If an arcane caster learns a spell from outside of their class' spell list, isn't that new spell an arcane version of the spell they learned?
I had always assumed as much, but I don't know if that's spelled* out in the rulebook.
* (Pun not intended)
This is an annoying and likely complex answer because you are right it is not spelled out at all. I have this faq for you but thats it really on that front.
But since the sorcerer can pick up, IDK entangle, which usually doesn't come on the arcane spell list, I assume that they do.
Okay, thanks. I was asking because if you assume that any spell that a sorcerer can cast is automatically an arcane version of the spell, this whole discussion about the Ring of Spell Knowledge becomes moot.
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Hm... guides aren't dead for PF1? I'll have to start (Re)working on my Alchemical Items guide that I scrapped when PF2 was released. Lol
That being said, Crossblooded Sorcerers are pretty insane with the right combinations. Some of my favorites with a fluff/crunch combo are Pheonix/Solar for the ultimate Sorcerer Faithful of Saerenrae; and Orc/Solar for the munchkin cheese of negating Light Sensitivity at level 1 while also getting +1 Damage to All/+1 Damage to Fire spells.
Actually; my first Munchkin'ed character in PFW was Erif Covah the Firestarter, a Half-Orb Crossblooded Sorcerer (Orc/Solar) born of a Mother Priest of Saerenrae and a Father Shaman of Sezelrian... What? Just because I was making crunch doesn't mean I can't Flavor it. He is only level 3 right now but already burning things to a crisp.
Main reason I pointed this out was because of your Magic Trick section (PFS APPROVED BABY!); something to keep in mind is that Fireball is a Radius spell, meaning you're going to be hitting things in a 10ft burst rather than a 5ft square. Keep that in mind when you're sculpting the battlefield with dots of 5ft radius death balls. Widened Condensed Clusterbomb Fireball is got to be the most Munchkin thing in the game - 5d6+10 damage 5ft radius death orbs.
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^PF1 guides really aren't dead. Seems to be a bit of a resurgence recently.
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Bloodlines S Part 1 (Salamander - Shaitan) and their associated Wild-Blooded Bloodlines (regardless of starting letter)
Salamander: I wish they had an Azer Wildblooded Bloodline that would do for Salamander what Empyreal does for Celestial (with the Bloodline Arcana) and replaces the 9th level (and maybe 15th level) Bloodline Powers with something more suitable for Humanoids, because thematically, this would be AWESOME on a Dwarf.
Salamander (Eldritch Heritage): Skill Focus (Acrobatics) is a weird prerequisite for somebody who wants this for crafting, but it might be of some use to a subset of crafters, and if you are a non-caster who wants to craft (like a martial who actually has a use for Skill Focus (Acrobatics)), this is a way to snag Craft Magic Arms and Armor if you've got the Charisma for Improved Eldritch Heritage (and remember that if you are Human with the Powerful Presence alternate racial trait, this isn't too hard). You still need Master Craftsman to get your Craft skill ranks to count as spellcasting ranks, but Master Craftsman doesn't automatically get you Craft Magic Arms and Armor, so this is a way to get it, and on qualifying items the bonuses of Master Craftsman will stack with the bonuses from Eldritch Heritage = Forge and Fire. Now I just wish they had the Azer Wildblooded Bloodline as described above . . . .
Scorpion: Bloodline Feats: Doesn't offer Toxic Spell? Boooo!
Serpentine/Envenomed: Bloodline Feats: What's up with these poisoned-themed Bloodlines that don't offer you Toxic Spell as a choice (and Envenomed doesn't even give you Poison Use in the Bloodline Arcana)?
Shadow/Umbral: Bloodline Feats: They don't offer you Tenebrous Spell/Umbral Spell? Boooo! And you probably won't have much use for Weapon Finesse unless you are some kind of Sorcerous Arcane Trickster.
Shadow/Umbral: Bloodline Arcana: Note that the +1 boost to Caster Level is of some use if you are up against things with Spell Resistance, or you need to make an opposed Caster Level check. Also, typo "aight".
Shadow/Umbral: Nighteye: As tempting as it is to substitute this with the Darkvision spell, it is good to have the ability without needing to make noise to cast a spell (also, it is Extraordinary instead of Supernatural, so still works in an Antimagic Field), and it does stack with the Darkvision spell (as well as with any permanent Darkvision you might have otherwise). Still, 30 feet and even the later 60 feet isn't much Darkvision sight range, so things will easily still hear you spellcasting from outside that range. If they had made this 60 feet initial range and 90 feet eventual range, now we'd be talking.
Shadow/Umbral: Shadow Wall: This is a good lead-in to being a late-entry Sorcerous Arcane Trickster. Use VMC Rogue to get Sneak Attack 1d6 at 7th level (it goes up by 1d6 every 4 levels thereafter), and take Accomplished Sneak Attacker at 9th level to boost it early to Sneak Attack 2d6 at the same time as you get this ability, and then start Arcane Trickster at 10th level (which will eventually get you 5d6 more Sneak Attack if you get all the way through, which stacks with all the other Sneak Attack you are getting), and you never lose spellcasting progression by dipping in a non-spellcasting class. Too bad Sorcerers get so few skill ranks. Wizards make the best Arcane Tricskters, but Shadow/Umbral Sorcerers are good contenders for the next best type.
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Bloodlines S Part 2 (Shapechanger -- gets a part all to itself) and their associated Wild-Blooded Bloodlines (regardless of starting letter)
Shapechanger: Bloodline Arcana: Note that the +1 boost to Caster Level is of some use if you are up against things with Spell Resistance, or you need to make an opposed Caster Level check. Also helps a bit with the duration of many spells.
Shapechanger: Hardened Fists: In practice this actually does give you the benefit of Improved Unarmed Strike -- even though it doesn't use that name, your unarmed strikes still do lethal damage and do not provoke attacks of opportunity. Even so, still bad for a Sorcerer. But see Eldritch Heritage below . . . .
