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

[Minsc]

Thank you everyone. You've helped me a lot

I've been playing a sorcerer from level 1 to 7 and pretty much across the board it's been unanimous that a wizard would have been better. :/

better how? Why?

 

[Eric V]

Thank you everyone. You've helped me a lot

better how? Why?

I played through Phandelver just fine, I suppose. After that, we were sucked into Ravenloft. I have a standard build fire dragon sorcerer, with a dash of enchantment. Well, that second aspect has proved next to useless in Castle Ravenloft, and ask me how I felt when we fought two flameskulls. -_-

This highlights my problem. Had I played a wizard, I would have adapted my spell selection to better deal with the challenges; as a sorcerer I have no such option. As well, the other class benefits of the wizard (thinking specifically abjurer and diviner) just seem to be more useful overall (especially since she got the staff of defense found in Mines of Phandelver).

The mechanics are somewhat boring in practice; I thought sorcery points would be fun, but managing them throughout the day hasn't been great. I wish sorcerers had a short rest mechanic. I wish they had more spells known (sad they took the bonus spells away from Storm Sorcerers)...I just wish they were more mechanically interesting.

Because of their vastly superior versatility and not being too far behind in spells cast/day (Arcane Recovery, and maybe they aren't behind at all due to Ritual Casting) and more interesting class abilities...wizards are just better, and by a significant margin.

 

[MoonSong]

I played through Phandelver just fine, I suppose. After that, we were sucked into Ravenloft. I have a standard build fire dragon sorcerer, with a dash of enchantment. Well, that second aspect has proved next to useless in Castle Ravenloft, and ask me how I felt when we fought two flameskulls. -_-

This highlights my problem. Had I played a wizard, I would have adapted my spell selection to better deal with the challenges; as a sorcerer I have no such option. As well, the other class benefits of the wizard (thinking specifically abjurer and diviner) just seem to be more useful overall (especially since she got the staff of defense found in Mines of Phandelver).

The mechanics are somewhat boring in practice; I thought sorcery points would be fun, but managing them throughout the day hasn't been great. I wish sorcerers had a short rest mechanic. I wish they had more spells known (sad they took the bonus spells away from Storm Sorcerers)...I just wish they were more mechanically interesting.

Because of their vastly superior versatility and not being too far behind in spells cast/day (Arcane Recovery, and maybe they aren't behind at all due to Ritual Casting) and more interesting class abilities...wizards are just better, and by a significant margin.

Well, said Eric, out of all my sock puppets you are my favorite... n_n

 

[Leatherhead]

Well, the real difference is that wizards get a book. And books are kind of cool.

However, if you plan on making a Sorcerer, don't fall into the trap of the monotype dragon who thinks they have to pick only one type of spell. Go Wild Mage and court Lady Luck. You have Charisma for a reason!

 

[MoonSong]

No, go Favored soul and be a caster your allies actually want close.

 

[famousringo]

Wow, the people saying Sorcerers get to cast more spells are flat out wrong. Use of most of their class abilities cuts into their bonus spells, and they have no answer for the wizard's awesome ritual magic. The wizard has a broader selection of spells, can keep more of them ready, and will likely cast more often and have the "right" spell for a given challenge.

What sorcerers get is sheer magical bandwidth. As long as sorcery points hold up, they can throw spells faster and hit more targets. If their spells suit the situation, they can explode with magic. If they don't have the right spells, or drain their gas tank, they turn into lame cantrip plinkers.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Had I played a wizard, I would have adapted my spell selection to better deal with the challenges; as a sorcerer I have no such option. As well, the other class benefits of the wizard just seem to be more useful overall.

Because of their vastly superior versatility and not being too far behind in spells cast/day (Arcane Recovery, and maybe they aren't behind at all due to Ritual Casting) and more interesting class abilities...wizards are just better, and by a significant margin.

Ironically, your post makes me think WotC did an excellent job of evoking the feel of the original Sorcerer. ;P That just sounds so much like the criticisms of the 3.x Sorcerer. As in 3.5, though, I think the problem isn't with the Sorcerer. Magic-wielding characters in genre rarely have a 'do anything' shtick like that of the Wizard (or other prepped casters), even when they do, the actual abilities they display are rarely all that varied or inconsistent (well, maybe inconsistent, in the sense they seem to 'forget' to use a spell they've displayed before that'll trivialize a plot point, because author fiat).

It'd make a lot more sense to toss the Vancian wizard out on his ear and add a Hermetic Tradition sub-class to the Sorcerer (well, or Warlock, your perilous pact is just with the master-wizard/Arch-Mage you apprenticed to, Sith-style) that uses book learn'n as their shtick, without all the crazy versatility of the Wizard - if the only objective were to make a better, more genre-representative FRPG, rather than an FRPG that feels like D&D, that is. So not anything it'd be reasonable to expect from a 5e module, UA article, or anything from WotC, but the kind of thing a DM could do if he wanted to.

Another alternative would be to ban the Sorcerer in your game and have anyone wanting to play re-skin a Wizard 'for their own good.' Not a good alternative, IMHO, but if a DM were that jacked up about it, but didn't want to engage in a lot of re-design work...

 

[Zalabim]

The biggest flavor problem with the 5E sorcerer is that the font of magic, sorcery points conversion, and metamagic features combine to encourage you to play magical accountant, and the fixed spells known list encourages you to plan your spell list from 1 to 20. It takes the book of magic-learning from the character and hands it off to the player. Playing a sorcerer doesn't feel like playing a character with natural magic.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

If you were houseruling sorcery points (and nothing else) how many extra sorcery points would it take to get sorcerers to the proper level of effectiveness?

 

[gyor]

The Wizard is the Mathmatician who worked hard and studied and git degrees.

The Sorceror is the savant who never studied, can barely tie thier shoes, but to math ability is innate, they might not know all the technical rules like the wizard, but they have an innate way of solving math problems in ways that would never occur to the wizard with thier formulas.

The Bard is in between, the Bard studied hard, but had to rely on study aids like rymthes and songs to remember the material. The Bard is also big on interdisciplinary studies, not just math.

The warlock's the one who slept with his/her teacher in exchange for the math answers and special tutoring.

The Eldrich Knight is the jock who works hard to keep his grade up in math so he/she can stay on the team.

The Arcane Tricksters is the autoshop student who decides that a solid background in math can help in enigeering and shop classes.

Cleric is the Theology student who realizes that that really understanding the fundlement nature of the lessons, are better then simple rote learning.

The Paladin is the Theology student who bests understands that lessons, by hands on learning.

The Druid is the enviromental science student that learns best balancing theory and field work.

The Ranger on the other hand is the enviromental science student who works best by getting his/her hands dirty outside.

The Rogue is the kid who took shop class.

The monk is the kid who learns best by solitary inner reflection, instead of in groups.

The Barbarian is the school drop out who learns via hard work "in the real world".