The sorcerer as a unique class (with bloodlines - see post #1)

[Kerrick]

I've always thought that sorcerer needed to be something other than "a wizard who can spontaneously cast arcane spells". I loved the idea of being able to channel raw magical power, rather than taming it through the use of rituals and signs, or drawing it from a deity. I've long held a thing for the elements; I've made a couple PrCs that are designed for sorcerers that can channel raw elemental energy, but that wasn't enough. So, last year I sat down and remade the sorcerer - I cut down the spell list to refine its role as a blaster mage, and gave it some extra elemental abilities - an elemental bolt, a shield, and a few other goodies. We (our group) also ruled that sorcerers in our campaign world are more susceptible to arcane burn than wizards, due to their method of weilding arcane energy.

And there it sat. Now, after seeing some of the 4E bits, I started thinking again. The sorcerer still isn't quite where I'd like it to be - a class completely divorced from the "spontaneous arcane spellcaster" archetype. The sorcerer should have a role and origins that are completely unique, and I think I've found a way to do it. Ironically, it takes a couple things that I never really liked: the warlock and bloodlines.

Now, I've never liked the warlock. I think it's a one-trick pony that would be better served as a (sorcerer) PrC. But, for my purposes, I'm more than happy to scavenge a few concepts from it - namely, the offensive (eldritch bolt) and defensive (shield) powers (Oh yeah, I've already got those. Silly me.).

Bloodlines always struck me as odd - I didn't really care where my sorcerer's magic came from, just that he has it. I hated the implications that all sorcerers get their magic from draconic blood, too. In our world, humans carry the spark of Chaos (it comes from slaying the Elder Gods), so they're just as likely to have sorcery from that as they are from draconic blood, or fey blood, or whatever. As I was turning things over in my head recently, though, I realized that bloodlines could be useful for defining the sorcerer as its own class.

So. What I've got now is a class that can draw upon the Weave (or the Vortex, the Web, the Source, or whatever you call the source of magic) and shape it, through sheer force of will, to do what he wants. Oftentimes, the end result is still chaotic and unrefined - they're more likely to blast a door down with an energy bolt than open it with a knock spell - but no less spectacular than a wizard's, or a cleric's, or a druid's spell.

Sorcerers can learn some spells, though it is difficult for them to focus their thoughts into patterns of words and gestures and use those to control the magic. A major change here is that the type of blood that flows through your veins determines what kind of magics you can use - for example, a fey-blooded sorcerer can learn some druidic and ranger spells; a celestial- or fiend-blooded sorcerer can learn some clerical prayers; etc. The spells they are capable of learning would be chosen from a limited list. This would comprise about half of their power base.

The other half would be innate abilities - like I mentioned above, offensive, defensive, and miscellaneous powers, usable a set number of times per day. I'm thinking of possibly doing major and minor powers (though they wouldn't be labeled as such), with different uses/day of each - so you'd gain a major power at L1 and L10, and they'd be usable 3/day, and minor powers at 5 and 15, usable 3+Cha/day. Or something. In any case, they would likely scale with level. Major powers would be most closely tied to the bloodline - fey, for example, could use a charm power, while fiends would have the ability to call upon demonic allies. Lesser powers would be tied to the source of the power - ley energy, godly power, infernal might, elemental energy (while a draconic bloodline could be doable, I think they gain their power from the elements, which accounts for their breath weapons), or simply Chaos (for those who don't wish to be constrained to a bloodline). Also, the sorcerer would gain additional minor abilities depending on his bloodline, which would manifest as minor physical changes as he gains levels (or, alternately, that he could "unlock" via rituals at certain points - I'm leaning toward the latter, so that the player can choose whether or not he wants his sorcerer to be identifiable as fey-blood or elemental-blood or whatever in exchange for increased power. I realize that unlocking powers is kind of metagamey, but I value choice and flexibility over simply being assigned abilities). By 20th level, a sorcerer who has undergone all the changes would be akin to a half-whatever (like a Dragon Disciple, but without as much power) - he would have aspects of the alternate bloodline, but still be recognizable as a member of his base race.

