Immunity to Energy Drain doesn't mean it can't take negative levels. The negative levels from the Negative Energy Drain aren't from the result of Energy Drains.
While the Tarrasque talk is interesting, that's not the goal of this thread. The goal is to make a blaster who is going to kick butt for the rest of book 5 and book 6 of RotRL.
Here is mark II of the build:
Master Blaster
Male blood arcanist 13
N Medium aberration (orc)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 90 ft.; Perception +15
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Defense
--------------------
AC 13, touch 11, flat-footed 12 (+1 Dex, +2 natural armor)
hp 80 (13d6+26)
Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +11
Immune Fear
Weaknesses light blindness (negated by Lenses of Darkness)
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Offense
--------------------
Speed 20 ft.
Special Attacks arcane reservoir (16/16), arcanist exploits (greater metamagic knowledge, metamagic knowledge, potent magic, metamixing, consume spells
Bloodline:Orc
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th; concentration +16)
1/day alter self
Blood Arcanist Spells Prepared (CL 13th; concentration +22)
--------------------
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: Magical Lineage (Battering Blast), Metamagic Master (Battering Blast)
Feats Bloodmage Initiate (Evocation), Dazing Spell, Empower Spell, Greater Spell Focus (evocation), 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 extend metamagic rod, lesser maximize metamagic rod; Other Gear cloak of resistance +4, headband of vast intelligence +6, lenses of darkness, lesser dazing metamagic rod, ring of sustenance, 12,239 gp
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Special Abilities
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Bloodline Arcana You gain the orc subtype, including darkvision 60 feet and light sensitivity. If you already have darkvision, its range increases to 90 feet. Whenever you cast a spell that deals damage, that spell deals +1 point of damage per die rolled.
Blood Havoc Whenever you cast an arcanist spell that deals damage, add 1 point of damage per die rolled. This benefit applies only to damaging spells that belong to schools you have selected with Spell Focus or that are bloodline spells for your bloodline.
Fearless (Ex): At 3rd level, you gain a +4 bonus on saving throws made against fear and a +1 natural armor bonus. At 9th level, you lose your light sensitivity, gain immunity to fear, and your natural armor bonus increases to +2.
Blood Intensity Whenever you cast an arcanist spell that deals damage, you can increase its maximum number of damage dice by an amount equal to your Strength or Charisma modifier, whichever is higher. This otherwise functions as —and does not stack with—the Intensified Spell feat. You can use this ability once per day at 3rd level and one additional time per day for every 4 caster levels you have beyond 3rd, up to five times per day at 19th level.
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.
Metamixing (Su) The arcanist can expend 1 point from her arcane reservoir to add a metamagic feat that she knows to a spell as she casts it without affecting the casting time (though using a higher-level spell slot as normal). She can use this ability to add a metamagic feat to a spell that she prepared using a metamagic feat, although she cannot add the same metamagic feat to a given spell more than once.
=======================
Still working on the spellbook, and still need to spend some gold, but I've added the bloodline and a couple of mutations.
The DM broke down and said anything Paizo on d20pfsrd was fine to use, so does that open up any drastically better options for me?
So, in play, is it better to memorize spells with the metamagic already applied, or to do it on the fly and have full round casting times? I guess with Metamixing and a large reservoir it's a bit of a moot point, huh.
Is Metamixing going to be the best use of my arcane reservoir? I've never played an arcanist before.
The GM allowed you to take Blood Havoc and Blood Intensity in place of the given Bloodline Powers? Wow, you should thank him, that gives you a lot of added power, and spares you a feat or two.
Greater Spell Focus only increases the Save DC of Battering Blast. Remember, the Save DC is only for falling prone after the fact (which is actually a bad thing for you, since it makes it harder to hit them when they're prone). They will take full damage from Battering Blast regardless of whether they make the saving throw or not, so pumping it any more than you have to is a waste of time.
