The Sorcerer's Handbook: A Guide to Building and Playing Sorcerers

[Aspenor]

if you ever make it to higher levels, yes, having a low dexterity sucks in my opinion on a caster. it will mean you take full damage most of the time from spells like fireball

dexterity is as important if not more important then constitution in many situations. i have drow open so i start my casters with a dexterity of 16

having a high reflex save on a caster is important. casters cannot afford to be slow.

Interestingly enough, I don't get hit with effects that require reflex saves. The only spells that actually hit me cannot be avoided by manual character movement (i.e. will or fortitude save effects).

Twitch skills > reflex saves.

So no, reflex saves are not important. If you need reflex saves, you're doing something incorrectly.

[Aspenor]

This thread will be updated as I continue leveling my reincarnated sorc. Keep in mind I will probably solo nearly all the way to 20, so, take that for what you will.

[Crann]

First...thank you for this thread. I am going through the levels on my sorc and have found this guide invaluable.

Second...a question. I am following the generalist build, concentrating more on nuking. I have taken the lineage of elements line of enhancements. At level 12 I am now have the option at the 3rd level which gives the 9% crit chance. Does this stack with major ice/fire lore items which also give the 9% crit chance? If I have the enhancement, and the item equipped, am I now at 18% crit chance? If so, I am very happy, 18 crit chance sounds pretty good. If not, Would my AP's be better spent elsewhere, since I have each of the major lore items in my equipment layout. The other stacking issues seem pretty well explained in item/enhancement descriptions, but I am confused on this particular issue.

[Visty]

First...thank you for this thread. I am going through the levels on my sorc and have found this guide invaluable.

Second...a question. I am following the generalist build, concentrating more on nuking. I have taken the lineage of elements line of enhancements. At level 12 I am now have the option at the 3rd level which gives the 9% crit chance. Does this stack with major ice/fire lore items which also give the 9% crit chance? If I have the enhancement, and the item equipped, am I now at 18% crit chance? If so, I am very happy, 18 crit chance sounds pretty good. If not, Would my AP's be better spent elsewhere, since I have each of the major lore items in my equipment layout. The other stacking issues seem pretty well explained in item/enhancement descriptions, but I am confused on this particular issue.

items stack with feats stack with enhancements

[ddoer]

This thread will be updated as I continue leveling my reincarnated sorc. Keep in mind I will probably solo nearly all the way to 20, so, take that for what you will.

it's not easy to level up and trolling the forum at the same time, esp for a nuking sorc.

[Aspenor]

it's not easy to level up and trolling the forum at the same time, esp for a nuking sorc.

heh, yep. especially when most of the time you're soloing. As you can see below, I've hit 12 and am gonna be hitting the desert hard soon. I will have a few updates for spell selection, especially for soloers and blasters.

[Captain_Wizbang]

nice thread!

[Desdemonte]

Good thread. I have only gotten part way through, but it is a helpful start. I have only been on DDO for a couple months (therefore very noob and using templates to make sure I don't gimp my toons) and have decided to try a sorcerer build. This is way beyond my experience, comfort zone and knowledge- I have never played a magic user of any kind, even in the old PnP days. I started DDO with a template for a ranger/fighter/barb that I am about to hit level 5 with and decided to take advantage of the levelling sigil sale so got a sorcerer up and running. It's the template in the New Player's sticky http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...0&postcount=65.

After reading your initial "guide", I have some questions

1)

for complete noobs like me, can you add some info on how to actually *play* a squishy caster? I am finding this a very challenging toon to play. Obviously I knew going in that I had to stay back and fight from afar, but do people generally run around jumping and casting? Is that the general tactic?

Could you give some insight as to how to set up the hotbars? Right now I have a full bar of the Bracers of Assitance, then a bar of the general attack spells and skills (with a defense spell so I donly have to ctrl tab to defence and get confused), then a bar of general buff stuff (clickies pre battle). How do people generally set up? I'm only level 2 and have 7 hotbars already! Do you generally mouse click what you need in battle when it's in a different bar, or crtl tab to them? This would be very confusing for me- this is the first real computer keyboard video game I've played (I'm used to Playstation,etc) and I don't know how I'd keep them all straight. I already blew all my scrolls because I had them in a bar and I thought I was clicking my "go to" general use bar with my level one spell and wand in it! Oops. Maybe I'm too inexperrienced to play a caster?????


2)

Regarding the template I'm building from, I'm concerned with my survivability. I often am solo or small grouping (2 -3 players until I find a guild who'll have me ;P). The creator does state that it is a build with end-game in mind, and I read in your post that there are end game builds and solo/short group builds. Looks like I chose the wrong template- oh well, now can you advise any modifications I might make?

