Well depends on what you want to do. My gnome sorcerer in PFS lives off of colorspray and his gnome race helps there.
Again for th ehuman bonus, depneds on what you want to do. A sorcerer has one stat they rely one CHA. So getting a 20 stat there is a powerfull thing for them. More spells, higher DCs are worth it
Spell specializiation is awesome. One spell you get +2 caster levels and you can change it every even level. Mage tattoo is awesome as mentioned above. I disgaree with toughness, I think you should buff con and dump str, and possibly wisdom since you have will as your strong save.
Now if you are going conjuration I would probably pick wizard instead. As they are stronger at that. Plus the ACADAMAE GRADUATE to summon monsters as a standard istead of 1 round is an awesome feat for prepared casters only. Sorcerers are stronger for enchant and such. If you go that way dual blooded is pretty awesome(do not dump wis here) and human makes up the one less spell per level a bit. Take like fey and arcane so your Meta magiced spells are +3 dc is pretty sweet. Save or suck that. Or you could go undead and charm some zombies.
Depends on what you wanna do
Traits. Reactionary is great for a +2 intiative. They have a bunch +1 will save ones if you go cross blooded. Magic knack if you plan to dip. Magical Lineage and wayang spell hunter are under different groups so you can pick them both, they lower the MM spell increase for one spell by 1.
If you decide not to go cross blooded I would look at the tattooed sorcerer to get some awesome advantages.
As a PFS sorcerer your AC will be garbage. The best way to defend yourself is spells invisibiliy will defend you more than any armor.
I disagree a bit with the colorspray grease redudancy. grease has a much longer range. Also they target different saves. You do not want to colorspray a cleric, btu a rogue sure, and vise versa for the grease. plus they have different uses. You can use grease on items, or as a trap for oncoming people. Colorspray is a save die for you and the enemy as they are right on you.
1. Is there anything in another PFS-legal race that is worth giving up the human alternate favored class bonus for?
No.
2. If I do go human, is there any reason not to give up the human bonus feat and "skilled" racial trait in exchange for +2 to 2 different abilities?
Yes. There are plenty of feats worth taking as a sorcerer. Because some of them lead to better feats on the harder-to-reach branches of feat trees, there are decent arguments for keeping the feat-and-skill-point instead of taking +2 Cha.
In addition, you're likely to find yourself hungry for skill ranks as a sorcerer: that +1/level is worth having in itself, if it's allowing you to max out Knowledge Arc, Perception, Spellcraft, Stealth, UMD. Your need for Spellcraft isn't as acute as a wizard's, but you'll still find yourself wanting it for identifying spells as they're cast, and then too if you ever pick up a Ring of Spell Knowledge. If you dabble in charming, you may also want some ranks in Diplomacy and Linguistics. So yes, skill ranks are valuable to you.
3. Other than Spell Focus in whichever school I decide on, probably conjuration for increased grease DC, what feats should I look at taking on a low level sorcerer?
If you're taking SF (Conj), I can't recommend Augment Summoning too highly. Other lowlevel picks: Improved Initiative, Toughness, Superior Summoning, Extend Spell.
4. Are there any truly compelling arguments against taking the arcane bloodline?
No.
5. If I do go arcane bloodline, bonded item or compsagnathus familiar?
Familiar, and take Improved Familiar at 5th or 7th.
6. Traits? Clueless here as I'm not really sure which ones are really going to help.
As others have suggested, Magical Lineage is a gem. Lore Seeker is insanely good (possibly - hopefully - not PFS legal, I wouldn't know). Eyes and Ears of the City is a great second. Gifted Adept is okay, and Charming is nice if it fits the specifics of your character.
7. Level 1 spells. I got a scenario's worth of credit for GMing First Steps, and I was planning on buying a wand of mage armor with my 2 PP. That would allow me to pick up grease and color spray at level 1. Good idea? Bad idea? Terrible idea? Bloody genius?!? I'll also probably add more GM credit to the character and will likely add a wand of magic missile and a wand of infernal healing to my equipment by the time I hit level 2.
Decent idea. Colour Spray goes on being useful longer than most people notice (1 round area stun? not bad, though you'll still want to swap it out eventually). Other 1st level goodies: Enlarge Person (works on your familiar too), Silent Image (great once you have a familiar with wands - or a faerie dragon), Summon Minor Monster (superior augmented celestial skunks, for the win; but not until 3rd or so).
If you could get an ifriit boon, the alternative racial trait wildfire heart giving +4 on initiative could be worth it.
