Making a Generalist Sorcerer

[Blackhawk748]

What it says on the tin, ive tried this once before with limited success, so id like to try again. Now as we know Wizards are better at being generalist, but i hate being a prepared caster, thus Sorcerer, the problem is, i have limited spells, so a list of generally applicable spells would be great as well as a decent PrC, preferably not setting specific ones. Race is wide open. Dragon magazine is on a case by case basis.

[Seharvepernfan]

Solo's guide to sorcerers is full of good advice. Follow it and you'll do fine.

[Rebel7284]

Old or Venerable Dragonwraught Desert Kobold.

- Online ritual gets you one extra level of sorcerer progression, making you equal to a wizard in progression, check here: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a
- No penalty to physical stats and getting the bonus to mental stats leaves you at -4 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Cha. Great stats! +1 more to mental scores if you are venerable instead of just old.
- Being a dragon, several spells such as Alter Self and Wings of Cover work overtime for you.
- Cheese is possible if needed with this race, but the above is generally enough to make a great sorcerer.

Drawbacks:
- Your first two feats are accounted for: Dragonwraught and Draconic Reservoir

[incarnate236]

Shadow Conjuration/Shadow Evocation is a good place to start.

[meemaas]

Old or Venerable Dragonwraught Desert Kobold.

- Online ritual gets you one extra level of sorcerer progression, making you equal to a wizard in progression, check here: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a
- No penalty to physical stats and getting the bonus to mental stats leaves you at -4 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Cha. Great stats! +1 more to mental scores if you are venerable instead of just old.
- Being a dragon, several spells such as Alter Self and Wings of Cover work overtime for you.
- Cheese is possible if needed with this race, but the above is generally enough to make a great sorcerer.

Drawbacks:
- Your first two feats are accounted for: Dragonwraught and Draconic Reservoir

Add on one level of sandshaper and then take mage of the arcane order on top of this and with all the bonus spells you have access to you have just about the same range of reach as a wizard would at any given time.

[Rebel7284]

Add on one level of sandshaper and then take mage of the arcane order on top of this and with all the bonus spells you have access to you have just about the same range of reach as a wizard would at any given time.

I have mixed feelings about Sandshaper. On one hand, it does give you a LOT of spells, many of which are good spells. On the other hand, losing a caster level hurts. Although with the Kobold setup, you're back to where a typical sorcerer would be. *shrugs*

If your DM allows Mage of the Arcane Order to work with a sorcerer (will certainly require the Arcane Preparation feat) the prestige class offers some pretty amazing flexibility.

Sandshaper AND MotAO is probably redundant though.

[meemaas]

There's some gems on the sand shaper list. And since mage of the arcane order does have a limit on the spells you can retrieve, it's probably better to expand your base list anyways.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Rainbow Servant is the biggest spell list enhancement you can get - 10 levels, full casting, you get all cleric spells and three domains (plus wings). Entry at level 6, or level 4 if you bump a 2nd-level spell up to 3rd level, or even at level 2 if you can find a way to bump a 1st-level spell up to 3rd. The domains are useless (as noted below), but the cleric spells allow you to qualify for divine casting prestige classes. It's not totally clear whether this adds to spells known, however.

A one-level dip in Divine Oracle adds the Oracle domain to your spell lists, and gives you +2 CL on divination spells from the granted power. Entry at level 6, feat tax 1 (skill focus (K(religion))).
A one-level dip in Hathran adds a number of spells, including planar binding and planar ally. The requirements are many, but they're nearly all fluff, so this is very DM-dependant. Entry at level 8, feat tax 1 (Ethran, a local feat, specific to Faerûn) and Leadership (not a tax, as it's really good obviously, but chances are it's banned).
A one-level dip in Wearer of Purple adds either the Death, Evil, or Scalykind domain. Entry at level 7, feat tax 2 (Iron Will, Spell Focus (Necromancy)).

Of course sorcerers get nothing out of picking up domains >.> (adds to spell list, but you have to select them separately, so no additional spells known). You'd figure that expanding your spell list by following a god should be easier. After all, how hard can it be for a god to throw some knowstones your way?

Shadowcrafters get to increase the realness of their shadow evocation and conjuration spells, by up to 20% at level 7.

[ericgrau]

They actually work better as generalists than anything else. It's redundant to get a bunch of spells that do the same thing. The key is to pick versatile spells to get the most mileage out of each. It's no different than what a wizard prepares on his general purpose no-I-didn't-scry-and-contact-plane-every-encounter-3-weeks-in-advance list. You know, the list 99% of players use rather than the theoretical forum wizard.

