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I've toyed with redesigning the Sorcerer, with some of the updates seen from the Oracle. Here's a rough draft of the changes:
Remove Crossblooded, Wildblooded, and the Eldritch Heritage feat chain.
Change the sorcerer as follows:
No change to spell progression, cantrips, weapon and armor proficiency, and eschew materials.
Bloodlines change as follows:
Bloodline
A sorcerer must pick one bloodline upon taking her first level of sorcerer. Once made, this choice cannot be changed.
Filled with magical power that screams for release, sorcery is not so much a calling as a blessing—and a curse. Each bloodline includes a pedigree which grants the sorcerer an added bonus, but also a weakness inherent in the heritage.
Bloodline Spell
At 2nd level, and every two levels thereafter, a sorcerer learns an additional spell, derived from her bloodline. These spells are in addition to the number of spells given on Table: Sorcerer Spells Known. These spells cannot be exchanged for different spells at higher levels.
Bloodline Feat
At 7th level, and every six levels thereafter, a sorcerer receives one bonus feat, chosen from a list specific to each bloodline. The sorcerer must meet the prerequisites for these bonus feats. In addition to the list of feats specific to each bloodline, the sorcerer may also choose Extra Gift as her bonus feat, but may only choose a feat from her bloodline.
Gift
At 1st level, 3rd level, and every six levels thereafter (9th and 15th), a sorcerer taps into her bloodline and discovers a new power in her heritage. The sorcerer must select a gift from the list of gifts available to her bloodline. If a gift is chosen at a later level, the sorcerer gains all of the abilities and bonuses granted by that gift based on her current level. Unless otherwise noted, activating the power of a gift is a standard action.
Purity of Blood
At 20th level, a sorcerer becomes a paragon of her bloodline, granting her amazing powers and abilities. The nature of these bonuses depends upon the sorcerer’s bloodline.
Add the following feats:
Crossblooded
Multiple sources of magical power are evident in your life.
Prerequisite: Bloodline class feature.
Benefit: Choose a bloodline other than the one you currently possess. You gain the Pedigree (bonus and penalty) of the bloodline. When choosing a new gift, bloodline spell, or bloodline feat, you may choose one that you qualify for from either bloodline. You also have the choice to learn a lower-level bloodline spell in place of the higher-level bloodline spell you would gain. You do not receive the Purity of Body of the new bloodline. Furthermore, the conflicting urges created by the divergent nature of your dual heritage force you to constantly take some mental effort just to remain focused on your current situation and needs. This leaves you with less mental resolve to deal with external threats. You take a –2 penalty on Will saves.
Extra Gift
Your supernatural heritage manifests in more ways than ever thought possible.
Prerequisite: Gift class feature, Skill Focus* (see below).
Benefit: You gain one additional gift. You must meet all of the prerequisites for this gift, and it must be chosen from your bloodline. You may choose a gift from a different bloodline if you have the Skill Focus feat for that bloodline’s skill. Choosing a gift from a different bloodline with this feat has a power at your sorcerer level -2. If you select a gift from your bloodline, Skill Focus is not a prerequisite for this feat.
Special: You can gain Extra Gift multiple times.
The bloodlines, of course, have to change considerably. Here's the list I'm working with:
Cacogenic – The foul ichor of a number of possible fiends course through your body.
Chthonian – The stones of deep underground are your servants.
Diabolic – Whether through dalliance, trickery, or contract, devils have enriched your soul.
Distorted – A chaotic taint causes reality to warp around you in unexpected ways.
Dragonsoul – You can claim the ancestry of dragons in your lineage.
Eldritch – By experiment, history, or design, raw magical energy courses through your body.
Feral – The natural world flowers forth through your soul, and aids you in your quest.
Glamorous – Otherworldly beauty is your arms and armor; the hopes and fears of others, your game.
Graveborn – Creatures from beyond death have imprinted their mark on your heritage.
Holy – Celestial beings have taken an interest in you and your lineage, and guide your hand through life.
Marine – Water is your blood, ice makes your bones.
Night – In the places where light is not, your power abides.
Nimbus – The subtle forces of the wind and the clouds is yours to harness.
Perfected – Through proper regimens, the stars are aligned just for you.
Radiant – Your soul burns with the intensity of a thousand fires.
Here's an example complete bloodline:
Marine
All the waters of the sea course through your veins. Whether this arises from elemental influence, a marid ancestor, or the tampering from fell underwater civilizations, the ocean responds to you in a way mere mortals cannot comprehend.
Bloodline Skill: Swim.
Bonus Spells: obscuring mist (2nd), slipstream (4th), aqueous orb (6th), geyser (8th), control water (10th), freezing sphere (12th), vortex (14th), polar ray (16th), tsunami (18th).
