A few questions about Wizards/Sorc.

[Sirgod]

First , let me explain. It has been years since I played AD&D. I started back in the mid to late 70's and followed through until about the middle of 2nd edition. By that time, I had passed my love for the game down to my kids in the early 90's and never really kept up.

I preface this in the hopes that my questions do not come across as Stupid or the like, while I would wager, they do in fact come out of ignorance.

Back when I played, there was the caster, and the specialist for the most part. I seem to recall them adding in Wild magic for example.

Now it seems, that instead of just a pure Int. build, One of the classes now uses CHA.

http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Class:Sorcerer

For the life of me, I can't quite grab this concept. If I may be so bold, when did this change come around, and can someone explain this concept to me?

The closest I could imagine with using Charisma, would be akin to a stage magician or something, But looking at the Builds, It appears they would be very useful in a party setting.

I am sure I missed the transition, But would appreciate some more info.

Also, Do both wizards and Sorcs have to pre memorize there spells, or can they cast just what is in there spell books, as long as they don't go past the spells/day limit?

I want to thank you ahead of time for answering some of these, as I have a lot to catch up on.

Stephen

[LookingForABentoBox]

http://www.d20srd.org/ Has a lot of free information.


The idea behind a sorcerer is that he is born with an innate talent to use magic which he uses his imagination and willpower to shape into spells. Charisma here is used to represent a person's creative ability and imagination. It's similar to how the Green Lantern superheroes used the green lantern; the more creative they were, the more applications of using the lantern they had. Sorcerers don't use spellbooks at all.

[Mistinarperadnacles]

Wizards study arcane secrets and learn the rituals and techniques to cast spells. They have to devote time to memorizing what spells they can cast. They can cast a greater variety at any one time and will have knowledge of all the arcane spells to choose from.

Sorcerers cast by natural raw power and sheer force of desire, hence their Charisma is important. They only know a few spells but can cast them faster and more often than Wizards.

Generally, Wizards make better support casters as their much larger spell selection provides them a utility they can tailor to the specifcs of any situation. Sorcerers tend to make better direct damage dealers as they have the power for sustained assaults and fully metamagic enhanced casting. Sorcerers can provide support well too and Wizards can deal significant damage if they choose.

Wizards get 5 spell "slots" per spell level and can switch out what spells occupy those slots at will wherever they can rest (taverns or shrines) Sorcerers get 4 slots per spell level and once they select a spell they can't change it unless they visit a Trainer and spend the time and money to switch.

Wizards can learn every Arcane spell in the game as long as they can find a scroll of it to Inscribe into their spellbook.

[gorloch]

This difference has basically been desribed above. how they came about was in the 3.0/3.5 edition. In pnp sorcs know a few spells but can cast them more per day, wizards study spells from a spellbook so they can switch out which scrolls they have memorized but can not cast them as often. DDO implemented this by giving sorcs more spell points, wizards less. Wizards can learn all the arcane spells in the game, a sorc can not.


PIXA

[Arianrhod]

I like to think of the use of charisma as a casting stat in terms of the character persuading the universe to do things her way. A wizard studies and masters the rules of the universe, a sorceror just sweet-talks it into cooperating ;)

[Lorien_the_First_One]

Now it seems, that instead of just a pure Int. build, One of the classes now uses CHA.


This came about in AD&D 3.0. The idea of the sorc is that magic is part of their blood, their being. They don't learn to cast it, they ARE magical and cast it by force of spirit/personality.

I kind of like the division. On one hand you have the classic scholarly/research based wizard. On the other the creatures of magic that are forces of nature. Each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The wizard is the swiss army knife, the sorc is the canon.

[Sirgod]

Thank you all so much for explaining this. It really gives me more of a foundation not only for Character development, but also in the mechanics here.

If nothing else, You have shown me, that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Stephen

[dbrowdy]

Thank you all so much for explaining this. It really gives me more of a foundation not only for Character development, but also in the mechanics here.

If nothing else, You have shown me, that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Stephen
You want new tricks, check out 4th Edition pen-and-paper. It's very cool!

[Sirgod]

I might do just that. It's funny , My friend Mike who I have known going on 35 years now , was telling his son, that I used to be about the best DM he had ever met.

Now I'm not sure about that claim, All I did was try and have fun. Anyways, his son Zack, asked him to get me to come down on the weekends and play the new game for them.

Mike just laughed at that. The reason being is as follows.

I can not stand the public in general. I like this place, and will enjoy the community as a whole, as first and foremost , the Population is polite, well educated, and is Far above many other MMORPG forums. I say this, as I do in fact respect the people here.

But I am a big time Misanthrope. I own a small ranch in Central Oklahoma, just under 200 acres, and Grow/raise all my families food needs. I have well water, and I will soon be using windpower so no bills from the Co-Op.

Outside of the occasional trip to the hospital, I will not go to town. So If Mike and his kid want to play the new D&D with uncle Steve, they will need to come down here.

Stephen

[Arianrhod]

I might do just that. It's funny , My friend Mike who I have known going on 35 years now , was telling his son, that I used to be about the best DM he had ever met.

Now I'm not sure about that claim, All I did was try and have fun. Anyways, his son Zack, asked him to get me to come down on the weekends and play the new game for them.

Mike just laughed at that. The reason being is as follows.

I can not stand the public in general. I like this place, and will enjoy the community as a whole, as first and foremost , the Population is polite, well educated, and is Far above many other MMORPG forums. I say this, as I do in fact respect the people here.

But I am a big time Misanthrope. I own a small ranch in Central Oklahoma, just under 200 acres, and Grow/raise all my families food needs. I have well water, and I will soon be using windpower so no bills from the Co-Op.

Outside of the occasional trip to the hospital, I will not go to town. So If Mike and his kid want to play the new D&D with uncle Steve, they will need to come down here.

Stephen

Well, if they hadn't killed the virtual tabletop, you'd all be able to play that online too ;)

[DarkRadiance]

I like to think of the use of charisma as a casting stat in terms of the character persuading the universe to do things her way. A wizard studies and masters the rules of the universe, a sorceror just sweet-talks it into cooperating ;)

In other words, a Sorcerer haggles with the laws of the universe to give himself more SP and casting speed than a Wizard :rolleyes:

[Sirgod]

Well, if they hadn't killed the virtual tabletop, you'd all be able to play that online too ;)



Good point. what did happen to that idea?

Stephen