Hello,
I'm in a game where we just started book 5 of Rise of the Runelords. We're 13th level. My PC died, and I've been given an opportunity for a character crunch rebuild along with a reincarnation. I don't normally play arcane casters, but our party needs one.
Can anyone tell me how to build the most effective blaster sorcerer using currently available rules? Anything in the Paizo PRD is acceptable content.
We're 20 point buy, and I'll be using a custom race. I don't need help with ability scores and race so much as traits, archetypes, bloodline(s), feats, spell selections, and equipment. I want to be able to put out damage in any element and also cover the basic arcane stuff (haste, teleport, etc.)
Thanks in advance for any help offered! Please ask if I need to offer more information or wasn't clear on something.
OK. While some may tell you to take Crossblooded Orc/Draconic, I recommend just the Orc bloodline. It doesn't cripple your spells known like crossblooded does, it doesn't hit your will save (which is more important at 13th level than earlier IMO) and it's compatible with the Tattooed Sorcerer archetype which I think Crossblooded isn't. I like the Tattooed Sorcerer archetype.
If you don't want Tattooed sorcerer especially then you probably want all the bloodline mutations - Blood Havoc, Blood Intensity and Blood Piercing.
Make sure your race is one with an option to take extra spells as a favored class bonus. You'll be getting Spell Perfection in a couple of levels so make sure you have the prereqs - 3 metamagic feats, maxed spellcraft. Empower Spell, Quicken Spell and Selective Spell are the first I'd get for a blaster. Dazing spell is broken good and if you don't have a problem with that you might get it in addition. Given Spell Perfection you also want some of the feats it will double the effect of - (Greater) Spell Focus, (Greater) Spell Penetration, Varisian Tattoo.
Doing damage in multiple elements is mainly a matter of spell selection but you could get Metamagic Rods of Elemental Spell as well. Other metamagic rods such as Piercing and Reach Spell should also be on your list to buy too.
Mnemonic Vestments and some scrolls may be useful.
Edit: for spell selection some highlights are Battering Blast, Fireball, at least one of the pit spells, Chain Lightning, Telekinesis, and Sure Casting & True Strike for use with Quicken Spell. Caustic Blood may also be thought of as a weird blast and several 2nd level spells become strangely effective with Dazing Spell if you go that way. Don't entirely neglect defensive spells either.
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Hmmm you're gonna want to pick up perfect spell which means 4 feats eaten up and you should take spell focus and spell pen and possibly their greater brothers too to take advantage of perfect spell. You will also want Magical lineage on your spell of choice.
Then I think there are a couple decisions to make between being a disabling blaster throwing out dazing spells or a damage focused one throwing out maximised empowered spells.
Assuming your going damage I'd pick between Scorching Ray, Fireball, Battering Blast and chain lightning (magical lineage essential on this last one) if you pick battering Blast things are a bit different, but for the other three you should go draconic or orc and take blood havoc for +2 damage per damage dice for your element. Battering Blast doesn't work because you can't get the extra damage for force damage. On the other hand you do get to do force damage so there is that.
The other thing is though chain lightning is arguably the most powerful choice it doesn't come online full till level 16 when you can do quickened maximised chain lightnings. You can do quickened empowered but then both your quickened and none quickened (maximised empowered) use the same spell slot 7th which isn't good for ammonconsumption.
For dazing you definitely want to go fireball or chain lightning (although chain lightning won't come online till 15) but chain lightning will have a better DC.
The advantage of scorching ray is that there is no save and you can be throwing out
a maximised empowered one and a quickened maximised empowered for 3rd and 6th level spell which is pretty cheap.
I'm not sure how empowered interacts with maximize but assuming the less generous interpretation the scorching ray build do 12D6+ 216 the generous version is 288 but you have to land 6 touch attacks. The advantage of fireball and chain lightning is multi targeting and you don't have to hit, but fireball will have a troublingly low DC at this level.
So there ya go that's my waffle.
Bloodline Choices:
Orc or Arcane
Orc Offers the Damage booster of +1 Damage per dice Rolled.
Arcane offers A familiar (Wand user and extra action economy), Increased DCs for Meta Magic Spells (Harder to resist you), Extra spells known, A good spell List of useful spells, Metamagic Adept (cause sometimes you need to move and not use a full round action)
Personally the choice is yours. But I tend to prefer smarter Blasting than power blasting. Rider effects like Rime, Toppling, Dazing makes you a control specialist while also helping to soften up the target. But I still think you should grab a few hard control spells as well for when something has spell resistance or immunity to most elements. A great trait for getting more dazing spells off is Havoc of the Society. It adds +1 trait bonus to the total damage dealt. This damage is considered force damage regardless of the type of damage dealt by the spell. Not much is immune to force. So even if they are immune to your Dazing Fireball because of Fire immunity you still can daze them with 1 point of Force damage.
For sure would recommend Wayang Spellhunter as your 2nd trait.
