Build Idea- Frost blaster / control

20 point build.

So far I was thinking of using an 11 Cha crossblooded elemental(water)/orc sorcerer for extra damage and getting the cold descriptor on all my damage, then taking wizard for all levels after that (or possibly druid?) For a decent amount of skills. I.e- either from the high Int the wizard would have or the higher amount (and better selection) of skills the druid would have. For traits I'd take either magical knack or magical lineage (with magic missile as the spell choice as a wizard) and possibly wayang spellhunter. For feats the first two would be Irrisen Icemage and Rime spell (not necessarily in that order). Also, if I go with wizard I would take one of the +4 init familiars so I hopefully won't be blasting with my buddies in the way. I'm looking for advice for race (all pf is legal), stat blocks and/or alternate ideas on how to make an effective build. Also, if you just want to say "blasting sucks" move to the next thread. Constructive ideas only please :)

Blasting sucks. Sorry, couldn't resist, and a few years ago, it really was true.

Fortunately, metamagic changed that, and Rime spell is a great example of how it did. The real lovely thing about Rime spell is you can affect multiple creatures with a single spell, EVEN IF THEY SAVE. Lovely.

As for suggestions:

1) Don't stop at Rime spell. It's going to be great at low levels, but by mid level, metamagic like Daze spell becomes game-changing. Daze makes a particularly nice "lesser" metamagic rod, since then you can throw daze-fireballs with 3rd level slots.

2) On the same line of thinking, consider your magical lineage trait carefully. Magic Missile + Rime spell is going to be wonderful at lower levels, but if you chose something like Fireball (cold damage), you could cast it once with Rime to affect more targets than magic missile ever would (even if they make their saves), and then a followup Daze fireball would really clean house (everyone would be -2 to saving throw, and failed save would mean dazed for 3 rounds - game over.) Finally, because the damage dice are higher, you have a better chance at punching through cold resistance to do that all important 1 point of damage that makes the metamagic effects work.

Thanks Treant! Awesome for you to respond since I love your guides and in this case I was going against your wizard guide advice, but I was thinking the same thing. I could control the board and deal damage. I just may use fireball with lineage. It would lock up a lot of targets. Also, any ideas on race? I was thinking human for the extra feat, but they bore me since I play one in real life :)

Human is of course always a good choice.

If you want to go for something a bit more interesting, what about a Tiefling? Stat bonuses are appropriate and you could say he/she is descended from some form of ice/frost demon.

Elves of course are well suited to arcane casting, if you find them less boring than humans. (Can't say I do)

Tiefling would be good. I was also thinking maybe middle-aged aasimar with one of the alternate heritages and the alt. Racial trait that let's you cast lesser age resistance for pure min/max cheese.

The aasimar idea is cute. While I enjoy a powerful character, I would argue that trying something a little bit outside of the box might be nice. Optimization doesn't mean being the best, it just means being as good as you can be with what you have.

To this end I would suggest a druid or oracle (winter revelation).

Druids come with the spells but oracles have plenty of abilities and a few spells that fit the theme. Also, having fun is cool. I haven't looked into it but if wildshape and elemental form work simultaneously, it may be possible to turn into an 'ice bear' or whatever. But I bet interesting combinations such as that do not work nor are necessary, but interesting idea exploration is what this should be all about, I think.

The winter witch and prestige class seem very thematic and provide several cold spells between the PRC and winter patron.

I always assumed that if I ever made a Rime spell caster that I would forego Sorceror and ignore damage dealing and abuse the constant horde of status effects that could be applied. Burning disarm as a cold spell that can disarm, entangle and slow and with bouncing spell hits another weapon, if the first makes the save.

The three classes above seem somewhat more thematic, to me, than going with a wizard. However, wizards have a very broad spell list.

Very true. I definitely am thinking about the witch especially. I just need to go over their spell list more throughly as I have never played one and I think druid could also be fairly awesome.

Witches and Druids are both very powerful, certainly just as powerful as a Wizard.

You will find with either option, your character will be less focused on spellcasting, and more focused on spell-like abilities.

Druids will be doing a lot of Wildshape and gaining the help of an animal companion, which at lower levels especially is quite effective. Spontaneous summoning is quite handy as well.

The Witch will be using a lot of hexes, especially evil eye, misfortune and cackle. (Which in succession are particularly nasty).

Neither blasts particularly well, especially the Witch, who tends to get blasty spells at higher levels than other classes. The Druid makes a better blaster, but not a particularly good "cold spell" blaster.

Looks like I should stick with wizard then. Most likely specialize in evocation or is there another option I should consider?

evocation is nice, especially if you go admixture subschool. Another idea might be to go conjuration specialist with teleportation subschool. If you take the latter option, along with all of the confounding options mentioned above, you are locking down enemies and doing some damage, but are hard to lock down yourself. I actually had a concept for that myself, except as a wayang(another nice race for a wizard, if a little exotic), who focused on hiding and controlling the fight from the shadows.

Looks like I should stick with wizard then. Most likely specialize in evocation or is there another option I should consider?

Admixture subschool is going to end up being a bit redundant since you can already get the cold descriptor onto your spells.

Teleportation subschool is a good choice, and it's easy to find 1 conjuration spell per level you'll want on your memorization list.

Divination is actually a decent choice too, despite the fact that it's sometimes hard to find a good divination spell for each level. Scaling initiative bonuses are great for wizards.

Sorry for intrusion, but there are a couple of things I don't get in this thread:
1) how can you get rimed magic missile work? And related:
2) how do you get cold descriptor to spells? Iirc elemental substitution don't change the descriptor and don't work on things like magic missile.