Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous - How To Build A Sorcerer (2024)

The Sorcerer is one of the most popular classes amongst the community of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and it is for good reason. The idea that you can be brimming with magical energy simply due to your bloodline is an attractive one.

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This manifests in-game as a powerful mage who doesn't have the need for a meticulously curated spellbook - they just get up and go. As with all magic classes in Wrath of the Righteous, however, there are lots of ways that you can optimize your builds and make the best Sorcerer for your requirements.

Sorcerer Overview

An overview of the Sorcerer class from Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous

The Sorcerer is one of the game's full casters. This means that it will gain many tools over the course of a playthrough and eventually end up casting level nine spells - the most powerful ones outside of certain Mythic Paths. To compensate, they are typically very flimsy and don't perform well in physical confrontations.

There is one large feature that distinguishes Sorcerers from other casters: Bloodlines.

• All Sorcerers have a Bloodline from which they receive their magic. This could be Draconic, or Fey, or even Undead - there are a lot to choose from and they all grant different bonus spells, bonus feats, class skills, and special features that all relate to the Bloodline itself.
• For example, a Sorcerer with the Celestial Bloodline gains some appropriate spells, class skill in Religion Lore, and even a pair of Wings eventually. Bloodlines are the main way that Sorcerers differ.

Sorcerers are Spontaneous Casters. This means that they don't have to prepare their spells when they rest - rather they can cast any spell they know from a shared pool of spell slots.

​​​​​​Sorcerers use Charisma as their casting ability, unlike Wizards (who use Intelligence) and Clerics (who use Wisdom). This means that Sorcerers make for good negotiators and it can be quite useful to have a Sorcerer PC with Persuasion as a class skill.

Sorcerer Archetypes

The archetype selection for Sorcerers in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous

While the base Sorcerer class has a lot of room for customization anyway, there are a handful of archetypes in the game that can be used instead. These offer a deeper, more elaborate fine-tuning of the class and can be more or less useful depending on your current needs.

Archetypes are classes in their own right, though they will be largely similar to their base class. The Sorcerer has seven archetypes to choose from.

• Crossblooded Sorcerers gain the advantages of two Bloodlines rather than the default one. It is possible to choose the same Bloodline twice, and doing this can get you stacking bonuses depending on the Bloodline. To compensate for this flexibility, Crossblooded Sorcerers learn fewer spells overall.
• Empyreal Sorcerers are largely the same as regular Sorcerers, but they use Wisdom instead of Charisma as their casting ability. This is useful for anyone who wants to multiclass a Sorcerer with a Wisdom-based class, but it does come with a restriction: they can only have the Empyreal Bloodline, which is functionally identical to the Celestial Bloodline.
• Nine Tailed Heirs are exclusive to the Kitsune race. This archetype is almost a straight-up upgrade to the base class as it simply adds nine free instances of the Magical Tail Kistune feat, granting them extra spells. Being exclusive to the Kitsune race is its own drawback, however.
• Overwhelming Mages trade the usual Sorcerer Bonus Feats for a stacking spell penetration passive buff and the ability to spontaneously empower spells by sacrificing spell slots. This archetype sacrifices a little build versatility for pure power.
• Sage Sorcerers are simply the Intelligence-based version of the Empyreal Sorcerer. This is great for characters who value Intelligence over Charisma, yet still want to access Sorcerer benefits. They are tied to the Arcane Bloodline by default.
• Seekers appear to be vanilla Sorcerers at first with some added feats - but there are differences. While Seekers gain extra feats and have Trickery as a class skill, their Bloodlines will get fewer features as they level up. If you have a Bloodline in mind, compare the Seeker's version to the normal version to see if the swap is worth it.
• Sylvan Sorcerers are tied to the Sylvan Bloodline and are attuned closely to nature. They give up their choice of Bloodline in exchange for an animal companion, making this the perfect class choice for a full caster with a pet.

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Sorcerer Build Options

A Nine Tailed Heir with Azata Mythic Path in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous

Thanks to the versatility of magic in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, there are lots of ways to build a Sorcerer and they're largely quite intuitive. It's important to first note that there will be some feats that almost all Sorcerers take:

• Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration are almost necessary for dealing with the large amounts of spell resistance in the game.
• Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus in your chosen specialty schools are very useful for overcoming enemy saving throws.
• Point-Blank Shot and Precise Shot are almost required for any Sorcerer hoping to make attack rolls in battle.

