Dubious By Name's page

For a magical blaster, I recommend this:

Human Wizard (Evocation [Admixture]) with a single level in Tattooed Crossblooded Sorcerer [Draconic [White]/Orc]

Level 1 feats are:
Spell Focus ([Evocation]—Replacing Scribe Scroll)
Verisian Tattoo ([Evocation] — Tattooed Sorcerer Feat)
Arcane Bond (Wizard starting Feat and Tattooed Sorcerer ability, but they stack)
Spell Specialization ([Burning Hands]—Level 1 Feat)
Alertness (Familiar)

I went with a human for an extra feat and took Irrisian Ice Mage so my damage would be a D4+2 or a D6+2 higher for appropriate spells.

At level 1 with Burning Hands you do 4D4+9 damage, and your damage only becomes better, especially if you start working with Intensify Spell and the Traits Magical Lineage and Spellhunter.

Although you lose a level of spell progression, at character level 6, you'll get access to Fireballs that will be doing 8D6+20 (you've changed Fireball to your Spell Specialization spell at this point). And more if you take Feats like Irrisian Ice Mage and Bloat Mage.

So it +2 damage per damage dice... for being 1 level behind in spell casting as a wizard. In the best case it +20 or +10 if they save. I have hard time buy that for beeing a level behind the spell curve.

"So at level 7, Burning Hands would do 10D4+23 damage (for the human build) or 10D4+20 (for the gnome build) as a 1st level spell"

I think your math is wrong at level 7 you will be a level 6 wizard l Sorcerer. So your caster level is 6 as wizard and 1 as sorcerer with +1 caster level with evocation spell. So 7 wizard and 2 socerer so if you cast Burning hands it 7d4+14 as wizard or 2d4+4 as a sorcerer. With another +3 to damage form wizards Intense Spells abitly. It would not do that damage till level 10... which it would do 10d4+20+5 or 10d4+25 looking at now for a while it max damage is 65 aveger is 45 min is 35 and save for half is 32 , 22, 17....I buy paerls of pwer 1 till can not findthem any more.

Err, sorry. Yes, I forgot to calculate the lost level of spell progression for the dip.

However, the build does gain +3 casting levels with ice Evocation spells. Doesn't that influence Intensify Spell? So at level 6/1, Burning Hands would do 9D4+21 cold damage?

Im missing something. Where is the +2 damage/ dice coming from?

The abilities of certain Sorcerer Bloodlines offer +1 damage per damage dice rolled for particular elemental damage. The Orc Bloodline, however, adds +1 damage per damage dice to ANY damage type.

Why would you ever Magical Lineage a terrible spell like Burning Hands? You want to put that on whatever spell you intend to use most over the course of your entire career. Fireball is generally the go to blaster choice, for ezample.

The idea was to Intensify Burning Hands with Magical Lineage so it remains in the 1st level slot. So at level 7, Burning Hands would do 10D4+23 damage (for the human build) or 10D4+20 (for the gnome build) as a 1st level spell.

This would allow you to focus on control and buff spells for your higher level slots while still having a decent blast spell. Even if the DC isn't very high, the half damage is still pretty good, especially for a 1st level spell. Also, Reflex save tends to be the lowest NPC monster save.

At least, that is the idea.

Dubious By Name wrote:

I am emphatically aware of the potency of a control build vs a one-trick-pony build like these; however, I am still curious.

Yeah...thing is, I don't even agree with that line of thinking. Control spells are already really good. They don't need much (any?) help. Grab persistent spell (or a rod) and call it a day. Its not like building to blast well stops you from being able to use BFC, summoning, buffs, or SoS spells.

Summoning is a bit of an exception, since it benefits so much from feat investment, but if you don't plan to summon a lot, you have A LOT to gain by focusing your build on beefing up a direct damage option. Even if you summon, you can fit enough in to accommodate both modes. And vanilla summons are still quite useful, even if just situationally so.

Being able to blast AND control >>> only being able to control

Regardless, the level dip into cross-blooded/tattooed sorcerer is key. If you go Evocation (admixture), just double dip your damage die bonus to do absurd damage (warning: may break your game and overshadow your party. I had to tone that build down in my home game to avoid a rocket tag match. YMMV, but it is serious, one-shot level damage on many CR appropriate enemies, before you even start empowering/maximizing anything. If you're playing a module, that's especially relevant since you just create more work for the DM to create challenges for you). If you can make it work in a balanced way though...+2 damage per die is so insanely powerful that you just can't pass it up on a blaster build (who cares about damage).

For any other specialist choice (I'm playing as a conjuration/teleportation specialist), you might want to consider forgoing one of the bumps to damage for a normal (non-primal) elemental bloodline so you can still swap energy types. Pick 2 which are not often encountered as immunities/resistances on the same enemy and you're set (like fire and ice, or fire and electricity if you anticipate lots of devils)....

Excellent advice, Hunter, thank you. What are your thoughts on the Ice Mage feat and losing a level of progression from dipping into sorcerer? I wholeheartedly agree about using the Tattooed Sorcerer for the human cross-class build.

I am emphatically aware of the potency of a control build vs a one-trick-pony build like these; however, I am still curious.

Human Wizard (Evocation [Admixture]) with a single level in (Crossblooded Sorcerer [Draconic [White]/Orc])
Str 7 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 19 Wis 9 Cha 12

Feats at level 1: Irrisen Ice Mage (Human bonus feat), Spell Focus ([Evocation]—Replacing Scribe Scroll), Verisian Tattoo ([Evocation] — Level 1 Feat), Eschew Materials (Sorcerer starting Feat), Arcane Bond (Wizard starting Feat)
Level 2:
Level 3: Bloat Mage (Level 3 Feat)
Level 4: Point to Intelligence
Level 5: Intensify Spell, Rime Spell (Wizard bonus Feat)

Traits: Magical Lineage (Burning Hands) and Wayang Spellhunter (Scorching Ray)

OR

Pyromaniac Gnome Crossblooded (Draconic [Red]/Orc) Tattooed Sorcerer.
Str 5 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 12 Cha 19

Feats at level 1: Verisian Tattoo ([Evocation] — Tattooed Sorcerer bonus Feat), Arcane Bond ([Familiar]—Tattooed Sorcerer starting Feat) Spell Focus ([Evocation]—Level 1 Feat)
Level 2:
Level 3: Intensify Spell, Improved Initiative (Sorcerer bonus Feat)
Level 4: Point to Charisma
Level 5: Bloat Mage (Level 3 Feat)

Traits: Magical Lineage (Burning Hands) and Wayang Spellhunter (Scorching Ray)