Character concept: an NPC sorceror who's a chaotic evil fire monkey. He's an enforcer for the local Thieves Guild -- if merchants don't pay their protection money, their good go up in flames, then their shops and homes. Despite his alignment, "Blister" is actually a pretty loyal soldier of the Guild -- he's got a steady job with good money where he gets to threaten people and occasionally burn something to the ground. He's content enough.
Human, level five. I'm looking for someone who can be a nasty surprise for the PCs, who may be expecting low-level thugs and not an arcane caster. I'm looking for (1) lots of burn damage, and (2) survivability -- I'd like him to have at least the possibility of escaping to fight another day. The PCs are 3rd level; I can give Blister some mooks if need be.
For survivability, Vanis will be a great spell to know. If Blister is a race with a positive Con modifier, it's actually easy to have high HP arcane casters.
Lv1 Gome, 15 point buy, can have a 14 in Dex, Con, and Cha(14, 16, 16 respectively), Toughness, +1 hp from favored class and a Toad familiar if they're Arcane Bloodline. That's 14 hit points. :)
Flaming Speher is a good fire spell for setting things on Fire, and a bit of oil before using a scroll of fire ball can really get the burning down going.
Mirror image is going to give him the best survivability at this level. Vanish is good, but he needs to be able to survive/avoid a hit. Also don’t discount summon monster II. It can summon up a small fire elemental which can actually cause a lot of damage. This can also be used as a distraction so he can get away.
Blister is an angry young man thrown out of his family home at the tender age of 14. He was recruited by the local thieves who sensed the potential within him. They have fostered and encouraged his anger which now grows to a prodigious degree. He has a peculiar fascination with fire and a slight greenish tint to his skin.
Hadrak is running with a moderately respectable AC20 after he casts Shield. Combined with Mirror Image he is pretty tanky in physical combat. His saves are fairly weak but he hasn't yet spent any of his cash. Give him some mooks to pop Bulls Strength and Touch of Rage on. He could also Bulls Str himself and take some opportunity attacks with his spear.
Assuming Heroic NPC wealth he has about 3500gp to spend on stuff. He is built using the elite NPC array.
Offensively he is casting intensified burning hands for 8d4+8, DC16 for half. Give him some scrolls of eagle's splendour for +2DC. At range he has a staggering snowball dealing 5d6+5 or burning arc for 6d6+6/3d6+3/1d6+1. While he cannot change energy types you might want to give him a fire version of snowball or leave it in as a surprise if the group start dropping energy resist fire.
Vanish is decent if he needs to escape. Make sure to use him at night to take advantage of his darkvision.
You could get more damage by going crossblooded but you would lose far more than the extra few points of damage you gain going that route.
You could also give him the tattooed Sorcerer archetype. He would lose Eschew Materials and the useless Touch of Rage and gain a familiar and Alertness. I would probably take the dinosaur for +4 initiative and just leave it as a tattoo.
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Blister
Human (Varisian) sorcerer 5
CE Medium humanoid (human, orc)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +5
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Defense
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AC 16, touch 11, flat-footed 15 (+4 mage armor, +1 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 35 (5d6+13)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +4; +4 vs. fear
Weaknesses light sensitivity
Mirror image is going to give him the best survivability at this level. Vanish is good, but he needs to be able to survive/avoid a hit. Also don’t discount summon monster II. It can summon up a small fire elemental which can actually cause a lot of damage. This can also be used as a distraction so he can get away.
Summon Monster is an awkward choice for a sorcerer. The 1 round casting time means it is often just not worth the bother.
Mirror image is going to give him the best survivability at this level. Vanish is good, but he needs to be able to survive/avoid a hit. Also don’t discount summon monster II. It can summon up a small fire elemental which can actually cause a lot of damage. This can also be used as a distraction so he can get away.
Summon Monster is an awkward choice for a sorcerer. The 1 round casting time means it is often just not worth the bother.
Considering that the sorcerer will be 5th level it will last a decent amount of time. It is also a fire and forget spell which would make it great for this character. This would be a great spell for a distraction. Summon up a creature to attack random people to cause a distraction so that he can get in and do what he needs to. He can also use it to delay the party while he escapes. It can also be used as an intimidating tactic. If a local shop keeper is not paying protection money simply hide across the street and summon up some monster in his shop.