So what I'm looking at here are 6 bloodlines: Fey, celestial, Chaos, draconic, elemental, and fiendish. As I said before, the bloodline affects what kind of magic you can channel and learn:

Fey: Ley energy, druid spells
Celestial: Godly might, cleric/paladin spells (mostly healing, light, summoning, and turning undead - no negative energy)
Chaos: Pure magical energy; wizard spells
Draconic: Elemental energy; wizard spells
Elemental: Elemental energy; druid (energy only)/wizard spells
Fiendish: Godly (infernal) might; cleric/wizard spells (more focused toward inflicting wounds, evil spells, and summoning).

Yes, some sorcerers will be able to cast healing spells. Cure wounds is, essentially, just channeling positive energy, and let's face it - clerics could use some help, eh? Sorcerers as a whole will have fewer spells/day and spells known to reflect the cut-down list of available spells - I'm thinking something akin to what wizards get.

Now, to balance all this cool stuff out, sorcerers have a major drawback - channeling raw magical energy is dangerous. Using greater and lesser powers (firing off a bolt of hellfire, for instance) is relatively harmless, as you're not attempting to shape or constrain the energy, but casting a spell is - as mentioned before, sorcerers aren't used to using forms and gestures to control the energy, which means there's a chance of something going wrong. If it does, the magic goes awry, which results in magical backlash (aka arcane burn).


Edit: I'm attaching the sorcerer and a couple bloodlines to this post, so people don't have to search for them. This thread's still getting a lot of views, so someone must be interested, even if they're not willing to post any feedback.

 

[smootrk]

Ghost Touched: Necromancy, Inflict Spells, etc.
Animangus: animals spells, lycanthropy, (animal) shapeshifting, summons/calling - yes, Harry Potterish term, but one that sounds pretty good for the magic type.

Another way to look at the classes is via the specialist classes like Warmage, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, etc. to create individual classes based upon a major theme. Circle Magic Sorcerers (abjuration), Animators, Artificers, Summoners, etc could all be crafted with their very own subtle variations and seemingly unrelated abilities.... like the way Beguilers are rather roguish in more ways than just spell lists... and Warmages might wear armor and wield a martial weapon, etc.

 

[adamda]

I think the project has merit! It's inspired me some, so I'll throw out what ideas I have and you can cannibalize any of it that you like. My thoughts are to have nothing inherently good or evil (thus no celestial/fiendish blood lines) and to de-emphasize draconic heritage. I am somewhat of a 4e fanboy, so my thoughts are rather tainted by the previews.

Elemental - this would include draconic bloodlines too, wizard/druid spells
Fey - positive energy, buffs, emotional manipulation, druid/bard spells
Shadow - negative energy and deception, undead bent - wizard spells
Astral - belief as reality, those of fiendish or celestial bent - wizard spells
Chaos - as you have it, I might call it Balance - wizard spells

The term astral might be strange, but I see it as being infused with the ability to make ones belief a reality. These thoughts come from Planescape, where locales on the Great Wheel could shift to the heavens, hells, or elsewhere if enough people believed or acted a certain way. No matter what the origin, an astral touched individual chooses their destiny - their actions shape their powers. They become what they believe in.

Your idea for major powers I'd call "adaptations" - the ability to adapt the raw magic inherent to ones being to a specific powerful shape. These would be powerful spells. The minor powers would be "augmentations", things that subtlety change their appearance, and grant a minor power. As well as this gift, depending on the powers they choose their blast or shield gains additional options. I'm thinking there would be few of these, but you could take a single one multiple times to get additional benefits. The gift would be useable a number of times per day equal to ones Charisma modifier + half class level.

For example, a fey blooded sorcerer has this as one of their augmentation options:

Life Burst
You can heal with a touch a number of hit points equal to 1d6 + 3. Each time you choose this power, the number of hit points healed increases by 1d6 + 3 (so 2d6+6 pr 3d6+9).
- Blast Augmentation: You can augment your blasts with positive energy. They do an additional d6 damage to undead and creatures similarly injured by positive energy, but do not grant any healing. Each time this augmentation is chosen, an additional d6 damage is dealt.
- Shield Augmentation: Your shield bolsters your life force. You gain a +2 bonus to Fortitude saves if this augmentation is active. Each time this augmentation is chosen, an additional +2 bonus to Fortitude saves is granted.

So you could at 11th level have Life Burst (Blast 2, Shield 2), and you'd heal 4d6+12 per touch, deal an extra 2d6 damage to undead, and gain a +4 to Fortitude saves. or you could put it all in Blast, dealing an extra 4d6 to undead, or all in Shield for a total of +8 to Fortitude saves.

