Elemental Sorcerer feats / traits

[MrJello]

Going to make a fire elemental human sorcerer for blasting of course and was wondering what i should get at levels like 1-9 for traits/feats.

[Anonymous Visitor 163 576]

Well, if you're going to blast away, I recommend...

Spell Focus ( Fire)
Searing Spell (from 3.5 Sandstorm, greatly needed)

And whatever trait gets you Diplomacy as a class skill.

There's really two ways to do this, by save DC's or through ranged touch attacks. Have a preference?

[MrJello]

rkraus2 wrote:

Well, if you're going to blast away, I recommend...

Spell Focus ( Fire)
Searing Spell (from 3.5 Sandstorm, greatly needed)

And whatever trait gets you Diplomacy as a class skill.

There's really two ways to do this, by save DC's or through ranged touch attacks. Have a preference?

Not sure if I am aloud to get searing, my guess is no. Mainly things on d20pfsrd are aloud. Could not find that there although sometimes they hide things.

I guess it depends on what spells come with dc and touch. I would really like fireball and a high single target spell. I have not played for long so i am not familiar with spells.

[Reynard_the_fox]

You might want draconic or orc bloodline for blasting, or see if you can use an Ifrit fire sorcerer for a free +2 Cha.

For feats, Improved Initiative and Toughness are never bad. Combat Casting is good to have in a pinch, too. Weapon Finesse is good if you want to hit with melee touch attacks or your slam attacks when you start transforming into elementals.

[Fluff Master]

Gifted Adept (+1 caster level on a chosen spell), or Magical Lineage (-1 slot level for spells with metamagic feats) are good traits for casters in general.

[andreww]

For Traits Magical Lineage is a must. Blasting is only effective if you can load the spell with metamagic effects to improve the damage.

Improving caster level is also important, especially if boosting lower level capped spells like Burning Hands with Intensift Spell. Varisian Tattoo and Spell Specialisation can both help with this.

You also want to boost your DC's. I would go with Spell Focus, Greater Spell Focus or Persistent Spell. I would not take Fire specific boosts as you also have to deal with energy resistance and immune creatures.

You will also need a way to switch your elemental damage type. This can be done either by having a more varied spell selection or through the Elemental Spell matemagic.

Finally initiative is important, especially if you are able to take out roughly equal level enemies with a single damage spell.

At level 9 you can probably be fairly focused on something like Fireball as a main nuke. A set up might include something like:

Human Sorcerer Orc/Gold Dragon

Traits: Magical Lineage (Fireball)

Feats: Improved Initiative, Spell Focus (Evocation), Empower Spell, Persistent Spell, Varisian Tattoo (Evocation), Spell Specialisation (Fireball), Bonus Bloodline Feat

Your default spell for combat is an Empowered Fireball for 18d6+36, if you are facing enemies with high saves or evasion consider Persistent Fireball for 12d6+24 saving twice and taking the lowest. You can also make effective use of other save or suck spells with Persistent Spell.

You could probably get more damage out of Intesified Burning Hands but that requires you to be right up in melee rather than flying around 600' away raining death upon your enemies.

At level 11 you have an interesting choice between Quicken spell (get your buffs up quickly, later on more damage) or Dazing Spell (add amazing control). You might also want to consder Spontaneous Metafocus so you dont lose your move action when hurling metamagicked spells.

Either way make sure to pick up a Rod of Elemental (Cold) Spell for when you run into those immune monsters.

[MrJello]

Thanks that helps A LOT

What about the intensified and maximize spell feat???

[andreww]

Maximise generally isnt worth it, especially with the Crossblooded damage bonus as that us based on the number of dice you are throwing. Intensify is great early on with Burning Hands then falls off then picks up again with Fireball and Fire Snake.

[Hawktitan]

Do you want to blast with rays or AOE effects?

I'd go air instead of fire, increases versatility immensely. Fire bloodline with fire spells is a bit of a waste. If you want to hyper specialize in fire instead consider Wildblooded Elemental bloodline (Primal). Still I'd recommend just going Elemental Bloodline (Air) so if you face off against anything immune or resistant to fire you aren't so useless. One key thing about the elemental bloodline is you can change damage type on the fly - no annoying metamagic or rods needed. If something is resistant to fire just switch it to lightning (with Air bloodline). However, if you are using fire with the fire bloodline then your stuck.

If you want to use rays here are the feats I would recommend, assuming human for an extra feat.

1) Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
3) Arcane Strike
5) Weapon Focus - Ray
7) Improved Initiative (Bonus Feat), if allowed Experimental Caster choosing Fire blast as the word
9) Sorcerous Bloodstrike

These actually go a long way towards making your bloodline ray not completely suck.

If you want to use save spells

1) Spell Focus, Spell Specialization
3) Greater Spell Focus
5) Intensify Spell
7) Improved Initiative (Bonus Feat), if allowed Experimental Caster choosing Fire blast as the word
9) Sorcerous Bloodstrike

If you can get wordcasting and the feat approved it gives you an AMAZING amount of blasting utility. You can choose the shape (either a ray, a cone, or a burst) so you are getting something close to selective metamagic. And because you are an elemental sorcerer you get to choose damage type (fire base, or can change it to lightning with air bloodline).

[MrJello]

Hawktitan wrote:

Do you want to blast with rays or AOE effects?

I'd go air instead of fire, increases versatility immensely. Fire bloodline with fire spells is a bit of a waste. If you want to hyper specialize in fire instead consider Wildblooded Elemental bloodline (Primal). Still I'd recommend just going Elemental Bloodline (Air) so if you face off against anything immune or resistant to fire you aren't so useless. One key thing about the elemental bloodline is you can change damage type on the fly - no annoying metamagic or rods needed. If something is resistant to fire just switch it to lightning (with Air bloodline). However, if you are using fire with the fire bloodline then your stuck.

If you want to use rays here are the feats I would recommend, assuming human for an extra feat.

1) Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
3) Arcane Strike
5) Weapon Focus - Ray
7) Improved Initiative (Bonus Feat), if allowed Experimental Caster choosing Fire blast as the word
9) Sorcerous Bloodstrike

These actually go a long way towards making your bloodline ray not completely suck.

If you want to use save spells

1) Spell Focus, Spell Specialization
3) Greater Spell Focus
5) Intensify Spell
7) Improved Initiative (Bonus Feat), if allowed Experimental Caster choosing Fire blast as the word
9) Sorcerous Bloodstrike

If you can get wordcasting and the feat approved it gives you an AMAZING amount of blasting utility. You can choose the shape (either a ray, a cone, or a burst) so you are getting something close to selective metamagic. And because you are an elemental sorcerer you get to choose damage type (fire base, or can change it to lightning with air bloodline).

I think i would prefer to go the saves rout. What other good save spells are there besides fireball/ fire snake?

[Hawktitan]

If you aren't allowed wordcasting (most aren't) then Dragon's Breath is a fairly good one. I'm partial to both flaming sphere and ball lightning. At higher levels you have chain lightning and disintergrate.