Blow stuff up sorcerer [PF only]

[Carth]

Starting at 15th level, will go to 20th, all 1st party Paizo allowed. Ability score generation method is currently unknown. My basic plan so far is to take pellet blast (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCombat/spells/pelletBlast.html) with spell perfection. Spell perfection will grant dazing spell for free, persistent spell is knocked down to +1 by metamagic master, heighten ups the spell level to 5, magical lineage gives free intensify spell, arcane concordance cast from a wand wielding familiar will protect me from silence effects, and a widen rod will allow me to blow up big areas.

By my reckoning, magical lineage, metamagic master, and metamagic rods do not count towards spell perfection's 9th level limit. So basically, I'll be firing this off as a 6th level spell, meaning I'll be fine with regards to spell perfection.

I had intended to put in ectoplasmic spell before level 17, but I'll take my chances for now.

Is there a better spell to base this approach on? I am unfamiliar with Pathfinder, and am therefore unsure what immunities I need to worry about. Are there still creatures with magic immunity, making SR:NO a worthwhile approach? I'm guessing there's no hail of stone equivalent in PF? I'd strongly prefer something that affects several targets. Is reflex the best save to target, and what's the highest save bonus to it I can expect to see? What things would be immune to this spell? Is daze immunity as nonexistent in PF as in 3.X? This is going to be for a short, heavily combat oriented campaign.

What methods exist to optimize this approach? So far my feats are:

Trait: Magical lineage
Trait: Metamagic master
Trait: Outlander (lore seeker)
Trait: Reactionary
1: Intensify spell
3: Heighten spell
5: Dazing spell
7: Improved familiar (small gravity elemental)
7: Spell focus (bloodline)
9: Greater spell focus
11: Extra traits
13: Persistent spell
13: Improved initiative (bloodline)
15: Spell perfection
17: Ectoplasmic spell
19: ???
19: ??? (bloodline)

Here's how far I've got my charisma:
18 (base)
+4 (race)
+3 (venerable)
+2 (succubus)
+6 (enhancement)
+5 (inherent)
+3 (levels)
41, and a mod of 15, up to 42 and 16 once I hit level 16.

For save DCs:
10 (base)
+15 (ability mod)
+4 (SF, GSF, spell perfection)
+1 (trait bonus)
+2 (bloodline bonus)
+5 (spell level with heighten)
+1 (arcane concordance)
38, up to 39 once I hit level 16 and my charisma mod goes up.

Race is ifrit, with the redundant fire resistance being dropped for +4 to initiative. Improved initiative, an ioun stone, and reactionary mean my initiative mod is 11+dex. What else could I use?

Currently leaning very strongly to crossblooded archetype with arcane and fire elemental. Arcane boosts save DCs, grants a familiar, and spell focus as a feat option. Fire elemental increases my charisma by 2 for the purposes of sorcerer spells and abilities. The false priest archetype would also allow me to eliminate the need for all material components under 100GP, is this RAW compatible with crossblooded?

Is there any way to add an elemental descriptor to pellet blast, so as to be able to apply elemental focus and greater elemental focus? Spell perfection would mean that'd be +4 to the DC.

For improved familiar I'll be taking a small gravity elemental, and using reduce person with permanency on myself to divide my weight by 8 so it can carry me. I'll be using it as a mount to take advantage of its 100' fly speed with perfect maneuverability, that requires no fly checks for acrobatic maneuvers unless there's a force making flying more difficult (like strong wind). I'm going to try and get my mount to use my initiative modifier, though I'm not sure that's RAW.

Is there a way to further increase the caster level of pellet blast? I'm at a meager +1 trait bonus right now, and the spell specialization feat probably isn't worth it.

With a masterwork tool, my 15 ranks, and cracked pink ioun stone, my familiar hits 19 on UMD checks to activate my wand of arcane concordance. I'll take my chances until level 16. I believe its speak with master ability gives it enough talking ability to use wands, but otherwise it can activate it blindly.

