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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Caliban" data-source="post: 2656199" data-attributes="member: 284">Reposted from another thread where a similar question came up ( <a href="http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=151417&page=1&pp=40" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=151417&page=1&pp=40</a> ):Factors that (I believe) affect the comparative power levels of sorcerers and wizards:1) Availability of spells - in many campaigns you can't count on buying scrolls (or accessing spellbooks) of any spell you want. This gives an advantage to wizards in that they only have the find the scroll once and they can scribe it into the book and have it available for casting or scroll creation from then on. It hurts wizards in that they can't count on buying a specific spell to round out their spell selection, removing one of their advantages over sorcerers (it doesn't really hurt them much, just makes it less of an advantage). 2) Downtime - In campaigns where the DM keeps the action moving, with little downtime, a wizard may not be able to take advantage of the ability to scribe scrolls, scribe spells into their spell books, or create items like Boccob's book. In campaigns where there is frequent downtime between events, these abilities become much more advantageous.3) Wealth Levels - how much money is available to the wizard? In poor campaigns sorcerers have a clear advantage. In campaigns with a higher than normal wealth level it swings toward the wizard.4) Frequency of combat - in campaigns where you tend to have more than two combats in a single day, a sorcerer has an advantage. In campaigns where you tend to have one or two fights a day and usually have a chance to recover spells before the next combat, the sorcerers extra spells don't really give him an advantage (although if the campaign also features a lot of out of combat problem solving, the correct spell selection for the sorcerer means they can use their spells to help out with that instead).Availability, Downtime, Combat Frequency, and Wealth levels are highly variable from campaign to campaign and can swing the advantage one direction or the other.I think this is why people can have such different perceptions of how powerful sorcerers and wizards are in relation to each other - based on the situations they are used to seeing them in each perception may be true.Personally, I think that all things being equal, a wizard is more useful out of combat (better class skills, more skill points, can make knowledge checks all day long, better item creation), while the sorcerer has the advantage in purely combat situations (a well designed sorcerer can have the spells to meet almost any combat situation, and can do it 3 or 4 fights in a row if need be), and being able to drop the same spell over and over again until it sticks is something most wizards can't do. Sorcerers also make better party buffers if they choose to go that route.In the end, I think they balance out, and for some people the wizard will be more fun, and for others the sorcerer will be more fun.That being said, in my home game I do give sorcerers the Eschew Material feat for free at first level. I just think it fits.</blockquote>

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