The "Everything Sorcerer" Thread

Comments on spell list/feats.

0 - Daze, Flare, Ray of Frost, Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Mage Hand, Light, Disrupt Undead, Message

-- Cantrips rarely have a huge impact on play, but I might switch Daze with Prestidigitation. Darn useful spell, that. Replaces a pouch full of ordinary equipment.

1 - Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement, Shield OR Mage Armor, Sleep ->True Strike, Grease

-- Sleep is beyond useless. I recommend Color Spray instead. True Strike is of limited use for a sorceror, since you can't quicken it. Grease, however, is an unsung giant of spells, and is highly recommended.

2 - Glitterdust OR Blindness/Deafness, Scorching Ray, Invisiblity -> See Invisibility, Touch of Idiocy, Alter Self

-- Glitterdust is much better than Blindness/Deafness in most situations (unless you're fighting Destrachan or something). Touch of Idiocy is questionable, as is any spell that requires a touch. Unless you plan to use your familiar (which is muy risky). Consider False Life. Those temp hit points can REALLY save your bacon, and the duration is excellently long. Also, if you decide to ditch Greater Invis (below), consider regular Invisibility.

3 - Fireball, Dispel Magic -> Displacement, Haste, Slow

-- I might suggest Protection from Energy instead of Slow. You really need something to guard against enemy area blasties, or you -will- get cooked.

4 - Greater Invisibility, Polymorph, Dimension Door, Enervation OR Unluck (CA)

-- Strong choices. You might consider subbing Greater Invis with Black Tentacles. Great area effect control spell. Hoses enemy casters and makes the going slow even for those tough enough to beat the grapples.

5 - Wall of Force, Teleport -> Feeblemind, Break Enchantment, Cone of Cold

-- We suggest Greater Blink instead of Break Enchantment. Cone of Cold kinda bites, but it is an alternate energy type than the Empowered Fireball (which does superior damage at most levels), which is nice. Oh, and you can skimp on TP if you're getting Greater TP. I can see you're planning on swapping it, but honestly I'd just take Feeblemind first on general principle. Of course, YMMV. If you need rapid transit more than a caster buster, then TP may be the way to go.

6 - Greater Dispel Magic, Disintergrate, Chain Lightning OR True Seeing

-- True Seeing has that pesky expensive component cost. Chain Lightning isn't terribly good for damage, but it's nice and selective, and is, again, a new energy type. Varying energy types = Good.

7 - Greater Teleport, Spell Turning, Power Word Blind

-- As a rule, I'm not terribly happy with the PW series. Especially at high levels, they're not terribly hard to defend against, and have questionably useful results. Really....a 7th level spell just to blind someone? Finger of Death is 7th level! And a decent replacement choice. :) But honestly, the best thing to swap PW:B out for is Limited Wish. Spency in exp terms (well, a little spency), but it will save your sorcerous butt when you need it most.

8 - Horrid Wilting, Maze OR Moment of Prescience, Polar Ray

- Horrid Wilting is a strong choice. Selective and hard to defend against. I'm not too impressed with Maze...Moment of Prescience gives you a one-shot 'screw you' to an attacker as you negate that one lucky attack roll, or make that one all-important save when you REALLY need it. Polar Ray isn't worth the price of admission IMO. As was mentioned by another poster...a Summon Monster spell here can bring in a celestial or fiendish DIRE BEAR. Other possibilities: Mind Blank (REALLY good defense spell, with an awesome duration!), Greater Shout (sonic damage hard to block), Greater Planar Binding, or, surprise of surprisess, Screen. Using Screen you can conceal passage, fight unevenly the whole party long...it's boss. Neat.

9 - Meteor Swarm, Wish, Prismatic Sphere OR Wail of the Banshee

-- Wish, with it's 5000exp tag, can be a bit spency. Meteor Swarm, since you can direct it at someone, to deny them anihilae,. Oversppel coin
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Infiniti2000 said:
Only on damage dealing spells. Empower is completely useless in many situations. Heighten is almost never useless and frequently as good or better than empower (for sorcerers), particularly with the changes to spell focus and greater spell focus.
I must admit, I prefer the "blaster" type sorceror, so damage is the prime theme. Other spells are for buffing, defense and transportation. I dislike the "negates" effect of offensive spells that don't deal damage...

Maybe I should "broaden" my perspective... :)
 

Thanee said:
More damage, bigger area, much higher range.

Bye
Thanee

I hadn't considered the range. I did like the like the tactical options presented by dragonbreath. The damage and area I had considered balanced with the multiple uses. I imagine it will be more worthwhile at higher levels.

I'll keep dragonbreath on this character I worked up for a player since she's focusing on her draconic heritage, but I'll not be so quick to toss out fireball. Thanks :D
 

This is my revised based on commentary.