. . 6th (5/day)—chain lightning (DC 27), elemental body III, transformation. . 5th (8/day)—cloudkill (DC 24), dismissal (DC 24), icy prison[UM] (DC 26), overland flight, teleport, wall of stone
. . 4th (8/day)—ball lightning[APG] (DC 25), dimension door, emergency force sphere, fear (DC 23), greater invisibility, resilient sphere (DC 25), wall of fire
. . 3rd (8/day)—dispel magic, fireball (DC 24), haste, heroism, rage, communal resist energy[UC], slow (DC 22)
. . 2nd (8/day)—bull's strength, burst of radiance (DC 23), create pit[APG] (DC 21), false life, glitterdust (DC 21), invisibility, mirror image, pilfering hand[UC], see invisibility, suppress charms and compulsions
. . 1st (9/day)—ant haul[APG] (DC 20), burning hands (DC 22), comprehend languages, disguise self, feather fall, grease, heightened awareness[ACG], liberating command[UC], mage armor, magic missile, shield, silent image (DC 20), snowball (DC 20), sure casting, true strike, unseen servant, vanish[APG] (DC 20)
. . 0 (at will)—arcane mark, chameleon scales, detect magic, detect poison, mage hand, mending, message, open/close (DC 19), spark[APG] (DC 21)
I would Eliminate these choices:
Transformation- Why...your low strength means you still will suck in combat...and think of RotRL so far...Really strong combatants. You should stay far away from front lines.
Dismissal- Really won't see too much use for this and it will feel like dead weight.
Slow- Your going to usually be Hasting. Plus most stuff in RotRL has an amazing Fort Save.
Ant Haul- Why? YOu should have magical bags of holding by now. Also Mount spell is far superior. 2 hours per level (so cast every night before bed with mage armor and false life). Mount can be cover, a Trap disarming device (horrid I know), and it can carry you and your stuff. Blood money is another suggestion. Paired with a wand of Lesser restoration and Limited wish you have so many answers.
Your understanding of the limits of perfect spell is different to mine
Pick one spell which you have the ability to cast. Whenever you cast that spell you may apply any one metamagic feat you have to that spell without affecting its level or casting time, as long as the total modified level of the spell does not use a spell slot above 9th level.
I read the total modified level as not counting the first metamagic you apply. Because it doesn't effect its spell level.
For instance a magical lineage chain lightning is LV5 for our purposes, the first metamagic doesn't affect spell level so the quicken chain lightning's modified level is still LV5 then you apply maximize for LV8. You couldn't apply quicken to it without lineage because the total would be 10 even though the first one wouldn't be counted because the modified level would exceed ten.
I've never encountered your definition before is there a FAQ on this anywhere?
The advantage of scorching ray is that there is no save and you can be throwing out a maximised empowered one and a quickened maximised empowered for 3rd and 6th level spell which is pretty cheap.Maximised empowered scorching ray also breaks the 9th level restriction on spell perfection unless you take Wayang Spell Hunter and Magical Lineage and apply both to it. Even then fire resistance is really common and fire immunity crops up on quite a lot of higher level threats. Hitting can also be an issue as you are likely eating a -8 to hit from cover and shooting into melee. As you are applying metamagic you cannot afford to move and spell perfection only means the free feat doesn't increase the cast time, others still do.
Scorching ray = 2 + maximize (3) + empower (2) = 7 even by your definition of spell perfection it does t exceed anything.
As for aiming at this level you should be invisible and have all day flight you just move to a good place turn one and then shoot. Using a quickened ray on the turn you move. If you build for scorching ray it's probably also reasonable to grab PBS and precise shot.
I know you said Sorcerer, but I would instead recommend the Blood Arcanist, bonus points for Peri-Blooded Aasimar.
You get all of the Sorcerer Bloodline stuff you'd want out of your Sorcerer, but also access to Exploits and bonus Metamagic feats. You also get the benefit of a spellbook of a Wizard, but the spontaneous spellcasting of a Sorcerer.
The biggest thing is access to the Wizard's Admixture School ability to transform your blast spells into any of the other four elements of your choosing, so that none of your blast spells are wasted.
In fact, I would suggest you look my Blaster Guide over for tips and advice as to how you would make an effective Blaster, even if you don't want to make a Blood Arcanist, it can give you other avenues to look down for options of your choosing.
Your understanding of the limits of perfect spell is different to mine
Pick one spell which you have the ability to cast. Whenever you cast that spell you may apply any one metamagic feat you have to that spell without affecting its level or casting time, as long as the total modified level of the spell does not use a spell slot above 9th level.I read the total modified level as not counting the first metamagic you apply. Because it doesn't effect its spell level.
For instance a magical lineage chain lightning is LV5 for our purposes, the first metamagic doesn't affect spell level so the quicken chain lightning's modified level is still LV5 then you apply maximize for LV8. You couldn't apply quicken to it without lineage because the total would be 10 even though the first one wouldn't be counted because the modified level would exceed ten.