Bloodline Feats: Athletic, Brew Potion, Defensive Combat Training, Dodge, Mobility, Silent Spell, Skill Focus (Swim), Toughness.
Pedigree: Whenever you cast a spell that deals energy damage, you can change that type of damage to cold. This also changes the spell’s descriptors to match this energy type. You may cast spells underwater without a concentration check. Whenever you cast spells of the water type, your effective caster level is increased by one. You naturally avoid fire, and gain vulnerability to fire.
Gifts: A sorcerer with the Marine bloodline may choose from any of the following gifts.
Aquatic Adaptation (Ex): You gain a swim speed of 30 feet. At 9th level, you gain the amphibious special quality and develop a fat layer that grants a +1 natural armor bonus. When underwater, you gain blindsense 30 feet. At 15th level, you gain a swim speed of 60 feet and blindsense of 60 feet in water.
Aquatic Wanderer (Su): You can move across snow and icy surfaces without penalty and without leaving tracks. At 5th level, you can walk across water as if it were a solid surface. At 9th level, you can climb icy surfaces as if using spider climb. At 13th level, you can climb waterfalls as if they were solid and you were using spider climb. At 17th level, you can glide through ice and snow with a burrow speed equal to half your normal speed. You do not leave a tunnel or a trace of your passage when using this gliding ability.
Blizzard (Sp): You can create a savage winter storm centered on you. This gift acts as control winds, but in addition the entire area (not including the “eye” at the center of the storm) is affected as a sleet storm and all in the area are exposed to extreme cold. You may use this ability once per day. You must be at least 15th level to choose this gift.
Cold Steel (Sp): You can touch a weapon or up to 50 pieces of ammunition as a standard action, giving it the frost property for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your sorcerer level (minimum 1). At 9th level, you can confer the icy burst property instead, but the duration of the power is halved. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.
Freezing Spells (Su): Whenever a creature fails a saving throw and takes cold damage from one of your spells, it is slowed (as the slow spell) for 1 round. Spells that do not allow a save do not slow creatures. At 11th level, the duration increases to 1d4 rounds.
Ice Armor (Su): You can conjure armor of ice that grants you a +4 armor bonus. At 7th level, and every four levels thereafter, this bonus increases by +2. At 13th level, this armor grants you DR 5/piercing. In cold conditions, the armor bonus (and DR bonus) increases by 2; in very hot conditions it decreases by 2. You can use this armor for 1 hour per day per oracle level. This duration does not need to be consecutive, but it must be spent in 1-hour increments.
Ice-Heart (Ex): You gain resist cold 5. At 5th level, your resistance increases to 10. At 11th level, your resistance increases to 20. At 17th level, you gain immunity to cold.
Water Blast (Sp): As a standard action, you can fire a bolt of water at a foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. The foe is knocked prone, and at your option may be pushed 5 feet directly away from you. A reflex save (DC 10 +1/2 your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier) negates this effect. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.
Water Form (Su): As a standard action, you can assume the form of a Medium water elemental, as elemental body II. At 11th level, you can assume the form of a Large water elemental, as elemental body III. At 13th level, you can assume the form of a Huge water elemental, as elemental body IV. You can use this ability once per day, but the duration is 1 hour/level. You must be at least 9th level to select this gift.
Water Sight (Su): You can see through fog and mist without penalty as long as there is enough light to allow you to see normally. At 7th level, you can use any calm pool of water at least 1 foot in diameter as a scrying device, as if using the scrying spell. At 15th level, this functions like greater scrying. You can use the scrying abilities for a number of rounds per day equal to your sorcerer level, but these rounds do not need to be consecutive.
Purity of Blood (Su): Upon reaching 20th level, your form flows like water. You gain a bonus on Reflex saving throws and your CMD against bull rush, drag, grapple, reposition, and trip attempts equal to your Charisma modifier, DR 10/piercing, you move in water as if you always have freedom of movement, you have evasion while you are underwater, and you are immune to pressure damage from deep water.
Okay, folks, let me know what you think! This is just a first draft, so I expect changes to be needed.
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So you're making the bloodlines work more like an oracle's mystery? Not a criticism, just an observation.
Yes. I'm also trying to make more of the general things the sorcerer might want to do regularly as "revelations" or gifts in this case, so that the list of spells can be more personalized (or generalized) for the sorcerer.
I'm wondering if the gifts might better work more like hexes, in their "always available" feel. Power levels might need to change, but if we define the sorcerer by not only spells but also magical powers, it might keep more of its flavor without having to seem like "the other wizard."
