Rolling up a caster blaster, need advice

[Mechanical Pear]

Sorry for the terrible format of this post. Meds. Blegh.

About to start a new game. Starting at level 1, and this DM doesn't mind if our characters die, so I'm trying to make something fun, but has a good chance of surviving.

So, thinking of this so far:

Aasimar Sorcerer Build:

Aasimar (Heavenborn: +1 CL to Good and Light spells)
CN
20 Sorcerer (crossblooded - Orc/Psychic)(FCB: +1/4 CL for Good spells)

STR 7
DEX 12
CON 12 +2 Racial
INT 13 +1 Level
WIS 10
CHA 18 +2 Racial, +4 level

STR 7
DEX 12
CON 12 +2 Racial
INT 13 +1 Level
WIS 10
CHA 24 +7 (30 +10)

TRAITS
- Gifted Adept (Magic): +1 CL bonus to Battering Blast
- Wayang Spellhunter (Battering Blast)(Region)

FEATS
1 Spell Focus (Evocation): +1 DC for Evocation Spells
3 Mage’s Tattoo (Evocation): +1 CL for Evocation Spells
5 Bloatmage Initiate: +1 CL for Evocation Spells
7 Blissful Spell (metamagic): +1 SL, adds Good Descriptor
9 Spell Specialization: +2 CL Battering Blast
11 Intensify Spell (metamagic): +1 SL,
13 Maximize Spell (metamagic): +3 SL,
13* Quicken Spell
15 Spell Perfection
17 Tenebrous Spell
19

BLOODLINE POWERS
1 Bloodline Familiar
3 Fearless
9 Strength of the Beast
15 Thoughtsense

BLOODLINE FEATS
7 Blood Havoc
13 Quicken Spell
19 Blood Intensity

SKILLS
Knowldge (Arcana) 20
Spellcraft 20
Use Magic Device 20
Ride 10
Fly 10

An aasimar sorcerer can get +1/4 CL for good spells, and can get a variant racial ability to get +1 CL on good spells. The Blissful Spell metamagic feat can make any spell "good".

Thinking about making Battering Blast my go to spell at higher levels, and stacking massive amounts of Caster Levels.

Crossblooded Orc and Psychic lets me wear armor without spell failure and not require my hands to cast. Eventually, I can get Mithral Fullplate with the comfort enhancement, and a steelbone frame, as well as a mithral heavy shield. And with that, I'd have no armor check penalty (so my attacks don't get negs to hit), even though I don't have armor prof.

At level 1, I could use an armored coat and a buckler, so my Ray of Frost would get -3 to hit because lack of armor prof, but my dex would make that -2, and it would be a ranged touch attack, so maybe sometimes it'd still land?

The biggest question is should I swap Gifted Adept for Magical Knack, and do some dipping? I know that's generally not a good idea for a Sorc, but one level in Nature Oracle could get me +5 AC starting out, eventually up to +10 AC. I could pick up a level in that at level 2, so now I can wear medium armor and shields with ease, and get a boost to AC. If I made him dual-cursed, and retrained later on and bought a Ring of Revelation, I could also add on the Misfortune ability. While it doesn't add to my battering blast, it can still be hecka handy in many situations, and with many other spells.

Not to mention, I'd get a couple more spells:

Level 0
Guidance
Enhanced Diplomacy
Create Water
Stabilize

Level 1
Dream Feast
Touch of Truthtelling
EDITED TO ADD: And Cure Light Wounds ;)

If I did get Magical Knack, then I can even dip one level further into a completely different class, but I'm really not sure what would be worth it. Or I could dip one level into a prestige class later on, but...I dunno. Ideas?

Also, as always, I'm trying to look at what all gear would be useful for me.

So far, some gear I'm looking at:

Gear:

Mithral Fullplate
+5, Comfort (+5k gp)
Steelbone Frame (6k gp)

Mithral Heavy Shield
+5,
MW Reinforcing Boss (+15 shield hp) gp

Karma Beads (1/day, standard action, +4 CL for 10 mins.) (20k gp each)

Ring of Spell Knowledge

Robes of Arcane Heritage (Orc), (16k gp)

Vestment, Mnemonic (1/day, cast any Sorcerer spell holding scroll/Spellbook of it, as if it were a spell known), 5k gp

Spellbook - Permanency, Animate Dead

Greater Eye Piercings (gains See in Darkness) (32k gp)

Darkskull (Deeper Darkness)

Major Chest Piercings (+5 competence bonus on concentration checks) (3,750 gp)

Wings of Flying, Lesser (22k gp)
Muleback Cords (1k * 1.5)

Belt, Heavyload (2k gp)

Implanted Orange Prism Ioun Stone (+1 CL) (30k gp)

Crown of Heaven (150k gp)
Orb of Golden Heaven (22k gp)
Scepter of Heaven (74k gp)

Runestones of Power

+6 CHA/CON items. Maybe INT, too. Then the basic items good for everyone: +'s to natural armor, deflection, saving throws.

A darkskull and Greater Eye Piercings is decent defense anyway, but would also go with the Tenebrous Spell feat.

