alt.Sorcerer... drastic

In my observation, the sorcerer overlaps too much with a wizard, and I decided I wanted to modify one of the two sufficiently that it no longer overlapped as much. And since the wizard is a staple, I went with the sorcerer.

So... the following is a radical change from the normal sorcerer. It redefines the sorcerer to be something else entirely - a battle mage, capable of pumping out spells with raw talent rather than horded magical skill. This WON'T be for everyone, and I realize that... I am looking for comments on how well balanced it is, not whether or not folks like the flavor.

The balance points, roughly, are:
+ better HD
+ light armor
+ words of power
+ access to other spell lists
- words of power (no silent spells)
- no familiar
- access to non-specialized school very limited

So please let me know what you think.

Sorcerer
Special thanks to (alphabetical) Capellan, Cheiromancer, DerianCypher, DreamChaser, Endur, Galethorn, handforged, IndyPendant, Mike Sullivan, Plane Sailing, Talix, Technik4, and willpax for their commentary and critiques.

BAB: As Wizard.
Saves: Good Will.
Spells per Day: As original Sorcerer.
Special: Words of Power (eschew components at 1st level, still spell at 5th level); Powerful Voice (10th, 15th and 20th level).

Alignment: Any.
HD: d6.
Skill Points: 4 + INT bonus, x4 at 1st level.

Class Skills: The sorcerer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Profession (Int), Scry (Int, exclusive skill), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Sorcerers are proficient with all simple weapons. They are proficient with light armor, but not with shields. Sorcerers are not affected by the arcane spell failure rules for armor.

Words of Power: Sorcerers cast spells with words of power and force of will, rather than arcane formulae and arcane gestures. All spells require a verbal component, and sorcerers gain no benefit from silent spell (but see the persistent word feat for casting in silence zones).

Sorcerers can ignore material components that cost less than 1 GP; this is as the eschew components feat, and does not add to the level of the spell. Material components which cost more than 1 GP, and XP costs, must still be paid normally.

At 5th level, sorcerers can ignore somatic components; this is as the still spell feat, and does not add to the level of the spell.

Powerful Voice: At 10th level, once per day, the sorcerer may cast a spell as if it were maximized. This does not increase the casting time or level of the spell. At 15th level, the sorcerer may do this twice per day; and at 20th level, the sorcerer may do this three times per day.

Spells: A sorcerer casts arcane spells. A sorcerer is limited to casting a certain number of spells of each level per day, but he need not prepare his spells in advance. The number of spells he can cast per day is improved by his bonus spells from CHA, if any. A sorcerer may use a higher-level slot to cast a lower-level spell if he so chooses. The spell is still treated as its actual level, not the level of the slot used to cast it.

A sorcerer knows 6 spells at 1st level. Each level thereafter, he may choose two new spells to learn; these two spells may be of any level he can now cast. The number of spells a sorcerer knows is not affected by his Charisma bonus. To learn or cast a spell, a sorcerer must have a Charisma score of at least 10 + the spell's level.

At 1st level as a sorcerer, the player must choose a school of magic and opposition school(s) as if she were a specialist wizard. The sorcerer may not learn spells from the opposition school(s), and all schools other than the one chosen are learned and cast as if the sorcerer had one less sorcerer level (at 1st level, the sorcerer can only learn cantrips from other schools). There is no specialist benefit for the sorcerer.

Aside from these limitations, a sorcerer may learn spells from the basic cleric list, druid list and sorcerer/wizard list without restriction. This does not include the bard, cleric domain, paladin or ranger spell lists. All spells learned by a sorcerer are treated as arcane, regardless of their source.

The Difficulty Class for saving throws against sorcerer spells is 10 + the spell's level + the sorcerer's Charisma modifier.

Metamagic and Spells: A sorcerer utilizing metamagic increases the casting time to one full round; if the spell normally takes a full round or more, the sorcerer adds one full round to the normal casting time. There are two exceptions: the word of power class ability does not increase the casting time of spells; and the quicken spell metamagic feat does not increase the casting time (and in fact decreases it).

It seems balanced to me, and very nice at that

I would add spellcraft and perform to their skill list (although spellcraft may operate with a penalty, perhaps not able to identify a spell as it is being cast unless there is a verbal component?). Read Lips also strikes me as something this class might try to do.

