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You're probably going to get a bunch of different answers on this, but from a lot of experience as a player and GM: damage spells feel lousy at low level. Its two actions with crummy odds of getting full effect, as your spell attacks have a lower chance to hit than an equivalent martial (and this will get worse before it gets better), and low level has a LOT of foes with good Reflex saves in my experience, so it's pretty easy to do almost nothing with a lot of spells & cantrips. When "half damage" means 2 damage... yeah. It doesn't feel good. When you start having a run of bad luck, only getting one attempt a turn makes it REALLY drag out as opposed to a martial who will can pretty regularly get two attacks so they just get more chances for a better roll. (And why the Remaster effectively nerfed damage on a lot of Cantrips I will never understand, because its hardly like low level caster damage was too strong.)
It's a good idea to try to have cantrips targeting at least two saves, so that when you encounter things with good reflex, you can switch to something else (Frostbite can be good for this). If you need space, drop Electric Arc to get it, then get a Jolt Coil Spellheart to get Electric Arc back.
Buffs and debuffs are somewhat limited at this level, but they tend to be more reliable. I use a lot of Fear, because any miss I turn into a hit or hit I turn into a crit with that debuff from another character hitting it is BIG damage and its because of me.
Cleanse Affliction gets better at rank 3 (so level 5) when it can attempt to counteract the disease entirely. That might fail, but when it works it ends it outright. That said, the Medicine Skill is usually the best answer for diseases.
Blood Magic effects are generally pretty minor. They're a bonus for doing something else, rather than a main thing. A bit of temp HP can help keep someone else in the fight, and if you're getting it from using your focus spell, that will be on top of the healing you did. You ideally also want to get an enemy in that so you can heal and do damage and provide Temp HP.
If everything is always making reflex saves, your only real options are to either use something that targets another save or try to get some help from elsewhere in the party. Like if someone elses Demoralizes a target, that lowers its reflex save and helps you. Likewise for Needle Darts, if someone can trip or grab a target, they become Off Guard which lowers their AC for you.
It also gets better later. When you start getting stronger spells you can make a real impact and swing battles... but I'll be honest: if your goal is damage, a low level spellcaster is the wrong thing to play. Anything with a weapon will do it better (and that includes Magus).
One other thing - if you don't enjoy the shield you're getting from Psychic, see if your GM will let you retrain to get Guidance instead. Amp Guidance is one of the best reactions in the entire game as if its usable, you know it'll swing failure to success (or crit failure to failure). Causing an ally to hit an attack that they would have otherwise missed is pretty significant, and making someone pass a skill check or succeed on a save they would otherwise fail is huge. It always feels impactful and the other players will love you for it.
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I will give the advice I give all low level casters.
Casters are a slow build class. The best way to do damage as a low level caster is with a save spell like electric arc or frostbite and a weapon attack, preferably ranged. I would use an ancestry feat to pick up the bow or a thrown weapon with returning and use that in addition to a save cantrip rather than an attack roll cantrip. This will carry in those early levels.
One of your best early spells is Runic Weapon to boost your or another martial's weapon. This spell is on every list I believe.
That's how I do damage as a low level caster.
There are a few new AoE cantrips like Timber or Caustic Blast which give you a little more AOE firepower in multitarget fights.
Against bosses the martials are likely to shine unless you get a lucky sudden bolt. So your best bet is fire an arrow and do a save cantrip, do some damage, and hope you get to higher level where the game shifts and you'll do some crazy stuff.
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Summon Animal is (one of) the best summon spell, but there are only few good animal options to pick. Make sure to check this guide for your summons, usually Skunks at low ranks to sicken enemies. If you have Primal Evolution, make use of them skunks!
Fireball and similar AoE spells are best used once at the start of combat, when the encounter is against several enemies: For the more enemies you face, the lower their levels usually are, which makes them more likely to fail their saves. Don't use AoEs when you face only 3 enemies or fewer.
Make sure to use your strongest spells first, and grab a lot of scrolls. The early levels are hard because you have so few spell-slots, but it will get easier at higher levels: there are many low-rank spells that remain very useful even at higher levels, since your spell DC is not dependent on spell rank.
I recommend Gortle's Spell Guide, an excellent read, to give you some idea on which spells to take (there's a sample section of spell choices at the end of the guide).
