How did the Sorcerer work prior to 4e?

[Jools]

I'm currently making my own 4e inspired edition of D&D and have been thinking about what to do with the Sorcerer. I'm curious, wow did it work in editions prior to 4e? In 4e it has its own spell list - completely independent of Wizard and Cleric Magic - and follows the standard at will/encounter/daily structure that most 4e classes adhere to. Its spells mostly concentrate on damage, usually to a group on enemies rather than an individual.

How were things in previous editions? Did Sorcerers get access to Wizard spells or have their own list? How did their magic vary from that of a Wizard's or Cleric's? Thanks!

 

[Yora]

Sorcerers only existed in 3rd Edition. They are pretty much wizards, but instead of a spell book that can hold infinite numbers of spells, they have spells they know perfectly from mind, but only a quite small number.
Casting works very similar to wizards, but they do not prepare their spells in advance. Basically they chose what spells they know to put into their spell slot right before they cast it at no cost of additional time. They have more spells per day and are more flexible, but they only have a small selection of spells they can chose from. When they level up, they can add new spells from the wizard spell list.

 

[Aran Thule]

The only thing to add, they were one level slower then wizards to get higher level spells.
Wizards got them upon reaching 3rd level, sorcerers got them at 4th

 

[Cheiromancer]

Like Yora said. And, roughly speaking, sorcerers cast two spells more per spell level than wizards. Where the spells/day reads "4" for a wizard, it reads "6" for a sorcerer. Sorcerers also accessed spells a little later than wizards. Both can cast 1st level spells at level 1, but sorcerers cast 2nd level spells at level 4, not level 3, and then every two thereafter.

 

[Ahnehnois]

It's worth noting that sorcerers have a small emphasis on the draconic side, and a few of the late dragon-oriented supplements gave the sorcerer abilities and spells that were exclusive.

The sorcerer's wizard-like spell selection means that, like most spellcasters, he can be whatever you want. You can make a sorcerous blaster, enchanter, diviner, support caster, summoner, shapeshifter, literally anything.

 

[Janx]

Why ask questions when you can look up the rules:

Sorcerers & Wizards :: d20srd.org

D&D 3.x is under OGL and thus the rules are out there for free.

 

[Yora]

In this case the answer is easy, but quite often it can be very difficult to find something in the SRD, if you don't know 3.5e.

 

[Croesus]

Sorcerers only existed in 3rd Edition.

While technically true, many groups implemented some form of spell point system in prior editions.

One of the most common was to simply count up the number of spell levels a caster could cast each day and give him that many spell points (so a caster who could cast 3 1st, 2 2nd, and 1 3rd level spells would have 3+4+3 = 10 spell points. A caster could use those points to cast any spell the caster knew. Needless to say, that system significantly enhanced casters by giving them much more flexibility.

There were a number of variations on this basic system which I read and heard about over the years. My 1E group moved to a spell point system after just a few years of gaming 1E and never looked back. It eliminated the need to pick spells prior to each game session (and sometimes within the game session), which was a real time-sink, and the non-spellcasters had enough gear that they rarely felt outshined by the spellcasters. Especially since the wizards were glass-cannons, with so few hit points - they loved hiding behind the big bad fighters.

 

[Spatula]

While the 3e sorcerer is simply a wizard with different resource mechanics (trading unlimited spells known & limited spells per day for limited spells known & lots of spells per day), Pathfinder added "arcane bloodlines" to the class, making it its own unique thing. Basically, if you're a sorcerer, it's evidence of some magic in your blood, and the source of that magic gives you different abilities. Some examples are dragon, celestial (angels), infernal (devils), abyssal (demons), elemental, and aberrant. The Pathfinder SRD has the complete list here.

 

[wingsandsword]

Some other differences between the 3.x sorcerer and wizard:

Weapons selection: Wizards were limited to staffs, daggers, heavy & light crossbows, and clubs. Sorcerers had access to all Simple weapons, the same weapon selection as a Cleric (so a Sorcerer could carry a mace or spear, for example). Not huge given that both classes have weak BAB, but it means at low-levels when they are more likely to use melee weapons when they run out of spells, a Sorcerer has a very slight advantage of being more heavily armed.

Skills: The wizard had access to all Knowledge skills, so they could study (as a class skill) religion, or arcane lore, or the planes, or nature, or engineering, or history, and so on. (Only Bards, Wizards, and Clerics with the Knowledge Domain had access to all knowledge skills). Sorcerers were limited to Knowledge: Arcana as an in-class knowledge skill, but (in 3.5) they also got Bluff. Since Sorcerer spellcasting is based off Charisma and thus Sorcerers should have good interaction skills they gave them an interaction skill.