pathfinder character help

[Rotarygod]

Ok first post and I think I have it in the right spot, if not mods please feel free to move accordingly.


This is long winded, I'm sorry.

Now I'll start by saying, this whole post is against my way of doing things. I really like to figure things out on my own and don't want to rely on other people to hold my hand but the situation is dire in the game and the group I'm playing with has many, some over 10 years of dnd/pathfinder experience under their belts and I feel like I'm playing a different game when were all at the same table.

Example: one of our minmaxers is a lvl 3 orc and can deal over 30 damage in 1 hit if he rolls right the other a rouge can do over 25 not to mention dodging everything and rarely taking any damage. Me I can magic missile for at most 4 damage and then whatever I shot at will almost kill me. It's bordering on not fun.
 As of tonight I can do a decent amount of damage with my claws and I was just informed that because these are natural weapons I take no penalties for 2 weapon use.


Now I'm new to rpg's so I'm not very good at awesome character builds, heck I'm not even all that good at basic combat lol, but I do have some great character concepts.
Right now I have a pathfinder character who is a chaotic evil sorcerer level 4 at the moment. He is abyssal bloodline with 25 hp
str 12
dex 18
con 15
int 14
wis 14
cha 18
AC 16
fort 3
reflex 5
will 6


He has a few weak lvl 0 and lvl 1 spells, the best level 1 being blades of fire that he casts on his claws and his only lvl 2 for now being fireburst.

He also has eschew materials
dodge
rapid reload
and demonic skin for feats.

Now for the fun stuff. This character is based off the concept that he is evil, like grandpa was a demon evil. In a ritual that intended to bring gramps back to life a vip was sacrificed and at the height of the ritual he was overcome with energy and blacked out, only to awaken to a group of magi surrounding him ready to end him. He was imprisoned and sentenced to death but was pardoned for some reason (known by the GM) by a very powerful magi and bound to a multiclass wizard/sorcerer (another party member) Now in magical bindings he is forced to not do evil things. This would be boring but he has the ability to overcome these bindings if he outrolls his handler (who BTW was instructed to not let him die, at least not intentionally)  
So here's the deal. I'm heading this character towards being able to break free from his bindings To do this I must roll will vs handlers concentration. Tough but not impossible and it shouldn't happen alot, after all I've been a bad boy   I also am having trouble with another party member. A rouge.
What happened at last nights session was I cast 2 rounds of summon undead to help us fight an undead of some sort. Our rouge has a story past that makes him ultra cranky around undead so after the fight with the badguy he killed my undead minions and the attacked me. so naturally I defended myself....with fire! or so I thought. As he was stabbing me with a poisoned blade I managed to outroll my handler (first time in all of the games 7 or so sessions) and ignore the effects of being stabbed to successfully cast the spell. I cast, it was a hard hit, 18 pts of damage all of which he dodged while still managing to get another hit on me. So in a fight he brought me from 25 hp to 3 and I did squat to him. Thus why I'm here tonight. I don't wanna kill him but I wanna be able to make him actually think twice before trying to murder me again. Also I almost killed another party member in the same attack (oops) I told him not to come near us but he decided he had to try to break it up. I didn't feel bad that he slipped away with 2 hp remaining. (I did warn him)

Now in a complete meta knowledge I know that the GM is in love with my character concept so much that she has tweaked the campaign to need my character, therefore I know she will not just let him die especially in such a crap way as a party member PMS'ing. I won't however play my character with this knowledge. He's just an arrogant 18 year old who thinks his poo is unscented.

With all that wind passed. I have read some thread on building a good sorcerer and it seems like with what I have so far I should be looking into things like giant form and transformation or maybe form of dragon, but these are very far off in the distance as of now.
Buzzing bees will help me break out of bindings but I don't have that yet.
Also we are allowed to use any 3.5 books as well.

So any suggestions to help me out with this guy would be greatly appreciated.

[Nyarlathop1]

The main focus of these suggestions is to not give him any opportunity to dodge

Color spray combined with summoned monsters can help against single opponents.

Blindness would likely make the rogue entirely incapable of hitting you, Sleep will do the same until you guys level up.

[veekie]

He also has eschew materials
dodge
rapid reload
and demonic skin for feats.

You might want to replace that at some point...

Your spell and equipment lists might help too.

[Prime32]

He also has eschew materials
dodge
rapid reload
and demonic skin for feats.

You might want to replace that at some point...

Dodge too, unless you need it for something.

Do you use your familiar?

[Rotarygod]

Thanks for the reply's guys!
Spells are

level 0
daze
mage hand
resistance
acid splash
ray of frost

level 1
shield
magic missile
cause fear
blades of fire

level 2
fireburst

The rapid reload is for his crossbow. I used it alot at first and one party member suggested I take RR for it. I started off thinking this guy was way too squishy to be a melee fighter. So I figured I'd focus on ranged things and stay the hell away form danger. So far it has worked handsomely as I have taken at most 4 HP in a bad guy fight.Ironic how the most damage I have taken so far was a PC trying to kill me
The more I read about sorcerers it seems I should be focused on melee.