My idea is to be somewhat of a nuker, but I'm already building up a WF barb, so I don't need something that's going to say "stand back guys, I'll take care of all this". I like the idea of charming and setting baddies against each other- that would be fun. I want to keep the nuking ability somewhat though with the fireballs and firewalls. I'm not sure I want to get in close enough to touch the baddies for Finger of Death though (unless it's such a powerful spell I should keep it).

Above all, I don't want to gimp this character. I want it to be really good for end game, but a little more useful and less squishy in the lower levels. So far I have the Magic Missle, Nightshield and Jump trained. I assume Jump is because I can't, and jumping around is useful for not getting hit?

I think I kinda prefer your spell recommendations. For instance I have rage in my template- why is this? The last thing I wanna do is attract aggro. I want to make my toon damage resistant as possible. It has no stoneskin and some of the other spells you say are fundamental to sorcerers. What about haste? etc etc. Advice please.....


3)

Could you recommend what items I should be looking for along the way as I level up? This is all very foreign to me. What should I be buying and having on hand?



Well, sorry for this long post. Thanks for your advice and patience in advance.

D

[Aspenor]

1. Sure, I'll put this in the post i reserved "just in case."
2. What template? One of the Turbine-created ones in-game? Rage is for the constitution bonus to hit points for you, for the strength and constitution bonuses for your party. Haste is essential to have. Stoneskin is nice because wands only have 70 pts of damage mitigation, but could theoretically substitute for the spell if you choose. Finger of death has range, no need to touch.
3. I will be including this information in the loot setup post soon.

Thanks for the questions.

[Desdemonte]

1. Sure, I'll put this in the post i reserved "just in case."
2. What template? One of the Turbine-created ones in-game? Rage is for the constitution bonus to hit points for you, for the strength and constitution bonuses for your party. Haste is essential to have. Stoneskin is nice because wands only have 70 pts of damage mitigation, but could theoretically substitute for the spell if you choose. Finger of death has range, no need to touch.
3. I will be including this information in the loot setup post soon.

Thanks for the questions.

The template I am using is in the New Players forum sticky- I thought I linked to it in my post. It is the human sorcerer called Generalist, made by Demoyn (#20 on the list)

Thanks for your help.

[Aspenor]

The template I am using is in the New Players forum sticky- I thought I linked to it in my post. It is the human sorcerer called Generalist, made by Demoyn (#20 on the list)

Thanks for your help.

I am *not* a fan at all of that spell selection. It is completely designed around being a support character with very few options for dealing damage.

[Desdemonte]

I am *not* a fan at all of that spell selection. It is completely designed around being a support character with very few options for dealing damage.

Considering I have followed it exactly so far, but am only about to go to level 3, how can I buff it up to be less support and do more damage?

Will I be OK with my abilities and skills as they are? No use crying over them now as I can't change them, but should I look at some tomes to buff certain abilities that I'm lacking in (keep in mind I don't really want to be buying a bunch of stuff from the DDO store if I can help it)? Looking at them, they make sense generally for a sorc, but what do I know....

I can't unlearn my 3 spells now, right? The Nightshield was useful against the guys on Korthos, but it sounds like I could have chosen better. Jump seems useful to better avoid baddies. Are the lower damage spells you suggest that much better than Magic Missile? Do I understand correctly that I can swap out the spells I know for new ones once I hit a certain level?

Should I just swap over to your spell selections from this point on then? Will that change the enhancements I'd be choosing in this template, or could I keep them? I can change enhancements I currently have once I get some coin, so am not worried about it- I have been choosing things to help keep me alive right now....

Thanks again.

[Aspenor]

Considering I have followed it exactly so far, but am only about to go to level 3, how can I buff it up to be less support and do more damage?

Will I be OK with my abilities and skills as they are? No use crying over them now as I can't change them, but should I look at some tomes to buff certain abilities that I'm lacking in (keep in mind I don't really want to be buying a bunch of stuff from the DDO store if I can help it)? Looking at them, they make sense generally for a sorc, but what do I know....

I can't unlearn my 3 spells now, right? The Nightshield was useful against the guys on Korthos, but it sounds like I could have chosen better. Jump seems useful to better avoid baddies. Are the lower damage spells you suggest that much better than Magic Missile? Do I understand correctly that I can swap out the spells I know for new ones once I hit a certain level?

Should I just swap over to your spell selections from this point on then? Will that change the enhancements I'd be choosing in this template, or could I keep them? I can change enhancements I currently have once I get some coin, so am not worried about it- I have been choosing things to help keep me alive right now....

Thanks again.

You can always swap out spells, only 1 every 3 days, though. The other spells are substantially better damage than magic missile. Magic Missile has the advantage of being unavoidable, though. It's your choice with how much to follow the spell progression I wrote, but I find it to be solid and useful at every level.

