I'm currently looking over the PRPG Alpha rules and I must say that I'm liking a lot of what I'm seeing. However, there's one thing that I think is sorely missing, and that is an overhaul of the sorcerer. Of all the classes in the 3.5 rules set that class was the one in most need to get pimped. I mean, the sorcerer class is the only one that doesn't lose ANYTHING when taking a PrC, as long as the PrC has full caster progression.
The following is a list of the issues I hope you will address in the sorcerer class in later releases of the rules:
* Skill Points per Level: The current skill points per level is a joke. The only reason sorcerer receives 2 + Int mod per level is because the wizard does. The problem though, is that the wizard usually has a high Int and receives extra skill points because of that. The sorcerers skill points per level should be upped to at least 4 + Int mod.
* Class Skills: Why isn't Knowledge (planes) a class skill for sorcerer?
* Class Abilities and Bonus Feats: The wizard in PRPG gets all kind of cool abilities in addition to the bonus feats it already had. What does the sorcerer get? A familiar! Oh, wait... the wizard gets that as well. The solution would be to give the sorcerer class abilities as well. In my game I give the sorcerer bonus feats on the same levels as the wizard, only they have to be the different heritage feats published in different books.
These are a few suggestions that I hope you take into consideration when looking at the sorcerer for future releases of PRPG. I'm sure there will be others in this thread as well.
I wouldnt mind seeing it steal the warlocks blast i've done that myself seems to work well
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The Sorcerer apart from his immense firepower always struck me as a little bit dull compared to the Wizard.
What I like to explore is his heritage that explains his magic aptitude.
What if his heritage not only gives him his magic but other things too?
There are a lot of creature groups that make a good "heritage":
- celestials
- demons
- devils
- dragons
- fey
- far realm creatures (I look at the Chtulhu Mythos here)
each of these creature groups gives the sorcerer some special goodies.
Celesitials might give a spell like ability 1/day protection from evil
Dragons might give energy type resistance. Fey might give spell resistance etc.
These heritage abilities can replace the Wizard School powers. And this would also help to make Sorcerer and Wizard more different but both viable.
Generally I don't really feel the sorcerer needs pimping and I know from experience on these boards that its perfectly feasible to get a 6 page debate going where half the posters will feel that the Wizard is better then the Sorcerer and half will feel the that its the other way around.
My only really significant concern is that Sorcerers have a hard time competing against wizards at mid to high levels.
The wondrous thing about sorcerers is they have a ton of spells. The problem is once you get to the point where the Wizard has a few 7th, some 6th, and lots of every lower level spell the fact that the the sorcerer also has more becomes increasingly irrelevant. If the wizard has 40 spells it does not matter if the Sorcerer has 60. neither of them are going to come close to using all their spells in a day except in the most corner case situations.
At this point the Wizard is just plain better. He gets more feats, has a huge selection of spells and even gets a higher spell level half of the time.
Wizards addressed this, mainly in the PHBII, by including a large number of swift and immediate action spells that were useful but weak for their level. This allowed the sorcerer to continue to utilize her advantage in pure numbers.
I would suggest that PRPG use some kind of mechanic, be it swift action spells or some inherent ability of the Sorcerer to to cast more often at higher levels to insure that the there never comes a point when the fact that the Sorcerer has 50% more spells then the wizard ceases to really effect the game.
Page 64 of the Alpha release says that the sorcerer will receive coverage in Alpha release 2, along with "a host of bloodlines for the sorcerer." Sounds good - looking forward to it. Sorcerer bloodlines were one of the coolest options for a sorcerer under 3.5 rules.
True, the problem though was that the sorcerer didn't have enough feats to make use of them.
Furthermore I would prefer if Paizo separated the sorcerer and wizard spell lists.
I was struck by the selection of classes that were chosen for "balancing." I think they were self-balanced. There is reasons again to continue on as a cleric rather than taking a prestige class as soon as you qualify. But balancing in relation to the other classes is silly, given that the cleric and the wizard are two of the most powerful classes in the game. I take it more as a nod back to the old school, with the archetypal classes having a Pathfinder spin on them.
If that's the case, then please say so rather than masking the agenda under the guise of class balance. If that is not the case, then a few other classes need your attention as well (including the sorcerer).
I don't believe that is the agenda. Cleric is being rebalanced not to help the cleric but to try and reduce the '5 minute workday'. This is not about the clerics 'lack of power' at all. Its about making parties able to adventure for longer.
I think the wizard is getting fixes that address the same issue. Capability to cast spells continuously. Other changes apply to both the sorcerer and wizard (the increase in HD). Finally, if you go through the archives you'll see that James believes that the wizard is weaker then the Sorcerer. I think he's wrong in this he has stated that he feels this is the case so their might be an initial bias in favor of giving the Wizard extra power versus the Sorcerer. Presumably he can be set straight in playtesting.
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Page 64 of the Alpha release says that the sorcerer will receive coverage in Alpha release 2, along with "a host of bloodlines for the sorcerer." Sounds good - looking forward to it. Sorcerer bloodlines were one of the coolest options for a sorcerer under 3.5 rules.True, the problem though was that the sorcerer didn't have enough feats to make use of them.
Supposition: sorcerer bloodlines will look a whole hell of a lot like domains and/or wizard specializations.