I've never encountered your definition before is there a FAQ on this anywhere?
The advantage of scorching ray is that there is no save and you can be throwing out a maximised empowered one and a quickened maximised empowered for 3rd and 6th level spell which is pretty cheap.Maximised empowered scorching ray also breaks the 9th level restriction on spell perfection unless you take Wayang Spell Hunter and Magical Lineage and apply both to it. Even then fire resistance is really common and fire immunity crops up on quite a lot of higher level threats. Hitting can also be an issue as you are likely eating a -8 to hit from cover and shooting into melee. As you are applying metamagic you cannot afford to move and spell perfection only means the free feat doesn't increase the cast time, others still do.Scorching ray = 2 + maximize (3) + empower (2) = 7 even by your definition of spell perfection it does t exceed anything.
As for aiming at this level you should be invisible and have all day flight you just move to a good place turn one and then shoot. Using a quickened ray...
Magical lineage, etc cannot modify a spell to a lower spell level than it originally was. It was an errata(I think) that is mentioned on the SRD. To that end I recommend focused spell. Its bonus is doubled by spell perfection :)
Yeah no-one is saying it can.
EDIT: can see this turning into a thread derail anyway so never mind.
There's a FAQ about empower + maximise which makes maximise not affect the damage added by empower. Checking the math on CD's scorching rays though (& assuming that one way or another quickened maximized empowered scorching ray can happen) -
24 + 2d6 + 6*2*1.5 = 42 +2d6 per ray. 3 rays makes that 126 + 6d6, 6 rays makes it 252 +12d6 (less 6* whatever the target's fire resistance is) if all hit.
At 13th level though so without Spell Perfection you'd be looking at quickened empowered scorching ray for half of those. 6d6 +18 per ray, *3= 18d6+54, or total potential damage in a round of 24d6 +180.
Thanks for the math check avr.
Thanks everyone. So it seems the key is to specialize in one blasting spell, and the take all the feats and traits that can make that spell better along with orc bloodline.
I’m not wedded to sorcerer I just don’t like to play prepared casters.
I will look this over again later and post a sample build.
The race the GM gave me has three arms...any way to take advantage of that for magical gain?
Thanks everyone. So it seems the key is to specialize in one blasting spell, and the take all the feats and traits that can make that spell better along with orc bloodline.
I’m not wedded to sorcerer I just don’t like to play prepared casters.
I will look this over again later and post a sample build.
The race the GM gave me has three arms...any way to take advantage of that for magical gain?
Arcanist gives the ability to spontaneously cast like a Sorcerer with the added versatility of a Wizard's spellbook. You also use Intelligence to cast, meaning you have plenty of skill points to work with. It's probably the best thing you can ask for, all things considered.
Three arms means you can hold two wands or metamagic rods (or even draw out a potion or something) instead of just one while fulfilling spell components. Big advantage right there alone.
What else does the race give you in terms of benefits? What attribute bonuses (and penalties) does it grant? What racial traits does it have?
I would personally recommend using Words of Power. This guide does a pretty good job explaining why it works so well and how to build it, so I won't go over it all here. A few key points though:
With WoP, you can use your Draconic (red) bloodline to deal bonus cold damage, or you could someone with a fireball that targets their will save. I would advise making flash cards with your Words known for a RL game, though, to keep things moving quickly.
Aberration
Specialized ability scores, I can pick which (so anything really)
Arcane focus
light blindness
multi-armed
skill training
Edit:I don't really think Words of Power would be an option. Is it in the PRD?
Hmm. Thanks, Daedalus. I will look into WoP but I'm not sure I want to learn a whole new system right now.
I am looking into blood arcanist now. Seems nice...
Aberration
Specialized ability scores, I can pick which (so anything really)
Arcane focus
light blindness
multi-armed
skill trainingEdit:I don't really think Words of Power would be an option. Is it in the PRD?
Beware that if you have spells that target humanoids (or if anyone casts a spell that targets humanoids), that it wouldn't affect you. So, spells like Reduce Person (which is good for you, actually), Enlarge Person, Charm Person, etc. won't work.
For the specialized scores, I'm presuming it's +2 to 2 ability scores of your choice? If so, Intelligence and Charisma for sure if you're going Arcanist.
Arcane Focus is great starting out, but does lose its usefulness as you get higher in levels. Of course, it's always useful if you're in the event of requiring scaling concentration checks, but most enemies who are specialized as such will laugh at the +2, and as a spellcaster, you usually aren't in those situations (and if you are, you have other means of getting out).
Light Blindness is brutal. You can be basically taken out of the fight by a 0th level spell if an enemy is smart enough to do so. That's just stupid, and quite frankly would destroy you being effective in most any combat unless you throw out Deeper Darkness every battle. I don't know if you can get it knocked down to Light Sensitivity (which is -1 to attacks, saves, skills, and ability checks), which is penalizing, but at least still workable. I'm also presuming that you get Darkvision with this as well, since usually creatures that have Light Blindness have extreme levels of Darkvision.
