D&D 5E Explain to a guy who's never played spellcasters the difference between wizards and sorcerers

[FormerlyHemlock]

I know in editions before this, sorcerers were often considered weaker because they didn't get spell levels as fast as wizards (they'd get their first 2nd level spell at level 4, while wizards got it at 3), but that isn't the case anymore.

What's the skinny on these spellchuckers?

What do new players need to know about these masters of the arcane?

A lot of people have answered from an analogical or game-mechanical perspective. I'll answer from a fiction perspective by quoting Jack Vance. Even though Vancian magic is no longer really in D&D, it helps to know where it comes from:

Mazirian stroked his chin. Apparently he must capture the girl himself. Later, when black night lay across the forest, he would seek through his books for spells to guard him through the unpredictable glades. They would be poignant corrosive spells, of such a nature that one would daunt the brain of an ordinary man and two render him mad. Mazirian, by dint of stringent exercise, could encompass four of the most formidable, or six of the lesser spells.

The Magician climbed the stairs. Midnight found him in his study, pouring through leather-bound tomes and untidy portfolios... At one time a thousand or more runes, spells, incantations, curses, and sorceries had been known. The reach of Grand Motholam--Ascolais, the Ide of Kauchique, Almery to the South, the Land of the Falling Wall to the East--swarmed with sorcerers of every description, of whom the chief was the Arch-Necromancer Phandaal. A hundred spells Phandaal personally had formulated--though rumor said that demons whispered at his ear when he wrought magic. Pontecilla the Pious, then ruler of Grand Motholam, put Phandall to torment, and after a terrible night, he killed Phandaal and outlawed sorcery throughout the land. The wizards of Grand Motholam fled like beetles under a strong light; the lore was dispersed and forgotten, until now, at this dim time, with the sun dark, wilderness obscuring Ascolais, and the white city Kaiin half in ruins, only a few more than a hundred spells remained to the knowledge of man. Of these, Mazirian had access to seventy-three, and gradually, by stratagem and negotiation, was securing the others.

Maziriam made a selection from his books and with great effort forced five spells upon his brain: Phandaal's Gyrator, Felojun's Second Hypnotic Spell, The Excellent Prismatic Spray, The Charm of Untiring Nourishment, and the Spell of the Omnipotent Sphere. This accomplished, Maziriam drank wine and retired to his couch.

That is a wizard. He speaks, and the energies which he has impressed upon his brain through study release themselves into the world.

A sorcerer doesn't do any of that. A sorcerer's power is intrinsic.

"I made the glass tip over."

"I still don't quite understand what you mean," Miss Honey said gently.

"I did it with my eyes," Matilda said. "I was staring at it and wishing it to tip and then my eyes went all hot and funny and some sort of power came out of them and the glass just toppled over."

Matilda doesn't use arcane mystic knowledge from Phandaal's ancient lore--she makes things happen by wanting them to happen. That is a sorcerer.

D&D 5E doesn't strictly follow this divide--wizards don't have to memorize spells in Vancian fashion, and sorcerers need to wiggle their fingers and use magic words--but at a basic fictional level, that is supposed to be the difference between them.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

(duplicate)

 

[Minigiant]

Wizard- Harry Dresden (understands the science of magic, knows many spells, has a "spellbook")
Sorcerer- Mortimer Linguist (understands the basics of magic, really only know a bit of magic but understands that element better)
Warlock- Llyod Slate (was given magic, may not understands how any of it works)

The wizard knows more spells and magic.
The sorcerer does more with his spells and magic.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Wizards are Batman. It's all about being prepared with the proper gear (spells).

Sorcerers are the mutants, the X-Men. It's all just there inside of them (and usually comes out in nice Michael Bay pyrotechnics).

 

[Cody C. Lewis]

HARRY POTTER ANALOGY TIME!

Hermione Granger - Wizard
Harry Potter - More closely resembled a Sorcerer

Hermione always knew spells before Harry. She was studied and diversified. She always was prepared in a way that sort of wowed Harry and Ron, like the Invisibility Bubble to hide them in the seventh book as one example, or knowing how to open the lock on the third floor as another.

Harry (yes I know he technically studied) always had things just come much more naturally to him, and often times his magic was just stronger. Like how powerful his patronus spell was in comparison to his peers as an example or how he was a natural at flying just a month or two after finding out he belongs to a whole nother magical world.

HA! A good ole Harry Potter reference. Man... I need to rewatch that series again. Talk about world-building.