A NOTE: My DM has asked for this game we keep it as "close to core" as possible. Hence, if I'm going outside the 3 main books, make it good. This colors some of my choices and solidifies my choice for archmage (rather than grab energy sub and sculpt spell feats)

(letter denotes school)

0 - Presdigitation(U), Flare(E), Ray of Frost(N), Acid Splash(C), Detect Magic(D), Mage Hand(T), Light(E), Disrupt Undead(N), Message(T)

1 - Magic Missile(E), Ray of Enfeeblement(N), Mage Armor(C) ->Shield(A), Color Spray(I) ->Feather Fall(T), Grease (C)

2 - Glitterdust(C), Scorching Ray(E), Invisiblity(I) -> See Invisibility(D), Resist Elements(A), Alter Self(T) ->False Life(N)

3 - Fireball(E), Dispel Magic(A) ->Displacement(I), Haste(T), Slow(T)

4 - Greater Invisibility(I), Polymorph(T), Dimension Door(C), Enervation(N)

5 - Wall of Force(E), Teleport(C) ->Feeblemind(EN), Shadow Evocation(I), Greater Blink(T) (if DM allows) OR Telekinesis(T)

6 - Greater Dispel Magic(A), Disintergrate(T), Freezing Sphere(E)

7 - Greater Teleport(C), Finger of Death(N), Limited Wish(U)

8 - Horrid Wilting(N), Moment of Prescience(D), Polymorph Any Object(T)

9 - Shades(I), Shapechange(T), Prismatic Sphere(A)

For Feats...
1 Eschew Material (Vanity Choice)
3 Empower Spell
6 Spell Focus: Evocation
9 Heighten Spell
12 Spell Focus: Transmutation
15 Skill Focus: Spellcraft
18 Maximize Spell

My Archmage (available at 15th level) high arcanas are: Master of Shaping, Master of Energy, Spell Power, Spell Like Ability and Arcane Fire.

Further Critque?
 

I'd not get both Greater Invisibility and Greater Blink, if you can have the much superior latter spell, I'd toss out the first for something else (like Evard's Black Tentacles or one of the Orb spells from CA).

Other than that, I'd think about Shadow Evocation, which I don't think is really great (the Conjuration ones are better). You will usually be better off casting one of the real evocations, like an empowered Fireball, and you already have other options against fire resistant creatures, like Enervation.

Bye
Thanee
 

FWIW my sorcerers progression (and future planned progression) is as follows. Has just reached 12th level, and her basic theme revolves around fire, charm & polymorphs.

1st Burning Hands, Endure Elements (3.0 version), Charm Person, Protection from Evil, Enlarge Person -> truestrike

2nd Pyrotechnics, scorching ray, resist energy, see invisible, false life

3rd Fireball, dispel magic->protection from elements, suggestion, fly

4th Confusion, fire shield, polymorph->evards black tentacles

5th Telekinesis, Teleport, Wall of Force, Dominate Person

6th Greater dispel magic, distintegrate, greater heroism

7th Limited wish, mordenkainens swords, firestorm (brought in for me by DM)

8th Horrid wilting, mind blank, polymorph object

9th Shapechange, wish, gate

Current feats:

1st Silent spell & still spell (great for surreptitous casting in towns)
3rd empower spell
6th Leadership
9th Clinging spell (same as draconic 'clinging breath' feat)
12th not chosen yet
15th heighten spell planned.

Cheers
 

Plane Sailing said:
Pyrotechnics

:D


Do you play mostly core, since all your spells are from the core book?

As for your not yet chosen feat... Spell Penetration seems pretty useful.

Bye
Thanee
 

Thanee said:
I'd not get both Greater Invisibility and Greater Blink, if you can have the much superior latter spell, I'd toss out the first for something else (like Evard's Black Tentacles or one of the Orb spells from CA).

Other than that, I'd think about Shadow Evocation, which I don't think is really great (the Conjuration ones are better). You will usually be better off casting one of the real evocations, like an empowered Fireball, and you already have other options against fire resistant creatures, like Enervation.

Bye
Thanee

I might use TK for my 5th level spellchoice instead of Shadow Evocation then. (Course, I have a soft spot for Baleful Polymorph: Squirrel!)

I want Gtr Invis for Recon Purposes, not just caster-defense. However, Black Tentacles works well too.

Thanks alot for everyone's help. Now, to survive level 1...
 
Last edited:

Thanee said:
:D


Do you play mostly core, since all your spells are from the core book?

As for your not yet chosen feat... Spell Penetration seems pretty useful.

Bye
Thanee

Pure core spells, unfortunately!

Regarding the next feat, I've proposed a couple of possibilities to my DM, who is considering them

Strengthen Spell: adds +50% to the value of spells which have a static bonus (e.g. mage armour, anibuffs, protection from evil). If it has a variable amount attached, or adds a per level bonus of any kind it doesn't count. (that's the thumbnail version of it).

or

Greater Empower: Adds +100% for +4 spell levels (the equivalent of the old empower empower trick in 3.0e, has empower as a prereq)

Cheers
 

Plane Sailing said:
An often overlooked 2nd level spell is Pyrotechnics. My sorcerer took it at 4th level and it was brilliant having a spell that could either target Fort Save or Will save, and either produced guaranteed concealment in the former case or affect a vast area (120ft radius!) with the second. Broke up a cavalry charge of 20 mounted barbarians with that little beauty!
While I like the idea of Pyrotechnics, IMX it sees limited use because of two things:

I) The flame source material component isn't much of a problem because of everburning torches. HOWEVER, the spell is automatically centered on the flame source...which creates plenty of problems. Since thrown objects have a default range increment of 10', and can only be thrown five increments...this makes targetting the spell extremely cumbersome/circumstantial.

II) A radius of 120' means the spell is very hazardous/impossible to use in confined spaces such as the typical dungeon. Granted the smoke cloud effect can still be used (20 radius cloud), but that cuts down somewhat on the versatility. And even that leaves you with the advantages/disadvantages of your typical fog cloud (cannot see for ranged attacks) with the added caveat that your melee types don't want it around them.
 
Last edited:

Remove ads

Top