I would substitute Greater Spell Focus for Greater Spell Penetration if you can; Spell Resistance will be a common occurrence for most enemies you fight, and the current levels where you're at now are where Spell Resistance is the most common (and most difficult) for you, where you don't have nearly as many Caster Level boosts as you want. After all, if you fail the Spell Resistance check required, your spell does zero damage. But if they make the Saving Throw, your spell still does full damage. That's what makes Battering Blast such a good spell. Well, that and it's Force damage and has some of the best damage scaling in the game.
Just a minor nitpick, but your SQ still says you have Versatile Evocation when you substituted it for Metamixing. Nothing wrong with that, just a clerical error I noticed.
Tacking Metamagics on the fly means you can't move more than 5 feet at a time, so unless you're in a very good and safe position (not always the case with Battering Blast's shorter range), it's a risky tactic.
Scribing a version of Battering Blast (one with metamagics, one without, and others with one or more metamagics [but not all that you have]) each counts as one of your spells memorized based on what it takes for you to cast that version of the spell. The big thing with having them pre-scribed is, you can cast them while moving more than 5 feet (and synchronizes well with Dimensional Slide which you will get later), since you only take a Standard Action to cast it.
Metamixing just gives you the option to spare memorized slots for other spells instead of using them for different versions of your Battering Blast at the cost of Arcane Reservoir. If you feel that you have plenty of memorizable slots for your other spells (and would rather save your Arcane Reservoir for things like Potent Magic), then you can skip Metamixing and pick up one of the other options I mentioned in exchange. There are still some amazing things out there to choose from.
Otherwise, best use of your Arcane Reservoir is usually applying Potent Magic for Increased Caster Levels on your Battering Blast (or even for your long-duration buff spells to make sure they last all day). Unfortunately, at this level, you'll only have with Battering Blast, and that's just shy of flinging 4 blasts of 5D6+10 at an enemy, since it gives you extra blasts based on every 5 Caster Levels.
If he has the money for it an orange prism ion stone would help get to that last blast.
If he has the money for it an orange prism ion stone would help get to that last blast.
Unfortunately, he doesn't, as the value for it is 30,000 gold, and he has only ~12,000 to work with.
He has money for a +4 Dexterity Belt (+2 to attacks with his Battering Blasts) or a Cyclops Helm (1/day "Natural 20" on any roll), and maybe some consumables.
But, if he ditches his Maximize and Dazing Metamagic Rod, he could potentially have enough for it, which is definitely worthwhile for his current level.
Okay, here is my final build I think:
Master Blaster
Male blood arcanist 13
N Medium aberration (orc)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 90 ft.; Perception +15
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Defense
--------------------
AC 13, touch 11, flat-footed 12 (+1 Dex, +2 natural armor)
hp 80 (13d6+26)
Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +10
Immune Fear
Weaknesses light blindness (negated by Lenses of Darkness)
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 20 ft.
Special Attacks arcane reservoir (16/16), arcanist exploits (greater metamagic knowledge, metamagic knowledge, potent magic (spend 1 point, caster level +2), metamixing, consume spells
Bloodline:Orc
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th; concentration +16)
1/day alter self
0 - All
1st (5/day) - alarm, ant haul, blood money, endure elements, grease, infernal healing, interrogation, mage armor, magic missile, mindlink, mount, prot. Evil, snowball, vanish, windy escape
2nd (5/day) - defending bone,false life, glitterdust, mirror image, web
3rd (4/day) - arcane sight, battering blast, heroism, beast shape I, slow
4th (4/day) - confusion, dimension door, stoneskin
5th (3/day) - animal growth, life bubble, overland flight, teleport
6th (2/day) - contingency, greater heroism, true seeing, summon monster VI
Typical Arcanist Spells Prepared (CL 14th; concentration +22)
0 - acid splash, daze, detect magic, detect poison, light, mage hand, mending, message, prestidigitation
1st (6/7) - blood money x2, magic missile, mage armor, vanish, windy escape
2nd (4/6) - defending bone, false life, glitterdust, mirror image, web
3rd (6/6) - empowered battering blast x3, beast shape 1, heroism, slow
4th (6/6) - intensified empowered battering blast x2, confusion, dimension door x2, stoneskin
5th (4/6) - animal growth, life bubble, overland flight
6th (4/4) - dazing empowered battering blast x2, greater heroism, true seeing
(-2 final spell level for metamagic battering blast. +4 caster level for battering blast, +2 for other evocations. )
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 8, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 28, Wis 8, Cha 16
Base Atk +6; CMB +5; CMD 16
Traits: Magical Lineage (Battering Blast), Metamagic Master (Battering Blast)
Feats Bloodmage Initiate (Evocation), Dazing Spell, Empower Spell, Greater Spell Penetration, Intensify 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 extend metamagic rod, lesser extend metamagic rod, scroll of arcane sight, dispel magic (CL 15th), greater infernal healing, teleport (CL 15th), true seeing; Other Gear cloak of resistance +3, headband of vast intelligence +6, lenses of darkness[ARG], orange prism ioun stone, ring of sustenance, arcanist starting spellbook, 74 gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Bloodline Arcana You gain the orc subtype, including darkvision 60 feet and light sensitivity. If you already have darkvision, its range increases to 90 feet. Whenever you cast a spell that deals damage, that spell deals +1 point of damage per die rolled.
