Sorcerer specialization

[Jens]

Hi, I'm considering allowing sorcerers to specialize in a school of magic like wizards only different.
I would like to know if you think this is unbalanced in some way (too good, too weak, too whatever) compared with a standard sorcerer.

Sorcerous specialization
At first level, you choose one school to specialize in and two schools to give up.
At each available spell level, the first spell known must come from the chosen school. In addition, you get one extra spell known from the chosen school.

So at 1st level a specialist sorcerer will know 3 1st level spells of which 2 must be from the chosen school. At 20th level he will know at least 18 spells from the chosen school (not counting level 0) and no more than 25 spells from other schools.

 

[Wolf72]

I'd consider the extra spell known, but not usable per day ... I think sorcerors have enough spells per day.

 

[Vorput]

Something to consider- Sorcerer, with their limited number of spells known- suffer a much smaller penalty for giving up schools of magic than a wizard does. I'd shy away from doing this... If you want them to be more specialized- maybe play around with bloodline feats or something to give them a bit more flavor... sorceres tend to end up specializing anyway just due to their low amount of spells known.

If you do this, make sure you apply the can't use scrolls/wands from the prohibited school.

Anyway, I'd say this is better than your typical sorcerer- they gain additional spells known, without really giving much up. It's not unusual for a sorc to completely neglect an entire school of magic or two anyway as they level.

Vorp

 

[smootrk]

I will echo that the extra spell usage per day might be too much. Maybe you could grant an ablity that ties to the specialization.
For example (and these are not well thought out ideas)

Conjurer gain bonus CL when casting Summon Spells, or critters summoned gain extra power (like a template applied).
Abjurers gain a 'force skin' which grants +1 (or more with levels) Natural Armor Enhancment.
Diviners gain a continuous Detect Spell of their choice (from available 0-level choices - ie Detect Magic, Detect Poison, others possible from particular campaign). As caster advances additional higher level choices may be possible.
Alternatively Diviners may be granted Save Rerolls (made possible from future insight) or some similar power.
Evokers gain a minor evocation attack usuable at will (1/round) like a 1d6 fire/cold/etc. I would have the evoker choose the particular type once and then unchangeable (normally). The attack routine might increase in power at higher levels.

Anyway, you get the idea. Not completely well thought out powers (or balance checked) but they can convey the flavor of a specialist without the extra spells.

 

[Thanee]

What extra spell uses? There are no extra spell uses mentioned. Only extra spells known.

It's probably fair, because having to choose many spells from a single school (and always the first you get) is quite a limit, that should balance out the additional spells known. While having less schools to choose from isn't as big a penalty as for a wizard, it's still very noticable, since there are good spells in all schools.

Bye
Thanee