Shapechanger: Mutable Flesh: Increase rating to Purple (5/5) for most characters; increase rating to Magenta Limburger (weapons-grade) cheese (6/5) for Half-Elves. Since Paragon Surge is a Transmutation spell that you cast on yourself that has a base duration of 1 minute per level, it works with this, and since the duration gets extended to 1 hour per level at 9th level (which thanks to the Shapechanger Bloodline Arcana, actually comes out to 10 hours), and you only need 8 hours per day for Magic Item Crafting, get almost any Magic Item Creation Feat you want during your downtime, and make whatever you want -- even a Ring of Continuation. Expanded Arcana is another obvious pick (and with Emergency Attunement, you can make those Wizards and Arcanists positively envious), but it's not the only one. Need a really situational Metamagic feat? -- this is for you (and it means you won't have to envy those Arcanists with Greater Metamagic Knowledge). Need a skill that you're not good at (with 2 + IntMod skill ranks per level, this will come up a LOT)? -- get the Cunning feat and give yourself another skill point per level; if you want to be a Sorcerous Arcane Trickster, you will REALLY want this plus Emergency Attunement, thereby making this another contender for next best Arcane Trickster base after Wizard. It's competing with the Shadow/Umbral Bloodlines for this -- maybe be a Half-Elven Shapechanger Bloodline Sorcerer, swap out Hardened Fists for Blood Havoc or a Bloodline Familiar, and then pick up Cloak of Shadows and Shadow Well through Exotic Heritage (Stealth) (which is actually useful) and Eldritch Heritage + Improved Eldritch Heritage (skipping Nighteye)? Note that even if you don't have Emergency Attunement, if you make a wrong choice of feat to get with Paragon Surge, the worst that happens is that you have shot yourself in the foot for one day instead of for the rest of your career. And we'll come back to this for more weapons-grade cheese under Improved Eldritch Heritage below . . . .
Shapechanger: Vortex of Flesh: Be careful of positioning when you let this off -- Rules As Written, this ability doesn't distinguish between friends and foes, which means that you have to get yourself in a dangerous position to be able to use it without hurting your party (in some cases you can get into position with Vanish/Invisibility/Greater Invisibility, but beware of enemies with True Seeing, See Invisibility, Glitterdust, or Scent or other special senses that let them detect you). This gets better if you have Spellstrike or some equivalent thereof (VMC Magus, maybe? -- or see Greater Eldritch Heritage below) and are holding the charge on some multi-touch spell, like Chill Touch or Frostbite (the latter preferably with Rime Spell and a couple of ranks of Heighten Spell). At later levels you could have Contingency primed to Dimension Door you out of trouble as soon as you have finished using Vortex of Flesh.
Shapechanger: Eldritch Heritage: While Hardened Fists is bad for Sorcerers, it would actually be not too shabby on Monks, Brawlers, Fighters with Focused Weapon (Improved Unarmed Strike), and Warpriests with Sacred Weapon (Unarmed Strike). What's better than a Scaled Fist Monk? -- a Scaled Hardened Fist Monk. The difference isn't much at low levels, but in the upper levels an increase in effective size gets noticeable, especially in a Flurry of Blows, and especially if you get some means of making yourself Large. Of course, this is hurt by Skill Focus (Disguise) usually being a lousy feat tax, but if you need to go undercover and then be able to punch your weight, it might actually work out.
Shapechanger: Improved Eldritch Heritage: Mutable Flesh is really good (Blue, 4/5, hurt only by Skill Focus (Disguise) usually being a lousy feat tax) on anybody else that can cast Transmutation spells of base duration 1 minute/level on themselves, and again goes up to Magenta Limburger (weapons-grade) cheese (6/5) for anyone who can cast Paragon Surge. Usually this once again means Half-Elves, but Clerics with the Self-Realization Subdomain of the Liberation or Strength Domains get this as a Domain Spell even if they are not Half-Elves. This means that (among other things) you could also do this as a Human with the Powerful Presence alternate racial trait and only a modest investment in Charisma. Note that for a Magus, while on the one hand Paragon Surge is 4th level instead of 3rd level (and again requires you to be a Half-Elf), the Magus spell list also has the 3rd level spell Tactical Adaptation which is ALSO a Transmutation spell of base duration 1 minute per level that you cast on yourself and that gets you a bonus combat feat that you qualify for, meaning that you can get a fairly decent subset of the benefit of the Mutable Flesh + Paragon Surge combination; it doesn't do non-combat feats, but it doesn't require you to be a Half-Elf (which means that you could be a Human with Powerful Presence and make the Charisma investment affordable). If you ARE a Half-Elf after all, eventually you will have access to both spells, and can use them simultaneously. Options include using Tactical Adaptation to get a combat feat and using Paragon Surge to get a different combat feat that has the first combat feat as a prerequisite; or using Tactical Adaptation to get a combat feat such as Improved Combat Maneuver and then using Paragon Surge to get a feat such as Extra Magus Arcana (Maneuver Mastery (same maneuver as selected with Improved Combat Maneuver)). This potentially gives life to the normally bad Eldritch Scion Magus archetype (which is Charisma-based instead of Intelligence-based). Likewise, a Half-Elven Paladin (strangely, not Antipaladin) could benefit from Mutable Flesh, although again Paragon Surge is a 4th level spell on the Paladin spell list, so the benefit is delayed.
Shapechanger: Greater Eldritch Heritage or VMC Sorcerer: If you have Spellstrike (Magus or Phantom Blade Spiritualist), Vortex of Flesh actually becomes somewhat worthy of consideration as noted above, although the same pitfalls noted above apply even to a relatively tanky semi-martial. However, the Charisma requirement starts to become prohibitive unless you are an Eldritch Scion Magus, so if you really want to get this, you might want to go VMC Sorcerer instead, which on the one hand commits you to spending 5 feats, but on the other hand gets you off the hook for Skill Focus (Disguise), and also gives you one of the feats back in limited form as a Shapechanger Bloodline Feat, of which the list includes some feats you might actually be able to make good use of (Improved Initiative and Great Fortitude being the standouts, and Combat Casting being worthy of consideration of you are some kind of gish other than a Magus).
