Sorcerer Variant

[Brother Richard]

I have always thought sorcerers underpowered. However, please do not argue this on this thread. The main reason for this sorcerer is to add flavor to the class and to give a reason to not take a PrC. The main question i have is whether the level 20 ability is overpowered even when considering all the things the sorcerer has lost. i would like input on this class please and I thank you in advance for your input. (By the way, i am also aware this drastically changes the flavor of the sorcerer, but i believe it is much more interesting)














SORCERER
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d6.

Class Skills
The sorcerer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy(Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Table: The Sorcerer
——––———————Spells per Day—————————
Level Base Attack
Bonus Fort
Save Ref
Save Will
Save Special 01st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
1st +0 5 2 — — — — — — — —
2nd +1 6 3 — — — — — — — —
3rd +1 6 3 — — — — — — — —
4th +2 6 4 2 — — — — — — —
5th +2 6 4 3 — — — — — — —
6th +3 6 5 3 2 — — — — — —
7th +3 6 5 4 3 — — — — — —
8th +4 6 5 4 3 2 — — — — —
9th +4 6 5 5 4 3 — — — — —
10th +5 6 5 5 4 3 2 — — — —
11th +5 6 5 5 5 4 3 — — — —
12th +6/+1 6 5 5 5 4 3 2 — — —
13th +6/+1 6 5 5 5 4 4 3 — — —
14th +7/+2 6 5 5 5 4 4 3 2 — —
15th +7/+2 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 3 — —
16th +8/+3 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 3 2 —
17th +8/+3 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 —
18th +9/+4 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 2
19th +9/+4 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 2
20th +10/+5 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 2

Table: Sorcerer Spells Known
———————— Spells Known —–———————
Level 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
1st 4 2 — — — — — — — —
2nd 5 2 — — — — — — — —
3rd 5 3 — — — — — — — —
4th 6 3 1 — — — — — — —
5th 6 4 2 — — — — — — —
6th 7 4 2 1 — — — — — —
7th 7 5 3 2 — — — — — —
8th 8 5 3 2 1 — — — — —
9th 8 5 4 3 2 — — — — —
10th 9 5 4 3 2 1 — — — —
11th 9 5 5 4 3 2 — — — —
12th 9 5 5 4 3 2 1 — — —
13th 9 5 5 4 4 3 2 — — —
14th 9 5 5 4 4 3 2 1 — —
15th 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 2 — —
16th 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 2 1 —
17th 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 2 —
18th 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 2 1
19th 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 2
20th 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 3

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the sorcerer.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Sorcerers are proficient with all simple weapons. They are not proficient with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a sorcerer’s gestures, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail.
Spells: A sorcerer casts arcane spells which are drawn primarily from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, the way a wizard or a cleric must (see below).
To learn or cast a spell, a sorcerer must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a sorcerer’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the sorcerer’s Charisma modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a sorcerer can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Sorcerer. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score.
A sorcerer’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A sorcerer begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of your choice. At each new sorcerer level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: Sorcerer Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a sorcerer knows is not affected by his Charisma score; the numbers on Table: Sorcerer Spells Known are fixed.) These new spells can be common spells chosen from the sorcerer/wizard spell list, or they can be unusual spells that the sorcerer has gained some understanding of by study. The sorcerer can’t use this method of spell acquisition to learn spells at a faster rate, however.
Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered sorcerer level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a sorcerer can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the sorcerer “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level sorcerer spell the sorcerer can cast. A sorcerer may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.
Unlike a wizard or a cleric, a sorcerer need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his spells per day for that spell level. He does not have to decide ahead of time which spells he’ll cast.
Sorcerers use the magical esper infused within them to cast spells and therefore all of their spells re spell-like abilities and are to be treated as such. However, due to this, any spell that requires experience may not be used by a sorcerer.
Infused Resistance: A sorcerer is infused with espers, which give them their mystic powers. The espers were sentient in life and maintain semi-sentience inside the sorcerer’s body. These beings reinforce the sorcerers ability to resist and dodge abilities. A sorcerer gains a bonus to all saves equal to his/her charisma bonus.
Magic Absorption: The arcane nature of the espers infused inside a sorcerer allow the sorcerer to be able to sometimes absorb spell affects to gain arcane might. A sorcerer gains spell resistance constitution bonus + sorcerer level + 5. If a spell is targeted at a sorcerer, the sorcerer may resist it with his/her spell resistance. If a spell is resisted, the sorcerer gains a spell slot equivalent to the level of the spell absorbed. If the spell is above the maximum spell slot the sorcerer can cast, the sorcerer gains a spell slot of the highest spell slot he/she can cast, but he/she is overwhelmed by the magic and takes one constitution damage for every spell level over the spell level the sorcerer can cast.
Magic Aura: A sorcerer always appears magical under a detect magic spell due to his/her magical composition. A sorcerer only gains this when he/she has awakened his/her espers from dormancy.
Minor Multi-Sentience: Due to the sentience inside a sorcerer, he/she may make a move action after accomplishing a full-round action.
Multi-Sentience: The sentience grows in strength and is able to allow a sorcerer to make two move actions and a standard action each round.
Major Multi-Sentience: The sentience has grown to its most powerful point, and therefore a sorcerer can use two standard actions in one round if the sorcerer does not take a move action.


I just pasted onto enworld, and I know the charts do not look good. I am sorry, but I am too inept to fix it.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I just pasted onto enworld, and I know the charts do not look good. I am sorry, but I am too inept to fix it.

If you want to make it look a bit nicer (and easier to read), use '[' and ']' around 'CODE' to begin a table/chart, then the same brackets around '/CODE' at the end of it (i.e., the same as quoting something, but using CODE instead of QUOTE) - just don't put in the apostrophes, of course.

