Sorce Code.

[AtomicKitKat]

Yeah yeah, stupid title. So... this is my first thread that I actually posted in this sub-forum(not counting older ones that got shuffled here when this sub was created). And I use it to post about one of my not so favourite classes. :P

Without further ado, let's try this out.

Premise: The Sorceror is "weak", gaining spells one level behind the Wizard, fewer known spells, crappy Class Skills list, no Bonus Feats(or any Class Abilities beyond spells and Familiars even).

Solution(Partially done): Giving the Sorceror a few more spells known, expanding the Class Skills list, and possibly some nifty abilities along the way.

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Spells per day: 1 fewer spell per day than normal.
Spells Known: As normal.

Heritage: At 1st level, a Sorceror picks a Heritage from one of the following. This represents the ancestor that granted him his arcane powers. Each Heritage grants, at certain pre-set levels, extra spells known, and possibly a new Class Skill, representing the Sorceror's greater understanding and appreciation of his arcane ancestry. Each of these spells is treated both as a spell known, and can be cast once a day, in similar fashion to a Cleric's Domain spells. If more than 1 spell is listed for a particlar level, you can take only 1 of them. You can however, choose to take a lower level Heritage Spell(noted in italics below) when you would otherwise get a new Heritage Spell). Note that you cannot trade out these spells for new spells on levelling. At 8th level he gets Improved Heritage, at 14th, Greater Heritage, and at 20th, Racial Legacy.

Abyssal: The ancestor was possibly one of the dreaded Tanar'ri, granting demonic powers.
Angel: The ancestor was one of the Devas, or Angels, Celestials native to the Good Aligned Outer Planes.
Archon: The ancestor was an Archon, native to the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia.
Celestial: The ancestor was a lower-ranked Celestial, or several Celestials of various types feature in the bloodline.
Eladrin: The ancestor could have been one of the Eladrins, native to the Olympian Glades of Arborea.
Fey: The ancestor might have been a mischievous pixie, or a randy satyr, maybe even a reclusive dryad.
Fiendish: The ancestor was perhaps a Yugoloth, or some other generic fiend(or several ancestors might have been fiends even), granting fiendish powers.
Guardinal: The ancestor was one of the animalistic Celestials hailing from the Blessed Fields of Elysium.
Infernal: The ancestor was possibly one of the dreaded Ba'atezu, granting devilish powers.

Abyssal:
1st:
8th:
14th:
20th:
Angel:
1st:
8th:
14th:
20th:
Archon:
1st:
8th:
14th:
20th:
Celestial:
1st:
8th:
14th:
20th:
Eladrin:
1st:
8th:
14th:
20th:
Fey:
1st: Diplomacy, Charm Person or Unseen Servant
8th: Sleight of Hand, Charm Monster or Greater Invisibility
14th: Project Image or Ethereal Jaunt
20th: Maze or Otto's Irreisistable Dance
Fiendish:
1st:
8th:
14th:
20th:
Guardinal:
1st: Handle Animal, Mount or Summon Monster I(Celestial or Celestial Templated only)
8th: Ride, Black Tentacles or Summon Monster IV(Celestial or Celestial Templated only)
14th: Summon Monster VII(Avoral Guardinal, or Celestial or Celestial Templated only)
20th: Gate(Calling for Guardinals or Celestial or Celestial Templated creatures only) or Summon Monster IX(Leonal Guardinal, or Celestial or Celestial Templated only)
Infernal:
1st:
8th:
14th:
20th:

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As you can see, I'm slightly stumped as to what spells and/or skills should be given at each Heritage level(ie, it should likely be a spell of the highest level they can cast at the time). I will probably give the Class Skills only at 1 and 8, when they would be more useful(that is, the skill is henceforth a class skill for you). When suggesting powers and skills, try to keep them in theme with the Heritage you are suggesting them for. I only used spells from the SRD for the Fey and Guardinal Heritages because I'm lazy to dig through all my books in the next room for suitable spells(I will eventually get the Spell Compendium, I guess, but it's far down the list). I also neglected to include Draconic Heritage, because a) it's already been done to death, and b), it was really done pretty well in Complete Arcane(I think?). This variant version is merely my attempt to translate that into more than just Draconic ancestors.

