Preview: The Sorcerer

[Shroomy]

2.The usage of Str/Dex feels... tacked on to me, for whatever reason. Still, it's easy enough to change them to Con/Int, respectively.

Sorcerer's cast spells through sheer force of will and raw physicality, so Charisma, Strength, and Dexterity make perfect sense as attributes IMO.

 

[Drakhar]

Sorcerer's cast spells through sheer force of will and raw physicality, so Charisma, Strength, and Dexterity make perfect sense as attributes IMO.

As far as attributes I find that Cha, Dex and Con would make more sense for Sorcerers. I do think however that for fighters wanting an arcane flavor, as well as AoE spells, they'll most likely Multiclass into Sorc instead of Wizard now, especially with the focus on Close blasts/bursts.

 

[Zaukrie]

Shroomy, I'd like both

Something is missing for me. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but they still overlap too much for me. I'll put more thought into and fork a thread (maybe) later.

 

[wedgeski]

Instead of giving the class the random +1 AC and random save, I’d just give them a flat +1 AC vs. ranged and ranged area attacks (call it entropic shield), and give them a power that lets them make a saving throw as a minor action twice per encounter. These abilities would be much easier to build into the character sheet and to keep track of, and from a tactical standpoint, you'd get to use them when you want to instead of at a random time.

Yes but that would have drained all flavour from those abilities. The Chaos Sorcerer is an unpredictable quantity, and for players that like that style of play (that'll be me putting my hand up) this build is going to be great fun.

 

[lutecius]

Yet another elemental blaster, good option for dragonborn and another charisma based arcane striker. yawn:

Now I see what they meant by sorcerers being too similar to wizards and warlocks to be included in PHB1. They didn’t try very hard to make it otherwise in PHB2 either.

Wild sorcerer looks a bit more interesting, mechanically, but nowhere as distinct as the 3e variants.

I anticipate a rush of Halfling and Drow wild sorcerers.

I see Sorcs becoming one of the most racially focused classes.

hmm… dps dark elf sorcerers with chaos magic?
OMG! dnd is becoming warhammer online!!!

2.The usage of Str/Dex feels... tacked on to me, for whatever reason. Still, it's easy enough to change them to Con/Int, respectively.

Sorcerer's cast spells through sheer force of will and raw physicality, so Charisma, Strength, and Dexterity make perfect sense as attributes IMO.

Well, I don’t think BDS questioned Charisma. And Constitution is as good a measure of raw physicality as Strength. I believe the reason the designers chose Str & Dex as secondary stats over Con & Int was to reinforce the dragonborn connection and make the sorcerer somewhat different from warlock. Afaic though, they’re not distinct enough to justify a whole new class. New warlock pacts would have done the trick.

I think Wis would have made more sense than Int. I see chaos magic as something intuitive, something you feel rather than understand.

Yes but that would have drained all flavour from those abilities. The Chaos Sorcerer is an unpredictable quantity, and for players that like that style of play (that'll be me putting my hand up) this build is going to be great fun.

Yes, I think this is the only thing that makes sorcerer relevant as a separate class.

 

[Nebulous]

Yes, I think this is the only thing that makes sorcerer relevant as a separate class.

From the little i've seen, i have to agree with this. There seems to be a whole lot of overlap, and this is one of the few things that stands out as "different."

 

[arscott]

Maybe it's just me, but the sorcerer seems like it's only half a striker.

When originally defining strikers, the designers focused on two things: High damage, and Maneuvering.

Sure there are some close blasts in there, but that's about it. The +Str/dex to damage is an always-on thing.

Compare that to the rogue, who must position himself to gain combat advantage, or the warlock and ranger, who are forced to maneuver to make best use of their prime shot, quarry, and curse abilities.

(That's why I'm surprised by folks who suggest that this class might be hard for beginners. This is like the fighter from previous editions. The even/odd thing might get forgotten, but not as often or as consequentially as combat challenge is.)

 

[deleteme123456]

A dragon sorcerer may be easier to play than a wild sorcerer, so that's a reasonable point, arscott, but at the same time, I think the dragon sorc really wants to get up in your face and blast enemies, and knowing how to position yourself and launch a blast that hits a couple enemies without hitting allies is not easy at all.

 

[arscott]

I was thinking more that the wild sorcerer is easier than the dragon sorcerer.

No close blasts, so you can stay back (apparently at better range than the warlock even). And the effects of your powers are so random that you're not really making much in the way of tactical choices. You just chuck a chaos orb in their general direction and hope it does what it's supposed to.

 

[pawsplay]

Sounds like the settled in the archetypal sorcerer being a wild mage or a draconic heritage sorcerer. What strikes me about his preview is how much the end result resembles a 3.5 Warmage. So many energy damage powers, lots of secondary effects. As for the dagger thing, apart from convenience, it makes thematic sense as an athame (ritual dagger), associated with everything from neopaganism to cultists from Conan stories.