Little Leveling to 9 help

[Indel_Eventine]

OK, just got ready to level to 9.

Have Force of Personality, Extend, Maximize. What feat goes next (thinking Mental Toughness)?

Looking at taking Resist or Knock for my L2 Spell (have dance and scorching ray), not sure about 3 (have Haste and Fireball), and I have firewall, so thinking Burning Blood or Enervation for 4th level spells.

What has worked for you?

[sirgog]

OK, just got ready to level to 9.

Have Force of Personality, Extend, Maximize. What feat goes next (thinking Mental Toughness)?

Looking at taking Resist or Knock for my L2 Spell (have dance and scorching ray), not sure about 3 (have Haste and Fireball), and I have firewall, so thinking Burning Blood or Enervation for 4th level spells.

What has worked for you?

Feat: Either take Empower (which will help you now), or Spell Penetration (which you will need later). I recommend Spell Pen, as it is so critical to have both it and Greater Spell Penetration for the stuff you will probably start encountering about level 12-13. I'd advise against Mental Toughness - it grants so few SP that you'll hardly notice it, especially on a Sorc.

Spells:
Level 2: Every Sorc needs Resist Energy, it's one of the best spells in the game.
3: I recommend Suggestion - lots of foes in Gianthold (which you'll probably level from 10 to 13 in) have very low Will saves, and charm effects are very strong there.
4: At your current level, Phantasmal Killer is probably the best choice, although you will likely want to swap it out later. Fear is a very powerful 4th level crowd-control spell, and Stoneskin is a strong defensive buff. You'll probably want Dimension Door eventually too, but that can wait until you pick your 4th level 4 spell.

[Merkinsal]

I wouldn't take mental toughness as sp will not be a problem for you as you level. Alot has to do with the type of caster you are building and what types of spells you like to cast but one option is to start taking spell pen feats and the other is to take empower.

I have resists for self preservation really but also a good buff for a party member who does not have one but you will find heightened web to be very useful and essential for good crowd control. In fact, I would go so far as to say a caster without some crowd control is severely hampering the party and straining the resourses of the cleric. I and many others see web as an essential spell for a caster because it is so effective at all levels of the game up to and including the Hound and VoD.

I think there are better choices than Enervation for you at this level. 4th level spells are without a doubt hard choices and you will not get all you want in there. For you at this level, envervation by itself really only makes one mob a little easier for the melee to hit since you do not have follow up spells that the effects set up for you. Imho there are better spells right now that affect more mobs. Depending on how you like to play you can't go wrong with solid fog, pk, or charm monster. My choice was pk for targeting casters in the back but solid fog is a great choice and will help the party greatly. Charm monster is a favorite for many. I found my choices in 4th level spells have changed to accomodate specific quests as I have leveled. Do not hesitate to experiment and swap spells in and out.

[boldarblood]

OK, just got ready to level to 9.

Have Force of Personality, Extend, Maximize. What feat goes next (thinking Mental Toughness)?

Looking at taking Resist or Knock for my L2 Spell (have dance and scorching ray), not sure about 3 (have Haste and Fireball), and I have firewall, so thinking Burning Blood or Enervation for 4th level spells.

What has worked for you?

I wouldnt take Force of Personality or Mental Toughness.

I found that I was happy with my Sorcs Will save by the time I got to max. I went with, in no particular order, Extend, Empower, Maximize, Heighten, and 2 spell penetrations.


I like heighten for things like Web and Pk at higher level. And the spell pen line is very helpful at end game (I also maxed spell pen enhancements)

think there are better choices than Enervation for you at this level. 4th level spells are without a doubt hard choices and you will not get all you want in there. For you at this level, envervation by itself really only makes one mob a little easier for the melee to hit since you do not have follow up spells that the effects set up for you. Imho there are better spells right now that affect more mobs. Depending on how you like to play you can't go wrong with solid fog, pk, or charm monster. My choice was pk for targeting casters in the back but solid fog is a great choice and will help the party greatly. Charm monster is a favorite for many. I found my choices in 4th level spells have changed to accomodate specific quests as I have leveled. Do not hesitate to experiment and swap spells in and out.

I dont agree with this. Evervation is incredibly underated as a spell. It really makes your insta kill spells like FoD and PK much more effective. It effectively lowers all there saves, making it much more likely to hit your spell on them.

But it is a personal opinion at that time. I loathe charming monsters and will not carry them. But some love it. Go with what feels right for your play style.

[Indel_Eventine]

I wouldnt take Force of Personality or Mental Toughness.

I found that I was happy with my Sorcs Will save by the time I got to max. I went with, in no particular order, Extend, Empower, Maximize, Heighten, and 2 spell penetrations.


I like heighten for things like Web and Pk at higher level. And the spell pen line is very helpful at end game (I also maxed spell pen enhancements)

I dont agree with this. Evervation is incredibly underated as a spell. It really makes your insta kill spells like FoD and PK much more effective. It effectively lowers all there saves, making it much more likely to hit your spell on them.