Shapechanger: Suggested House Rules: As noted above, the Shapechanger shenanigans with Paragon Surge (and for a Magus, also Tactical Adaptation) are busted powerful -- Magenta Limburger (weapons-grade) cheese (6/5). Thus, I would suggest that Paragon Surge and Tactical Adaptation be made into Enchantment spells -- after all, some buffs are Enchantment spells already, so Paragon Surge and Tactical Adaptation would fit right in (you are enchanting yourself into doing something you wouldn't normally be able to do). In exchange, make the power a bit more reliable by having it extend Transmutation spells cast on yourself whose base duration is more than 1 minute per level but less than 10 minutes per level (a few spells are 2 minutes per level, making them currently ineligible) to be 10 minutes per level; and then at 9th level having it extend Transmutation spells cast on yourself whose base duration is 10 minutes per level or more but less than 1 hour per level to be 1 hour per level.
Bloodlines S Part 3 (Solar - Stormborn) and their associated Wild-Blooded Bloodlines (regardless of starting letter)
Solar: Healing Fire: Channeling as a Cleric of half your level means that your Channel DC (including the DC for rider effects such as those of Variant Channeling) will also be as a Cleric of half your level. This reduces the usefulness more than the reduction in channeling dice (which for some purposes you might not even care about). Also, Variant Channeling requires you to get your Channeling from a deity, which reduces the usefulness even further (a subset of Witches and arguably Oracles and Shamans can pull this off, but I think getting a Sorcerer accepted for Variant Channeling is a stretch). Orange (2/5), or Green (3/5) if you manage to find a use for which BOTH the Channeling DC and number of Channeling dice don't matter.
Solar: Solar Ascension: Link says "Heading no longer exists".
Starsoul/Void-Touched: Voidwalker: Yes, this is bad at low levels, but at 9th level, no longer needing to breathe could both save your life and keep you in the fight. Somebody jumped you and trying to smother you? Somebody used a spell or power that removes all the air around you? Or somebody cast a poison gas spell or used a poison gas breath weapon, or even sprung a poison gas trap? Somebody has your same Bloodline and used their 15th level power against YOU? Got suddenly dragged under water before you had a chance to cast Water Breathing, or even dragged under dirt or sand? Stays Red (1/5) if your campaign doesn't get to 9th level, but bumps up to at least Green (3/5) and maybe even Blue (4/5) if it does.
Starsoul/Void-Touched: Aurora Borealis: The Fascinate effect might still be useful on creatures that were about to reinforce your enemies, but are not yet targets for you -- if they fail their Saves, they fail to get into the fight unless they are sworn to protect whatever you were fighting, so just don't be hostile to them until you finish with whatever you were already fighting.
Starsoul/Void-Touched: Voidfield: Somebody messed up here -- it's a 9th level power, but they say you can use it "once per day at 3rd level, and one additional time per day for every three additional levels". Same thing on both www.d20pfsrd.com and Archives of Nethys, so it must be a mistake in the original source (Ultimate Magic).
Stormborn/Arial: Bloodline Arcana: Increase in caster level for overcoming Spell Resistance is the big draw here. In the right circumstances, this is equal to Spell Penetration, 50% of Spell Penetration + Greater Spell Penetration, and 40% of Piercing Spell, and it stacks with all of those.
^Cool. Will post more as I get the chance, with the wish that at least a decent subset of what I have posted will prove useful.
Bloodlines T (actually U) - Z (actually V) and their associated Wild-Blooded Bloodlines (regardless of starting letter)
Undead/Sanguine: Bloodline Arcana: Undead are generally immune to Mind-Affecting spells even if they are not mindless, so this Bloodline Arcana is not useless if you come up against Undead that were not Humanoid before they became Undead -- just somewhat harder to use. Use a spell that would have affected whatever the Undead was before it became Undead, and if it fails its Save, you're good to go, without needing Threnodic Spell or Thanatopic Spell, and even if you can't figure out what it was before it was Undead, you have a shot at affecting it -- you would only be out of luck if you ran up against one of the few totally de novo Undead or one made from something that was immune to those spells before it became Undead (in which case you would have had trouble with it even before it became Undead, so do with it what you would have done in that case anyway).
Undead/Sanguine: Grave Touch: This is the same as the default Necromancer Wizard 1st level Grave Touch except for being keyed off Charisma instead of Intelligence. It gets a lot better if you get some means of Free/Immediate/Swift/Move Action Intimidate (which is a skill that you can be good at) -- then it becomes a Get Out of My Space card. Note that although it DOESN'T have the Mind-Affecting descriptor on it, Constructs and Undead are immune to Morale effects, so you can't use it on them unless you find a way to bypass that immunity (like somehow getting your hands on an Antipaladin's Aura of Cowardice, but an actual Antipaladin dip would have to be 3 levels, so it isn't worth it; on the other hand, if you are Evil, and you have an actual Antipaladin in your group that didn't take an archetype that trades this out, you're good to go). Also see Eldritch Heritage below.
Undead/Sanguine: The Blood Is the Life: Since this doesn't scale at all apart from going up slightly in uses per day as your Charisma goes up, Red (1/5).
Undead/Sanguine: Grasp of the Dead: This doesn't have any range, so unless you put yourself in a dangerous position, you will also hurt your allies. Shapechanger's Vortex of Flesh has the same problem, but at least that one has some possibilities for sticking rider effects on it, and this doesn't, so Orange (2/5).