Skill Training can be decent, but you don't necessarily need it as an Arcane Spellcaster, since a lot of the stuff you will be putting ranks into are already class skills. If anything, I'd propose that you remove this and lower the Light Blindness to Light Sensitivity.
Well, I didn't pick any of these traits, they were just handed to me. I have to work with the race. But thanks for the tips, Darksol. Reading your guide now.
Well, I didn't pick any of these traits, they were just handed to me. I have to work with the race. But thanks for the tips, Darksol. Reading your guide now.
I figured as much.
Doesn't mean the GM isn't unreasonable and can finagle some of the traits to better suit your fancy. And point for point, it's still the same race, just less likely to get screwed by a cantrip.
Well, I plan to run the Penumbra spell all the time. It will still be a weakness, but no overly so. Also, to exploit it the enemies will have to know who I am and my weakness.
At 13th level you might have a couple of traits making one spell better but don't make it your only blasting spell. If your favourite spell is a touch attack (e.g. scorching ray), make sure you have a couple of spells targeting different saves, and similarly if your favourite spell targets Reflex saves. Metamagic feats can be applied to many different spells, they're not specific to just one.
Sure, at 15th with spell perfection you'll have a lot pushing you towards one spell, but you're not there yet.
I think I am going to go with the Arcanist after reading Darksol's guide. I'm working on a build, but I don't have everything I want to use in Hero Lab so it will take me a while. I'll post it here when it's done, and hopefully you guys can offer pointers.
Well, I plan to run the Penumbra spell all the time. It will still be a weakness, but no overly so. Also, to exploit it the enemies will have to know who I am and my weakness.
Alrighty. I would suggest that you have a Lesser Rod of Extend Spell for that as part of your WBL (assuming the GM gives you average WBL for your PCs), as having it for 4.5+ hours per casting should last you for an entire adventuring day (presuming no overnight encounters). It does cut down on your 2nd level spells for buffing and stuff, though, and if an enemy hits you with a (Greater) Dispel Magic and knocks that buff out, you can be put in some dire straits.
You are 13th level; perhaps a BBEG has caught wind of your party's exploits, and used Scrying tactics to ascertain effects like what you're under, and why that is, in an attempt to be one step ahead of you to complete his grand master plan. I'm not saying the odds of an enemy knowing this are great, what I'm saying is that when an enemy knows this weakness of yours, chances are he's going to be big, bad, and is probably the worst time to have that weakness emerge.
OK. While some may tell you to take Crossblooded Orc/Draconic, I recommend just the Orc bloodline. It doesn't cripple your spells known like crossblooded does, it doesn't hit your will save (which is more important at 13th level than earlier IMO) and it's compatible with the Tattooed Sorcerer archetype which I think Crossblooded isn't. I like the Tattooed Sorcerer archetype.
If you don't want Tattooed sorcerer especially then you probably want all the bloodline mutations - Blood Havoc, Blood Intensity and Blood Piercing.
Make sure your race is one with an option to take extra spells as a favored class bonus. You'll be getting Spell Perfection in a couple of levels so make sure you have the prereqs - 3 metamagic feats, maxed spellcraft. Empower Spell, Quicken Spell and Selective Spell are the first I'd get for a blaster. Dazing spell is broken good and if you don't have a problem with that you might get it in addition. Given Spell Perfection you also want some of the feats it will double the effect of - (Greater) Spell Focus, (Greater) Spell Penetration, Varisian Tattoo.
Doing damage in multiple elements is mainly a matter of spell selection but you could get Metamagic Rods of Elemental Spell as well. Other metamagic rods such as Piercing and Reach Spell should also be on your list to buy too.
Mnemonic Vestments and some scrolls may be useful.
Edit: for spell selection some highlights are Battering Blast, Fireball, at least one of the pit spells, Chain Lightning, Telekinesis, and Sure Casting & True Strike for use with Quicken Spell. Caustic Blood may also be thought of as a weird blast and several 2nd level spells become strangely effective with Dazing Spell if...
Everything here is solid advice and is near identical to my sorcerer build. Tattoo sorcerer gives you that feat that offers +1 evocation caster level. It allows you to give others free daily spells, you can even give them to your familiar
You can actually take a bloodline mutation at 13th level, you are allowed to trade out bloodline feats for them as well, not just bloodline powers.
Battering blast would be my recommendation for magical lineage, it's your go to sniper spell. Force has no resistance
There's a 4th level spell that covers all 5 elements on it's own so is good crowd control against specific resistances.
Icy Prison is an evocation spell so works with spell focus evocation and is one of the best save of die's in the game.
Aasimar is an amazing race, you can get the human FCB and one of the alternative traits is +2 to beat spell resistance and it has no stat penalties.
