Are Sorc weapons worth it ??

[pappo]

I have created a Drow Female Sorc who is currently only at lvl 2. She has rapier skill and that helps when enemies get too close,but I know it will not be good later.

What do the forum members recommend to protect a Sorc or are weapons just a waste of time and I should work towards faster spell casting and let the tanks protect me ?

[Mhykke]

I have created a Drow Female Sorc who is currently only at lvl 2. She has rapier skill and that helps when enemies get too close,but I know it will not be good later.

What do the forum members recommend to protect a Sorc or are weapons just a waste of time and I should work towards faster spell casting and let the tanks protect me ?

Don't worry about weapons.

Worry about spells. Tanks won't protect you, you'll protect them.

[Randolf_Drake]

If you are a pure sorc, then using melee weapons will not be your best bet evar.

Burning hands however is usually a great alternative

[Beherit_Baphomar]

Weapons?
On a sorc?

:/

Self-protection comes from buffs, self healing from scrolls and putting out a lotta damage....fast.

Dont worry about weapons.

Unless you've splashed some sort of melee oriented class.

Yer STR and/or DEX (and BAB) are way too low to worry about smacking things around.

[CrimsonEagle]

Other than a set of puncturing weapons for held/stoned mobs, about the only thing I carry is potency and such.

.......Ok, I admit it...once in awhile I pull out a vorpal for fun.

[ForwardWu]

Once you level up to 4 (or 6?) grab a fearsome robe....all your enemy will be scared and run away

[Mistinarperadnacles]

Shocking Grasp and Chill Touch work very well at low levels. Burning Hands also. All much more effective than any melee weapons.

Especially when carrying some items like Spark and Lightning Lore for Shocking Grasp or Nullification and Void Lore for Chill Touch or Inferno and Fire Lore for Burning Hands.

A few enhancements in Lineage of Energy will help too.

Eventually, Potency and Arcane Lore items will replace them, but you'll find better and stronger items at low levels if you pick one element for a few spells.

Fire is good for Burning Hands and Scorching Ray and Fireball, so you get a bit more use out of the number of spells it will help.

I did like Shocking Grasp though, with Superior Lightning Lore and Greater Spark I was hitting things for 80 odd damage on fairly regular criticals.

[Emili]

I once saw a sorc use a dagger to open a letter... other then that what else would they use it for? Now a superior combustion dagger <- that is usable.

[Arianrhod]

As others have mentioned -

Weapons for sorcerors aren't really for hitting things with. Look for Power weapons (trinkets are better, but weapons are likely to be cheaper/have lower level requirements), Fire lore, Ice Lore, Enchantment, Conjuration (depends on what spells you have, of course...at low levels I like Ice Lore in one hand and Conjuration in the other for Niac's Cold Ray). If you use a Power weapon, be sure to equip it just before shrining, and switch to something more useful (like Potency) once you've used up the extra spellpoints. The most useful weapon you're likely to find for quite some time will be the highest level Superior Potency weapon you can equip. Note that Potency doesn't stack with Combustion and the like, but you might have, say, Superior Potency I and Superior Combustion III - the combustion only helps your fire spells, while Potency works on any, but I only covers first level spells and III covers 3rd level spells (so with both you're boosting both your Niacs' Cold Ray and your Fireball, for example)

Lastly - not much of a concern for sorcerors, but it might be worthwhile to carry around a missile weapon of some kind for times when you want to do something but don't feel like wasting spellpoints. A returning shuriken is convenient for a drow (good for smashing exploding barrels from range); doesn't really do any damage, but gives you something to do when casting spells would be wasteful or overkill. Also, if you prefer shield-blocking to jumping around like a maniac when you have aggro, a light mithral shield, while not much protection, will at least not cause Arcane Spell Failure.

[pappo]

Especially when carrying some items like Spark and Lightning Lore for Shocking Grasp or Nullification and Void Lore for Chill Touch or Inferno and Fire Lore for Burning Hands.

What do you mean by Spark and Lightning Lore for Shocking Grasp or Nullification and Void Lore for Chill Touch or Inferno and Fire Lore ?

Are those potions or items you get and wear ?

