Request for alternate sorcerer sources

[Gaiden]

As the title says, I am looking for alternate sorcerers. As I am sure has been discussed time and time again, the sorcerer is not distinct enough from the wizard for me. I am working on designing my own but would like to see what others have come up with. Right now I am toying with the idea of giving eschew materials as a bonus feat at first level, removing the familiar, requiring an ancestral bloodline (possibly draconic) from UA, and giving an ability I call metamagic mastery at 4th level which essentially allows the oppositive effect of a metamagic feat to be applied and reduce the spell level accordingly.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

 

[Fieari]

If you look a little bit down in this very forum, you'll see a thread called something like "Core class compilation thread" or something like that, in which is posted, I think, exactly what you are looking for.

I will start off the festivities with this.

The PDF version of the Lineage Sorcerer work-in-progress to date is located at: http://home.rochester.rr.com/khaalisrealm/

Discussed at: http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=82388

I have MANY other classes and PHB Variants that I may post in time.

I followed the devolpment of this sorc variant very closely. It started out with the same complaint you just made, and then fixes it. Perfectly. I'm about to play as a 5th level Magical Family Lineage Sorcerer with a specialization in Abjuration, although Child of Fire Lineage was looking pretty nice.

Basically, you can think of the Lineage Sorc. Variant as borrowing the domain concept from priests. There's a basic flow that all sorcs follow, but depending on the lineage, what you get is very different. It's all full of quite a bit of flavor. Additionally, the power level of the class is raised -slightly- in order to compensate for its weaknesses better. Anyone who's played enough will be able to notice that the sorcerer just doesn't cut it compared to other classes... and in fact, most people who know the rules well only take a few levels in the SRD sorc in order to fufill PrC requirements, like for Dragon Disciple or whatever.

This varient adds incentive to go all the way to lvl20 as a sorc. It makes being a sorc more useful, more survivable, and most importantly, more interesting. I mean, it's just GUSHING with flavor, and the way they work is instantly distinguishable from wizards at a glance. Just starting with being able to eschew material components for free for components under 1gp, and being able to burn XP instead of materials for more expensive spells does that, but then you add in eminating a magical aura if someone casts detect magic on you, slowly gaining a spell-like ability or two, and the lineage benefits... and at level 20 transforming yourself into something else, like an outsider or a dragonic humanoid or an elemental or something...

Well, as you can see, I'm quite happy with this varient, and use it in place of the original in my games.

 

[Khaalis]

Well, while I love the previous post (Thanks for all the great comments!) and feel all warm and fuzzy from the praise (especially since I thought my creation died a while ago…), I will also add that the Sticky at the top of this thread “Links to Classes and Races in this forum” by craftyrat has the following list of alternate sorcerers that have appeared on the boards in the recent past. All of them are good in their own right, each with strengths, weaknesses and personal flavors.

Sorcerers
Geron Raveneye http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=89627
Gez http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=65135
Khaalis http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=82388
Liquidsabre http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=78456
RaZZer99 http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=86380
Thanee http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=86309

I'm about to play as a 5th level Magical Family Lineage Sorcerer with a specialization in Abjuration, although Child of Fire Lineage was looking pretty nice.

Please post some comments to the sorcerer thread once you have tested it. I know a lot of people downloaded it but I have yet to see any actual playtest comments. This is one of my favorite lineages, along with the Gypsy and Tarot. I personally prefer the ones that are very campaign specific, very flavorful ones, versus the broadly generic ones such as draconic lineage.

Basically, you can think of the Lineage Sorc. Variant as borrowing the domain concept from priests. There's a basic flow that all sorcs follow, but depending on the lineage, what you get is very different. It's all full of quite a bit of flavor.

Keep in mind also, that while the document is quite long, the class itself is no longer than the existing class. All of the additional “Samples” of lineages and the 'Variant Rules' are what takes up the excess space. Also keep in mind that they are just “Samples” that were created to show the basic template for how lineages should be constructed. There are still other possibilities to be created, and not all listed possibilities may work for a given campaign.