I would heavily against arcanists as blasters, 2 less spells for every level is crippling for a blaster. As a blaster you are a hammer and need more dakka, you will do less damage than a sorcerer as well without access to bloodline mutations.
Alright everyone, here is my first draft build, minus his spellbook:
Master Blaster
Male cursed blood arcanist 13 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 8, 77)
N Medium aberration
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +15
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Defense
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AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 10 (+1 Dex)
hp 80 (13d6+26)
Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +11
Weaknesses light blindness
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Special Attacks arcane reservoir (7/16), arcanist exploits (greater metamagic knowledge[ACG], metamagic knowledge[ACG], potent magic[ACG], school understanding [admixture][ACG]), consume spells
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th; concentration +16)
. . 3/day?dancing lights
Blood Arcanist Spells Prepared (CL 13th; concentration +22)
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Statistics
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Str 8, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 28, Wis 8, Cha 16
Base Atk +6; CMB +5; CMD 16
Traits:
Feats Dazing Spell, Empower Spell, Greater Spell Focus (evocation), Greater Spell Penetration, Quicken Spell* (GMK), Spell Focus (evocation), Spell Penetration, Spell Specialization (Battering Blast), Varisian Tattoo (Evocation)
Skills Acrobatics +17, Fly +15, Knowledge (arcana) +25, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +13, Knowledge (local) +25, Knowledge (nature) +13, Knowledge (planes) +25, Knowledge (religion) +13, Linguistics +25, Perception +15, Perform (sing) +10, Sleight of Hand +7, Spellcraft +25, Use Magic Device +19
Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Celestial, Common, Elven, Giant, Orc, Thassilonian, 16 more
SQ arcane focus, versatile evocation
Combat Gear lesser bouncing metamagic rod, lesser maximize metamagic rod; Other Gear cloak of resistance +4, headband of vast intelligence +6, lenses of darkness[ARG], lesser dazing metamagic rod, ring of sustenance, 12,239 gp
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Special Abilities
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Admixture Associated School: Evocation
Arcane Focus (Ex) +2 to concentration checks to cast arcane spells defensively.
Arcane Reservoir +2 DC or CL (16/day) (Su) Pool of points fuel exploits, or can expend to add +2 CL or DC while cast spell.
Consume Spells (3/day) (Su) As a move action, expend a spell slot to add its spell levels to arcane reservoir.
Greater Metamagic Knowledge When preparing spells, can exchange bonus MM
feat for another that qualify for.
Greater Spell Focus (Evocation) +1 to the Save DC of spells from one school.
Light Blindness (Ex) Bright light blinds for 1 rd, then dazzled as long as remain in it.
School Understanding (3 rounds) Use 1 reservoir as a swift action to treat school ability at full level & gain other ability for 3 rds.
Versatile Evocation (6/day) (Su) Change the damage type and descriptor of a spell from acid, electricity, fire, or water to any other of those types.
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I would appreciate any tips on gear (just over 12k remaining to spend), or spell selection. I plan on specializing in battering blast for spell perfection.
Other than me, our party has an oracle and a druid who do decent crowd control already, and then a multiclassed melee specialist character.
Thanks!
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Rods of Extend is always a good go too.
Use it to cast spells like Overland flight the night before and have 26 hours of it and can prepare something else for the adventure day or leave blank and fill in as you need. I like to buy a lesser rod and a Normal one. My favorite buffs to cast night before adventure are:
Overland flight, life bubble, Defending bone, Lesser False Life, Mage Armor.
Solid choices so far. It will be interesting to see how well you can pump the damage with your Battering Blasts, though I do have a few more insights for your current build.
You will want the Wayang Spell Hunter and Magical Lineage traits for your Battering Blast spell. This makes it so you can cast Empowered Battering Blasts for free. You can also cast your Empowered Battering Blasts while using only one or both of the traits, so it is great for manipulating your spell slots pre-Spell Perfection.
Dazing Spell is good to start out, though I'd recommend retraining it when you get access to Spell Perfection for Bloatmage Initiate. It's good character flavor, and gives you even more CL boosts for your Battering Blast at the cost of meager defense and mobility. Caster Level is your #1 priority with this route, and with enough CL, you can outweigh any need for crowd control on a given boss. As I said in the Conclusion, you can one-round a Tarrasque with Battering Blasts with the proper set-up.
Quicken is always a good option; I'm not saying don't take it, but you aren't quite high enough level to make use of it reliably as a feat. It's best to get it as a Lesser Metamagic Rod. My suggestion is to instead select Intensify Spell, as it gives you an extra 2D6+2 damage (similar to a Bane weapon), and that also is multiplied by Empowered. It only increases the Spell Level by 1, and you can mix it up for your higher spell slots.
Bouncing Metamagic Rod is useless for you unless you're planning to use it with some Save or Suck/Die spells, but that kind of defeats the point of going Blaster. I'd suggest replacing that with Extend for your personal/party buff spells of 3rd level or lower. Heroism, your Pernicious Penumbra, and other such spells would be great options.
