Wizard Or Sorc.

[MeSleepNow]

Hello, My friend is starting a new quest. I was looking to make ether a wizard or a sorc. I looked them both over to see what one really had more to offer and i can't help to notice that wizard is better in a lot of ways ( not saying Sorc. is usless but that wizard just has more to offer ) with.. Feats - Int being his main stat - Using Spell feats and not having it take a full round action. I just didnt see the big up side to sorc. but i am newer at this game. Is the sorc. ab. to cast spells from the cuff that good?

 

[Nightfall]

Me,

It can be. Unlike a Wizard, where versatility is the name of the game, a sorcerer's true strength is in the number of castings he can do.

Example: A 1st level wizard and a 1st level sorcerer. Both have the same spells. (Well not 100% the same for 0 level spells but still...) A wizard choose to memorize two magic missile, one mage armor and one expeditious retreat. A sorcerer has only two of those (magic missile, and mage armor) The sorcerer, unlike the wizard, can decide to use up to 4 of those spell slots to only cast magic missile while still having one left for mage armor and another magic missile.

This is where the utility of the sorcerer shines. He can potentially casts more spells, but only a limited number of them can always be useful.

Understand?

 

[Pbartender]

You also have to remember that preparing your spells ahead of time can often be a big disadvatage... If you choose the right spells for a situation that never pops up, then those are essentially useless spells. The wizard's versatility is wasted if you can't plan ahead properly.

 

[Psion]

I tend to think of the sorcerer as the weak cousin.

I mean its a fun class to play... easy to run, don't have to preplan everyday, just roll with it and pick spells from your limited list as needs suit.

But really, specialization bonus gives you almost as many castings as sorcerers, the one-half spell level lag of sorcerers is a big hit, and scribe scroll really helps shore you up, especially at low levels.

If you have complete mage and/or complete arcane, the picture gets rosier, with reserve feats, alacritous cogitation, collegiate wizard, and the like. If you like playing strategy and having a load of interesting and useful effects at your commands, wizard is really a sweet ride.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

One of my players is adamant that Sorcerers are way better than Wizards. He says that there are only a few good core rulebook spells at each level so the Sorcerer isn't really disadvantaged there. The sorcerer can cast more spells per level per day and also doesn't have to pick them beforehand. I also allow the Sorcerer variant from the Book of Eldritch Might. He says that this is even more powerful than the PHB Sorcerer (it has a d6 Hit Die for example).

I obviously don't agree with him. I think that the Sorcerer is a good class but it certainly isn't the most powerful one out there. I don't necessarily think that it is more powerful than the Wizard class either. I personally love the versatility of the Wizard. That I think that is its biggest advantage over the Sorcerer. Of course if you are just going to cast the same spells over and over then you may as well just play a Sorcerer.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Nightfall]

What PB said. Planning is fine, but it's like chaos theory in D&D. You can never know more than a few "seconds" in advance what will occur.

 

[Nightfall]

Psion,

I always thought of Sorcerer as the "blaster" to Wizard "stragetist" side. Then came Warlock...and my eyes were opened.

 

[werk]

I looked them both over to see what one really had more to offer and i can't help to notice that wizard is better in a lot of ways...

I agree.

I've seen great sorcs in play, but it always just makes me wonder what would have happened if they played a wizzy.

Here's my list:

Wizzy pros-
Int as main stat = skill points
Spell versatility, can mem whatever is needed
WIZARD BONUS FEATS (you know you want 'em)
Advance in spell levels sooner

Sorc pros-
Uh...more spells per day?


The advantages flat outweigh the disadvantages, which all seem to land on the sorcerer.

 

[Slife]

Once the wizard gets craft wand, or has enough downtime for scroll scribing, the sorc's extra spell slots become much less of an advantage.

 

[Stalker0]

The sentiment on the boards I would say is that the sorc isn't as strong as the wizard straight up. The main strength of the sorc is in metamagic feats and on teh fly casting. But for pure strength in a game, I would go wizard every time.