays are a valuable addition to the small amount of spells a sorcerer can cast then.

[Pupsocket]

Nice idea.

It seems decently balanced; better than Scorching Ray but only 1/day, which is a big drawback for a Sorcerer spells. But skip the halving of the damage bonus, that's just needlessly fiddly.

[Sphynx]

I also disagree with the "useless" analysis. These Sorcerers don't need to cast offensive spells, they can focus more easily on battlefield control. And the ability to pour out 7d6+7 or 8d6+8 damage at 1st level in a single action seems a might bit too powerful... Maybe cap it at a number of rays equal to their level...?

[Cyrad]

I'd think a more balanced approach would simply allow you to fire two at 6th level, fire three at 11th level, and fire four at 16th level. Maybe Rapid Shot would let you fire an extra.

While I do agree the rays aren't as good as the other options, the whole point of those abilities is that they give you something to do when you don't want to use up spell slots.

[DeathMvp]

First off in my current game I made a small change to this and made it a attack option instead of a standered action so when you get +6/+1 you can use 2 as if it was a wepon. The second thing is get the person a Soc robe. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/r-z/robe- sorcerer-s It will add a nice little more punch to your spells by buring this ability.

[DeathMvp]

If anything I was also think about making a feat for a soc that lets them also use it like the robe does.