With your remaining cash, I'd suggest either buying a Cyclops Helm (~8,000 gold), giving you a 1/day ability to specify a Natural 20 on a given D20 roll you'd make (great for making critical hits with Battering Blasts, or automatically escaping a Grapple/Saving Throw), or a Belt of Incredible Dexterity +4 (gives you +2 to hit with your Battering Blasts). If you get more money down the road, look into an Orange Prism Ioun Stone for +1 Caster Level on all your spells.
The Admixture School exploit is almost useless for Battering Blast. Sure, it gives you +5 damage, but that only applies once as part of one of the blasts you make with casting the spell. The ability to transform it into Force damage is only really beneficial when you're facing enemies with Vulnerabilities (which are usually Dragons and Elementals). It's a waste of an exploit otherwise.
Other than that, seems pretty solid. Have fun destroying bosses in a single round (and having your GM ragequit)!
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Feats:
Spell focus evocation (prerequisite)
Mage's tattoo (+1 caster level)
Spell specialization (+ 2 caster level)
Bloodmage initiate (+1 caster level)
Empower Spell metamagic
Intensified Spell metamagic (7d6 per battering blast)
Maximize Spell metamagic
Spell Perfection (1 free metamagic & double feat bonuses)
Traits:
Magical Lineage (lower metamagic cost 1 level)
Wayang Spellhunter (lower metamagic cost 1 level)
Magic Items:
Flawed Orange Prism (+ 1 caster level)
Prayer Beads - Karma (+4 caster level, needs UMD skill check to use)
Solid choices so far. It will be interesting to see how well you can pump the damage with your Battering Blasts, though I do have a few more insights for your current build.
You will want the Wayang Spell Hunter and Magical Lineage traits for your Battering Blast spell. This makes it so you can cast Empowered Battering Blasts for free. You can also cast your Empowered Battering Blasts while using only one or both of the traits, so it is great for manipulating your spell slots pre-Spell Perfection.
Dazing Spell is good to start out, though I'd recommend retraining it when you get access to Spell Perfection for Bloatmage Initiate. It's good character flavor, and gives you even more CL boosts for your Battering Blast at the cost of meager defense and mobility. Caster Level is your #1 priority with this route, and with enough CL, you can outweigh any need for crowd control on a given boss. As I said in the Conclusion, you can one-round a Tarrasque with Battering Blasts with the proper set-up.
Quicken is always a good option; I'm not saying don't take it, but you aren't quite high enough level to make use of it reliably as a feat. It's best to get it as a Lesser Metamagic Rod. My suggestion is to instead select Intensify Spell, as it gives you an extra 2D6+2 damage (similar to a Bane weapon), and that also is multiplied by Empowered. It only increases the Spell Level by 1, and you can mix it up for your higher spell slots.
Bouncing Metamagic Rod is useless for you unless you're planning to use it with some Save or Suck/Die spells, but that kind of defeats the point of going Blaster. I'd suggest replacing that with Extend for your personal/party buff spells of 3rd level or lower. Heroism, your Pernicious Penumbra, and other such spells would be great options.
With your remaining cash, I'd suggest either buying a Cyclops Helm (~8,000 gold), giving you a 1/day ability to specify a Natural 20 on a given D20 roll you'd make (great for making critical hits with Battering Blasts, or...
I took the quicken as my flexible feat with greater metamagic knowledge exploit, so I can change it out if needed. Otherwise, good advice, thanks!
What exploit would you take instead of the Admixture school?
Dimensional Slide gives you the option to move through and around enemies without provocation, and is great for getting you out of tough spots without resorting to spells. For 130 feet's worth of "free" movement, it's quite handy if you're stuck adjacent to a creature with a lot of reach (and heavy attacks), and you either don't want to risk the concentration, or will have a difficult time making the spell work (since you'd provoke multiple times for your Battering Blast spellcasts).
Metamixing lets you add Metamagic feats spontaneously like a Sorcerer without increasing the casting time, which can save you some memorized spell slots for other buff and utility spells you may want.
If you run around with a bunch of Wands and Use Magic Device items, getting a Familiar can certainly help out their use for you and your action economy. It also gives you a minor boost to some of your other statistics, and some interesting tactics for you to utilize.
If your GM is lenient on downtime, getting an Item Creation feat may save you a lot of money and let you craft items you possess for a lot less money, letting you "buy" more and better stuff.
Spell Tinkerer lets you apply pseudo-Extend (or a reverse Extend) Spell effect to a single existing spell that you or an enemy is benefitting from. So, you can cast your spell as an Extended Spell, and then affect it again to increase its duration by 50% of the Extended Duration. In essence, it's a Double-Extended Spell. Very useful.
