Is the Sorceror as bad as I think?

[Zhure]

It may be a pride of planning thing. With a sorceror, you miss out on the kudos of party-mates saying "Wow man... sure was cool you memmed that spell when you did.". It's a nic e feeling every so often.

Conversely, as I've played more Sorcerers than anything, I get the same reaction from the other players. "Sure was cool you know that spell."

I definitely agree Sorcerers tend to be less blastum than Wizards in my experience, even though it runs contrary to what one would expect. I think it's because the Wizzy knows he'll need two or three fireballs, and that's half his allotment of 3rd level spells.

Greg

 

[Gez]

As bad ? No, he's worse.

Less spell known (except if you're running an against-the-clock campaign, like City of the Spider Queen, and your DM enforce the copying spells to spellbook rules), lagging one level behind, less feats, less class skills, less skill points, and harder access to prestige classes.

On the other hand, casts more spells per day. It's supposed to even out. Well, duh.

Not that a sorcerer can't be balanced in combat vs. a wizard. It can. Not that a sorcerer concept is less interesting than a wizard concept.

It's just that, outside of combat, and whatever the coolness of your character, you'll feel ripped off. And inside of combat if you don't go to the walking-rocket-launcher concept of sorcerer.

PS: If you do play a sorcerer, don't take charm person, that spell never works.

 

[Darklone]

IMHO, the sorcerer lacked style more than anything else.

It's powerful to play, sure. It's nice for a DM who wants to blast his players without leaving a huge spellbook as loot.

I would have loved to see some real difference in magic for the sorcerer. That's why I prefer the Kalamar spellsinger class or the OA shugenja class as "sorcerers".

 

[Bauglir]

I'm playing a blaster sorcerer at the moment and I'm really enjoying it. A good feat and spell selection means that the sorcerer can produce just about any effect they want, when they want.

Come up against a white dragon? The wizard can't use his cone of cold so he's consigned to fireballs (of which he has memorized only 1 or 2). The sorcerer meanwhile just uses a full-round action to Energy Substitution: Fire his cone of cold, and Empowers it for good measure. And he can do it again the next round.

Got a spell effect that just HAS to work? (Say for example you want to quietly take out that guard using a hold person) No problem - the sorcerer can just heighten it up to maximum level on the fly.

As for buffs, the sorcerer's vast spellcasting capacity means they can easily keep a party fully buffed and still have plenty of spells to spare.

Of course like all spellcasters the peak of the sorcerer's power is in the 10-15 range. From around 15 upwards, Spell Resistance just gets more and more common, and monster saves start to shoot up, until by epic levels it's hardly worth even bothering to cast on them.

Edit: Fixed to keep Darklone happy

 

[Darklone]

[rant]

Energy Substitution

[/rant]

 

[andargor]

IMHO, the sorcerer lacked style more than anything else.

It's powerful to play, sure. It's nice for a DM who wants to blast his players without leaving a huge spellbook as loot.

I would have loved to see some real difference in magic for the sorcerer. That's why I prefer the Kalamar spellsinger class or the OA shugenja class as "sorcerers".

If you really want something different, try the Aes Sedai and Ashaman classes from the Wheel of Time RPG... Would work well with D&D with minor tweaking.

The Weaves (spells) they cast have progressive effects depending on the level of the slot used. More range, more damage, different effects.

Like Balefire which actually cuts the target out of existence at some time in the past. Everything done by the target since that time vanishes. Higher spell slots cuts the target out earlier in time. But that's one of the more powerful Weaves...

But I digress, the point is in addition to spontaneously cast effects, you can also vary their power on the fly. Much closer to the mythical "sorcerer" concept.

Andargor

 

[krunchyfrogg]

I love the Sorcerer, and would never play a Wizard. But that's my personal preference. I hate spellbooks, and I don't have the intelligence to play a character with and INT score of 15 or higher. I just don't think I can pull it off.

A sorcerer is more fun, IMO. The roleplaying aspect of just having these powers, not studying them for years, and of playing a character with a high CHA score just suit me better. Plus, there's no stinking spellbook to lug around all the time.

My DM's have given me the feat (name escaping me) that allows you to cast spells without minor components for free in the past. This helps too, since the powers come from within. I agree with Darklone, the Energy Substitution feat is a good one for sorcerers.


IMO, a Sorcerer takes a lot more planning than a Wizards, contrary to popular belief. Once you choose a spell, you're stuck with it forever. A Wizard can always research more spells. You need to really think about what you're going to choose when playing a Sorcerer.

BTW, if you don't mind taking a hit on your spellcasting, and playing by a code of ethics, play a Human or Half-Elf, and multi-class in one level of Paladin. Your high CHA should boost your saves quite a bit, which will save your hide many times over. Plus, your first level hit-points should help a lot too!

 

[Stalker0]

There's four main kinds of sorcs I've seen around.

1) One is the blaster/artillery sorc.

2) Two is the illusionist sorc. Why worry about only a few spells when you can just customize the ones you have into anything you need?

3) Shadow sorcs. These are usually when you create a high level game off the bat, or often the path illusion sorcs take at high levels. If you focus on upping your spell saves, you basically get a whole lot of the effect that wizards get.

4) Enchantment sorc. Goes around a town and enlists the people to do whatever he needs

I've seen all of the molds work preety welll, and I think they are all interesting. In my mind, the sorc does alright.

 

[Grog]

The main advantage of the sorceror is the ability to cast spells without preparation, not the number of spells. After all, a specialist wizard only gets 1 less spell per level than a sorceror.

 

[Chroma]

Third time's the charm...

PS: If you do play a sorcerer, don't take charm person, that spell never works.

I hope that was sarcasm... *laugh*

Our party's sorceror is all about Enchantments... the few that there are. Chr 18, with Spell Focus: Enchantment, plus various charms and suggestions *prevents* a lot of fights... throw in Alter Self and you've got a one man super-spy agency. Which is what our slightly over-weight, highly personable Str 8 sorceror is all about.

Very scary.