who should choose familiar/spells DM or player?

[Nifft]

In a combat situation I just knew that I would not miss the target (true strike) he did not even have me roll for spell failure because of my leather armor. he said until I have control over the magic we would just ignore that roll.

That's big of him. (Hint: Take a look at true strike -- no somatic components! You can cast it in full plate with no chance of failure. The other core 1st level spell with no chance of failure is feather fall. Those are the spells that my Paladin 4 / Sorc 1 / Dragon Disciple 10 would take, if I were playing one. )

feel as if he was playing the character more than I was.

Yeah. I think that's been the thrust of this thread. The DM smells like a control freak who is stomping on your choices for some arbitrary reason.

-- N

 

[Jonathon Coultas]

Hmmm. What terms are left.....

unreasonable, jackass, anal, prick, dip, jerk, capricious, and arbitrary have been used.

Hmmm. I got it. The DM sounds quite regimented.

Really.... if you can't pick your familiar or your spells, why in hell would anyone want to be pick a sorceror in his campaign?

His notion of what is role playing verses roll playing is....well, odd.... and if it was my character under the circumstances, there would some serious dicussion about this and the distinct possibility of that character being retired and me building the most power gamey build I could do under his narrow framework of what is allowed. He would get a fast lesson of roll playing verses role playing. Choosing your familiar and your spells is not roll playing - not by any stretch and if he thinks it is, I would show him how wrong he is with the most power gaming build I could do under his rules. If he can't make the distinction at that point, I suggest you find another game.

Your post is pretty old, but nevertheless, who would want to play a sorcerer over a wizard? How about someone that wants to multiclass and pick up divine spellcasting as a favored soul? Sorcerer and Favored Souls are both Charisma-based, and it's a sneaky way to get both arcane and divine spells dependent on only one stat.