Feats:
Spell focus evocation (prerequisite)
Mage's tattoo (+1 caster level)
Spell specialization (+ 2 caster level)
Bloodmage initiate (+1 caster level)
Empower Spell metamagic
Intensified Spell metamagic (7d6 per battering blast)
Maximize Spell metamagic
Spell Perfection (1 free metamagic & double feat bonuses)Traits:
Magical Lineage (lower metamagic cost 1 level)
Wayang Spellhunter (lower metamagic cost 1 level)Magic Items:
Flawed Orange Prism (+ 1 caster level)
Prayer Beads - Karma (+4 caster level, needs UMD skill check to use)
Sorry for the derail but whats the DC to make the prayer beads work?
I would suggest admixture wizard with magic knack. This gives you two levels that do no lower your level in casting.
With a dip in dual blooded sorcerer. Then you trade your first level blood line power of claws for blood line mutation from magic tactic toolbox. This gives + damage per die you of damage.
So this dip gives +3 to damage per die rolled. This is a little short of doubling the damage your dice do.
Now up above they have lotsa ways to further raise that. The dip in sorc will also make it easier for your forbidden schools. So you can lose necromancy and divination. Then get detect magic as a sorc spell.
But by 13 you should be tossing out evocation spells like that do average of around 200 damage
Pretty sure there is something somewhere about bloodhavoc. Or stacking with cross blooded orc/draconic
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Sorry for the derail but whats the DC to make the prayer beads work?Feats:
Spell focus evocation (prerequisite)
Mage's tattoo (+1 caster level)
Spell specialization (+ 2 caster level)
Bloodmage initiate (+1 caster level)
Empower Spell metamagic
Intensified Spell metamagic (7d6 per battering blast)
Maximize Spell metamagic
Spell Perfection (1 free metamagic & double feat bonuses)Traits:
Magical Lineage (lower metamagic cost 1 level)
Wayang Spellhunter (lower metamagic cost 1 level)Magic Items:
Flawed Orange Prism (+ 1 caster level)
Prayer Beads - Karma (+4 caster level, needs UMD skill check to use)
I would say DC 20, emulate class feature (able to cast divine spells)
Oh that's easy toodly with a sorcerer.
Well those beads are handy. Another question with blood intensity you can increase damage dice cap of spells to your Charisma modifier. Say you have a Charisma mode of 30 and perfect spell with varisian tattoo and beads, perfect spell doubling the effect of buffs applied to your perfect spell could you get to a 30 D6 intensified chain ligntning? And empower it for 45D6 apply an maximize rod on the first 30 for 270+15D6 from a single spell. Assuming blood havoc + orc or draconic.
Total average damage 322 and you could do a quickened spell on top. Considering this could hit 20 targets that's silly.
Even if the beads don't get doubled you could get spell specialisation for +4 CL +2 from tattoo and +4 from beads.
Or would it cap at +5 like intensify spell?
Keep in mind that Blood Intensity keys off of Charisma modifier, not Charisma score, which would be ~10 dice for a 30 Charisma.
It'd be double the effect of an Intensify, without the spellcast increase or requisite caster level stuff. It is, however, limited to uses per day, which isn't exactly conducive with the late/endgame.
@ OP: I'd talk to your GM and see if you can substitute any of your useless Bloodline Powers for Bloodline Mutations, especially Blood Havoc.
Of course and chain lightning went up from 20 to 30 because of the ten modifier. (This is assuming around level 20 casting but if the beads double with spell perfection it does work at 16 however which is just mad). The limited uses per day is a problem for spells where one wants to pile all their damage onto a single target (battering Blast and scorching ray) but multi target spells doing 322 to x people one probably isn't going to need to cast that many times. Another quickened spell would probably allow you to one round anything not immune to your damage type up to about CR23-25 especially if one involves rods.
Does battering Blast not care about the tarrasque carapace since it's not a ray?
That's nifty
EDIT: are you saying it doesn't need boosted caster level to boost the damage dice beyond their normal limit (I can see why you'd think this from the wording I just thought it was too OP and must be badly written xD)
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Oh that's easy toodly with a sorcerer.
Well those beads are handy. Another question with blood intensity you can increase damage dice cap of spells to your Charisma modifier. Say you have a Charisma mode of 30 and perfect spell with varisian tattoo and beads, perfect spell doubling the effect of buffs applied to your perfect spell could you get to a 30 D6 intensified chain ligntning? And empower it for 45D6 apply an maximize rod on the first 30 for 270+15D6 from a single spell. Assuming blood havoc + orc or draconic.
Total average damage 322 and you could do a quickened spell on top. Considering this could hit 20 targets that's silly.Even if the beads don't get doubled you could get spell specialisation for +4 CL +2 from tattoo and +4 from beads.
Or would it cap at +5 like intensify spell?
Spell perfection does not affect items like prayer beads.
Thought as much so spell spec is needed for the 30 dice before empower.
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Of course and chain lightning went up from 20 to 30 because of the ten modifier. (This is assuming around level 20 casting but if the beads double with spell perfection it does work at 16 however which is just mad). The limited uses per day is a problem for spells where one wants to pile all their damage onto a single target (battering Blast and scorching ray) but multi target spells doing 322 to x people one probably isn't going to need to cast that many times. Another quickened spell would probably allow you to one round anything not immune to your damage type up to about CR23-25 especially if one involves rods.
