exile said:
I hate the idea of simply picking the best spells for a sorcerer. I would much rather decide on the origin of the sorcerer and pick spells in line with that. A sorcerer with red dragon lineage should look very different from one with white dragon lineage from fey lineage from infernal lineage. Along these lines, I often think of sorcerers as super heroes with their spell lists representing an evolving power step (i.e. the choice of spells should have a unified theme and higher level spells should represent a natural outgrowth based on lower level spells). Anyone else follow this philosophy when making their sorcerers?
Chad
Absolutely. I have two sorcerers with different backgrounds and builds, so they've got some big differences in their spell lists.
Babette is from the desert and has Brass Dragon Heritage, plus a bunch of other draconic feats. She is a sorc10, going into the Dragonheart Mage PrC. She travelled to a strange land, joined a local army, rose up through the ranks to where she is in charge of her own unit (the PCs) and is an aide to one of the Warlords. Not only did I pick her spells for usefullness, but what seemed appropriate given her station and background.
[sblock=Babette's Spells]
0th-Amanuensis(SC), Detect Magic, Read Magic, Light, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Prestidigitation, Ghost Sound
1st-Protection from Evil, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Feather Fall, Identify
2nd-Baleful Transposition(SC), Mirror Image, Glitterdust, Shatter
3rd-Sound Lance(SC), Phantasmal Steed, Dragonskin(SC)
4th-Evard's Black Tentacles, Voice of the Dragon(SC)
5th-Form of the Desert Hunter(PH2?)[/sblock]
Angus is going to be played in a fairly silly game. He is a Dwarven Gish(F4/S2/AbChp5/EK2) who is also a pirate. When choosing his spells I kept in mind what would be useful for a pirate onboard a ship, as well as spells that were somewhat "Dwarfy."
[sblock=Angus' Spells]
0th-Detect Poison, Detect Magic, Light, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Mending, Prestidigitationj, Read Magic
1st-Shield, Grease, Magic Missile, Jump, Mage Armor
2nd-Glitterdust, See Invisibility, Whirling Blade(SC)
3rd-Gr. Mighty Wallop(RotD), Giant's Wrath(SC)
4th-Call of Stone(CM?)[/sblock]
They do have some spells in common, either because they are so gosh darn useful, or because I just like it. Neither one is optimized, but they get the job done and I enjoy playing them. And that's all that really matters.