Sorcerer - Bloodlines as Feats

[Epic Meepo]

I made the mistake of derailing my last thread by including a personal anecdote, so I'm going to try this one more time:

I think it would allow more interesting choices for players if the sorcerer's bloodline powers were each converted into a feat that anyone could take, and the sorcerer was given bonus bloodline feats.

Bloodline feats would be the defining feature of the sorcerer class in the same way combat feats are the defining feature of the fighter class; though anyone can take them, the sorcerer gets so many more than anyone else as bonus feats. (Also, any given bloodline feat could be written in such a way that only a sorcerer gains its full benefits.)

Note that this preserves the sorcerer in the Beta rules, since the bonus bloodline feats a sorcerer selects would exactly recreate the bloodline powers of the Beta sorcerer. (The bonus spells granted by a sorcerer's choice of bloodline would remain a feature of the sorcerer class.)

Optionally, the sorcerer might also be allowed to select metamagic feats as bonus feats, if we want to allow a metamagic-focused sorcerer build in addition to a bloodline-focused sorcerer build.

Thoughts?

[seekerofshadowlight]

I would say no to this. The bloodline powers are a nice way to make the sorcerer more then just a cheap wizard knock off. Adding feats anyone can take is a bad ideal if you ask me.

[Tom Cattery]

seekerofshadowlight wrote:

I would say no to this. The bloodline powers are a nice way to make the sorcerer more then just a cheap wizard knock off. Adding feats anyone can take is a bad ideal if you ask me.

Agreed. In 3.0/3.5 Sorcerers were pretty much the dead-zone of abilities. All they ever got at levels above 1st were spells. There was little point of taking a Sorcerer very high unless you REALLY wanted a nice familiar. And frankly, if that's all you wanted, you could do the same thing better with Wizard. The bloodlines should remain class features.

[Epic Meepo]

Tom Cattery wrote:

The bloodlines should remain class features.

I partially agree. Bloodlines should, to an extent, be sorcerer class features. The bonus spells for bloodlines should definitely be a sorcerer class ability. And I'll even grant you that the at-will/always-on 1st-level bloodline power could be left as a sorcerer class ability.

But, assuming sorcerers get bonus feats to compensate, I don't see what harm converting four bloodline powers per bloodline (levels 3rd, 9th, 15th, and 20th) into feats would cause. Especially if the 20th level feat only provides its full benefits to a 20th-level sorcerer.

And note that bloodline feats could make each bloodline more versatile. Instead of all celestial sorcerers getting wings at 9th level, for example, there might be two or three 9th-level celestial bloodline feats which a celestial sorcerer could select as a bonus feat.

Plus, future supplements could add new bloodline feats to existing bloodlines. You could, for example, add feats for abyssal bloodlines tracing their ancestry to a specific demon prince. And since they are new feats instead of an entirely new bloodline, sorcerers who have already selected the abyssal bloodline could use them, whereas sorcerers with the abyssal bloodline cannot make use of any new bloodlines printed in future supplements. The concept of bloodline feats is more conducive to incorporating future material in mid-campaign than hard-wired bloodline powers.