Why a Sorcerer vs a Wizard?

[jgsugden]

Wizards:
1.) Better at making items: They have more feats to grab item creation feats and can easily pick up a spell needed to make an item.

2.) More combat feats: They can also have more combat related feats.

3.) Planning flexibility: If they know what they are likely to face, a wizard can prepare the exact spells needed for the situation. He'll have more options to choose from (as long as he makes an effort to scribe spells into his spellbook beyond the ones he receives at every level) when he selects these spells.

4.) In combat casting: The wizard can cast spells using metamagic feats without the increase in preparation time.

5.) Wizards get access to spells faster than sorcerers.

Sorcerers:
1.) Slightly better weapon selection.

2.) In combat flexibility: A sorcerer with a good spell selection can have spells available that will be useful against almost any type of foe by 8th to 10th level, regardless of planning. If the party thinks they are likely to face fire subtype creatures, but is surprised by a white dragon, the sorcerer can throw out his empowered fireballs instead of his cones of cold. A wizard in this situation that has not prepared a cone of cold may find his usefulness limited.

3.) Sorcerers get far more spells to cast: Not only is the raw number of spells that a sorcerer can cast greater than that of a wizard, a sorcerer never prepares spells that turn out to be useless down the road. In a game where a party does not know what they will be facing, a wizard that is forced to prepare for everything might find up to 1/2 of his spells unused at the end of the day because they were not going to be useful. On the other hand, a sorcerer can often cast all day and completely run himself out of spells. This can result in a sorcerer getting to cast 3 or 4 times as many spells as a wizard.

4.) High end power: A sorcerer usually gets to cast one more high level spell than a specialist wizard, or two more than a nonspecialist. This extra kick can be devastating. Yes, the wizard has more flexibility at that spell level to choose different spells (a 10th level sorcerer has 1 5th level spell to choose from, a 10th level wizard has 4 or more), but flexibility within a spell level is not very important. If the sorcerer has 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st or 0th level spells that can do something well enough, not being able to do it with a 5th level spell is not a problem.

In the end, I think the issue of which is more efficient comes down to the campaign style. I think the issue of which is more fun comes down to personal preference. They both work, so just pick the one that you enjoy the most and go for it.

 

[Pyske]

It used to cost an awful lot of gold in 3rd edition to scribe new spells into a wizard's spell book. This seems to have been removed in 3.5. This was, IIRC, part of the balancing features of the wizard against the sorcerer.

. . . . . . . -- Eric

 

[Kichwas]

Page 179 of the 3.5 PHB: It takes 100 GP per page of the spell to add it into the book. 0 level spells still take up a page, other spells use one page per level.

That's pretty expensive. I know the Wizard in the group I run can not afford to scribe in the spells they got from a found spellbook unless the other members of the group choose to help fund it.

The process takes one day per spell, plus an additional day to learn the spell if you're copying one out of another book rather than one you just learned (from say - research - which has it's own time and money costs).

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Sorcerer: Bowie Knife
Wizard: Swiss army Knife

AR

 

[DaveMage]

The pen and paper game is a whole other ball of wax. The pen and paper version of he wizard can get access to the quicken spell meta-magic feat and doesn't have to use a full-round action to apply other meta-magic feats. The Arcane Preperation feat takes care of both of the above concerns, but then your sorceror has to use an extra feat just to get Arcane Preperation.

Using your example of a 9th level wizard vs a 9th level sorceror - the wizard could cast some nasty fifth level spell and then follow it up with a quickened magic missle while the sorceror casts fireball or a single fourth level spell. The wizard may even be able to repeat the next round: another nasty fifth level spell and a quickened burning hands. The sorceror casts another 4th level spell. In two rounds, the wizard has gotten off 4 spells totalling 12 spell levels while the sorceror has gotten off 2 spells totalling 8 spell levels. Of course, the wizard is going to burn through his spells faster than the sorceror, but he won't burn through all of his spells in one combat and probablyu won't in three combats.

Not quite. A 9th level wizard (18 Int) will only have 2 5th level spell slots, so will only be able to cast 2 quickened 1st level spells. A wizard could still do what you propose with 2 4th level spells and 2 quickened burning hands, but even then, they still do 9d6 each with a cone of cold. Burning hands (for a 9th level caster) does an extra 5-20 points per round, which might be an advantage, but the extra 10-40 points (total for 2 rounds) still doesn't match up with the total damage output of the sorcerer over an entire combat.

And, of course, at the end of the 2 rounds, the sorcerer would still have 5 4th level spells available, while the wizard would have no 5th level and only 1 4th level (although the wizard would have his 4 3rd level spells).

 

[d12]

Not quite. A 9th level wizard (18 Int) will only have 2 5th level spell slots, so will only be able to cast 2 quickened 1st level spells. A wizard could still do what you propose with 2 4th level spells and 2 quickened burning hands, but even then, they still do 9d6 each with a cone of cold. Burning hands (for a 9th level caster) does an extra 5-20 points per round, which might be an advantage, but the extra 10-40 points (total for 2 rounds) still doesn't match up with the total damage output of the sorcerer over an entire combat.

And, of course, at the end of the 2 rounds, the sorcerer would still have 5 4th level spells available, while the wizard would have no 5th level and only 1 4th level (although the wizard would have his 4 3rd level spells).

Oh yeah - math! But if the wizard had an Int of 20 he could do what I described on the first round and then follow it up with a 4th plus a quickened 1st. I wouldn't hold up Cone of Cold as the most powerful 5th level spell since it still caps at 9d6.

The sorceror does indeed beat the wizard for firepwoer over the day but not in a single round or in most single combats.

 

[Pyske]

Page 179 of the 3.5 PHB: It takes 100 GP per page of the spell to add it into the book. 0 level spells still take up a page, other spells use one page per level.

That's pretty expensive. I know the Wizard in the group I run can not afford to scribe in the spells they got from a found spellbook unless the other members of the group choose to help fund it.

The process takes one day per spell, plus an additional day to learn the spell if you're copying one out of another book rather than one you just learned (from say - research - which has it's own time and money costs).

Thanks. I was looking for it in the 3.5 SRD, but didn't see it there. (I haven't upgraded to 3.5 yet.) My mistake.

. . . . . . . -- Eric

 

[Saeviomagy]

If a wizard goes into a dungeon with the wrong spells (ie - fortitude spells vs undead, fireball against fire creatures etc), then he'll have to make use of the spells he has to retreat, where he can buy some new scrolls, learn them and come back with a vengeance. If the situation changes again, he may well need to do the same thing over again.

If a sorceror goes into a dungeon with the wrong spells, then he'll have to make do. If he knows just one or two of the right spells however, he'll quickly be able to switch to the correct ones, and if the situation changes, he'll be able to adapt without a night of rest.

The key to playing a sorceror is to pick spells which are useful in as wide a range of circumstances as possible, and teaming them with metamagic feats that increase that versatility. Avoid picking spells which won't see repeated use. If you can't imagine casting a certain spell at least once a day, then you should probably pick something else and let someone else cover utility.

The key to playing a wizard is to get as many spells as you possibly can, and leave at least one slot at each level open (unless you've pre-planned the day's activities). 15 minutes is nothing compared to 8 hours, which is the penalty for not memorising a crucial spell. Pick up the esoteric spells.

Someone earlier mentioned that the non-combat sorceror was far more important to the party than the combat wizard. This would most likely be true even if the situation was reversed - damage is something EVERYONE can do, but granting flight, invisibility, walking through walls, teleporting and the like are (barring some of the clerical domains) the exclusive domain of the arcane casters.