Tridus is absolutely right in The Infinite Eye's Guidance being amazing. Try to change/retrain to that. The Amped version can only be used when it is effective, so make sure to tell everyone (players & GM) to notify you when a roll is just off by 1, so you can use it.
Though I would recommend to keep the Electric Arc cantrip, and to get a Rime Crystal instead of a Jolt Coil for Frostbite. Not only is the Rime Crystal a little bit cheaper, it also provides better spells & resistance if you choose to upgrade it at higher levels.
Other good spellhearts are a Thorn Triad (Timber), a Pickled Demon Tongue (Caustic Blast), and a Trinity Geode (Scatter Scree). You can affix spellhearts to your Explorer's Clothing/armor and a weapon; to note, staffs are also weapons, but you can also wear a (Spiked) Gauntlet (Hands-Free trait) or add Spikes to a Shield to have an additional weapon for a spellheart.
Needle Darts can potentially be upgraded if you can get an object made from Siccatite, adding cold/fire damage. Though in general you should try to avoid relying on spells that target AC, unless you have a Shadow Signet.
Note that you also have access to occult spells, so instead of Frostbite you could also use Void Warp, and instead of Needle Darts you can take Telekinetic Projectile. The Musical Accompaniment cantrip can help you with your Intimidation/Diplomacy. If you have a spare feat, then Cantrip Expansion as a Psychic can get you these, but only do that if you want to get a higher level Psychic feat later, like Parallel Breakthrough at level 12 to get The Silent Whisper's amped Message.
If you want more damage, then Dangerous Sorcery stacks with your bloodmagic, so Breathe Fire & Fireball get +2 dmg per spell-rank. I would not take Shroud of Flame, as it deals friendly fire, and you are likely close to your allies if you want to use Rejuvenating Flames.
With wands you have to be a little bit careful, as they are very expensive compared to scrolls. Unless you intend to use a wand about 40 times, you're better off with scrolls. Bless is fine, as it doesn't heighten, but you might not cast it that often later due to having better things to do with your actions. Typical spells for wands are daily buffs like Tailwind, but some spells are always useful in so many encounters as well, like Illusory Object & Illusory Creature & Laughing Fit (all as 2nd rank spells). These would help mitigate your lack of good Will-save spells. Calm is a great spell as well, but due to the Incapacitation trait you would get this spell as a scroll instead of a wand; though it's also a good choice to steal with Crossblooded.
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If you find your enemies are critically succeeding saves close to half the time, you are really targeting the wrong saves. It is hard to know what campaign you are playing and what approach your GM is taking, but it sounds like you have ended up in a campaign facing off against a lot of higher level enemies, especially if other characters are struggling to succeed with things like recall knowledge. Fear might me a worthwhile spell to switch into at level 5 so you have a will targeting spell and you can see if you have more luck with it
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Excluding 3 specific fights, enemies have maintained a very consistent half critical saves, half basic success (against me), resulting in me rolling about 3-6 damage per turn (since levels 3/4). (dmg spells: (lv1) breath fire, (lv 2) floating flame, sudden bolt)
Either this is hyperbole caused by negativity bias, or the GM is consistently putting the party up against enemies that are several levels above the party character level.
If you are having to pick people up from the dirt nap on a regular basis, I am suspecting that it is the enemy level scenario. Not you exaggerating.
If every fight is an extreme level difficulty fight, no one is going to feel very competent in combat. Spellcasters feel that effect first because they only get one chance to be effective per round.
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The mistake that is being made at your table is that the GM is increasing the level of enemies by adding elite templates instead of adding more lower level enemies (which is the recommended approach to dealing with more PCs, as per page 76 of the GM core).
For enemies to be anywhere close to getting critical successes half the time against your spells, you have to be targeting their highest saves and the have to be 3 to 4 levels higher than you. Even with 7 PCs you should not be facing off against monsters that are 3 to 4 levels higher than you in half your encounters, much less close to all of them, and again, this is always targeting their highest save. Your GM is actively making playing a caster much more difficult than the game intends.
