I have a character idea for an elven arcanist with a half-elven sorcerer cohort/indentured servant/slave/apprentice/son. Dpending on when I bring them in they’ll either be level 8 and 6 or 9 and 7. The sorcerer’s key role will be to enhance his master’s magic with spells such as Collaborative Thaumaturgy and Teamwork feats such as Elemental Comixture (we have a homebrew rule that allows people to benefit from a Teamwork feat so long as one person they’re working with possess the feat). I know these spells/feats are not an optimal way to play but if I were to play them in a truly optimal manner then I foresee rocks falling on the sorcerer.
I’m looking for advice as to what archetypes (if any) to take as well as bloodline ideas.
While I feel the arcanist is decent without an archetype I do rather like the School Savant with either Divination (Foresight) or Conjuration (Teleportation). The Forewarned power of the Divination school is awesome, Prescience and Foretell make for a delightful pair of cherries on top; Conjuration would grant some amazing mobility/tactical options with Dimensional Steps and Shift, it would also spare me having to use an Exploit to get Dimensional Slide.
For the sorcerer I’m most drawn to the Arcane, Astral and Imperious bloodlines. The Arcane bloodline is a mechanically and thematically solid bloodline; I’d probably pick the bonded item over the familiar to help keep numbers down. The Astral bloodline offers something of a more unusual theme; the Bloodline Arcana and Bloodline Powers look to be strong, even at once per day a quickened 1st or 2nd level spell could prove very useful. Could it be worth combining both with the Crossblooded archetype or is it not worth the drawbacks?
The Arcana and Powers of the Imperious bloodline are not the most exciting but can work thematically and I rather like the idea of using a human bloodline as the sorcerer’s master/father/owner tends to pompously attribute his apprentice’s/son’s/slave’s magical ability to the superior elven blood flowing through his veins (random side not: there’s a whole thing with elven culture and the arcane arts but no specifically elven sorcerer bloodline). As the sorcerer’s duties will include those of a herald announcing his master’s presence, going ahead to inform local relevant authorities of his masters arrival, locating goods and services etc. the bonus to Diplomacy, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), Knowledge (nobility), and Linguistics will prove useful as most settlements are human. Since the bloodline arcana and powers are rather lacklustre I’d consider sacrificing them for the the Seeker archetype (ignoring the archetype fluff) as Tinkering could be useful.
Finally what would be the best way to approach items and how much of my starting wealth should I allocate the sorcerer?
I’m open to any other suggestions.
Arcanist stats (no items, after racial modifiers and levels):
STR: 10
DEX: 14
CON: 12
INT: 22
WIS: 8 (RP related)
CHA: 16
Sorcerer stats (no items, after racial modifiers and levels) Heroic Arcane NPC:
STR: 8
DEX: 14
CON: 12
INT: 14
WIS: 10
CHA: 18