Casting Animate Dead would eventually get me a Mature Adult Black Dragon Fast Zombie mount.

Any must have items for my build that I overlooked?

[Kurald Galain]

Here's the problem: Battering Blast is a good spell because it's uncapped, but it requires a very high caster level before it actually becomes good. Anywhere below CL 15, it compares poorly to Scorching Ray or Fireball. At CL 15-19, it needs to match up against Cone of Cold, Fire Snake, or Disintegrate. Battering Blast basically needs CL 20 before it starts to shine; even with all your boosts, we're talking approx character level 13.

And you're starting at level 1. So, you really need to consider what you're doing before you get to CL 20, but thankfully Orc bonus also adds to e.g. fire or cold spells.

Also, note that for a blaster sorcerer, Empower Spell is better than Maximize (because Empower also increases your damage-per-die bonus, and Maximize does not), and you should really stay away from Crossblooded because the loss of spells known hurts. There are much better ways to get defense than to wear full plate.

And yes, dipping Oracle is a good way to boost your armor class. You can consider Dual-Cursed archetype because its Misfortune ability is very good, or Lore spirit (same AC boost) because it can also boost your knowledge checks. Finally, consider the Noble Scion (War) and Steadfast Personality feats. HTH!

[Mysterious Stranger]

A sorcerer wearing full plate still has to deal with arcane spell failure. Even with mithral plate your you have a 25% chance of losing the spell. That means 1 in 4 of your spells is going to be a dud.

[Dragonchess Player]

If you want to focus on blasting, it might be more effective to go with arcanist (probably blood arcanist [Orc bloodline] with the School Understanding [Evocation/Admixture to switch energy types of evocation spells] exploit at 5th). Arcanist has fewer spell slots than a sorcerer, but can learn as many spells as the character can afford to scribe, can customize the spells available/prepared for the day based on the expected encounters, and still casts spontaneously.

Personally, I'd avoid heavy armor. At most, take Arcane Armor Training at 3rd level and invest in a mithral chain shirt and a mithral buckler for AC (improved with a couple of magical plusses during middle levels) until the character can cast 5th-level spells at 10th or 11th level; then retrain the feat to Quicken Spell and switch to a haramaki* instead of a mithral chain shirt.

It uses mythic rules, but you might find this character can generate a pretty extreme amount of damage at higher levels. There is a non-mythic outline for a similar character earlier in the the same thread. Generally speaking, archery is pretty strong so the character can shoot arrows when not casting spells; if going this route, Int and Dex should be the highest ability scores and don't dump Str.

*- maximum armor bonus of +6 (+1 base, +5 enhancement), but no arcane failure and can benefit from armor special abilities (such as energy resistance and mirrored) that are prohibited from being applied to bracers of armor

[Azothath]

I think Class choice revolves around your knowledge of the spells, spell lists, and metamagics.
If you don't know much a sorcerer or arcanist is fine.
If you are rather familiar with the spells and such a specialist Wizard is your best bet.
Class dipping (monk, fighter, cleric, rogue) hurts a full caster's spell advancement but really bolsters their survivability and opens up some martial ploys and you'd want a better race here like aasimar or samsaran. Casters will never be decent at general melee.
Most archetypes, prestige classes and such are worse and take a careful build and tactics to keep up with a specialist wizard.

Gear: see Items that can save you thread.

[Mechanical Pear]

Not gonna quote each reply, just replying in general.

At level 9, this character's battering blast does 15d6+30 damage. At level 12, if I have the orange ioun stone, I can use a level 4 slot to deal 28d6+56 damage. That's before the insanity of Spell Perfection at level 15.

Great call on the Empower Spell, definitely gonna sub that in.

Psychic Sorcerer's do not use somatic spell components, which means they do not suffer from arcane spell failure chance.

I do, personally, like arcanists more than sorcerers, in general, but this build is playing off the aasimar's favored class bonus for sorcerer. My "Good" spells have a higher CL, and with +1 to the spell level (or +0 with Battering Blast), I can make any spell "Good".

The class dipping wouldn't at all be for martial ability, but to augment survivability. Or, if I can find 1-3 levels of a worthwhile prestige class, maybe for caster boosts, or something.

Also, I realized that some of the arcane based items wouldn't work with this build. Which...sucks. But wouldn't be too big a loss.

[Kurald Galain]

Mechanical Pear wrote:

At level 12, if I have the orange ioun stone, I can use a level 4 slot to deal 28d6+56 damage. That's before the insanity of Spell Perfection at level 15.

That's 154 average damage, which is less than Disintegrate (187 average, without Blissful Spell or Spellhunter), and comparable to Empowered Cone of Cold (124 average in a huge area, and only needs CL 15). And all of those get quite insane with Spell Perfection, too.

Quote:

with +1 to the spell level (or +0 with Battering Blast), I can make any spell "Good".

Any single-target spell, because that's the restriction on Blissful Spell. What about area-effect blasting?

I mean it's a good combo but not a spectacular one, so I think you're overinvested in this trick and should focus more on your early game.