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I've never played a pure arcane type before, where I have no choice but to rely on magic. I've traditionally used occassional level diping in arcane to supplement fighter types, but I wanted to try something new. I haven't decided on stats yet, so help here could be nice as well. The only thing I've got for an idea so far is lvl 1 Sorceror (Crossblooded Orc & Shaitan)/ lvl?? (upto 11)Evocator Wizard with the Admixture school archtype with the Elemental Pupil (+1 Acid damage per die) trait from the Qadira Book and the Eastern Mysteries Faction Trait. Idealy this caster from level 2 on would use the admixture school power to transform all of his spells into Acid based spells so they would receive +3damage per die as will as the Evocation school bonus to damage. I'd thought to take all of the Spell focus and Elemental Focus Acid, but that only carries me through 5th level. Willing to take any other suggestions, as well as ideas of possible complemetary prestige classes. Schools to lose would be divination and enchantment, though the 1st sorceror spell I was looking at was true strike. Finally, any spell recommendations would be awesome as well.
Thanks.
Firstly, blasting is commonly considered an inefficient way to play a caster. Mainly because you aren't really contributing to stopping the enemy directly by battlefield control or other methods. All blasting does is maybe help them to die a turn sooner. Also, the damage doesn't scale as well.
Secondly, losing Divination really hurts because of Read Magic and Detect Magic. If you care about losing either of those I'd try to find another school to lose.
Feats: Spell Penetration, Dazing Spell, Persistent Spell, Intensified Spell. Take a good look at all of the Metamagic Feats for that matter.
Spells: Flaming Sphere and Pyrotechnics is an amazing combo. I don't have time to give you more, but that's a good start.
Oh, and for what it's worth, a Flame Oracle with Elemental Spell makes a fairly decent divine blaster. Decent by blasting standards anyway.
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Great Point+ about Read Magic & Detect Magic. I'll be sure to add them on as Sorceror Spells known. I also agree that usually the damage for an evocation doesn't scale well, but the combo above adds + 3damage per die of Acid damage, achieved with the Admixture School power which allow you to swap out one element for another. Potenially, my level 5 burning hands would do acid damage of 5d4 +15 + 2 and require a DC 20 save at lvl 5 wiz/1 sorceror.If I add empower, and use a metamagic rod of maximize, damage would be about 55 requiring a DC 20 (DC 22 for eastern Mysteries)reflex for half. Fireball and lightening bolt at 10 Wiz/1 sorceror would look like 10d6+ 30 + 5. Low damage would be 45, maximized 95, empowered and maximized is 142 with a DC 24(assuming 2 point more into intel)or DC 26 (assuming +4 int bonus headband) or upto a DC 28 with eastern mysteries. I realize that battle field control is very important for a wizard, and I don't intend to neglect it totally, but the idea for this character was inspired by a Wizard who managed a 108 point fireball against a Moonflower in a recent PFS game. I hadn't seen anything like in about 4 years with an old 3.5 character of mine, and that was due to a lucky crit. So I know it's not the most feasible build, but I'd like to try it out.
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Firstly, blasting is commonly considered an inefficient way to play a caster. Mainly because you aren't really contributing to stopping the enemy directly by battlefield control or other methods. All blasting does is maybe help them to die a turn sooner. Also, the damage doesn't scale as well.
What the poster said above is perfectly true as far as optimization goes.
However for PFS play.. it doesn't matter. PFS play does not require an optimized approach. A smartly played blaster can contribute just fine and is perfectly viable for play. And remember specialisation does not mean you LOSE access to spells, just pay double slots to prepare them.
For the levels in which you're operating. you'll be fine.
As someone who has played a blaster in PFS from 1 to 12, I have found that the battlefield controlling cartel under-estimates the effectiveness of ending combat "a few rounds early". In PFS, blasting IS an effective way to handle encounters.
Firstly, blasting is commonly considered an inefficient way to play a caster. Mainly because you aren't really contributing to stopping the enemy directly by battlefield control or other methods. All blasting does is maybe help them to die a turn sooner. Also, the damage doesn't scale as well.
Personally I have found killing the enemy a very good way of stopping the enemy directly. It is true that blasting damage does not scale with level without some careful planning. In my opinion this tends to be over stated by the anti blasting camp. Battle field control is very useful in chanelling and slowing the enemy, however someone has to kill them. for levels 1-12 a blaster can be effective and more important fun.
All of those are fair points. I didn't have time to clarify what I meant, but it's very possible to build an optimized blaster. It's arguably not the absolute best possible build, but for its job it can be tweaked to do an excellent job. By all means, play what you'd like. That is by far the most important thing. I was just throwing it out there as an opinion. : )
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I currently have a level 6 Cross-Blooded sorcerer who specializes blasting (Orc + Primal Elemental Bloodlines) and I tend to get heckled a lot about it. People tell me that it's not worth it because you don't learn a second level spell until level 5. However, I tend to be one of the few, if not only, character who is capable of dealing damage. Acting first in combat and dealing 49 points of ice damage pretty much shuts everyone up.
