First off, I'm pretty new to Pathfinder and Role-playing in general so reading the Core Rulebook was slow (but fun!). I've played as a Rogue in a session, but I'm really interested in creating a Sorcerer. I like the idea of rolling up an Half-Orc Sorcerer and think there's a lot of potential for fun from 1 to 20.
My issue is that I'm not really sure where to start. I've thrown together a character that's probably playable, but I'm not sure just 'how playable' (I've mostly played pre-gens up to this point). Below is a summary of most of the important suff.... My stats were created with the old fashioned 4d6 and drop the lowest method and I feel I got pretty lucky rolling them.
STR: 15
DEX: 17
CON: 15
INT: 12
WIS: 14
CHA: 19 (includes the +2 racial bonus)
Favored Class: Sorcerer
Bloodline: Orc
AC: 14
INIT: 3
FORT: 3
REFLEX: 4
WILL: 5
BAB: 0
CMB: 2
CMD: 14
Skills: Intimidate (10), Spellcraft (5), UMD (8)
Feats at level 1: Eschew Materials (freebie)
Ironhide (+1 Nat. Armor)
Special Abilities:
Darkvision (up to 90 ft.) - 90 feet due to bloodline arcana.
Sacred Tattoo (alternative racial ability I think) - +1 luck bonus to all Saving Throws
Proficient with Falchion/GreatAxe
Touch of Rage at 1st
Fearless at 3rd
Strength of the Beast at 9th
Power of Giants at 15th
Warlord Reborn at 20th
Spells: 4 0-level: Detect Magic
Read Magic
Ray of Frost
Daze
2 1-level: Mage Armor
Touch of Rage
For first level, I can cast 3 (+1 Int Bonus) spells a day, but can only know 2, so I assume that means I can "learn" the 4, but I can only cast 2 of the four a day, correct?
Are there any suggestions that can be made to tweak him and the character more.... viable, threatening? I'm a bit at a loss on what feats I should take and need a lot of help there.
I'm open to making changes to just about anything with the exception of race and the fact that I want some sort of mix of spell casting and melee ability (ranged physical damage I don't care so much about for this character).
If I get any feedback at all, I will be very grateful.
Thanks!
No, you can only know two 1st level spells, but you can cast whichever of the twoyou want at any time, as long as you don't cast more than four 1st level spells per day.
Mage armor is good. Touch of rage is a useful support spell but it may not help you very much unless you have a good fighter to cast it on. Enlarge person might be a better buff spell; sleep, magic missile, color spray, or grease all might be better offensive spells.
Your stats are great. With a 17 dex I mightconsidergoing for ray spells Ina big way, it'll be very easy to hit with them. If so, consider Pointblank Shot and, later, Precise Shot for feats.
The general rule with sorcerer feats is: use them to either stay alive or support your spellcasting. You also can't go wrong with Improved Initiative. If you're going to throw lots of spells that need a saving throw, consider Spell Focus andGreater Spell Focus, from whichever school you're using a lot. Toughness or GreatFortitude might help keep you alive. Think about what sort of magic you're going to be using a lot and pick your feats to support that as you go up.
Regarding ur spells u can cast 4 spells per day at first, 3 from class and 1 because ur 19 charisma garners an extra per day.. once it reachs 20 charisma ull have 2 bonus 1st per day.. theres a table in the first past of the phb titled ability modifiers and bonus spells. This tells you how many bonus spells u get from ur relavent ability score (for u charisma)..
As a 1st level sorc. u get to pick 2 know spells and u can cast either of them up to 4 times per day..
Your CMB should be 15, +3 dex, +2 str, +10
Feat wise i wouldnt take ironhide.. Varisian tattoo will get u a +1cl and a +1dc to a school of ur selection.
Toughness isnt a horrible feat, neither is improved initiative, or combat casting for that matter..
Are u wanting to play a blaster? im guessing because orc gains a +1dam per die to any damaging spell.
