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Hello valued brains trust.
A couple months ago I was reading a post about a healer type build using the Sorcerer Phoenix bloodline multiclassed with Oracle. I am interested in making a character similar to this but cannot really seem to make one I think is ... worthwhile.
The usual popular methods to increase fire damage were used coupled with feats to increase healing like Fey Foundling and Fast Healer.
I know in the post I read the build seemed quite effective, but I cannot seem to find the post I was reading. The oracle level/levels were to gain access to life link I think.
Anyway, has anyone built a character like this before? Was it fun to play?
I am thinking of skipping Oracle completely, half-orc for the +1/2 damage to fire spell favored class bonus and potentially orc bloodline crossblooded archetype.
Yeah I’ve given this kind of build some thought. The build I came up with was half-orc crossblooded sorcerer with with the Phoenix and Elemental(fire) bloodlines (the Elemental bloodline for the ability to change any spell that deals an elemental damage type to fire). I also went with variant multiclass wizard with the admixture school to gain a familiar and add half your class level damage to evocation spells. The half-orc favored class bonus to add half level to damage as well. Trade your first level bloodline power in for the Blood Havoc bloodline mutation to get +1 damage per die to damage. With this build you can cast ray of frost with fire damage and deal 20+ damage by level 20 or half that in healing (free healing yay). I also took the magical lineage trait to reduce the cost of metamagic by one for Burning Hands and took Intensified Spell to increase Burning Hands to a max of 10d4 damage. With all your bonuses to fire you can basically use burning hands as a very localized Channel Positive Energy. At later levels when you get a decent fort save you can take the Flumefire Rage feat to get another +1 damage per die to your fire spells. This kind of build is great as an in-combat or out of combat healer that can also deal quite a lot of fire damage to enemies as well. You won’t get a lot of the typical healer type spells but if you want to be able to recover a lot of HP or dish out some hurt this kind of build works pretty well.
Use the solar bloodline instead of the orc. It gives you the same damage bonus, but friend of fire gives you fire resistance and adds 1 per die to healing effects that you are the target. If you also have Fey Foundling that would be 3 extra points per die.
I've toyed around with the concept quite a bit (You can see some of the specifics in this thread) except I used Arcanist but with a dip into sorcerer. If you want to use Oracle, it might just be easier to use the variant multi class options to pick up Oracle revelations so you don't hurt your spellcasting (though your feats will take a hit).
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Thanks for your responses guys.
We are pretty much using the PFS rules for what is available for character creation so some of the stuff, like Blood Havoc and Flumefire rage, will not be available.
I have not used the variant multiclass rules yet, I may need to ask the GM if that is an option. It may be worth exploring.
I was toying around with the character over the weekend and with a dip into Oracle and the Crossblooded archetype it did not even have a 3rd level spell known by 7th level. I could use those 3rd level slots to cast lower level spells but it seems like it would be pretty damn boring to play. Especially if fighting enemies with fire resistance/immunities.
Everyone has their own preferences and expectations on what is 'boring' or not. Personally, I find the encounters with fire resistance/immunities more of a challenge to be overcome than a barrier to my enjoyment of play.
For example, if you are worried about resistances for the small fraction of time you'll be facing those specific monsters, look into getting a metamagic rod for elemental spell, or benthic spell, so that you can shift the elemental types and still do respectable damage. Or shift your focus for that one fight to something else. Purchase some scrolls to make use of during those times, or a wand that you can make use of (or invest in use magic device). It is always a good idea to invest in other places you can focus on, rather than hyper focus in one area in particular. You don't end up 'crippled' for a single fight because of it.
A note on the Phoenix bloodline healing. When choosing to heal your allies I believe you are able to voluntarily fail the save for half so you wouldn’t have to be reduced to quarter damage as healing.
Knowing when to eat the fireball, rather than trying to dodge it, is as simple as the caster using a free action "Incoming!" (or insert your own phrase) to signal to the group. And you can avoid healing enemies through selective spell metamagic (a rod or feat), magic trick (fireball) scuplt spell, and a number of other ways.
To be clear, once the fire spell is converted into healing, it is no longer dealing Fire damage. It isn't dealing damage at all. Protection from energy won't apply. People like to argue over the order of operations, but those usually are settled in the player's favor. Player casts spell, the energy is converted into healing, and the spell is delivered.
As I mentioned before, I toyed around with the concept quite a bit before. What I failed to mention is that I do have a character that is built around healing in this manner in a mythic game (they are now 15th level and tier 7). The players in the game are also gestalt. This character is not, and is built with NPC elite ability scores. To date, their ability to heal, spread around temporary HP, and nuke the enemies has never been found wanting.