Me and a new player think it would be awesome for story flavour purposes to be Draconic/Destined. Far as I can see, the biggest problem is having one spell less per level. If I ignored the RAW and allowed her to have the normal number of spells, what would this do? Make her completely overpowered, giving the others a relatively unfair advantage, or would she still be weak because of the -2 will save?
Many thanks!
No more op than a wizard of her level -1. I dislike the will penalty, but you have to pay for it somewhere. Otherwise, loads of benefits without any drawback to compensate. Crossblooded is an archetype, and the point of archetypes is that you give up certain class features in order to gain different ones. If you're going to give her standard spell progression and are looking at that will save, then what is she exchanging?
In general, Crossblooded is really powerful because there is no other way to get two Arcana. Draconic/Orc or, if your GM is permissive, Draconic/Primal Elemental is the cornerstone of every blasting build, and grabbing two arcana that expand what you can "mind-affect" is key to dedicated Enchanters.
That said, with the sole exception of getting Freedom of Movement, Destined is such a lousy waste-of-a-bloodline that, in this specific case, I don't think it will really hurt anything.
Thanks very much guys. This is my first ever campaign, so I don't really want to be messing with the rules when I'm shaky on them anyway. Good points about archetypes; and this will definitely make it simpler for a new player besides.
Thanks again!
If i were you i would not remove the reduction in spells known, i would just say that the minimum number of spells known (after the reduction) is 1.
But even if you stick to your decision i don't think that it's too much (in the context of 9 level spellcasters).
Go for it.
Personally I think the -1 spell per level DESTROYS the archetype in playability before 7th, and makes them even more cripplingly specialized than normal Sorcerers anyway.
-2 Will saves is pretty bad (that puts them at pretty much the worst saves wise since it drops them down to nearly Poor progression on Will, the only good save they have) already, though another, less painful downside may be in order.
Reduced progression on the Bloodline POWERS might be a decent one, if you need a replacement downside. Make it act like Eldritch Heritage, you work as Sorcerer level -2 or 3.
I don't think Draconic need to be crossblooded personally. Your arcana is +1 damage on each dice you roll when rolling for damamge with spell that use your element. Not many lv1 power would be useful unless you go elemental, so claws are not bad. your lv3 power are awesome, it's gives you natural armour that stacks and resistance to your element, not many lv3 power would be as awesome as that. Your lv9 power goes best with your arcana so you don't really want to trade that with power from other bloodline. Your level 15 power is one of the most awesome one, wings that can fly and can hide any time. For 20 then maybe draconic gets slightly weaker than other bloodline, but they tried to make it up by giving you blind sense. But much of a help at level 20 I would say.
I'm pretty much in agreement with MP.
Generally speaking I think the penalty for Crossblooded is overly harsh, except in specific circumstances (e.g. orc / draconic or fey / serpent). For a bloodlike like Destined that is on the weaker side (perhaps the weakest side?) I don't really think you are going to see a problem in giving then their spells back but keeping the will save penalty.