I was sort of wondering if anyone else had noticed how much better the mystery setup was compared to the bloodline setup...bothers me a lot. I can see some positive things about making the bloodlines act more like mysteries (as well as several other classes' pick-off-a-list-plus-other-built-in-bonuses construction).
I'm wondering if the gifts might better work more like hexes, in their "always available" feel. Power levels might need to change, but if we define the sorcerer by not only spells but also magical powers, it might keep more of its flavor without having to seem like "the other wizard."
I'm very intrigued by what you've got here thus far. Though I think it'd benefit from what you mention with regard to the witch's hexes. A blend between class features styled after oracle features and witch features I think would be best - other wise instead of being "the other wizard", you'll risk winding up with "the other oracle" or "the other witch".
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I'll keep thinking about that.
Here's a few other thoughts about the design of bloodlines and gifts:
First, you won't need as many bloodlines. The Marine bloodline, above, blends together aspects of Elemental(Water), Aquatic, Boreal, and Marid bloodlines. Since it's pick-and-choose, one Marine sorcerer could be all-water and another could be all-ice, and a third could be a blend.
Second, adding class features to the sorcerer doesn't mean having to build the character from scratch anymore. You could add gifts and bloodlines and a sorcerer could start picking from the lists as they increase in level.
Third, it moves the sorcerer from being a pure spellcaster to a pure magical being. Give them more cool things to do, and they'll start occupying a space that the wizard can't realy reach. You've got a good point, Dal Selpher, that you don't want the resulting class to end up too close to the witch or oracle, either.
Okay, folks, let me know what you think!
That sounds like a sensible change to me. It would help the sorcerer to get a color of its own and cease to be the (mechanical) shadow of the wizard.
+1
'findel
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Taking this discussion a bit further, let's consider what the wizard, cleric, witch, and oracle get.
Wizard: Chooses a school. The school gives fixed powers, bonuses, and capstone. Chooses four bonus feats from a large list (and growing, with Discoveries).
Cleric: Chooses two domains. The domains give fixed powers, bonuses, and bonus spells (domain spells).
Oracle: Chooses a curse with fixed penalties/benefits. Chooses a mystery with fixed capstone, fixed bonus spells, and a choice of six revelations from a list of ten. No fixed powers.
Witch: Chooses a patron which grants bonus spells. Chooses eleven hexes from a generic list. No capstone.
The sorcerer, in comparison, chooses a bloodline, with fixed powers, bonuses, and capstone. The sorcerer also receives three bonus feats from a list of eight, depending on bloodline. This is clearly very similar mechanically to the wizard. This is what I'd like to change.
This is why I've developed the concept of gifts. As it stands, they are very similar to the oracle. The pedigree is similar to a curse, but hopefully more thematic and greater in scope and power than a curse. As it stands the gifts are arranged by bloodline, similar to revelations. Perhaps there should be two lists; a "bloodline gift" list that includes specifically thematic powers only choosable by a sorcerer of the correct bloodline, and a "universal gift" list that includes gifts that any sorcerer may choose. Universal gifts would end up similar to hexes in availability, while bloodline gifts would resemble revelations mechanically.
Perhaps another thing to do would be to expand the list of bloodline spells. For example, instead of just having obscuring mist as the 2nd level Marine bloodline spell, a Marine sorcerer could choose between, say, obscuring mist and hydraulic push. This would allow a sorcerer to get around the "I better not choose my best spell for another level" problem. I might give that a try.
So now, the question remains, how many gifts and/or feats would be reasonable to give a sorcerer? I guess that will need playtesting. Part of the question will revolve around the Extra Gift feat; I think it's a good idea to have, but I don't want to end up with any sorcerer thinking all feats should be Extra Gift. That's where the balance comes in.
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I was sort of wondering if anyone else had noticed how much better the mystery setup was compared to the bloodline setup...bothers me a lot. I can see some positive things about making the bloodlines act more like mysteries (as well as several other classes' pick-off-a-list-plus-other-built-in-bonuses construction).
I've noticed. I think InVino's approach is the way to go.
Perhaps there should be two lists; a "bloodline gift" list that includes specifically thematic powers only choosable by a sorcerer of the correct bloodline, and a "universal gift" list that includes gifts that any sorcerer may choose. Universal gifts would end up similar to hexes in availability, while bloodline gifts would resemble revelations mechanically.Perhaps another thing to do would be to expand the list of bloodline spells. For example, instead of just having obscuring mist as the 2nd level Marine bloodline spell, a Marine sorcerer could choose between, say, obscuring mist and hydraulic push.
These are excellent ideas and in theory they seem to strike the right balance.
I had similar feelings when I first saw the Oracle, I just haven't gotten off my duff to write anything up yet :) I'm glad you brought this up, I can't wait to see where this leads.