I took the trait Magical Lineage and applied it to burning hands w/ the Intensified Meta-Magic feat. Combining this with the gnomes racial Pyromaniac and Spell Specialization feat my burning hands deals 9d4+18 as a level 1 spell. At level 5 I applied Spell Specialization to scorching ray, when combined with Pyromaniac, meant my Scorching Ray shot 2 rays (8d6+16 touch!) When I hit level 7 I learn my first 3rd level spell, fireball, which will be my next Spell Specialization spell, making it 3 levels higher, dealing 10d6+20. If I roll all 1's then I will deal 30 damage (15 if they save.)
Blasters can really work well, and 1 shotting enemies is always fun.
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I currently have a level 6 Cross-Blooded sorcerer who specializes blasting (Orc + Primal Elemental Bloodlines) and I tend to get heckled a lot about it. People tell me that it's not worth it because you don't learn a second level spell until level 5. However, I tend to be one of the few, if not only, character who is capable of dealing damage. Acting first in combat and dealing 49 points of ice damage pretty much shuts everyone up.
I took the trait Magical Lineage and applied it to burning hands w/ the Intensified Meta-Magic feat. Combining this with the gnomes racial Pyromaniac and Spell Specialization feat my burning hands deals 9d4+18 as a level 1 spell. At level 5 I applied Spell Specialization to scorching ray, when combined with Pyromaniac, meant my Scorching Ray shot 2 rays (8d6+16 touch!) When I hit level 7 I learn my first 3rd level spell, fireball, which will be my next Spell Specialization spell, making it 3 levels higher, dealing 10d6+20. If I roll all 1's then I will deal 30 damage (15 if they save.)
Blasters can really work well, and 1 shotting enemies is always fun.
I have seen the amount of that damage that character can do. Don't let people give you crap Fireez (sp?) is awesome! Good build.
Have a few scrolls handy. There will be tables where you are the ONLY caster, and while blasting is great, its hard to blast your way out of a pit.
But yes, blasting can be loads of fun, and will work in PFS.
Watch out for mid levels, where energy resistance and SR show up. You MUST know which spells overcome SR, and which do not.
As someone who has played a blaster in PFS from 1 to 12, I have found that the battlefield controlling cartel under-estimates the effectiveness of ending combat "a few rounds early".
+87.
Especially if you end up in a party with three wizards and two bards, like I always seem to. (I exaggerate slightly...)
I started playing a Gnome Fey Pyro and Grabbed Spontanious Metafocus at 5th for Scorching Ray.(fey sorc, pyro racial trait)
By dropping most traits into it, you can get a pretty impressive Scorching-Ray that scales nicely. I also boosted Cha for some impressive compulsions, and then went with no-save spells.
Anyway
Admixture Wizard
Take Magical Lineage (Scorching Ray) trait
Feats:
Heighten spell (for preferred spell)
Prefered Spell (Scorching Ray) at 5th level
You have 8 feats to work with, 9 if you go human, plus a free spell-focus (cause you don't get scribe scroll)
If you go Gnome Pyro you get +1 caster level on your Fire spells which is nice at low levels, and makes your Scorch scale faster. At higher levels you've got your admixture to avoid fire resistance.
At level 5 you never have to prep Scorch again, and can toss it out any time and meta-magic the poop out of it on the fly, plus you got other blasts that you can prepare, or non blast spells, then shoot dudes as you roll whenever you want.
You can afford to play a controller with some sexy sexy blasts
Edit:
Lol missed spell spec. that's hot (literally)
Gnome Pyro
Free: Spell Focus Evocation
Lv 1: Spell Spec Burning-hands
Lv 3: Heighten Spell
Lv 4: Switch Spec to Scorch
Lv 5: Prefered Spell (Scorch)
Free: Empower Spell
Lv 7: Maximize
Lv the rest, who cares!!!
When you first get Scorch at Lv 4, you can toss out 2 rays a pop
Then at 5th you never have to prep it, and can empower it for 12d6.
You have all 3 rays at lv 8
By 11 you can switch Spell Spec change the element from fire have 3 Maximized Empowered rays for 2d6+24 of any element.
(Burning SPell also leaves them with an extra 4 damage the next round. Wonder how that stacks with Acid Arrow?)
Just a note, Elemental Pupil is NOT +1 damage per die. It's just +1 damage.
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Yeah, I know. I reread the trait shortly after the post and about half choked on that. Oy vey. I made a huge mistake assumption there, and it has nearly scrapped the character, but I'm still working on it here and there. It still would be +2per die+1/2wizard level + 1, (+2 for point blank shot in some instances.) Acidic Scorching ray would be 4d6+11 when I get it as a wizard. Lvl 5 acidic burning hands would be 5d4+13. Intensified @ level 10 it should be about 10d4+26 with a min of 36, 1/2 for 18. But the build took a serious hit with that misuderstanding, so I'm looking around some more to see what else might work with it.
