Hello this is my first post on the message boards and I'm not familiar on how much information is needed for people to accurately help. But on to the topic at hand this is my first pathfinder game and I decided to go with a Catfolk Sorcerer. Our DM was very generous on stats everyone got an 18 and we rolled 3 stat blocks and picked the one we wanted to use I ended up with a 18,17,16,16,14,13 (Nothing has been finalized until first game)and in the end my stats on the character came to be Str:13 Dex:18 Con:16 Int:14 Wis:15 Cha:20 I also choose the Draconic bloodline(Bronze) My back story is largely made up with catpeople lore which I had to invent since all we know right now is they are cats that walk up right and can talk and seem to like roaming around but basically my character is a descendant of royalty whose kingdom was taken away from him 200 years prior to his birth by the overdone army of orcs giants and what not and that is why the catpeople are now wanderers. His goal is to basically reunite his people and take back their homeland. My problem is this I want to have good amount of RP fluff in the game but not so much that it leads me to be useless(compared to the other characters) I had thought about taking the cross blooded arch type and take the Stormborn blood line as I want him to be built around elect but I decided the drawback were to severe then I looked at the Eldritch Heritage feats for it and I don't know if I have the luxury to give up three feats another route I looked at was the dragon disciple as I thought maybe a melee sorc would be kinda fun but there again Im not so sure as i have no idea how to build one. as far as Feats go im undecided and the spells I have are detect magic,presiditation after that I dont know what to pick and for first lvl I have shocking grasp and had considered grease color spray and stumble gap for my other spell slot. I just want a character that fits my idea of a lighting blaster or lighting gish warrior im not looking for Pun-Pun power but still something that can be relied upon to do good damage
you can't beat the damage of a crossblooded sorc.
With apologies for slightly derailing this thread, I've never read anything about an optimized (or near-optimized) blaster.
Would someone please summarize what to do, or provide a link to were this has been discussed?
(Please assume level 5 to 10 play, not what works best at level 20.)
Thanks!
you can't beat the damage of a crossblooded sorc.With apologies for slightly derailing this thread, I've never read anything about an optimized (or near-optimized) blaster.
Would someone please summarize what to do, or provide a link to were this has been discussed?
(Please assume level 5 to 10 play, not what works best at level 20.)
Thanks!
This is a recent discussion.
I would probably swap the draconic blood line for an elemental blood line (air in particular).
The bonus on spell DC and the ability to both with any spell to your energy descriptor and make enemies vulnerable to your energy type as part of an attack are just too good to pass for an energy specific blaster.
That said, I also really like the idea of the Stormborn blood line, especially if you go with the A real wildblooded archetype. With this you get a free spell, Control Weather, which is both defensive at lower lvls (negate ranged attacks) and offensive at higher lvls (fort save or get sucked up for 1d10 rounds, taking 1d6 dmg/round, and falling damage at the end).
It becomes even better if you have a cliff or high window, etc around as you can throw people off the edge with it (not to mention the benefits when sailing or flying).
However, while the Ariel bloodline's bonut to CL as their blood line power is nice, unless you can also control the weather it may not be particularly relevant compared to the base Stormborn's blood line arcana (+1DC on all sonic/electric spells), and as such it may be better to get this power though the eldritch heritage feats (the spell is not available to sorcs).
As for min-maxing, focus almost everything on boosting your Cha through state boosts, a circlet of Cha, Cat's Grace, etc, as spellcasting and special powers will be your biggest damage dealers. Also try to bost your DC through the above stat boosting method and though feats such as spell focus and CL and DC boost items.
Also, as previously mentioned, try to get secondary effects on your spells. That way, even if you aren't one-shotting opponents, you are still hindering them in some way.
This is a recent discussion.
Thanks! A very informative thread.
It seems like to really keep up in damage with a blaster, you need to boost your caster level with feats like Spell Specialization and Varisian Tattoo. The Tattooed Sorcerer archetype seems really appealing if it fits your RP concept. If not, spell specialization alone will certainly help.
The drawbacks to cross-blooded are severe, but not as severe as it may seem at first glance with judicious use of metamagic feats.
In particular: invigorated spell and empowered spell for blasts, and persistent spell and heighten spell for save or suck type spells. This solves the problem of how incredibly few high-level spells you get—just use metamagicked low level spells instead.
A quick look at electricity spells on the spells db turns up a pretty meager list—but that's not the end of the world.
1st - shocking grasp
2nd - defensive shock
3rd - lightning bolt
5th - lightning arc
6th - chain lightning
8th - stormbolts
9th - ride the lightning
Shocking grasp and defensive shock do lend themselves to getting in to the thick of things, so the dragon disciple route is pretty interesting.
Magical Lineage: Shocking Grasp + Reach Spell might be an interesting option as well.
