How should my Sorcerer grow?

[Chain Lightning]

Hello everyone.

I hope I'm posting in the proper forum.

I just started in a new D&D campaign my friend is running. We're starting at level one. I came to these boards to ask if I can get any tips on character building.

Now, I've played 3rd edition a tiny bit before this. But I've never played a Sorcerer. That being, I picked the Sorcerer class this time around. Not only that, I tried to break stereo-types by choosing the Dwarf race. I know, I know.... totally not the perfect choice for sorcerers. I only have 13 Charisma.

But I really really felt like doing something totally odd for role-playing reasons. Several games I've been in before I had always played straight forward conceptual characters.

With that, I was wondering if you guys can give me some tips as to how should be picking Feats, Spells, and Skills as I advance.

Right now, I've chosen the Combat Casting feat and most of my skills center on Arcane Knowledge and Spellcraft with some left over points going into Alchemy, Move Silently, Bluff, and other misc. skills to make him well rounded. My dwarven sorcerer is currently wearing no armor, his Dex gives him a +2 to his AC, and his current simple weapon is a Morning Star (mainly because it does nice damage and it looks kinda cool/funny in the character portrait I drew of him). He's Chaotic Good and his personality is that of a dwarf (like the player that made him) that celebrates diversity, loves seeking arcane knowledge, exploring, and even has the touch of eccentricity that is usually seen in spellcaster types.

Anyways, where should I go from here? How should I plan his career as he levels?

 

[kenjib]

With silver bells and cockle shells, And pretty maids all in a row.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Make a little chart, from 1 to 20 and write on it which spells you want to get at which levels. You will notice that you eventually tend to alternate between getting 1 new spell and 3 new spells. Bear in mind the limited number of spells you will ever know, so many sorcerers like to ensure they have good utility spells, and spells that won't become useless in time (like sleep).

Planning out the spells you want to learn in advance is extremely good practice for sorcerers

Cheers

 

[Eccles]

Keep an eye on your charisma...

Bear in mind that, as you need a charisma of 13 to cast third level spells, 14 to cast 4th level spells, and so on, and you can only increase your charisma at every 4th level, you'll probably want to multi-class (does maths) at 14th level.

This is because your charisma won't be sufficient to cast the extra high-level spells you'll be getting, making being a Sorcerer a bit pointless.

Of course, picking up a few items of Charisma increase make this totally irellevant. Unless you lose them again...

 

[wolff96]

Items of +2 to a stat are cheap; just pick one up or take the feats and make one. Then put your stat bonuses into Charisma for almost every level (you can put the 20th level point into whatever you like). By the time you've got that stat bonus, you'll be just fine for spell progression. The benefit of being a sorcerer; that extra level before you get new spells works in your favor for once.

As someone earlier mentioned PLAN your spells. There's nothing worse than taking a bunch of spells that peter out and become useless.

Other than that, have fun. Sorcerers (other than planning the spell list) are pretty much a no-brainer character. They're great fun when you don't want to play the party brain-trust, but still want to have magic.

 

[Buttercup]

I agree that you should put all of your stat increases into CHA. But even if you do, you still won't get level 9 spells without a charisma boosting item. No matter. You could do something completely different and use all of your spells as buffing spells. Use Bull's Strenght, Cat's Grace, Improved Invisibility, Haste and so forth to dash in, bash hard, and dash out. Sort of like an enhanced acrobat.

 

[kenjib]

You can also use metamagic feats to use up higher level spell slots if you get in a situation where your charisma isn't high enough to cast spells of a given level. For example, if you have a charisma of 17, you can't cast 9th level spells but you can cast empowered 7th level spells in those spell slots so they don't go to waste.

 

[Henry]

The thing to remember is this: concentrate on one main role (support or offense), but have at least one spell per level for the opposing role. As others have said, do not pick spells that have level caps like sleep, or spells that will obviously become useless to a higher level character. If you have to wait one or two character levels for an improved version, it's probably not worth it - but if you have to wait 5 or 6 levels, it's worth it - because you may not survive that long to get there.

One other thing - if you can help it, don't multiclass. You are already behind straight wizards by one level of spellcasting. If you multiclass, you will be behind by even more than that!

I would make one final suggestion - if you ARE going to multi-class, pick one level of fighter. It's very nice to be able to pick up almost any weapon you find and use it, even if you don't use it well.

 

[Mithriltooth]

A .txt file sitting on my computer for my NPC that travels with the party (since I'm DM'ming ... assuming he survives).
The Goal was to build him up to take the Arch-Mage Prestige Class. I could get him to Arch-Mage at an earlier level, but I wanted the bonus Metamagic Feats. I also took martial weapons to wield a Warhammer.

Character Planner.... Thorzoun Mithriltooth, Shield Dwarf Wizard


1) Feat- Martial Weapons
2)
3) Feat- Skill Focus (Spellcraft)
4) +1 Intelligence
5) Feat- Extend Spell
6) Feat- Spell Penetration
7)
8) +1 Intelligence
9) Feat- Spell Focus (Evocation)
10) Feat- Empower Spell
11)
12) +1 Intelligence, Feat- Maximize Spell
13)
14)
15) Feat- Spell Focus (Transmutation), Feat- Quicken Spell
16) +1 Intelligence, switch to Arch Mage Prestige Class
17)
18) Feat- Craft Magic Arms and Armor

 

[Mithriltooth]

Also, I took the following 1st level spells for my spellbook.
Mage Armor (In memory, one hour duration at 1st level)
Protection From Evil
Shield
Endure Elements (In memory, 24 hour duration)

I have no bonus to my AC due to dexterity, though I have +2 bonus for a high constitution (which was more valuable to me).