I just wanted to clear that up in case someone else from a year from now sees this thread. :)
If I were to go with a Blaster I'd probably choose the Draconic and Elemental bloodlines, and pick between the lineages which would give either electricity or cold damage (the least resisted elements in the game) so I could always convert my energy attacks to my element type and get an additional +1/die on dmg.
On top of that the Elemental bloodline's 9th lvl power, elemental blast, does as much dmg as the Draconic bloodline's breath weapon, can be used just as often, but has a better range and makes opponents vulnerable to your energy type until the end of your next round (hello free empower!).
That said, due to the target selectivity of chain lightning, it is likely the best blasting spell. Unfortunately you won't ba able to get it till lvl 12 as a Sorc.
I haven't really thought much more about blasters, but there's my 2 cents.
One good blasty trick
Magical Lineage(Magic Missle)z
At level 1 get toppling spell, you are putting out magic missles that have a chance to trip. The cool part is that the trip effect scales with your caster level.
At level 6 pick up Dazing Spell, and you can be hitting multiple targets with damage + save or be dazed for 1 round as a level 3 spell.
At level 8, you can be Tripping and/or Dazing 4 targets a round. Trip or Daze put them out of the fight for 1 round, trip and Daze puts them out for 2 rounds.
Lingering Spell is great metamagic for a blaster. Let your damage spells act as surrogate battlefield control.
Since most effective blasting spells rely on caster level to scale the damage, boosting it is as important as boosting DC.
If you don't mind playing an extremely corpulent wizard with facial tattoos, a human evoker 1 in PFS can have Spell Focus (evocation), Varisian Tattoo (evocation), and Bloatmage Initiate (evocation). +2 caster level for evocations is nice, and will let you do enough damage to chew through prety much any opponent in a PFS encounter.
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So, I've given this a little more thought given some of the more recent posts. I will admit I briefly considered a pyromancer gnome, but I'm not a fan of the little folk, and when I do play them I usually go for Halflings. The most recent update brought 2 new feats to my attention. I'd heard about the Varisian Tatoo, but never really looked into it before, but now I find it is an awesome feat for the low level caster. The Bloatmage Initiate initially did not interest me, but thinking about it further, how often do you find fat adventurers? Why not, I mean why is it that every adventurer is slime and nearly perfectly healthy from the moment they start their first quest. So, despite the suboptimal nature, I can now picture a routund Taldoran commoner turn expatriot in the slums of Absolum. With this in mind now, I am considering taking first level as the Evoker Wizard with the above 2 mentioned feats, and 2 new traits to consider. But my new question is: will these traits stack? The traits in question are Gifted Adept - Magic Trait that allows you to manifest 1 spell at +1 caster level, and Regional Trait from Taldor - Precocius Spell caster, choose 1 cantrip & 1 1st level spell to gain a +1 caster level. The end result would be a wizard able to cast a 5d4 Burning Hands @ 1st level. 2nd would return to the 1 level of Sorceror for the Cross blooded Orc & either Shaitan or Efreet Bloodline and I'd now choose Burning hands as my 1st level spell for 4 burning hands @2nd level doing 5d4+10 each. This actually sounds kind of nice, to have a weapon this strong for the early, more troubling levels, but I expect it will out date itself as my levels progress, but probably not until 6th level (1Sor/5Wiz). So the question remains do the traits stack. If not, that would still be okay, but I think the limitations in the language of the trait do allow me to stack them for 1 spell. Thanks for the feedback.
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My Burning hands DC Assumes 20 Inteligence, Spell Focus, Greater Spell focus, Elemental Focus & Greater Elemental Focus. Thus it should look like this: 5 for Int + 1 SF, +1GSF,+1 EF, +1GEF = +9 to DCs for fire, or in my case Acid spell. Base DC for a level 1 spell is 11+9=20. Ofcourse, the new build is pushing back the availability of these feats till later levels. Although, I just saw the Tatooted Sorceror Archtype, which would net me the Varisan Tatoo feat for free, and everything I've read with the archtype indicates to me that it could be used with the Cross blooded Archetype, so I might pull off all of the focus feats by 5th level with a human character.
@ Argus: I apologize if I mislead. I was pretty certain that I could not change which spell it would affect, just that I'd expect that the 5d4+11 Burning hands from the Sorceror would cease to be as increadibly powerful as it seemed early on. At lvl 1, it's taking out mobs and droping bosses. At level 6, I've got a 7d6+16 pt fireball with a DC of 23 to do that. It will retain it's use as my only 1st level sorceror spell, but I may not use it that often. Oftcourse, by 5th level Wizard I can pick up Intensified spell as a metamagic and prepare it as a 2nd level slot for 9d4+20, so it may still have a little more life in it then.