In addition, at 10 and 20th level, a thematic boost would be granted depending on bloodline.

The progression could go something like this:

1 Eldritch Blast, Shield, 1 adaptation 1/day, first augmentation
2
3 augmentation
4
5 2 adaptations
6
7 augmentation
8
9 3 adaptations 2/day
10 Living Conduit
11 augmentation
12
13 4 adaptations
14
15 augmentation
16
17 5 adaptations 3/day
18
19 augmentation
20 Transcendence

 

[Kerrick]

Another way to look at the classes is via the specialist classes like Warmage, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, etc. to create individual classes based upon a major theme. Circle Magic Sorcerers (abjuration), Animators, Artificers, Summoners, etc could all be crafted with their very own subtle variations and seemingly unrelated abilities.... like the way Beguilers are rather roguish in more ways than just spell lists... and Warmages might wear armor and wield a martial weapon, etc.

What you're suggesting is more along the lines of specialist wizards who gain extra abilities based on the specialty. It's an intriguing idea, to be sure... maybe once I finish the sorcerer thing up, I'll go back to wizards and take a look at that too. I've already got a Summoner PrC - I don't think it'd be hard to adapt that to a normal Conjurer specialist.

The term astral might be strange, but I see it as being infused with the ability to make ones belief a reality. These thoughts come from Planescape, where locales on the Great Wheel could shift to the heavens, hells, or elsewhere if enough people believed or acted a certain way. No matter what the origin, an astral touched individual chooses their destiny - their actions shape their powers. They become what they believe in.

Hmm.. what kind of spells would they cast? I mean, besides "wizard" spells - as I said in the first post, they'd have a limited list of thematic spells to choose from.

I told a friend about this, and he wants me to make him a fiend-blooded sorcerer for his Friday night game (CR 6, so nothing major, thankfully), so I'll be keeping those for the time being.

Your idea for major powers I'd call "adaptations" - the ability to adapt the raw magic inherent to ones being to a specific powerful shape. These would be powerful spells. The minor powers would be "augmentations", things that subtlety change their appearance, and grant a minor power.

The idea for minor powers is a good one... I was thinking something along the lines of performing a small ritual to further tap into your heritage (bloodline) and gaining small benefits (stat bonuses, minor SLAs, or bonuses to spells - a fey, frex, would have a bonus to charm/illusion spell DCs). Your thinking on both points pretty well parallels mine here.

For example, a fey blooded sorcerer has this as one of their augmentation options:

That's pretty much what I was thinking - give them augmentations at, say, 1 and 10, and adaptations at 5 and 15. I was going to scale the powers with level (this is only a partial example):

Hellfire (Su): At 1st level, a fiend-blooded sorcerer can infuse herself with hellfire, which manifests as red-orange flames tinged with blackness. She can unleash it immediately as a bolt of energy, or she can make a touch attack, infusing a creature or object with the hellfire and causing it to burst into flame.

At 1st level, the bolt is similar to an arrow; the sorcerer can make a ranged touch attack against a target within 30 feet to deal 1d8 damage.

At 5th level, the bolt is larger (about 1 inch in diameter); the sorcerer can make a ranged touch attack against a target within 50 feet to deal 2d6 damage.

At 10th level, the bolt is 1 foot wide and 40 feet long. All creatures in the area of effect must make Reflex saves or suffer 2d8 points of damage.


Giving them the option to choose power-ups instead might work better - I was considering it last night at work, running things through my head. The downside is that if you choose it at a higher level, it's not as effective, but the upside is that you couldn't just take it at, say, L15 and get a super-powerful effect. I also want to work in some base sorcerer abilities that all sorcerers get, regardless of bloodline - sense magic, arcane sight (at higher level), and maybe another. Great ideas overall, though. Thanks a lot for the input.

 

[smootrk]

Actually all the above mentioned specialists (Beguiler, Warmage, Dread Necromancer) are all spontaneous casters, mechanically much closer to sorcerers than they are to the wizard class.