Undead/Sanguine: Incorporeal Form: One level after you get this, it gets severely outclassed by the spell Undead Anatomy IV (the navigation is busted on that page, so you'll have to scroll down manually to it). Even with the reduced duration that Undead Anatomy IV has when you take Incorporeal form, you still get rounds per level the same as you would with this ability, but you can use it as many times per day as you can cast 8th level spells. The only advantage of this ability over the spell is not needing components. Most Sorcerers don't need the material component anyway, which usually isn't a big deal, but could be a big deal with the particular combination of low price and low availability of the material component of this spell, so if you have a Sorcerer archetype that trades out Eschew Materials, this ability gets worth more -- Green (3/5) for such archetypes; Orange (2/5) for everybody else.
Undead/Sanguine: Eldritch Heritage: If you are an Antipaladin that didn't trade out Aura of Cowardice, this is for you -- Blue (4/5), or Purple (5/5) if you got an ability that lets Intimidate as a Free/Immediate/Swift/Move Action.
Unicorn: Bonus Spells: You are not a partial Cleric replacement, and can wing the rest with UMD. Over to the Mystic Theurge guide Not-Mystic-Theurge section.
Unicorn: Safekeeping: You can't get Reach Spell-Like Ability, but you can cast Long Arm, which you might want to be using anyway for delivering other Touch Attacks at low level. Loses attractiveness at higher levels as more things get Reach of their own.
Verdant/Groveborn: Tanglevine: I'm pretty sure that this is supposed to be stuff you do all in the same round, or to get it to work at all you would have to do something weird like Standard Action create it as the last action of 1 round and then use it in the first part of the next round, which would be really messed up. So as I think it stands, it isn't bad, especially if you are in a campaign in which many of the enemies are Humanoids of size Large or less, especially those using manufactured weapons (potentially up to Blue = 4/5 in a campaign like Ironfang Invasion or War for the Crown).
Verdant/Groveborn: Note that this DOESN'T say that it works only in the light, and it is Extraordinary rather than Spell-Like or Supernatural so you can use it pretty much anywhere, even in an Antimagic Field.
Verdant/Groveborn: Rooting: Haste may not counteract the slow speed that this gives you as much as you think, because the speed increase of Haste is capped at twice your normal speed. So then the question becomes whether the GM interprets your normal speed as being your normal speed when you don't have anything done to you (in which case Haste would add the full 30' of speed here but wouldn't do anything for you when you are under the effect of a Fly spell), or whether it is your new normal speed including your Rooted condition, in which case it would only increase your Rooted speed from 5' to 10' (which does give you back the ability to 5' step), but would then boost your speed when you are under the effect of a Fly spell and not Rooted. That said, it does give you some defense against monsters that want to pull you off the ground into the water or into their jaws, so it's not all bad.
Verdant/Groveborn: Eldritch Heritage: If you go all the way to Greater Eldritch Heritage, Rooting would be pretty good on some kind of martial that can benefit from staying put (archer, or Stalwart Defender with really long Reach, although beware that it has to be a type of Reach that doesn't depend upon movement, so things like Combat Patrol are out). The Charisma requirement would be getting on the expensive side even for a Human with Powerful Presence, so VMC would be more attractive . . . except for the problem that it takes FOREVER to get this online.
Vestige: Too bad they didn't make this a Sage-like Bloodlien . . . except it wouldn't be a Wildblooded Bloodline, because nothing else really corresponds to this. Wait -- I know, make a Heritage Wildblooded Bloodline off this one that replaces the Bloodline Arcana with the Sage Bloodline Arcana, and replaces Restored Glory with Versatile Crafting, which works like Bard's Versatile Performance but keys off Craft skills instead of Perform skills.
All done with Bloodlines! Whew!
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Introduction: Name typo in line 1.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Spontaneous Spellcasting: A Refresher Course: Extra Spells per Day: Good, but it's worth emphasizing that what you say just above (in No Prepared Slots) makes this even better, because a prepared spellcaster (other than an Arcanist) can run out of crucial spells WAY before they can run out of total spells, even of one level. A Sorcerer is flexible with how many castings they need of any particular spell; an Arcanist shares this flexibility, but has a lot fewer spells per day.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Guidelines for the Godhood: Rule III: Plan Metamagic Proactively: Rule 3.B: Since Quickened Spell makes a spell shorter than a Standard Action, other Metamagic doesn't increase the casting time, so as long as you can afford the spell slot level increase, you're off the hook! This also works for the few spells that are inherently Swift Action or Immediate Action.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Guidelines for the Godhood: Rule III: Plan Metamagic Proactively: Add Rule 3.E: Use the Arcane/Sage Bloodline's Metamagic Adept 3rd level ability (but save it for when you really need the fast Metamagic); optionally also get Sorcerous Bloodstrike to recharge it. Also, if you have one spell that you use A LOT, add the Spontaneous Metafocus feat; at high levels retrain this to Spell Perfection.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Guidelines for the Godhood: Rule V: Don't Ignore Spell Resistance: Rule 5.B: Spells: These (especially the 1st level ones) eventually become good candidates for use with Quicken Spell.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: Cantrips (0th Level Spells): Blasting: Some people have posted around here about using Alchemical Foci with Acid Splash and/or Ray of Frost to actually do a decent amount of damage so that these can actually be relevant for a few levels as opposed to being obsolete at all but 1st level. I don't know where to find these off the top of my head, but have a look around.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: Cantrips (0th Level Spells): Control: Add Daze if you don't need to swap out another spell at 4th - 6th level -- it's a cheapo Save-or-Lose, but doesn't work on creatures with 5 HD or more, so ditch it after at 4th level or 6th level.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 1st Level Spells: Control: Deja Vu: How is this not Purple-Pink (6/5)? Also good candidate for use with Extend Spell (make them Loopy for 4 rounds instead of just 2).
