Sorcerer Spells- What would you recommend?


Advice


So, I've never played a spellcaster before. I would, however, like to give it a shot. I plan to do so by making a Sorcerer. Now, what I ask you is, what are some must-have spells for each level? This is what I have for my level 1 Sorcerer thus far-

0 level- Mage Hand, Ghosts Sounds, Detect Magic, Message
1st level- Silent Image, Magic Missile

Anything there you would replace?

What spells would you recommend as I level?

Any other tips for a 1st-time spellcaster?

Thanks! ^_^


What race is your sorcerer? And what is their charisma score?

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Your bloodline makes a big difference too, mainly with your Bloodline Arcana.


Race is Kitsune, Charisma is 18, planned on using the Oni Bloodline.

Shadow Lodge

if your race is half elf grab a bow and get grease and color spray as your first level spells. use grease to topple the bbegs and color spray to knock out groups of mobs. then pepper them with arrows.

or if you choose to blast go with the orc bloodline and grab either human or half orc and focus on blasting with support spells.

but i think the best sorcerer is a charmer


Black tentacles; low-level grease, sleep & color spray are fairly useful. Long-term, yuo might want to get a mnemonic vestment, it allows you to cast scrolls form your spell slots 1/day (giving you a lot more utility).


Reinhardt wrote:
Race is Kitsune, Charisma is 18, planned on using the Oni Bloodline.

My first suggestion, aside from spell choices, is to get rings of spell knowledge. These are amazing for casting long duration spells and out of combat spells. If you have one of these, you will never have to learn Mage Armor.

You're probably going to pick up a lot of enchantment spells. You'll want to make sure you have some spells for the few times you run into things that aren't mind affecting. Color Spray, Grease, Magic Missile and Glitterdust are some good choices here. Burning Arc and Scorching Ray are good 2nd level offensive spells, and Burning hands can be useful in a pinch early on.

Your first good enchantments (I'm assuming you're using the kitsune favored class bonus) will probably be Oppressive Boredom or Hideous Laugher, Charm Person, and Hold Person. There aren't really any good 1st level enchantment spells aside from charm, but that isn't a combat spell. You'll eventually want Hold Monster, Dominate Person, and Feeblemind.

At later levels you'll want to find some way to fit in Invisibility, Levitate/Fly, Dispel Magic, and Fireball. There are other choices, but all of these are useful.

See what your GM will let you do to hide your spellcasting so you can benefit from your bloodline arcana without drawing attention. Silent and Stilled spells will probably be useful.


While I'm certainly not opposed to Enchantment spells, that's actually not my focus, despite my race. I'm hoping to try out all the different forms of magic, rather than specializing, to get a broad idea of what magic is all about.

But thank you for the suggestions so far. C=


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A sorcerer sort of forces you to specialize a bit due to spell limitations. For more general-purpose spells, you're probably going to be relying upon wands.

I would definitely trade Silent Image for either Color Spray or Mage Armor, though.


PLay a Human Sorcerer with he false priest archetype and the sylvan bloodline. For extra insanity pick up eldritch heritage Arcane... Have an Animal COmpanion(boon companion) a faerie dragon(improved familiar) and be able to UMD divine spells.


I would not take Magic Missile at first level. Damage is too small. I would take Sleep, Color Spray or Grease in its place. I would not take MM until at least 3rd level. It is also a decent strategy to replace Color Spray or Sleep with Magic Missile, when you can do so at 4th level.

Silent Image is fine, if your DM allows you to be creative with your ideas.

I would not waste a known spell on Mage Armor. A wand of Mage Armor is cheap and will serve you for many levels, IMHO.


Alright, so what about higher levels? What spells should I be looking to progress towards?


Read the sorcerer guide threads first.

Have spells that target each of the three saves. Don't waste slots on spells that a wand can do cheaply. Don't be redundant with your spells.


I've already read the guide threads already, was just coming here for some extra advice. C=

That all makes sense. Thanks. =3


You're also going to want a mixture of different damage types. One fire, one cold, one acid, etc. And always keep a damaging spell with no spell resistance allowed if you can; keeping it as a wand will do.

