tortiekat's page

OK, this is my first venture into on-board optimization...so please let me know if I've gone really wrong :-)

I like sorcerers; my favorite PC is a pyromaniac con artist who blasts what she can't fool. But blasting is hard work--even with a four feat investment (Greater Elemental and Spell Focus) plus the cheese of an Ifrit fire elementalist, it's hard to keep DCs scaling when the average good save of critters is their CR.

So I looked into ranged touch, inspired by posters here who sing the praise of Scorching Ray. This is my attempt to squeeze as much as possible out of a single 1st level spell, freeing up spell slots for utility/buff/save or suck spells while keeping utility through the high levels.

Some remarks:

Bloodline: Elementalist or Genie, any but Air/Djinni. Being able to change energy type is key to increasing flexibility.

Goals: Use a single spell as your offensive centerpiece, so that you can conserve spell slots for other uses. Be able to do damage with any spell level you can cast. Be able to spam your main damage dealer. Have as few "dead" feats as possible.

Race: You're pretty much locked into Human, as the initial load out is feat intensive.

The Build

1st Level:

Trait: Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp)
Feat: Reach Spell
Feat: Spontaneous Metafocus (Shocking Grasp)

At first level, you've basically defined your character concept--you'll do energy damage (electricity or your chosen energy type) out to close range with no cost in spell levels or extra casting time.

Shocking Grasp is the key here, because against the majority of targets you'll face, you get +3 to hit. This makes up for the lack of room for any ranged combat feats.

3rd Level:

Feat: Spell Focus (Evocation)

Not useful for your centerpiece spell, but fills a prerequisite. If you get Burning Hands as your bloodline spell, this at least helps.

5th Level:

Feat: Intensify Spell

Also not immediately useful, but you'll need it to make the build relevant going forward.

7th Level:

Feat: Spell Specialization (Shocking Grasp)
Bloodline Feat

Although it's a bit late, you do pick up the extra damage--a 9d6 ranged touch 2nd level spell (you can move the range up to Medium by making it a 3rd level spell.) This narrowly outpoints Scorching Ray at this level, although the multitarget and ray features of that spell make it an excellent secondary choice. For some bloodlines, you'll have Scorching Ray as well.

The best bloodline feat to take is a metamagic feat if available; I like the Efreeti bloodline, so Empower Spell slots here.

9th, 11th, 13th level: You'll probably want to pick up either Quicken Spell, Maximize Spell, or both during these levels. You have some flexibility here to grab other useful feats.

The Efreeti bloodline picks up Fireball at 7th level; you'll want it no matter what as it will be the key to carrying you forward in the higher levels.

15th Level:

Feat: Spell Perfection (Shocking Grasp or Fireball)

Either is a good choice, although you're likely to do more consistent damage with Shocking Grasp (Quickened Maximized Intensified Reach Shocking Grasp, 60 hp on average as a 5th level spell followed by Maximized Empowered Intensified Reach Shocking grasp, 77.5 hp on average as a 4th level spell; higher slots for both can increase the range.)

Notes:

Dex is key here. You may end up taking your ability increases in Dex, as you only need Charisma to give you extra spells.

You can tinker with the feat order somewhat--if you don't want Reach right away, you can go straight to Spell Specialization at 1st level; if you don't mind the full round cast, you can hold off (or ignore) Spontaneous Metafocus. Myself, I like to be able to move and cast, so that's why I went with the feats like this.

Spell Specialization is nice, but not crucial to the build, so you can ignore that chain in favor of other feats.

One point is that this is definitely a build that needs decent initiative. If it fits your concept, grab an initiative increasing trait at first level. One interesting idea is to delay the Spontaneous Metafocus and take Noble Scion of War at first level (the only level you can take it, as a matter of fact.) This makes your initiative Charisma based, which is nice enough, but gets sweeter when you can buy a Circlet of Persuasion; near as I can tell, it should stack with your initiative, putting you in double digits by 5th level.