Additionally, the power level of the class is raised -slightly- in order to compensate for its weaknesses better. Anyone who's played enough will be able to notice that the sorcerer just doesn't cut it compared to other classes... and in fact, most people who know the rules well only take a few levels in the SRD sorc in order to fufill PrC requirements, like for Dragon Disciple or whatever. This varient adds incentive to go all the way to lvl20 as a sorc. It makes being a sorc more useful, more survivable, and most importantly, more interesting.

This is unfortunately too true. I have also noticed a few threads on the General Discussion board as well with people complaining that the only real use the Sorcerer sees, is as an NPC enemy spell hurler so that the DM has a vast arsenal of spells to cast at the party, and upon defeat doesn’t have to worry about the spellbook falling into the party Wizard’s hands. As Fieari states above, the biggest problem with the core Sorcerer is there is No incentive to remain in the class rather than taking any available “+1 level of existing caster class” oriented PrC. I tried to create something that would at least give people pause before abandoning the class.

And again, thanks for the compliments and glowing review Fieari! Mind posting it to the Sorcerer thread??

 

[Gaiden]

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to everyone. Thanks for the replies. I did check out almost all of the links and have a 1st draft of my alternate sorcerer. I am hesitant to post it until I am finished, though (it involves 3 different files - actually 4, if I include my mod's to weapon proficiencies).

What I instead wanted to do was get some feedback on what everyone thought formed the crux of the sorcerer class.

I noticed several common features built into the various alternate sorcerer classes. I wish I was more fluent in creating polls because one with multiple possible selections would be perfect for what information I am seeking.

The question, then, is what do you think ought to be class features of the sorcerer. The commonalities I saw, and that I am looking for opinions on, were these:

Eschew Materials - almost every single version had this as a bonus feature at 1st level. Moreover, almost all went beyond the 3.5 feat to include that expensive material components instead cost 1/25th of their price in experience. IIRC, that is Monte Cook's version of Eschew Materials.

Bloodline - many of the alterations (but not all) incorporated the flavor text in the sorcerer class (RAW) and incorporated them into class abilities. The flavor text just talks about dragon blood, but there was also a Dragon article that introduced bloodline feats that expanded upon this to include other types of heritage (celestial, elemental, fey, etc.). Some of the variations also followed the Unearthed arcana ancestral bloodline abilities working them into the class.

Magic Sensitivity - another commanility was the ability to sense magic innately. Sometimes this worked out to having detect magic as a spell like ability, sometimes it worked more like the sensitive feat in Arcana Unearthed.

Lack of a Familiar - almost all alternate sorcerers I saw eliminated this as a class feature.

Overchannel - some called it mainline, some burn, some overchanneling. The clearest explanation is the channeling ability detailed in Wheel of Time - you cast a spell with more power than you could normally handle possibly at the risk of injury to yourself and others. This could take the form of increased CL, SP, DC, or SL (usually for metamagic).

Wizard progression of bonus feats - instead of gaining a bonus feat for use with item creation or metamagic, the sorcerer's bonus feats (at 5th, 10th, etc.) were limited to metamagic.

Increased survivability - this usually took the form of modifying the basic numbers of the class either in the form of increased HD to d6, increase in skill points to 4+int/level, and/or additional weapon/armor proficiencies possibly including a martial weapon.

Spontaneous metamagic - variations on reducing the casting time of a metamagicked spell from a full round action to a standard action.

 

[Nellisir]

My plan at the moment is to use Unearthed Arcana's battle sorcerer as the "core" sorcerer (d8 hp, cleric BAB, -1 spells per day, -1 spells known) but add in domains (1 spell/spell level; +1 dedicated spell slot per day; domain spells added to known spells). I'll probably use some version of Eschew Materials (does anyone have an OGL source for the more complete version?), move the Summon Familiar ability up a few levels + enhance the familiars somewhat, and...add a few bonus feats? Not sure yet.

Cheers
Nell.