Suggestions Anyone?

[natakeu]

Feats and Spell Suggestions would be appreciated for a new sorc. I have never played one before, but I am very familar with spell casting from my time with my wizard. I am also curious about what skills would be best outside of concentration and umd.

The build currently is a 32 point human max con max cha, hope this helps to alleviate any possible questions.

[Harncw]

at lvl 16 you want maximize empower heighten (probably extend) and probably some spell penetration, IMHO mental toughness on a sorc is kinda redundant.

if you are going to carry a charm spell take break enchantment as well (until mod 9 and dismiss charms at least) but break enchantment is extremely nice spell to carry even if you don't charm.

I think balance and spot are worthwhile places to put your extra skill points
I hear diplo is nice but I don't use it personally.

maybe consider having a con of 16 and sprinkling the extra build points on not having negatives to your saves and/or bumping up int to get a few more skill points.

at build time you may want to consider taking skill focus UMD (then swap it out later, the +3 to your UMD at low levels is nice, especially if you want to use RR twink items, and heal wands)

I dont have quicken on my sorc... but I wonder if you could just always use quicken and not utilize the concentration skill... kinda gimp though probably.

[Mithran]

I've been wishing lately that I'd taken more UMD, but her Intelligence isn't high enough for me to be able to get it high enough by 20 unless I eat an Intelligence Tome before she gets to cap, so I'll be stuck, waiting to pull the tome.

Heighten
Extend
Spell Penetration
Greater Spell Penetration
Enlarge

[ForwardWu]

Stat will be fine with both 18 cha and 18 con...or you want to dump some con into str so in the end game you dont need to waste a slot to wear +6 str item.

you dont need to put pt into wis as you will have good enough will save (10base, 3wis, 4GH, 5 resist, 2 luck = 24)
you also dont want to put pt into dex as you will nvr have good ref save...(and..reflex are for trap mostly...you can use prot + fire shield to avoid most aoe)

Skills: UMD, Conc, 1-2 pt into tumble

i am not a big fans of balance on caster, even at balance of 9+6 (GH, head of good luck)i dont feel i can stand up really quick enough to compensate the skill pt invested.

Feats:
Max
Heighten
Extend
Spell Pen
Greater Pen

2 other to burn
UMD
Toughness

with SF: UMD you can use 100% using heal scroll more easily, after you pass the 39 magic number you can swap it for other feats like empower, or mt, or whatever you like.

I am not a big fans of empower as the damage ratio with empower is not really that great actually

[Mistinarperadnacles]

Some less popular, but I believe valid considerations:

No Empower - Really, with full Enhancements in an Elemental Manipulation line (and its really worth taking the Lineage of Energy and Lineage of Deadly Energy too) along with Maximise and Superior Potency, doing enough damage is rarely a problem. And the cost/benefit for Empower isn't worth it for me.

No Heighten - This is a big shocker to some people. I find Heighten is a pain to use. It burns far too many Spellpoints as it will heighten pretty much anything that has a saving throw - including Evocation damage spells. I find it a proper hassle turning it on and off all the time and I personally don't want all the hassle just to use it with one spell (Web) Most things that players use Heightened Web for an Acid (or Solid) Fog will do almost as well and the extra Spellpoints I've saved by not Heightening everything means I can throw other stuff in there too - Mass Hold, Waves of Exhaustion, Cloudkill, Cone of Cold etc. And there's always Otto's Sphere Of Dancing.

Spell Focus - I take both Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus feats. Having these replaces my Heighten - its always on and doesn't cost any SP. They also add a nice element of flavour and help spell selection on the less changeable Sorcerer. Take Necromancy for Cursing / Finger of Death / Debuffs or Enchantment for Charm Monster / Disco Ball or Conjuration for Cloudkill / Web / Trap The Soul. Even Abjuration for Dismissal / Banishment or Evocation for nuking or Transmutation for Disintergrate / Flesh to Stone.

Reason I prefer these is that it means I don't have to overly focus on grinding for some very select and rare gear to get 2500 SP to provide enough pool to run all the toggle feats or use a "cookie cutter" Sorcerer build when it comes to spells.

By all means, build a Maximise / Empower / Heighten maxxed out SP nuker build if that's your goal, but Sorcerers can be versatile too.



So, Feats wise I like:

Maximse / Extend / Spell Focus / Greater Spell Focus / Spell Penetration / Greater Spell Penetration / +1 - probably Toughness


Spells wise:

The fire/cold spells so vastly out perform anything else its not even close to funny. Cone of Cold, Polar Ray, Wall of Fire and Scorching Ray are so far ahead of anything else. I'd really love to see the Acid / Electric spells get some loving, and while they can be good with some specialist building, there's still a huge gulf in damage output. Warforged Force Line users are an interesting niche too.

