Sorcerer subclass for first playthrough?

[Arthmoon]

Hello,
I am going to do my first playthrough.
1.) I decided I want to play Sorcerer for my main character.
Which subclass would you recommend me for first playthrough for good damage on normal difficulty and why? And which feats are very good for sorcerers?
2.) How much DMG would I potentionally loose with Sylvan sorcerer when I cant choose bloodline?
3.) I am also considering also Arcane trickster. Would it be better option for first playthrough or should I rather stick with standard Sorcerer?
Thanks a lot!

[Infireus]

I'd recommend against arcane trickster, simply because thats the main class of one of the easier to get companions. As for damage, I don't think you'd lose too much if you went Sylvan sorcerer. Rather, what you'd probably miss out on is a few defenses (mainly resists) and a slightly wider spell selection. Which isn't the end of the world.

[Arthmoon]

Originally posted by Infireus:

I'd recommend against arcane trickster, simply because thats the main class of one of the easier to get companions. As for damage, I don't think you'd lose too much if you went Sylvan sorcerer. Rather, what you'd probably miss out on is a few defenses (mainly resists) and a slightly wider spell selection. Which isn't the end of the world.

thanks. As far as feats are concerned for sylvan sorcerer, should I focus more on evocation from beginning or conjuration? Not sure how to mix it with pet...

[Conquista]

on higher difficulties it is recommended that your mc focus on damage, but on lower difficulties its not necessary, so pick what you like to play

[zekitbot]

Originally posted by Infireus:

I'd recommend against arcane trickster, simply because thats the main class of one of the easier to get companions. As for damage, I don't think you'd lose too much if you went Sylvan sorcerer. Rather, what you'd probably miss out on is a few defenses (mainly resists) and a slightly wider spell selection. Which isn't the end of the world.

This is not Woljif's class. He is eldritch rogue which is "rogue with some magic." Arcane trickster is mage with sneak attack.

I've been playing a Seeker sorc with arcane bloodline. This works well with 1 level of rogue to get sneak attack and more skills. However, it is better in general to play wizard if you want to go arcane trickster because sorc gets access to the higher level spells 1 level behind wizard, which I personally don't mind but it is less optimal to be sorc and go arcane trickster.

Also, kitsune is a great race for pc's stats, especially after you get access to mythic feats, because there is a mythic feat that boosts your physical ability stats anytime you are polymorphed. Kitsune is considered polymorphed when they are in human form so I have been playing as disguised kitsune since getting that feat.

[Arthmoon]

Originally posted by Conquista:

on higher difficulties it is recommended that your mc focus on damage, but on lower difficulties its not necessary, so pick what you like to play

I would like to focus on damage... so which subclass of sorc would you recommend damage wise? Or would you recommend me different magic class which is more suitable for damage? I dont want to play pure physical.

[Nismu]

I really like sylvan sorcerer, animal companion really helps on lower levels which usually are hardest and remains being useful even in end game (at least on core and lower ) and if you go azata path it fits greatly on theme.

selective metamagic and you can use your grease, entangle and webs rather freely and later go for evocation for sirocco and such.

perhaps taking extra bloodline or two with mythic levels is good idea it can give nice boost to damage but in the end personally didn't feel much need with dealing toughest enemies with maximized empowered hellfire rays. (though azata helped there. ) but again fireballs and such were quite useless without bloodline boosts

and my personal choice of race is half-elf as they get best charisma boost, though as said if you want physical stats kitsune is great choice.

[Drake]

Originally posted by Arthmoon:

Originally posted by Conquista:

on higher difficulties it is recommended that your mc focus on damage, but on lower difficulties its not necessary, so pick what you like to play

I would like to focus on damage... so which subclass of sorc would you recommend damage wise? Or would you recommend me different magic class which is more suitable for damage? I dont want to play pure physical.

Why do you want to pick a subclass ? the regular sorcerer is fine. The archetypes all have tradeoffs the regular sorcerer don't have.
Sylvan, empyreal and sage all are mutations of specific bloodlines (fey, celestial and arcane) that get special starting features (animal companion for sylvan, wisdom stat for empyreal, int stat for sage).
Seeker and overwhelming mage trade several bloodline powers for other feats.
nine tail heir gets to pick a lot of tail feats instead of bloodline powers.
crossblooded can mix and match bloodline features at the cost of slower spell progression.

Unless you want a specific thing an archetype has, the base sorcerer is usually better, especially with the mythic power adding a second bloodline (considering some archetypes can't get the second bloodline mythic feat).

