Sorcerer

The sorcerer is an arcane spell caster like the wizard. However, while wizards learn their craft through careful study and practice, the sorcerer’s talents are innate…something she’s born with. She is known to attribute her natural gifts to the dragon blood she believes courses through her veins. And while claims of draconic lineage remain unsubstantiated, sorcerers often possess exotic good looks, which add to their air of mystery.

The sorcerer knows fewer spells overall than his wizard counterparts, and he tends to be a specialist rather than a generalist, but he can cast more spells more often in the heat of battle. The sorcerer’s spells do not have to be prepared in advance at a rest shrine or tavern, so he can select them at will.

A sorcerer can choose to follow many different paths. She may opt to be an offensive powerhouse, specializing in spells that deal damage. Or she may choose more subtle magic; spells to enhance her adventuring party’s performance, for instance, and keep aggressive monsters at bay through charms and illusions.

Motivation
While wizards enhance their arcane knowledge through intense study, a sorceerer can only expand his power through practice. Thus, most sorcerers adventure to test teh boundries of their power. It is through the danger and dire need that the adventuring life brings that sorcerers discover new latent powers.

Class Features
Weapon Proficiency: Sorcerers can use all simple weapon types. They cannot use any armor or shields without special training..

Spells
Sorcerers can cast spells from the arcane spells list. Sorcerer spell points and difficulty checks are based on the Charisma score.

Suggested Races

• Drow (+2 DEX and CHA, and drow racial Enhancements lend well to casting)
  
• Elf (+2 DEX provided a little extra armor, and elf racial Enhancements lend well to casting)
• Human (an extra Feat, extra skill points, and good racial Enhancements)
  

Key Abilities
Each class begins with 28 points to spend over 6 abilities (Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, Strength, and Charisma). Charisma is a crucial ability for sorcerers as it affects the sorcerer’s spell power and the number of spell points he has available. Dexterity may be a logical choice when spending ability points, since good Dexterity raises the sorcerer’s AC to help protect the frail spell caster from damage. Some points to Constitution would not be misspent, since extra hit points will keep a sorcerer alive longer.

Class Skills
Bluff and Concentration are the sorcerer class skills. Bluff is only useful for characters with at least one level of rogue (for Sneak Attack), so only spend here if you sorcerer is picking up a level of rogue. Concentration is an important skill for a sorcerer; it helps increase her chance of continuing to cast while taking damage. Use Magic Device is a nice Skill that will help make up for the sorcerer's limited spells known list but making it easier to use wands, but costs twice the normal amount of Skill points. Diplomacy is not a class Skill (and costs twice as much for this reason), but points here will help the sorcerer encourage monsters to find targets other than himself.

Suggested Feats
Mental Toughness is a no-brainer when it comes to selecting Feats—it increases the sorcerer’s maximum spell points by 10 the first level and 5 each additional level. Combat casting adds +4 to Concentration checks for defensive casting, and is worth consideration. Metamagic Feats also ones to consider; they improve spells but burn more spell points while in use.

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More on Sorcerers
Essentials A Guide to Alignments Sorcerer Tactics Guide Sorcerer Spells Apprentice's Companion I Apprentice's Companion II Apprentice's Companion III Apprentice's Companion IV Apprentice's Companion V Apprentice's Companion VI	Spell Casting Guides Spell Casting Basics Advanced Spell Casting Expert Spell Casting Metamagic Feats Guide Guide to AoE Spells Enchantments Guide Spell Combinations Guide The Art of Boom Control Freak: Control Spells in DDO
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