[Joshinthemosh]

I'm just going to leave this here

https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1XRNMhW8ZVJKmgQGcDdF1W-E-Ualj0H9wPVxK_BgSY2s&pli=1

A great ranked list of all the bloodlines. I'd like to throw my vote behind the Aquatic bloodline. It's 15th level ability is great.

EDIT: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=14idaW3mxJ7YL0yVCcBEsKd6H_5KbL8SteXTk0PUk4E 0

I suppose I should link the Sorcerer Handbook I was actually meant to. My bad

[Spuddles]

There's a regional trait that's identical to magical lineage.

[ericgrau]

SR is a big deal at level 15. I hear it is even more so in PF. I don't know much that can handle daze. Reflex is typically the lowest save yes. This is a pretty good strategy. The only thing that scares me is the short range. Get false life and any other all day protection you can find. Get an ok move speed too. A long range SR no spell might be nice instead if you can find one, but I couldn't.

Widen doesn't work on spells with a low range because the casting rules say any area beyond a spell's range is wasted.

Get selective spell to exclude your allies. This is the #1 thing for hitting lots of enemy targets with area spells. You don't want to say "Wahaha, I have the ultimate lockdown combo. But this round I'm sitting on my hands instead of using it because my allies are next to the enemies."

Stone call is a 2nd level spell with a redonkulous area and good range, but the damage doesn't scale and it's not instantaneous so it's not eligible for selective spell. Plus DR stops it which stops the daze effect.

[Carth]

SR is a big deal at level 15. I hear it is even more so in PF. I don't know much that can handle daze. Reflex is typically the lowest save yes. This is a pretty good strategy. The only thing that scares me is the short range. Get false life and any other all day protection you can find. Get an ok move speed too. A long range SR no spell might be nice instead if you can find one, but I couldn't.

Widen doesn't work on spells with a low range because the casting rules say any area beyond a spell's range is wasted.

Get selective spell to exclude your allies. This is the #1 thing for hitting lots of enemy targets with area spells. You don't want to say "Wahaha, I have the ultimate lockdown combo. But this round I'm sitting on my hands instead of using it because my allies are next to the enemies."

Stone call is a 2nd level spell with a redonkulous area and good range, but the damage doesn't scale and it's not instantaneous so it's not eligible for selective spell. Plus DR stops it which stops the daze effect.

I'd be interested in making stone call work. Intensify is basically only there to make sure pellet blast gets through any DR. Without intensify or widen, that's a lot of resources freed up to potentially get enough damage on it to pierce DR.

Also, I'm thinking arcane bloodline for the bonus to DCs, and improved familiar to use a small gravity elemental as a mount by being affected by permanent reduce person. My familiar could be my wand monkey for arcane concordance, though it'd need to use activate blindly, due to not being able to speak.

[Lord_Gareth]

This isn't a blasting spell per se, but a combo you should consider is Paragon Surge (spell) to pick up Extra Spells Known at will - you fire one of those suckers off and you have two solutions to whatever problem is facing you, right now. Great if you suddenly find yourself facing an exotic enemy that requires a different blast.

[ericgrau]

Well and empowered maximized stone call (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/s/stone-call) would reach 13 damage which is pretty meh. Maybe if you could figure out how to add a die of damage and then empower it for... 15. Dang, the damage is really low. And then you need to find a way to make your allies immune.

[Raven777]

Don't forget that even while focusing your feats around a couple signature spells, an effective Sorcerer is still a well rounded Sorcerer. Here is a list and ranking of the most useful spells one can pick per level (https://docs.google.com/document/d/17S3pYy0wk8uUTJ3RFaIDk5vz29WYmOXuhWiOKHO2E_M/edit#).

[Akal Saris]

Why pellet blast in particular? Even if it gets through most DR, that 1d8/2 levels is pretty much weak cleric-type damage, no the 1d6/level damage that a sorcerer should be going for.