[Desdemonte]

You can always swap out spells, only 1 every 3 days, though. The other spells are substantially better damage than magic missile. Magic Missile has the advantage of being unavoidable, though. It's your choice with how much to follow the spell progression I wrote, but I find it to be solid and useful at every level.

Oh- good to know. Maybe I'll swap out the nightshiled now then. I like the MM being unavoidable so far with my inexperience and desire to stand really far away... ;D

So my stats look ok though?

[Aspenor]

Oh- good to know. Maybe I'll swap out the nightshiled now then. I like the MM being unavoidable so far with my inexperience and desire to stand really far away... ;D

So my stats look ok though?

stats and skills look great

[Renothebest]

Aspenor, what about the equipment section? Would you change anything with new contents? I'm lvl 19 atm and followed these advices... a very good char came out Now i'm looking for equip... i have the dt armor (but not sure about those bonus u set... wouldn't be anything better to put on it?) the minos, goggles and i'm starting to craft the offhand scepter. I'm at a good point. Do you have any suggestion?

Ty

[Aspenor]

Aspenor, what about the equipment section? Would you change anything with new contents? I'm lvl 19 atm and followed these advices... a very good char came out Now i'm looking for equip... i have the dt armor (but not sure about those bonus u set... wouldn't be anything better to put on it?) the minos, goggles and i'm starting to craft the offhand scepter. I'm at a good point. Do you have any suggestion?

Ty

not really change anything. of course, i suggest having a regalia of the phoenix laying around for the clickie if you have meteor swarm, and of course it'd be sweet to have an Epic Ring of Spell Storing and Mysterious Bauble for the clickies. If you happen to, by chance, come across all the stuff for an Epic Robe of Fire, by all means craft it and use the clickie on that too. I wouldn't stress about the robe of fire, though, the Regalia is plenty of clickie time.

[Shanlow]

Hi Aspenor,

Thank you very much for all the help you are giving here. I really appreciate it.

I have very recently started DDO and I am now playing a ranger but after reaching level 5 I have decided that I would be better off playing a sorcerer.

Will it perhaps be possible to link a detailed build that would be good at higher levels? I am playing with a friend so grouping or being underpowered in the lower levels will not be a problem at all. I would prefer having a template to work from and just stick it out till 20 knowing I have a good build and spells etc.

I am sure I can find something that will be good but as I am totally new with dungeons and dragons I am pretty much lost at the moment and don't want to make mistakes with a character.

I am not sure if this affects the build choice but anyway, I am a paid subscriber and also bought the 32 point thing to start with. I really don't know what the paid part is giving me extra.

Thank you ever so much for your time.

Regards,

edit: I should probably of mentioned that I prefer being a damage dealer although utility is something that I would probably have to do as a caster which I don't mind at all but as I don't really know the game yet I don't know what other types of roles there are. Any advice would be nice

[cozenage]

How do the Savant rings, water, earth, air and fire combine? I mean you cant wear them all.

[Ushurak]

Thanks for the thread,

This might be the single most useful thread for a newb spell-caster I've seen. I actually prefer a wiz build. My problem is that in every game I've played I have played the sneaky type (rogue, sniper, assassin)...it just comes naturally. But after playing DDO I have been attracted to the raw power that higher level (8+...because of FW mostly) spell-casters throw around. Considering that I have never played a spell-caster it was a tough role to slip into. I started with a sorcerer and didn't like the limitations, destroyed that build and built a wizard for the shear versatility but alas, the micromanaging overcame my lack of experience and poof...he was lost to the never ending void of deleted builds. So while watching a sorcerer intently for several levels (Arbalah by name...if you ever meet him...he's alot of fun, knows what he's doing and takes orders well) I decided to settle on a sorcerer build (by now I have gotten vet status which really helps to figure out if you are going to like your build) and my mindset was to know what I wanted at level 10 and focus on that early...what did I want...a mass AOE as a primary and charmer as a secondary.
This aloud me to overcome the lack of versatility of the sorcerer to an extent and focus on the shear amount of SP.
I know that you didn't approach the wiz vs sorc argument...just a brief imo...and left it alone. Others tried to turn it into that....so with that said...I prefer a wiz because I like the fact that he can do what he wants when he wants. But as a newb...Sorcerer is the way to go because you get what you get and thats what you get and you don't have to worry about tweaking, either you can or you can't...which is nice. It's like the old Batman vs Superman argument. Yes superman is stronger, faster, blazing eyes and invulnerable (almost) but batman always beats him...why....utility belt...batman always has what he needs at any given time for any given situation. But we all know that Superman really is the most powerful.

Thanks for the post, I'll be using it to good advantage.