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This is a directory of posters who think the sorcerer needs fixing
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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 7104837" data-attributes="member: 57112"><p>A brief(?) treatise on the plight of Sorcerer</p><p></p><p>The fundamental problem with the Sorcerer in 5e is that the reason the class was created in the first place was to create a mechanical distinction that no longer exists in 5e. 4e solved the problem by creating a new mechanical distinction, but that no longer exists in 5e either.</p><p></p><p>See, the 3rd edition Sorcerer was basically worse than the Wizard in all but a handful of ways (more spells per day being the big one, also they had slightly better weapon proficiencies and were more fun at parties). In exchange they had slower spell progression and no bonus feats, because <s>WotC overestimated the power of spontaneous casting</s> <s>Monte Cooke hated sorcerers</s> reasons. Pretty much everyone agreed that simply on the basis of the slower spell progression (something which was then saddled onto all future spontaneous full-casters), spontaneous casters were not as good as preparation casters. Optimizers basically gave them their own tier. But people still played them, because six magic missiles are better than four, and spontaneous casters were simply <em>easier</em> to play. There were some off-hand mentions of flavor differences between Sorcerers and Wizards (owing mostly to the Int vs. Cha divide) but they could easily be ignored. 4e made Wizards controllers and Sorcerers strikers, and so had entirely different spell selections with entirely different functions. Wizards were the battle nerds, employing tactics and conditions to manage the battlefield; Sorcerers were spell jocks, blasting foes with panache. 4e also solidified the core flavor of the big three arcanes: wizards studied and warlocks bargained (3.5: "Warlocks are born, not made"), but sorcerers simply <em>were</em> magic.</p><p></p><p>Cue 5e, which brings us neo-Vancian magic. The changes to spell preparation have turned prep casters into essentially spontaneous casters who change their spells known every day. Spontaneous casting loses its luster. What's worse, the Sorcerer lost every advantage it had in 3.X; the Wizard and Sorcerer have identical spell slots, and the Wizard gets to memorize more spells than the Sorcerer can know at basically any level. Sorcerers don't even have better weapon proficiencies anymore (not that it matters anymore). Sorcery points are supposed to make up the difference, but these are a split resource and probably better spent on metamagic. The final nail in the coffin is the Sorcerer's spell list, which is a heavily trimmed down version of the Wizard's spell list because <s>WotC overestimated the power of Sorcery points</s> <s>Mike Mearls hates Sorcerers</s> reasons. Once again, Sorcerers are, mechanically, objectively worse than Wizards.</p><p></p><p>And that's just the mechanical issues. I'll chop this up it's getting two long; in part two I'll discuss the flavor problems.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 7104837, member: 57112"] A brief(?) treatise on the plight of Sorcerer The fundamental problem with the Sorcerer in 5e is that the reason the class was created in the first place was to create a mechanical distinction that no longer exists in 5e. 4e solved the problem by creating a new mechanical distinction, but that no longer exists in 5e either. See, the 3rd edition Sorcerer was basically worse than the Wizard in all but a handful of ways (more spells per day being the big one, also they had slightly better weapon proficiencies and were more fun at parties). In exchange they had slower spell progression and no bonus feats, because [s]WotC overestimated the power of spontaneous casting[/s] [s]Monte Cooke hated sorcerers[/s] reasons. Pretty much everyone agreed that simply on the basis of the slower spell progression (something which was then saddled onto all future spontaneous full-casters), spontaneous casters were not as good as preparation casters. Optimizers basically gave them their own tier. But people still played them, because six magic missiles are better than four, and spontaneous casters were simply [I]easier[/I] to play. There were some off-hand mentions of flavor differences between Sorcerers and Wizards (owing mostly to the Int vs. Cha divide) but they could easily be ignored. 4e made Wizards controllers and Sorcerers strikers, and so had entirely different spell selections with entirely different functions. Wizards were the battle nerds, employing tactics and conditions to manage the battlefield; Sorcerers were spell jocks, blasting foes with panache. 4e also solidified the core flavor of the big three arcanes: wizards studied and warlocks bargained (3.5: "Warlocks are born, not made"), but sorcerers simply [I]were[/I] magic. Cue 5e, which brings us neo-Vancian magic. The changes to spell preparation have turned prep casters into essentially spontaneous casters who change their spells known every day. Spontaneous casting loses its luster. What's worse, the Sorcerer lost every advantage it had in 3.X; the Wizard and Sorcerer have identical spell slots, and the Wizard gets to memorize more spells than the Sorcerer can know at basically any level. Sorcerers don't even have better weapon proficiencies anymore (not that it matters anymore). Sorcery points are supposed to make up the difference, but these are a split resource and probably better spent on metamagic. The final nail in the coffin is the Sorcerer's spell list, which is a heavily trimmed down version of the Wizard's spell list because [s]WotC overestimated the power of Sorcery points[/s] [s]Mike Mearls hates Sorcerers[/s] reasons. Once again, Sorcerers are, mechanically, objectively worse than Wizards. And that's just the mechanical issues. I'll chop this up it's getting two long; in part two I'll discuss the flavor problems. [/QUOTE]
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