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Looking for any helpful advice or thoughts about making a pistol-wielding sorcerer (love them Iron Kingdoms minis).
I believe that the PFS OP skews character builds somewhat.. you don't need to be munchkinized to be successful on missions- so 'non-optimal' isn't necessarily a bad thing.
1st level gunslinger, then rest in sorcerer: If I want to be using a firearm, this seems the easiest way. Gunsmithing & Proficiency for free, leaving point blank shot tree feats available at first level. The mysterious stranger archetype even lets you use charisma for grit.
straight-class sorcerer: takes sorcerers long enough to get higher level spells, slowing it down a level really exacerbates the difference between casting classes. Assuming human 2 feats at first, I can get gunsmithing & point blank at 1st, and suffer -4 non-prof penalty until 3rd level and the exotic weapon feat. Puts rapid reload off till a very distant 5th level, however.
is one markedly better than another? are there other, better ideas? (like mebbe a wizard or witch instead of sorcerer?) thanks all for any thoughts
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Looking for any helpful advice or thoughts about making a pistol-wielding sorcerer (love them Iron Kingdoms minis).
I believe that the PFS OP skews character builds somewhat.. you don't need to be munchkinized to be successful on missions- so 'non-optimal' isn't necessarily a bad thing.
1st level gunslinger, then rest in sorcerer: If I want to be using a firearm, this seems the easiest way. Gunsmithing & Proficiency for free, leaving point blank shot tree feats available at first level. The mysterious stranger archetype even lets you use charisma for grit.
straight-class sorcerer: takes sorcerers long enough to get higher level spells, slowing it down a level really exacerbates the difference between casting classes. Assuming human 2 feats at first, I can get gunsmithing & point blank at 1st, and suffer -4 non-prof penalty until 3rd level and the exotic weapon feat. Puts rapid reload off till a very distant 5th level, however.
is one markedly better than another? are there other, better ideas? (like mebbe a wizard or witch instead of sorcerer?) thanks all for any thoughts
Half elf sorc, take the ancestral arms character option for proficency of your choice, take gunsmithing as your first level feat, and then take the arcane bloodline for an arcane bonded item, aka a gun. Pick whatever gun you like (as long as its PFS legal, namely non-advanced), you get it for free (and masterwork to boot!). You've now got all the things needed for a perfectly serviceable gun toting sorc at first level. Add spells that give you some more varied options, keeping only the really important spells on your list, such as ones that need a high caster level.
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Ancestral arms... I totally hadn't thought of that. It might be just the thing.. I really looked at Arcane bloodline but aside from getting a free, masterwork weapon it just doesn't seem to contribute to a shooty-sorcerer. I'll be using all my feats on ranged combat/rapid reload, at least for the first few levels.. leaving precious few for metamagic feats to go with the bloodline.
I was thinking stormborn, for the ability to imbue the weapon with shock property (should still work perfectly on a ranged weapon?)
This character is going to have the first couple chronicles from GM credits, so I'm not overly worried about needing to play an adventure or two w/o a free firearm.. so half elf might be just what I should have been looking at :)
Congrats. If dim memory serves, one of the first 3.0 playtest characters was a gun-toting sorceror. You'll have to check Monte's blog for details, I don't remember the rest.
The mysterious stranger archetype will do you well. Good use of charisma.
Get the shooty feats first, and worry about meta-magic later. You can't even deal with a +1 level adjustment until fourth level, and + 2 level adjustment until level 6.
If you can, metamagic is a good choice for that bonus 7th level feat.
Just a note for you on this, the folks in charge of PFS, Mark and Mike, have posted that they have not decided yet if a masterwork firearm can be gotten for free as an arcane bonded item. They said they were working on a ruling for that. But at the worst, you get the free normal firearm and use your gunsmithing and 400 gold to upgrade it to masterwork and then make it your arcane bonded item.
Venture-Captain, Ireland—Belfast
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As my players keep presenting me with their latest attempts at the latest thing in cunning power builds I have responded with a build similar to the OPs idea. A straight arcane bonded PC with the adopted trait to allow the half elf racial trait on a human. A bit cheesy perhaps but a low tier character that is a bit different!
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As my players keep presenting me with their latest attempts at the latest thing in cunning power builds I have responded with a build similar to the OPs idea. A straight arcane bonded PC with the adopted trait to allow the half elf racial trait on a human. A bit cheesy perhaps but a low tier character that is a bit different!
Adopted only allows you to take racial traits, not alternate racial bonuses. So, no adopted for extra feat ;)
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Venture-Captain, Ireland—Belfast
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Adopted only allows you to take racial traits, not alternate racial bonuses. So, no adopted for extra feat ;)As my players keep presenting me with their latest attempts at the latest thing in cunning power builds I have responded with a build similar to the OPs idea. A straight arcane bonded PC with the adopted trait to allow the half elf racial trait on a human. A bit cheesy perhaps but a low tier character that is a bit different!
While you might ofc be correct in saying this I am not sure. If there is an advisory on this then pls post a link so I can better understand. As things stand I don't see why Ancestral Arms is treated differently to other racial/race traits.
The PRD list Ancestral Arms under: Alternate Racial Traits
Which are described as follows:
The following racial traits replace existing half-elf racial traits.
Of Ancestral Arms it says:
Ancestral Arms: Some half-elves receive training in an unusual weapon. Half-elves with this racial trait receive Exotic Weapon Proficiency or Martial Weapon Proficiency with one weapon as a bonus feat at 1st level. This racial trait replaces the adaptability racial trait.
Of Adopted it reads:
Adopted: You were adopted and raised by someone not of your actual race, and raised in a society not your own. As a result, you picked up a race trait from your adoptive parents and society, and may immediately select a race trait from your adoptive parents' race.
So I am not sure why you describe Ancestral Arms as an alternate racial "bonus" rather than a trait.
W
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What you posted answers your question. Adopted lets you pick a race trait, not a racial trait. Race traits are one of the categories from the trait system that all character can choose from. The others are General, Religion, Regional, Equipment, and Campaign. They are details starting on page 326 of the APG and also in a free web enhancement for the Core Book.
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Venture-Captain, Ireland—Belfast
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What you posted answers your question. Adopted lets you pick a race trait, not a racial trait. Race traits are one of the categories from the trait system that all character can choose from. The others are General, Religion, Regional, Equipment, and Campaign. They are details starting on page 326 of the APG and also in a free web enhancement for the Core Book.
So a "race" trait is limited only to the two options per race in the APG and is not connected to the more frequently mentioned "racial" traits? Assuming that is right it might have been wise to distinguish between them more clearly! Even Alexander felt that adopted applied to racial traits but not racial bonuses...by which I am now assuming he meant it applies to race traits not racial traits :-).
W
Right. Paizo folks themselves have posted that they goofed up when they used such similar terms for such totally different things.
Ancestral arms... I totally hadn't thought of that. It might be just the thing.. I really looked at Arcane bloodline but aside from getting a free, masterwork weapon it just doesn't seem to contribute to a shooty-sorcerer.
Since you will be focusing more on the gun than the spells, here's an option to get more bang for your buck (no pun intended). Take the Crossblooded Sorcerer Archtype and choose Arcane (for the gun) and one other bloodline (the one you want). You get a -2 Will penalty and -1 spell known per spell level, but you can choose among the bonus spells, feats and powers from both bloodlines, as well as getting both class skills and arcana.
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I think I'm leaning towards dipping that level of gunslinger.. not so much for the free firearm but for the feat efficiency.
And yes, I am thinking I might be able to get away with relying on the pistol for low to mid level damage dealing. I guess I'll have to see how well that works out in practice!