 

[Jack Simth]

I've always thought that sorcerer needed to be something other than "a wizard who can spontaneously cast arcane spells". I loved the idea of being able to channel raw magical power, rather than taming it through the use of rituals and signs, or drawing it from a deity. I've long held a thing for the elements; I've made a couple PrCs that are designed for sorcerers that can channel raw elemental energy, but that wasn't enough. So, last year I sat down and remade the sorcerer - I cut down the spell list to refine its role as a blaster mage, and gave it some extra elemental abilities - an elemental bolt, a shield, and a few other goodies. We (our group) also ruled that sorcerers in our campaign world are more susceptible to arcane burn than wizards, due to their method of weilding arcane energy.

Let's see... reduced options to focus it on one of the less effective things a Full caster can do, added a few things (presumably that also fit in line with that), and made them more susceptible to a fairly bad thing. Are you weakening other full casters similarly? The Sorcerer is already below the Full Caster power curve (due to long-term flexibility issues) and almost everything you listed is about weakening the class. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - the Sorcerer is the least of the core Full Casters, but at the same time the core Full Casters are more "powerful" than the non-casters - but unless you're doing similar things to the Wizard, Cleric, and Druid (or those unmentioned boosts you list are REALLY nice), if I'm interested in mechanical character power, I'm not going to touch your house-ruled Sorcerer, listed above, where I might in a standard campaign.

And there it sat. Now, after seeing some of the 4E bits, I started thinking again. The sorcerer still isn't quite where I'd like it to be - a class completely divorced from the "spontaneous arcane spellcaster" archetype. The sorcerer should have a role and origins that are completely unique, and I think I've found a way to do it. Ironically, it takes a couple things that I never really liked: the warlock and bloodlines.

Now, I've never liked the warlock. I think it's a one-trick pony that would be better served as a (sorcerer) PrC. But, for my purposes, I'm more than happy to scavenge a few concepts from it - namely, the offensive (eldritch bolt) and defensive (shield) powers (Oh yeah, I've already got those. Silly me.).

Bloodlines always struck me as odd - I didn't really care where my sorcerer's magic came from, just that he has it. I hated the implications that all sorcerers get their magic from draconic blood, too. In our world, humans carry the spark of Chaos (it comes from slaying the Elder Gods), so they're just as likely to have sorcery from that as they are from draconic blood, or fey blood, or whatever. As I was turning things over in my head recently, though, I realized that bloodlines could be useful for defining the sorcerer as its own class.

So. What I've got now is a class that can draw upon the Weave (or the Vortex, the Web, the Source, or whatever you call the source of magic) and shape it, through sheer force of will, to do what he wants. Oftentimes, the end result is still chaotic and unrefined - they're more likely to blast a door down with an energy bolt than open it with a knock spell - but no less spectacular than a wizard's, or a cleric's, or a druid's spell.

Sorcerers can learn some spells, though it is difficult for them to focus their thoughts into patterns of words and gestures and use those to control the magic. A major change here is that the type of blood that flows through your veins determines what kind of magics you can use - for example, a fey-blooded sorcerer can learn some druidic and ranger spells; a celestial- or fiend-blooded sorcerer can learn some clerical prayers; etc. The spells they are capable of learning would be chosen from a limited list. This would comprise about half of their power base.

The other half would be innate abilities - like I mentioned above, offensive, defensive, and miscellaneous powers, usable a set number of times per day. I'm thinking of possibly doing major and minor powers (though they wouldn't be labeled as such), with different uses/day of each - so you'd gain a major power at L1 and L10, and they'd be usable 3/day, and minor powers at 5 and 15, usable 3+Cha/day. Or something. In any case, they would likely scale with level. Major powers would be most closely tied to the bloodline - fey, for example, could use a charm power, while fiends would have the ability to call upon demonic allies. Lesser powers would be tied to the source of the power - ley energy, godly power, infernal might, elemental energy (while a draconic bloodline could be doable, I think they gain their power from the elements, which accounts for their breath weapons), or simply Chaos (for those who don't wish to be constrained to a bloodline). Also, the sorcerer would gain additional minor abilities depending on his bloodline, which would manifest as minor physical changes as he gains levels (or, alternately, that he could "unlock" via rituals at certain points - I'm leaning toward the latter, so that the player can choose whether or not he wants his sorcerer to be identifiable as fey-blood or elemental-blood or whatever in exchange for increased power. I realize that unlocking powers is kind of metagamey, but I value choice and flexibility over simply being assigned abilities). By 20th level, a sorcerer who has undergone all the changes would be akin to a half-whatever (like a Dragon Disciple, but without as much power) - he would have aspects of the alternate bloodline, but still be recognizable as a member of his base race.

