Arcanist or Sorcerer

[Darx]

So im thinking of playing as a Arcanist this time instead of a sorc. but i dont really see the advantage the arcanist.

can somebody explain if the arcane exploits make him a better nuker or if he can just use his spells more often.

[elbentzo]

Hi Darx. Here is a good video of a YouTuber going over all the arcanist exploits, so you can see for yourself what they do and how useful they might be to your playstyle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5xBKUv0vf8

Note that the biggest difference between the arcanist and the sorcerer is that arcanists are not spontaneous casters, meaning they have to memorize their spells like wizards do. If you're used to playing a sorcerer and casting spells on the fly, this might be a huge difference for you.

[Darx]

ok but this guy is just reading through the arcane exploits for 16 minutes. i already did that myself.

[elbentzo]

I thought your question was what do the exploits let you do. If you've already read through the entire list, then I don't get what you're asking. The exploits are mostly damage dealing spell like abilities that you can use outside of your memorized spell slots, making you a more diverse nuker and possibly a more powerful one (some of them are pretty strong). You can also use your arcane powers to boost the level and DC of your normal memorized spells. The arcane pool doesn't make you able to use your spells more often.

Does that answer your question? If not, please try to explain again.

[Insanity_184]

https://youtu.be/34vfTBGVxZ8

His may be better he talks more about a simple explanation of the class.

Seriously it boils down to if you want a pure sorc. Or a wizard that can flavor their spells. The main benefit to picking a sorc is the bloodline traits and the spontaneous casting.

For The arc. It’s the arcane pool is nice and the fact you can still memorize spells but I don’t like magic classes so I can’t say much.

[lindavius]

The main draws for the Arcanist are: They are the unparalleled masters of Metamagic, and they still keep the sizeable Wizard spellbook; providing utility if needed..
Their low-level slots can mostly serve to fuel their high-level spells.

If you want a pure and highly specialized "blaster caster" , dishing out elemental spells in machine gun speed, though, a Sorcerer may be closer to your liking:

Arcanists learn from scrolls , provide spell selection, and quality,
while Sorcerers stand for sheer streamlined quantity, and additionally have a bloddline to boot .

[Stink Bug]

I havent played wrath yet but I’ve used the modded Arcanist extensively in Kingmaker and really enjoy its features. At low and mid levels, spending a reservoir point to increase caster level (or two with the potent magic exploit) is reaaallly nice. The DC increase is a nice boon too. If the quick study exploit is in Wrath that adds greatly to your versatility even over a Wizard. At higher levels, I’ve found that you have so many spells per day anyways the Sorcerer’s one big advantage isn’t much of a factor anymore. If Owlcat adds the School Savant and Blood Arcanist archetypes you’ll have an even more compelling case against your arcane class of choice.

The spoiler here of course is the Exploiter Wizard archetype; unless Owlcat is homebrewing balance changes it’s pretty much straight up superior to the base Arcanist.

[lindavius]

@ Stink Bug: AFAIK, for PnP both Arcanist and Exploiter are considered often as " the most game-breaking classes" , whereas the regular Wizard is "only" upper S - tier, while the Sorc ranks as A.
The different balance of a CRPG, with more combat encounters per rest, in quick succession, and signiificantly less different utility spells required, generally tips slightly in favor of the Sorceror.
It is completely true that you likely have a large amount of unused level 1 and 2 spell slots.
More interesting, however, are levels 3-6, with most of the defining buffs, like Haste or e.g. Stoneskin, Apart from , for the elemental department, rays or Fireball, among others.

Kingmaker had, as 2/3 casters, Linzi, Jubilost, and Regongar, who all, as designated party-buffers, could take alot of the burden from the primary caster. (In our case: We. ;) )
WotR has a Scoundrel, who probably(?) is more into self-buffing, and not a spontaneous caster. Apart from either a Scroll Savant or a Witch, when you are into bringing two full arcane casters, and do not mind a slight loss in efficiency over the aforementioned.