But it is a personal opinion at that time. I loathe charming monsters and will not carry them. But some love it. Go with what feels right for your play style.

KK, thanks all for the advice. a follow up. is enervation a one target or multiple.

As for FoP, I figure I can swap it out later, but I like that high resistance now. Haven't been commanded once.

[Cadaia]

I dont agree with this. Evervation is incredibly underated as a spell. It really makes your insta kill spells like FoD and PK much more effective. It effectively lowers all there saves, making it much more likely to hit your spell on them.

But it is a personal opinion at that time. I loathe charming monsters and will not carry them. But some love it. Go with what feels right for your play style.

Enervation IS underrated as a spell. But it's not the first 4th level spell you take. PK first and then Enervation. Otherwise, your enervation isn't very useful.

[Merkinsal]

I dont agree with this. Evervation is incredibly underated as a spell. It really makes your insta kill spells like FoD and PK much more effective. It effectively lowers all there saves, making it much more likely to hit your spell on them.

But it is a personal opinion at that time. I loathe charming monsters and will not carry them. But some love it. Go with what feels right for your play style.

Yes, I carry it lol. But below is what I said

I think there are better choices than Enervation for you at this level.... For you at this level, envervation by itself really only makes one mob a little easier for the melee to hit since you do not have follow up spells that the effects set up for you.

"...since you do not have the follow up spells that the effects set up for you.."

[MrWizard]

OK, just got ready to level to 9.

Have Force of Personality, Extend, Maximize. What feat goes next (thinking Mental Toughness)?

Looking at taking Resist or Knock for my L2 Spell (have dance and scorching ray), not sure about 3 (have Haste and Fireball), and I have firewall, so thinking Burning Blood or Enervation for 4th level spells.

What has worked for you?

heighten so my spells are effective and I save a ton of mana.

lvl2, yea, resist so you can prevent injury to you and team mates...if not resist then blur.

other spells depend on your build. I think you should just experiment with different ones to check them out. Switch out the ones you do not like.

[sirgog]

Re: Charm Monster

Someone recommended using your 4th level slot on Charm Monster. I disagree.

Suggestion is almost always superior. They have the same general effect, but Suggestion can hit all the foes Charm Monster can plus more (it can also hit orange-named foes and foes you will later encounter that are warded with the Mandate of Shavarrath which makes them immune to Charm spells). Suggestion has a fixed duration - making it both more reliable (charmed foes cannot break charm in the first thirty seconds like they can with Charm Monster if they roll well on their second save) and also safer (if you charm something extremely powerful, you can give the party warnings when it will be popping soon).

In addition, accidentally hitting a must-kill monster with Suggestion is a minor nuisance (at worst, the party has to wait a minute till you can kill it and advance the quest). Charming a must-kill with Charm Person is a disaster, especially as you are too low in level to carry Break Enchantment.


Taking Suggestion at level 3 frees up the level 4 slot for the many powerful choices there - Phantasmal Killer, Fear and Stoneskin being the three best choices in my opinion

[Merkinsal]

Stoneskin spell is a must have for a sorc. Some prefer to buy wands of them at The Twelve. Total damage reduction for the wand is only 70 vs 150? for the spell but still damage reduction 10/adamantine for both. That does open up another level 4 spell slot.

[MrWizard]

actually...charm monster is the first spell I usally take at 4th level with my caster...always.

At the time you get it....at that level...there are no end game fights like described.

My charm monsters last way longer than any suggestion ever will. Easily broken by a globe of invulnerbility too, on a scroll. Never a problem. Charm monster is more reliable because they almost never break...for a very long time...unless you are doing quests much higher than you.

I only use dominate person and charm monster due to the HUGE length of time the charm lasts. Always heightened. Dominate person is the rough one as it is a 5th level spell and no globe of invulnerbility works on it, so be careful to not charm must kills.

FOr me, I do not charm and then wait for the break so we can kill it. I charm to make them fight, get aggro, and be forgotten about.

I find at the level I get my 4th level spell....charm monster is more powerful than any other in the quests I am doing at that time. Wall of fire or pk sure is fun in storm cleave....but SC is a walk in the park with charm monster. Clerics love it too since it does not cost them any money to do dungeons.

Higher level...? At high levels it is a different game. At high levels you have amuch larger percentage of people that know what they are doing and have good builds and knowledge of quests. Your 4th level spells are usually not needed...except for whiners who want a firewall all the time..lol

my first is charm monster at 4th.... then..
solid fog
fear or pk
lastly wall of fire or enervation

Charm monster is a huge benefit to the party used corecctly. Solid fog is a huge benefit to the party at all times. Fear is a huge benefit to the party. Pk/enervate is for one shotting, not a huge benefit, but fun. Wall of fire is for show and is seldom ever really needed. At some point you have to have it or some people will freak out even though it is not needed in 98% of situations.