You might need a few goes to get it just right, but it's a handy thing to get the hang of.

In CODE tags, each character (including a space) takes up the same amount of room as any other. This makes it a bit easier to work out. Here's an example of how the first bit of your alt.sorc table would look this way (with a bit of rearranging):

Table: The Sorcerer

       Base Attack  Fort  Ref   Will                          Spells per Day
Level  Bonus        Save  Save  Save  Special                 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
1st    +0           +0    +0    +2    Infused Resistance      5  2   —   —   —   —   —   —   —   —

Hope that helps.

Some people prefer to just paste tables in or type them up (sans CODE), using full stops (periods) in succession because they also create uniform spacing. Another option, is all.

 

[Arkhandus]

Hrm. Well, for one thing, your chart is missing the actual base saving throw bonuses it seems, and doesn't indicate at what levels the sorcerer gains which class features.

Secondly, you need to clarify Multi-Sentience and Major Multi-Sentience. How exactly do they work? It seems that M-S allows the sorcerer to take a total of 1 standard action and 2 move actions in a round (and a standard action normally includes a move action within itself, along with something else like casting a '1-action' spell or making a single attack). MM-S seems to change that around just a bit to where the sorcerer gets 2 standard actions in a round, but doesn't get the usual free move-action from one of those standard actions (but still gets the free move-action included in the other standard action). At least this is what it seems to be saying to me, so if that's not what you mean it to say, then it needs rewording.

Thirdly, your lines in the Proficiencies section need altering. Since your sorcerer uses spell-like abilities, his magic does not require normal components (thus no gestures, incantations, materials, or the like are needed, unlike normal spells, per the rules for spell-like abilities). Arcane Spell Failure is nothing to your sorcerer, a silly hindrance only suffered by wizards and bards as far as he's concerned.

Fourthly, your sorcerer is rather too powerful as-written, if you're not boosting all other class' features moderately at the same time. In exchange for merely taking away the Familiar and a few spells known/per day, you're giving the sorcerer more skill points, more hit points, extremely potent Spell Resistance (not only a good SR value but also giving them more spell slots effectively), extra actions to use for spellcasting and movement (aka self-preservation) despite the fact that 3.5 rules purposely removed nearly all extra-action effects (and primarily due to the spellcasting boon of extra partial actions from the old version of Haste), a significant boost on all saving throws, and the benefit that your sorcerer's spells are actually spell-like abilities (thus immune to counterspelling and some other stuff, such as Arcane Spell Failure, Silence spells, Hold Person/other-sorts-of-paralysis spells (IIRC, they don't prevent mental actions), or the stealing of one's Spell Component Pouch/expensive-material-component-bag. It also means they don't need to bother with expensive components (though your restriction against XP-costing spells has some minor effect in limiting the sorcerer from particularly nasty spells, like Wish, Permanency, and suchlike).

Fifthly, and this one's just a flavor/roleplay point, it doesn't seem to make sense in roleplaying terms why the sorcerer has poor physical abilities (base attack, hit points, lack of bonus feats, etc.) when all he seems to do for his magic is to bind an esper within himself, and then proceed to force that esper into working magic at the sorcerer's will. Although from a game mechanics perspective it would be absurdly overpowered to give the class good physical abilities, the description doesn't make much sense from a roleplay perspective. And how come the sorcerer could only use so much of the esper's magic on any given day? What if the esper actually likes the sorcerer and is willing to use more of its magic on the sorcerer's behalf? As mentioned, these are only roleplaying concerns, and only mean that I would find it hard to understand the class in-character or the like. In the core rules at least, sorcerers need to actually learn some magic stuff in order to access and cast their spells (needing to learn the verbal and somatic components for instance, whereas your sorcerer just uses spell-like abilities which require nothing of the sort).

Just pointing things out that come to mind, no ill will intended, mind you.

 

[Li Shenron]

The spell resistance, casting spells as spell-like abilities (which means all silenced/stilled), the ST bonuses, the larger HD and more skill points should be already enough of a boost.

I suggest you get rid of the absorption ability and the "multi sentience".

If you don't, at least you have to describe the latter in a better and more precise way, or it may be a pain in practice.

 

[Brother Richard]

Thank You

I will try to fix it but have decided that I cannot present it well here so I shall fix it on my own. I may eventually show the new one on a different thread.

 

[Thanee]

Wow! You must have a really low opinion of the core sorcerer then.

That class is completely unbalanced, I'm afraid.

The SR is already very good (this level of SR is worth an LA +1 all by itself); absorbing spell energy is a nice idea for compensating for the fewer spells per day, but might backfire maybe. And why does it work on spells and not on spell-like abilities (not that this would be a good idea... )?

The spells as spell-like abilities is also very powerful (grapple immunity, silence immunity, armor can be worn freely, etc).

Also... why disallow XP spells (just have them cost XP as normal, and everything is good)? And what about costly material components?

The multi-sentience ability is completely broken (BTW, it doesn't say when these abilities are gained, or does it?).

Also, with the added flavor you limit the class much more than the original class, as it now only works with a fraction of the concepts. But ok, it's the reason why you did this in the first place, because you dislike the flavor attached to sorcerers (don't say there is none, there is plenty! ).

Some nice ideas, but that still needs a lot of work before it can be called balanced.

Bye
Thanee

P.S. Just seperating the paragraphs by adding some extra lines would help a great deal in reading that.

 

[Rhun]

I'm going to have to add my voice to the chorus that your variant is considerably overpowered. The flavor isn't bad, but you should definitely look at bringing it back in line with the Wizard (which was already somewhat balanced with the current sorcerer).