And, finally: Sorceror uses Charisma over Intelligence. - Makes not only for a far better face, yet a worse skill monkey.
It is also one of probably two go-to proficiencies if you intend going Lich; - with the major benefit of merging spellbooks (gaining DC levels in the progress) over the alternative, being Oracle.

[razvedchiki]

scroll savant.

[AdahnGorion]

Originally posted by Darx:

So im thinking of playing as a Arcanist this time instead of a sorc. but i dont really see the advantage the arcanist.

can somebody explain if the arcane exploits make him a better nuker or if he can just use his spells more often.

You wanna be a White Mage... you know it.. deep inside your heart

[Darx]

what does charisma do for your arcanist and what does int do for him? or what happens if i put points in int but none in charisma?

[Stink Bug]

Originally posted by Darx:

what does charisma do for your arcanist and what does int do for him? or what happens if i put points in int but none in charisma?

All charisma does is affect your exploits DC and the duration of certain exploits. Only Intelligence affects your spellcasting and is what you should focus on, especially since some exploits don’t even have a DC or duration.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/arcanist/

[Kaze]

Not sure if the original question was actually answered, but I'll try:

Certain arcane exploits will help in nuking, particularly "Potent." It's the one that raises your spell's effective level (until you hit the level cap for the spell of course). Once you've transitioned into late game it can help you overcome spell resistance by raising the DC of your spells by 2.

It's the best way to nuke as of now because some of the meta-magic stuff is not working in the current beta.

[Darx]

Originally posted by Stink Bug:

Originally posted by Darx:

what does charisma do for your arcanist and what does int do for him? or what happens if i put points in int but none in charisma?

All charisma does is affect your exploits DC and the duration of certain exploits. Only Intelligence affects your spellcasting and is what you should focus on, especially since some exploits don’t even have a DC or duration.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/arcanist/

thx that answers my second question very well.

[Darx]

Originally posted by Kaze:

Not sure if the original question was actually answered, but I'll try:

Certain arcane exploits will help in nuking, particularly "Potent." It's the one that raises your spell's effective level (until you hit the level cap for the spell of course). Once you've transitioned into late game it can help you overcome spell resistance by raising the DC of your spells by 2.

It's the best way to nuke as of now because some of the meta-magic stuff is not working in the current beta.

i think my original question was more like what exactly the difference between those 2 or 3 is. so far i understand it like this:
wizard has the most spells, sorc has less spells but can use them more often and arcanist is between those 2. plus arcanist get arcane exploits which make his spells a lot stronger.
so it looks like he is superior to the other 2

[Stink Bug]

Originally posted by Darx:

Originally posted by Kaze:

Not sure if the original question was actually answered, but I'll try:

Certain arcane exploits will help in nuking, particularly "Potent." It's the one that raises your spell's effective level (until you hit the level cap for the spell of course). Once you've transitioned into late game it can help you overcome spell resistance by raising the DC of your spells by 2.

It's the best way to nuke as of now because some of the meta-magic stuff is not working in the current beta.

i think my original question was more like what exactly the difference between those 2 or 3 is. so far i understand it like this:
wizard has the most spells, sorc has less spells but can use them more often and arcanist is between those 2. plus arcanist get arcane exploits which make his spells a lot stronger.
so it looks like he is superior to the other 2

Arcanists pay for it by gaining new spell levels one level behind the Wizard, just like Sorcerers. It won't matter at level 18 onward but for every odd level from 3-17 the wizards will have access to those shiny new spells and you wont, and sometimes the new spells can be game-changers for your encounters. I don't know how fast you gain levels in wrath but for Kingmaker that was the vast majority of that 80+ hour campaign. That's why the Exploiter Wizard is considered so broken in Table Top, because it has access to those spell-buffing exploits and Quick Study yet keeps the fast spell progression.

Compared to Wizard and Sorcerer, Arcanists do get their best aspects of their spell casting but they also get their worst.