DMs and the Sorcerer class

[Eraslin]

Hello all,
So, I've been playing 3.0 & 3.5 for a long while now -- pretty much since its release. There's something that I've noticed in all the games that I've been playing in, and I was wondering if anyone else has encountered this in their games. Ever since the introduction of the sorcerer class none of the DMs that I've played under have used the wizard class at all. As I play wizards a lot, you can probably imagine that I find this extremely annoying -- one of the best pieces of loot to pull off of a foe is their spellbook. In fact, very few (if any) of the sorcerers I've seen have even had any spell scrolls...

So, my question(s) to y'all are thus:
a) If you're a player, have you noticed that most/all of the arcane spellcasting opponents in your games are sorcerers?
b) If you're a DM, do you use mostly sorcs? Mostly wizards? Whatever the story calls for? If you find yourself using one type more than the other, why do you think you use that class more often?

Thanks,
Eraslin

 

[Thanee]

I also have noticed this trend to a degree, since sorcerers are very well-suited as NPCs, but there surely have been more wizard NPCs than sorcerer NPCs in our games so far and plenty opportunities to loot spellbooks (altho they are sometimes not easily found).

As a DM I generally use what fits the concept I have in mind with the NPC.

Bye
Thanee

 

[kamosa]

I've noticed this as well. I think it allows the GM to use anything they want out of the magic book without having to worry about the consequences of that same spell being hurled back at the NPC. This is also echoed in the use of bizare prestige classes to give powers to NPC's instead of using magic items to achieve powerfull effects.

The combined effect seems to be a lot less magic in the game on the side of the players. Some will hail that as a victory, but I see it as a major disapointment in how the system plays.

 

[Ibram]

Truthfully I always use wizards, but thats because I dont like the Sorcerer class (they always seem to end up as fire support)

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Thus far only one of my players has played a sorcerer. He was multiclassing into the Dragon Disciple PrC when he was killed by machine gun toting Nazi's. I have noticed that a lot of my NPC's have at least 1 level of sorcerer to augment whatever their other class might be, though.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Thus far only one of my players has played a sorcerer. He was multiclassing into the Dragon Disciple PrC when he was killed by machine gun toting Nazi's. I have noticed that a lot of my NPC's have at least 1 level of sorcerer to augment whatever their other class might be, though.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I've not noticed a bias in one side or the other in the games I've played in.

 

[Sammael]

I use both equally in my campaigns, even though I prefer wizards myself.

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

I know exactly why I tend to make NPC sorcerors rather than NPC wizards.

It's because I'm lazy. If I make a sorceror, I only have to keep track of a few different spells, so when the fight breaks out I'm pretty clear about what the character can do, because the choices have been streamlined for me.

If I made a wizard, I'd have to think about what spells he's got in his book, which spells he has memorized, and suddenly my job gets more complicated. Running the NPC wizard suddenly takes more of my attention if I want to do it well.

And we can't have that, can we?


But I should also say that I often give NPC sorcerors scrolls of spells they can't ordinarily cast; I figure it gives me a little one-shot dose of something different that I can pull out during the fight, or if it turns out to be a useless scroll in that context, it makes for a fairly wizard-friendly treasure item.

--
our usual gm is a little better about having wizards around than i am
ryan

 

[MerakSpielman]

I use sorcerers as a DM mainly becuase they can cast spontaniously - I don't have to bother with figuring out what spells they have prepared.