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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack Simth" data-source="post: 4089759" data-attributes="member: 29252">A generic Wizard N's base spells-per-day matches up almost perfectly with a Sorcerer N+1's spells known for most values of N between about 2 and 19.  Played well, a Sorcerer's Spells Known looks almost exactly like a well-played Wizard's spells prepared when the Wizard doesn't know what he'll be facing that day.  A Sorcerer is only slightly less of a batman than the wizard is, as the Sorcerer can't (Core) switch out spells known on a daily basis (outside core, there's a few ways to get around that limit).  It looks like every Sorcerer you've seen in play was a blaster, which isn't the most effective thing you can do in 3.5.  Don't get me wrong, blasting can be fun (especially with a DM that provides the proper opportunities to show it off) but there's lots more effective things to be doing (Combat Control, buffing, Debuffing, and Save-or-lose spam is what you want if you're after an effective use of a turn for an Arcanist).  Or to put it another way - A Sorcerer-12 with Planar Binding, Dismissal, Dimensional Anchor, and an appropriate Magic Circle Against [Alignment] or two can Call three 12 HD elementals or outsiders a day (or six 6 HD elementals or outsiders, or nine 4 HD elementals or Outsiders), and bind them to the task of a bodygaurd for 12 days each.  It's pretty easy to grab CR 10 critters (and, with party support, it's pretty easy to dispatch them when you lose at the bargaining table) that'll do very well as meatshields, or ranged attackers, or grapplers, or... whatever you need, really.  Up against something with a good AC?  Call a Grappler, or maybe something with some nice at-will Zappy powers.  Up against something with a good Reflex save?  Bring some heavy-hitters to the table.  Need tracking?  Call one of the assorted extraplanar Hounds.  There's very few tasks you can't fit with the right Outsider. Take a look at the Sorcerer-12 that takes Heighten Spell, Flesh to Stone (Fort save or lose), Magic Jar (Will save or lose - cast it on the familiar so that it can do the pushing), Resilient Sphere (Reflex save or wait until the party is fully prepared) and Wall of Force (no save, no SR, wait for a while spell).   There's very few opponents he can't stop so that the party fighter can have a lesurly time swatting them with reach weapons, or giving the Cleric time to cheaply heal the meatshield back up.  Hey - he can even deal with incorporeal critters (Resilient Sphere is a Force effect) and if he's met with a crowd, he can Resilient Sphere himself and laugh at them while he thinks of something better to do.  If he has someone carry a bunch of snails (target for Resilient Sphere) he can even block corridors very effectively for a long time.Now compare the Sorcerer that went with blasting spells - Chain Lightning, Cone of Cold, Ice Storm, and Fireball.  Okay, yeah - he's ready for a nice set of opponents; there's very little that'll be immune to all three... oh, a high reflex save and Evasion?  Sorry, my bad.  Ignoring that... what do you mean, he's got Spell Resistence?  A GOLEM!   ... or even just something with high hit points, really - direct damage is one of the least useful things any arcanist can do.  Okay, when you want a flying invisible artillary platform, the Sorcerer can do that rather nicely.  So can a Wizard (wands and staves of blasty spells).  There are, however, much more effective things you can be doing with your spells known.Unless the DM plays to it's strengths (lots of mooks, endurance runs, and/or down-time to play a craft-monkey) the Warlock is one of the weaker classes in the game.No.  Someone who wants to play a blaster plays a Sorcerer because Sorcerers are slightly better at blasting than Wizards - anyone doing this is not doing it to be effective.  A Sorcerer can actually batman rather effectively if built that way - just not as effectively as the Wizard.  Sort of like how a Cleric isn't a heal-bot in 3.5; although they can fill that role, and are generally the most effective at filling that role, playing a heal-bot is not the most effective thing you can do with a Cleric.I'd need to see the result to be sure, but in general, overspecialization (which is what you appear to be going for) is a bad thing; you're either owning an encounter or sitting on the sidelines; it gets rather binary.</blockquote>

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