Need advice for upcoming Kingmaker Campaign character.

[Chrisasaurus_Rex]

Hello there,

First off thanks in advance for any advice. Starting Kingmaker here in a week of so and I am having trouble deciding what character class I want to go with. I am leaning towards either a Wizard or a Sorcerer with the Sage bloodline.

My concept is a very intelligent, plotting, Machiavellian, "power behind the throne" concept. This will be my first arcane casting character. The group is so far, a back-stabby rogue, 2 handed fighter, monk, barbarian, and a cleric. because of the prevalence of front line fighters I was planning on being more of a controller. Which again fits in with my concept idea of a mastermind who prefers not getting his hands dirty.

Far as Race I am leaning heavily towards Human primarily for the favored class alternate bonus of getting a new spell known which would work best with the sorcerer to close the gap between versatility.

I much prefer the spontaneous casting aspect of the Sorcerer, plus he opens himself up to plenty of rping potential due a being the "black sheep" of a arcane family.

The wizard's advantages are larger knowledge skills, better suited for magic item crafting, ever expanding spell book. The arcane discoveries in UM have some interesting possibilities.

I am interested in seeing the community's thoughts. Feat ideas are welcome too, as well as some 1st level spell suggestions.

[Cheapy]

With the right feats, a wizard can spontaneously cast quite a few spells. Personally, I'm a fan of wizards since the scrolls you can make are a big help. And sorcerers are a bit too "I'm a hammer and the world is my nail!"

But if keeping track of spells is boring, just play sorc!

[Ultrace]

If you're looking for spontaneous casting, the Sorcerer is the way to go. Cheapy speaks true; with the right feats you can get some spontaneous casting as a Wizard, but if you want the ultimate on-the-fly flexibility (with fewer spells to be flexible with) a Sorcerer is the way to go. If you're willing to go non-spontaneous and want to throw a kink in the story, consider a Witch. In addition to some quite useful hexes that can be used multiple times a day out in the wilds, with the patron granting spells, you now have the Power Behind the Power Behind the Throne. ;)

[Marie]

Both are good choices.

If you go sorcerer, I'd suggest picking up either Color Spray or Sleep to start your controlling career. Sleep can be nice if you want to stay far away, though its round casting time tends to paint a giant target on the caster's head. I generally prefer Color Spray.

Mage Armor is great to have so there's something between enemy steel and your squishy body for those "Holy crap he just knocked out half of our team. Get him before he does it again!" moments.

"Mastermind who doesn't like getting his hands dirty" calls to mind Unseen Servant, as well as Charm Person.

If you go wizard, I recommend the same spells I did for Sorc. Grease is another solid control spell, and Identify is always nice to have.

As for crafting, Kingmaker takes place over a long time scale, so there will be plenty of time to craft magic items. The limiting factor will be money to craft with rather than time.

Knowledge skills are always nice.
I recommend
Knowledge (local):for knowing about the goings-on in your kingdom
Knowledge (nature):because you are in the wilderness
Knowledge (nobility):for gracefully navigating political intrigue

[As a side note--Perception and Survival are crucial in KM. I'm not saying that you should to get them yourself, though Perception is always nice, but if no one in your party can make good Perception and Survival checks, your party is asking for trouble.]