I don't think magical knack increases your bloodline power. MK increases your caster level, but the bloodline power is based on your sorcerer level, not the same thing.
You can see it in the different language for Magical Knack and the Favored Class option. One says "caster level" and the other says "effective sorcerer level."
For your spells your caster level is 2 from sorcerer and 1 from magical knack and rogue HD = 3. For your bloodline power, your effective sorcerer level is 2 (sorcerer)+ 1.5 (3 levels of favored class)= 3 (rounding down) so your damage is 1d6+1.
I think an argument could be made that because Magical Knack increases your caster level in a specific class only that it is effectively equivalent to your "sorcerer level".
Now, if you were a cross-class sorcerer-wizard, and you had taken Magical Knack for Wizard, then it definitely would not, but...
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accept that MK specifically says caster level. My selected caster class is sorcerer... It can't be rogue caster level can it?
MK raises your caster level, not your class level. Your bloodline powers are based off of your class level, not your caster level. They are 2 different things.
Here's an example. Say we have a character that is Sorcerer 2/Cleric 4. That character takes MK and selects Cleric as his class that it applies to. He is CL2 for his sorcerer class and CL6 for his cleric class. But he is still level 6 (2/4). Does that help clarify a bit?
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For your spells your caster level is 2 from sorcerer and 1 from magical knack and rogue HD = 3. For your bloodline power, your effective sorcerer level is 2 (sorcerer)+ 1.5 (3 levels of favored class)= 3 (rounding down) so your damage is 1d6+1.
accept that MK specifically says caster level. My selected caster class is sorcerer... It can't be rogue caster level can it?
The reference to rogue from jb has to do with your total hit dice, to provide the cap for magical knack. So your caster level is raised to three by that trait. The favored class option raises your sorcerer level for the bloodline power. The numbers that jb gave are good.
At sixth level, with sorcerer (4)/rogue (2), you would have a caster level of 6th, and an effective sorcerer level for that bloodline power of 6th.
"Caster level" is different from "Class level".
Magical knack raises "caster level" which has an effect with spellcasting.
Air affinity raises Charisma which has an effect on spell DCs, bonus spells, and bloodline abilities.
The favored class thing raises "character level" in relation to a specific bloodline power.
Magical knack has no effect on the Elemental Ray (or any other bloodline power) since they are not spells but supernatural or spell-like abilities and have no "caster level".
Air affinity would net you an extra use of the Elemental Ray (since it's calculated as 3+CHA).
The favored class (with 2 levels of sorcerer) would add 1 to your sorcerer level in the calculation of Elemental Ray. Unfortunately, you're only 2nd level. Being considered 3rd level in the Elemental Ray doesn't resulat in any difference since it's 1d6 +1 per 2 levels (and we always round down unless otherwise specified). So 1d6 at level 1, 1d6+1 at levels 2 and 3, and so on.
EDIT: Ninjaed by everyone.
I can see arguments in both directions. Reading back over some previous posts on the matter, and re-reading all the relevant abilities, from an RAW perspective Magical Knack probably would not increase your bloodline powers.
From a table rule perspective, I would probably allow your alterations to your caster level in a particular class to equate to sorcerer levels in this instance - but that would be a house rule, not RAW (or probably even RAI).
Yes, that would get full benefit of Magical Knack, but as a rule, spellcasters get more and more powerful as they level up in their spellcasting class while multiclassing them makes them weaker.
In almost every conceivable way, a Sorcerer 20 is far more powerful than a Sorcerer 18/Rogue 2, and that is true at pretty much any level above about level 5.
Or to put it another way, yeah, you can get more benefit from one feat by taking a level of rogue, but the price you ultimately pay is losing a whole level of sorcerer spellcasting.
If you're doing it for RP reasons, awesome, but then there is no need to consider whether or not you're optimizing the Magical Knack feat. So if you're doing it from an optimizing perspective, I'd say stick with sorcerer.
I can see arguments in both directions. Reading back over some previous posts on the matter, and re-reading all the relevant abilities, from an RAW perspective Magical Knack probably would not increase your bloodline powers.
From a table rule perspective, I would probably allow your alterations to your caster level in a particular class to equate to sorcerer levels in this instance - but that would be a house rule, not RAW (or probably even RAI).
Caster level and Class level are completely independent from one another. 2 examples:
1) A Ranger or Paladin has a class level of 5 but a caster level of only 2.2) A better argument is if you look at prestige classes. Dragon Disciple and Arcane Archer both increase your caster level but not your class level, therefore a Sorcerer 8/Arcane Archer 5 has a Caster level of 11, but their bloodline powers are at class level 8.
Just to clarify, at Sorcerer 2/Rogue 1, your caster level is 3, and you deal 1d6+1 damage with your ray, because you are treated as a 3rd level sorcerer.
At Sorcerer 3/Rogue 1, your caster level is 4, and you deal 1d6+2 with your ray because you are treated as a 4th level sorcerer.
At Sorcerer 8/Rogue 1 (when you reach maximum effectiveness for your favored class bonus), your caster level will be 9 and your ray will deal 1d6+6 because you will be treated as a 12th level sorcerer.
Caster level and class level are different, and Magical Knack does not affect anything reliant on class level, only things reliant on caster level.
More or less correct.
More examples: all characters have reached character level 9:
sorc(8)/rogue(1) with Magical Knack = caster level 8+2=10 but capped at 9 in sorc
sorc(6)/rogue(3) with Magical Knack = caster level 6+2=8 in sorc.
sorc(3)/cleric(6) with magical Knack for cleric = caster level 6+2=8 for cleric and caster level 3 for sorc. Thats 2 different caster levels because of 2 different casting classes.
sorc(1)/cleric(8) with MK for cleric = caster level 9 for cleric and caster level 1 for sorc.
with that last one... sorc(1)/cleric(8) with MK for sorc it'd be caster level sorc(3) and cleric(8)?
That is correct.
with that last one... sorc(1)/cleric(8) with MK for sorc it'd be caster level sorc(3) and cleric(8)?
The example has MK on cleric, but yes you are correct that if MK was on sorcerer it would be cleric 8 sorcerer 3
wait so your caster level equals your total character level?
No, but you have Magical Knack, so you get +2 CL up to your HD. A Sorcerer 8/Rogue 1 has CL 8 normally, and 9 with Magical Knack. A Sorcerer 8/Rogue 3 has CL 8 normally, and 10 with Magical Knack.
I thought your caster level was only related to your level in the casting class? Even then some didn't mix, like Cleric(2)/Sorcerer(4) the caster level wouldn't be 6 because they are different types
Correct, you'd have a Cleric caster level of 2, and a Sorcerer caster level of 4. If you took Magical Knack for Cleric, your caster level for both classes would be 4. If you took Magical Knack for Sorcerer, you'd have CL 2 for Cleric, and CL 6 for Sorcerer.
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Just in case this isn't clear, the increase in caster level from Magical Knack also does not grant any other benefits that you gain from an increase in your class level. In particular, gaining a level of rogue will not grant you spells. You will still know as many spells and cast as many spells per day as any other 2nd-level sorcerer.