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 1st Level Spells: Buff: Add Long Arm -- get Reach for yourself longer than Enlarge Person would give it to you, and without the AC and Dexterity penalties. Very useful self-buff if you are the Bad Touch type. It does stack with Enlarge Person if you really need both (and if you are Aberrant and have Long Limbs, all 3 stack together), but keep in mind that the combination is additive, not multiplicative (and Aberrant's Long Limbs does not increase your threatened area, whereas the spells do, as does the Bloodrager equivalent of Long Limbs). Spectral Hand is better for delivering Touch spells of 4th level or lower, but doesn't work for non-spell Touch Attacks or Touch spells of 5th level or higher, so depending upon your build, you may or may not want to swap out Long Arm for Spectral Hand when you start to be able to afford spending 2nd level spell slots for this kind of buff.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 1st Level Spells: Debuff: Break: Note that the 1st level version DOESN'T have the following text that the 4th level version has: "Magic items can be broken by this spell, but not destroyed."
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 1st Level Spells: Debuff: Touch of Gracelessness: At high levels, Quicken this and follow it up with Calcific Touch (or better yet, Reach Spell Calcific Touch, or better yet, Spectral Hand-delivered Calcific Touch) against opponents like Ancient/Wyrm Dragons that really have awful Dexterity to turn them to stone in potentially just 1 round -- just make sure that you have your Spell Resistance penetration lined up (as noted earlier in the guide).
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 1st Level Spells: Summons: Mount: Also known for in-combat use as Wall of Horseflesh (gives you soft cover against enemies), although this is more effective with the Communal (2nd level) version.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 2nd Level Spells: Debuff: Shatter: Seems partially redundant with Break.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 2nd Level Spells: Summons: Mount, Communal: Also known for in-combat use as Wall of Horseflesh (gives you soft cover against enemies), and unlike the 1st level version, you can use it as such even if you are not in a chokepoint, so it is useful even if the Heighten Spell + Alter Summoned Monster combination is banned or nerfed.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 3rd Level Spells: Blasting: Battering Blast: If you build for it, you can do insane amounts of single-target damage with this. See this guide -- you won't have the Arcanist Exploits, but depending upon your Bloodline, you might be able to substitute for them.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 3rd Level Spells: Protection: Magic Circle Against Evil: In many campaigns you are going to need this often enough that a Scroll just won't cut it (and a Wand is too expensive, and a Staff is too hard to recharge often enough unless you've got a Staff Magus in the party), so go ahead and get it as a spell known.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 4th Level Spells: Control: Black Tentacles: On the downside, this doesn't work on enemies that aren't on (or almost on) the ground. On the upside, since it has a CMB instead of a DC, and the CMB scales with your caster level, you don't have to worry about Heighten Spell or Persistent Spell to make it relevant at higher levels, and at higher levels you can use Metamagic to -- for instance -- make the area insanely wide (and ALL of that area is Difficult Terrain), if for some reason you can't get your hands on Jatembe's Ire.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 4th Level Spells: Protection: Globe of Invulnerability, Lesser. One exception to Metamagic not helping get through this: Heighten Spell DOES get through it (but the normally more efficient Persistent Spell DOESN'T).
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 5th Level Spells: Summons: Army Across Time: In order for the Ring of Tactical Precision to work, somebody you can reliably get to every 24 hours has to have the Teamwork Feat. This probably will mean you. So if you're going to use Army Across Time often, you'll just have to get the feat yourself, and don't bother with a ring. Works better if you are a Half-Elf and can nab it with Paragon Surge.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 6th Level Spells: Blasting: Add Freezing Sphere: Long range, and wide area like Fireball with Widen Spell, but has a higher damage cap and higher Save DC, and of course different damage type. By the time you get this you won't be too far away from being able to get Spell Perfection so that you can cram some Metamagic in despite the high base level. Also has the feature that you could cast it shortly before you need it and then use a Readied Action to fire it -- not something you are going to need very often, but adds a bit of versatility nevertheless. On water, it also adds Battlefield Control.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 7th Level Spells: Blasting: Caustic Eruption: Since the Range is 30 feet and the Radius is 30 feet, you can just barely get the center far enough away to be on the edge of this effect. Because the Range is not Touch, Short, or Medium, Reach Spell won't work on it, but the normally bad Enlarge Spell will increase its range to 60 feet. (It pays to be a Half-Elf.)
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 7th Level Spells: 7th Lvl Alt Sources: Recorporeal Incarnation: Fun bit of history: Before Ultimate Intrigue came out, this used to be a spell specific to Second Darkness, which was a D&D 3.5 AP, so it cost XP to cast.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 8th Level Spells: Summons: Summon Monster VIII: What's better than summoning a T-rex? Summoning up to 3 of them, or up to 4 of them if you have Superior Summoning.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 9th Level Spells: Summons: Add Summon Monster IX: What's better than summoning a T-rex? Summoning up to 5 of them, or up to 6 of them if you have Superior Summoning.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 8th Level Spells: Utility (actually Summons): Shades: Since this works like Shadow Conjuration except for mimicking spells of up to 8th level, by analogy this only works for Sorcerer/Wizard spells, not Resurrection, etc. -- still good, but not busted good.
Spells and Spellcasting: Building God's Grimoire (linked document): Sorcerer Spells by Level: 9th Level Spells: Protection: Spellbane: Among other things, this is your ticket to keep from getting hosed by Antimagic Field. Be prepared for flakiness if opposing casters both cast Spellbane and specify Spellbane as one of the forbidden spells.
Whew! Finished the whole Spells and Spellcasting section in 1 shot!
Archetypes: Cross-Blooded: If you don't have to have Bloodline Spells from both Bloodlines, and you don't have to have both Bloodline Arcana, an alternative to Cross-Blooded is to take one Bloodline normally for the Arcana you need, and take Eldritch Heritage for the Bloodline whose Arcana you don't need but whose Bloodline Powers you want to poach. As long as you aren't Sage or Empyreal, you've got the Charisma to qualify easily without even needing to be Human with Powerful Presence, and while you're using feats, on the upside you're getting MORE Bloodline Powers than Crossblooded would give you. The only real downside is that Skill Focus (some Bloodline class skills) is just an awful feat tax.
