Which Is The Stronger Character Class - Sorcerer or Wizard?

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[drothgery]

We could add Beguiler, Warmage and Battle Sorcerer to the list as well.

Thanks,
Rich

Also warlock, dragonfire adept, psion, wilder, ardent, and dread necromancer.

 

[FireLance]

Also I want to point out that "easier to play" is NOT a balacing factor!

It depends on whether you are balancing for power, or balancing for fun.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

The Magister!

 

[Wraith-Hunter]

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? what is that supposed to mean? genuinely confused.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

? what is that supposed to mean? genuinely confused.

I think it means the thread is basically over.

 

[Valesin]

Wizard, hands down. Sorcerers only even come close in combat, and at most levels other classes are better at killing things. Sorcerers are over-prepared for one or two situations and useless for dozens of others, whereas the wizard can be prepared for anything, albeit with foresight or knowledge of what is coming.

On a slightly related noted, wizards are also much more interesting to play. 20 levels of a 3-trick-pony gets really boring.

 

[brehobit]

The ability to lose your spellbook is the biggest weakness (and it's huge!) of a wizard.

If your DM occasionally (say 1 per 5 levels) strips you of your stuff (anything from destroyed to held in hock or as bail) a wizard really sucks.

I don't mind paying for spells (which is a serious disadvantage) in my book. But losing it? That makes the class fairly unattractive to me.

Mark

 

[Tiberius]

Frankly I don't understand why in the books it was suggested things like using Scribe Scroll for an extra Magic Missile, in case you run out of spells. It's not completely wrong, but IMXP it's not remotely the best use of scribing.

Remind me to tell you about the time when we ran across a hydra and our only source of acid or fire was my pile of Lesser Acid Orb scrolls.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

It might be more convenient for them to prestige, since all they lose is Familiar advancement.

But given the fact that almost all PrCls for arcane casters require a certain spell level to qualify, a Sorcerer always qualifies 1 level later.

Not to mention that many spellcasting prestige classes lose a level of spellcasting on the first level of the class to prevent "dipping". This hurts the sorcerer a lot more than it does the wizard, since the sorcerer is already lagging behind on spell levels. The wizard has 5th level spells at 9th level, and the sorcerer has 4th level spells. The sorcerer with a 9/10 casting level PrC has 4th level spells as well, but won't get 5th level spells until 11th level, by which time the wizard has 6th.

Two levels worth of adventures is a lot of time spent not casting Disintegrate, Greater Dispel Magic, True Seeing, Chain Lightning, Circle of Death, or any of the other 6th level sorcerer staple spells. Not only that, but it also affects the maximum save DC you can generate, and the maximum level of metamagic effect you can cast. This means that it's usually not worth the trade-off, and sorcerers are generally forced to take only full-progression PrCs, reducing their options and reducing the character archetypes available to sorcerers. It's the latter part that really bugs me the most. If I have an archetype in mind for a character that a PrC can fulfill, I can't just make it with a sorcerer without first accepting that I'm going to be mechanically hobbled compared to what I'd be like if I made a wizard. Both classes should be equally viable choices, and which you choose should be a matter of taste, not a matter of game mechanics.