I find there's enough room to take some Common Buffs (Blur, Haste, Resist Energy, Greater Heroism) and maybe some more besides. I like to try and fit in Stoneskin and Displacement where possible. Alternatives that can help if you're stuck for spell slots are scroll casting GH or wand casting Stoneskin. Resist Elements level 10/11 wands are fairly common too.

My chosen speciality for Spell Focus determines my other spells.

[ForwardWu]

i think heighten is mainly for web..which is so far the only really effective CC against devils/orthon....., along with fogs or symbols....(reflex save, no sr)

if you use web....u need heighten..otherwise...it is not really needed...

[Shade]

Lot of bad advice in this thread.

But I mean you ask a random group of people that are currently browsing the forums.. What do you expect?

I mean you ask such a general question. Why not just search the forums and read the more detailed threads with allot of replies already.

Anyways my opinion of what basics every good sorc has:
Max - You wanna nuke? Must have
Emp - You wanna nuke? Must have (the idea that max is enough is totally wrong, it's never enough - get everything you possibly can or consider yourself gimped - I mean you try to kill Sorjek with max non emp firewalls, and he will laugh at your ass and regen thru it, or use proper ones and win, your call)
Heighten - forget landing spells on anything difficult without this. The idea taht spell focuses can replace is it ludicrous - get both for a much larger boost to the DC.
Extend - This aint a solo game. The melee needs haste, the high level game is designed around perma haste. Hook them up. Non extend doesn't cut it.

Beyond that it's personal preference. Focuses are good, Spell pens are good. Metal toughness can be good if you don't have any good gear for SP (drop it later when you do).. Force of personality can be good in some cases.. Regular toughness? meh, 16 hp isnt worth **** imo.

[Mistinarperadnacles]

Lot of bad advice in this thread.

But I mean you ask a random group of people that are currently browsing the forums.. What do you expect?

I mean you ask such a general question. Why not just search the forums and read the more detailed threads with allot of replies already.

Anyways my opinion of what basics every good sorc has:
Max - You wanna nuke? Must have Agreed
Emp - You wanna nuke? Must have (the idea that max is enough is totally wrong, it's never enough - get everything you possibly can or consider yourself gimped - I mean you try to kill Sorjek with max non emp firewalls, and he will laugh at your ass and regen thru it, or use proper ones and win, your call) Really? Hmm... Yes its nice occasionally but I can still whack stuff for over 1500 damage with a Polar Ray or drop 300/tick Firewalls without it and I don't need to quaff Major Mana Pots like they're going out of style. I know this is more into the realms of playstyle though, so its your choice. But gimped? Not a chance. Its actually that preconception I'm challenging with my post. I've had Max/Emp/Encs/Items and had the very max damage its possible to get and there's not a massive difference especially when weighed against the masses more fun I have not being a one trick pony.
Heighten - forget landing spells on anything difficult without this. The idea taht spell focuses can replace is it ludicrous - get both for a much larger boost to the DC. That's just funny. I never have any problem with anything making saves against my spells without Heighten, The ONLY spell it makes a difference for is Web - which I don't use anyway and do just fine thanks. Fogs stop teleport too and Acid Fog with Cone of Cold works better on VoD bats.
Extend - This aint a solo game. The melee needs haste, the high level game is designed around perma haste. Hook them up. Non extend doesn't cut it. Agreed though its pretty much the only spell I use Extend for at cap.

Beyond that it's personal preference. Focuses are good, Spell pens are good. Metal toughness can be good if you don't have any good gear for SP (drop it later when you do).. Force of personality can be good in some cases.. Regular toughness? meh, 16 hp isnt worth **** imo.

I've never had any problems doing enough damage to anything in the game or landing a spell on anything either.

For somebody who wanted a Sorcerer purely to lob damage spells at the absolute min/maxed best, then maybe. But you might want to be able to have some fun other than herd/herd/firewall or pike/pike/nuke boss.

Suppose its down to what you want your Sorcerer to do. A caster you can play in pretty much any situation or an out and out specialist nuclear weapon.


Edit: Expansion on Toughness as a feat. Especially with the upcoming Minos Legens change, this can help get your hitpoints high enough so that 1 Delayed Blast Fireball or Exploding Bat can't kill you. Some Sorcerer builds even with max starting Con can't hit 240 hit points whereas any of them can with a Toughness feat and Racial Enhancements. So yeah, the 18 hit points might not be all that great, but the 28 or 38 from ehanced toughness can make a big difference.

All of which is strictly IMO. Try it or disregard it as you prefer.

[InfidelofHaLL]

I suggest Blue







that is all