If it is true that you are facing off against monsters that high of level against you, you are probably best off focusing on buffing Allie’s, but that does get boring so you actually are probably better off targeting AC when playing offensively. Try to get a staff of divination as soon as possible (since you can cast occult spells) and try using a lot of sure strikes with your third actions, and making sure, minimally, you are targeting off-guard enemies, if not ones that are also debuffed in other ways. Your other party members need to help you with this. Someone should prioritize tripping them and making sure you have clear lines of sight. If your GM let you get sudden bolt, consider picking up acid arrow instead, and maybe shocking grasp as well, although it doesn’t sound like you want to be in melee often if you are a primary party healer.
When you're new to PF2, casters can feel pretty terrible if you're coming from PF1/3E or even 5E. If you give them some time and learn the way PF2 works, they start to perform better.
As a caster you will need your teams support to get off spells on a stronger enemy.
Look for the moments when your intimidation or another ally's sickened or fear ability gets off, then get a party member to grab that foe or land a trip on them. If it doesnt happen that turn keep throwing out spells that set up your party with buffs. But when that turn happens thats when you drop a sudden bolt. Also if an enemy doesnt have reactive strike you can cast spells right in their face no problem while flanking them to get off guard if no one can trip or grab. Probably do this only if you think you can kill the thing before they go again cause your taking a chance 3 strikes or worse get dedicated to you next time it goes.
If you are attempting demoralize checks though you are within 30ft of the action so you are not benefiting from staying at 60 for sudden bolt. But with 7 players and the GM using fewer higher level foes getting targeted probably has been less of an issue.
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I am at the same Table and yes fights just are over PL a lot more than normal. Our party of 7 just gives us crazy high xp budget encounters. But that's how we roll and isn't a problem most of the time but lately the amount of turns spent trying and failing to do anything at all is really high.
So the thing is, it's not against the rules or anything, but are you enjoying it?
The GM can basically spend the encounter budget "high" or "wide".
If the GM spends it high, you get a few enemies with high stats. They're hard to hit, they hit you hard. But because there's a lot of you and together you have more actions than the enemies do, you eventually get through. It's "fair" and "balanced", but maybe not a lot of fun, because everyone is missing a lot of rolls.
If the GM spends it wider, you get more enemies but the individual enemies aren't as strong. You don't have as much of a difference in how many actions the party has vs the enemies, but it's easier to hit enemies. This one is also fair and balanced, but it might be more enjoyable for you as players.
The choice between high and wide tends to affect people who do "one really important roll" characters more than characters who do many rolls. If you have one big spell to spend and enemies critically succeed, then it feels really bad. If you're a monk making lots of attacks and half of them fail, it's not great but you didn't really lose your big thing of the day.
So this is why the advice given to the GM in the books is that if the party's XP budget is big because it's a big party, it's better to spend it wide than high.
So my advice: don't say "that's just how we roll". Discuss it with your group: is this actually making the game fun or would a bit of a change be nicer?
So the thing is, it's not against the rules or anything, but are you enjoying it?
The GM can basically spend the encounter budget "high" or "wide".
If the GM spends it high, you get a few enemies with high stats. They're hard to hit, they hit you hard. But because there's a lot of you and together you have more actions than the enemies do, you eventually get through. It's "fair" and "balanced", but maybe not a lot of fun, because everyone is missing a lot of rolls.
If the GM spends it wider, you get more enemies but the individual enemies aren't as strong. You don't have as much of a difference in how many actions the party has vs the enemies, but it's easier to hit enemies. This one is also fair and balanced, but it might be more enjoyable for you as players.
The choice between high and wide tends to affect people who do "one really important roll" characters more than characters who do many rolls. If you have one big spell to spend and enemies critically succeed, then it feels really bad. If you're a monk making lots of attacks and half of them fail, it's not great but you didn't really lose your big thing of the day.
So this is why the advice given to the GM in the books is that if the party's XP budget is big because it's a big party, it's better to spend it wide than high.
So my advice: don't say "that's just how we roll". Discuss it with your group: is this actually making the game fun or would a bit of a change be nicer?
All of this. If every encounter is against higher level enemies, you need to talk to the GM.
I had to learn this the hard way as a GM for a group of 5. Adding the Elite template is *really easy*. It makes the math work, it's simple to do, and it keeps things going.
It also makes enemies feel stronger and the party thus feel weaker. If you're constantly struggling against every enemy you encounter, how heroic do you feel?
