making the most of my sorcerer

[Dandu]

Monk is still a martial class, Danny boy.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yes, Monk is a martial class, but it is one with a very limited list of weapon proficiencies (like the aforementioned Battle Sorcerer) and that gets bonus feats that work with specific weapons only, if at all (IOW, weapons that increase your successes or reduce failures with trips or disarms). The PHB monk is proficient in no melee weapon that deals more than 1d6, and only its Hvy Xbow does more than 1d8. They can't even use the magical spear I mentioned above.

Weapon lists get better for Monks the more sources you add- Oriental Adventures & Rokugan sourcebooks, DCv1, various FR sourcebooks and even some of the 3PP weapon books add several- but few, as I recall, add any of the feats that boost the impact of those weapons (the laundry list of Ftr Feats, like Weap Finesse/Focus/Specialization, the PowAtt feat tree, etc.).

Things get even more directed away from weapons when you consider that only a subset of the monk's weapon list are usable with its characteristic feature, FoB, and their unarmed strikes outpace most of their weapons' potential.

 

[FoxWander]

I play a chaotic good sorcerer within a group tending towards chaos where a dwarf barbarian rushes into battle as the typical battle "strategy" (not that it is surprising) well before any spells that can control the battlefield, have large area effects, set up illusions, or target specific enemies are cast? Any ideas on how to play as a sorcerer without collateral team damage that would tick them off? Or is this a matter of roleplaying? Would having strategy be for more lawful characters? Should I simply play chaotically? Not stupid or careless, necessarily.

Also, is there any better ways to improve my ability to engage in melee...or do I simply not want to do this? Should I take a level of rogue, and get sneak attack so that I can use my touch attacks and ranged touch attacks to a better degree. Or should I keep all my attack spells ranged.

If it's just the dwarf rushing into combat and getting in the way of your spells- consider investing in some Spellguard Rings (from Complete Mage). For 4K gold the dwarf would be completely immune to any spell you cast 3x a day. The book's example shows casting fireball into melee, but technically it would also include evard's black tentacles, cloudkill, or even anti-magic shell! Lots of tactics you could pull off with that trick up your sleeve.

 

[Mark1733]

Thanks for the spellguard ring suggestion...that may work well.