Sorcerer Fix - Continued from "D&D Rules" (PART 4)

[Veritas]

Hmph... I've been working on my own variant of the sorcerer, but nothing to this magnitude.

I just gave them a form of natural Eschew Materials called "Blood Focus", that allows them to ignore spell components less than 100gp per level, and a different ability for scrolls called Transference. Transference allows the sorcerer to syphon off the magical energies held within scrolls in order to fuel their own magic. They cannot use scrolls the normal way, though, since they lack the arcane knowledge to use them. They can attempt to use them normally with the Use Magic Device skill though, which I added to their class list. It limits the sorcerer in their choice of spells, but it does make a bit more sense... to me anyways. heh.

I like the different lineages you've gone into detail about, though. I haven't had a chance to read it through thoroughly, but I've thought of this kind of thing myself, and I'm liking what I'm seeing with your version.

 

[Khaalis]

Thanks for the comments. A lot of people had input shaping the class that now exists and I think it is a very solid build. The core build allows for just about any type of "lineage" one could desire with the "Default/Unknown" lineage being zesty enough to make the sorcerer unique compared to the wizard.

Its not a style for everyone, obviously, but many people want to stick to the flavor text that sorcery is an inherited ability rather than a studied skill like wizardry. There are also those who feel that the sorcerer is fine as-is, but through experimentation and repeated attempts to play the sorcerer or run sorcerer players, I found that the sorcerer was vastly lacking in both class uniquness as well as in mechanical "power" compared to the other classes. Now that the XPH is out, my vision of what a sorcerer should have been is in all reality - the Psion. It comes across as actually being innate unlike the core sorcerer which ends up just being a poor imitation of a wizard - and in all reallity not much better than the NPC Adept.

Again, any further comments more than welcome. Its always a project 'in-the-works'.

 

[Veritas]

Yeah, I've never been satisfied with the core Sorcerer, right from its introduction in 3e, and the addition of Spell Swap in 3.5e wasn't much of a tweak.

I went much more for the innate-ability sorcerer and pulled it back from the learned-magic, as you said.

Oh, and I like your addition of Item Familiars into the class. I've been looking into using that ever since I picked up the UA. I was going to change all familiars over to the same rules as item familiars. So, the animal companion familiar wouldn't give any skill bonuses and such, it would give the abilities of an item familiar, storing XP, skillpoints and spellslots. However, I took familiars away from the sorcerer, and left them only for the wizard. Perhaps I should rethink that.

I'll definitely return any comments I have regarding what I see though.

And I finally picked up a copy of the XPH, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. I'll take a look at the Psion, now that you mention it. It'll give me some insight into what your thoughts are.

 

[Khaalis]

Any more comments on the Death-Touched Lineage?

 

[FoxWander]

Sorry not to respond sooner. It looks good to me. Glad I could contribute some to the project.

 

[Bihor]

I love the Lineage and will use it in my campaing.

The only one I think is missing is the Fairy lineage

 

[Khaalis]

I love the Lineage and will use it in my campaing.

The only one I think is missing is the Fairy lineage

Originally this was contained in the "Child of Nature" entry. Do you have an idea for something specifically more Fey?

 

[Khaalis]

UPDATE

SORCERER REVISION UPDATE 10.12

The Lineage Sorcerer has been updated with the Death-Touched Sorcerer Lineage.


The PDF version of the work-in-progress to date is located at:
http://home.rochester.rr.com/khaalisrealm/


Old versions available by request (due to website size limitations).
SORCERER REVISION UPDATES 4.04, 7.04 and 9.21

 

[Gustave Arcanus]

News From The Front

Hey, been a while.

Finally got a chance to do some playtesting, and it works pretty well. At least, the old version (9.-ish) did. The Mutable variant could be potentially unbalancing as it was written then, not sure if any changes have been made to it.

As the lineages themselves go, I've found that the Unknown Lineage is really pretty powerful late-game because of the ability to use low-cost metamagic for free almost as often as you'll ever need them. Heighten Spell is a wonderful pick for them. The Tarot ability to craft items, I feel, shouldn't have to wait 'til 20th level (if I read it right) if you pick up the abilities before then. Otherwise, one of my personal favorites is the Magical Family lineage, mostly because of the Archmage-ish abilities (not the least of which being Arcane Fire at epic levels) and complete freedom in choosing the Lineage Spells.

I look forward to seeing more input for this massive (and massively rewarding) project, as well as future projects involving the other character classes, the Fighter in peticular. Personally, I feel that their ability to pick almost any combat-oriented feat as a bonus every other level is good, but lacks a lot of flavor and eventual power. Too often I've seen (and heard people complain) about high-level Fighters that are forced to bow and beg to the Mages (both varieties, even the base versions) for their ability to wipe their existence from the multiverse with but a gesture and/or a few words. In the end, their versatility is at once their greatest asset and their greatest weakness.

But this is for another thread. Good gaming, all!

P.S.: Something that just popped to mind, the innate evolution only happens to 3rd-level and lower spells, and never to the 0-level one. How about some options (Mutable feature, feat, whatever) to allow the 0-level spell to evolve, or higher-level ones to do so?

 

[Khaalis]

Hey, been a while.

Hey Gustave - thanks for posting!

Finally got a chance to do some playtesting, and it works pretty well. At least, the old version (9.-ish) did. The Mutable variant could be potentially unbalancing as it was written then, not sure if any changes have been made to it.

What do you find as potentially unbalancing about the mutable ability at 2nd level? Some examples would be useful to see what you mean.

As the lineages themselves go, I've found that the Unknown Lineage is really pretty powerful late-game because of the ability to use low-cost metamagic for free almost as often as you'll ever need them. Heighten Spell is a wonderful pick for them. The Tarot ability to craft items, I feel, shouldn't have to wait 'til 20th level (if I read it right) if you pick up the abilities before then.

This is as designed actually. It is the same system as presented in the Unearthed Arcana and is meant to make the generic sorcerer (those not using lineages) be viable against the Wizard.

I look forward to seeing more input for this massive (and massively rewarding) project,

Thanks for the compliment.

as well as future projects involving the other character classes, the Fighter in peticular. Personally, I feel that their ability to pick almost any combat-oriented feat as a bonus every other level is good, but lacks a lot of flavor and eventual power. Too often I've seen (and heard people complain) about high-level Fighters that are forced to bow and beg to the Mages (both varieties, even the base versions) for their ability to wipe their existence from the multiverse with but a gesture and/or a few words. In the end, their versatility is at once their greatest asset and their greatest weakness.
But this is for another thread. Good gaming, all!

Yes, Fighters (and other classes like Bard) are in need of some serious love. There is also a tread or few on the WotC boards about the Fighter. Its one of the weaker designs, but as you say thats another discussion...

P.S.: Something that just popped to mind, the innate evolution only happens to 3rd-level and lower spells, and never to the 0-level one. How about some options (Mutable feature, feat, whatever) to allow the 0-level spell to evolve, or higher-level ones to do so?

Originally in the older threads, people voted down the ability to Spell-Like the higher level spells as being too powerful, and the 0-levels spells as a basically worthless ability. What makes you lean toward this?

Thanks!