I'm looking to make an Elemental (Air)/Stormborn sorcerer, to get the bonus DC on pretty much all my blasting spells. Is this worth it? (Starting at level 5, 20 point buy)
Depends on how you feel about the -2 will save and if you are ok with the reduction spells known.
Personally, I find it is perfectly fine if you can offset the penalties. Get Iron Will, or a familiar, or something to boost that will save and if you can, get a favored class bonus that grants you new spells known. You can always cast your lower level spells in higher level spell slots, with metamagic or not. If you are playing in a high optimization game, it might not be ideal but in any other kind of game, you'll be just fine.
Crossblooded is great if you're only taking 1 level of sorcerer. For a mono-sorc it sucks because you won't know any spells of your new spell level when you get it. In other words, you'll finally be able to learn a 3rd level spell when the wizard just got 4th level spells instead of being only a level behind.
Definitely not; the loss of spells known really turns the sorcerer into a one-trick pony in exchange for just a little more power, and sorcerers are already very powerful blasters without touching it so it's not at all worth the tradeof. If you're doing a 1-level dip like Darigaaz says it works great, but for a single-class Sorcerer the loss of spells known simply isn't worth it.
A better approach is the Wildblooded archetype, which opens up the Primal Air bloodline. Primal Air is significantly better than the regular Air bloodline, giving you a healthy damage boost that stacks with the Blood Havoc bloodline mutation.
It's great as a one level dip for a blaster wizard.
If you only want one or two powers from one of the bloodlines, you may want to consider using the Eldritch Heritage line of feats to get those powers.
See? As I said, it depends on the optimization level you are playing at. If you are playing a game where the CR system actually means something and you aren't hitting CR 3 levels higher than you (read: exaggeration, not every feat needs to be taken to optimize damage potential) on a average encounter just to challenge you, you will be just fine playing what you want.
Though, Dragonborn3 did make a good point about the Words of Power magic sub-system. In that kind of system, the archetype does really shine.
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I like this concept. I'd recommend going 1 Crossblooded Elemental(Air)/Stormborn and then either go Arcanist or Exploiter Wizard so you can get Potent Magic for the +2CL or +2 DC.
Go Sylph for your race if you're allowed a 6RP race, if not, human or half-elf would probably be best.
If you go Human 1Sorc/2Arcanist(or ExplWiz), by level 3 you could have Spell Focus, Greater Spell Focus, Spell Spec, and Potent Magic, and your Air spells will be doing some serious work already. +1DC from Stormborn, +2DC SF/GSF, and +2DC or +2CL on demand from Potent Magic, and you can switch any energy spell into an Air Spell... yeesh that's nasty.
Thanks guys. Two semi-related follow-up questions.
1) After casting Call Lightning/Storm, would calling a bolt of lightning break Invisibility?
2) What would be the best method for using Call Lightning from as far away as possible? My initial thoughts are either Clairaudience/Clairvoyance or Share Senses. Would Storm Sight work for this purpose? Anything else?
@Ryze question since that sounds like a cool idea but I thought that the sorcerer ability would only apply to sorcerer spells?
1) Yes; if the space you choose to target with Call Lightning contains an enemy, then it breaks invisibility. Do note that a regular old stealth check would work; if it doesn't call for an attack roll, it doesn't break stealth.
2) In the vast majority of situations 3d6 damage with a save for half every round isn't high enough to be worth the setup. Clairvoyance's 10 minute casting time is unreasonably long, share senses just means something else is taking the risk for you, and storm sight would only work if there's a storm. Call Lightning just calls lightning and doesn't create other aspects of a storm.
@Ryze question since that sounds like a cool idea but I thought that the sorcerer ability would only apply to sorcerer spells?
The ability doesn't specify that it only affects your sorcerer spells, so it's broader than that and affects all spells. Abilities that are restricted only to your Sorcerer spells will say so explicitly.
That is true Dasrak, but I will say, that at least for my home games I have actually house ruled that the sorcerer bloodline abilities only apply to spells that come from the sorcerer class.
I suspect I'm might not be the only person to make a ruling like that.
2) In the vast majority of situations 3d6 damage with a save for half every round isn't high enough to be worth the setup. Clairvoyance's 10 minute casting time is unreasonably long, share senses just means something else is taking the risk for you, and storm sight would only work if there's a storm. Call Lightning just calls lightning and doesn't create other aspects of a storm.
My plan would typically be to take Magical Lineage and use either some sort of metamagic to make it more of a debuff with damage than just pure damage (Flaring, Fearsome, Sickening) or use Seeking Spell to hit groups (it's 30 feet long, and with seeking can bend however desired, so that should allow me to hit 2 or maybe even 3 opponents). It's still not a lot, but with decent stealth and setup, I hope to be able to kill or at least significantly injure most things with pretty much zero risk (at least at the lower levels). And that's not even counting whatever the rest of the party is doing.