What flavor are sorcerers in your campaign?

[Sejs]

I pretty much do away with the draconic bloodline angle for sorcerers. Or rather you can have it there if you want it, but it's not required. Personally, the Sorcerer class as I handle it isn't so much a matter of tapping a non-human bloodline as much as it is engendering a connection with the primal, unshaped, ambient magic (mana, if you prefer) of the world.

Wizards use diagrams and runes and patterns to draw that magic along certain lines and imbue it with purpose and form along the way, like how the circuitry in your computer turns electricity into ENWorld.

Sorcerers use themselves, their being, like a lens. They open themselves to the flow of magic and let it pour through them, and as it does so they focus their will and presence upon that current, channeling it and shaping it into the form they desire as it goes. Sorcerers are channelers. They make themselves into something similar to the magical patterns wizards use when they cast spells, but unlike a wizard's magic, they're mutable.



As far as game mechanics are concerned, I give Sorcerers the Eschew Materials feat at 1st level and a bonus Sudden Metamagic feat of their choosing (that they qualify for) at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th.


Sorcerery isn't something you're born into, it's something you can learn to do. If it was something you had to be born a certain way to be able to perform, it'd be a PrC. Certain cultures spin it in different ways: kobolds say it's because they're dragon kin, desert folk might say it's because they're related to genies or they've learned some of their powers, others might interpret it as being inhabited by different ghosts or spirits. In the end, that's just fluff. The discipline remains the same no matter what angle you approach it from, the same way that a cleric of St. Cuthbert and a cleric of Vecna are both still clerics, in the end.

 

[Evilhalfling]

After initial disgust with the concept of dragon decended sorcery. I changed to a campaign area dragon focused. Sorcerers steal or are give power by dragons, they are not related to them. Each sorcerer chooses a dragon breed to tap into and there are minor special abilities at 2nd, 8th, and 14th. (skill bonus, energy resistance, fear)

Sorcerers from other areas tap into other powers - but that has yet to be explored.

 

[Rogue765]

I've come up with what I think is a rather simple solution, which also solves the problem others have about another PC class.

Step I: Pick up the Psionics Handbook.

Step II: Pick up a black felt marker.

Step III: Use felt marker to cross out all instances of Psionics in Psionics Handbook.

Step IV: Use felt marker to write in the word Sorcerer above all previously marked-out words.

I see Wizards as being the physicists of the D&D world, they use formulae to learn and reshape the fundamental laws of the universe. E=MC2 is a magic spell. With it you can split the atom (and create, what, a 50,000 HD Fireball? ). As such their prime ability of Intelligence is due to being able to understand the rather complex formulae that will create the result they want.

Clerics gain their abilities by making pacts with beings from the Outer Planes. If they deal with Deities, they're called Priests, if they deal with Demons, they're Cultists. Either way, they don't actually know HOW their spells work, they just know that if they call upon their patron, they can get the result they want. As such, I've changed their prime ability to Charisma.

The Sorcerer doesn't truely understand the underlying reason why his spells work, nor does he gain them from negotiating with an outside force, he manipulates his inborn ability to create the effect, therefore I changed his prime ability to Wisdom due to the need to be able to control his powers.

Basically the Wizard knows HOW he gets his powers, the Clerics knows WHO he gets his powers from, the Sorcerer has to know WHY he has powers.

 

[Megatron]

I give sorc's free Eschew Materials, let them add their charisma bonus to their level when selecting familiars.
Sorc's can learn new spells from other sorcerers via spellcraft checks and training.

I got rid of material components alltogether for a kind of "magic powder", same principal though. you have to buy it or make it, and most spells require at least some amount.
Wizards no longer memorize spells, instead they read them directly from their spellbook.


Also got rid of vancian magic for a skill-based system i wrote.

 

[Shemeska]

Like many others, I give them eschew materials for free.

I also don't happen to be picky with what might give a particular sorcerer their power. Some might have distant draconic ancestors, some might have fiend or celestial blood in their veins, and one of my current campaign's PCs is an arcanaloth's daughter, so where she's getting the abilities from is a bit more obvious than perhaps for most.

