Sorcerer Variants

[Draugin]

Can anyone suggest a good sorcerer variant?
I saw Monte's sorcerer but I didn't find it inspired, not as the variant bard at least. The sorcerer needs not just more spells known, but some neat class ability.
Any ideas?

By the way, I think that there could be found a parallelism between fighters/barbarians and wizards/sorcerers.
Fighters and wizards rely on technique, while barbarians and sorcerers master raw power. So, I think that we could get some inspiration by looking at the cool barbarian abilities (such as rage, of course).

I'd like to hear someone about this, and then I'll try to translate in some sort of english (pardon me) my homebrew sorcerer later.

Bye,

 

[DreamChaser]

I know seasong was working on one a while back. It definitely had some umph.

 

[netnomad]

I think this guy did a good job :


http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?threadid=50116&goto=newpost

 

[Draugin]

I think this guy did a good job

Yes indeed, he did!
I gave it a look and it seems very interesting, maybe there are some fixes to do; I felt not every bloodline was balanced with the others at the same levels, but the blood powers are interesting and original.
BTW, the feat presented (Spell Surge) is a General feat, not a metamagical one (because it doesn't affect directly spells metamagicizing them).
I'll read it with more attention now.

Bye!

 

[BenjaminB]

Once thing I toyed with for Sorcerers was offering them in both Arcane and Divine flavors. Arcane sorcerers are just as described, but Divine sorcerers use the Cleric spell list (selecting domain access just as a Cleric does). Divine sorcerers lack familiars, but roll a d6 for hit dice. Otherwise, they work exactly the same as Arcane sorcerers in terms of spell selection and daily use. The idea being, rather than having dragon blood (or whatnot), they have divine blood, and are descended from demigods.

Frankly, I have no idea if the two spell lists are at all comperable in terms of play utility... and a divine sorcerer with Cure spells is going to be even more of a medic than a Cleric...

-B


EDIT- Ignor this post. I just gave the Bloodlines doc a good read, and it does what I suggest much much better.

 

[Draugin]

No problem BenjaminB, I also had the idea of divine sorcerer. Well, they weren't exactly sorcerers, but more mystics or "saints". They had one domain (which gave them an extra spell known for each level), 1d6 hp, divine armor (Cha modifier as armor bonus, I preffered that they didn't wear armor) and lay on hands.
I had no other ideas, so for now the Mystic is buried somewhere in my DMG.

 

[seasong]

I know seasong was working on one a while back. It definitely had some umph.

Thanks . I'm working on a setting, and this sorcerer is the one I'm using for it. I like it, but it is a very different sorcerer from the one in the core rulebooks.

 

[maransreth]

In the last issue of d20 Magazine Rack, I started a series of 2 articles related to sorcerers. The last installment will be out in the June issue.

Basically sorcerers don't just come from dragons, but from 7 different creature types. When a sorcerer is roled up, you have to choose one as your bloodline type. The first article looks at bonus spells due to bloodline and feats that a sorcerer of a certain bloodline can take.

I gave them 1 extra spell known per level as I think the spells known now is too low.

The next and final installment of the series looks at a prestige class for each bloodline, appearance of sorcerers and temperament/roleplaying ideas for sorcerers of different bloodlines.

 

[Draugin]

I looked at your variant sorcerer, Seasong, and I found it well done and different. I don't like every aspect - the fact you gave him access to every spell list is dangerous for balance. Oh, well, I did the same thing for my setting, but there were no other spellcasters and there is no "arcane" nor "divine" magic, just magic.
But I'm wasting kbytes, you knew that already, as you've written "This WON'T be for everyone, and I realize that..."

The way of the Words of Power is interesting, and what do you think about making a list of Words of Power a sorcerer can learn?
I mean, instead the flat "Powerful voice" at 10th level and beyond, some other fancy abilities you can choose at 10th, 15th and 20th (or maybe, if you want to make it sound like an already existing mechanic, at 10th, 13th, 16th and 19th, as the rogue special abilities).
For example, "Stentorean voice" (1/day you cast a spell as Expanded) or "Subtle voice" (1/day you can cast a spell as Silent), et cetera. If you choose the same word of power more than once, you can use it an additional time per day.
So there is interest to stick to the core class.

Bye,

 

[seasong]

I looked at your variant sorcerer, Seasong, and I found it well done and different.

Thanks . I owe a lot of thanks to the folks who commented on it, though - the original post was less well developed, as can be discovered by reading down through the comments .

I don't like every aspect - the fact you gave him access to every spell list is dangerous for balance.

Actually, I reduced it to cleric, druid and wizard, after some abuses were pointed out. It seems to work well enough.

But I'm wasting kbytes, you knew that already, as you've written "This WON'T be for everyone, and I realize that..."

Naw, not a waste. I always appreciate critique.

The way of the Words of Power is interesting, and what do you think about making a list of Words of Power a sorcerer can learn?
I mean, instead the flat "Powerful voice" at 10th level and beyond, some other fancy abilities you can choose at 10th, 15th and 20th (or maybe, if you want to make it sound like an already existing mechanic, at 10th, 13th, 16th and 19th, as the rogue special abilities).
For example, "Stentorean voice" (1/day you cast a spell as Expanded) or "Subtle voice" (1/day you can cast a spell as Silent), et cetera. If you choose the same word of power more than once, you can use it an additional time per day.

Yeah, this was brought up one or two times in the original discussion. I think I decided against it because I didn't want swiss army knife sorcerers - that's the wizard's schtick. Sorcerers are good at raw power, wizards at flexibility.