The dodge was just another suggestion from the party.

No familiar, I've played that game before and I don't care for it.

[veekie]

Ok, we can work with this, Sorc 4, using pathfinder core only.
Special Note: Pathfinder Sorcerors have unlimited cantrips. You don't need your crossbow, just use your acid splash/ray of frost instead. Pick up a longspear to keep bad people from getting too close, you have claws if they actually close to melee.

Going by your description, you have the Abyssal Bloodline, which gives you claws, not much use, except as a backup weapon.
Electricity Resist 5 is not bad, but nothing to shout about.
And you gain cause fear as a spell, which can be fairly useful but ultimately not all that effective.

Your cantrips aren't too bad, except for having both ray of frost and acid splash, that'd be a bit redundant. Swap one of them for Light, Dancing Lights, Prestidigitation or Message. Preferably Ray of Frost since Acid Splash often bypasses regeneration and doesn't allow SR. Not to mention more things being immune to cold.

Of the first level spells, Cause Fear gives a decent nonlethal attack spell and Magic Missile has rather good range(Medium isn't bad) and hits for 2 d4+1s. Shield and Blades of Fire might not be such a good idea(especially the latter), since you don't have the muscle to tank it in close combat and Mage Armor lasts longer.
If you want to use your spells to perform close combat, try Shocking Grasp instead. It hits a hell lot harder than Blades of Fire, since you can actually hit often with it. Otherwise Color Spray is good for taking out a bunch of sentients and Ray of Enfeeblement can turn a fighter into a wimp.
Cap it off with Charm Person(good in and out of combat), Grease(just drop it into a large clump of big strong oafs, fastest way to take them down when they all fall over) or Obscuring Mist(cover up and run away/cast AoEs). Close combat is a horribly bad idea for a sorceror though, even if his hands are like daggers.

If you don't mind the wait, 4th level is a bit of a sweet spot for summoning spells(they last long enough to do more than hit once for one!) and fits the character theme. On the other hand if you like melee anyway, Ghoul Touch is a nasty way to do it. Paralyse your target and your weak melee won't matter when you can kill him at leisure. Or you could cast Mirror Image and get hit less often.
Scorching Ray would be pretty awesome once you can fire more than one bolt, so keep that in mind when you reach that point.
Spells recomendations
0th: Acid Splash, Dancing Lights, Daze, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Resistance
1st: Cause Fear, Charm Person, Magic Missile, Grease or Ray of Enfeeblement,
2nd: Summon Monster II or Ghoul Touch or Glitterdust or Mirror Image or Web

Depending on which spell you picked, you can pick your feats better.
If you had Ghoul Touch for example, it might be worth picking up spell focus(necromancy) so you can paralyse/cause terror more easily.
Alternatively you could pick up Grease and Summon Monster II, then take Spell Focus(Conjuration) and Augment Summoning to bring up a beatstick from hell. I'd recommend the latter personally.

Hope that helped. Just remember, you're a spellcaster, and one with more spells than most. If you're hitting people in melee, use magic not claws.

[Prime32]

No familiar, I've played that game before and I don't care for it.

I forget, does Pathfinder have alternate options built in?

[veekie]

No familiar, I've played that game before and I don't care for it.

I forget, does Pathfinder have alternate options built in?

Not for Abyssal Sorcerors(who don't get that).
They get free DR/Good equal to half their CL to all their summons though and a couple of free spells and not too horrible bonus feats. I figured he could milk that by producing extra tough summons to do the fighting, especially stacked with Augment Summoning.

And claws, but thats basically just a pair of free daggers. Not bad if you find yourself in a grapple, but it's best not to get that close in the first place. Later on Abyssal sorcerors get some fairly good physical buff spells and bonus strength, but too late on a sorc to do much good, especially with a Poor BAB.
EDIT: Unless you built yourself into some kind of touch spell rapist.

[Rotarygod]

Alot of my feats and spells were things the group thought might be helpful. Veekie: I like your suggestions and I think I'm going to do some swapping of stuff.
Quick question you mentioned magic missile deals 2d4. Have I missed something because me and one other person use this and we have always rolled 1d4.
In researching this on several forums alot of people seem to think that a melee sorcerer is the way to go, at least in later levels.
Thing I saw were combining transformation and giant form for +8 to constitution, and 4 extra hp per hit die then coupling that with Arcane Strike. and using cleve and a greatsword. etc that seem to suggest busting heads in melee. Our next session is sat eve so I have some time to fiddle with this. My character wants POWER and lots of it. I'n my mind his plan was to resurrect his demon grandfather and ravage the world with him....or something like that, so whatever get me in that line of work will be fine!

Thanks again for the help guys! I really hate koolaid manning my way into a forum crying for help, but I'm out of my league here.

