| Angry Wizard |
Improve on my Arcane Sorcerer spell selection. He is primarily built around metamagic and evocation to wreck their faces, but I'm glad to listen to your case for other spells to use EXCEPT for the Summon Monster line. I DON'T want to summon. Period. Yes I know it's the most optimal but I'm tired of summoning. Anyways, what spells would you swap out and what would you replace it with? (Besides the Bloodline spells obviously)
Level 0:
Drench
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
Read Magic
Dancing Lights
Spark
Ghost Sound
Mage Hand
Mending
Arcane mark
Prestidigitation
Level 1:
Shield
Grease
Mage Armor
Magic Missile
Obscuring Mist
Silent Image
Feather Fall
Level 2:
Communal Protection from Evil
Create Pit
Glitterdust
Burst of Radiance
Scorching Ray
Shatter
Mirror Image
Level 3:
Communal Protection from Arrows
Communal Resist Energy
Heroism
Fireball
Lightning Bolt
Displacement
Haste
Level 4:
Dimensional Anchor
Black Tentacles
Scrying
Emergency Force Sphere
Resilient Sphere
Wall of Ice
Enervation
Level 5:
Communal Stoneskin
Dominate Person
Cone of Cold
Wall of Force
Wall of Light
Level 6:
Chains of Light
Chain Lightning
Cold Ice Strike
Elemental Assessor
Disintegrate
Flesh to Stone
Level 7:
Plane Shift
Greater Scrying
Grasping Hand
Prismatic Spray
Reverse Gravity
Limited Wish
Level 8:
Prismatic Wall
Maze
Polar Ray
Sunburst
Form of the Dragon III
Level 9:
Mage’s Disjunction
Meteor Swarm
Time Stop
| andreww |
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Much of this will depend on level but I would suggest you are missing the following:
Level 1:
Heightened Awareness, because going first often means going last and Liberating Command as getting your allies out of grapples as an immediate action is extremely helpful
Obscuring Mist works just as well as a wand or scroll, it has no real level dependant effects. Silent Image is very variable depending on how your GM rules Illusions work and what counts as interaction.
Level 2:
I would grab See Invisibility even with Glitterdust because you want to know exactly where flying invisible caster who bombing you from a hundred feet away are. Command Undead gives you an army of minions, mindless undead get no save, and is a great spell even against intelligent undead. Suppress Charms and Compulsions is generally better than Communal Prot Evil as it has no alignment requirement.
Scorching Ray is pretty terrible and you will often be eating a -8 penalty to hit. Fire Resistance is the most common resistance. Create Pit is great when you get it but you want to trade it our for the higher level versions and then get rid of it completely. I am not sure why you have Shatter.
Level 3:
Communal Prot Arrows is pretty terrible, most competent archers will ignore it as they will be using a magical bow or arrows. Displacement seems unnecessary given you have Mirror Image, I would avoid the duplication. As yet you don't have any enchantment spells, I would strongly consider Suggestion as a powerful removal and utility option. Aqueous Orb also offers powerful mobile battlefield control. Likewise Stinking Cloud it extremely effective.
Level 4:
Force Sphere and Resilient Sphere seem like duplication. Yes you can catch people in the Resilient one but you could just have dropped them in a pit. I like Dragon's Breath for sorcerers at 4 because it covers all of the energy types in one spell. Wall of Ice is easy to break through and depending on your group Enervation may be a waste. If your combats don't last past 3 rounds then don't bother. I would seriously consider a strong aoe Will save spell here, both Confusion and Fear wreck encounters. I also find it hard to resist Charm Monster for more minions and Greater Invisibility is almost a must.
Level 5:
Communal Stoneskin is expensive and honestly probably not worth the bother. Cone of Cold is pretty dire and Dominate Person has a 1 round cast time making it less than viable in combat. You currently lack any single target fortitude spells and Baleful Polymorph is a great pick foe dealing with opposing arcane casters. Hungry Pit will kill almost anything that cannot get out of it and Fickle Winds shuts down enemy archers hard.
Level 6:
Cold Ice Strike is fairly awful, a relatively modest amount of extra damage which sucks up a 6th level spell slot and your swift action you could have been using for a swift buff. From level 15 onwards you want your swift for your preferred spell perfection spell. The rest look good but I would look to try and fit in something like Mass Suggestion or Repulsion, both offer incredible control options. I also like to squeeze in Permanent Image here as it opens u loads of out of combat options on account of its duration.
