[PF] Backstory/Decisionhelp.

[Krazzman]

Hello again Playground,

again I come to you to ask for advice. My currently planned Characterconcept for a completely new group was declined. But that's not the problem I have.

The Char-Generating Rules:
PB 20 no stat higher than 18 or lower than 8 (AFTER Racial Mods). Level 6, Wealth of Level 5.
2 Traits allowed: Basic, Campaign (depends), Race, Regional and Religion
Alternative Traits (APG only) are allowed.
Neutral through Good as alignment-restriction to better ensure "teamplay".


Campaign Background:
The area we are in is rather resource-starved and is not part of any published setting or such things. Stronger Roleplay focus as such no rules discussions while playing. Strong cut between player and character knowledge.

Now I am a bit torn and thought about playing a sorcerer, probably Human (maybe Halfling or Half-Elf) but... somehow I don't have a frigging clue how I should play, which bloodline to choose (although I was thinking about the one that switched the Casting Stat to Intelligence or the Storm [?] or so it was called), traits (more for flavour than mechanics or for mechanics?), feats?
The thing I know I don't want to take up is Party Face as the Cleric will probably be of more use.

Background ideas (not fully developed):
Target of Caster-Racism/Heritage-Prejudices (stealing halfling/ lazy half-elf)
Exiled because of mishieving/accidents around him.
Depending on Bloodline: chosen because descended from X, messed up and thus doesn't want to lead anymore


As you can see I don't have that much ideas... and they aren't even fully developed so...I hope you can help me with this.

[Krazzman]

I've got another idea and decided on taking Human as Race-Choice.

The idea I got, while I was thinking about other characters and reading stuff, is:
The Comfort-Sorcerer. Being able to cook, not having to buy food, not needing to sleep in bad conditions and such. I once tried to achieve this with my blastingfocused Wizard... but well it didn't really work.

This reduces my problems a bit but... now I can ask more Targeted. I will put a few ranks into Profession: Cook because having someone able to cook can be of comfort... at least in my eyes. One spell I will probably at least take via wand will be Tiny Hut. Are there traits that complement this chain of thought? Or should I focus on getting better at casting/other stuff through traits?
With the wealth of a 5th level character, how many comfort-raising items can I get?

Stats I thought about (should be PB 20 if I recollected that correctly):
8Str (+2)
12Dex (-2)
14Con (-5)
14Int (-5)
10Wis (0)
16Cha (-10) [+2 for Human]

Another thing I have a problem with are Spells and Bloodlines.
For Bloodlines I thought about Storms (but I'm unsure if this one is in the APG and if it would fit), Arcane (seemed nice except that I don't really like the familiar/bonded Item thing), others out of the APG (haven't had the chance to look them up but going over them this evening).
Spells are a similar problem. I wanted a good mix of convenience, support, blast and debuff. And fueling the rest via wands.
Feats are quite easy for first level but for 3rd and 5th I'm a bit helpless. I wanted to start with Combat Casting and Toughness. If going for arcane I thought about some fun with Metamagic stuff.

I hope this helps you further in the steps to help me.

[Karoht]

If you plan on playing Half-Elf (Or Human with the racial heritage feat) ensure that you take the 3rd level spell Paragon Surge. (Racial handbook, or from pathfindersrd.com)
If you don't get it as a spell known, it's worth it to have it on a Wand.
It grants you a Dex and Int buff for 15 minutes. In addition to this, you can use any one feat that you would normally qualify for.
The feat you select could be metamagic that you are missing.
The feat could be Extended Arcana (Extra Spell) so that you can add one spell known at your highest spell level, or 2 spells at any levels below that.
IE-If you can cast 3rd level spells, you could Paragon Surge yourself to get a 3rd level spell, or a 1st and a 2nd, or 2x 2nd, or 2x 1st.
One standard action and you have any spell you need that you can cast from the Sorc/Wiz list. Quicken Paragon Surge is incredibly useful.

As for Archetypes and such, Razmiran Priest is kind of cool.
Arcane Bloodline is excellent if you want to focus more on Int based skills rather than Cha based skills. Empyrean Bloodline is meh, though there are some excellent perks to having a high Wisdom as your main casting stat.
Shadow Bloodline (and the Archetype that goes with it) is excellent if you want to focus on Illusions and Shadow casting.

If you want a fun metamagic feat to take at low level, I recommend Toppling. Magic Missile now causes enemies to fall over, with just a 1 spell level adjustment. If you want to go with Shadow Bloodline, there are a bunch of metamagic feats which add the Darkness descriptor to your spells, and darkness/deeper darkness becomes a very regular effect, makes for some excellent battlefield control in addition to anything else you are already doing. I think a later varient of it adds entanglement to any such darkness effects.

[Krazzman]

Thanks for that but... sadly the group plays with only the APG and Core rulebook allowed for Spells, Companions, Classes and other such things.

