A while ago I was considering gestalting my ninja character with archeologist bard to have more options of trickery and not stand out so much in my party. Since then me and my GM were experimenting a bit with getting that gestalt to work, not get over the line and make sense storywise..turned out I had a trip through some rather crazy dimension and picked up a few lost travelers along the way..as part of myself.
Yet we're still missing details and some of those are that the impossible sorcerer bloodline seems to fit more than some features of archeologist bard. Thus I was wondering how to perhaps trade in some parts for the bloodline..
..and now there's Pathfinder Unchained around, fresh out of the oven, but not yet at my table. Thus a question to those who did have a look already - it was mentionned somewhere that there'd be an option to pick up another classes feature. What options does it give me then to take a sorcerer bloodline and how do they work? What would I have to trade in for that, will I get the bonus feats and add spells to spells known as part of another sponateous casting class with a different spell list?
So the ability is called Variant Multiclassing (VMC).
Basically you trade your Feats at 3, 7, 11, 15, and 19 to get class features instead. Its selected at character creation and either you take it all or none.
Sorcerer VMC (tl;dr)
1st Level - Gain Bloodline (no Arcana); just make the choice here.
3rd Level - 1st level ability (much like Eldritch Heritage)
7th Level - 3rd level ability
11th level - Eschew materials or a bloodline feat (from the bloodline)
15th level - gain the 9th level bloodline power
19th level - gain the 15th level bloodline power
Alternatively, if there are abilities that you want but want them either earlier (3rd, 11th and 17th); you can look at Eldritch Heritage, Improved Eldritch Heritage and Greater Eldritch Heritage.
The total tree with EH is 4 feats for Skill Focus, 1st Level BLP, 3rd or 9th level BLP, and 15th or lower BLP.
The total cost of VMC is 5 feats, but it is slower on the abilities. Upside is you 'gain' a feat at 11th, netting you almost the same. Biggest advantage of the latter is the lack of CHA pre-reqs. If you have the CHA already, I honestly think Eldritch Heritage is better (Especially if you are a Human who can take Focused Study like a champ).
For bloodlines you have many options available!
So the ability is called Variant Multiclassing (VMC).
Basically you trade your Feats at 3, 7, 11, 15, and 19 to get class features instead. Its selected at character creation and either you take it all or none.
Sorcerer VMC (tl;dr)
** spoiler omitted **Alternatively, if there are abilities that you want but want them either earlier (3rd, 11th and 17th); you can look at Eldritch Heritage, Improved Eldritch Heritage and Greater Eldritch Heritage.
The total tree with EH is 4 feats for Skill Focus, 1st Level BLP, 3rd or 9th level BLP, and 15th or lower BLP.
The total cost of VMC is 5 feats, but it is slower on the abilities. Upside is you 'gain' a feat at 11th, netting you almost the same. Biggest advantage of the latter is the lack of CHA pre-reqs. If you have the CHA already, I honestly think Eldritch Heritage is better (Especially if you are a Human who can take Focused Study like a champ).
For bloodlines you have many options available!
Eldritch Heritage also costs you 5 feats if you want both the 3rd and 11th level power, gives you the 3rd level power significantly later, and gives you a –2 to your effective sorcerer level. So if you want both the 3rd and the 11th powers, I feel like VMC is usually better (especially since Skill Focus (your bloodline) as a prereq you need first for EH changes out to a bigger list of options at 11th).
While thats true, you also gain the 9th level ability at 15 instead of 11 which for the majority of the bloodlines (opinion zone!) is where they get super meaty.
The -2 is eventually removed with G. Eldritch which is nice but has that nasty CHA17 pre-req.
There are options available and depending on the class and bloodline I do think both are viable; depending on the situation.
The character's a feline, homebrew race, no bonus feat and it's already at level 7, so no focused study in plans. On the upside it does have a natural 17cha and..22dex
I dont suppose there are options for doing that reverse? That is trade some class features in for something else
I suppose We could try homebrewing that part though. What does VMC say about bards and archetypes?
There's no way to trade features for others, thats pretty much homebrew territory. You can't get archetype abilities currently with VMC, again homebrew if you want it though I would personally allow it on a case-by-case basis (as some archetypes have really strong and really weak abilities to balance out).
The Bard VMC nets you Inspire(s), Bardic Knowledge, Versatile and Loremaster. A very nice mix of things that makes the Perform skill useful even on non-Bards (with a great retroactive clause on Versatile which makes me very happy)!