Blood Havoc and "Sorcerer Spells"

[Desril]

OK, I almost never post to this particular board, so I'm a little fuzzy on the rules here. I'm assuming that since it's under the OGL I can copy/paste the rules text but if I'm mistaken someone let me know and I'll edit them out.

Alright, so, I'm aware that the general consensus seems to be that casting a "sorcerer spell" means a spell from a sorcerer spell slot, and therefor Blood Havoc and the other bloodline mutations from the Magic Tactics Toolbox wouldn't work with the popular sorc 1/wiz x builds (which, as a note, I despise, but they serve as a good example).

For reference, Blood Havoc:

Spoiler:

Blood Havoc: Whenever you cast a bloodrager or sorcerer
spell that deals damage, add 1 point of damage per die rolled. This benefit applies only to damaging spells that belong to schools you have selected with Spell Focus or that are bloodline spells for your bloodline. This ability replaces the sorcerer’s 1st-level bloodline power or the bloodrager’s 4th-level bloodline power.

However, I've found something that contests that ruling.

The Exploiter Wizard:

Spoiler:

Arcane Reservoir (Su): At 1st level, the exploiter wizard gains the arcanist’s arcane reservoir class feature. The exploiter wizard uses his wizard level as his arcanist level for determining how many arcane reservoir points he gains at each level. This ability replaces arcane bond.

Arcanist's Arcane Reservoir:

Spoiler:

Arcane Reservoir (Su): An arcanist has an innate pool of magical energy that she can draw upon to fuel her arcanist exploits and enhance her spells. The arcanist’s arcane reservoir can hold a maximum amount of magical energy equal to 3 + the arcanist’s level. Each day, when preparing spells, the arcanist’s arcane reservoir fills with raw magical energy, gaining a number of points equal to 3 + 1/2 her arcanist level. Any points she had from the previous day are lost. She can also regain these points through the consume spells class feature and some arcanist exploits. The arcane reservoir can never hold more points than the maximum amount noted above; points gained in excess of this total are lost.

Points from the arcanist reservoir are used to fuel many of the arcanist’s powers. In addition, the arcanist can expend 1 point from her arcane reservoir as a free action whenever she casts an arcanist spell. If she does, she can choose to increase the caster level by 1 or increase the spell’s DC by 1. She can expend no more than 1 point from her reservoir on a given spell in this way.

Looking at those abilities, it seems obvious to me that the Exploiter Wizard can use the default ability of the Arcane Reservoir to boost her CL or DC by +1 by spending a point of Arcane Reservoir despite not being an Arcanist even though it says "arcanist spell," otherwise the ability is practically worthless.

So by the same logic, a multiclassed, or in my case variant multiclassed, sorcerer should also be able to apply the benefits of blood havoc, which has identical wording, to any sorc/wiz spell they cast regardless of what spell slot is being used, should they not?

Or is the Exploiter Wizard significantly weaker than believed and loses access to one of the best benefits of Arcane Reservoir?

[QuidEst]

If exploiter wizard isn't weaker, then it's only because it seems natural that an archetype specifically granting you an ability would treat references to the parent class as references to the new class. That doesn't carry over to every situation where you have something referencing a certain class. (After all, it talks about the arcanist regaining points daily, and if you took the very hard line of arcanist = wizard only for points gained at each level, then the wizard would never be able to recover points except upon leveling.)

More to the point, though, you can't take the bloodline mutation through VMC or an archetype of another class. "Whenever a bloodrager or a sorcerer gains a new bloodline power, she can swap her bloodline power for a bloodline mutation whose prerequisites she meets." Other classes aren't bloodragers or sorcerers. As for multiclassing, of course it doesn't count wizard spells as sorcerer spells. Otherwise you could say that damage equal to your Swashbuckler level counts your Paladin levels as well.

EDIT: Oh hey, Des!

[Desril]

Ah, but having the VMC technically makes you that class as far as qualification and the like, does it not? A VMC Sorcerer would be able to craft a Robe of Arcane Heritage without increasing the DC, would they not?

And that being the case, the Sorc VMC grants the Bloodline Powers (and a bloodline feat for that matter) so it should qualify for the mutations just fine as it's a "sorcerer" getting bloodline powers, albeit at a delayed level.

I do think the whole thing is badly worded, but with the precedent set by the Exploiter (and I'm sure there are other examples that I'm less familiar with) I just want to get more opinions and look for an official ruling/clarification. (I'm not worried about it for the current game I'm intending to use this for, not in PFS thankfully so the GM can rule how they want, but I don't like ambiguities like this so I'd rather clear it up if at all possible)

Hey Quid.

[Chess Pwn]

sorcerer spells are spells using sorcerer spell slots.

[swoosh]

I don't see how this comparison suggests anything of the sort.

Regardless of whether or not a class archetype that copies another class' ability is intended to replace all instance of the original class with the new class has... literally no bearing whatsoever on whether or not a multiclassed sorcerer casting a cleric spell somehow counts that as a sorcerer spell.

There is no 'by the same logic' because they're fundamentally and entirely different concepts regardless of how they may or may not work.

Like there's literally no connection whatsoever here.

If you compared and contrasted Blood Arcanist with Exploiter Wizard to ask this same question it might be prudent, because those would be the same circumstances, but in this case there's literally nthing to suggest that they should necessarily behave like each other.

[QuidEst]

No, VMC doesn't count as having levels in that class or being that class. If you're a VMC sorc, you don't even benefit from Robes of Arcane Heritage, since they only work on sorcs. You have a bloodline, and only count as having sorcerer levels for determining its effects.

Since it's not the case, you can't take bloodline mutations.

There's no precedent. Needing to make one interpretation to get an archetype's ability to work properly only means that archetypes that grab features from other classes might need to make allowances on references to the parent class, and usually only in poorly worded stuff. An exploiter wizard can't take arcanist-only abilities.