The Problem I have is:
I would like to Play a Wildblooded Sorcerer with the Sage Bloodline (mutated Arcane Bloodline, get Int as casting Stat, get a blast instead of a familiar/Bonded Item).
Other than that I think both Starsoul and Stormborn are rather cool but... even the Sage or these two doesn't really fit what I wanted to get.
I'm going to ask the DM if I can take the Sage Bloodline, the Linnorm could be interesting too and I wouldn't have some stupid claws but another awesome ray attack, but Probably going to root for Starsoul/Stormborn then and go with another Backstory/Concept.

What does Razmiran Priest do? The App I have seems to only have Sorcerer Archetypes out of Ultimate Magic (and it's missing the alternative Favoured Class bonus).

So far I choose one trait to be Focused Mind, a +2 Trait Bonus to Concentration. The other I'm thinking about Reactive (+2 to Initiative). At least for me Cooking needs concentration and being able to react rather fast.

Additionally I have about 10.500 GP to use. And... well the list of Magic items I have to chose from is... overwhelming. Deciding between items that are good all around and mostly convenience... I haven't looked that deep into it but I'm probably going for Handy Haversack + something that generates either raw food and spices so I can cook stuff or something similar.

[Karoht]

Thanks for that but... sadly the group plays with only the APG and Core rulebook allowed for Spells, Companions, Classes and other such things.

The Problem I have is:
I would like to Play a Wildblooded Sorcerer with the Sage Bloodline (mutated Arcane Bloodline, get Int as casting Stat, get a blast instead of a familiar/Bonded Item).
Other than that I think both Starsoul and Stormborn are rather cool but... even the Sage or these two doesn't really fit what I wanted to get.
I'm going to ask the DM if I can take the Sage Bloodline, the Linnorm could be interesting too and I wouldn't have some stupid claws but another awesome ray attack, but Probably going to root for Starsoul/Stormborn then and go with another Backstory/Concept.

What does Razmiran Priest do? The App I have seems to only have Sorcerer Archetypes out of Ultimate Magic (and it's missing the alternative Favoured Class bonus).

So far I choose one trait to be Focused Mind, a +2 Trait Bonus to Concentration. The other I'm thinking about Reactive (+2 to Initiative). At least for me Cooking needs concentration and being able to react rather fast.

Additionally I have about 10.500 GP to use. And... well the list of Magic items I have to chose from is... overwhelming. Deciding between items that are good all around and mostly convenience... I haven't looked that deep into it but I'm probably going for Handy Haversack + something that generates either raw food and spices so I can cook stuff or something similar.
Yeah, Sage is an excellent Archetype/Bloodline. Stormborn is fun.


Razmiran Priest...
...allows you to basically use a spell slot to use a magic item such as a scroll or staff, although it is at +1 spell level. You can use the slot rather than lose the scroll. You also get half your level as a bonus to UMD.
So you can pack around a boatload of Divine scrolls and cast from those as well. The current character I'm doing this with keeps them in a spell book, and pretends to cast from them. For his 'cover' I try to make enough use of Divine spells that other players think I'm some kind of Cleric variant (it is a 3.5 + PF campaign, the word Archivist may have been thrown out there) and so far it's working.
Empyrean bloodline works a bit better for Razmiran Priest though, for the UMD purposes, because you would already have a high Wisdom so you don't have that added to the DC for UMD.
Sadly, Razmiran Priest is from the Inner See campaign setting book.
http://www.pathfindersrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/archetypes/paizo---sorcerer-archetypes/razmiran-priest

[Krazzman]

The Razmiran Priest really sounds interesting...
If Sage is off-limits I don't know if I should Take Starsoul...

I decided on cantrips to take... according to my math i should have 10 Cantrips known.
I chose Acid Splash, Arcane Mark, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Light, Mage Hand, Mending, Prestidigitation and Spark.
1st, 2nd and 3rd level spells still leave me open.
Starsoul would give me: Knowledge Nature, Unseen Servant and Glitterdust. A Dazzling effect on failed evoc spells, Calling Meteors and low-lightvision together with cold and fire resistance 5.
Arcane (Sage) would give me:
Any one Knowledge Skill, Identify and Invisibility. Int as Casting Stat, an Arcane Blast, and reduce Castingtime increase for Metamagic once each day.

[Krazzman]

Happens to be Sage was not off-limits.
The good thing is... I'm now 7th level and still have a few variables to fill since I can retcon a few things.

Build as it is now:
Human Wildblooded Sorcerer (Sage) 6
10 14 14 18 13 10 (stat array)
Traits: Reactionary (which I shall change due to a Initiative houserule) and focused mind (+2 concentration)
Feats:
Toughness, Combat Casting, Extend Spell, and 1 still open.
Spells:
0-level:Acid Splash
Arcane Mark
Dancing Lights
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
Light
Mage Hand
Mending
Prestidigitation
Spark
1-level:Identify
Burning Hands
Magic Missile
Mount
Feather Fall
Mage Armor
Touch of the Sea
2-level:Invisibility
Scorching Ray
Bull's Strength
Spider Climb
3-level:Haste
In my gear I have two 1st level wands which have no spells on them so far.
Other Gear:
Handy Haversack
Bag of Holding I
Ioun Torch
Bracers of Armor
Cloak of Resistance + 1
The extra 1st-level-spell slot item
and some other useful stuff.