"One/Two really strong foes" has its place in encounter design, but combat in general is more fun for players if they feel like they're accomplishing something on their turn. Fighting more enemies does that, because you'll be hitting reliably, critting sometimes, enemies will fail saves, and you'll take things down more often.
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Adding the Elite template is pretty easy, yeah. There's even some automation for it on Archives of Nethys.
But it's not the recommended way; this is what the GM Core says:
It’s best to use the XP increase from more characters to
add more enemies or hazards, and the XP decrease from
fewer characters to subtract enemies and hazards, rather
than making one enemy tougher or weaker. Encounters
are typically more satisfying if the number of enemy
creatures is fairly close to the number of player characters.
In practice, encounters with 4 creatures against 4 PCs are actually pretty rare in books. 1-3 enemies is much more common. So if the encounter in an adventure path was 1 unique enemy against 4 PCs, it can be a bit of trouble for the GM to add extra creatures, because it doesn't make sense for a unique NPC to have a twin present :P
An easy technique however, is to take enemies from last chapter or two, who used to be somewhat scary for the players, but now the players are a level or two higher. So yesterday's lieutenant is today's mook. That helps the GM, come up with statblocks for in-theme mooks. And for players it can be really satisfying to see that enemies that used to be hard are now easy.
Of course if the encounter was already say, 2 monsters against 4 PCs, it's easy to just make it 3 or 4 enemies against 7 PCs.
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So what effect does this have, for the players?
* Individual enemies aren't as hard to hit and affect with spells.
* Individual enemies don't hit as hard. However, even "weak" enemies are pretty dangerous because monsters get high stats to begin with.
* The party can more quickly reduce the threat of the enemy, by killing a few of the weaker ones. That's different from a fight against a solo boss who's 100% dangerous all the way down to 1 hp.
* Area attacks like Fireball become a lot more effective, because (1) more enemies to damage, (2) those enemies have weaker saves.
* Combat becomes a bit more tactical, because the enemies can also surround and flank the PCs if the players aren't careful.
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If you look at Pathfinder Society, that's designed for parties of 4-6 players. Having 5 or 6 players is pretty common so it's useful for comparing to your group.
These days, many PFS scenarios adapt to large parties by doing some of the following:
- Add more HP to enemies but otherwise leave their stats the same
- Add more of the weakest kind of enemies in the group
- Make the weakest enemies stronger
Kind of in that order, depending on how big the party is.
Casters are better against lower level enemies and doing debuffs, so if your always fighting higher levels that don't have a lot of chaff enemies then the encounters are being made to your weakness not your strength. There should nearly always be globs of lower level enemies to choke out and overwhelm martials that casters can blast.
On another note you mentioned getting a player up from unconscious. That's usually a really bad idea unless you can get them to a safe spot first. Having to stand and then pick your stuff up is a huge action sink and can leave you defenseless to close enemies. Keeping people topped off or finding ways to reduce damage is often a better use of your time, especially with a large group.
I do plan to get dangerous sorcery when I hit level 5
If your Sorcerer is a Human (or Half-Elf) you can use Natural Ambition to get Dangerous Sorcery as well. Or if he's an Elf, you can use Ancient Elf to get the Psychic Dedication.
unless I am misunderstanding it, the bloodmagic effect will be pretty unlikely do anything. I have to pick 1 target early before the spell resolves and that target only takes the damage if they actually fail the save. I was thinking it might be generally worthless to make that call out and might just default give myself the temp hp or an ally who is caught up in the effect.
True, it's hard to actually land Bloodmagic at your table, if everyone always succeeds at saves, in which case the tHP are better. We do get Player Core 2 in two months though, and Bloodmagic is gonna get improved.
In general you want your Fireball/AoE to hit in the first round before everyone is tangled up in melee, and then switch to other spells (Fear, Slow, ...) that don't do friendly fire. And if you use it only when there are more than 3 enemies, you are usually likely to hit at least one fully. Though you can ask your GM if "the first enemy to fail the save" is a valid target description for Bloodmagic.
p.s.: I recommend Master Gortle's Strategy Guide, especially the section on Effective Spellcasting; some of it was originally from Treantmonk's Guide on D&D 5e Spellcasting, but ported over to Pathfinder 2e.