Add Another Really Archetype: Eldritch Scrapper (and this one stinks so bad that I'm sorely tempted to drop the "S"): You get Brawler's Martial Flexibility on a 1/2 BAB d6 character, in exchange for your 1st, 9th, AND 15th level Bloodline Powers. AND 9th level Bloodline Powers are where you can find the Strength or Constitution boosts that you need to have any shot at being good in combat. And you can't even make good use of this for going into Eldritch Knight, because your Martial Flexibility won't progress at all unless you wait all the way to 10th level to start Eldritch Knight, at which point you will have a monster valley of suboptimality to climb out of. Rating: Poop (0/5, or maybe 0.5/5 if you go into Dragon Disciple from it -- this has the same problem as Eldritch Knight, but at least gives you some ability score boosts). If you want a Sorcerous Gish, play an Eldritch Scion Magus -- even though it is qualitatively different and still not a very good archetype (I would say Orange, 2/5), at least it functions (and you can even get a sort-of-Martial-Flexibility with the Tactical Adaptation spell that you get access to at 7th level even if you aren't a Half-Elf, and then make it really good with Emergency Attunement).
Archetypes: Mongrel Mage: Okay, so it's not just me thinking that this is bad. Although at least the above archetype saves this one from being the worst Sorcerer archetype ever.
Archetypes: Wishcrafter: Expanded Wishcraft: The replacements for bonus spells that you choose can only be from the Sorcerer/Wizard list (as opposed to some Bloodline Spells that are off-list), AND WORSE, you can ONLY use them with Wishbound Arcana and can't cast them on yourself, which means you can't use them to get yourself out of trouble unless you can trick some other creature into getting you out of trouble. Orange (2/5), bumping up to Green (3/5) if you are in a role in which Wishcraft would be useful frequently, and you avoid assigning any spells to this that you might need to use of your own volition.
Multiclassing: Nope, I can't think of any other good options either, unless you want to mention here (again) that non-Sorcerers dipping 1 level of Sorcerer (often Cross-Blooded) to get Bloodline Arcana is valid for some non-Sorcerer builds.
VMC: Fun (or not so fun, depending upon your point of view) tidbit: Since Paizo dropped VMC after introducing it (until they performed necromantic rites on it in 2nd Edition), both VMC guides are fully up to date, despite being old.
VMC: Cleric: Since the Channel DC scales with your effective Cleric level, which is way behind, rider effects will be mostly unusable, so you will have to pick one that is mainly useful for buffing (or undebuffing) your allies (and in the latter case make sure it doesn't need any kind of opposed check against whatever debuffed them in the first place). And this eats ***3*** of your VMC ranks. Red (1/5) for Channeling. The ability to get an awesome pair (or occasionally triplet) of Domain Powers bumps VMC Cleric overall up to Orange (2/5).
VMC: Oracle: Yes, you are 6 levels behind for all purposes on Revelations. So pick ones that aren't level-dependent. And yes, since Paizo dropped VMC right after introducing it, they never updated it for more Mysteries (although note that some existing Mysteries and Revelations were left out even at the time they introduced it).
VMC: Oracle: Orison SLA: It's poor, but if you choose Stabilize, you could save a party member's life. Possibly including that if the only real divine caster in your party.
VMC: Oracle: Curse Focus: This is eating a VMC rank to fix a problem that this VMC shouldn't have had in the first place. I would have rather that they just start you out at level 1 Oracle's Curse at level 1, and then switch you to full progression at level 3, and replace Curse Focus with something actually decent.
VMC: Witch: Having your Hex stuck at 1st level for so long REALLY hurts, even for something like Fortune -- not just for the duration (which scales slowly anyway), but for the DC. Red (1/5), saved from being the worst VMC ever only by VMC Gunslinger, which is poop (0/5).
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Regarding the Oracle dip: note that the Nature mystery also allows you charisma to AC (and CMD in this case, instead of reflex saves), and for another feat can give all animals nearby a huge saving throw boost (which can be useful with the right kind of familiar or animal companion).
Lore mystery can (for another feat) give you charisma to all knowledge checks, which is a huge boost if your party doesn't have a knowledge monkey.
I've found that if you have a boost to damage rolls (particularly Draconic/Orc/Solar bloodline) then Empower Spell is actually better than Maximize Spell, because Empower also multiplies your bonuses, and Maximize does not. Like, for a 6th-level slot you could do Maximized Fireball for 70 damage, or Empowered Dragon's Breath for 81.
For items, I'd like to suggest the Circlet of Persuasion. It's pretty cheap, and charisma-based checks include concentration checks for a sorcerer, as well as initiative (if you took Scion Of War) and knowledges (if you took Lore Mystery). And also the Amulet of the Spirits (Flame); twice per day, do +50% fire damage against one enemy.
Finally, have you seen the Irrepressible trait (cha to some will saves) and Steadfast Personality feat (cha to most will saves)?
Prestige Classes: Add regular Arcane Tricskter: Only Orange (2/5) to Green (3/5) for most Sorcerers, but better (Green, or even Blue, 4/5 if you can wait until 10th level to enter) for Stealth/Infiltration-focused Sorcerers (Shadow/Umbral and Shapechanger).
Prestige Classes: Add Evangelist: On the downside, this loses 1 level of spellcasting that with the wording read exactly as written, doesn't qualify for Prestigious Spellcaster, because the other levels do not have "+1 level of existing spellcasting class" entry. I don't think that is Rules As Intended, but your mileage may vary with table. (Also, it moves over to your good Save being Reflex instead of Will.) On the upside, EVERY LEVEL AFTER 1st progresses ALL of your class features, and you get a smattering of prestige class features on top of that, AND you get 6 + IntMod skill ranks per level (I think only matched by Sphere Singer, but I might have missed another one), 3/4 BAB, and d8 HD (the last which will improve your hardiness a bit if you are allowed to do the Favored Prestige Class + Prestigious Spellcaster combination after all; otherwise it just means you don't get worse).