So what I'm looking at here are 6 bloodlines: Fey, celestial, Chaos, draconic, elemental, and fiendish. As I said before, the bloodline affects what kind of magic you can channel and learn:

Fey: Ley energy, druid spells
Celestial: Godly might, cleric/paladin spells (mostly healing, light, summoning, and turning undead - no negative energy)
Chaos: Pure magical energy; wizard spells
Draconic: Elemental energy; wizard spells
Elemental: Elemental energy; druid (energy only)/wizard spells
Fiendish: Godly (infernal) might; cleric/wizard spells (more focused toward inflicting wounds, evil spells, and summoning).

Yes, some sorcerers will be able to cast healing spells. Cure wounds is, essentially, just channeling positive energy, and let's face it - clerics could use some help, eh? Sorcerers as a whole will have fewer spells/day and spells known to reflect the cut-down list of available spells - I'm thinking something akin to what wizards get.

Now, to balance all this cool stuff out, sorcerers have a major drawback - channeling raw magical energy is dangerous. Using greater and lesser powers (firing off a bolt of hellfire, for instance) is relatively harmless, as you're not attempting to shape or constrain the energy, but casting a spell is - as mentioned before, sorcerers aren't used to using forms and gestures to control the energy, which means there's a chance of something going wrong. If it does, the magic goes awry, which results in magical backlash (aka arcane burn).


This is a hugely ambitious project, which is why I'm doing up a concept first - to see if people would be interested, and if they could add some input. Sorcerers have been one of my favorite classes since their inception, so chances are I'll do something with this in any case, but additional input is always welcome.

It's an interesting concept, but balancing out extra nifties with dangerous drawbacks doesn't really work. Even ignoring that, though, what you're doing is straightjacketing them into a highly specific, non-optimal role (blaster) and saying "well, you CAN branch outside of this, but you're risking death or serious injury every time you do...." which isn't a good thing.

 

[adamda]

Great ideas overall, though. Thanks a lot for the input.

Glad to brainstorm with ya!

As for the astral concept, it wasn't a really fleshed out idea, just something in me trying to be different from the warlock/tiefling combo. It's really hard to stat out a class that can constantly shift based on your actions and motives.

As much as I would prefer not to, I agree with Jack Smith on the drawback thing not being the best idea to balance things out. Great in concept, but really hard to pull off. Might just be something best roleplayed without much mechanical effect.

I like the idea of a a bloodline having a certain effect across the board, even though I am a customization lover. I'd shy away from stat bonuses and SLAs though. In a way it would be better to have custom abilities instead of use existing spells - otherwise, you're not that different from a flavored wizard.

One thing that might set them apart would be having each bloodline be able to make a minor connection with their plane of origin. A keystone ability each fey blooded sorcerer could have would be to once a day open a conduit to the Feywild (or whatever you call it) that stems from their body. It would grant one of the following benefits depending on your emotional state - fast healing to all allies, a minor version of rage to all allies, or a movement bonus to all allies. The infernal sorcerer could open a connection with the hells or the abyss - dealing damage to nearby enemies, providing attack penalties to nearby enemies, or granting darkvision to all allies.

I just like the idea of miniature portal to Hell opening up in someone's chest - it doesn't allow transportation of creatures, but it brings qualities of the plane to your current location. And it gives me a nice visual.

It would mean that different bloodlines would need some differentiation. Now instead of elemental, maybe the air bloodline creates a wind wall, a cold bloodline creates a slowing effect. In this way it might be these are the bloodlines:

Fey
Celestial
Chaos
Cold
Lightning
Acid
Fire
Fiendish
Air
Earth
Water
Shadow

Would be better to consolidate though...

 

[Bladesong]

I've always thought that sorcerer needed to be something other than "a wizard who can spontaneously cast arcane spells". I loved the idea of being able to channel raw magical power, rather than taming it through the use of rituals and signs, or drawing it from a deity. . The sorcerer still isn't quite where I'd like it to be - a class completely divorced from the "spontaneous arcane spellcaster" archetype. The sorcerer should have a role and origins that are completely unique...

Yeah, had that thought from day 1 myself. The warlock should have been the sorcerer, but I do not like the whole evil/pact concept. I have been trying to adjust my sorcerer around powers rather than spells period, and had been working the bloodline angle as well.

