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View Full Version : The Sorcerer Corps?!?



graymachine
2007-11-29, 12:43 AM
I just had a rather odd idea that made fair strides at redeeming the sorcerer class. Before I begin, since it's important to the inception, think of D&D nations on the level of sophistication as the United States, Britain, and the USSR, when there was money to throw around on military advancement.

Now, given that, I can imagine sorcerers becoming the doomsday weapon these nations threaten each other with! Let me explain: while wizards tends to be stronger at magic than the sorcerer a wizard needs years of education and, if the government wants to reliably make anything useful of them, a rather controlled environment. But the massive advantage here, from a governmental perspective, is that you can breed sorcerers! Based on the flavor text of the class, the magic of the sorcerer is passed on by blood; I could easily see a developed enough government using this fact to massive enhance their military forces. Instead of having, let's say, 1 arcane caster for every 2500 troops, I could see the number being drastically reduced to something like 1 arcane caster for every 200 troops.

You ask, well what about the wizards? Wizards beat sorcerers every day of the week, you say. Well, it seems reasonable to say that sorcerers outnumber wizards significantly, given heritage vs extensive education. So, the enemy hires a mighty wizard to decimate your forces. Well, simply by virtue of odds, you have a high-level, crack team of sorcerers (possibly PCs?) to deal with him. A wizard can easy deal with a party of sorcerers, you say? Well, what about 10? or 50? or 100? A wizard loses his edge since the enemy here uses the same thing he does (arcane magic) and whatever advantage he has in class is simply outweighed by the numbers.

Thoughts on this? Is this a campaign-feasible idea? I just came up with it on the spur, so tell me where the holes are. :smallamused:

Crow
2007-11-29, 12:49 AM
Well wizards don't always annihilate sorcerers. Counterspelling sorcerers can own wizards. But that is another topic.

Don't forget the infiltration potential of all these "supermen", with charisma as the governing stat for their magic.

Darkxarth
2007-11-29, 01:08 AM
For a long time I was working on a campaign that focused on a war between Sorcerers and Wizards. Basically, it boiled down to the Wizards having access to many various magic items and the Sorcerers not having them. The problem was, that whenever the Wizards attacked, they basically routed the Sorcerers (except when counterspelling was heavily used) but the Wizards also had trouble dealing with Sorcerer attacks, since there were so many more of them.

Also, keep in mind that since Sorcerers get their magic through blood, many of them feel a strong connection to one another. This is not the case with Wizards, particularly since specialization means they can be extremely different from one another. So the Sorcerers had another numerical advantage over the Wizards.

Tempest Fennac
2007-11-29, 04:21 AM
Can Beguillers and Dread Necromancers be bred as well? If they can be, they would probably be really useful for certain purposes.

Khanderas
2007-11-29, 04:34 AM
Also, keep in mind that since Sorcerers get their magic through blood, many of them feel a strong connection to one another. This is not the case with Wizards, particularly since specialization means they can be extremely different from one another. So the Sorcerers had another numerical advantage over the Wizards.
I would say quite the opposite. Wizards train and would feel other wizards are collegues and intellectually equals (even a very smart farmer is not the same thing, education counts for much when you are discussing things, especially of magical topics). Wizards could trade spells and help with components, research data and so on. Wizard are used to working together, especially if trained in a goverment mage acadamy.

Sorcerers get magic by heritage or luck, high charisma does mean people generally like you, but also that you are used to being catered to, a "me first" would not be totally out of place I feel. There is often little one sorcerer can do to train other sorcerers. Strong connection for being sorcerers ? Perhaps, but if one sorc gets power from a red dragon ancestor and one from a gold dragon ancestor I would not consider it a bonus really.

Dhavaer
2007-11-29, 05:18 AM
Can Beguillers and Dread Necromancers be bred as well? If they can be, they would probably be really useful for certain purposes.

No, they are taught. Becoming undead isn't great, reproductively speaking.

Tempest Fennac
2007-11-29, 05:43 AM
Thnaks for telling me (I'd forgotten that DNs become Liches).