Second to that is that, like a wizard, you buy tons of random utility scrolls for every situation. That way you're prepared for anything. Even 1 or 2 of each, b/c any random situation might only appear once in an entire campaign if that. Especially the 25 gp level 1 scrolls, you might get every single level 1 utility scroll at some point. And more level 2s as you get into higher level. Get a higher caster level on things like tenser's floating disk and summon monster I, for weight capacity, duration and so on.

So anywho, here are some example core spells:
0: detect magic, prestidigitation
1: color spray (ditch later), sleep (ditch later), ray of enfeeblement
2: web, levitate (versatile b/c range & hits objects), flaming sphere (ditch later), invisibility
3: sleet storm, fireball, haste
4: solid fog, black tentacles, dimension door, resilient sphere, wall of ice, greater invisibility
5: wall of force, teleport

Many other spells are hit and miss. While I've rarely been unhappy with any of the above.

As you get into higher level start converting your lower level spells into hour/level, swift and immediate spells for the sake of action economy. You'll have way too many spells per day so you want to burn through them without occupying your combat standard action which should be reserved for your high level spells. So at 10th level your list should not look like the above since most of your first through third level spells should be hour/level, swifts and immediates. An exception is if you have metamagic that applies to the lower level spells, like empowered ray of enfeeblement and heightened glitterdust. Yes I know glitterdust isn't on the above list. It's b/c it has a save and tiny area so at level 4 you're better off with web or etc. when you're stuck with only one level 2 spell. To handle a greater variety of foes. But it's a nice backup high level option b/c it's an SR no small area spell. There are lots of other good unlisted backup options too. My main goal was what to pick when you only have 1 or 2 spells on a level. Likewise avoid too much overlap like ddoor + teleport.

[meemaas]

Rainbow Servant is the biggest spell list enhancement you can get - 10 levels, full casting, you get all cleric spells and three domains (plus wings). Entry at level 6, or level 4 if you bump a 2nd-level spell up to 3rd level, or even at level 2 if you can find a way to bump a 1st-level spell up to 3rd. The domains are useless (as noted below), but the cleric spells allow you to qualify for divine casting prestige classes. It's not totally clear whether this adds to spells known, however.

It doesn't add to the spells known. You have to select them as spells known using your limited slots. Ideally, if you went this direction, you'd go with Warmage, or as a lesser option, Beguiler or Dread Necro, since those three know all the spells on their list, and would get instant access.

On an unrelated note, you can qualify as early as first level with the Earth Spell, Heighten Spell, and Versatile Spellcaster feats, but to do that you have to be a Human or Strongheart halfling.

[Mr Adventurer]

You may want to take a look at the Beguiler spell list. It's pretty versatile.

[Nousos]

An easy way to this concept would be to play a Sha'ir. As long as you know a wiz/sorc spell exists you can prepare it with just a few minutes, and you even get some divine spells. Before an adventure prep a few you think you need and have your pet genie on standby to fetch you a few more.

Just be sure to keep diplomacy maxed and you can essentially be more versatile than a wizard.

[JBarca]

It doesn't add to the spells known. You have to select them as spells known using your limited slots. Ideally, if you went this direction, you'd go with Warmage, or as a lesser option, Beguiler or Dread Necro, since those three know all the spells on their list, and would get instant access.

On an unrelated note, you can qualify as early as first level with the Earth Spell, Heighten Spell, and Versatile Spellcaster feats, but to do that you have to be a Human or Strongheart halfling.

Not wholly relevant, but something I've always wondered and never found a real answer to: Why is the Warmage considered the best Rainbow Servant entry? Beguiler and DN both have spontaneous casting from their whole list, so what's the real difference? Is it class features?

[meemaas]

Not wholly relevant, but something I've always wondered and never found a real answer to: Why is the Warmage considered the best Rainbow Servant entry? Beguiler and DN both have spontaneous casting from their whole list, so what's the real difference? Is it class features?

That's pretty much it. Beguiler and DN both gain more from staying in class than the Warmage. In addition to that. The warmage gets a bigger power boost from the capstone than the other two due to its base list.

[JBarca]

That's pretty much it. Beguiler and DN both gain more from staying in class than the Warmage. In addition to that. The warmage gets a bigger power boost from the capstone than the other two due to its base list.

Ah, so it's less "Warmage uses this better" and more "The other two don't need the added power as much," give or take? Cool. Thanks!