Meh, let others percieve. You are a face and blaster or controller. Your slight perception will be owned by the perception monkey in the group. You are a team do not try to do everything. Or you will do the thing you want to less.
The best bloodline depends on what you wanna do. Aracne is good for something definetly. But sticking to it for a blaster is holding you back.
If you wanna do balsting the 20 cha is not so important, but dipping would make you much more powerful. The tatto sorcerer is legal but you can not do that and the dual blooded. Blasting you want dual blooded dragon/orc. I would highly suggest a dip in wizard for admixure to make your spells change the tpye of damage or you may be shut down in certain fights. If you are stuck on arcane I would go orc as the second to give dark vision and +1 damage per die rolls for every element.
Your spells will not need many touch so Con is more valuable than dex. If you like skills int over dex even
My level 1 blaster did 4d4+8 damage at first level. With a level 1 rebuild at level 3 5d4+11 that slows if it damages you.
Keep in mind blaster casters will be trumped but optimal other classes unless you hit more than one thing. Save or suck spells are much more powerful. There you would want the 20 cha because every bonus to your DC makes it exponentially harder to resist.
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If you go that way dual blooded is pretty awesome(do not dump wis here) and human makes up the one less spell per level a bit.
I have to disagree with this. The Human Favored Class Bonus doesn't make up for a Cross-blooded Sorcerer not being able to cast a 2nd level spell until 5th level. And your Favored Class Bonus won't net you an extra 2nd level spell until 7th level...
Cross-Blooded Sorcerer - a great 1 level dip for Wizards or Magi, not so great for actual Sorcerers.
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Blasting you want dual blooded dragon/orc. I would highly suggest a dip in wizard for admixure to make your spells change the tpye of damage or you may be shut down in certain fights.
Frankly, I'd reverse that advice. Go for a 1 level dip in Cross-blooded Draconic / Orc, and then the rest of your levels in Admixture Wizard...
Arcane is great for raising the DC of save or suck spells. When you need every bit to raise those DCs so they make or break the fight. Raising the DC +1 and adding persistence to the spell is much more devestating than just making it 5% more effective.
I agree with hey mitch on blaster bit, but the context was going sorcerer. Also the I said human favroed class makes up for it a bit. Not completely. This is a sorcerer thread. So I wrote in those context.
Yes you would want to figure out what you want to do. For example a kitsune enchanter fey bloodline is devestating and the DCs can be crazy if you build to make neigh impossible saves. My colorspray gnome is arcane to raise the DCs. If you like teiflings there are variant tieflings that do not have a cha penalty so you could pick the infernal bloodline to have a high save for charm spells. So you just enchant everyone like a succubus. The sorcerer is a great single attribute class. Honestly pumping cha to 20 is very easy and dumping str.
My blaster
Human
int 20
cha 12(to get the oracle and sorc spells)
rest you figure out.
traits
magical knack wizard
wayang spell hunter fireball
feats
pfs give spell focus instead of scribe scroll
lvl 1 spell specialization(at first bruning hands)
human mage tatto evocation
level 1 wizard admixture evoker
level 2 sorcer dual blooded orc/blue dragon(pick a spell that is forbidden as wiz)
level 3 Oracle waves(winter would be better, but I do not have that book they add sneak)
Revelation cold spell, enemies that fail a save from cold damage from your spells are slowed for 1 round
feat intensify or rime(can not use it yet)
every level after wizard
You will be pounding things at first with a heavy burning hands then once you get level 2 spells you should be able to buy a MM wand of the feat you did not take at level 3 to have 8d4+17 damage burning hands thats slows and entangles.
At level 7 you will get fireball and start truely ownign things
a 10d6+22 damage fireball that slows and entangles.
you definately could build a straight class blaster, but you are holding yourself back.
I would pick human orc/red dragon dual blooded sorcerer.
(your trait otions can vary depending on now power or later power)
feats spell focus
spell speciailization
level 3 mage tattoo
Your spells would be a touch less damage, but you get higher level spell progression would be a level better. Your choices of spells bad. Will save much worse, others a touch better. Less class skills, less 0 levels, no ability to heal. No ability to change the type of energy.
The ability to not change the tyoe of damage or being nerfed by taking another bloodline to be able to, I would not make this build.
I think a sorcerer is stronger as a save or suck caster. Adjusting the spell they need on the fly. A blaster is best done with multiclassing as the core really makes them weak. Casters are not really great damage machines. A bow user trumps them. Casters are best abusing action economy by stopping the enemies, or adding more allies.
I really want to be a human with the arcane bloodline. What are those best at and how do I build the best one?
