Sorcerer optimization? (to the point of soloing) Levels 1-5

[magicalmagicman]

Only threads I could find online were about optimal BFC choices in a group.

What are some really powerful low level sorcerer builds? Builds so powerful that the sorcerer could solo? High-op not TO.

[flappeercraft]

I'm guessing it would be a DWK Mailman if you're going solo.

[Karl Aegis]

I would share a combination of Fist of Stone, Mage Armor and Enlarge Person with a hawk familiar and go to town.

[Falontani]

Warforged Sorcerer + Fist of Stone, Mage Armor, Shield, and a wand of repair light damage with the feat Wand Bonding (or drop your familiar for it). Wand Bonding allows you to drop spell slots of equal level to the wand's spell in order to use the wand. Allowing you to run around with a single wand of Repair Light Damage for as long as you need, and when you actually are spent on spells you can then trigger the wand normally.

If you do not want to take mage armor you can take Mithril Body (15% ASF) to permanently have a 4 armor bonus.

[Nifft]

The optimal solo PC doesn't play like a solo PC.

1. You're a Sorcerer, so you get a Familiar.

2. Spending a feat to get a Wild Cohort is solid, and will get you through a level or two, which will in turn get you some gold.

3. When you have gold, then paying for hireling Warriors whom you treat as BDFs ("Big Dumb Fighters") with your BFC ("Battlefield Control") spells is a strong way to leverage "controller" spells.

4. If you're allowed to use Dragon Magazine, then issue #280 has some nice feats: Enspell Familiar (increase "share spells" range from 5 ft. to 1 mile) and Extra Familiar (get another Familiar). Note that you can take Extra Familiar as many times as you'd like, and that all of your extra familiars benefit from feats like Improved Familiar.

5. At level 6, you get Leadership. You've got the Charisma to make this a very effective expenditure.

[magicalmagicman]

Seeing a lot of Fist of Stone meleeing. Nice. I'll see if it works.


The optimal solo PC doesn't play like a solo PC.

1. You're a Sorcerer, so you get a Familiar.

2. Spending a feat to get a Wild Cohort is solid, and will get you through a level or two, which will in turn get you some gold.

3. When you have gold, then paying for hireling Warriors whom you treat as BDFs ("Big Dumb Fighters") with your BFC ("Battlefield Control") spells is a strong way to leverage "controller" spells.

4. If you're allowed to use Dragon Magazine, then issue #280 has some nice feats: Enspell Familiar (increase "share spells" range from 5 ft. to 1 mile) and Extra Familiar (get another Familiar). Note that you can take Extra Familiar as many times as you'd like, and that all of your extra familiars benefit from feats like Improved Familiar.

5. At level 6, you get Leadership. You've got the Charisma to make this a very effective expenditure.

I already have a level 6 plan. it's similar to someonenoone11's build in this thread:http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?552319-Ghost-Cleric-Master-of-Animate-Objects-and-Planar-Binding.

The problem is getting to level 6. Hirelings are not allowed, neither is Dragon Mag. I'll look into Wild Cohort.

[Endarire]

Read here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?205704-Solo-Sorcerer-amp-Wizard).

[Anthrowhale]

Note that Enspell Familiar is also in Dragon Compendium, which is marginally more accepted than Dragon Magazine.

[Mike Miller]

Only threads I could find online were about optimal BFC choices in a group.

What are some really powerful low level sorcerer builds? Builds so powerful that the sorcerer could solo? High-op not TO.

What happened to your solo artificer?

[Yogibear41]

Cast Power Word Pain while standing behind 2 silver piece per day 1st level Warriors. once you have a few bucks you can upgrade to 2nd level warriors for 6 silver pieces per warrior per day.

I've done it before on a solo wizard(minus the power word pain, I used a crossbow/magic missile spam), best part is they don't even take a share of your XP. I skyrocketed in levels for the first few games, before my DM decided to starting rolling dice to have the guys become "cohorts" and start taking a share of the XP.

I was even a super nice guy and gave my guys a cut of the treasure I found, giving them all a nice pile of gold to upgrade their stuff with. In the end a handful of them died if I recall, couple of them might have made it to 3rd level warrior from 1st level.

Once I was higher level I flew around the country side with invisibility as needed, and spammed ranged attack spells on unsuspecting ogres and things annihilating them with little counter attack.

People always downrate a good fireball on these forums, but its surprisingly effective and killing things in practice.

[magicalmagicman]

What happened to your solo artificer?

Its doing well. I'm just brainstorming for my next build.

[RoboEmperor]

People always downrate a good fireball on these forums, but its surprisingly effective and killing things in practice.

If you're 4 levels above the guys yeah fireball is amazing.

If you solo, the equilibrium is established when you are 4 levels higher than the opposition. 13-14 encounters results in a level up when you are 4 levels higher than the encounter.