It’s also good for when he needs an alibi. Summon the creature and tell him to wait a round or two before attacking. In the meantime the character can be visibly doing something else. Arguing with the town guard over some minor matter would be a great alibi. Sergeant I was talking to you when the monster appeared, how could I have been the one responsible?
I would probably not use this for a PC, but this character is an NPC so they can be a little more focused.
Lv1 Gome, 15 point buy, can have a 14 in Dex, Con, and Cha(14, 16, 16 respectively), Toughness, +1 hp from favored class and a Toad familiar if they're Arcane Bloodline. That's 14 hit points. :)
Andreww, this is amazing stuff, and pretty much exactly what I wanted. Thank you. On the run with Christmas stuff right now, but will try to respond in more detail in a bit.
a moderately respectable AC20 after he casts Shield. Combined with Mirror Image he is pretty tanky in physical combat. His saves are fairly weak but he hasn't yet spent any of his cash. Give him some mooks to pop Bulls Strength and Touch of Rage on. He could also Bulls Str himself and take some opportunity attacks with his spear.
I think he'll be part of a team, so he may get some mileage out of Bulls Strength. Touch of Rage is, as you note, pretty worthless -- gosh, two whole rounds! But the rest of the orc bloodline stuff is quite respectable, so that's all right.
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Offensively he is casting intensified burning hands for 8d4+8, DC16 for half. Give him some scrolls of eagle's splendour for +2DC. At range he has a staggering snowball dealing 5d6+5 or burning arc for 6d6+6/3d6+3/1d6+1. While he cannot change energy types you might want to give him a fire version of snowball or leave it in as a surprise if the group start dropping energy resist fire.
Harder for 3rd level PCs to pull that off (though if they're paying attention, they should). 8d8+8 will reduce a third level martial to a hp or 2 and drop anyone else unless they save, so I have to be thoughtful about that... I see you're getting +2 dice for Spell Specialization and another +1 for the Varisian Tattoo. I might ditch the tattoo and get something else instead, then.
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Vanish is decent if he needs to escape. Make sure to use him at night to take advantage of his darkvision.
Meh, PF gives out darkvision to almost everyone. And if that's not available, arcane casters can spam Light or Dancing Lights. Honestly, it's enough to make you want to play Torchbearer sometimes.
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You could get more damage by going crossblooded but you would lose far more than the extra few points of damage you gain going that route.
Also, I personally happen to think crossblooded is cheese with extra cheese on top. (And it's not like anyone ever uses it for anything interesting. Nope, it's always "dip a level of crossdragonorc for blasting!" Bleah.)
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You could also give him the tattooed Sorcerer archetype. He would lose Eschew Materials and the useless Touch of Rage and gain a familiar and Alertness. I would probably take the dinosaur for +4 initiative and just leave it as a tattoo.
Worth considering. Maybe rebuild his feats? Honestly, 5d4+5 with Burning Hands is still enough to make the PCs pretty sorry if they don't make the save. Thinking about this.
This would be a great spell for a distraction. Summon up a creature to attack random people to cause a distraction so that he can get in and do what he needs to. He can also use it to delay the party while he escapes. It can also be used as an intimidating tactic. If a local shop keeper is not paying protection money simply hide across the street and summon up some monster in his shop.
Summoning a fire elemental is consistent with the character, and also the Summon Monster spells are great general-purpose utility spells. This gets overlooked a lot, because people just summon things to fight for them. But a creative player can get all sorts of uses out of this spell... flying creatures as scouts, a climbing creature to get a rope over a wall, a swimmer as an emergency flotation device, a dretch to clear a room, you name it. So, a totally reasonable choice for a second level spell.
The elemental and efreeti bloodlines both grant the ability to convert the energy of your spells to fire. This allows you too throw snowballs made of fire. Scorching Ray is a very strong level 2 spell, and flaming sphere can serve a battlefield control if you take the right bloodline to be immune to its fire damage and hang out either inside it preventing melee attacks or at least discouraging them.