I'm playing one of these right now. Primary focus is control, but pretty well rounded in my opinion. I like dazing spell a lot, so have been using that with snapdragon fireworks for a bit, but will use it with ball lightning when I hit 12th (10th now).
Feats are for broad spellcasting capability and in this order - toughness, great fortitude, combat casting, spell penetration, improved familiar (dust mephit), improved initiative (bloodline), dazing spell. I'll get persistent spell at 11th and both quicken spell and focus (evocation) at 13th.
20 point buy was: s9, d12, c12, i12, wis8, cha20. I like social skills for sorcerer, so the int was important to me. I also like high DCs. You may be wiser buying an 18 in cha.
Spell selection is the big one here. Here's what mine looks like at 10th level (with all the human and arcane bonuses):
1- Identify, prot from evil, magic missile, mage armor, grease, silent image, snapdragon fireworks, mount
2 - invisibility, glitterdust, resist energy, create pit, levitate, mirror image, burning gaze
3 - dispel magic, haste, stinking cloud, fireball, aqueous orb, halt undead
4 - dimension door, summon monster IV, confusion, wall of ice, greater false life
5 - icy prison
That setup gives me a good spell for most occasions. the next two levels are a pretty big power boost with several additional spells and feats.
Don't be tempted to multiclass, multiclassing is not a very good decision nine out of ten times. A sorcerer1/wizard1/oracle1 sounds like a heap of fun, but the fun will fade as soon as you reach mid-level play, because you will be able to do tons of stuff, none of which will actually manage to succeed.
Your idea of a human sorcerer with the arcane bloodline is excellent, both as a blaster and utility caster.
I would recommend focusing on blasting spells and indeed having a high Cha so that your DCs are high and you have many spells per day.
Don't worry too much about choosing no-save spells. You are a sorcerer, not a wizard, this gives you the privilege of casting the same spell a few more times than a wizard normally has prepared.
Since you are a human I would recommend choosing your human bonus spells as defensive or utility spells. Most sorcerers aren't really utility casters at all, outside of utility spells gained from bloodlines, so being a human really gives you that luxury and versality.
I agree with feat advice so far. Improved familiar is awesome and Toughness, Improved Initiative, Spell focus (evocation) are all good options for a "glass cannon" sorcerer.
Your offensive spell choice should really depend on your ability scores... If you have a high Dex you can easily enjoy shooting ranged touch attacks. If you have a high Cha I would recommend area-effect spells. If you perhaps one day encounter enemies with Evasion and Improved Evasion, then you just start shooting the touch attacks. Simple.
I read up on wizards last night, and to be honest, I was quite confused about how many spells they get in their spellbook and how many they can cast per day. I also didn't quite get the whole arcane schools and opposed schools thing.
Unless you're a universalist (no good reason to be one) you pick a particular arcane school to specialize in. This gets you certain special abilities related to that school, and one extra spell slot per day per level, but you have to prepare a spell of that school in it. To balance your specialization in this school, you have to choose any other two schools as your opposition schools, which just means that preparing a spell from those schools requires two spell slots. Later on you can eliminate the penalty for an opposition school through a Discovery if you wish.
A 3rd level Evoker gets the following spell slots from the class:
0: 4
1: 2
2: 1
If he has at least 14 INT, he will get bonus spell slots as follows:
1: 1
2: 1
And his evocation school allows him one additional spell slot per day for both levels, but he needs to use an Evocation spell for it.
1: 1*
2: 1*
So the breakdown would be:
0: 4
1: 3+1*
2: 2+1*
His spells known consist of all 0-level spells other than those of his opposition schools (not sure about that, the PRD uses the word 'prohibited schools' which seems to be a holdover from 3.5), 3+(INT MOD) spells he got at 1st level, 4 more from 2nd and 3rd level, plus any other spells he found in scrolls or spellbooks along the way.
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So you want to stick to pure sorcerer (no multi-class) for simplicity, and human for the bonus spells known.
But why so insistent on arcane bloodline? Just for the familiar? You've mentioned blasting a couple of times, so I'll just say that if you want to have a familiar and be a good blasting sorcerer, I'd recommend the Tattooed Sorcerer archetype. It gives you the familiar for free and the Varisian Tattoo for +1 CL on your blasting spells, which is extra damage for most of them. Then you can pick a bloodline that goes well with whatever blasting theme you want to do. ie If you want to do cold blasting with the Rime Metamagic feat, then go with a bloodline that lets you convert any blasting spell to cold. Or just go Draconic for +1 damage per die on any blasting spell that matches your element.
