Crossblooded Stormborn + Elemental (air) Sorcerer = Any Good?

[Third Mind]

So, first off yes, I realize that crossblooded's aren't very good because of the decreased spell progression, but one of the characters I was contemplating was an electrical based sorcerer.

I really like a lot of the abilities of the Stormborn bloodline, but I like the ability to switch over to electricity that an air elemental presents. I like the possible cohesion that these 2 bloodlines offer in the Elemental Bloodline making one able to change energy types to electricity and the stormborn then getting a plus to spell DC based off of it.

So, I guess the real question is, would this make a really good lightning sorcerer or would it be better to go say, tattooed stormborn? Is there a better way to do what I'm looking to do?

Side Note: He would be a blasty type, with some battlefield control mixed in. Obviously based around electrical attacks, with other types open. Human, to make crossblooded a touch less sucky to deal with, even if not crossblooded, probably still Human. Lv. 1 starting at a 20 point buy.

[Orthos]

I'm playing this exact same thing, with the single exception that mine's a Wordcaster. It's looking like fun, but it'll be a while before I can play her.

[Benly]

I would say you'd be better off straight stormborn. The thing is, there are plenty of perfectly decent electrical spells out there, so the big advantage of being able to substitute spells from fire to lightning is that you get both damage types with only one spell chosen. By going crossblooded, you're losing that advantage, so there's not really a whole lot of benefit to the thing you crossblooded for in the first place.

It might make more sense if you were to crossblood Stormborn with Primal (air) so that your electrical spells get both a DC boost and bonus damage, but that focuses you very tightly on being a lightning blaster. I'm still not sure it'd be worth it.

[Anetra]

I don't understand how crossblooding Elemental and Stormborn loses the advantage of the Elemental Bloodline's Arcana. Maybe I'm not reading things right, but I don't see anything in either bloodline that prevents it from being used.

If you are willing to take the hefty drawbacks of the Crossblooded archetype, then you should do so, if that's what you want to play. However, what is it specifically about each bloodline that you are most interested in?

Is the objective to stack your Lightning DCs up as high as they can go? Do you intend on taking Elemental Focus and Greater Elemental Focus in Electricity, and still want more to them? The thing about those Electricity spells is that they're all going to be save for half. Yes, absolutely, a higher DC is always great, but you don't need to full hog max the DCs.

If you think you could do without the Bloodline Arcana of the Stormborn Bloodline, have you considered taking the Elemental Bloodline, and supplementing it with the Eldritch Heritage feats to acquire some of the Stormborn Bloodline Powers? Or are the Bloodline powers not what interests you from it...?

[Benly]

Anetra wrote:

I don't understand how crossblooding Elemental and Stormborn loses the advantage of the Elemental Bloodline's Arcana. Maybe I'm not reading things right, but I don't see anything in either bloodline that prevents it from being used.

Nothing prevents it from being used. The thing is, what's the advantage of having it in the first place? Generally, it lets you get some extra versatility out of your limited spell picks by grabbing up spells that aren't electrical and use them as either fire (for example) or electricity spells as the situation demands. Crossblooded then reduces your spell picks further, which pretty much cancels out that benefit - you could've just picked two different spells with the extra spells known from not crossblooding.

You can use it to get the +1 DC from Stormborn onto spells that wouldn't qualify for it, but are there any spells that you can do this with that are actually better than the electric spells it normally applies to anyway?

[Anetra]

It seems to me that the benefit is even more valuable as a crossblooded sorcerer. You have fewer spells known, so your spells need to do as much as possible each. With a bloodline power that lets you change any elemental spell's damage type into electricity, you get the most out of your spell list by not taking any electricity spell.

The Elemental Bloodline's Bloodline Arcana isn't a type of action to use. It's not limited to a number of uses per day. EVERY elemental spell you take that isn't an electricity spell can do either type of damage, as chosen by you when you cast it.

How does that possibly get worse by knowing less spells? How is that anything other than even more valuable to a crossblooded sorcerer?

*

Changing the element of a spell doesn't make it "better" or "worse," necessarily, but depending on what you are fighting it might be completely necessary. A Fireball that can change into a Lightningball at any time is your complete go-to setup for messing up Outsiders. Use the Lightning on Devils, and the Fire on Demons and Celestials, and you're good as far as their resistances are concerned. And now you've done it with one spell known instead of two.

NPCs get wise to your being an elemental spellcaster, and go into fights against you with Resistances? No problem, you can just cast the spells as whatever non-electricity element they started as.

[Third Mind]

@Anetra - It is the bloodline powers that are most attracting me. Especially the ride the lightning. So I could work for it through the Eldritch Heritage feat line. It was primarily the powers of the Stormborn that lead me to want to mix them with Elemental, as actually I'm less concerned about DCs and a bit more concerned on damage (as a blasty).

@Benly - You make a very good point.

Now I must choose which bloodline would benefit a lightning sorcerer more. Seeing as the powers are the main sell for the Stormborn and could be gotten through the Eldritch Heritage line, I assume that Elemental would be a bit better for this. After all, when I envision a burning hands doing electrical damage, I see Darth Sidious electrifying Luke. :)

Thanks for helping me work through this. You've all been a great help if I decide to officially go this route.

[Anetra]

It's far from perfect, but it's an idea of a thing.

[Third Mind]

That is very helpful, thank you. Though, I think the Stormborn's class skill is Knowledge (Nature) but other than that everything looks like it'd work fine.

[Anetra]

Bluh bluh. Yes, you're right about that! :>