You have, however, given me another thought. I'm thinking that this base class taps directly into the source of magic...something like spellfire, and they can manipulate it in a number of various ways. Now in way of background for the class, they could still have had some magical race in their family tree that acts as the catalyst for the connection to the source, but because they are not actually fiend, celestial, elemental or what have you, they have to learn to channel its use. So their powers grow as they do (i.e. levels).

I like it...this way there is no tie to good or evil, and their choice of ancestor is just for background flavor.

The warlock progression is still a good place to start but the powers can protect, harm, heal, illuminate, blink or dimension door, levitate perhaps, detect...hmm, I really need to try this out!

Thanks!

 

[Kerrick]

Let's see... reduced options to focus it on one of the less effective things a Full caster can do, added a few things (presumably that also fit in line with that), and made them more susceptible to a fairly bad thing.

"focus on focus it on one of the less effective things a Full caster can do" <-- huh?

I'm not going with the full version of arcane burn (and I might even take it out entirely) - sorcerers would only take damage, not suffer the risk of spell slot loss.

I'm curious: what did you think of the warlock as a class?

Even ignoring that, though, what you're doing is straightjacketing them into a highly specific, non-optimal role (blaster) and saying "well, you CAN branch outside of this, but you're risking death or serious injury every time you do...." which isn't a good thing.

That IS their role - blaster mage. The lack of versatility you cite above already pretty well strait-jackets them into that role; if you want to play a utility mage, you play a wizard. If you want someone who can pour out a whole lot of firepower, you play a sorcerer. That's why lots of groups have that house rule that gives sorcerers bonus metamagic feats - it fits them.

What the bloodlines will do, though, is provide some variety from the "blaster mage" archetype. A fey line, for instance, is more focused on illusions and enchantments, with some healing tossed in. A fiend line is about summoning, evil spells, and fiery death; elementals are closest to the core. The point is that while they have a limited range of abilities, they are VERY good at what they do.

As for the astral concept, it wasn't a really fleshed out idea, just something in me trying to be different from the warlock/tiefling combo. It's really hard to stat out a class that can constantly shift based on your actions and motives.

Ah. I'm thinking the Chaos line would be the "base" sorcerer - they get bonus metamagic feats as their "bloodline" abilities, as Chaos allows them to twist and alter magic in strange ways.

I like the idea of a a bloodline having a certain effect across the board, even though I am a customization lover. I'd shy away from stat bonuses and SLAs though. In a way it would be better to have custom abilities instead of use existing spells - otherwise, you're not that different from a flavored wizard.

Minor stat bonuses wouldn't be bad, I think - a couple +1s, nothing major. But yeah, good point about the SLAs.

One thing that might set them apart would be having each bloodline be able to make a minor connection with their plane of origin.

One of the major abilities I've got for the fiend bloodline is summoning a fiendish creature (or a full fiend) from the summon monster tables.

It would mean that different bloodlines would need some differentiation. Now instead of elemental, maybe the air bloodline creates a wind wall, a cold bloodline creates a slowing effect.

"Elemental" will be split up into its parts - I just listed that as one bloodline for simplicity's sake. A fire-blooded sorcerer, for instance, will gain the ability to set things alight, while a water-blooded will be able to swim and breathe underwater, and an air-blooded can fly for short durations.

I'm thinking that this base class taps directly into the source of magic...something like spellfire, and they can manipulate it in a number of various ways. Now in way of background for the class, they could still have had some magical race in their family tree that acts as the catalyst for the connection to the source, but because they are not actually fiend, celestial, elemental or what have you, they have to learn to channel its use. So their powers grow as they do (i.e. levels).

That's exactly it - they gain their ability through a gene passed down from a distant ancestor, or from magical influence (elemental bloodlines), or simply by random chance (Chaos), and the (major) powers are scaled with level.

 

[Jack Simth]

"focus on focus it on one of the less effective things a Full caster can do" <-- huh?