[Frostfeather]

Originally posted by Arthmoon:

I would like to focus on damage... so which subclass of sorc would you recommend damage wise? Or would you recommend me different magic class which is more suitable for damage? I dont want to play pure physical.

First, your mythic path is an even more important choice. We'd need to know if there's a preference there, but blasting Sorcerers are often Lich, Trickster, or Azata.

Technically Crossblooded (with 2 fire dragon Bloodilnes) would probably win on damage, but you get new spells a level later than a Sorcerer already does. It's a bit of a tradeoff and it's probably not the most friendly to new players.

Overwhelming Mage, Sage Sorc, Seeker, and vanilla Sorc are all rather similar in relative power and will get new spells a little faster than Crossblooded. Slyvan doesn't really lose all that much, but it would be a little behind the others in spell damage. Your pet should make up for that if you buff it and use it well though.

[gmwaddington]

Animal Companions are very good in this game. I'm strongly considering a Sylvan Sorcerer for my next playthrough.

[cRPG Bro]

Sylvan Sorcerer would be the best pick for a beginner.
Be sure to pick Spell Focus + Greater Spell Focus Conjuration & Grease spell at level 1.
You get a very strong full scaling pet that will carry you from the beginning to the end game, and remains useful through ALL difficulty modes, and as a matter of fact, is more useful the higher the difficulty.
Pick Leopard early on and give it Weapon Finesse at level 1 if you want a good time on early game.
You can follow my Lich Sylvan Sorcerer Build here if you want, it also gets decent melee capabilities besides a very strong pet and CC spells:
https://youtu.be/Po3KuvIY_y0

[Arthmoon]

Originally posted by cRPG Bro:

Sylvan Sorcerer would be the best pick for a beginner.
Be sure to pick Spell Focus + Greater Spell Focus Conjuration & Grease spell at level 1.
You get a very strong full scaling pet that will carry you from the beginning to the end game, and remains useful through ALL difficulty modes, and as a matter of fact, is more useful the higher the difficulty.
Pick Leopard early on and give it Weapon Finesse at level 1 if you want a good time on early game.
You can follow my Lich Sylvan Sorcerer Build here if you want, it also gets decent melee capabilities besides a very strong pet and CC spells:
https://youtu.be/Po3KuvIY_y0

thanks. Can I choose Lich and be good as far as aligment is concerned? I guess It is not possible, right? :/

[Bishop]

Anything related to undead creation is evil in Pathfinder universe. The only non necessarily evil undeads are ghosts, they can keep their life alignment. So yeah lich is always evil.

Go for Azata for good sorcerer, it won't have merged spellbook but its superpowers are bonkers for arcane casters.

As for what sorc is good I'd say:

Arcane bloodline is the best choice for any DC sorc. Pure sorc is perfect for it. Sage also gets it by default while replacing main stat fro CHA to INT. Another solid option is Sylvan: its bloodline is average (though not bad) but they get free animal companion, which is a decent trade. The rest of subclasses trade more than they get in return, imo.

[GunStarX]

Crossblooded has the highest damage potential, as you can get a free bolstered spell damage without the aoe effect by taking 2 dragon lines with the same element type. You can also take an elemental for the mythic bloodline to convert any energy damage to your element if you want, like a fire sorc with chain lightning doing fire damage etc. Or you can take a 3rd dragon of the same type for even more damage.

The trick with crossblooded is to grab heightened metamagic early. You will regularly have level ups to a new caster level without those spells being available. With heightened you can just raise spells to any level.

[Indure]

The nice thing about Sorcerer is you get a fire ring and lighting bracers about midway through the game which gives you all the evocation spells you could want, and with mythic abilities you can apply all your bonuses to evocation if you later wanted to be more blaster focused.

[erian]

Originally posted by GunStarX:

Crossblooded has the highest damage potential, as you can get a free bolstered spell damage without the aoe effect by taking 2 dragon lines with the same element type. You can also take an elemental for the mythic bloodline to convert any energy damage to your element if you want, like a fire sorc with chain lightning doing fire damage etc. Or you can take a 3rd dragon of the same type for even more damage.

The trick with crossblooded is to grab heightened metamagic early. You will regularly have level ups to a new caster level without those spells being available. With heightened you can just raise spells to any level.

Dont take crossblooded sorc if you are new to the game.Its sub for those who like to theorycraft or play on low difficulties. Its negative trait is just not worth it on sorc. On crossblooded you get spells one level later than on normal sorc.Considering that spell progression is already slow on sorc... 2 tier spells on 5 lvl is just... painfull.