Follow up question on the occult cantrips, I only can use them if I get a magic item that will allow it right? (or scroll), As far as I currently know I can't retrain anything into an occult spell because I don't have "basic spellcasting benefits" without the archetype feat for it.
Well, in a way yes and no. You have currently 1 occult cantrip, your one psi cantrip (Shield/Guidance), and 0 normal occult cantrips. You could take the Cantrip Expansion feat (through the Basic Thoughform feat) to get 2 occult cantrips, though I would only take these if you can A) spare the feats, and B) intend to take a higher Psychic feat later (as Basic Thoughtform can only nab 1st & 2nd level feats).
You don't need the Basic Spellcasting benefits to be able to cast occult spells though, you already can do that with the Psychic Dedication itself. The Basic/Expert/Master Spellcasting benefits only grant you spell-slots to cast spells (and a repertoire), but you already have the ability to cast occult spells, just no slots to cast them from.
(I was not intending to keep grabbing feats those beyond a considered 8th level "Mental Balm" alternative amp but it was contending with crossblooded evolution for the planned feat slot).
I wouldn't invest any class feats into more Amps; just doesn't seem worth it on a non-Psychic. Your feats are very precious, so only grab stuff that is really great; either stick with the Psychic Dedication itself or grab up to 2 other things that are worth it, especially if you consider taking another dedication feat later.
Level 12 & 14 have weak Sorcerer class feats, so you can possibly take up 2 more Psychic archetype feats at those levels. If you want to blast you probably want to get Overwhelming Energy at some point and Cleansing Flames for healing (both level 10), so you will probably use the 12th or 14th-level feat slot to get the other one, leaving one slot open. And at level 6, I would skip the Advanced Bloodline feat, as Shroud of Flame really isn't any good (friendly fire, and you want to avoid melee later). So there's 2 potential openings for more Psychic stuff, like Cantrip Expansion and Parallel Breakthrough (amped Message).
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Remember to use your large group’s action economy advantage, if your GM often use few, but strong enemies.
Tactics like creating obstacles and difficult terrain are really effective and especially against large enemies, where they stand in the way of each other, but tactics like that requires more team coordination to take advantage of.
A few fights where the GM’s 3 elite monsters only get 1-2 actions pr round, will perhaps make him use more minions instead - where your area attackspells can get to shine.
More as a general response to the comments on the encounter difficulties. I get and appreciate what you all are saying, but am fairly limited in being able to adjust that. I would vastly rather figure out a way to play and have fun despite it. Our group has been playing together weekly for years now and barring the first group's TPK, have only ever had 2 PCs die straight out since, so we are decent, at least, at strategizing, working together and handling it. (we switched to pathfinder almost 1 year ago)
I do not think our enemies tend to be more than 2 levels higher than us either, unless they are an area boss. We are level 4 for the past few sessions and recently I've seen level 6 enemies being the strongest in the group against us (dark fields kitsune lets me figure out enemy levels situationally).
I've written a guide to blasting recently. From your first post it looks like blasting is something you like so I think it'll be helpful. Personally, once I got Sudden Bolt my Witch became the main damage dealer of my party. So in my opinion you should be able to deal a sizeable amount of damage at your level (even if Lightning Bolt at level 5 is the real gamechanger).
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I used my general feat at level 3 to get human with adopted ancestry just for this. Unfortunately I actually chose Kitsune for the original ancestry. The heritage (dark fields) is giving me effectively a free intimidating glare and I can figure out enemy levels with its reaction ability, but almost all my future feats are from the human.
I do love Kitsune a lot, but they're just lacking so much to be really good. They made the best Enchanters (as Sorcerers) in 1e, but their 2e options are just too weak. :(
Dark Fields has a nice reaction, but Skill Feats are too cheap to consider them a bonus of any heritage. On weak ancestries (especially those lacking good ancestry feats), you really need a versatile heritage with good ancestry feats, like Nephilim or Ifrit.
And among the Kitsune heritages, I dislike that some heritages lack a humanoid tailless form, meaning they can't disguise themselves as Humans (or Elves); the Dark Fields is among them. It's nice being a black fox, but theen you look like a black fox too and everyone knows you're that Kitsune.
And Adopted Ancestry is just so expensive. Taking a general feat just so you can choose other feats. I always avoid this due to the high opportunity costs: Canny Acumen, Improved Initiative, Fleet, Feather Step. You only get 5 general feats in total, 3 until level 14, that it just costs too much.