If you plan on using the ELH it is almost necessary to give every spellcasting class a knowledge (arcane) or knowledge (religion) skill, along with spellcraft in order to learn and cast epic spells.

Overall, I like it, it seems like a spell-heavy bard (which might have been what you were going for). I don't really understand the material component more than 1 gp restriction, nor why Eschew Components doesnt come before 10th.

My suggestion would be all spells stilled at 1st level, at 5th and every 5 levels afterwards, bonus feat. Bonus feats are more than just power added to a class, they discourage (or counterbalance) adding a prestige class and allow for greater customized characters.

Appropriate bonus feats would be metamagic feats, eschew materials, and the spell focus and greater spell focus feats.

Technik

DerianCypher: Thanks for the kind words .

Technik4: Good point on spellcraft and knowledge. I didn't think about the ELH aspect .

Ah well, bowing to the demands of the system...

It's more like a words of power and force of personality spell caster, which bards tend to mimic . The real design goal, however, is an armored battle wizard throwing fireballs from ramparts or signalling a charge for his followers .

Hm... the only problem with the "every 5 levels" is that it makes the class a little too strong. The PrC problem is a problem with sorcerers as is, and I'm not sure how to solve it.

I like this class. I think its main use would be in multiclass combination with fighters to create a kind of spellsword class. If that intuition is correct, then you might measure its power against some of the variant classes that try to fill that archetype.

willpax: Most of the spellsword classes I'm familiar with blend magic into melee combat; this class is designed more to be hardy in combat (light armor, hit points), but not really designed to dish it out with a weapon. Still, a ftr/sor combination would probably do decently well in combat if he focused on buffing and melee spells.

As for balancing against variant classes... I'm not sure there's much benefit for the extra work there, especially since I would first have to make sure the variant class was balanced against the core rules . That's a never ending battle, it seems to me .

Side note: The best advantage this sorcerer has as an adventerer is the ability to fulfill specific niche roles a party lacks - for example, if you're missing a cleric, a sorcerer with one or two cure spells is a godsend; if you have a wizard who wants to focus on divinations and teleports and whatnot, a sorcerer with fireball is similarly well loved. And at higher levels, the sorcerer can fulfill more than a few of these small, niche roles, freeing up the other spell casters in the party to go after broader goals.

In wartime, of course, the sorcerer is the spell caster of choice for front line damage

I like what you did with spells known. comes out to basically the same number but it is easier to remember. no chart checking. but you should make it a requirement that they know at least as many spells of a lower level as of any higher level.

DC

DreamChaser: Thanks . Actually, it ends up being a bit low in the mid-levels, where a sorcerer gets between 3 and 4 new spells per level, but balances back out at the high levels (where 1 new spell per level is more typical). It also allows the player to make some unusual strategic choices, which I favor .

Edit: Response to your edit . At most, a sorcerer will know 4 spells of their highest level before they get a new highest level. A sorcerer who took nothing but their highest spells would look like this: 0/10/4/4/4/4/etc. And there's no real imbalance in something like 3/7/4/6/2. So I'd rather just leave the option open.

I actually worked it out and your right it doesn't really come up until 20th level. The sorcerer could have 6 9th level spells with only 4 or 5 of ever other level. It isn't a huge deal but saying that they can have more in any level than they have in the level below keeps that at 5 for 0 and 1, and 4 for all others until level 20 when they could add a 5th in 2nd and 3rd.

And it prevents them having 1 0 level and 5 1st level at level 1 (or 0 and 6).

Just my thoughts.

DC

DreamChaser: I appreciate it! You're making me think harder about it, and that's good .

There's already a self-limiting aspect to the level-1 spells. The sorcerer, as written, can know up to 5 level-1 spells at 1st level. However, note that all of those spells must be from the same school.

While that's not terribly limiting, it does mean that the advantage of having more than 2-3 options is lessened somewhat. And most sorcerers I know like to be able to use their 0-level slots for last ditch rays of frost and special effects with prestidigitation. That cuts two right there .

In all, I don't think it would unbalance anything, and if it gives a bit of an edge at the low levels, it pretty much balances out later on. At 20th level, of course, the sorcerer can potentially know 6 level-9 spells... but I don't think that will be too terrible.