Whats ur alignment? because with starting stats like that you could easily prestiege dragon disciple with a dip in barb or pally depending on alighnment.. you have to switch to draconic sorc, but it could be very strong with ur starting stats..
Ok, so basically you're a little off with how spells work.
A wizard has a spellbook and must select spells from the spellbook to prepare in each slot he can cast each day. So if a wizard has 10 spells in his spellbook, and can cast 3 spells each day, he must select which spell to place in each spell slot.
A Sorcerer on the other hand does not have a spellbook and CANNOT learn every spell in the game, like a wizard. Instead, you can only ever know about 6 spells for each spell tier. However, unlike a wizard, you do NOT select your spells in the morning, you instead select them when you cast them.
To give an example:
A wizard and sorcerer go into a dungeon. The wizard has a spellbook with 10 spells including grease and sleep. The sorcerer knows grease and sleep, but no other spells. The wizard prepares 2 sleep spells and a grease spell that morning.
They get inside the dungeon and UH OH: Undead. Now the wizard is in trouble because his 2 sleep spells are USELESS. He can't "Unprepare" them either. He's stuck with just one grease.
Meanwhile, the Sorcerer, who has 4 spell slots, can use ALL 4 of them to cast grease, selecting which spell she casts when she burns the slot for the day.
Hope that helps!
WerePox47 wrote: Regarding ur spells u can cast 4 spells per day at first, 3 from class and 1 because ur 19 charisma garners an extra per day.. once it reachs 20 charisma ull have 2 bonus 1st per day.. theres a table in the first past of the phb titled ability modifiers and bonus spells. This tells you how many bonus spells u get from ur relavent ability score (for u charisma)..
As a 1st level sorc. u get to pick 2 know spells and u can cast either of them up to 4 times per day..
Your CMB should be 15, +3 dex, +2 str, +10
Feat wise i wouldnt take ironhide.. Varisian tattoo will get u a +1cl and a +1dc to a school of ur selection.
Toughness isnt a horrible feat, neither is improved initiative, or combat casting for that matter..
Are u wanting to play a blaster? im guessing because orc gains a +1dam per die to any damaging spell.
Whats ur alignment? because with starting stats like that you could easily prestiege dragon disciple with a dip in barb or pally depending on alighnment.. you have to switch to draconic sorc, but it could be very strong with ur starting stats..
Varisian Tattoo has spell focus as prereqs.
Unless OP wants to go the Tattooed Sorcerer archetype, which isn't bad for orc bloodline since the level 1 bloodline power is a stinker compared to a familiar that can turn into a tattoo.
For optimizing starting as a human or half-elf with the orc bloodline is better since you'll be getting darkvision from the arcana anyway. Also a longspear is a fantastic weapon for a sorcerer and they have proficiency.
Ah, thank you all for the clarification on spell casting for a Sorcerer! I re-read that section in the rulebook a few times but I guess it didn't really stick with me. I'm liking that a sorcerer is so limited in this way as it forces me to really carefully think and choose the most optimal spells depending on the type of character I want to create and play.
In response to WerePox47, yes I'm wanting to play as a blaster. My alignment would probably be True Neutral or Good Neutral. As for schools of magic, I see my character primarily focusing on Evocation... that seems to be the ideal choice if I'm looking to hit with firepower.
WerePox, you also mention that I could take dragon disciple and dip into barbarian (or Paladin)... When would I do those if I chose to go that path? If I were to dip into something like Dragon Disciple, it looks like the earliest I could probably take it is at level 5, as I would need 5 ranks of Knowledge arcana (the other requirements I could probably pick up on my way to reaching level 5). Would I take Barbarian at level 1 and then take up Sorcerer or would I pick Barbarian up at a later level? I'm assuming there are some feats or skills (Rage?) in Barbarian that I would like to have.
Also, as far as Varisian Tattoo... That sounds pretty cool to be honest.
