Best race for sorcerer?

[CronoDekar]

I like the concept of halfling sorcerer with riding dog to compensate for movement and carrying capacity. You can put some ranks into ride so you can make the ride check to replace your mount's AC.

Fortunately since it's Eberron, you can have the halfing ride a dinosaur instead. That could be really fun, riding around on a clawfoot or fastieth flinging down spells.

It doesn't seem like there's too many "bad" races for sorcerers out there, since as long as they don't have a cha penalty then they should be fine. I'm a big fan of the gnome as a sorcerer, but if you want to take the draconic feats then a human would probably be better. Kobolds as mentioned could also be fun, particularly if you use the fluff in their Dragonshards article.

 

[JimAde]

I second the Elf suggestion, actually. A longbow and high dex mean you can be useful when your spells are gone (which is pretty darn soon at 1st level). A high-dex 1st-level sorcerer has a better modifier with a bow than a low-dex 1st-level fighter.

 

[kenobi65]

I agree that a halfling could work well. As Gnome originally points out, the bonuses for halflings all seem to be helpful for a sorcerer, and the penalties probably won't come up that often.

 

[rgutzmer]

Aasimar.

It's in one of the Forgotten Realms books, PGtF pages 190-191, but there is a "lesser" Aasimar with a +0 ECL.

it's exactly like regular Aasimar, except your type doesn't change to Outsider(native), instead you are a Humanoid(planetouched) and are susceptible to all spells that affect either humanoids or good outsiders.

 

[Shieldhaven]

If you have access to books like Races of Eberron and Magic of Eberron, look at some of the race-specific and dragonmark-specific spells, magic items, and prestige classes. See if any of these really get you going.

Haven

 

[Legildur]

I like the concept of halfling sorcerer with riding dog to compensate for movement and carrying capacity. You can put some ranks into ride so you can make the ride check to replace your mount's AC.

Except that you need the Mounted Combat feat to be able to do that.....

As for races, if you were intending to play a sorceror who'll focus on ray type spells, then you could do worse than a halfling. The +1 attack bonus from being size small and the additional +1 ranged attack bonus from the +2 racial adjustment to Dex will make a difference. Some people will argue that since touch attacks are so easy to make then that isn't a consideration to really worry about, but when shooting into melee at a creature (possibly with cover as well) the additional bonuses start to add up!

 

[Plane Sailing]

Eberron is such a rich campaign world, I wouldn't be so concerned about the mechanical issues surrounding a choice as against what would be fun PC to play.

I love the idea of an Aerenal Elf Necromancer (or sorcerer who specialises in necromantic spells), a fire using sorcerer from Thrane who intends to become a Silver Flame Pyromancer (from Five Nations), an Aundairen sorcerer who couldn't gain access to The Twelve but is still aiming to become a member of the Phantom Knights, A dragonmarked half-elf from House Lyrandar who is a startlingly good sorcerer-diplomat who eventually can fly sky-galleons...

So many character concepts, so little time!

(I even quite like the idea of a warforged sorcerer. I'd call him "artillery platform one")

Cheers

 

[MadMaxim]

I think even an ordinary gnome would make for a good sorcerer. By the way, whisper gnomes get a -2 racial adjustment on their Charisma, so they might not be the best, although the rest of their abilities rock!

 

[Findlefarb]

I am of the opinion that gnomes are the best spellcasters for pure spellcasting, and are great for sorcerers.

First, for the reasons already pointed out: Small size is great for spellcasters. They typically don't need to carry much or do much damage with weapons. However, they're +1 AC, +1 to hit, and +4 Hide--all useful advatages for any spellcaster.

-2 Strength isn't much of a drawback, for the same reasons it's not a problem on a Small character. Halflings get this penalty, too, so if you're small, it doesn't really matter.

Gnomes don't get the +2 Dex that halflings do--so they don't get an additional +1 AC and +1 to hit (rays and touch attacks with Weapon Finesse, I'm thinking). Then again, there are plenty of spells to choose from that don't require pluses to hit: Magic Missile, Sleep, Color Spray at low levels, Fireball and Lightning Bolt at higher levels, and so forth. And that's just the offensive magic. Gnomes also get something that's arguably much better: +2 Con. That's +1 HP per level, which means you'll have at least 25% more hit points than the average sorcerer. If you average 2.5 HP per level (average roll of 1d4) then you're gaining 40% more hit points than other sorcerers. I once played a gnome spellcaster with a 16 Con--The average roll on 1d4+3 is 5.5, which is equivalent to 1d10 (okay, 1d8 and 12 Con...)! I was just as tough as everyone else but the tanks--and tougher than some. +2 Con also gets you +1 to Fortitude saves, and +1 to Concentration checks.

Furthermore, the Illusion save bonuses are nice. It's great for shadow magic and Color Spray, of course, but depending on how creative you're feeling, regular illusions can be very game dominating. Bonuses to Alchemy are excellent.

The piece that seals it for me, though, are the extra spells. A gnome sorcerer has their own level-0 spells, and Dancing Lights, Ghost Sound, Speak with Animals, and above all, Prestidigitation. Once again, creativity can make all these spells very useful in lots of situations. Intimidating and bluffing become easy when you're tossing lights, images, and sounds in all sorts of directions.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Consider the Kalashtar (if you & your DM like Psionics, that is). They're a naturally psionic race, so your PC will start off almost ready to qualify for certain Psionic PrCls, like the Pyrokineticist. They also have the Mindlink power, which could be useful if you have access to divination abilities- why tell someone what's behind the door when you can SHOW them what you've seen?

The Shifter, while having a Cha penalty, also have all kinds of traits that a sorcerer could find useful, like Beasthide (+2 Con & AC bonus) and Longstride (+2Dex, +10' movemendt).