Pathfinder: Seeking advice on a non-blasty Sorcerer

Hello all! I have hopefully posted in the right area. This forum's setup is different from what I'm used to. XD

Now then, I am waiting on a game to start. No idea when that will be or what classes I'll be playing with, but I do know it's probably going to have four people and I want to be a Sorcerer in the group. I was looking through the bloodlines and I came down to wanting to use either Fey or Arcane. Fey has more flavor, but Arcane is easier to work with in terms of what it gives me.

I wanted to make a fun loving jerk and prankster since I'm tired of playing goody goody characters. The kind that screws with you from the side-lines but can still put down some hurt when called on. Not to mention he'll be a skilled liar and charmer outside of battle. Just to give you a general idea of what I'm going for. So I put together a level 16 place holder to help me set him up. I'm only using the pathfinder books and info for this and trying to avoid third party stuff. I stopped at 16 just because I have yet to have a campaign go much further.

Race - Kitsune: I like the race a lot. I get a lot of bonus DC to Enchantment spells, which is nice. It fits the prankster theme as well. Gnome is good too, but I've played a lot in the past. Human is great for the bonus spells, but I'm not feeling it for this character.

Bloodline - Arcane: Still wondering if I want to stick with this or go back to Fey. Fey is better early on for my build idea, but Arcane might be better in the end.

Stats - Doesn't really matter right now. We still don't know if we're rolling or buying points.

Feats - Now, this is where I have a hard time. I know I want Improved Initiative, Spell Focus (Enchantment) and Persistent Spell, but I'm not too sure what else. Dazing seems pretty darn good.

Skills - Let's say I have an INT of 12. I know I want to max out my bluff, but should I just get Spellcraft and Knowledge Arcana? Or should I split up points to other stuff like UMD or others?

Spells - Here's another thing I could use some help with. I have most of them picked out except my 3 at levels 9, 13 and 17 from the New Arcana Bloodline Power. I was wondering if there were things I should think about changing or if what I have seems decent. I'm not too sure if I'm going to be the only spell caster. I doubt it, but I'll probably be the main one, so I wanted to cover what bases I could. CC, Damage, Utility, Buffs, Debuffs and to have at least one Enchantment spell each level. Though at the moment, damage is quite minimal and mainly there for AOE or backup.

Level 0 - Detect Magic, Daze, Dancing Lights, Ghost Sounds, Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Message, Light, Spark

Level 1 - Color Spray (Switch out for Floating Disk later), Identify (Bloodline), Protection from Evil, Magic Missile, Grease, Silent Image

Level 2 - Glitterdust, Invisibility (Bloodline), Hideous Laughter, Burning Arc (Possibly Trade for Resist Energy later), Mirror Image, Command Undead (Picked CU because I thought it fit the mind screwing theme)

Level 3 - Haste, Dispel Magic (Bloodline), Stinking Cloud, Fly (Possibly Trade for Fireball later), Suggestion

Level 4 - Black Tentacles, Dimension Door (Bloodline), Confusion, Ball Lightning, Enervation

Level 5 - Wall of Stone, Overland Flight (Bloodline), Icy Prison, Telekinesis, Dominate Person

Level 6 - Contingency, True Seeing (Bloodline), Greater Dispel, Mass Suggestion (I wonder if having two of the same spell is such a good thing. Having sway over many can be quite nice, but running around Invisible with Cloak of Dreams could be fun too.)

Level 7 - Waves of Ecstasy, Greater Teleport (Bloodline), Summon Monster VII

Level 8 - Prismatic Wall

I'd love to hear any opinions or advice you guys have. I'm not really trying to optimize my Sorcerer, but I don't want to be worthless either. Especially if I do end up being the main spell caster. I just want to be able to prance around and deny my enemies what they want.

Sorry for the delay on my end. When I first read it I thought you were saying it was a 16th level character. And as I haven't gotten past 3rd so far in Pathfinder I felt in over my head to put my two cents in. Re-reading - it looks like you might start at any level with this potential character, and just are wanting help mapping it to 16th for whatever level it starts at.

Looks solid overall to me. Including some damage dealing stuff. Which is good to have as a backup as a Sorcerer, just in case. When to take what spell as a Spell Known will be where some decisions come along. You can certainly see how whatever adventure / enemies shape up before making those specific decisions. I'll put in a few thoughts, mainly on earlier levels, if that's helpful.

0. Yes, I agree, Daze is a good 0 level spell for early on (I think that's what you were saying.)

1. Don't worry about going Arcane if you feel more comfortable with that. Being Kitsune is kind of Fey in a sense - well nature-ish anyways. No matter what Sorcerer bloodline you go. Well at least even with Arcane. (And I always liked Arcane near the most of what I've read of bloodlines. For many reasons both flavor and ability wise. The ever useful Identify as a bloodline spell is not bad and one of the reasons. )

2. I was thinking you might go with Sleep as one of your very earliest spells. And yes changing it (or Color Spray) out for Floating Disk at higher levels is a good idea. It would have a better DC if you go School Focus Enchantment as it is Enchantment while Color Spray is Illusion. Also it has a longer (away from you) range rather than a sometimes difficult to get off cone of Color Spray. Both can end an encounter for 'the good guys'. Sleep may 'fit' your character a little more and may be a little easier for you to cast while safely behind your allies. You might go with both and work Sleep in somewhere else rather than for Color Spray. Both are solid.