I'm open to player ideas, and if they're neat or provide me with amusing plot hooks, for good or for ill, I'll run with it.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Sorcerors are both a little more draconic and a little less bookish in my games; they use Shugenja Spells Known Progression, replacing Order with a list of spells based specifically on one of the ten True Dragons and Favored Element with spells drawn from the Alignment, Energy, and Elemental Subtypes of their bloodline type. They are forbidden from opposing Alignment, Energy, or Elemental subtypes.

Sorcerors replace Summon Familiar with Eschew Materials, and gain a bonus Draconic feat or Spell Focus in one of their favored subtypes every 5th level. They replace the more "bookish" Wiz/Sor spells with more access to elemental magics and spells related to scalykind.

Wizards are the bookish, learned sort; they cast spells similarly to a Spirit Shaman, preparing a list of Spells Known (from their spellbook) each day and casting spontaneously from that. They cast fewer spells per day than Sorcerors, but can select more Spells Known and can swap them out between days-- and they still get a one-level advantage on new spell levels. Wizards automatically specialize (for free) in one school of magic, allowing them to choose an extra Spell Known per day from that school.

Wizards and Sorcerors both gain d6 HD, since that's my functional bottom limit.

Bards learn and cast both Arcane and Divine spells, and have a number of Druidic spells added to their spell list. They use a d8 for HD, since they're tougher than Wizards and Sorcerors. They may use the Extra Spell feat to learn Wizard or Druid spells.

Clerics are spontaneous divine casters with a very limited Spells Known progression augmented by Domain access and the automatic ability to use certain high XP/GP requirement spells at certain levels. Cleric is used to represent spellcasters from any faith that isn't specifically Nature focused. I am considering linking their Save DCs to Charisma instead of Wisdom.

Druids are spontaneous divine casters with a normal Spells Known progression. They trade Wild Shape for slightly better spellcasting ability, a single Cleric domain (from a list) and Energy Resistance.

Psions are psionic manifesters; they use the rules in the Expanded Psionics Handbook, except they pick two of the three mental stats-- one to govern Save DCs and the other to govern bonus Power Points and maximum Power Level. They are the only full manifester class.

Psychic Warriors are either Warrior Psions or Psychic Fighters.

Hexblades cast spells normally; Rangers don't have spells; Paladins and Blackguards cast like Warmages.

That's all of my spellcasting classes, with the exception of a few PrCs that grant their own spellcasting progression; they mostly conform to the model of whichever spellcasting class is closest.

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I also have NPC class spellcasters, mainly for use with my semi-Gestalt system.

There's a semi-Wizard that's based on Eberron's Magewright, but using my Wizard mechanic and having access to a slightly wider variety of spells. They can use the Extra Spell feat to learn Wizard spells. I'm thinking of naming it Mystic.

Adepts are spontaneous divine casters that gain access to a single Cleric domain, as in Eberron. At 1st level, they choose to be Clerical or Druidic, which affects some of their class skills and which class they may learn spells from with Extra Spell.

Psychics are psionic manifesters who gain their number of Powers Known as a Wilder and their Maximum Level as a Wilder of half-class levels. They gain power points as a Psychic Warrior and choose at 1st level whether to draw powers from the Psion's general power list or from the Psychic Warrior list; they may select powers from any psionic list with the Extra Power feat. They manifest powers based on any two mental scores, as Psions do.

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Sorry, I know that's more than the original poster asked for-- but I think the spellcasting classes only make sense based on the relationship between them.

 

[gamecat]

Sorcerers are a plot hook in my game - a failed biological weapons project, to be hunted down and killed. Inherently-magic wielding people can make any totalitarian magocracy kinda afraid.

 

[Mystery Man]

My sorcerers have no flavor, but they are scratch-n-sniff.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

My sorcerers have no flavor, but they are scratch-n-sniff.

Scratch a Sorceror, find a stinking cloud?

 

[Davelozzi]

Like Matt Colville and Akrasia, I don't think that sorcerors should have been made a core class, they just don't have a different enough niche to justify their inclusion. So, in my game, they have no flavor because they're not around. I haven't expressely forbidden them, but no one expressed any interest in playing them so we just ignore the class completely.