A first time player looking for help constructing a sorcerer

[Roan_Spence]

Hello everyone. One of my buddies is putting together a DnD campaign and I'm excited to get to play in my first serious campaign. We're playing a modified pathfinder variant. I can't post links yet so here's the relevant text from the semi homebrew guide my DM is going to be using that was made by a friend of his. Since I'm considering playing a gnome this is the most relevant bit of it.


Littlefolk Subgroups:
As mentioned littlefolk subraces are more distinct than those of other races. On the one hand are Hobbits, who are a calm people overall with a deep love of the nice things in life and their communities. They tend to have brown or black hair, and skin of varying shades, often described as ruddy. They tend towards comfort and are not especially adventurous. That being said when thrust into less than comfortable situations they are surprisingly effective. On the other hand are gnomes, who have a flair for the dramatic in both manner and appearance. Their hair and eyes vary across a whole spectrum of colors, many of which seem unnatural. The gnomes themselves are more than happy to play into this with vibrant clothes and accessories. It is said that back in antiquity a group of Hobbits bred with faeries and their descendants became the gnomes, no one is sure exactly how much truth there is to this theory, but gnomes do have a stronger affinity for magic than their hobbit kin.


Littlefolk Traits:
+2 Cha -2 Str
Size: S (+1 to AC and Attack, +4 to stealth, -1 to CMD and CMB) Speed: 20
Low light vision
Keen Senses: +2 to perception
Gift of Tongues Littlefolk love languages and learning about those they meet. They gain a +1 bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy checks, and they learn one additional language every time they put a rank in the Linguistics skill.
Athletic: The small stature of the little folk comes in handy from time to time. They gain a +1 on acrobatics and climb checks.


Hobbit Traits:
+2 Dex
Luck: Despite their size Hobbits always seem to come out ahead in dangerous situations. They get a +1 luck bonus to all saving throws.
Fearless: Hobbits receive a +2 racial bonus on all saving throws against fear. This bonus stacks with the bonus granted by luck.
Low Blow: Hobbits adapt to fighting larger creatures. They gain a +1 bonus on critical confirmation rolls against opponents larger than themselves


Gnome Traits:
+2 Int
Gnome Magic: Gnomes add +1 to the DC of any saving throws against illusion spells that they cast. Gnomes with Charisma scores of 11 or higher also gain the following spell-like abilities: 1/day—dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation, and speak with animals. The caster level for these effects is equal to the gnome's level. The DC for these spells is equal to 10 + the spell's level + the gnome's Charisma modifier.
Illusion Resistance: Gnomes gain a +2 racial saving throw bonus against illusion spells and effects.




My DM has also set it up so the stats numbers for all characters are as follows:
16, 16, 14, 12, 10, 10. We can, however, put those stats anywhere we like (I think this is to help offset the fact that some members of the group, myself included have a habit of rolling stupidly high stats. I more than once rolled a character who's dump stat was a 14 when I was just making character sheets to get a feel for how everything worked.)

I am fairly certain I'll be playing a Gnome Sorcerer. The game is going to start at level 3 and unfortunately, I'm not sure how many people we're going to have. I know at least 4 but I only know of 1 melee character who's getting played right now.

I'm fairly certain this is going to be my stat distribution.
Str: 8 (after the -2 gnome penalty)
Dex: 16
Con: 12
Int: 16 (14 plus the +2 gnome buff)
Wis: 10
Cha: 18 (16 + the +2 gnome buff)

Reasons for the choices: I know Cha is the essential sorcerer stat so that needed to be as high as I could get it. Str is the dump stat for a sorcerer from what I've read and I have no problem with making it so here since I'll be trying to avoid getting into the fray where physicality is needed. I put a 16 in Dex to give me better reactions and ability to avoid attacks. I wanted Int high enough for plenty of extra skill points but I'm open to suggestions about changes that could be made. I could also switch the Int and Con scores to give a score of 14 for Con and a score of 14 for Int.

From a story perspective I'm thinking of making my character a 4th child (or later) of Gnomish nobility who's got very few options available to him. He's not going to inheret, his next oldest sibling doesn't need any help with their business ventures, he doesn't have the temperment for the life of a cleric nor the discipline for a life of scholarship as a wizard even though his family has always been fairly gifted with magic. He's a well read but lazy layabout with a penchant for mischief and a selfish streak and the family was mostly willing to leave him alone. But when it became clear he had arcane abilities without any need to study and was revealed as a sorcerer the family had simply no idea how to handle it and encouraged him to join up with one of the mercenary Adventuring Groups hoping it would give his life some direction and keep his mischief pointed somewhere else.

Other than that, I'm fairly unsure of what I'm going to do with bloodlines, feats, spells etc. I want to be able to be a balanced and useful character for the party because I'll likely have to take on a few different roles. I want to be able to contribute in combat with some fun, destructive spells and still be able to get creative with other stuff outside of combat so thoughts on stuff for a novice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone in advance.

[D4rkh0rus]

One thong to remember, is that with a sorcerer, you can't be the wizard.

You can cast a large number of spells per day, yes, but you have a very, very small pool to choose from.
As such, when you play a sorcerer, your best bet is to choose a few, reliable spells to spam, then fill the rest with versatile spells, mostly spells that can be used in multiple situations.

As a sorcerer your best bet is to specialize in one of the 4 main caster groups: evoker, enchanter, conjurer or support.
It doesn't mean you can't do the rest, but feats and bloodlines are limited.

If you're going evoker, I'd suggest getting the Orc or dragon bloodlines, as they increase your damage, as well as look into bloodline mutations for some more damage.
Stuff like spell specialization and intensify spell with the metamagic reducing traits is almost mandatory.
You will focus on one of three main spells, fireball (long range AoE), fire snake (stronger, short range AoE) or battering blast (strongest, single target for best effect).

