Sorcerers in your game

[Thanee]

Their additional spells are hardly any suffice for their narrow (very narrow indeed) spell selection, not to even mention that they are a level behind wizards in gaining new spell levels. I suppose if you are playing in a big party, and already have a wizard, that a sorcerer used as artillery with fireballs and such would be fair enough... but when do you really play with 8+ people parties?

Dunno, my sorceress is in a party of 4 (sometimes 5) with a bard as the only other arcane caster (for a long time at least, now one character has been replaced by a mystic theurge).

She easily filled the arcane slot and did a lot more than fireballing (in fact, the only evocation spell she has now is Magic Missile ).

I'd say, that she is definitely on the top end of usefulness for the party.

Sorcerers are even more restricted than psions

Yeah, that's really saying something...

(which, in my opinion, were severly weakened in 3.5, in a bad way)

Uhh... right! Did you maybe get the wrong book?

Bye
Thanee

 

[The Grackle]

I don't use the spell component rules anyway. They suck.

Word.

 

[swrushing]

Hey all,

In your campaign, do sorcerers need material components to cast spells?

not running a game currently but when i was yes they did need material components. it wasn't a huge thing. MC rarely play a role, unless they cost bucks.

So, if your goal is to increase diversity and differentiation between wiz and sor, you best look to making a change which would be felt and seen more in play. this one would be missed more often than not in the wash of things.

Some possibilities i have considered for diversifying the spell casters...

Make "components to cast a spell" a feature of CLASS not of the spell. Basically whether you need verbal or somantic or mundane material bits is defined by your spell casting style and your class. For example, you could let wizards be normally "needs VSM for all spells" and let sorcerers be "needs only V for all spells BUT can never get rid of the V by silent spell etc" and make sorcerers into "spell singers" while wizards remain "study mages".

Divide magic feats between the guys, maybe allowing item feats only to wizards while restricting "component feats" like silent spell still spell and eschew materials to sorcerers, emphasizing that the sorcerers magic is internal and instinctive cannot be shuffled into an item but the wizard's magic is rigidly defined and cannot be done without ALL the proper whistles and bangs.

Give sorcerers UMD skill as a class skill and at the same time remove their ability to use "spell trigger" and "spell compltetion" items other than by use of UMD skill checks, again for the notion of internal magic vs external magic.

Deny item feats to sorcerers AND possibly remove their item use abilities as described above BUT add in feats gained say every 5 levels keyed to "origin" including a "dragon born" feat tree, an infernal feat tree, a celestial feat tree and any other "sorcerer power source" trees you feel appropriate to your campaign.

 

[MonsterMash]

Personally I'm thinking of amending my campaign houserules to give Sorcerors Eschew Materials as a free bonus feat at 1st level, I do think that Wizard is otherwise a little bit more powerful.

 

[the Lorax]

Since before Monte put out his sorcerer, I've used an Eschew Materials and if the GP value is over 1 then the Sorcerer must spent 1/25th the gp value in XPs. This is not a choice of the Sorcerer, he may not choose to use the expensive material components, he must spend the xps.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I give sorcerers eschew materials & UMD as a class skill. Both make sense thematically & have little impact powerwise; in fact UMD gives a slight incentive to remain single classed which otherwise there is only once class feature sacrificed by PrC'ing.

 

[ecliptic]

I increased their hit points to d6.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Yes, I've House Ruled sorcerers to receive Eschew Materials at 1st-level. As was pointed out, it doesn't negate material components that actually cost money, and since I have never--nor ever intend to--robbed a wizard of his component pouch, it really has zero mechanical effect on the game.

For the most part, I just like the differentiation. Wizards use special materials and arcane symbols to bend magic to their wills. Sorcerers use pure strength of will, and an innate understanding of the forces they're trying to manipulate. No touchstones required.

In my campaign, arcane casters (wizards, sorcerers, and even bards caught spellcasting,) are often persecuted, and occasionally burned at the stake. So there is also an RP advantage to not having to carry around a component pouch.

 

[Buttercup]

I've got a custom sorcerer that is an amalgam of the one found in Book of Eldritch Might II and some ideas kicked around in the house rules forum here.

D6 hit die, Eschew Materials, and Detect Magic at will as a class ability. Knowledge (Arcana) is *not* a class skill. All reflect the visceral, untrained nature of their powers. I also give the class more cantrips known, because I think they add a great deal of flavor and increase the class's utility without unbalancing it.

This is the second campaign in which I've used it, and so far it hasn't caused any problems. But then, my players aren't power gamers.

 

[DragonLancer]

When I ran my first 3.0 campaigns back when 3rd was first released, we did play as sorcerers not needing components unless they had a gp cost. We found that it didn't make them any more powerful or overshadow the wizard class.

These days we play them as using components for no other reason than its in the corebook and we don't want to deviate too far from that.