Helping Out Sorcerers

[Umbral Reaver]

I'm wondering what to do to improve sorcery in general. With Wizards having access to Pearls of Power, the 'more casts per day' of spontaneous sorcery diminishes rapidly. Are there any items to help where sorcs are lacking?

[Grey Lensman]

Late 3.5 had the Runestaff. Basically, it has several themed spells and allows you to use your own spell energy to cast from the staff, as if you had done it. Or simply put, they are basically added to the spells you know.

There was also the "dragonpact" which would eat up one of your highest level spell slot in exchange for several themed spells that worked as spell like abilities. One 9th level spell could net a dozen or so SLA's, including one or two uses of a 7th or 8th level spell. The best part is that there was even the possibility of getting something not on the sorc/wizard list. With some retooling (the book was Dargon Magic, BTW) you could turn it into a pact with some progenitor of the bloodline, giving spells that might be cast by genies or fey.

[Umbral Reaver]

The Runestaff sounds like what I'm looking for, although I'm not sure how balanced it is. In core the only option seems to be staves, but they are really expensive and high-level items.

[Selgard]

If wizards are spending all their money to keep up with the Sorc, then the Sorc has alot of extra money to spend to keep ahead of the Wizard.

I've been the sorc in a campaign where there was always a wizard and we handled it by just doing different things.

The spells I learned were the things you would want to cast multiple times per day, and since i could do that he didn't need to bother buying twenty million pearls of power to cast Fly on everyone (or whatever).

Basically- if there are two of you in the same group just work together to complement each other. Learn different spells and such so the group as a whole is better off.

If you only have one or the other.. well, the wizard will always win that fight, imo, just because the versatility of being able to learn /every/ spell always wins out over the ability to cast a few of them multiple times per day.
(in a campaign scenario that is, not talking about a 1v1 match up or anything)

-S

[LilithsThrall]

Selgard wrote:

If you only have one or the other.. well, the wizard will always win that fight, imo, just because the versatility of being able to learn /every/ spell always wins out over the ability to cast a few of them multiple times per day.

(in a campaign scenario that is, not talking about a 1v1 match up or anything)

-S

I don't believe that's true. For one, the ability to spontaneously cast a still, silent illusion spell or charm can be extremely handy. For another, as your money isn't going to buying a lot of other stuff, you can really make use of Use Magic Device to give you some versatility - in some ways, versatility that the Wizard can't match (eg. priest spells).

[BQ]

The only thing a sorcerer really needs is more spells known, but to be honest I think even if given more will still hunger for more. I've always thought that feats that add to spells known should add a spell of your highest level you can cast plus an additional spell that is a level no higher than two levels below your highest.

If you really want to do an item for sorcerer it should be a thematic item tied to their bloodline. If its mid to high levels you probably don't need to make anything as now that the sorcerer has UMD things balance out a bit as its a huge boost for a sorcerer willing to invest in it (ranks & items) and make the most of it.

[Umbral Reaver]

I've posted an item designed to alleviate the problem here:

The Sigil Token

I hardly think paying respectable sums for a small number of extra spells known is going to make people scream broken.

[Grey Lensman]

Any DM worth his salt is going to put the party in situations where each class can shine. If there is both a sorcerer and a wizard in the party then every now and again you will see enemies that it helps to have the same spell in large amounts if you want to defeat them faster.

If the wizard typically only preps one cold spell, then every now and then (often enough to highlight the sorcerer's advantages) they should meet things vulnerable to cold.

While the wizard is more versatile in a strategic sense, the sorcerer has more versatility in a tactical sense. Seoni can't ever be caught having the wrong spells memorized for the day.

If situations like this never come up, I have to ask do Ranger's favored enemies mysteriously go extinct when one shows up for the campaign? Do evil monsters vanish when someone plays a paladin?