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

[Luna9698]

for a warforged sorcerer

[CarpeNoctu]

Aspenor, this is fantastic! Thanx for all the info, really.

I'm about to TR my Ranger into a Sorcerer and I've had very little clue as to how to approach it and this guide has been immensely helpful.

[Aspenor]

in the interests of keeping this thread up to date, can I get a little update as to any new pieces of gear and/or spell changes that would be important to incorporate? i have been on an extended break for a while, mostly focused on my PnP gaming right now.

one thing is for sure, my pnp sorcerers/wizards make DDO characters look like schmucks. i wish ddo could replicate it....

[Hounder]

They changed the mechanics of ice storm (Still bad to me! xD)
'Nerfed' waves of exhaustion (Just what I think!)
Shadow staff now available as a cheap alternative to dreamspitter
Some useful items from the recently released packs such as fleshweavers staff for stone to flesh clicky and many more!
Posting to get more well informed people to help out
All in all sorcerers are still as fun to play!!
P.s The savants are coming! Yay!!

[Irinis]

Helm of Frost from Abishai set is a new epic +7 charisma item, though the command or persuasion of the Silver Concord items is more helpful for the UMD.

[Lorhan2]

Thx aspenor for the great guide, it helped me alot.

My WF sorcerer is currently level 14
For level 15, I was wondering, should I take improve spell pen or toughness?
and should I take wave of exhaustion or another level 7 spell?


Thank you

[Hounder]

Thx aspenor for the great guide, it helped me alot.

My WF sorcerer is currently level 14
For level 15, I was wondering, should I take improve spell pen or toughness?
and should I take wave of exhaustion or another level 7 spell?


Thank you

I'm not aspenor but just from my point of view waves of exhaustion isn't really as useful anymore since they updated it. -3 to ac (from the -6 dex) means that it'll let people hit monsters up to 3 dice lower when they normally should miss. Then again I'd rather have bard songs if I want to make sure melees don't miss at all
For your next feat I guess you might want to look at your hp now. I think if you're at the 300 range now you should be fine to take spell pen or choose to specialize in one school like enchantment or evocation depending on how you play?
I hope that helped alil at least!

[Jaid314]

i find that for the most part, the options at level 7 are so weak that waves of exhaustion is still easily worth it. it's a powerful debuff, it *still* works on raid bosses to the extent that it lowers their hit (if you've got an AC tank, this will make a significant difference), it still grants a virtual +3 DR against the target's attacks to everyone, it still slows down trash, it reduces reflex saving throws, and lowers strength checks... in short, even if it didn't have any effect on raid bosses at all, it is *still* an excellent choice for debuffing trash in preparation for webbing them.

alternately, you could take banishment. you'll probably think it's awesome for a while. eventually, you'll be able to wail everything anyways, and i find that banishment has this annoying tendency to only work on a couple of enemies at a time whereas wail will work on as many as you can bring in close.

not sure what else i'd suggest at level 7... presuming you already have finger of death otto's sphere of dancing (if you don't have dancing sphere, i'd take that first. leave waves until you get your third level 7 spell). some people also like delayed blast fireball, i guess... personally, i've never been too impressed with damage-dealing spells, but i may need to change my mind when elemental savant comes out (but then again, i may also not have to change my mind when elemental savant comes out, only time will tell)

[Lorhan2]

I am mostly a nuker sorcerer, I use mainly FW and cone of cold for the moment

For my level 7 spell, I will take otto sphere of dancing, I think its a good choice.
Is web still usefull when we have otto sphere?

I only have 224 hp for the moment so I think I will take toughness

Thank you everyone

[Jaid314]

I am mostly a nuker sorcerer, I use mainly FW and cone of cold for the moment

For my level 7 spell, I will take otto sphere of dancing, I think its a good choice.
Is web still usefull when we have otto sphere?

I only have 224 hp for the moment so I think I will take toughness

Thank you everyone

web and otto's are both great, and i personally would not give up either of them.

web is amazing against casters, and works on most targets that are immune to enchantment type spells, like golems, vermin, and undead. it bypasses spell resistance, and is based on a reflex save, the low save for most arcane/divine caster types, as well as many melees (although if your DC is low, they may be able to make the strength check to break free).

otto's is amazing against melee types with low base will saves and low wisdom scores. it works equally well on rogue, fighter, and barbarian types... but not as well against rangers. hard to say how well it works on paladins, there's not many quests where you fight them and honestly it's usually pretty easy to just kill them anyways. for when it matters, it also has a really long duration.

both of them are even better CC because you can actually bring mobs that make their save out of the area and back in, forcing them to make another save. and you can do that over and over. if something breaks free, you can often lure them out and then back in again. i highly recommend having and using both spells (web can be a bit tricky to target, but once you get the hang of it, good times!)

[Lorhan2]

Thank you for all your help, I will take otto sphere of dancing as a level 7 spell and toughness as a feat.

I was also wondering for my level 5 and 6 spells.

I took Cloudkill, protection from elements, cone of cold
Should I take hold monster or break enchantements? I could swap some of them if needed

For my level 6, I took disintegrate and greater heroisme
I was planning on taking reconstruct for my level 15 but should I swap something to get flesh to stone?

[Jaid314]

Thank you for all your help, I will take otto sphere of dancing as a level 7 spell and toughness as a feat.

I was also wondering for my level 5 and 6 spells.

