I'm putting together a sorcerer for use in PFS, and I'd appreciate hearing from you guys whether you think she's mechanically viable.
My philosophy here is that Pathfinder is a team game and I want my character to always be a valuable member of the team. I'm not looking to be the guy who broke the scenario that one time. That said, if I'm called upon to bring the pain I'd like to make a decent showing.
I also want to keep things mechanically straightforward and not take any levels outside of sorcerer. I'm more confident I'm following the rules properly that way and I think simpler character sheets tend to be a little more easily accepted.
20 point buy: 7 / 14 / 14 / 13 / 11 /16+2
Traits:
Magical Lineage (Burning Arc)
Secret of the Impossible Kingdom (Burning Arc)
Feats:
L1: Spell Focus (evocation)
L1: Mage's Tattoo (evocation)
L1: Spell Specialization (Burning Hands)
L3: Rime
L4: (re-Specialize in Burning Arc)
L5: Spontaneous Metafocus (Burning Arc)
L7: Improved Initiative
L7: Empower Spell
L9: Dazing Spell
My preferred blasting spell by level (burning hands 1-3, then burning arc) will be doing:
1: 4d4
2: 5d4
3: 5d4
4: 8d6, 4d6, 2d6
5: 9d6, 4d6, 2d6 (+ entangle)
6: 10d6, 5d6, 2d6 (+ entangle)
7+: 10d6, 5d6, 2d6 (+ 1/2 pt per die, and/or + entangle)
My questions:
(1) Is this level of damage output enough to be useful in a level appropriate PFS scenario? At what point are enemies going to be routinely making their saves? Am I better off tabling the freeze plan until I can afford a metamagic elemental rod and going with the Orc or Dragon bloodline to goose damage early?
(2) Is there something I'm missing that I could be doing to be less of a glass cannon? My thinking is that by focusing on Burning Arc as my workhorse I'd be free to use the bulk of my spells known on other stuff. I figure by level 6 we'll be going into combat with everybody Mage Armored, then I'll do a first round Haste, second round (Freezer) Burning Arc anybody that looks troublesome.
Thanks for taking the time to look this over.
On a d4 die roll orc bloodline gives you 40% extra damage (on average over time). On d6 rolls it's 28.5% extra damage.
Is an extra 28.5% damage important to you? Or is the point of your character to get the debuffs on them while dealing a bit of damage?
Also when you really want to do more damage you will use empower, which will lower the bonus % of damage to +20% damage.
I feel like a no-save entangle is better than 10 (then 5, then 2) points of damage, but I don't really have anything to base that on. Are there enemies in level 4+ PFS scenarios that can be consistently one-shot by 8+8d6 points of damage? Or even by half of that?
At what level is 10+10d6 points of damage no longer enough to one shot anybody?
If you aren't one-shotting anybody it seems like entangling three guys per round would be a pretty huge boost for the party.
On a separate note, does anybody else find it annoying that wizards can use metamagic rods without any increase in casting times, but sorcerers can't? I'd even settle for being able to use rods on my spontaneous metafocused spell as a standard action, but no. Wizards really needed another boost.
10d6+10 is average 45. The average CR5 creature has 55 hp with a good save of +8. The average CR4 is 40 and +7. So your answer is level 7...or lower if you design based on the monster making the save. For PFS purposes you are still fine since you are working with a party.
Interesting, thanks. My instinct is that it helps the party more to debuff once you aren't dropping guys in the first round. I guess it depends on the party.
Just a question, where is the second feat at level 7 coming from? Because the Bloodline feat you would normally get at 7th is replaced by the Create Spell Tattoo ability of the Tattooed Sorcerer archetype.
Good catch, I goofed. I was focused on keeping the blast damage calcs straight and missed that one.