The build works well with metamagic rods; it's cost-effective, since you can get away with the lesser rods. An Elemental Spell rod here is useful to add an energy type to your repertoire; Quicken or Maximize rods can remove the need to take one of those as a feat. (You've already picked up three metamagic feats, so you satisfy the prerequisites for Spell Perfection.)

And you'll always have an attack spell, even if you're down to first level spells :-)

When I started my current campaign, one of my requirements for my players was to give me a short statement of what their character's alignment was, and how they interpreted that alignment. Because the way alignment is set up in PF (and its antecedents), pretty much any act can be justified as fitting into a stated alignment. (There was a famous 3rd ed homebrew system that made this argument convincingly, but I can't remember the name and my google-fu is weak tonight.)

Part of the problem is that alignment tries to enforce objective standards on some things that are...well, traditionally subjective, or sometimes subjective, or have been subjectively viewed one way at one point in history and another at a different point.

Case in point, Captain Jack Aubrey in the O'Brian novels. There's no question that he's good, and probably Lawful Good (although I'm more than willing to allow for Neutral or Chaotic. See how hard this is?) Yet, as much as he abhors flogging, he sometimes orders it. In the eyes of his contemporaries, this isn't seen as harsh or evil; if anything, he is considered absurdly lenient on the subject. But by modern standards, he is committing a cruel act and engaging in forbidden methods of discipline.

Or again. One of the few good things about the graphic violence in George R. R. Martin's books is that it brings home quite convincingly just how filled with graphic violence justice in the Middle Ages was. For example, Stannis routinely castrates any soldier who commits rape under his command. This is looked on as somewhat harsh, but neither unusual or evil by the other characters. (I'm not saying he's good; Stannis pretty much is the textbook case of Lawful Neutral walking the tightrope to Lawful Evil.)

I've played a character who was Chaotic Neutral: Chaotic because she absolutely hated anyone trying to impose their will on her (and authority in general, on principle), and Neutral because she still considered the effects her actions would have on others. (It didn't mean she'd do the right thing, just that she was aware of what the right thing was.) Later iterations of that character have become Chaotic Evil as her lust for power have overridden any earlier restraints.

But there are other ways of being Chaotic Neutral--the happy go-lucky character who does whatever whim strikes him at the moment, the committed anarchist who doesn't care what system he's wrecking, just as long as it goes down (you can make a case for Alan Moore's V as Chaotic Neutral, although myself I'd peg him as closer to CE). I'm currently playing a paladin who keeps himself as close to CG as possible--he doesn't care about what the LAW says, he cares about JUSTICE, and taking care of the powerless and downtrodden. On the other hand, he doesn't lie, he's everyone's friend, and he only uses violence when diplomacy fails.

We should take into account that the punishment these guys might have expected to receive would have been...mutilation and execution, and probably in that order. (In which case, the OP did them a mercy!) It depends on the society involved. (And in re the idea of going up the chain of command...leave us not to forget that the whole point of feudalism is to *decentralize* power; I'm not saying justice couldn't be had, just that it would have been uncertain.)

So is she Lawful Good? The only answer I can give is...I don't know. It depends on what kind of a character she plays. Is she the holy avenger, righting wrongs and bringing justice when everything else fails? Then maybe. Is she the "follow your vows, obey your superiors" kind of Lawful Good? Maybe not. And I should note, a lot of people seem to only view this from the angle of what happened to the guards. Let us not forget what they did to the REAL victim here. Let us not forget that she never got justice, and apparently lived in a place where no one like her could hope to receive justice.

Really, this is between the player and the GM. She should try to come up with some kind of statement of her alignment, and let the GM adjudicate it. Maybe she's playing a different alignment; I can see a good case for LG, but personally I think she's on the outer bounds of that alignment. There's a lot to be said for her PC even being evil. But I don't think we can make a categorical statement about it without having some better idea of what the GM expects, what she expects, and what is typical of the game world.