The level up gives me 1 new level 1 spell known, 2 level 2 spells known, 1 level 3 spell known and dispel magic known. As well as 1 feat and one of the following: Improved COunterspell, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (Kn[arcana]), Spell Focus, Still Spell.

The problem is that I don't really know which spells I should take for the wands and If a spell I have is severely displaced at the moment and I should go for another one instead and... well I don't like Metamagic feats so far, other than Extend and Quicken... maybe intensified and empower but... I don't know if they are worth it... or if I now should go for Item creation instead of metamagic as this is probably going to be a bit lower-ish wealth campaign.

TL;DR:
2 Wands 1st-level-spell wands recommendations needed for a Sage Sorcerer. Spell selection only out of Core and APG. Maybe trading one of them back for the cash?

I hope you can help me with this further.

[avr]

Maybe something to break LOS like obscuring mist? If you're not going to use that much though a scroll or two might be the better bargain.

Alarm is an oldie but a goodie as a spell known; you probably want it at your full caster level for the duration.

Silent image is a cheap but useful illusion.

Protection from evil is useful either as a spell known or a wand. There's a communal version which is 2nd level if you prefer, but since you have more 1st level spells available one way or another ...

Create pit (2nd) removes a non-flying monster or two (occasionally more) from the fight until you & your party have dealt with the others.

Detect thoughts (2nd) may allow you to usefully read minds or not, depending on how your DM deals with surface thoughts.

Blindness/Deafness (2nd) is a save or lose spell, which you don't have so far. Also highly effective at intimidation IME.

If there are a lot of undead in the campaign, Command Undead (2nd) is invaluable.

You've heard of rope trick, right?

There's a mind-boggling number of useful 3rd level spells.

TL:DR; I'd go with wands of protection from evil & silent image, and alarm, create pit and probably beast shape I as spells known.

[Krazzman]

Ok, I made up my mind so far and... well I'm going to take Craft Wondrous Items and Arms and Armor as feats.
Protection against evil seems pretty darn useful as the campaign resolves about good vs. evil on amore epic scale... seriously the DM has a book that has so many pages it's about 15+ cm thick...

Thanks for you help AVR but I will go with Blindness/Deafness instead of Create Pit (although I'm thinking about False Life) and take Alarm as you suggested. But for my 3rd level spell... I don't really like Beast Shape or anything shaping related for this character. I know this would be strong choice of both mobility and adaptability but... seriously I'm unsure about it. Going to sleep over it as I can't justify it in-character... as I think the animals are restricted to core (and B1) + APG although this is something I probably going to ask as they had the B2 available...

Any idea for a trait though?

[avr]

I just suggested Beast Shape as a good multipurpose spell for a sorcerer. If you don't like it, there's plenty of other good 3rd level spells. Elemental Aura is nice if you can't stay out of melee range; Fly helps you stay out of melee range; Major Image is a more convincing illusion spell & might go well with your cooking theme.

For traits, Hedge Magician goes with your crafting feats.

[Krazzman]

I just suggested Beast Shape as a good multipurpose spell for a sorcerer. If you don't like it, there's plenty of other good 3rd level spells. Elemental Aura is nice if you can't stay out of melee range; Fly helps you stay out of melee range; Major Image is a more convincing illusion spell & might go well with your cooking theme.

For traits, Hedge Magician goes with your crafting feats.

As I said I'm unsure about Beast Shape but luckily have time to choose this until Sylvester. Fly is rather "stupid" atm because we have to adventure through an environment with 5 feet sight. everything farther away is "distorted". Magnetic fields are altered there and as such it is a pain to navigate in. It is a mix of Dust, Fog, Magic and unspecified other things that make this.

With Illusions... I don't know how the DM handles them.

For Traits... there is sadly that rule that you can only choose one from the Magic category and that is atm Focused Mind...

[avr]

Beast shape does sound much less useful if your senses will be limited to 5' and flying isn't useful. OK, forget that idea. Elemental Aura does sound handy in that situation.

For traits ... any regional? Abendago Spellpiercer (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/regional-traits/abendego-spellpiercer-regional-the-sodden-lands) could directly substitute for Focused Mind if you actually want Hedge Magician as your one magic trait.

By the way, 'until Sylvester'? Is that a German name for Christmas or something?

[Krazzman]

Beast shape does sound much less useful if your senses will be limited to 5' and flying isn't useful. OK, forget that idea. Elemental Aura does sound handy in that situation.
Dunno about that, we joined... not halfway across but somewhere in the mid of a small dungeoncrawl. (consisting of 3 chambers and 2 other secret doors).
ANd so far we are in the middle of a desert-thingie.



For traits ... any regional? Abendago Spellpiercer (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/regional-traits/abendego-spellpiercer-regional-the-sodden-lands) could directly substitute for Focused Mind if you actually want Hedge Magician as your one magic trait.

Going to ask about this. Else I probably change Focused mind for a Spellcraft bonus if I get this from somewhere else or... diplomacy through Ease of Faith.



By the way, 'until Sylvester'? Is that a German name for Christmas or something?

*facepalm*
New year's eve... meant was the 31.12.