Does battering Blast not care about the tarrasque carapace since it's not a ray?
That's niftyEDIT: are you saying it doesn't need boosted caster level to boost the damage dice beyond their normal limit (I can see why you'd think this from the wording I just thought it was too OP and must be badly written xD)
Well, he doesn't need to be 20th level; in fact, he could probably do it next level with the proper spec, without Prayer Beads.
14 CL Base + 2 Spell Specialization + 1 Varisian Tattoo + 2 Potent Magic + 1 Ioun Stone = 20 CL for Chain Lightning. It's quite simple. Of course, since he uses Intelligence for casting, I don't think Blood Intensity would be much better than Intensify spell in this case, so...
Battering Blast doesn't say it's a ray, so it wouldn't adhere to it. That is, if you took Weapon Focus or Improved Critical for rays, it wouldn't apply either. But, it's Touch AC, and it's Force Damage; it's perhaps the best you can expect.
Also, the mutation increases dice by an amount equal to your modifier, it doesn't adhere to caster level benefits, limitations or otherwise (nor does it require caster levels to apply, unlike Intensify), so there is that. Of course, whether it's supposed to adhere to caster level limitations is a whole other question entirely, and to be honest with you, if it did, it'd be pretty damn useless (at best, it saves you a feat for a dumbed down version of the metamagic).
Of course and chain lightning went up from 20 to 30 because of the ten modifier. (This is assuming around level 20 casting but if the beads double with spell perfection it does work at 16 however which is just mad). The limited uses per day is a problem for spells where one wants to pile all their damage onto a single target (battering Blast and scorching ray) but multi target spells doing 322 to x people one probably isn't going to need to cast that many times. Another quickened spell would probably allow you to one round anything not immune to your damage type up to about CR23-25 especially if one involves rods.
Does battering Blast not care about the tarrasque carapace since it's not a ray?
That's niftyEDIT: are you saying it doesn't need boosted caster level to boost the damage dice beyond their normal limit (I can see why you'd think this from the wording I just thought it was too OP and must be badly written xD)
Well, he doesn't need to be 20th level; in fact, he could probably do it next level with the proper spec, without Prayer Beads.
14 CL Base + 2 Spell Specialization + 1 Varisian Tattoo + 2 Potent Magic + 1 Ioun Stone = 20 CL for Chain Lightning. It's quite simple. Of course, since he uses Intelligence for casting, I don't think Blood Intensity would be much better than Intensify spell in this case, so...
Battering Blast doesn't say it's a ray, so it wouldn't adhere to it. That is, if you took Weapon Focus or Improved Critical for rays, it wouldn't apply either. But, it's Touch AC, and it's Force Damage; it's perhaps the best you can expect.
Also, the mutation increases dice by an amount equal to your modifier, it doesn't adhere to caster level benefits, limitations or otherwise (nor does it require caster levels to apply, unlike Intensify), so there is that. Of course, whether it's supposed to adhere to caster level limitations is a whole other question entirely, and to be honest with you, if it did, it'd be pretty damn useless (at best, it saves you a feat for a dumbed down version of the metamagic).
That's amazing xD level 15 sorcs can be real scary throwing round 30D6+60 pre meta is awesome xD (15 since they don't get potent magic to my knowledge)
His CHA is 16 ... so it's not as exciting but 23D6+23 (can he get 2 damage per dice?) would not be bad by any means.
Dealing with the tarrasque is always a fun excercize.
If he took the Draconic Bloodline, or has a lenient GM that lets him exchange his 1st level Bloodline Power (which sucks for him) for Blood Havoc, he certainly could.
An optimized Battering Blast Arcanist can shoot the Tarrasque dead in a single round quite easily. He can target the corpse with the blast a dozen more times as needed, to keep the hit points from regenerating so quickly.
If the Arcanist is prepared to fight a Tarrasque, he will have contingencies set after its death (one example I came up with is to transfer the "corpse" into a Negative Energy plane after having used a scroll that lets you ignore plane effects and then proceed to plane shift back to the material plane; once it rises again, it will be stuck in the Negative Energy plane, subject to Negative Levels until it has 0 hit dice left, in which case it will turn into a Shadow/Shadow Demon, and no longer be a Tarrasque.) I'm sure there are others, but that's just the first.
It can be permanently beaten, you just gotta be creative and know what can actually affect it to be dead.
getting it down isn't really that hard, my preferred method is Boneshatter + quickened boneshatter to exhaust it and then allow fast storm giant zombies to take it apart. Topping them up with Inflict wounds mass :P
Haha amusing that's the same way I imagine keeping it down only sending it to the positive energy plane, in theory it will explode there. Would it take negative levels given it's immune to energy drain and negative levels?