Blood Havoc Whenever you cast an arcanist spell that deals damage, add 1 point of damage per die rolled. This benefit applies only to damaging spells that belong to schools you have selected with Spell Focus or that are bloodline spells for your bloodline.
Fearless (Ex): At 3rd level, you gain a +4 bonus on saving throws made against fear and a +1 natural armor bonus. At 9th level, you lose your light sensitivity, gain immunity to fear, and your natural armor bonus increases to +2.
Blood Intensity Whenever you cast an arcanist spell that deals damage, you can increase its maximum number of damage dice by an amount equal to your Strength or Charisma modifier, whichever is higher. This otherwise functions as —and does not stack with—the Intensified Spell feat. You can use this ability once per day at 3rd level and one additional time per day for every 4 caster levels you have beyond 3rd, up to five times per day at 19th level.
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.
Metamixing (Su) The arcanist can expend 1 point from her arcane reservoir to add a metamagic feat that she knows to a spell as she casts it without affecting the casting time (though using a higher-level spell slot as normal). She can use this ability to add a metamagic feat to a spell that she prepared using a metamagic feat, although she cannot add the same metamagic feat to a given spell more than once.
========================================================================
I plan on using the rods to do extended mage armor, defending bone, false life, overland flight and life bubble each day.
So...I don't really understand intensify and empower exactly. A normal battering blast for me should be doing...
3x 5d6+2 right?
empowered = 3x 5d6+3
intensified empowered = 3x 9d6+3
Clearly this is not as much as people were posting upthread. What am I missing?
For one thing you're missing the +1 per die which the orc bloodline gives you and the additional +1 per die which blood havoc gives you. Though I'm not sure you qualify for blood havoc, generally it's only the unmodified bloodlines which other classes can access.
For one thing you're missing the +1 per die which the orc bloodline gives you and the additional +1 per die which blood havoc gives you. Though I'm not sure you qualify for blood havoc, generally it's only the unmodified bloodlines which other classes can access.
Ah, per die! Derp, read it as a flat bonus for some reason.
What do you mean by unmodified bloodlines? Isn't gaining the bloodline from the archetype the same thing as having it as a sorc?
So 3x 5d6+20
Empowered 3x 5d6+30
Intensified empowered 3x 9d6+30?
I'm only seeing caster level 18...someone upthread was saying I could get it up to 20. 13 from class+1 orange prism+1 bloodmage initiate+2 spell spec+1 varisian tattoo = 18. Where are the other two caster levels coming from?
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Interesting. You actually managed to reach the 20 CL, so you will now be shooting 4 Blasts when using Potent Magic. This is important, as that's a big damage boost to your overall DPR, well done! The bosses will cower before your power now!
For your Spellbook, remember that you only need to prepare a spell once, and then you can cast it as many times as you can for that day if you so wish (unless you apply metamagics to it like Battering Blast, in which case you only prepare one slot for each variant you want to utilize), so you should have more prepared slots for those slots that you have "X2s" or "X3s" on for other spells you may want.