 

[Marandahir]

That's what I meant by the Natural A student who never studied. They get by because they're pretty damn good at it. Except Harry Potter was more like a Warlock in "Half-Blood Prince", where he stole ideas from Snape's childhood days.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Can she really?

The Wizard's Arcane Recovery and the Sorcerer's Font of Magic are nearly equivalent, maybe the latter still allows for a very little more spells per day, but IMHO the difference is negligible.

The sorcerer gets roughly 50% more spell levels from Font of Magic than the wizard gets from Arcane Recovery, and doesn't have to take a short rest to access them.

 

[Charles Rampant]

A lot of people have answered from an analogical or game-mechanical perspective. I'll answer from a fiction perspective by quoting Jack Vance. Even though Vancian magic is no longer really in D&D, it helps to know where it comes from:

Thanks for posting this - I've never read the Dying Earth stuff, and it is really fun to see what underlies the D&D magic system. I really love 5e's system for magic - restrictive enough to offer tough choices, but open enough to avoid making the magic a chore to handle - yet those quotes really do illustrate some wonderful flavour to the (somewhat abandoned) concepts. Of course, there are many things that work really well in books, that kind of suck if attempted in roleplaying games - hence why every 'lone wolf' Rogue dies in the first quarter of the campaign - but still.

 

[Ovinomancer]

The sorcerer gets roughly 50% more spell levels from Font of Magic than the wizard gets from Arcane Recovery, and doesn't have to take a short rest to access them.

Whoa, what now? Wizards get half their level in spell slots back, sorcerers get 1 sorcery point per level (starting at 2nd). The font of magic conversion chart for spell slots varies, with a break at 3rd level. At 20th, a wizard gets 10 spell levels worth of slots back, the sorcerer has 20 sorcery points to buy back spell slots. If they both pick up 1st level slots (ignoring for the moment that neither can actually have 5 1st slots), the math says they get exactly the same. 2nd level slot conversion is nearly equal, with the sorcerer eking out an extra 2nd and one 1st over the wizard. Third level slots the sorcerer still gets 1 more slot than the wizard. 4th, the sorcerer still gets one more than the wizard (3 vs 2), and both can pick up an extra 2nd. Fifth, the sorcerer again ties the wizard for recovered fifth slots, but the sorcerer gets an extra 4th to go with it.

At best, the sorcerer picks up 4 more spell levels than the wizard. Usually its a wash or near a wash. And, every time the sorcerer uses his metamagic, he loses the chance to recover spell levels, and starts falling behind the wizard in number of spell levels castable.

BUT... he picks up a lot of versatility. If you have a handful of first level spells, but really need a 4th level spell for this situation, the sorcerer is your guy -- he can burn stored sorcery points for that 4th, or, even if tapped, he can take an extra round to burn 1st level slots and power up another 4th. The sorcerer has flexibility on the slots he casts, the wizard doesn't. Whether or not that offsets the lack of flexibility in daily spells available (memorization vs known), the strangely limited sorcerer spell list compared to wizard (I can understand some of the excisions, but some make no sense), or the fact that they cool thing you do (metamagic) directly competes for resources with the other cool thing you do (font of magic) while the wizard has no conflict with his abilities, that's up to personal preference and playstyle. Personally, I still find sorcerers to be boring in their execution, as you have to settle for specialized overworked combos to be effective with the limited choices you have, while the wizard can specialize to the occasion.

 

[Marandahir]

It's interesting that each Arcane caster is flexible, but in different ways.

Wizards have a broad spell list and change change their spells prepared every day as long as they've done the research to copy the formulas into their spellbooks. They can also prepare more spells than they can cast each day, assuming a high Intelligence, giving them a lot of versatility each day with their spellcasting. Finally, they can also recover their spells to some extent.

Sorcerers may be limited in their spells known, but they have a lot of flexibility to mold and shape those spells, and they can decide to use their spells more often or sacrifice spells to mold more of the others.

Bards also are limited in their spells known, but they can draw on the spell lists of other classes and have types of spells none of the other Arcane casters have (like healing). And they are jack of trades and are similar to rogues and fighters in other ways, making them pretty versatile overall, if not in their casting.

Warlocks have fewer spells than any of the other Arcane casters, but they can supplement those spells with invocations, many of which modify their basic cantrip ability of Eldritch Blast. They also can cast their fewer spells more often than anyone else, since most of their spells recover on a short rest basis rather than a long rest basis.