Crossblooded sorcerer archetype

[Jareth Elirae]

I'm a little confused about the drawbacks section of the crossblooded sorcerer archetype (Ultimate Magic pg 69). In the drawback section it says that the crossblooded sorcerer receives one less spell known per spell level. This makes them devoid of known 2nd level spells until 5th level (and this progression continues on the advancement chart so that they never know a level of spell when they gain spells per day of that level), but yet they would have 3 casting slots (or more presumably with a decent charisma) for 2nd level spells at 4th level. It seems like mechanically this may be backwards. Shouldn't it be 1 less spell per day of each spell level, instead of 1 less spell known? The only way it makes sense the way it is presented is if the bonus bloodline spell was lowered to match the level they gain spells per day- so the bloodline spell is the only one they can cast at that level. I'm just hoping for some clarification on this... as I have a crossblooded sorcerer coming up. No 2nd level spells until 5thlevel seems a rather extreme penalty, 1 less casting per day feels more correct.

[ShadowcatX]

Nope, the penalty is exactly what it says it is, and yes, it is kind of harsh. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it needs clarification.

You can still make use of the 2nd level spell slots, either with metamagic or just using higher slots for lower spells.

[James Risner]

There must be a real cost for greatly added flexibility.

[aceDiamond]

For the a la carte flexibility of crossblooded, you can pick up a few nice perks. While I don't disagree with the fewer spells known from this, however, I would just recommend not to pick it up. Unless you'd rather invest in metamagic feats to make use of your higher spell slots rather than new spells. Just learning a 3rd level spell while your wizard buddy has just learned four for free and picked up two 4th levels is probably enough to dissuade me from ever playing it, though.

[Nefreet]

You can still use your 2nd level spell slots to cast any of your 1st level spells known.

[Static Hamster]

Don't you get bonus spells from your Bloodline?

For example: Draconic gives you Mage Armor, Resist Energy, Fly, Fear, Spell Resistance....

I thought I got those bonus spells PLUS the spell from the Spells Known Table.

[thejeff]

Static Hamster wrote:

Don't you get bonus spells from your Bloodline?

For example: Draconic gives you Mage Armor, Resist Energy, Fly, Fear, Spell Resistance....

I thought I got those bonus spells PLUS the spell from the Spells Known Table.

You do. But look when you get them. Resist Energy at 5th, for example. It's second level. So at 4th level a normal sorcerer gets 3 2nd level slots/day, but only 1 2nd level spell known. The crossblooded sorcerer gets 1 less than that, so he still doesn't have any 2nd level spells.

At 5th level he'd normally get a second 2nd level spell, but instead gets his first. And a bloodline spell from one of her bloodlines.

The only real reason to go crossblooded is if you really want to stack two bloodline arcana for some specific purpose.

Blaster casters do particularly well with draconic (+1 damage/die in your element) and Elemental (change energy type to match your element). Sadly they generally then do better by switching to wizard to mostly negate the Cross-blooded penalties.:)

[Cuttler]

a little trick that our cross-blooded sorcerer do is that each time he gets to the new spell level, he retrains his "Expended Arcana" feat in order to select a spell from the new spell level....

Of course, if you don't use retraining, it's harder...

[thejeff]

Cuttler wrote:

a little trick that our cross-blooded sorcerer do is that each time he gets to the new spell level, he retrains his "Expended Arcana" feat in order to select a spell from the new spell level....

Of course, if you don't use retraining, it's harder...

That's a nice trick. I don't see anything in Expanded Arcana that keeps you from taking a spell from a level you don't already have spells known in. And at 50gp/level it's practically free. As long as you have the time.

[Nefreet]

Would be excruciatingly expensive in PFS.

[Jiggy]

For a crossblooded sorcerer, I recommend metamagic.

[thejeff]

Jiggy wrote:

For a crossblooded sorcerer, I recommend metamagic.

What's good for early metamagic? I'd like to get some use out of the 2nd or at least 3rd level slots.

[Jiggy]

Empower Spell + Magical Lineage (burning hands) could get you a nice damage boost as a 2nd-level spell, especially if the bloodlines you picked are the usual damage duo.

Reach Spell would let you use shocking grasp as a makeshift scorching ray for a while, and could see more use later as well.

Bouncing Spell could be an option.

Heck, you could even do good ol' Heighten Spell just to get +1 DC on whatever you're using that higher slot for anyway.

Intensify Spell could be good if you get yourself some CL boosts somehow.

[Nefreet]

Heighten Spell is always useful.

[Azten]

It's really good with Words of Power around level 6, when two lv1 effects words can be combined to make(and counts as) a 3rd level spell.

[Renvale987]

I'm currently playing a Cross-blooded Serpentine/Arcane Bloodline sorcerer in Rise of the Runelords. The missing spells known sucks, I will admit, but being able to mix and match abilities from two bloodlines can be pretty awesome, especially if you're going for a schtick type of character that does one thing really well. If it were just spells cast per day it might be a bit OP, but I'm not sure.