As for damage, remember that you add +2 damage for each dice you roll on your damaging spells, and it isn't just a flat +2 or +3 bonus. Let me give you the breakdown:
A single shot of your Battering Blast would deal a base of 5D6+10 with Blood Havoc and Orc Bloodline going.
Throwing on Intensify will bump it up to 7D6+14 (or 8D6+16 with Blood Intensity, though this is limited; save it for boss fights!)
Empowered takes the total result of each of your blasts, and increases them by 50% (rounded down), giving you a final result of 1.5(7D6+14), or 1.5(8D6+16) if you use Blood Intensity instead of Intensify Spell (for conservation of spell slots or for fighting bosses).
You then take one of those total numbers and multiply it by the number of times you hit (which is no more than the number of blasts you create). At most, you can hit 4 times per casting. A simple average damage total, assuming all hits, would be:
=Normal 4(5D6+10, average 27) = 108 damage.
-Intensify/Blood Intensity 4(7D6+14, average 38 or 8D6+16, average 44) = 144 damage (Intensify) or 176 damage (Blood Intensity).
-Empower 4(1.5(5D6+10), average 40) = 160 damage.
-Empower AND Intensify/Blood Intensity 4(1.5(7D6+14/8D6+16), average 57 or 66 damage) = 228 damage (Empower AND Intensify) or 264 damage (Empower AND Blood Intensity).
I hope those examples help you out in basic calculations. The actual results when you cast the spells will vary, but those are the numbers you should be expecting.
...Oh, just putting this out there; that damage is UNREAL if you hit with all four. But if you buff with Greater Heroism and eventually nab a Belt of Incredible Dexterity, that should be a cinch with targeting Touch AC.
And that's without all of the goodies, like Spell Perfection (acquirable at 15th level, gives you access to ~5 Blasts full-on upon acquisition), Quicken Spell, Karma Beads, and so on.
Sweet, thanks again!
Only thing I’m not clear on now is why I’d need special permission from the DM to take bloodline mutations instead of powers.
People keep trying to add Intensify to Battering Blast but the damage of blasts is not caster level dependant.
This is the text of intensified:
An intensified spell increases the maximum number of damage dice by 5 levels. You must actually have sufficient caster levels to surpass the maximum in order to benefit from this feat. No other variables of the spell are affected, and spells that inflict damage that is not modified by caster level are not affected by this feat. An intensified spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell's actual level
I've been wondering this as well
I don't really get why Darksol thinks it makes them do 7D6
Sweet, thanks again!
Only thing I’m not clear on now is why I’d need special permission from the DM to take bloodline mutations instead of powers.
I made a FAQ about this in the guide I wrote. In short, per RAW, the Bloodline Mutations only apply to Sorcerers and Bloodragers with a Bloodline. Not Arcanists. The Blood Mutations weren't written with the Arcanist (or more specifically, Blood Arcanist) in mind, and as such the rules would technically preclude them.
However, I personally feel that Bloodline Mutations were written for anyone who gets a Sorcerer or Bloodrager Bloodline, such as if somebody took levels in Dragon Disciple (without actually having a Bloodline to begin with), or an Eldritch Scion Magus, and as such, it'd be my assumption that, if you wanted them to work with your alternate options, that GM approval would be required.
Since you already got the GM to agree to allow it, it doesn't really matter what the rules say, because the GM basically overrode them.
@ Nicholas Storm: If you went by that argument, then you need to define what a "sorcerer" or "bloodrager" spell is, which the rules technically don't do. One valid definition would be "spells that are cast from someone with levels in the proper class," which is what you're thinking.
Another, equally valid definition, would be "spells that are on the Sorcerer or Bloodrager spell list," which is what I think, and objectively speaking, makes the most sense.
@ andreww and Chromatic Durgon <3: Read the spell description again, the first paragraph tells you how the damage of each blast is increased.
