Just how different are Sorcerers and Wizards?

[Barnacleez]

I have been struggling with this issue as of late. It started when a Wizard in my party wanted the Sorcerer to scribe some of the spells he know so the Wizard could copy them into his spell book.

Let us assume (for whatever reason) a Sorcerer takes the Scribe scroll feat.

Technically I am not sure if I should argue against the Wizard or not. However nothing in the book says Sorcerers know "the universal arcane language that wizards have discovered" (phb 155).

What exatly is a Sorcerer writing down when he scribes a scroll? It seems to me that they would write "Direct raw power, will it to form fireball and attack orcs/innocent villagers/fellow party members/etc."

One the Sorcerer writes this down, will it make any sense at all to the mage? Is the Sorcerer writing in the "universal arcane language"?

 

[kreynolds]

Yup. You could house rule differently though.

 

[Crothian]

The Feat allows him to make scrolls, and all arcane scrolls are in this Universal Arcane language. Also, since sorcerers can use scrolls, they must be able to understand this arcane language to successfuly cast the spell from the scroll.

As it is there is not much difference between Wizards and sorcerers mechanically.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Actually, the scrolls aren't in the "universal arcane language." Even wizards can't understand each others' scrolls and spellbooks by default.

That being said, however, it's just as easy for a wizard to understand a sorceror-scribed scroll as a wizard-scribed scroll. He has to decipher it either by casting Read Magic or making a spellcraft check.

I think of the scroll as storing arcane energy (either structured by instict or by learning). Anyone proficient in wielding arcane energy can make use of the spells scribed onto the scroll (although if the energy is more complex (ie. higher level) than they're used to handling, there's a chance that they won't manage to control it and it will fail. A wizard can also tear apart the arcane energy structures on the scroll bit by bit in order to understand them and record how to replicate them. That's what he does when he scribes a scroll into his spellbook. (And it's why he destroys the scroll in the process).