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The prestige class Dragon Disciple has the feature Blood of Dragons, which states:

A dragon disciple adds his level to his sorcerer levels when determining the powers gained from his bloodline.

This specifically states Sorcerer levels; however, in a 2015 FAQ, Paizo said:

...dragon disciple's blood of dragons ability should also increase draconic bloodragers’ bloodline powers.

Now, the Blood Arcanist archetype grants the Arcanist a Sorcerer bloodline, saying:

A blood arcanist selects one bloodline from those available through the sorcerer bloodline class feature. The blood arcanist gains the bloodline arcana and bloodline powers of that bloodline, treating her arcanist level as her sorcerer level.

Emphasis mine.

By the same logic that a Bloodrager is intended to be able to progress their bloodline, would the Dragon Disciple be able to progress a Blood Arcanist's bloodline?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Is this a purely technical issue, or is there also a balance issue? \$\endgroup\$
    – Hey I Can Chan
    Commented Mar 21, 2022 at 13:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ @HeyICanChan I do not think there is a balance issue in this question, I'm curious about the technical aspect, that being what the rules as written/intended of this combination are. \$\endgroup\$
    – Hikari
    Commented Mar 21, 2022 at 13:30

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Adding levels together is the only way to make Dragon Disciple's Blood of Dragons and Blood Arcanist's Bloodline features.

Blood of Dragons says:

If the dragon disciple does not have levels of sorcerer, he instead gains bloodline powers of the draconic bloodline, using his dragon disciple level as his sorcerer level to determine the bonuses gained.

This clearly assumes that if you don't have a Sorcerer levels, you don't have a bloodline. In case of Blood Arcanist, this is simply not true:

The blood arcanist gains the bloodline arcana and bloodline powers of that bloodline, treating her arcanist level as her sorcerer level.

Since both bloodlines must be the same bloodline, per Blood Arcanist rules, and levels in both classes are treated as sorcerer levels, then reading it as "you have bloodline powers of two 5th level Red Dragon Sorcerers" makes much less sense than "You have bloodline powers of 10th level Red Dragon Sorcerer".

I agree that rules should probably be clearer on that, but I believe that it is the only sensible way to read them.

For balance issues, I cannot think of there being any. Blood Arcanist has its benefits over Sorcerer, but with PrC it will lag behind with most important aspect, spellcasting, anyway. This combination will not allow you to get more effective Sorcerer levels that pure Sorcerer or Blood Arcanist would have, so from that perspective you're good to go, too.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I'd guess the lapse in wording is just related to when content was released; I believe Dragon Disciple was one of the first Prestige classes whereas Arcanist could have been added much (?)later. Future proofing isn't easy \$\endgroup\$
    – Ifusaso 'he-him'
    Commented Mar 21, 2022 at 19:46
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Ifusaso Yeah exactly, the Dragon Disciple was a holdover from 3.5 and was published for Pathfinder in 2009, when the only Bloodline user was the Sorcerer. The Arcanist and the Bloodrager came out in 2014 in the Advanced Class Guide. \$\endgroup\$
    – Hikari
    Commented Mar 21, 2022 at 21:23

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