I took Cloudkill, protection from elements, cone of cold
Should I take hold monster or break enchantements? I could swap some of them if needed

For my level 6, I took disintegrate and greater heroisme
I was planning on taking reconstruct for my level 15 but should I swap something to get flesh to stone?

one possibility is to take cyclonic blast for your level 5 spells, and replace disintegrate with flesh to stone (keep reconstruct, unless you absolutely hate raiding with a passion). if you still want hold monster or break enchantment, you could remove protection from elements and instead scroll it, though you would lose 12 points of protection. hold monster is good in the short term, in the long term you'll want break enchantment more... since you'll definitely want mass hold monster (which makes regular hold monster kinda obsolete).

[dunklezhan]

I've sort've skimmed a random sample of pages in this thread - I couldn't be bothered to read through pages of 'you're right' 'no *i'm* right' etc to draw this information out, sorry. My google fu has failed to answer the question I have, hopefully someone can give me a clue. Well... er... that's probably needed in general terms, but I have a specific question.

In the OP, it suggests only putting enough Int points in for 4 skill points per level (which is INT 14 I think?). But the spell selections suggested for levelling include a lot of DC based spells - web, hypno, niacs, flaming hands/acid spray etc

Using these, even at L5ish ish, I'm finding large numbers of mobs save. Additionally, they save frequently against acid blast and the like too. At higher levels I can probably get a selection of +DC gear, and heighten will help somewhat, but presumably, even with the massive SP of a sorceror, this is going to mean spamming spells in the hope they take.

Is that expected with this sort of build? What can be done about it (at low and high levels)?

thanks in advance.

[Aspenor]

I've sort've skimmed a random sample of pages in this thread - I couldn't be bothered to read through pages of 'you're right' 'no *i'm* right' etc to draw this information out, sorry. My google fu has failed to answer the question I have, hopefully someone can give me a clue. Well... er... that's probably needed in general terms, but I have a specific question.

In the OP, it suggests only putting enough Int points in for 4 skill points per level (which is INT 14 I think?). But the spell selections suggested for levelling include a lot of DC based spells - web, hypno, niacs, flaming hands/acid spray etc

Using these, even at L5ish ish, I'm finding large numbers of mobs save. Additionally, they save frequently against acid blast and the like too. At higher levels I can probably get a selection of +DC gear, and heighten will help somewhat, but presumably, even with the massive SP of a sorceror, this is going to mean spamming spells in the hope they take.

Is that expected with this sort of build? What can be done about it (at low and high levels)?

thanks in advance.

I don't understand your question. INT has nothing to do with a sorcerer's spell DC's.

Also, even just half damage on an unmeta'd acid blast is enough to almost kill most monsters on normal (well, I guess this depends how many people are in your group, I usually have 1 or 2).

Like I've said, you have to choose your targets. Know which creatures have good reflexes, will, or fort, and hit them with whatever is their worst save. It won't work 100% of the time, but spellcasting isn't supposed to.

[dunklezhan]

I don't understand your question. INT has nothing to do with a sorcerer's spell DC's.

This clearly is my problem. I thought it worked like FVS vs Cleric - in their case from what I've read (having not played one but read a fair bit) FVS have CHR as the SP stat, but WIS as the DC stat. An assumption on my part was that a sorc's DCs were therefore working off Int with their SP off CHR.

So for a sorc everything is off CHR. OK. Then I need to pick my targets better. ok. thanks for the clarity Aspenor.

[ArtosKincaid]

I would highly recommend dump stating your int. You really don't need more than 2 skill points per level on a fleshy sorc and 1 is enough on a robot.

[Dark_Necromancer]

I love this build. As I am a complete noob, this is the first character that I've gotten past level 6 (and I intend to go all the way) and its still fun to play!! Thank you aspenor for a very playable build.

[drachine]

aight chief so back at the beginning of this thread you mention picking up reconstruct and repair critical damage, mass. you also mention that you don't need to put any enhancements into force at all. so question becomes well how much does your repair critical damage, mass hit for? can't be that much i guess?

next question is as an evocation focused sorcerer. i'm guessing your enhancements run something like this:

2 Sorcerer's Bloodline of Power
4 Sorcerer Improved Heightening I
6 Sorcerer Improved Maximize II
6 Sorcerer Lineage of Energy III
6 Sorcerer Lineage of Elements III
6 Sorcerer Lineage of Deadly Energy III
6 Sorcerer Lineage of Deadly Elements III
10 Sorcerer Energy Manipulation IV
10 Sorcerer Elemental Manipulation IV
12 Sorcerer's Improved Spell Penetration III
12 Sorcerer's Charisma III

that makes 80 points

the reason i ask chief is currently i just repair critical damage, mass as my only repair spell for healing WF in raids on bosses, but i do have some enhancements plus the belts so it works out ok. if i switch out to your choices, not sure i'll be able to still repair enough to make it worth it which means i might have to take some other repair spell. i like carrying chain lightning, disintegrate and flesh to stone way too much to give any of them up for reconstruct. how much does your mass actually repair for?

[HAL]

For your next feat I guess you might want to look at your hp now. I think if you're at the 300 range now you should be fine to take spell pen or choose to specialize in one school like enchantment or evocation depending on how you play?

Is it common for a level 15 Sorc to have 300 HP?

[PopeJual]

Is it common for a level 15 Sorc to have 300 HP?

No, but is should be.