I've been going through my character sheets and realized that I never finished my fetchling sorcerer. I wanted to do the Tattooed archetype and still kinda want to, but I'm not sure how viable it actually is.
This character is a part of a group of siblings, 9 characters in all. I built them as if they were going to be played together since it helped me narrow down choices for their builds. (I like to make characters and pre-building one makes it easier for me to adjust any character to any group.)
Originally I was planning on having the sorcerer takes Inscribe Magical Tattoo so he could give himself and his siblings (or party members) magic tattoos. Other crafting was covered by other siblings so I wasn't going to give him any other crafting feats.
Can a tattooed sorcerer be viable? Or should I switch to a different archetype or no archetype at all?
The big problem with a crafting sorcerer is their limited number of spells, and that CHA is their casting stat. The wizard (or other INT based caster) does not have much problem taking a -5 to the spellcraft (or other skill) to ignore a requirement, but for a CHA based caster with few skill points it is a lot more difficult. Inscribe magical tattoo also used a craft skill instead of spell craft. If you were using spellcraft to create the items, you would at least be able to get some benefit from those points besides creating items.
The sorcerer gets very few skill points so maxing out a craft skill will take half the base skill points of the class. Fetchlings do not get a bonus to INT or extra skill points, so you only option to increase skill points is FCB. But even that is going to leave you with very few skill points. Unless you are using a very high point buy you will probably want to focus on CHA, DEX and CON. Since your crafting skill is INT based dumping INT is not an option. Dumping WIS on a race that already has a WIS penalty is a verry bad idea. You can probably afford to sacrifice some STR to get a bit of INT, but this might cause issues with encumbrance.
The archetype is not the problem, because it does not use the craft skill. But creating any more than a few tattoos at a time will require the feat and using the craft skill. As far as I know Pathfinder has no way to use CHA for a craft skill.
True. Hence my hesitation. He'd definitely not be doing any other crafting outside the tattoos.
This character would work better as a human instead of a fetchling. Humans get an extra skill point so they can better afford to max out the craft skill. Their FCB for sorcerer is extra spells known, which will give them more spells they can use to meet the requirements. And finally, they can take focused study instead of the extra feat and put that into their craft and later use the others to boost other skills. If they take prodigy by 10th level, they can get a +10 to the craft skill which would more than enough to handle the -5 penalty. If you go with the sage bloodline for a human that would be ideal.
If you have enough spells that are worth making into tattoos, and you do not mind only being able to make a few tattoos the archetype could still work without taking the feat.
I don't want to change the race, but I could ditch the feat. I don't think Sage would work with Tattooed since they both change the first level power.
According to the AoN the Wildblooded replaces the bloodline, not the 1st level bloodline power. Hero Labs allows it both the Wildblood and the Tattooed Sorcerer to be taken. The sage bloodline is a variant of the arcane that has different bloodline powers. Some GMs might not agree, but from the looks of it RAW there is no reason you cannot take both the wildblood and tattooed sorcerer archetype.
The headband might help a bit, but the character is still not going to max out INT. Basing a character of access to a late game magic item is not a good idea, especially if the character is not starting out at high levels. Nor is taking feats that the magic item fulfills the prerequisite.
For now, I'm going to avoid the Sage bloodline. If I ever put him in a game, I'll ask the GM what he thinks.
Whether or not I take Inscribe Magical Tattoo, I'm definitely not adding any other crafting to him. He just does tattoos.
I'm looking through the bloodlines, and I'm kinda leaning towards either Elemental or Solar. Both are pretty handy for blasting with elemental spells. And Solar would be ironic since he's a Fetchling.