Which Is The Stronger Character Class - Sorcerer or Wizard?

[Kunimatyu]

The level drag of the Sorceror and the bonus feats of the Wizard puts the balance clearly in the Wizard's favor.

If you give Sorcerors a free Heritage feat at 1st, and a Heritage/Metamagic feat at 5th, 10th, etc. and remove their spellcasting level drag, it becomes a lot more difficult to call.


Hopefully Wizards will just make an MP-based caster for 4th edition and retrofit the Wizard so that groggies will be happy.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Sorcerers REALLY shine when you take Metamagic feats into consideration. Spontaneous metamagic is a SERIOUS advantage and the full-round casting time is not that big of a deal. With a wizard, you have to decide which spells you want to metamagic beforehand and you get, generally, less slots to devote. A sorcerer gets both more spell slots that can be used to cast their one or two high level spells over and over or to metamagic up their lower level spells whenever they need to. Big advantage and I had a blast playing my 10th level sorcerer who could shoot out empowered magic missiles or acid arrows whenever he felt he needed one.

I don't think that's a huge advantage. Having to stand in one place for a full round can mean death for a mage. If the melee opponents are smart enough to attack from two directions, the mage had better be able to move every round.

Metamagic is also kind of weak. It has the potential to be overpowered (metamagic rods, I'm looking at you, and pretty much anything else that lets you break the metacap; odd how WotC introduced that abuse in the core rules!) so WotC shackled it with many requirements (having to know the feats - wizard advantage - then having to prep the spell if you're a wizard - sorcerer advantage) that I rarely find them useful.

The ones I find most useful are usually Heighten Spell, rather than things like Maximize Spell.

If you are a Sorcerer though you wouldn't necessarily be limited to just Fireball. You could have both spells if you wanted to. And unlike the Wizard, you wouldn't have to decide beforehand that you were going to have 3 Fireball spells for the day.

Of course a Sorcerer has a limit to how many spells he knows per level so your flexibility is limited in that respect.

I have to disagree with you there. I could learn Fireball and Lightning Bolt, but the spells known for the sorcerer (per spell level) are less than the spells prepped per spell level of the wizard. I like the flexibility of the wizard.

And of course the wizard gets more skill points (due to higher Int) so I can take ranks in useful Knowledge skills plus things like cross-class Escape Artist and Tumble, and then there's the bonus feats

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

I always felt that, overall, in a FULL adventure environment (not just combat), the Sorcerer is a little weaker than the Wizard.

I give my Sorcerers the Eschew Materials feat for free and all the Charisma based skills as class skills. After all, they didn't have to go to school to gain their powers.

 

[Patlin]

It's all about play style. Yours and your DMs. They're about equal, but some players and some campaigns will favor one above the other.

 

[drothgery]

The basic problem with sorcs is that

- as noted above, a specialist has nearly as many spell slots, gets spells a half-level sooner, has five free feats on the sorc, and will normally have a much wider spell selection

- for a straightforward, highly specialized spontaneous caster, a psion, wilder, warmage, beguiler, or dread necromancer is better

- for a simple caster that can blast all day, a warlock is better (maybe not mechanically, but certainly in the easy to play/no resource management department)

 

[The Edge]

I'd say when done right, with carefully picked spells takeing others and future levels into acount, a sorcerer is the definate winner in power. And with the right spells a sorcerer can have some nice abilites. With invisibilty they can disapeer almost any time they feel, with fly they can get anywhere they need and not get stuck up that ledge because the spell ran out and they only had one prepared. its all about picking spell that have good potential for repeated use.

A lot of the pro-wizard reasons here such as wands and scrolls are very money/xp heavy. You would have to asume that the sorcerer has the same amount to spend on any other gear. And there is plenty of nice items in the dms guide alone. They may be less suited to preparing a libary of scrolls, but with a few well picked purchased scrolls they can still have plenty of tricks up their sleeve.

Plus wizards, unless they have incredibly good intel on what they will need, very often end up coming back with spells left over which they didn't need. Even good preperation can turn out bad, when they come across an unexpected twist. Wizards advantages require time out of the field, or to retreat so they can come back tomorow with the 'get past puzzle' spell prepared. In some situations that option just isn't availible.

I would say that sorcerers skills are terible, wizards have int to boost theirs, while sorcerers are tipicaly left with a measly 2 or 3 points per level. I have free eschew matierials as a house rule. How the hell can you have inate natural powers that require you to be convinently holding some bat dung at the time? (fireball)


Conclusion, I like both...
As a Socerer I've grined as deal out non stop death, but also been irritated that I shouldn't pick that spell I'd like as I know I'd barely use it. As a wizard I've enjoyed haveing a solution to everything, but had the problem of never haveing the solution to everything when I realy need it.
... but the sorcerer is the clear winner in terms of 'power'.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I lot of people seem be putting up the arguement that a Specialist Wizard has almost as many spells as a Sorcerer. Personally I don't think a Specialist Wizard is the same as a normal Wizard.

Of course, a Specialist Wizard also has 2 prohibited schools that he can't cast from. This means that the spells that he can choose from are also limited. Depending on the schools he chooses, he can be more limited in his spell selection than a Sorcerer.

Olaf the Stout

 

[AFGNCAAP]

I think that, originally, both had their bonuses and limitations. Sorcerers could cast more, but they were a step behind a wizard, and their limited selection can be a potential problem.

However, the sorcerer is getting hit from many sides, IMHO:

• Focused Specialist Caster Base Classes: Warmage. Dread Necromancer. Beguiler. Spontaneous casters who know all the spells on their limited lists, and get other perks (like casting in armor, better Hit Die, etc.). Sure, they may not get a familiar, but they're a better option for folks who want a specific concept in mind (beguiler = rogue/spontaneous casting illusionist; warmage = battle-focused armor-wearing sorcerer; etc.).
• Warlocks: While a sorcerer has more spells per day, the warlock never runs out of ammo. Their abilities are more focused & limited than a sorcerer, but hey, they get to wear armor, too. And have a nifty Hit Die.
• Reserve Feats: Oh, this has got to hurt. Sure, a sorcerer can take these, but with the ever-versatile wizard, it's a godsend. It might not be much, but if a wizard gets 1 or 2 of these, then the more spells per day of the sorcerer doesn't have that much appeal anymore. The wizard can prep spells he/she thinks may be necessary, and still possibily be a viable combatant by holding a decent spell in reserve to keep the feat going. Sorcerers can do this too, but they don't have the option of being able to switch out their spells like a wizard can.

As it is, the Focused Specialist Caster Base Classes could grow & expand to make specialist wizards a not-so-hot option, as well, leaving generalist wizards the key to unlimited arcane spell selection.

Sorcerer seems to benefit more from getting a PrC, &/or for use in a multiclassing concept (a Cleric/Sorcerer/Mystic Theurge augments the use of a cleric's Cha for turning undead & other related abilities).

 

[Cutty Sark]

I think they shake out to be pretty close. Four bonus feats, plus scribe scroll, are pretty powerful, but only if you take all twenty levels in wizard. I voted wizard because I've found that being one level behind the wizard in play is huge, especially in published adventures.

 

[Tuzenbach]

In terms of bonus feats, if the Sorcerer didn't have zero but, say, 6 or 7, THEN would it be more equal to the Wizard?