The mix of damage types is to cover different type weaknesses. The reason for the one with no spell resistance is to keep some effectiveness against golems.


Personally, I got way more use out of Mount than Silent Image. Instant livestock just ends up being super useful.

Also, don't take magic missile until you are a couple of levels in. Its a nice backup spell to finish off enemies that are beating on your friends with 1 stupid hit point left when you want to save higher level spells and the first level magic spells aren't feeling as useful.

If you have a beefcake, especially a beefcake with a reach weapon, enlarge person is fantastic. Hiding in an enlarged fighter's threatened squares is a better defensive strategy than any armor.


Rest of the group includes an Efreeti Magus with a fire obsession and a Dhampir Battle Scout(Ranger) TWF emo. So we're rather light on beefcakes lol.


Oooh, you'll want mount to hide behind a horse then. They also find traps really well. ("NEEEEEIIIIGGGGgggghhh...." "I think it found a pit trap.")


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My advice tends to run counter to most of what you'll hear on this board. I usually go for style, and then build the most effective character I can around that style.

Sorcerers are people that were born with magical superpowers.

I say: Pick a theme!

Bloodlines are part of it, but I like to build my sorcerer characters such that most/all of their spells follow that theme.

So... fire, death, force, shape-changing, illusion, telepathy/mind-control... Pick a theme and go with it!

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

If you're in a typical "good vs evil" type of campaign, burst of radiance is fantastic.


Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Addition.

Grand Lodge

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0th: Detect magic, Acid Splash (for Golems & unlimited combat use) Prestigitation, light, ray of frost.

1st: Colour spray, Grease, shield, Mage Armour, sleep (early on), Magic missile, Burning hands (to deal with swarms), enlarge person

2nd: Glitter Dust, Scorching Ray, Oppressive Boredom, invisibility, See invisibility, False Life, Bulls strength

3rd: Dispel Magic, Fireball, lightning bolt, protection from energy, fly,

4th: Dimension door, Confusion, Phantasmal killer, stone skin, solid fog

5th: Teleport, Wall of Force, Dominate person, cone of cold, Dismissal

6th: Dispel magic greater, Disintegrate, flesh to stone

7th: Limited Wish, Teleport greater, Planeshift, power word blind, force cage, prismatic spray

8th: power word stun, Polar ray, telekinetic Sphere, Prismatic wall

9th: Wish, Shapechange, Interplanetary Teleport, Time Stop, Dominate Monster


Thank you everyone, I think I have a pretty good idea of what I should be going for now. ^_^

Liberty's Edge

Create Pit can be UGLY. Just saying ;-)

Vanish is quite nice too. Our local Sorcerer renamed it Summon Sneak Attack :-)))


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I've actually seen what Create Pit can do, thanks to my wizard friend. Believe me when I tell you I have every intention on taking it. XD

Liberty's Edge

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Haladir wrote:

My advice tends to run counter to most of what you'll hear on this board. I usually go for style, and then build the most effective character I can around that style.

Sorcerers are people that were born with magical superpowers.

I say: Pick a theme!

Bloodlines are part of it, but I like to build my sorcerer characters such that most/all of their spells follow that theme.

So... fire, death, force, shape-changing, illusion, telepathy/mind-control... Pick a theme and go with it!

I agree with this. A basic theme or focus with some added versatility tends to work well.


Detect Magic,Prestidigitation, Acid Splash are three of the most useful 0 level spells I have ever used. The list a few post up of each level are really good. But yeah, level one, color spray will be better than magic missile, which RotRL does not have a lot of undead for the most part, so you are good there. You want spells that you can and will want to spam a lot. Silent Image can be great, but has many draw a backs, and your 0 lvl spells might want to rethink. Prestidigitation can mimic both mage hands and ghost sounds and last longer. Granted, it can lift as much or as fast. But one casting last for 1 hour, for whatever you want to do with it inside its description. It is good to have a 0 level attack spell for no otherreason that to spam it, especially against things that have SR (read acid splash) so long as it is not resistant to the damage type being thrown at it. Most of the stuff you will fight/encounter in RotRL will not be resistant to acid.

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