General Feats: Add Cunning -- this is to skill ranks per level what Toughness is to hit points per level, except that unlike Toughness, it isn't front-loaded. If you're feeling squeezed for skill points, as you probably will be with 2 + IntMod skill ranks per level, this is for you. Green (3/5).
General Feats: False Focus: I wonder if this also gets you off the hook for Alchemical Components/Foci that cost =<100 gp?
General Feats: Irrisen Icemage: Doesn't hurt (or help) spells that don't have an energy descriptor, so you can take this for cold blasting without hurting your utility or most of your battlefield control.
General Feats: Magic Trick: Add Mage Hand: This also has some cool tricks, including letting you do a cheapo version of the Arcane Tricskter's Ranged Legerdemain, although sadly some of these tricks will not be practical for a Sorcerer, and if you have a good use for the feat tax for the cheapo Ranged Legerdemain, you might actually benefit instead from going into Arcane Tricskter and getting the real thing.
General Feats: Sorcerous Bloodstrike: Only once per day? I misread it previously then -- this does cut down the rating.
General Feats: Add Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration: These each do 40% of what Piercing Spell does but don't increase the spell slot level or casting time. HOWEVER, they all stack, so if you're up against things that have absurd Spell Resistance like Ancient/Wyrm Dragons, go ahead and splurge for all 3.
Familiar Feats: . . . .
Combat Feats: . . . .
Item Creation Feats: Harvest Parts: So if you kill a CR 20 Dragon -- that's 4000 gp. That's not so great savings for the amount of trouble you had to go to. Not useless, but not great either. Orange (2/5).
Item Creation Feats: Scribe Scroll: If you DON'T have a way of snagging spells like Paragon Surge + Expanded Arcana (which sadly means you can't simultaneously do Paragon Surge + Scribe Scroll), this is only good for making Scrolls to store as reserve spells. Orange (2/5) for most Sorcerers, or Green (3/5) if you can also get a Mnemonic Vestment (at least back up all those precious Scrolls -- actually a worthy reason to have a Mnemonic Vestment even if you only get to wear it during downtime) or a Ring of Spell Knowledge (although that doesn't go past 4th level spells).
Metamagic Feats: Piercing Spell: Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration each do 40% of what this does but don't increase the spell slot level or casting time. HOWEVER, they all stack, so if you're up against things that have absurd Spell Resistance like Ancient/Wyrm Dragons, go ahead and splurge for all 3. Alternatively, since Piercing Spell is only +1 spell slot level, it is reasonably affordable to get a Rod of it if you only need it infrequently.
Metamagic Feats: Add Reach Spell: Lets you convert Touch spells to Ranged Touch spells. Spectral Hand is initially better in almost every way, but Spectral Hand doesn't work on 5th level spells and higher.
Metamagic Feats: Add Widen Spell. Normally this isn't great, but if you're in a campaign which has you battling spread-out enemies in wide open areas often (Giantslayer, for instance?), it could really turn the tide. Keep in mid that doubling linear dimensions means quadrupling area and octupling volume, although the latter will rarely come up unless you are up against a LOT of flying enemies in wide open spaces. Too bad an Intermediate or Greater Metamagic Rod of this is horrifically expensive, even if you make it yourself . . . Orange (2/5) in most cases, but up to Blue (4/5) in the right campaign.
Monster SLA Feats: . . . .
Equipment: Metamagic Rods: Add Piercing Spell and Reach Spell.
Equipment: Ring of Spell Knowledge: Weird that the DC doesn't go up with the level of spell you are trying to snag, so eventually this will become an auto-pass, and even if your Intelligence isn't great, that just delays the inevitable by a few levels. Sadly, versions for >=5th level spells are not available.
Equipment: Pages of Spell Knowledge: Nice idea, but at higher levels this gets insanely expensive, even if you make them yourself.
Sample Builds: . . . for now, but I'm going to have to poat one some time.
Whooo! Done for now!
Bonus round: Build!
So originally, I was trying to come up with a Halfing Debuffing Witch for Giantslayer who was an escaped slave from Cheliax, who before escape had been mutilitated into a Creepy Doll, and would also Jinx as well as Hex-debuffing. But it was just too much to cram into the feats available in one build. Build variant 1 of 2 was still Witch, but only using Jinx as a standby until enough Hexes came online. (Both the original and variant 1 can be found in here.)
Build variant 2 of 2 is: Keep the Jinxing, but actually be a Harrowed Sorcerer instead of a Witch:
Sorcerer (Harrow Bloodline), Halfling with Creepy Doll alternate racial trait (no penalty to Intimidate for being Small) replacing Keen Senses and Sure-Footed, Halfling Jinx replacing Halfling Luck, and Dimdweller replacing Weapon Familiarity.
Brief character concept: As above, this character is intended for Giantslayer, and is a runaway slave from Cheliax who was mutilated into looking like a doll, and wants revenge on larger creatures, but who just might find redemption. In this variant, the cruel slavemaster sculpted this character into the form of a fortune-telling doll, only to charge witchcraft upon discovering that the fortune-telling had an element of reality.
15 Point Buy version: Str (7 - 2 =) 5 / Dex (13 + 2) = 15 / Con 12 / Int 15 / Wis 10 / Cha (15 + 2 =) 18; level 4 ability score increase goes to Intelligence; level 8 ability score increase goes to Dexterity; all ability score increases thereafter go to Charisma.
20 Point Buy version: Str (9 - 2 =) 7 / Dex (14 + 2) = 16 / Con 12 / Int 15 / Wis 10 / Cha (15 + 2 =) 18; level 4 ability score increase goes to Intelligence; all ability score increases thereafter go to Charisma.
Traits: Outlander (Exile -- get +2 Initiative) (Universal Campaign Trait, because none of the Giantslayer Campaign Traits fit), Chip on the Shoulder (get Intimidate in class, with bonus applying to opponents that tried to Intimidate).