If you want to focus on utility spells rather than blastspells as a sorcerer or wizard... then make sure you have a little more Dex and Con than an offensive build. Many utility spells don't require a save so you don't really need that maxed out Cha or Int for that matter. Dex and Con will enhance your AC, saves, and total hit-points, and your ranged attacks.
As far as spells go, take the spells that have the most versatile and useful effects.
Spells that I can recommend: (the ones that come up in my head right now, these are most but not all of the good ones)
lvl0:
Detect Magic, Read Magic, Dancing Lights(more useful than Light), Resistance(+1 to all saves, nice), Ghost Sound(nice distraction), Mending(bring broken items back in functional condition), Open/Close(trigger traps from distance), Disrupt undead (1d6 damage to undead, no save, never run out of this spell, nice!) Message, Prestidigitation(all kinds of strange tricks)
lvl1:
Grease - Trip enemies, complicate their movement, disarm them, bonus to escaping grapples
Enlarge Person - Increases threat range and weapon damage, useful for allies, and if you want to increase the range of your touch attacks.
Silent Image - An illusion that only grants a save when interacted with, this can be put to creative use a lot.
Sleep - 4HD limit becomes a problem after level 4, but it's great spell up till then.
Charm Person - Sometimes hard to pull off right, just make sure other people in your party don't screw this spell up for you, if it works it is really nice
lvl2:
Glitterdust - Blind creatures and reveal invisible ones (to everyone, not just yourself)
Pyrotechnics - You only need a flame to start with but gives a neat set of effects, just carry some torches or alchemist's fire.
Protection from Evil - Not only a good defensive spell but also defends against mind-control. (a bit circumstancial but makes up for a lot of trouble)
I could go on but there's a ton of guides out there.
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Every caster should be a walking scroll library, not just sorcerers. Just be sure to buy a few scroll cases, in case you end up in the water with a GM who actually pays attention to such things.
I was playing a level 1 cleric the other day, and my scroll of Air Bubble came in handy. It's not something that comes up often enough to ever prepare, but stuff like that and Comprehend Languages make great scrolls to walk around with for utility casting.
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Just glanced through the thread, so apologies if I duplicate something that's been said before. It also looks like you might be leaning Wizard, but I still like the Sorcerer for flexibility. Spontaneous casting really helps have the right spell at the right time (though you have to suffer through a couple of levels with only a few options).
My sorcerer kindof got forced into being a generalist, because I had no idea what I was doing when I made him. So, I've learned a lot of lessons after getting him to 10th level (as of tonight). Namely, Abyssal bloodline is... well, abysmal, unless you're going for a very specific melee build. Even then, it takes so many levels to get anything really good. You're probably on the right track with Arcane if you want to be a flexible caster.
Toughness... Don't think of this feat as extra hitpoints. Think of it as an excuse to use your favored class bonus for the bonus spell and not feel like you're too squishy. I don't know if I'd take it at first level, because you'll probably not spend favored class on level 0 spells anyway. But maybe 3rd or 5th. Think about it this way, if you're looking to add extra known spells, you could either take the Expanded Arcana feat and get two spells, or you can take Toughness and spend your favored class every level on a spell, while still having the same number of hitpoints you would have had normally.
Page of Spell Knowledge - Essentially, this adds a spell of its level to your known spells. So, need to pick up Protection from Evil? 1,000 gold, now it's a known spell for you and always available as long as you have spell slots available. It's a quick way to expand your utility, and since you spontaneously cast, you'll always have it available when that demon appears. Because of the cost, this works best on level 1 spells, but level 2 (4,000 gp) isn't unreasonable, either.
Mnemonic Vestment 5,000gp - Look it up. This item is your friend. Spontaneously cast one spell per day off of a written source (scroll, spell book) using one of your spell slots and cast as if you knew the spell (in other words, at your caster level). Now buy a bunch of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level scrolls of utility spells that you don't cast often. 4th and 5th level when you can cast them, too. Suddenly, once a day you have access to all of them. Move action to take the scroll out, standard to cast. If you need a second use of the spell that day, just use the scroll. They're cheap. Now you can reserve your spells known for things you cast a lot. I've kept Fireball on a scroll, for example, because there are a lot of scenarios where I just couldn't use it due to the size of the room or the melee characters charging up. But when I need it, just take out the scroll and cast a full caster level Fireball. At 25gp each, invest in a scroll of pretty much every 1st level spell. At 150gp each, you can get a lot of the 2nd levels as well. And for 375gp, a fair number of 3rds, too.