My planned spells were level 12: greater physical evolution which I thought had such a high level of versatility it should be extremely good?
Personally I'm just not a fan of shapeshifting in combat, but I love it for social/intrigue settings. Also, Greater Physical Evolution doesn't give you an actual spell-slot, just the ability to use a polymorph spell as if you knew it. As a Sorcerer I already have lots of great spells, and I'm limited by slots, so not getting any more slots to cast cool spells is a little bit of a waste. So no Battleforms for me, but if you like them, then go for it.
Level 14 I was favoring blood component substitution for out of fear of restraint. Not yet in this campaign, but we were encountering so many auto-grabbing monsters in the last that I thought I would inevitably be in a bad position from it and could use the substitution to cast a teleportation like spell to try to escape (I don't think my merely trained acrobatics will ever get me out of anything).
I very much doubt that Blood Component Substitution will make it into the Remaster, since all verbal/somatic/material components were replaced on spells already. I consider it a dead feat. And remember:
1: not everyone has Reactive Strike!2: class feats are super, super valuable!
If you're worried about situational things (like getting grabbed), add low-level spells to your repertoire to cover that. For example, at level 14 you have 7th-level slots (half way to 8th-level slots), so just use one of your 4th-level slots for Zephyr Slip and cast it if you're worried about an enemy getting too close. Or go with Air Walk before combat to stay out of reach. You could even cast Grease on yourself (your armor) before every combat (just a 1st-level spell), just to make sure.
Level 6 I was planning on getting widen spell, so much of my bloodline abilities are AoE that I thought it was a good choice? I'm not too tied to it though considering friendly fire is already a problem.
I would have chosen Widen Spell right at level 2 (unless multiclassing ofc), to make best use of Rejuvenating Flames. But I would retrain out of it later, when being near melee gets way too dangerous for squishy Sorcerers (or Sorcerers that fly/air walk a lot). Is it useful on Fireball? You might rarely hit 1 or 2 extra enemies with a Fireball, though regularly enough to justify a class feat for it? Doubtful.
But more important is that it prevents you from using other metamagic/spellshape feats. Remember that big AoE's are usually something you pull off on your first turn, before an encounter turns into a melee slugfest. Your AoE spell requires 2 actions, your metamagic/spellshape 1 action, so you can't do anything else that turn. That means often enough no Recall Knowledge check (unless your party Wizard has very high initiative and uses his first turn for Recall Knowledge checks). So you might just want to use Overwhelming Energy as your metamagic/spellshape as a safety measure, to make sure you actually deal damage with your Fireball, in case the enemy has fire resistance.
Some good news, I was allowed to swap my conscious mind for the psychic dedication! I've already told my party to keep an eye out for chance to benefit from the guidance amp.
Congratulations, you're gonna have a lot more fun with that than with Shield! Unlike Shield, it always works when it is used, and you never waste focus points or actions again with this amp!
I liked taking the mental balm amp at level 8 half as it leaning into helping my allies and letting me set someone up for success and half because I did not have anything I strongly wanted of the sorcerer list at that level.
Mental Balm isn't too bad (on an actual Psychic), but you already have Cleansing Flames to counteract those conditions. Both cost a focus point (though only the feat to get Cleansing Flames gives you another focus point).
Keep in mind too that you only have 1 psi cantrip you can use this with: The Infinite Eye's Guidance. And the target of a Guidance spell becomes immune to Guidance for 1 hour after being the target of this spell, so it's also very likely that you cannot cast Guidance on them, even if you want to use Mental Balm, because it's the Amp on Guidance that makes the spell ignore the immunity, but Mental Balm replaces that Amp. Your GM might rule that you can use it anyway, but RAW I don't think it does. YMMV.
In theory I could give up my level 6 and level 8 feat to the dedication. I know that crossblooded evolution is very well considered for level 8, but I can already cast occult through scrolls/items and our party has an arcane wizard. We are only missing divine exclusive casting capabilities and I did not anything on the list stand out to me yet.
I'd say take Dangerous Sorcery at 6, with a normal class feat. Retrain that General Feat (Adopted Ancestry) and Ancestry Feat (Natural Ambition) to get some more bang for your buck (it's 2 feats for 1!).