Two cross-blooded options:
Max Damage: Draconic: Bronze + Primal: Air (or Orc)
Every spell is a lightning spell: Draconic: Bronze + Elemental: Air
-----------
On a completely different note, how set are you on Sorcerer?
Because a melee spellcaster focusing on electricity spells screams Magus + Shocking Grasp to me.
I don't know much about making an effective Magus, so I will refer you to the Magus Guide!
magical lineage: lightning bolt (or fireball if you want to burn a slot higher)
level 3 slot lightning bolt (+ intensify) big damage
level 4 slot lightning bolt (+ sicken) barf bolt
level 5 slot lightning bolt (+ daze)tazer
I like the magical lineage trait now that i have read it and i think thats a good suggestion for my character but my DM isn't allowing the traits to be taken unless we take the feat for it and even its been house ruled the feat can only be taken at lvl 1 and can only affect a spell you know at that point in time so unless i wanted to use a first lvl spell with this lineage i dont think this is a good route for me
spell focus evocation, spell penetration, and defensive casting are all good feat choices to get off lightning based spells. also consider some of the status inflicting metamagic feats (or associated metamagic rods) in the APG and ultimate magic. You will quickly find that the bad guys don't usually drop from a single blast, and many resist lightning, so adding dazing spell to your lightning bolt makes it into a taser too. Your party fighter will thank you. Blasting isn't considered optimal since a monster with 1 hp can still beat on you, so think about how you can stop them from getting up in your face with your spells.
I've always known blasting wasnt the best route to go but ive always been wary of the save or suck spells since to be honest all the encounters Ive had (under a different DM) the enemies always seemed to make their saves I've had so many failures with flesh to stone or bestow curse(some examples) that the whole idea has been ruined for me I only ever saw the save or suck spells work on the players for the most part
It seems like to really keep up in damage with a blaster, you need to boost your caster level with feats like Spell Specialization and Varisian Tattoo. The Tattooed Sorcerer archetype seems really appealing if it fits your RP concept. If not, spell specialization alone will certainly help.
The drawbacks to cross-blooded are severe, but not as severe as it may seem at first glance with judicious use of metamagic feats.
In particular: invigorated spell and empowered spell for blasts, and persistent spell and heighten spell for save or suck type spells. This solves the problem of how incredibly few high-level spells you get—just use metamagicked low level spells instead.
Shocking grasp and defensive shock do lend themselves to getting in to the thick of things, so the dragon disciple route is pretty interesting.
Magical Lineage: Shocking Grasp + Reach Spell might be an interesting option as well.
Two cross-blooded options:
Max Damage: Draconic: Bronze + Primal: Air (or Orc)
Every spell is a lightning spell: Draconic: Bronze + Elemental: Air-----------
On a completely different note, how set are you on Sorcerer?
Because a melee spellcaster focusing on electricity spells screams Magus + Shocking Grasp to me.
I don't know much about making an effective Magus, so I will refer you to the Magus Guide!
Im pretty set on the sorcerer for this game thats not to say I dont like the magus class. I have read through it and its very appealing to me as ive always like the idea of gishes I just dont want to have to deal with the spell book and that's one of the reasons why I wasnt a wizard for this game and the biggest problem I have with the spell book is preparing spells im always second guessing my spell selection for the day and it takes me a long time to actually get all the spells picked at higher lvls and I've found more often then not i choose the wrong spell for what we go into as we have rarely in the past known what the big baddie was I mean if it was kobolts we would know it was going to be a dragon but type was always a mystery and you may think that place would also give a hint to the color of the dragon but I have fought a blue dragon that slumbered in a cave in the icy tundra before. That being said if i can get my DM to rule its just a birthmark instead of a tattoo Im probably going to go with the Varisian Tattoo suggestion as it seems it could compliment my backstory well
If you're still keen on the Dragon Disciple, this guide is worth a read
If you're still keen on the Dragon Disciple, this guide is worth a read
Ty for the link i'm considering Dragon Disciple again as an option as the guide has given clarity as how to build one
@OP: When you like gishes but do not want to deal with a spellbook, I would advise to look at the bard. It is a spontaneous caster, has a diverse spell list, and can be a great damage dealer, controller, buffer, debuffer, even blaster, melee or ranged combatant, ...
For blasting you could look at
- magician: get a few sorcerer spells, select blast spells, cast them accordingly (remember bard has full caster level!). Also, at high levels you can use wands at your own caster level (buy cheap wand, happily spam fireballs, lightning bolts etc.)
- sound striker: deal direct sonic damage with your performances
- sandman: steal blasting spells from an opponent or your willing caster buddy
For all those bards, masterpieces are available to give you an extra edge, e.g. Dumbshow of Gorroc (blast plants and oozes with 1d6/bard level, up to 10d6, or others for up to 5d6) or The quickening pulse (1d6 bleed damage per round).
You can even use bard to enter dragon disciple if you wish.