[drachine]

so far weapons on sorcerers are pretty lame. i tend to go with a crossbow as occassionally things get out of my spell range or i don't want to waste the mana.

another option for things within spell range are wands. unless you are spec'd for increase damage from wands they are going to not deal a lot of damage. that being said i tend to hold on to the following wands when i can find them. i use the following especially if i don't want to waste mana depending on what level your caster is. the only good thing about them is you don't have to worry about missing your target most of the time like a melee attack.

wand of melf's acid arrow (3rd)
wand of chill touch (5th)
wand of shocking grasp (5th)
wand of force missiles (7th)
wand of lightning bolt (8th)
wand of magic missiles (9th)
wand of fireball (10th)
wand of scorching ray (11th)

even at lower levels, things tend to save vs a wand of fireballs, wand of lightning bolt or a wand of shocking grasp so i tend to stay with the ones that i know will do damage. wands of magic missiles have low damage output.

i would say the best wands are force missiles, chill touch, scorching ray and melf's acid arrow depending. searing light also hits and there is usually no save but it is a divine wand. but they pale in comparison to a spell.

typically if things are on top of me as a sorcerer i will use the a wand and tumble away immediately after. there is no point in sticking around because of the cool down time on wands.

i have often thought if my caster could be effective with a rapier using Tenser's Transformation or Divine Power clickies because surprisingly i find myself meleeing more then i would guess. she typically goes with Dreamsplitter, but i am thinking of possibly finding some rapier she can use alone with Divine Power or Tenser's so she can hit things.

on one caster i took weapon finesse and two weapon fighting and it seems to work well when she dual wields wounding weapons or treasons or greensteel weapons, but that's two feats that sorcerers usually can't afford to give up.

wizards have a better time at taking feats like that because they get free metamagic feats, i have thought of making a drow wizards for that reason.

generally speaking though, you don't want to be in a long drawn out melee situation. even if you are pretty good with a rapier.

[drachine]

What do you mean by Spark and Lightning Lore for Shocking Grasp or Nullification and Void Lore for Chill Touch or Inferno and Fire Lore ?

Are those potions or items you get and wear ?

all lore items (fire, void, ice, acid, etc.) give you a chance to critically hit with a spell to increase damage output.

[Emili]

all lore items (fire, void, ice, acid, etc.) give you a chance to critically hit with a spell to increase damage output.

... as stated above, coupled with potency or specific multiplier weapon (ie combustion) and you're good to go... ie.) When not carrying potency/spell pene weapons in each hand Sgail will use combustion/fire lore or whatever element/energy combo for the spells she's about to use. These things all stack with the enhancements you may have.

[smyter]

funniest thing I ever saw was a warforge enchantment-specced wizard that would routinely cast hold and go to town with a heavy pick.

[pappo]

all lore items (fire, void, ice, acid, etc.) give you a chance to critically hit with a spell to increase damage output.

Ok, I saw in the auction the scepters of lore and conjuration and bought myself a Improved Glaciation III and Spell Penetration II scepter.
What about potions to enhance the spells ? I am carrying Niac's spell, so will a Superior Freeze III and Greater Nihil III potions stack or are they just redundant ?

[drachine]

these do not stack with each other, but depending on how you are set up it may be more practical for you to drink a inferno 4 potion to give max lore or potency on your wall of fire then it is to equip and item. it just depends on your setup.

raid items like the blue dragon robe and green blade give greater arcane lore for ALL spells and are highly sought after for that reason.

so far, no item exists that gives superior arcane lore to all your spells, so if you want superior aracne lore you may have to go with individual (fire, ice, void, etc.) superior lore items.

back to your original question about meleeing as a sorcerer. just to try it out. i gave my sorcerer which is not your standard sorcerer, she's drow 14/2 level sorcerer/rogue, i gave her two weapon fighting. i took the rogue levels for evasion which helps her survive a lot more then the average sorcerer. i cannot advise you to do the same, you lose spell DCs, levels, access to higher levels spells and spell points if you do something like that.

i took her in some elite quests and through some buffs like stoneskin (wand), shield, barkskin potion, rage, aid potion, false life wand, mage armor potion, cold shield, fire shield, displacement as well my sorcerer has greensteel items that give her blur.