Consider as an Ancestry Feat the Star Orb familiar. Sure, it won't be a great familiar, being a (motionless) pebble in your pocket, but you can give it 1 ability, for example Spellcasting. If you take Crossblooded as your 8th-level class feat, add the Liberating Command occult spell to your repertoire, then use that spell for your familiar's Spellcasting. Now your familiar can free you from grapples! Oh, and immediately afterwards retrain your Liberating Command to another spell, e.g. Calm. Your familiar keeps the Liberating Command spell until you choose to replace this familiar ability (you don't HAVE to change it every day, you CAN!).
There are also other familiar abilities that don't require the familiar to move:
Cantrip Connection can give you a cantrip, even an occult cantrip since you have a Psychic's repertoire!
Familiar Focus can let you regenerate a focus point once per day with a single action (you Command your familiar, your familiar concentrates for 2 actions)!
Restorative Familiar is your own personal Heal spell.
Or even Threat Display which gives you a version of Intimidating Glare (only if you change from Dark Fields Kitsune).
The Star Orb has Innate Surge, which is a waste unless you take Killing Stone (though level 13 is a long way), or if you go down the Kitsune Spell feats route: Familiarity (1), Mysteries (5), Expertise (13). Ghost Sound/Figment is a good cantrip however, and Illusory Object is a good spell (though a bit lacking as a 1st-level spell), but it would benefit from Innate Surge. Going down that route would probably eat your General Feat for Ancestral Paragon again though (unless you don't want to take Fox Trick).
If you want to upgrade your 1st-level Illusory Object spell, you can use said Figment cantrip to add the necessary sound. Smell is a vague sense (imprecise at best), so your illusory fire/acid barricade can smell like an actual fire/acid barricade if you burn some rope/hair/stuff nearby or pour some nasty smelling fluid on the ground somewhere (before the encounter).
Another option is to get the Chaotic Spell metamagic/spellshape instead of Crossblooded. It's a gamble compared to Overwhelming Energy in terms of resistance/immunities, but it has good rider effects. It's also a metamagic/spellshape that can be useful with targeted spells instead of just AoEs, due to those rider effects against which there is NO SAVE! As long as the spell damages the enemy, they get Sickened/Flat-Footed (1/3 chance) or -10 speed/Deafened (1/3) chance or good damage (force or persistent fire). It's an 8th-level feat, so a viable alternative to Overwhelming Energy (10th level), if you want to keep those higher level feat slots for other stuff (Cleansing Flames). Chaotic Spell even works with Rejuvenating Flames and is thus a viable AoE-improvement without friendly fire issues (only your enemies take damage after all!).
I very much doubt that Blood Component Substitution will make it into the Remaster, since all verbal/somatic/material components were replaced on spells already. I consider it a dead feat.
I just chime in to strongly oppose this. Blood Component Substitution is one of the strongest Sorcerer feat you can find, it's roughly a no brainer. It will save your life more often than not as situations where you can't cast spells properly are many and very often dire ones.
I am expecting that it will be rewritten and remain.
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That's awesome! :) "My focus spells are so good I have a hard time deciding when to use them" is a great problem to have.
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I appreciate you coming back with the update! I'm really glad you are having fun again.
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This may be too little or too late, but I'll add a tip or two.
- Train your party members who use Recall Knowledge to first ask, "What is the creature's lowest DEFENSE (rather than lowest save)?" Sometimes, attacking AC is the way to go even for a caster.
- Next, they should ask "Does the creature have any resistances, immunities or weaknesses?"
I have a party member who uses recall knowledge all the time and always asks, "What weaknesses does it have" first. It drives me nuts! Make that action spent on RK maximally valuable!
- You have access to Magic Missile! Stock some scrolls of the highest level you can cast. When it feels like nothing else is working, it will feel great to pull one of those out and do some non-trivial, all but guaranteed damage.
- Train your martials not to rush in before buffs, debuffs, and AOEs have been laid down. They need to understand that their haste to engage is often counterproductive and makes the encounter more difficult. They need to learn when to make tactical use of the Delay action.
- Fireball and the like are great when the positioning stars align, but you'll pretty much always be able to use a line spell like lightning bolt. Have some more party friendly AOEs in your arsenal for those times when the situation conspires against you and makes burst spells problematic.