Other options that may be worth considering are the Summoning feats if you want to be a summoner - these will require a Spell Focus in Conjuration. Alternatively, there's Elemental Focus if you plan on taking a lot of spells of one element or another.

When it comes to race selection, it would be beneficial to pick races that have a bonus to Charisma, such as Kitsune or one of the many Aasimar heritages. Of course, this doesn't apply to any Empyreal Sorcerers or Sage Sorcerers, who would prefer bonuses to Wisdom and Intelligence respectively.

If you're not intending on taking the whole 20 levels in Sorcerer (which is not recommended) there are some intuitive multiclass options:

• Sorcerers work well as Arcane Tricksters as they get to keep up their spell progression whilst getting a very powerful capstone with 10 levels of it. This multiclass does require two ranks of Sneak Attack, however, which means dipping into a different class (for example, Vivisectionist) and taking the Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat.
• As Charisma-based classes go, Bard is another good one that a Sorcerer can appreciate. Bard offers a slightly altered spell selection and has performances to help allies.
• Mystic Theurge is a great prestige class that lets you progress in both arcane and divine spells at the same time. Sorcerer covers the arcane side of things, so consider something like Oracle if you want to unlock Mystic Theurge and gain a whole lot of spells.
• If you are going for a hybrid physical/magical build, Sorcerer can fit the spontaneous arcane caster requirements for Dragon Disciple, a great prestige class that grants a large bonus to Strength after a few levels.

Now when it comes time to consider Mythic Path choices, two spring out immediately: Angel and Lich both benefit from the ability to merge spellbooks, which will let your caster level skyrocket up to 40 eventually and make you almost unstoppable. That said, most Mythic Paths are suitable for most classes, and Sorcerer is so adaptable that they'll usually be able to excel regardless.

Sample Sorcerer Build

A Nine Tailed Heir Sorcerer build in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous

This sample build shows you how to use the Nine Tailed Heir archetype to amass a very large number of spells and be able to use them effectively. It chooses the Azata Mythic Path to take advantage of Zippy Magic and a neat animal companion, too.

This build is for a Kitsune who starts with 8 STR, 15 DEX, 10 CON, 10 INT, 14 WIS, and 20 CHA. It is important in this build that the Hunter background is chosen.

• This build takes the Hunter background and the Raven familiar to really take advantage of both Persuasion and Perception. You could take an Object Bond instead if you are worried about spell slots, but once Mythic Ranks start coming that's largely irrelevant.
• We take a Fire Elemental Focus here since the class has access to so many fire spells, but this could quite safely be swapped for Ice thanks to the existence of great spells like Icy Prison and Polar Ray.
• The final stat boost goes to Dexterity as more Charisma wouldn't make a difference and it's always nice to have a little more AC.
• Quicken Spell is taken late as it's quite an expensive metamagic, but there's nothing wrong with taking it as early as level 15 to have that flexibility sooner.

• Azata is not a bad path for a spellcaster. Zippy Magic in particular will make your single-target spells far more effective - great for spells like Hellfire Ray.
• The Red Draconic Bloodline adds a bonus to fire damage - this can be safely swapped out if you aren't going for a damage dealer mage or are using a different element.
• If you are going for an elemental build, you may wish to sacrifice something for Ascendant Element. Elemental Barrage would be a good choice for this.
• We take Conjuration in addition to our already taken Evocation as there are tons of really fantastic spells of those schools. The Azata Path only adds more in its nature-based spells and the Summon abilities.

When it comes to spell selection, you'll want to be picking spells within your chosen specializations. For a build like this, that specializes in Evocation and Conjuration, you'd want to pick up a mix of damaging and crowd control spells that those schools do so well.

There are, however, spells that are useful to take no matter what you specialize in and should always be a priority:

• Snowball is a great damage spell that ignores spell resistance.
• Grease is great for tripping up enemies. Pair with Heighten Spell and Selective Spell and it can last the entire game.
• Glitterdust is of great utility when facing enemies that like to go invisible, of which there are many in this game.
• Haste is an almost-necessary buffing spell that really ups the damage output of the entire party.
• Greater Dispel Magic can really hamper late-game enemy strategies. Ditto for Communal True Seeing.
• Fiery Body is costly, taking up one of your level nine spells - but it's a fantastic self-buff.

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