Wild Mage

[Qwertystop]

Is being a Wild Mage better than going straight Sorcerer?

[Chuckthedwarf]

Pretty much anything's better then going straight sorcerer. Unless you want familiar progression and you didn't replace the little bugger with a variant class feature at level 1. Obtain familiar familiar is better either way, scaling with any spellcasting classes you might have as opposed to just the sorcerer.

So,uh, yeah. Sorcerer has no class features beyond familiar, in 3.5 at least. In Pathfinder, they're pretty cool, though. But since I assume you're playing 3.5, you have nothing to lose as long as you're going in a full casting progression prestige class.

I honestly don't know how useful the Wild Mage's, uh, focus is, but hey, you can only become better. The thing with variable caster level is somewhat abuse-able if you take Practiced Spellcaster feat from CArc or CDiv. It gives you +4 to caster level in one casting class, up to your HD. Since Wild Mages have reduced caster level but they get to roll a variable number to add on top, you'll pretty much always have higher caster level then you normally could with Practiced Spellcaster.

Honestly don't know how good the Rod of Wonder-oriented abilities are. I find the item itself pretty lackluster in most cases, but who knows? At least you get class features, and can do something random every once in a while.

[Bibliomancer]

I haven't seen it used, but the capstone ability would be pretty deadly against any opponent with a lot of magic items (so, say, any BBEG or adventurer).

Other than that, even without Practiced Spellcaster (and applying the full effect here is something that your DM would probably object to) you end up 0.5 caster levels ahead, on average.

[MammonAzrael]

Yes. Any PrC that has full casting advancement is better than straight sorcerer (there may be one or two out there with disadvantages great enough to outweigh the positives, but I don't know of any). You gain literally nothing from advancing your sorcerer level that you wouldn't get from a PrC.

[Urpriest]

Yes. Any PrC that has full casting advancement is better than straight sorcerer (there may be one or two out there with disadvantages great enough to outweigh the positives, but I don't know of any). You gain literally nothing from advancing your sorcerer level that you wouldn't get from a PrC.

Going straight Sorceror would involve not hurling a feat and some skill points down the drain. That said, Wild Mage is alright for it's prereqs. As said before, it's caster level stuff is abusable, and the Rod of Wonder abilities aren't bad, since the Rod itself can give a few useful results. (Though I did have a campaign where a wizard ended up turning himself permanently blue with that thing, so be careful. He was also permanently reduced. It was very difficult to take him seriously after that.)

[MammonAzrael]

Going straight Sorceror would involve not hurling a feat and some skill points down the drain. That said, Wild Mage is alright for it's prereqs. As said before, it's caster level stuff is abusable, and the Rod of Wonder abilities aren't bad, since the Rod itself can give a few useful results. (Though I did have a campaign where a wizard ended up turning himself permanently blue with that thing, so be careful. He was also permanently reduced. It was very difficult to take him seriously after that.)

Chances are, any prerequisite a full casting PrC has is outweighed by actually getting class features for 10 levels.

And maybe its just me, but I'd be more frightened of a permanently reduced wizard, as they are now better at sneaking, landing touch attacks, and harder to hit.

[Forum Explorer]

Going straight Sorceror would involve not hurling a feat and some skill points down the drain. That said, Wild Mage is alright for it's prereqs. As said before, it's caster level stuff is abusable, and the Rod of Wonder abilities aren't bad, since the Rod itself can give a few useful results. (Though I did have a campaign where a wizard ended up turning himself permanently blue with that thing, so be careful. He was also permanently reduced. It was very difficult to take him seriously after that.)

He turned into a Smurf!? :smallbiggrin: That is hilarious :smallsmile:

[Urpriest]

Chances are, any prerequisite a full casting PrC has is outweighed by actually getting class features for 10 levels.

And maybe its just me, but I'd be more frightened of a permanently reduced wizard, as they are now better at sneaking, landing touch attacks, and harder to hit.

Oh don't get me wrong, the permanent reduction was intentional for exactly that reason. Still didn't impress the NPCs that much.

[Zaydos]

Better than plain sorcerer?

Yes. Su Nondetection, and 3/day randomly redirect an attack that targets you makes it better than sorcerer.

Wildstrike I'd be suspicious of, it's good if you're not in high levels of rocket tag but once you are it's a 50% of ha ha :P and 50% of I just wasted my best chance to nuke them.

As for their first level ability. Mathematically it's a +0.5 CL on average. In reality the penalty from -2 CL is usually worse than the bonus from +3 is good (damage dice cap, HD cap on polymorph, unreliability making it not that useful on buff spells as if the CL matters the odds are losing it hurts worse) so I'd actually consider that a disadvantage. If you're allowed Practiced Spellcaster on it either to negate the penalty if you rolled a 1 or 2 (raising the average to +1, but negating the chance of penalty) or altogether negating the penalty it's really good. If the DM let's the latter work be nice because they definitely are (FAQ says it doesn't, but FAQ is FAQ).

[Otherworld Odd]

What book is this in? It interests me. >.>

[MammonAzrael]

Wild Mage can be found in Complete Arcane.

[Otherworld Odd]

Is it possible to switch everything "Arcane" to "Divine" without screwing up the class too bad? >.>...

[Qwertystop]

Just makes a bit less sense as to why a god would give you a random burst of likely-ineffective power instead of a normal spell.

[MammonAzrael]

It's possible to do that with most PrCs. It is, however, a large rewrite of the class that your DM would absolutely sign off on. In addition, the fluff would have to be figured out and changed, and arcane and divine magic have fundamental differences.

If I were the DM I'd just say no, but you're welcome to try with your own.

[Noneoyabizzness]

Just makes a bit less sense as to why a god would give you a random burst of likely-ineffective power instead of a normal spell.

Homebrew god of chance or pranks would make sense.

Of if he worships the idea of chance or chaos and a random dirty grants any given spell.

[Otherworld Odd]

I was thinking along the lines of a deity with the chaos domain. That would probably have to be a prereq because yes, it doesn't make sense at all with other domains or deities.

[Yuki Akuma]

Yes. Any PrC that has full casting advancement is better than straight sorcerer (there may be one or two out there with disadvantages great enough to outweigh the positives, but I don't know of any). You gain literally nothing from advancing your sorcerer level that you wouldn't get from a PrC.

People need to stop saying this. You lose out on familiar progression.

Unless you took an ACF that loses your familiar and took Obtain Familiar to get the better version.

[MammonAzrael]

People need to stop saying this. You lose out on familiar progression.

Unless you took an ACF that loses your familiar and took Obtain Familiar to get the better version.

Fair enough. There are fringe cases where it will be more optimal to remain a single class sorcerer. I stand by my statement for the cast majority of builds and characters (You'll also have a lot of the familiar benefits by 5th level anyways).

[Qwertystop]

Where can I find an easy list of Sorc ACFs? I didn't take a familiar because it really, REALLY fails to fit my backstory and concept, but I couldn't find anything on the SRD. Haven't looked anywhere else, as I'd probably end up combing the books page-by-page.

[dextercorvia]

PHBII has the best Sorcerer ACF for familiar.