[Carth]

The impression I get, though it is admittedly still unconfirmed, is that in PF daze immunity is still non-existent. The blowing up of things will come after the subjects are dazed, and ensuring that this happens is the primary concern. To that end I need a spell that can affect as many different kinds of things as possible. However, Raven's list will come in greatly handy, because once dazed, a spell more appropriate for a given kind of creature in the encounter will be used. There's a good chance we'll be fighting things with ridiculous levels of SR, or even magic immunity, so anything that offers SR is out, which greatly limits things. I think I've got things set at a max of DC 38 (39 when I'm level 16) reflex save right now, which means a lot of things are going to need to roll dual 20s to not be dazed. What are some creatures with very high reflex saves that I should be using as a benchmark?

[Raven777]

I assume you picked the Arcane Bloodline (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/bloodlines/bloodlines-from-paizo/arcane-bloodline), right?

If yes, might want to get Improved Initiative (+4 Initiative) as one of your Bloodline Feats, Reactionary (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/combat-traits/reactionary) (+2 Initiative) as your second trait, and get a Greensting Scorpion (+4 Initiative) to hang on your shoulder as a familiar (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/familiar). Or a dodo for the same benefit in a less portable package. Bonus point for roleplaying that dodo as the last of it's kind to endear it to the DM and make it less likely to get killed.

That'll be +10 Initiative without even factoring Dex. With Dex, assuming 14 base and +4 from a belt (by level 15 a +4 belt to Dex and Con is entirely reasonable), that'll be +14 to initiative checks.

Because striking first is often important. It allows you not only to strike before the enemy does, but also before your idiot friends rush in and ruin your AoE.

[Carth]

Yep, arcane bloodline. The problem I have is that while my initiative can be excellent, my familiar's won't be. My souped up pellet blast isn't going to be able to duck a full round action casting time, so I need to find a way to move and cast in the same turn. I'm tentatively going to be relying on permanently being small (permanency, reduce person), and grabbing a small gravity elemental via improved familiar to use as a mount. That will let me move and cast as a full round action in the same turn. Plus the elemental has magic immunity and immunity to all ranged projectiles, so I don't need to worry about many things hurting it.

Are there any ways to boost charisma besides leveling, a +6 enhancement, +5 inherent, and +2 from a succubus?

[Raven777]

At least, Arcane Bloodline lets you add one Metamagic feat to a spell without increasing the cast time once per day for every four levels from third level onward.


Metamagic Adept (Ex): At 3rd level, you can apply any one metamagic feat you know to a spell you are about to cast without increasing the casting time. You must still expend a higher-level spell slot to cast this spell. You can use this ability once per day at 3rd level and one additional time per day for every four sorcerer levels you possess beyond 3rd, up to five times per day at 19th level. At 20th level, this ability is replaced by arcane apotheosis.

At 20th level, of course, Arcane Apotheosis gets rid of your problem entirely.

As for the Familiar, if you go with the Scorpion and keep it on your shoulder, it's pretty much moving with you.

[Carth]

I don't think there will be a way to remove the full round casting time from rod uses. Even when I won't be using the rod, ectoplasmic (when used), heighten, intensify, and persistent remain to increase the casting time. The bloodline can only take care of one of those.

I updated the first post now that I've had some more time to ponder the build. I've dropped ectoplasmic spell until 17th level, and I might even consider leaving it out altogether if there's a good spell I could take that would eliminate my concern for pellet blast affecting incorporeal creatures.

[Brock Samson]

Are you absolutely certain you qualify for Reduce PERSON? Being a succubus/ifrit and all?

You could go for a continuous item of Monstrous Physique 1 to make you small though. Cost a bit more.

[Carth]

Crap. I might be able to finagle an ifrit being humanoid, though. I'll try to trade 1/day burning hands for aasimar's scion of humanity.