I didn't want sorcerers to be psions in my campaign. Here's the excerpt from my campaign book:
Sorcerers
Sorcerers are not just innate magicians. They may have a natural talent for spellcraft, but it doesn’t run in the blood. A wizard is just as likely to be a “natural” at what he does as a sorcerer. No, sorcery is the art of dealing with entities more powerful than oneself, striking bargains in exchange for power. A sorcerer is actually very much like the classic D&D cleric, but instead of divine power from deities (after all, there’s only one Deity in the Relative Entropy setting), sorcerers learn arcane spells from ancient magical beings.
Powerful arcane creatures will never take on an apprentice sorcerer whose alignment differs greatly from their own; therefore, a sorcerer must choose a patron within one step of his own alignment. This choice will often affect which spells a sorcerer may learn, particularly elemental or alignment spells, and it may have other ramifications as well. Some patrons will teach sorcerers spells in exchange for a small tribute of treasure (dragons are nefarious for this); others, especially fey and outsiders, may require services in the form of quests or retrieved artifacts (though some fey, nymphs and sirines in particular, have been known to make even more drastic requests).
Of course, the sorcerer is not limited to one teacher. A sorcerer who wishes to learn a variety of elemental spells may find himself seeking out a number of spirit masters. There is nothing (apart from possible alignment conflicts) keeping sorcerers from learning all they can from anyone they can… provided they are willing to pay the right price to each teacher.
Code:
[color=silver][b]
Table 3-6: Sorcerer Spirit Patrons
Spirit Patron Title Element Align. Summoning Stone[/b]
Atlas Titan who Bears the World Earth LN Amethyst
Bahamut The Platinum Dragon Air LG Diamond
Feng-Huang The Great Phoenix Fire CG Jade
Gaia Angel of the Earth Earth LG Emerald
Leviathan Serpent of the Sea Water TN Turquoise
Loki Trickster of the Giants Fire CN Topaz
Lorelei Sirine of the Streams Water CE Sapphire
Quetzalcoultal The Feathered Serpent Air CN Zircon
Roquat Rugged Ruler of the Rocks Earth NE Garnet
Shai’tan Sultan of the Efreet Fire LE Ruby
Tiamat The Chromatic Dragon Air CE Opal
Undine Nymph of the Rivers Water NG Aquamarine
[/color]
Game Rule Information
- Sorcerers are changed from the Player’s Handbook as follows:
- Spirit Patron: A sorcerer must choose a spirit patron from whom he learns his spells. As sorcerers cannot learn spells that oppose their spirit patron’s element or alignment, they may seek out multiple teachers, as long as each patron is within one alignment step of the sorcerer.
- Sorcery: Sorcerers are granted the power to summon eidolons, phantom images of their spirit patrons who fight for the sorcerer. By taking his spirit patron’s favored gemstone and imbuing it with a small amount of ethereal energy, the sorcerer can give up unused spell castings to call forth these phantoms. The eidolon exists to fight for one round per level of the spell channeled; a cantrip so channeled calls a phantom that takes a single partial action and vanishes. The eidolon’s level depends on how much energy the sorcerer is willing to expend. A sorcerer may sacrifice a number of hit points up to his own level in summoning the eidolon, and this number is the phantom’s level. At the end of the summoning (which takes a full round) the gem is expended and vanishes, whisked away to the plane (and personal treasure cache) of the spirit whose avatar will fight for the sorcerer. Eidolons are described in appendix B: Aliens and Monsters.