[McPoyo]

Avoid using things that allow reflex saves against him. Ever. He's a rogue, so he has evasion. If he makes the save (and there is no reason he shouldn't, as it's a good save for him) he takes no damage from the effect, instead of half the damage.

Magic missile deals 1d4+1 damage per missile. You fire one missile at first level. At third level, however, you get a second missile. At 5th, you have a total of three missiles, at 7th a total of 4, and at 9th a total of 5, where it stops. You can target them against different targets, as well.

[veekie]

In researching this on several forums alot of people seem to think that a melee sorcerer is the way to go, at least in later levels.
Thing I saw were combining transformation and giant form for +8 to constitution, and 4 extra hp per hit die then coupling that with Arcane Strike. and using cleve and a greatsword. etc that seem to suggest busting heads in melee.

That there is the advanced play section, you need to have a solid foundation(not to mention quite a different build, techniques and about 8 more levels) before you can attempt it without getting turned into red paste.
Generally close combat sorcerors buff up to the gills before engaging in hit and run techniques, using lots of extra damage techniques. You can't do that yet. Not enough spells known.

Our next session is sat eve so I have some time to fiddle with this. My character wants POWER and lots of it. I'n my mind his plan was to resurrect his demon grandfather and ravage the world with him....or something like that, so whatever get me in that line of work will be fine!

Thanks again for the help guys! I really hate koolaid manning my way into a forum crying for help, but I'm out of my league here.

Power wise, well, think of it this way, summoning up minions is better than wading in yourself no?
Spells still are the most powerful things in the system, but they need to be used in the right place at the right time.

[Rotarygod]

I agree that having minions beats me getting blood on my robes, however that was what almost got me killed in the first place lol. I guess I could go summon monster or creature or whatever it is.

As for those high level ones, I know they are unachievable as of now, but like you said now is the time to prep for what I will become. I guess I should decide what I want to end up like and adjust accordingly.

[veekie]

Well, I'm assuming your ability scores are fixed, otherwise if you could push that strength to 18 and when your later inherent bonuses to strength show up+ Bulls Strength + Transformation + Arcane Strike, you'd be able to hit incredibly hard but have a glass jaw. Do grab Flyby Attack(way cheaper than Spring Attack) and a reach weapon before you try that. Until you can raise enough buffs to be essentially invulnerable in melee, you'd die to a single crit.

The rig, if I'm not mistaken, is high strength, Arcane Strike, Flyby Attack, with a two handed reach weapon and several long duration buff spells(hours, so you can walk around with something up all the time). Once you can afford a rod of quicken, that'd help a bit with fast buffing.
Might want to buy a Runestaff to carry Mage Armor, Greater Magic Weapon, and Greater Mighty Whallop(Races of the Dragon, cranks bludgeoning weapon damage up), spells that last long enough that you'd only need one of them per day.
A reach, bludgeoning, Skillful weapon as well(In Complete Arcane if I'm not mistaken), which grants you 3/4 BAB and automatic proficiency with that weapon.

All these only become practical in your teen levels though, don't sweat it. Not even halfway there yet.
And even then, you could probably have as much impact on a fight by being a dedicated spellcaster. Those buff spells the Abyssal bloodline gives? Cast them on your party's smashy guy and let him do the smashing. If you lack one, summon a smashy guy and make him more smashy.

[Rotarygod]

I could probably swap up a couple of ability scores as at least one party member seem to do this every once in a while (conveniently when the shtf and he needs it, he always seems to come up with some bs excuse of why though)

I suppose I'll just tune for casting and stay out of cc. We have plenty of that anyway, at least as of now. I just hate the idea of getting my ass stomped if something jumps me. I like the idea of making the smashy guy more smashy though

Our groups smashy guy is a eye of gruumsh orc who already murders stuff especially when raging with cleave. He has befriended me in game and thinks I'm an ok guy. He also doesn't like my handler much hehehe, so I have a feeling that will play out interestingly
so anything I can do to help him be more awesome will help me out in the end.

[veekie]

Ah, then one good way of getting in his good gracess is to plonk an Enlarge Person on him, so he can hit harder and cleave further. Once he gets used to the perks, he'd love you.

[Rotarygod]

Cool, I'll check that one out next time I have the book in front of me.

Thanks again!

[Rotarygod]

Ok so I did the enlarge person and it was awesome I have become the orcs close friend. Apparently it's easier to just jump onto his back and go into battle master blaster style so I can keep using v. I also took the summon monster II augment summoning and spell focus, did ray of enfeeblement and mage armor (just incase) I wound up with an elixir of fiery fists as well as an  iron liver and latent poison (all from the last session we did) Oh I did take a long spear too.

So far I'm liking this setup. I will most definitely ding the next time we play as I only need 345 points to do it so I'll be prepping for level 4

[veekie]

Cool, just drop a message if more help is needed, or anything particularly awesome happens.

[Senevri]

+1 Mirror Image. I like being immune to attacks.