Favored Class Bonus: All Favored Class Bonus goes to Skills (always really hard up for skill points, and unfortunately, the Halfling Favored Class Bonus for Witch isn't very good).
Skill ranks per level: Total 6 (at level 4 goes to 7): 2 for Sorcerer, 1 for Cunning feat, 1 for Favored Class Bonus, 3 for Intelligence 15 (at level 4 goes to 4 ranks).
Skills to Max: Escape Artist, Intimidate, Knowledge (Local), Spellcraft, Perception, Use Magic Device.
Other Skills (low investment but need to be non-0): Climb, Fly (eventually needs to be more than 1), Knowledge (all not listed above, and some eventually need to be more than 1), Sense Motive, Stealth, Swim.
01: Level 1 character feat = Cunning (needed for extra skill points, and can't even afford to retrain it).
02: -
03: Level 3 character feat = Sluggish Jinx.
04: Level 4 ability score increase goes to Intelligence (absolutely must have the extra skill points, so also keep the Cunning feat).
05: Level 5 character feat = Lightning Reflexes (better for offense against Giants via Bolster Jinx to worsen their already bad Reflex Saves -- Iron Will would be better for self-defense).
06: -
07: Level 7 character feat = Bolster Jinx; level 7 Harrow Bloodline bonus feat = Extend Spell.
08: Level 8 ability score increase goes to Dexterity if on 15 point buy or Charisma if on 20 point buy.
09: Level 9 character feat = Widen Spell (required for Area Jinx).
10: -
11: Level 11 character feat = Jinxed Spell.
12: Level 12 ability score increase goes to Charisma.
13: Level 13 character feat = Area Jinx (needed for Jinxed Spell to be fully effective); level 13 Harrow Bloodline bonus feat = Craft Wondrous Item.
14: -
15: Level 15 character feat = Craft Rod, and use first to make Intermediate Metamagic Rods of Dazing Spell, Persistent Spell, and Quicken Spell, and later make assorted non-Metamagic Rods.
16: Level 16 ability score increase goes to Charisma.
17: Level 17 character feat = Spell Perfection (Cone of Cold) (enables casting the selected spell with Jinxed Spell + Widen Spell + Intermediate Metamagic Rod of Dazing Spell).
18: -
19: Level 19 character feat = Iron Will (good for defense and for adding to Bolster Jinx); level 19 Harrow Bloodline bonus feat = Harrowed.
20: -
The * Amplification feats should get more attention -- these are sort of like Metamagic in their effect, but instead of increasing the spell slot level or the casting time, you just take a hit on the spell DC or spell attack roll, which is easier to compensate for: Not increasing the spellcasting time is very good.
Burning Amplification -- your Fire spells can cause targets to catch on fire, but the Reflex Save DC for them to put it out scales with the spell level and your Charisma (or Intelligence if you are Sage, or Wisdom if you are Empyreal), rather than being a fixed DC 15. Reflex is often the worst Saving Throw for some of the bigger monsters. Green (3/5).
Chilling Amplification -- your cold spells slightly slow targets and make them unable to take 5 foot steps. At first glance, this doesn't seem like much, but it could save your life if somebody with the Step Up series of feats is in your face. Works mostly differently from Rime Spell, so if you can afford the increase in casting time after all or to cast a Swift Action Cold spell (I'm looking at you, Cold Ice Strike), you could use both feats to good effect, even though the minor slowing effect of the former will get mostly lost in that of the latter. Since Entangled (from Rime Spell) confers a -4 penalty to Dexterity, which translates to a -2 penalty to Reflex Saves, this also works as a one-two punch if you cast a Swift Action Rime Spell (I'm looking at you again, Cold Ice Strike) followed by a Chilling Amplification Cold spell -- the -2 penalty to Reflex Saves more than makes up for the -1 on Reflex Save DC. Green (3/5) by itself, or Blue (4/5) in combination with Rime Spell.
Shocking Amplification -- this is the stinker of the lot -- 1 round of Fatigue on the target, that doesn't scale, and can't worsen to Exhausted. Red (1/5).
Strangely, no Corrosive Amplification is available.
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The * Amplification feats should get more attention
Yes, they should.
Note that they trigger not when an enemy fails his save against your spell, but when an enemy takes damage. So a burning-amped fireball? Yeah, everybody is on fire automatically, and then you take Xd6 (save for half).
Note also chilling-amped rime-spell frostbite for a nice stack of debuffs in one convenient package.
And yes, since Paizo dropped VMC right after introducing it
Can you elaborate? How have they "dropped" an optional rule? Or do you just mean that they never expanded VMC as new content came out?
And yes, since Paizo dropped VMC right after introducing itCan you elaborate? How have they "dropped" an optional rule? Or do you just mean that they never expanded VMC as new content came out?
They never expanded it (no VMC progressions for any classes that came out after Pathfindner Unchained), and they never errata'd obvious imbalances in it (the VMC quality ranges from pretty good down to what was that all about?, with VMC Gunslinger being the most flagrant example of the latter).
And yes, since Paizo dropped VMC right after introducing itCan you elaborate? How have they "dropped" an optional rule? Or do you just mean that they never expanded VMC as new content came out?They never expanded it (no VMC progressions for any classes that came out after Pathfindner Unchained), and they never errata'd obvious imbalances in it (the VMC quality ranges from pretty good down to what was that all about?, with VMC Gunslinger being the most flagrant example of the latter).
Ah, gotcha. Thanks. I agree with those things, I just thought that when you said they "dropped" it, they actually declared that they were no longer supporting it.
It seems to me that VMC was just about creating content for the Unchained book, and then moving on. Seems they didn't support a lot of things from that book, honestly.
^They haven't declared that they are no longer supporting most things (with the most glaring exception being 1st Edition) -- usually they just go silent. Not only was VMC dropped this way, but it seems that several ACG-or-later classes were at least semi-dropped even before 2nd Edition was announced.