I'm playing a high Cha, high Dex, low Str character in a Reign of Winter campaign.
I started out looking at a Vanilla Bard with a dip in Fey Blooded Sorcerer for the +2 DC for mind affecting.
But then I started looking at Bloodlines and archetypes and began theory-crafting this other thing.
Dirge Bard with 1 level dip in CrossBlooded Sorcerer... but which ones?
Dirge Bard or Undead Bloodline give enchantment to Undead
Fey... +2 to mind affecting DCs
Impossible Bloodline... Constructs
Serpentine Bloodline... Animals, Monstrous Humanoid and Magical Beast
and someone just mentioned Mesmerist.
Which to take? which to dip?
what traits and feats to give it oomph.
I don't know that I'll really go this far with my actual PC, but I'm really enjoying playing with the idea of a caster who can charm the pants off anything. Even if it doesn't have legs.
More ideas anyone?
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I recommend against playing a dedicated Enchanter.
IMO, kitsune fey sorcerer (no dip) is the strongest, as your DCs will be sky-high and you will have the ability to spam effects if they don't land the first time. It's really tough to get anywhere near their effectiveness with another class.
I have spent a lot of time playing a fey sorcerer, both in PFS and in an AP. It can be overpowered/problematic, and quite boring to play after a while, especially past 10th level.
Playing the class quickly boils down to 3 options:
-immediately end the encounter
-hold back and use weaker attacks to keep things interesting
-do nothing
Unless your campaign is overrun with constructs, the Impossible bloodline isn't going to be worth it over Fey.
Serpentine is an ok choice, but having mediocre save DCs for an Enchanter is un-fun.
Avoid Crossblooded!
Having a variety of options is really the only way to make it enjoyable. Limiting your spells known for an Enchanter is insanity. You don't need to make your already limited options even more limited.
What I did:
Kitsune fey sorcerer, very high Charisma (other stats average/whatever).
Spell focus/greater Enchantment
Kitsune Favored Class Option to further boost DCs
I selected one Enchantment spell for each spell level for power and took other spells (control, buff) for balance.
So my best advice is to use your class/race/bloodline to make your strongest attack insanely strong, for emergencies only. Fill in the rest with stuff that makes sense and keeps things balanced.
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Fey is a great bloodline for a Kitsune sorcerer, yes, but I'd still partial to undead. Mainly because undead are THE most common enchantment immune foe and that bloodline lets you negate that in a big way. A non-crossblooded fey sorc will be very useless in a lot if situation, I know because I played one in an ongoing adventure for some time. At higher levels, pretty much everything that's relevant will be immune to enchantment; I remember not so fondly how in that game my fey sorc had to rely on UMD'ed wands and scrolls to contribute to about 80-90% of the combat encounters at even mid-level play. Among those foes that are immune, undead are by far the most numerous, to the point I could confidently claim they make up roughy 75% of those immune foes, so when you look at bloodlines from that perspective undead is a nice deal for a Kitsune enchanter sorc.
Even further, necromancy complements enchantment very nicely, debuffing enemy saves against your already stelar DCs. I mean , don't get me wrong, the +2 to compulsion DCs is very nice and you will most definitely miss it, but being able to hit a lot of the things immune to your ultimate weapon is vey nice.. So much that giving up the +2 may be worth it. Also, Kitsune undead sorcs, with their high DCs, have the possibility of permanently keep a wight and it's spawn, or potentially even things like vampires, death knights or liches as your pets, and that's pretty awesome.
What do you think of a Dirge Bard (also controls undead)
with a one-level dip in Crossblooded Fey & Serpentine?
Btw... GM is letting me play a modified Fey, so the race is already set. High Dex, High Cha, Low Str. No favored race bonuses. But some occasional SLAs granted at his discretion.
(was going for Arcane Trickster, but Sneak Attack doesn't hit undead in his campaign, sooooo... spent a lot of time with a tiny thumb up my tiny butt. He's letting me rebuild. I really don't feel like playing another. blasty. sorcerer. again. So I'm searching for options.)
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Dirge bard is a strong option, no doupt, but has a very different playstyle than the sorc. As a dirge bard, you have spells only up to sixth level, which means without serious feat investment and liberal use of debuffs, your DCs will be lower then the sorc's. Even further, as a bard, you will have les casts per-day then the sorc, meaning even at high levels you will not be casting every round, at least not without umding some wands. However, what the bard lacks in raw Spellcasting power, they make up with their performances and more mundane skills. As a dirge bard, you still have inspire courage and friends, which means that despite being an enchantment and necromancy-focused caster you can still field potent party support/buffing.
Even further, dirge bards are especially well-positioned to be mundane debuffers through the use of the intimidate skill. Your archtype grants you bonuses to this, and with the dazzling display feat you can quite effectively debuff enemies without ever spending a spell slot; oh , and demoralizing with intimidate happens to synergize quite well with enchantment as it lowers their saves! You also gave more skills then the sorc will ever have, meaning you will be stronger outside of combat. Finally, you can stack the sound striker and dirge bard archetypes, which I HIGHLY advise you do if you have no interest on spending feats on buffing either archery or melee combat. The sound striker archtype lets you use your performance to blast enemies, which essentially lets you be able to contribute to the fight in the rounds your not casting without having to devote feats and ability points to being a competent martial character.
So in the end it depends on what you want. Do you want to go "all-in" on enchantment Spellcasting? Sorcerer. Do you want to be proficient with enchanting, but sacrifice raw casting power for a much more versatile toolset? Bard.