Sorcerer: why the qualification in available spells?

[Nagol]

Sorcerers have never seen much play in any games I've run or played. After a bloodbath in my current campaign, a player has decided to try the class.

Something caught his eye and we're trying to see if there is a game effect that my group has missed, if it's an artefact of a early design that got cut, or just odd wording.

The Sorcerer class is the only class with the available spell lists description to contain a qualifier:

A sorcerer casts arcane spells which are drawn primarily from the sorcerer/wizard spell list.

Constrast this with the Bard and the Wizard:

A bard casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the bard spell list.

A wizard casts arcane spells which are drawn from the sorcerer/ wizard spell list.

So why the qualification `primarily`? All the other spellcasting classes are quite explicit.

If it matters, we`re playing core 3.5 D&D, but I`m willing to look at later material if there is a clarification. I`ve tried both the 3.0 FAQ and 3.5 main FAQ without success.

 

[Pinotage]

I believe it's because the sorcerer obtains new spells known through:

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.

Basically the sorcerer's spells known can be arcane spells from other sources as well, such as the bard spell list, at DMs discretion, of course.

Pinotage

 

[Shayuri]

Sorcerors can research new spells that aren't on the list, and learn them. They don't get "extra" spells for doing this though. They can also learn spells in spellbooks and scrolls that are arcane, and that wizards can learn, but that aren't on the standard list. Again, the learned spell takes up one of the standard "known spell" slots. No freebies.

Why doesn't it use the same language for wizards and bards? Carelessness, I imagine. There's certainly no rule, in any product, that allows a standard sorcerer to learn spells from other lists. There are a few Prestige Classes that do, or you can use a feat from Complete Divine to select a Domain that you can then learn spells from. Those aren't unique to sorcery though.

I don't think the use of the word "primarily" really means anything special. Certainly there's no hard data to support such a contention.

Hope this helps.

 

[Aran Thule]

There were a few spells in Races of the Dragon that were Sorc only.
As mentioned above i think its just the way they worded it, use the wizard list or make your own spells.

 

[Jack Simth]

There were a few spells in Races of the Dragon that were Sorc only.
As mentioned above i think its just the way they worded it, use the wizard list or make your own spells.

There's also a handful of Wizard-only spells in Core.

But everywhere else (including the Bard list, which has the same wording under the "gaining new spells" section as the Sorcerer does), there's no qualifier.

 

[Runestar]

I am inclined to believe it was simply creative wording on the writer's part, and they likely did not expect us to interpret it so literally.

Or maybe the sorc could in fact select spells from other lists in early playtests, got changed in the end but the relevant entries were never revised?

 

[Starbuck_II]

My old DM allowed Sorceror to learn other Arcane class spells (this was back before 3.5 splats) so he could learn CLW from Bard.

It wasn't overpowered.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

There's also a handful of Wizard-only spells in Core.

If it was intentional, that is probably the reason they worded it that way.

My old DM allowed Sorceror to learn other Arcane class spells (this was back before 3.5 splats) so he could learn CLW from Bard.

It wasn't overpowered.

Sure, until you start doing things like nabbing Otto's Irresistable Dance at level 6 or raiding the spell lists of 4-level spellcasters like the Assassin...

 

[Nagol]

Thank you for the input.

I thought it was a throw-away line (for whatever reason) and am glad it doesn't seem to have mechanical expression anywhere in the rules.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Sorcerers have never seen much play in any games I've run or played. After a bloodbath in my current campaign, a player has decided to try the class.

I don't know what level the player is going to be, but some notes from my experience.

1st level is fine.
2nd level is the deadest of dead levels. I think you gain 1 extra cantrip!

Up to 6th level, things are pretty hard generally. From 6th level onwards, things start getting very good.

Metamagic is the sorcerers best friend. He'll have plenty of spell slots, probably more than he'll need in most cases, and metamagic like empower is incredibly valuable to him. Still or Silent also.

I'd recommend using the suggested rule from one of the arcane books and allow him to ditch the familiar and instead be able to apply metamagic with no penalty - allowing him to start making use of quicken spell from 10th level onwards.

One of the best spells in terms of survivability for sorcerers is False Life (2nd level). 1d10+level(max 10) temp hp which last a decent length of time - hour per level or something similar. Once 4th level spell slots are available an empowered false life can give you approx 13-27 temp hp for most of the adventuring day, or just top up when you are starting to get low. It might not be the first 2nd level spell taken, but it is incredibly useful for Sorcerers.

Cheers