i cast haste on myself used a divine power clickie to increase my TO HIT for 40 seconds and went to town with a +4 wounding rapier and +4 wounding shortsword. i have to say, i was pretty impressed with the results. my opponents took damage when they hit from the fire/cold shields or missed me all together.

only annoying part is having to renew my divine power to my to hit is in the mid twenties. but you can do a lot of damage to 1 opponent in 40 seconds. so i think i'm going to carry some more melee weapons on her and eventually craft some greensteel weapons and try to get a pair treasons from the reaver's raid, just for the hell of having decent weapons if i don't feel like using my mana.

you could use tenser's transformation which is better, but then you can't cast spells. divine power clickes allow you to do both. so there may be something to meleeing after all if you can figure a way to boost your to hit.

[unionyes]

The only time you will be using weapons is when you are higher level and favor grinding through the low ones, and you are talking to your wife while she is going on and on about the snow on the sidewalk and you have had a long day at work and just want to freaking play DDO and the kobolds are swarming around you and you are trying to at least look like you are paying attention but are surreptitiously whacking the kobolds to death with your inferno scepter and your greater potency dagger by right clicking your mouse instead of hitting a hotkey and lighting up the screen with fire.

Otherwise, don't bother with a weapon for damage. Thats what spells are for.

[Mindspat]

What do the forum members recommend to protect a Sorc or are weapons just a waste of time and I should work towards faster spell casting and let the tanks protect me ?

Diplomacy dumps agro onto others and is grossly underused. This skill will compliment when someone actually uses Intimidate. My suggestion is to try spamming diplomacy when you're in a full party to see how it functions. The times I don't use diplo are when there's only 1 or 2 others around me who are squishy.

If you like the playstyle with using a melee weapon you're bound to end up using LOTS of tool bars and weapon sets.

Staying pure classed Sorcerer will eventually develop problems hitting mobs. Divine Power is available as a clicky effect that's vastly superior to Tensor's Transformation. A clicky effect of DP will last 40 seconds, give you +6 str, BAB will equal the same level fighter and you will be able to cast spells. My opinion is this spell should never have been allowed to appear on items, but I love it!

A rapier could benefit from an increased toHit if the character has Weapon Finnesse. The problem with this is you're not going to be doing much melee damage and will need to take an altenate approach to combat. I've found using melee debuff's is extremely beneficial and most people quickly discard things like rapiers of Cursespewing of Destruction or Cursespewing of Shattermantle; simple finnessible weapons are equally useful. Another nice rapier to get is Strength Sapping since the exhaustive effects stack with Waves of Exhaustion, Waves of Fatigue and Ray of Exhaustion. There's also the obvious WoP which would compliment any build like this.

edit: I commonly show better then +48 toHit on the last chain of swings when using Divine Power.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Weapons are not necessary.......however......

At low lvls, there are times when you will be out of SP. And there are times when meleeing just makes more sense. Or when spells do not work.

Note that all those great buffs, can help you survive as a light tank for quite awhile.

My Wizard has a high Dex and wep finesse. I melee quite a bit to save SP.....or when I'm out.

I don't do a lot of damage, but at least IMO I'm doing something other than standing around.

I find that a wizard's slow castiing time, many times mean that when I finally get a spell off everything is dead.........so if it's not a big fight, I just wait a moment for someone else to get agro, then jump in swinging.

Works well IMO. If nothing else, I'll swing a paralyser around and help that way.

But in general, if you have SP on your Sorc, you almost never need weapons.

Still I recommend holding onto really good ones that you can use.....if you have the backpack space.

[Aeneas]

If you're really set on swinging something around, go drow, take the attack bonus enhancements, and pick up precision and weapon finesse. As long as you have a halfway decent dex you can use W/P ss's and rapiers reasonably well and maybe pick your spots instead of blowing mana on fleshy trash mobs.

Maybe a 14 sorc/2 monk lawful good drow with Major concentration in dex and charisma, and minor concentrations in con and wisdom while dumping int and str. You could achieve a decent AC, nuke, and woundy woundy when appropriate.

Seems sorta flavor of the monthy for me, but it's an idea.