So please, suggest anything that you think is suitable for each Heritage. Not mentioned, but each Heritage would obviously give small cosmetic changes(perhaps affecting relationship checks). I considered turning the character into a Half-X by the end of the class' progression, but the ability bonuses, Special Attacks/Qualities, not to mention Spell-like Abilities of some of them would be a little hard to balance(Considering most of them have 2-4 levels of LA as well).

[Catharsis]

I like the idea of a heritage granting "domain" powers to sorcerers. I don't like the Draconic Heritage tree too much, since growing claws and wings doesn't appeal to my tastes at all.

So in your attempt to "fix" the sorcerer, you take 9 spell slots away from him and give 4 of those back as heritage-locked slots. In return, the spells known increase by 4, and the class skill list by 2. Hm. Sounds pretty balanced to me, though I'm not sure it's noticeably "better" than the original sorcerer. At any rate, it's a nice concept and one I'd consider for my sorcerer (depending on how useful the granted spells are... better make them count!).

[sekaiichibannobaka]

Interesting concept.Don't have the Monster Manual with me

I guess[IMHO] that the Celstial ones would have [i]Protection from Evil/Detect Evil at lower levels.Thats all I can figure out for the moment[I don't know the diff between the angels.]

[Tormsskull]

I'm all for people homebrewing things and I admire your effort to write all of this out and theroize it, but I wonder why you (or common thought) thinks that the sorceror is underpowered?

The main advantage of the sorceror is that they can cast spells spontaneously. This means that as long as the sorceror takes a somewhat flexible spell list they can handle numerous situations that occur.

The logic I have heard from some people is that a Wizard can learn all of the spells and then write a scroll of every spell that he knows and thus can handle ALL circumstances. This is true but can get to be somewhat expensive in xp and gold.

The simplest way of handling this would be to increase the number of spells a sorceror can know or limit the number of scrolls a wizard can scribe at a time. Limiting the wizard's scroll-collection seems like the easiest way to give the sorceror back his versatility.

[AtomicKitKat]

Bear in mind, I've been playing D&D since 2nd Edition(limitedly, admittedly), so although I don't really like the Vancian system of "fire and forget", I also think the Sorceror feels more like a computer game-based caster(ie, think of them in the same way as Psions, with "mana". It's slightly less flexible than a Psion, since spellslots are fixed, and you can't drop "extra mana" if you fill a higher slot with a lower spell, or else take a full round to apply as many metamagic feats as you can to maximise usage of the "mana"), so it's a little out of place next to the CWD triumvirate.

I'm accepting any and all suggestions for spells and skills. Bear in mind, that the "Heritage Domain spells" are meant to provide slightly greater flexibility(along with a single bonus spell slot filled with that particular spell), with a slight dip in the total number of spells cast. The overall result should be something like 4 "fixed slots", and 9 "free slots" lost.

[Fax Celestis]

Can we go with the Spell Compendium?

[AtomicKitKat]

Yeah, any spell that sounds thematically right, and falls within one of the following criteria:

1st level Heritage = Level 0-1
8th level Heritage = Level 0-4
14th level Heritage = Level 0-7
20th level Heritage = Level 0-9

Preferrably, it should be at the maximum available spell level, or close to it. Also, I would prefer that spells which can be used to replicate other spells(eg, the Shadow Conjuration series, or Limited/Wish) not be used.

[Triaxx]

Draconic Heritage: A Draconic Heritage Sorceror is able to draw on the powers of one element of Dragon in his ancestory. For Example a Red dragon would grant fire element spells.

Draconic:
1st:One spell of element once per day, per four levels.
8th: Draconic Armor: Once per day, a Sorceror may call upon his heritage, and armor his or herself in the scales of his draconic ancestor, granting resistance to (Element) equal to one percent every two levels lasting 1d4+caster level/min.
14th: Wyvern Call
20th: Draconic Breath: Once Per day, the Caster may use a dragon breath attack like that of his ancestors. Acts as normal breath with save for half if allowed, using any statistics of the Sorceror.