Level 7:
This is a bit of a funny level as it has some very variable spells in it. If you are specialising in evocation and dazing then Hungry Darkness is pretty much guaranteed death. At this level you also need to be concerned about enemies throwing highly dangerous stuff at you making Spell Turning very tempting. I also love Magnificent Mansion at this level for both style and security.
Level 8:
Polar Ray is dreadful for its level, I wouldn't touch it. Sunburst is amazing huge area affect control which also destroys horribly dangerous light sensitive undead. Form of the Dragon is OK at 16th but you will train out of it as soon as you have Shapechange.
You currently lack Mind Blank which is one of the defining spells for high level caster play. It makes you virtually undetectable while invisible, even against enemies with true seeing or see invisibility. You should have this.
Likewise Polymorph any Object is one of the most versatile high level spells allowing you to duplicate many others which is golden for sorcerers.
I know you don't want to summon but Greater Planar Binding offers you a huge number of options here. I would also recommend a least one summon spell at 6 or higher. You may never cast it during combat but having the ability to cherry pick from monster SLA's increases your versatility greatly.
Level 9:
Meteor Swarm is terrible, like truly awful. It does mediocre damage over a largish area and that is about it. Shapechange should be one of your go-to spells, it provides huge versatility with a decent 10min/level duration. If your GM likes throwing anti-magic fields then you want Aroden's Spellbane. You may want to grab or retrain to an expanded arcana feat at level 18+, extra level 9 spells known are not to be sneezed at.
| Angry Wizard |
I am not sure why you have Shatter.
Communal Stoneskin is expensive and honestly probably not worth the bother.
Hungry Darkness is pretty much guaranteed death.
I also love Magnificent Mansion at this level for both style and security.
You may want to grab or retrain to an expanded arcana feat at level 18+, extra level 9 spells known are not to be sneezed at.
Thank you very much for your extensive and informative post. I'm trying to move from wizards to Sorcerers and it's an interesting transition. Some points or suggestions you've made that I'd like to comment on.
Shatter: I loved having a scroll or 2 of this on hand as a wizard just so I could go "Oh, you're a caster that relies on a spell component pouch/holy symbol that you likely don't have extras of? BAM!!! 'You come into my house!?' and etc.". I feel like it's even better to have as a sorcerer because it's there when I need it, but I can cast other things if I don't.
Communal Stoneskin: I like to use it for myself as a cheaper version of Stoneskin (100 gp diamond dust instead 250 gp). If my fellow players want some Stoneskin they have to cough up. I already slap them with enough buffs as it is.
Hungry Darkness: Good lord, I didn't even know this spell existed. I can finally live my childhood dream of being Raven from Teen Titans. Beastly evocation spell, thanks.
Magnificent Mansion: Oh god the temptation. It's so great, I might just swap it our with something.
Expanded Arcana: *swoons* this is a sexy feat. I like this feat. I should play spontaneous casters more often.
| andreww |
Oh, I missed one. If you are a half elf (and you should be) then you get to pick up Paragon Surge as a level 3 spell. Surge gives you some small buffs along with a single feat. The feat and any secondary choices are locked in for the day but it has a wide variety of uses.
Need a particular metamagic right now, say Ectoplasmic Spell for fighting shadows, well you have it. Need a big skill boost, hello Skill Focus or Additional Traits. Need to speak a language, hello Cosmpolitan. Basically anything you need you can have for the low low price of a level 3 spell slot.
More importantly you can also gain spontaneous access to any spell you are capable of casting. How? Just pick Expanded Arcana as your feat choice. You add 1 spell of your highest level or two lower level spells to your spells known. You are fixed with this choice for the whole day but it adds enormous flexibility.
| potent |
What about Shadow Conjuration (4th) and Shadow Evocation (5th), and the greater versions down the line. Arcane Bloodline gets a +2 to any school at level 15. That with Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus Illusion, and possibly even being Gnome, for a total of +5 DC (+6 with metamagic with the bloodline arcana). I know its only 20% real, but if you really jack that DC high enough, odds are they won't be disbelieved for the full effect. Opens up lots of room for other spells. Plus, there are fun illusion spells that could take advantage of insanely high DC.
Maybe not the direction you were going in but thought I'd mention it...
Dafydd
|
Color Spray DESTROYS encounters at low levels. COMPLETELY.
Seriously, 2d4 rounds of UNCONCIOUS, followed by 1d4+1 rounds of STUN.
Shadow Evocation and Shadow Conjuration are both great, especially to hit with heighten or quicken.
My favorite with Conjuration is the Pit line. The falling damage is 100% real. It is only the acid, spikes or crushing walls that are illusions.