sorcerer + rogue into arcane trickster, good idea?

[Die Dame des Berges]

I like the arcane trickster class but I prefer spontaenous casters over prepared
the idea is to go for evocation + spell penetration feats to blast enemies with spells like hellfire ray with massive sneak attack bonus

is it better to go with a dagger or bow as main weapon?
and is it worth it to go Sylvan sorcerer for the animal companion, or go for one of the draconic bloodlines?

[aoi-dabu D]

Using Mythic feats, you can get a second bloodline, so Sylvan Sorcerer is absolutely worth it.

For weapons, a form of bow would generally be better, except for the Edge of Force dagger which adds extra damage onto force spells. Battering Blast, plus Edge of Force, plus sneak attack, plus caster level 30 is just as busted if not more so than Hellfire Ray spam.

Generally speaking though, if Battering Blast or Magic Missile are not in the offing, you'd probably want a staff that boosts evocation magic not a bow or anything else.

[GunStarX]

If you go with a sylvan sorcerer into any class that doesn't have an animal, your companion will be limited in level. You can get the boon companion feat to offset that by 4 levels, but that's it. So if you have a sorcerer 4/rouge 4 with boon companion, your animal will be level 8. Any class levels that do not have an animal from that point on will not level up the animal

[Immortal Reaver]

If you want mount only as means of transportation then you can take Sylvanas, as his animal companion will not be good when it starts falling behind after you take enough levels in Arcane Trickster. But you can get Bismuth a Triceratops animal companion as item near the end of act 2, so you can use him instead.

If you want to get most damage get Crossbloded (less spells known).
OR
Normal/Seeker/Overwhelimg/Geomancer with Second Bloodline to get more spell known (same amount of cast as Crossbloded), and you need to burn Mythic Ability. Fire dragon bloodlines of course for bonus damage.

Also use bow. You need some ranged feats for you to have easier time with hitting rays anyway so might as well use it.

[BlueBangkok]

Is it really worth it to go AT vs just bolstered metamagic, even with Tricker mythic?

[Soul]

arcane trickster by time you fill up prerequisites 2d6 sneak attack.... and 10 levels with extra 1d6 per 2 levels.... you'd end up with 7d6 after 10 levels...

7d6 means a variable range of 7-42 damage range depending on rolls....

vs bolster metamagic that when applied to spells doesnt allow precision damage so it cant be qualified to have sneak attack applied to it....

bolster does 2 extra damage per die of the spell and a splash damage of 5 ft of 2 per die rolled of original spell type...

lets compare hellfire ray between the 2...

hellfire ray at caster level 19 deals 3 rays at 15d6...

an arcane trickster if sneak attack applied would deal

(15d6 + 7d6) X 3... which is (15 to 90 + 7 to 42 sneak attack) times 3....

so min and maximum of 66 to 396 damage....

for using bolstered metamagic its more predictable damage...

(15d6 + 30) X 3... which is (15 to 90 + 30) times 3....

so min and maximum of 135 to 360 damage to primary target... and 5 ft splash of 90 damage....this damage is regardless of flat footed or not or immunity to sneak attack...

[BlueBangkok]

Also, bolstered applies to AOE spells as well and can be completely free (Favorite metamagic).
With extra damage die from sorcerer and items (robe of arcane annihilation, etc.), that is +2 extra damage for each additional die. Gets boosted on crit, while sneak attack does not.
Sounds to me like bolstered wins.

[NdNd]

It works fine with ray spells until you reach arcane trickster lvl10.
after then every spell is a sneak attack.

[Steelfleece]

You can get the 2d6 sneak attack dice through one level of rogue (or vivi, vivi's a great choice) and the accomplished sneak attacker feat, don't forget. Takes a feat but gives you room for more caster levels.