Runestones of Power - Basically Pearls of Power for spontaneous casters. They cost twice as much (2,000 for 1st level, 4,000 for 2nd, etc.). But, for 2,000 gp, you can go ahead and cast that Mage Armor using one of your slots instead of the wand, and still have your normal spell allotment. When you add up charges at 15gp/hour, you'll eventually come out ahead on the runestone. Pick up an extra or two just to make sure you always have spell slots available.
Lesser Rod of Extend Spell - 3,000gp - Well worth the investment. Suddenly that 4th level mage armor lasts you 8 hours. Safe a use for a minutes/level buff, or, if you are smart about it, Haste or a round/level spell in combat. Action economy gets tricky, since it's a full round action to cast a metamagic spell for sorcerers, but done right, it can work.
Metamagic Feats - Especially Empower once you have 3rd level spell slots, and later Intensify Spell (if you use Shocking Grasp, Burning Hands, or Snowball). Possibly Persistent Spell if you use save or suck spells. Also, by taking Empower, you don't have to take a blast spell at every spell level. What's better for a fourth level spell? an 8d6 single target blast spell, or two 4d6 Empowered Scorching Rays? (Essentially 8d6*1.5) With Metamagic Feats and being able to spontaneously apply them, you really only need one blast spell and one area effect blast and you can get by for many levels. Maybe take a couple just to have a variety of damage types. Something with a ranged touch attack will be important for things with good saves or when Spell Turning shows up in higher level scenarios (learned that one the hard way...).
False Life - 2nd level spell. 1d10+level temp hitpoints. You have the spell slots to burn, so may as well keep yourself from getting killed. Don't bother to extend this one. At 1 hour/level, you'll usually get hit and lose the temp hitpoints before the duration runs out.
Feather Fall - Because, you don't have to waste a spell slot memorizing it, and when you need it, you generally REALLY need it. Maybe buy a snapleaf instead, but only if you really want the invisibility part. At 750gp for a snapleaf and 1,000gp for a page of spell knowledge, you'll come out ahead with the page in the long run.
Be smart about your spell selection. Taking Vanish as a level 1 spell? Don't really need invisibility. Don't take similar spells at different levels. Also, Haste is your friend. You'll have plenty of 3rd level spell slots when you hit higher levels. Cast Haste every encounter in PFS and still have 3rd level slots available, then watch the Wizard thank you, because they don't have to memorize it, and the rest of the party thank you because Haste. Fly is another good one to actually know, because when you need it, chances are more than just you needs it.
Stinking Cloud, Dimension Door, Displacement, Dispel Magic, Black Tentacles (a candidate for a scroll and Mnemonic Vestment), Stoneskin, Communal buff spells, See Invisibility or Invisibility Purge... These are all great spells to have available when you need them.
At 9th level, with a 20 Cha, and 2 1st level Runestones, I've got 9 1st, 7 2nd, 7 3rd, and 5 4th level slots. More than enough to cast any utility and buff spells and still do plenty of blasting. Going to 10th, I'll add a 4th and 4 5th level slots. Using the feats, items and spells above, I've always got something helpful I can do, even if it's just run up and cast displacement on the fighter. It does sometimes take me a minute or two to figure out what I should do, because I have so many options. And this is all with a character that had no focus for most of his levels.
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This is for PFS and I don't have a kitsune boon, so that's out. The races available to me are the core races, plus aasimar, tiefling, and tengu.
I'll probably end up going human arcane bloodline sorcerer. Take a scorpion familiar for the initiative boost. Give it improved familiar at level 5. I just need to figure out traits and feats.
Also nice that I've got a scenario's worth of GM credit under my belt so when I create the character I'll have a wand, probably of magic missile, and 567 gold to spend on scrolls and potions and other stuff.
Like I said in my earlier post, consider the Tattooed Sorcerer archetype from Inner Sea Magic. It's PFS legal, and will give you the familiar for free. Then you can look at other bloodlines to see if something appeals to you more, because you're not locked into Arcane just for the familiar. Just remember that you'll be giving up your 1st and 9th level bloodline powers for the stuff you get from the Tattooed archetype.
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Gnome + Heavens Oracle + Sorcerer + Color Spray is actually a well known powergamer combo. I've seen it on one character locally and mentioned on the forums a couple of times. I just don't know which sorc bloodline it's usually done with. The one thing I can think of that would add to that specific combo is that the Undead bloodline would make your Color Spray work on a lot of undead who would normally be immune to it, because it's mind affecting.
Oh, and if you do this, definitely go Cure Light Wounds instead of Inflict as your known oracle spell. If an enemy is that close to you with this character, you'll be using Color Spray, not Inflict.