A generic Wizard N's base spells-per-day matches up almost perfectly with a Sorcerer N+1's spells known for most values of N between about 2 and 19. Played well, a Sorcerer's Spells Known looks almost exactly like a well-played Wizard's spells prepared when the Wizard doesn't know what he'll be facing that day. A Sorcerer is only slightly less of a batman than the wizard is, as the Sorcerer can't (Core) switch out spells known on a daily basis (outside core, there's a few ways to get around that limit). It looks like every Sorcerer you've seen in play was a blaster, which isn't the most effective thing you can do in 3.5. Don't get me wrong, blasting can be fun (especially with a DM that provides the proper opportunities to show it off) but there's lots more effective things to be doing (Combat Control, buffing, Debuffing, and Save-or-lose spam is what you want if you're after an effective use of a turn for an Arcanist).

Or to put it another way - A Sorcerer-12 with Planar Binding, Dismissal, Dimensional Anchor, and an appropriate Magic Circle Against [Alignment] or two can Call three 12 HD elementals or outsiders a day (or six 6 HD elementals or outsiders, or nine 4 HD elementals or Outsiders), and bind them to the task of a bodygaurd for 12 days each. It's pretty easy to grab CR 10 critters (and, with party support, it's pretty easy to dispatch them when you lose at the bargaining table) that'll do very well as meatshields, or ranged attackers, or grapplers, or... whatever you need, really. Up against something with a good AC? Call a Grappler, or maybe something with some nice at-will Zappy powers. Up against something with a good Reflex save? Bring some heavy-hitters to the table. Need tracking? Call one of the assorted extraplanar Hounds. There's very few tasks you can't fit with the right Outsider.

Take a look at the Sorcerer-12 that takes Heighten Spell, Flesh to Stone (Fort save or lose), Magic Jar (Will save or lose - cast it on the familiar so that it can do the pushing), Resilient Sphere (Reflex save or wait until the party is fully prepared) and Wall of Force (no save, no SR, wait for a while spell). There's very few opponents he can't stop so that the party fighter can have a lesurly time swatting them with reach weapons, or giving the Cleric time to cheaply heal the meatshield back up. Hey - he can even deal with incorporeal critters (Resilient Sphere is a Force effect) and if he's met with a crowd, he can Resilient Sphere himself and laugh at them while he thinks of something better to do. If he has someone carry a bunch of snails (target for Resilient Sphere) he can even block corridors very effectively for a long time.

Now compare the Sorcerer that went with blasting spells - Chain Lightning, Cone of Cold, Ice Storm, and Fireball. Okay, yeah - he's ready for a nice set of opponents; there's very little that'll be immune to all three... oh, a high reflex save and Evasion? Sorry, my bad. Ignoring that... what do you mean, he's got Spell Resistence? A GOLEM! ... or even just something with high hit points, really - direct damage is one of the least useful things any arcanist can do.

Okay, when you want a flying invisible artillary platform, the Sorcerer can do that rather nicely. So can a Wizard (wands and staves of blasty spells). There are, however, much more effective things you can be doing with your spells known.

I'm not going with the full version of arcane burn (and I might even take it out entirely) - sorcerers would only take damage, not suffer the risk of spell slot loss.

I'm curious: what did you think of the warlock as a class?

Unless the DM plays to it's strengths (lots of mooks, endurance runs, and/or down-time to play a craft-monkey) the Warlock is one of the weaker classes in the game.

That IS their role - blaster mage. The lack of versatility you cite above already pretty well strait-jackets them into that role; if you want to play a utility mage, you play a wizard. If you want someone who can pour out a whole lot of firepower, you play a sorcerer. That's why lots of groups have that house rule that gives sorcerers bonus metamagic feats - it fits them.

No. Someone who wants to play a blaster plays a Sorcerer because Sorcerers are slightly better at blasting than Wizards - anyone doing this is not doing it to be effective. A Sorcerer can actually batman rather effectively if built that way - just not as effectively as the Wizard. Sort of like how a Cleric isn't a heal-bot in 3.5; although they can fill that role, and are generally the most effective at filling that role, playing a heal-bot is not the most effective thing you can do with a Cleric.

What the bloodlines will do, though, is provide some variety from the "blaster mage" archetype. A fey line, for instance, is more focused on illusions and enchantments, with some healing tossed in. A fiend line is about summoning, evil spells, and fiery death; elementals are closest to the core. The point is that while they have a limited range of abilities, they are VERY good at what they do.

I'd need to see the result to be sure, but in general, overspecialization (which is what you appear to be going for) is a bad thing; you're either owning an encounter or sitting on the sidelines; it gets rather binary.