Am I correct in that I can opt for both the Tattooed Sorcerer archetype and the Dragon Disciple? As far as I'm able to tell, I can do the following:
Level 1 - 5 = Half-Orc Tattooed Sorcerer (Picking up Spell Focus as my level 1 feat and dropping the Ironhide feat I initially picked). I lose my 9th level bloodline (Breathe Weapon) since I would choose the bloodline Draconic to qualify for Dragon disciple, and would instead gain Enhanced Varisian Tattoo at level 9.
Level 5+ = Assuming I meet the prereq., I can opt for the Dragon Disciple Prestige class.
It was mentioned that I could possibly dip into Barbarian or Paladin, but I'm uncertain as to when (or why) that should be done.
Thanks again for all of the help so far.
Guacenspiel wrote: Ah, thank you all for the clarification on spell casting for a Sorcerer! I re-read that section in the rulebook a few times but I guess it didn't really stick with me. I'm liking that a sorcerer is so limited in this way as it forces me to really carefully think and choose the most optimal spells depending on the type of character I want to create and play.
In response to WerePox47, yes I'm wanting to play as a blaster. My alignment would probably be True Neutral or Good Neutral. As for schools of magic, I see my character primarily focusing on Evocation... that seems to be the ideal choice if I'm looking to hit with firepower.
WerePox, you also mention that I could take dragon disciple and dip into barbarian (or Paladin)... When would I do those if I chose to go that path? If I were to dip into something like Dragon Disciple, it looks like the earliest I could probably take it is at level 5, as I would need 5 ranks of Knowledge arcana (the other requirements I could probably pick up on my way to reaching level 5). Would I take Barbarian at level 1 and then take up Sorcerer or would I pick Barbarian up at a later level? I'm assuming there are some feats or skills (Rage?) in Barbarian that I would like to have.
Also, as far as Varisian Tattoo... That sounds pretty cool to be honest.
Am I correct in that I can opt for both the Tattooed Sorcerer archetype and the Dragon Disciple? As far as I'm able to tell, I can do the following:
Level 1 - 5 = Half-Orc Tattooed Sorcerer (Picking up Spell Focus as my level 1 feat and dropping the Ironhide feat I initially picked). I lose my 9th level bloodline (Breathe Weapon) since I would choose the bloodline Draconic to qualify for Dragon disciple, and would instead gain Enhanced Varisian Tattoo at level 9.
Level 5+ = Assuming I meet the prereq., I can opt for the Dragon Disciple Prestige class.
It was mentioned that I could possibly dip into Barbarian or Paladin, but I'm uncertain as to when (or why) that should be done.
Thanks again for all of...
Unfortunately you can't qualify for Dragon Disciple with the orc bloodline.
Right, I see that I would have to drop Orc for Draconic. They both seem appealing, but change the way in how the sorcerer might be played somewhat. Whew, so many options!
What do you see your sorcerer doing?
Blasting? Controlling? Debuffing? Buffing? Some other concept?
Probably blasting. It would be nice to have some buffing ability, but I fear that would be spreading myself too thin.
Well you will definitely want to invest in Spell Focus Evocation then, to make sure that your evocation spells stick.
Buffing, thankfully, isn't reliant on saving throws.
I would highly recommend that you invest in a Metamagic Rod of Dazing, lesser. They've very expensive, but since they can be applied to your fireballs, they cause an enemy to be dazed on a failed save for 3 rounds, which is absolutely catastrophic.
For any sorcerer you'll likely want to take the sorcerer alternate favored class bonus from the Advanced Player's Guide for spells:
For levels 1-3, you may not want to do so (adding level 0 spells, meh), but from level 4 on, picking this gives you potentially 17 extra spells known by level 20: 2 each of 1st through 7th and 3 for 8th level spells.
There are a number of player created Sorcerer's Guides, accessible through the
Guide to Guides.
You could do the cross-blooded thing, to get both half-orc and draconic bloodlines - but that does seriously handicap your spellcasting. If you want to consider a Dragon Disciple, check out Oterisk's Guide:
Oterisk’s Guide to the Dragon Disciple - A “How To” for the Living Myth.
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