3. Greater School Focus. I sort of found it on d20pfsrd.com... the description seems as it's School Focus when I googled Pathfinder Greater School Focus, but the title and prereq. is 'spell'

Feats‎ > ‎General Feats‎ > ‎
Greater Spell Focus
Choose a school of magic to which you have already applied the Spell Focus feat. Any spells you cast of this school are very hard to resist.

Prerequisite: Spell Focus.

Benefit: Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against spells from the school of magic you select. This bonus stacks with the bonus from Spell Focus.

Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new school to which you already have applied the Spell Focus feat.

4. I would not neglect Use Magic Device. It can end up being so useful. Especially if some wands are found or available. If your party is low on healers or have none, you being able to use a wand of Cure Light Wounds after the battle (you can just keep on rolling 'till you are able as it doesn't cost charges if you fail - so long as you don't roll a 1 that doesn't work.) Or even have a chance during battle. Is a big deal. As is the fact that whatever the spell level - it's a DC of 20 you can try for to use the wand. And that since it's word based, using it (healing or not) does not provoke an Attack of Opportunity. I would consider a 14 Int depending on the point buy/rolls to add that in to your already good mix. Or at least go a little less Knowledge Arcana. Especially if you end up with a Bard or other Knowledgeable character. I would consider Feat of Magical Aptitude for +2 to Spellcraft and UMD at some point. And/or possibly even Skill Focus UMD - just something to consider. (Spellcraft - With Identify as needed as a Sorcerer, you can take 10, +10 from Identify, + bonus to good effect as needed.) Back to UMD - you will certainly have good to great Charisma as you go along - so you can get a nice bonus quickly.

5. Perception is never a bad one over the long haul. You could kind of wait and see if your party seems to have 'enough' of this for your comfort or not before deciding how many ranks, if any, you put into Perception as you go.

6. As the spell level goes up, I am less and less familiar. If you seem to face a lot of elemental type damage Resist Energy early rather than late at 2nd level could be good. Or even just extreme heat or cold - Endure Elements at 1st level is a good one.

7. Don't forget you can cast a lower level spell in a higher spot. 1sts in 2nd level spots seem to me to be the most likely for that. Though Hideous Laughter is so amusing. And you would cast it well.

8. I would think Fireball sooner than later.

The End.
Good looking build idea overall to me. Good luck with it.

Basically, yeah. This is a "What if" setup. What if my character ended up this level? This is what I'd most likely have and probably base my character on once we actually do start our game. Even picked out what basic items I'd want, but not so much the scrolls and such. I'd buy those along the way depending on what I'd need them for.

0. Anyway! When it comes to Daze I think it's great for me early on. The DC wouldn't be as high as it could be with the Fey bloodline, but it would still be on par with my first level spells. It would soon lost effectiveness though, so I'd want to ditch it for something more useful.

1. Yeah, I'm going to be sticking with Arcane. I like the idea of having a fox familiar who will act as the more serious one of the two of us. Not to mention he'll eventually become smarter than me, which just adds to the funny of the situation.

2. Now I thought about having Sleep, but I'm a bit on the fence about it. Both it and Color Spray have an HD limit, but I can get more mileage out of Color Spray. It has been quite a while since I've played a game though. I'd probably be switching out Sleep around the time it stops working anyway. I may go with that instead. As for having both, I'd rather not have to switch two spells out in one spell level.

3. When it comes to Greater Spell Focus, I'm debating that one as well. I have a list of feats I want, but I don't know if I want that or Toughness. It will depend on how often I go down. If it isn't often, I'm so going with Greater Spell Focus. The list I have right now is this:

Eschew Materials (Class), Improved Initiative, Spell Focus (Enchantment), Toughness or Greater Spell Focus, Combat Casting (Bloodline), Spell Penetration, Persistent Spell, Empower, Iron Will (Bloodline), Dazing Spell, Spell Perfection

4 and 5. Skills are few and far between sadly. I doubt we will have a bard since I'm pretty sure we'll only have four players. Myself, one will probably be a Ninja and another wants to be some kind of fighter or fighter/magic mix. Don't know about the last. I can probably drop some knowledge arcana, but I'm not dropping bluff for fluff reasons and I need Spellcraft for Spell Perfection. That gives me little to work with. My feats are all taken up too up to level 15. So in the end it will come down to what the final party looks like. If I can have UMD, I'm getting it. Even if it won't be that great a level. Unless I switch my Dex and Int around to end up with a 14 DEX and 14 INT. Could be worth looking into. That would give me some extra points to work with and not cripple my dex that much.

As for Perception, I almost picture this guy as too sure of himself to be paying too much attention around him. His familiar will be the one keeping his eyes open. And the fewer skills I want the better. Haha

6. Well once I know the setting we'll be in, that choice will be a lot easier. Though, I'll probably get Endure Elements as a wand or something.

7. Giving the boosts to Enchantment I'll have, I'm counting on being able to use my lower level enchantments more often than I normally would be able to. Feats help with others as well. lol

8. That also depends on what I'm facing. I'll keep it in mind.

Thanks for the info! It will help me tweak things a bit.