[Eldariel]

The other problems of Fireball include the commonness of Fire Resistance, the health scaling (something like Drowned has 20 HD at CR 8) and Reflex half. It's not in any ways autoawesome even vs. mooks. That said, it definitely has its moments, like most spells.

As for soloing, the Animal Companion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#sorcererWizard) variant is great for levels 1-2 where you need help the most. Add Wild Cohort to that and you have an army. Of course, familiar is way better down the line; retrain, pick it up with a feat or whatever. The Animal Companion begins to do nothing other than Share Spell -bot around ECL 5-7. And it's not amazing on 3-4; it keeps missing out level-ups where Druid gets them to keep theirs relevant (Druid 3 gets their first buff and Druid 4 an upgraded companion; Sorc companion's numbers are 6 and 8 which come way too late to matter but it's equal to a Druid's on 1-2). As ever, Color Spray/Sleep and Scythe Coup de Grace is more than fine for most enemies.

[RoboEmperor]

Expanding on Yogibear41's suggestion.

1. Expeditious Retreat
2. Power Word Pain
3. Run the hell away.
Not even wolves (50ft) can chase you. They might land a hit or two, but once you get that spell on them and start withdrawing, not a chance.

[emeraldstreak]

Not a sorcerer (a wizard) and not detailed for further scaling, but this is a build (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=22373043&postcount=15) actually used in a gauntlet ~10 years ago to show mundanes aren't superior to casters even at lvl 1.

[Mike Miller]

Its doing well. I'm just brainstorming for my next build.

I was actually hoping for details, but perhaps another thread (if you feel up to sharing)

[TalonOfAnathrax]

I played a solo sorcerer once. I was human and Diplomacy focused. Avoided fights, everything went well for a while (Charm Person is the best spell) until I ran into skeletons and almost died. Luckily my familiar distracted it and Draconic Aura is the best feat ever (it stabilised me), but it highlighted the risks of spell selections with weaknesses or that are overly dependent on saving throws.

Then I got Wild Cohort and took an optimised one, it was really helpful. Hirelings could have done the job too I guess (I definitely had the social skills to deal with them), but I didn't want to manage that many PCs.

If you're playing a solo sorcerer, don't forget to always take some Blasting! Control is good, but not having something like Power Word Pain makes actually finishing fights difficult.
A Punching Dagger is good for Coup de Grace attacks. Wands are your friend. Fiery Burst is great if you do take some control spells. Honestly taking Fiery Burst at level one through Precocious Apprentice is a great idea that allows you to take some extra control spells. Chronocharm of the Horizon walker and things like Anklets of Translocation are lifesavers and are very cheap.
If you are taking flaws, I suggest Noncombatant and Shaky and then avoiding ray spells and touch spells. Then take Improved Initiative (literally a lifesaver).
If you can, take a race like Sparrow Hengeyokai (it was updated for 3.5 and has LA+0 now). It limits your gear options heavily, but flight and being Tiny (or Fine, not sure) grants you fantastic AC bonuses and Hide bonuses. And touch attack bonuses. Here's how you cast spells in Sparrow form: take 13+Wis and the Surrogate Spellcasting feat to deal with Somatic Components. Then buy a Pearl of Speech (600gp) to be able to speak while in Sparrow Form. So for 600gp and a feat you're hard to hit, fast, can fly and good at hiding. You have Con 10 in that form which means that you can allocate your points elsewhere but makes you a little squishy at low levels, so play it safe!
This is a good race for Power Word Pain and running away, too. Or for Dark Template + Hide in Plain Sight and Flyby Attack tactics.

Gear in Hengeyokai form: you'll have fewer slots and may have to buy some special gear. You'll have to take it all off before changing form too, and put it back on while in Sparrow form. However, by RAW (DMG) all magic items except weapons and armor adjust to you regardless of form! So you can still use capes and rings and whatnot.

[magicalmagicman]

I was actually hoping for details, but perhaps another thread (if you feel up to sharing)

We actually never got around to shackled city, and instead gave age of worms a go. It was fun for a while, but my DM realized infinite wealth even if I have to craft everything was a bit too much. Adamantine Skeleton tanks with hours/level arbalesters is very powerful. I was an army. In any case we're on a slight hiatus because of real life issues atm.

[Mike Miller]

We actually never got around to shackled city, and instead gave age of worms a go. It was fun for a while, but my DM realized infinite wealth even if I have to craft everything was a bit too much. Adamantine Skeleton tanks with hours/level arbalesters is very powerful. I was an army. In any case we're on a slight hiatus because of real life issues atm.

Ah cool, thanks for sharing

[Buufreak]

Is it bad I've been keeping an eye on this thread waiting for him to show up?