You hurl a fist-sized ball of force resembling a sphere of spikes to ram a designated creature or object. You must succeed on a ranged touch attack to strike your target. On a successful hit, you deal 1d6 points of force damage per two caster levels (maximum 5d6). For every 5 caster levels you possess beyond 5th, you gain a second ball of force.
The damage of each individual Battering Blast scales by Caster Level, and has a capacity (5D6). This is what Intensify increases. The amount of blasts you make also scales by caster level, but that's not what I'm saying Intensify increases, nor does it make sense, since the amount of blasts you create isn't limited. If you have a Caster Level of 100 (I don't know how you'd pull it off), you would create 20 Blasts. (God help the poor souls who have to deal with that.)
The other thing, with Blood Intensity, is that it increases the damage dice you deal by an amount equal to your Charisma modifier, identically to Intensify, meaning that all of his Battering Blasts damage dice are increased by his Charisma modifier, to 8D6 currently.
So, if the OP increases his Charisma modifier (by getting a Headband of +6 Intelligence and Charisma), his Blood Intensity boosts would be ridiculous (imagine dealing 11D6+22 per Battering Blast, pre-Metamagics, as a 3rd level spell). Again, that's pre-metamagics, and pre-Spell Perfection and all the other good stuff.
Haha bloodline mutations are beautiful
Though given what you've shown I'd be surprised if an FAQ came out saying they worked on Arcanists.
Even if they don't though 7D6+7 per Blast with intensify is nice. 10D6+10 with empower, and you can quicken that with magical lineage. 180 average on the quicken, 280 on the none quicken (maximised). Did you say you can get a fifth Blast? lol that's another 115. 575 average by RAW. Apply bloodlines for more overkill.
Although at that point even hitting on a 2 there is a decent chance one will miss.
Rather pleasingly the level 20 sorc blaster I'm constantly tweaking with the knowledge I have got from this thread now averages exactly 600 damage in one round. Which is beautiful.
Sorcerers can be equally powerful with Battering Blast, especially since they can nix School Understanding. Also, only Blood Arcanists would benefit from it per RAW, since Bloodline Development only gives you the 1st level power, whereas Blood Arcanists get every power, and a Bloodline Arcana.
But, it is a splatbook, so the odds of it being FAQ'd are slim-to-none.
The "10D6+10" is technically incorrect, and this is proven with the Maximize Metamagic feat description (as you roll the original dice normally, and take only half of the effect).
So, the empowered 7D6+7 is actually 1.5(7D6+7). It makes a slight difference in determining damage, and it's for the better, actually, especially based on how much higher you roll in comparison to average damage rolls.
**EDIT**
Also, you can get as high as SEVEN Blasts by yourself, though it requires a lot of min-maxing, is only for a limited time (10 minutes), and 20th level.
20 Base CL + 1 Ioun Stone + 1 Robes + 8 Feats (Spell Perfection) + 2 Potent Magic + 4 Karma Beads = CL 36, or 7 Blasts. Since the Robes are (as far as I know) Adventure Path specific, you can factor that out and you'd still meet the quota, but with the Robes, you can reach that power level sooner.
I think the arcanist is near broken compared to other casters, so I wouldn't allow bloodline mutations on it as a GM. Arcanist doesn't need an additional power boost.
Which is perfectly fine. Arcanists are still very powerful even without them. But, this is an optimization thread, and optimization requires the very best, so requesting to use an option not usually associated with them is certainly in the player's best interests.
Luckily, for the OP, the GM caved in and allowed it.
I can see where you're getting 6 from feats where is the other two?
I can see where you're getting 6 from feats where is the other two?
Spell Specialization is +2 CL.
Varisian Tattoo is +1 CL.
Bloatmage Initiate is +1 CL.
Spell Perfection doubles the CL bonus granted from those feats.
2(2+1+1) = 8.
Bloatmage was what I was missing.
DM hasn't actually seen the complete character yet. Even without the bloodline mutations, if he decides those are too much, I'll still be plenty powerful to keep me happy.
In any case, thank you all for the discussion and education, it has been very enlightening.
I had fun :) good luck with the game :)