Enchanter is all about save or lose spells, they're harder to pull off since mind affecting and usually the allow a save each round.

Conjurer is all about save or suck AoE spells, stuff that reduces vision, slows opponents down, etc.... And summons, although as a sorcerer you're not that good since you have no way of reducing the cast time to my knowledge.

Support is just that, haste your allies, and stuff rope trick to sleep, dispel magic, etc...

You can't fulfill perfectly all the roles, but you can do so for 1 and partially for the rest, it's all about spell selection, really.

[Roan_Spence]

Thank you very much. This stuff helps a lot. And yes, I am well aware I cannot be the wizard. If I wanted to be the wizard, I'd be playing one. :D

I don't think we've got enough tanks for me to play support as primary and it's not in my character's nature anyway. The Save or Die type spells are interesting but not sure I want to rely too heavily on them. It seems like our big enemies are going to be lizardfolk based/reptillian in nature though so I might have less to worry about than in an undead heavy campaign.

Hmmmmm, this really helps out a lot. Thank you.

What are your thoughts on the Arcane and Fey bloodlines? What roles do they align best with?

[Krazzman]

My experience is a bit rusty but should suffice. I played a human sage bloodline sorcerer and focused on crafting thanks to being able to focus int.

As such my advice focuses on other ways than crafting although it fits a gnome with crafting traits.

You should look for a bloodline that gets you good synergy with your small race. As such avoid options for natural weapons. Look at the spells you should get and read them through.

Spell selection is the hardest work.
Try to get one blasting spell of each level and element (snowball at first, acid arrow at 2, fireball at 3rd some electric spell at 4th etc as an example) else focus on spells you will cast more than once a day and some disable spells.

Feat wise I am not that experienced anymore since I just went with crafting and some metamagic. Extend spell is always nice. As is intensify spell after level 6. My sorcadin focused on snowball and could intensify it for free thanks to traits.

Generally speaking of traits: hedge wizard or dangerously curious are always good options 8f they fit.

[Kurald Galain]

A great item for sorcerers is the Page of Spell Knowledge, which is a cheap way to add to your spells known. Buy a couple for level-1 and level-2 spells when you can afford them, and you'll have a much broader selection of utility.

[Serafina]

Actually, you CAN be the Wizard to a limited degree, with the help of Mnemonic Vestments (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/r-z/vestment-mnemonic). They allow you to cast a spell off a scroll, spellbook or other such text 1/day, using one of your spellslots but not using up the text. Thus, it effectively gives you the ability to cast those rare spells the Wizard can.
It's limited to 1/day, and Paizo removed the laundry-shenanigans (having a dozen identical robes and changing into a new one after using up the effect for the day) by requiring you to wear it 24 hours. However, your GM might still allow multiple uses per day at a higher price.

[DedWards]

What are your thoughts on the Arcane and Fey bloodlines? What roles do they align best with?

The main draw of the bloodlines are the bonuses you get from the Bloodline Arcana, so this is the main thing to consider when choosing a bloodline.

The Fey bloodline gets a +2 to the DC of each Compulsion spell they cast, which is good for concentration on mostly that sub school.

The Arcane bloodline increases the DC of a metamagic'd spell by +1, which is good for concentrating mostly on the spells the netamagic feats where taken for.

Note that the Gnome's Sorcerer Favoured Class ability adds +1/2 uses per day on your level 1 bloodline power (if it has a limited per day use). I don't think this works on the Arcane bloodline, but it definitely does on the Fey bloodline.

[Kurald Galain]

What are your thoughts on the Arcane and Fey bloodlines? What roles do they align best with?

Bloodlines give a lot of bonuses, and for most bloodlines the "bloodline arcana" is unimpressive or irrelevant. So look at the whole package:

Bonus Spells. Are these spells you'd actually use? And since your game starts at level 3, you can probably ignore the high level ones. Arcane is good all around, except possibly identify. Fey is mostly situational or dud spells, except for hideous laughter. Arcane is the clear winner here.

Feats. Well, you get bonus feats, and most bloodlines have at least a couple feats you'd like to take. For Arcane, that's probably imp initiative and spell focus; for Fey it's imp initiative and quicken. The rest of them are pretty meh, so this is a tie.

Bloodline Powers. Arcane gets +1 spell per day, one faster metamagic per day, and +1 spell known; that's decent but unimpressive. Fey gets an excellent debuff ability at level 1 (that will be eclipsed by your spells a few levels later), an unnecessary movement boost, and the ability to cast Greater Invis which he could already do anyway. Again, Arcane is the winner.

And then the arcana. Arcane gets a fiddly bonus to saving throw DC, Fey gets a solid bonus if you're an enchantment specialist (but do note that numerous creatures in the game are completely immune to this). I'd call this a tie for most sorcerers.

So Arcane is solid throughout, whereas Fey has a few perks but mostly doesn't do much for you; between these two, I'd go with Arcane. HTH!

[Roan_Spence]

Thanks everyone. This has been quite helpful.

[Enguebert]

For the spell selection, here are some guidelines

1) For each level, try to have an offense spell, a defensive spell and a utility spell
2) For offensive spell, try to have different type of attacks (if you have only fire spells, you will be in trouble when opponent is immune to fire ...)
3) For each spell, ask yourself : will i cast this spell minimum once per day, maybe once per day, or maybe once per adventure
Spells from the 3rd category should not memorized but should be on scroll/rods/potions
4) Some spells have multiple use, or allow you to imagine differents uses. There aren't lot of different ways to use a fireball, but an illusion could be used to similate extra characters, or add a wall somewhere or distract a guard,...
5) Think to different type of opponent (undead, construct, flying creature, ...)and ask yourself : do i have something useful ?