- Lastly, scrolls and scrolls and scrolls of top level and top level-1 spells. This is SuperBidi's approach to feeling effective as a caster. Just cast big spells all the time. Having a bunch of big spell scrolls makes you treat your big spell slots less preciously. If you're always holding back and casting cantrips, this may be your remedy.
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Next, they should ask "Does the creature have any resistances, immunities or weaknesses?"
That looks an awful lot to me like you're trying to cheese three questions for the price of one. No way you're learning all those values without a critical success, special abilities, or more Recall Knowledge actions.
If I were your GM, the correct answer to your question as stated would simply be "yes" or "no."
Train your martials not to rush in before buffs, debuffs, and AOEs have been laid down. They need to understand that their haste to engage is often counterproductive and makes the encounter more difficult.
Good advice, right up until you start telling others how to play their characters. In my experience, that rarely ends well. Definitely have a conversation about tactics, but don't try to train your friends like your pets.
Lastly, scrolls and scrolls and scrolls of top level and top level-1 spells. This is SuperBidi's approach to feeling effective as a caster. Just cast big spells all the time. Having a bunch of big spell scrolls makes you treat your big spell slots less preciously. If you're always holding back and casting cantrips, this may be your remedy.
Scrolls are definitely amazing, but top-rank and too-rank -1 scrolls are VEEY expensive. Even a couple of those doesn't leave you with much in the way of level appropriate gear.
Lower level scrolls that you can buy in bulk without compromising your defenses or other gear options are going to be more useful, I think.
Next, they should ask "Does the creature have any resistances, immunities or weaknesses?"That looks an awful lot to me like you're trying to cheese three questions for the price of one. No way you're learning all those values without a critical success, special abilities, or more Recall Knowledge actions.
If I were your GM, the correct answer to your question as stated would simply be "yes" or "no."
Train your martials not to rush in before buffs, debuffs, and AOEs have been laid down. They need to understand that their haste to engage is often counterproductive and makes the encounter more difficult.Good advice, right up until you start telling others how to play their characters. In my experience, that rarely ends well. Definitely have a conversation about tactics, but don't try to train your friends like your pets.
Lastly, scrolls and scrolls and scrolls of top level and top level-1 spells. This is SuperBidi's approach to feeling effective as a caster. Just cast big spells all the time. Having a bunch of big spell scrolls makes you treat your big spell slots less preciously. If you're always holding back and casting cantrips, this may be your remedy.Scrolls are definitely amazing, but top-rank and too-rank -1 scrolls are VEEY expensive. Even a couple of those doesn't leave you with much in the way of level appropriate gear.
Lower level scrolls that you can buy in bulk without compromising your defenses or other gear options are going to be more useful, I think.
With regard to your first point, this sounds to me like, "Hey Applied_People, your GM runs Recall Knowledge differently than I do."
Okay.
OP's GM may play it differently than mine as well. Better to get more from each question than less, and of course, adjust based on your GM's approach.
To your second point, I agree completely. I'll revise my language so that it doesn't sound so "directive."
As to your third point, I'm not sure I agree. A level 3 character (according to this table: Treasure for New Characters) should have 75 gp at their disposal. Level 1 scrolls are 4 gp, and level 2 scrolls are 12 gp. So having a few at level and level-1 scrolls doesn't seem beyond the pale. Definitely leaning more toward the level-1 scrolls admittedly.
In PFS, characters tend to have more gold to work with than characters playing APs and other published adventures.
I very much doubt that Blood Component Substitution will make it into the Remaster, since all verbal/somatic/material components were replaced on spells already. I consider it a dead feat.I am expecting that it will be rewritten and remain.
It's gone.
Just to add a bit off conclusion for anyone who winds up in this thread.
Going into 5th level things have started to feel much better. Massive thanks to Theaitetos for the amped guidance swap in. I was wasting so many actions on people who ended up not getting attacked or the attack rolled so the shield was pointless (dmg reduction with block included as pointless). Guidance in a 7 person party has made my focus points much more meaningful; I have a hard time saving one of them for rejuvenating flames (which actually came in clutch in a combat!)...
You're very welcome!
I'm glad it all worked out, and that you're enjoying your Sorcerer a lot now!