12:19 am, October 12, 2014
496
Sorcerer information - wiki status.
Returning player here. I've been leveling a TRed WF sorc after leaving around the time of the first expansion and noticed that the "starting a sorcerer" wiki page was mostly unchanged since I had updated it with the savant enhancements years ago (at least the controversial "supporting role" sorcerer build had been removed to avoid confusing newbies). I updated it the best I could, but am finding more stuff I don't know:
Looks like drow are back (mainly due to enhancements allowing charisma increases instead of dexterity). I suspect that for many builds, they may even have an edge on humans. I suspect I should point this out a bit better (+3 charisma over humans, but humans can easily crank the charisma up during a spellcraft boost. Also humans can (almost always) increase the CR of one school of magic by +1, thus limiting the advantage. Still, it is far better than before (by "back" I mean from what I've heard from the "dwarves and drow" days. I started with f2p so I can't remember drow being strong sorcs.)
I am also not clear at all about epic (20+ level) play. It looks like some sort of spell focus feat is needed to get anywhere with the wizard epic destiny (not formally required, but I've been locked out of the DC school bonus options and it isn't clear why). Any build requirements for epic play should be noted, and how well reconstruction deals with epic levels of hit points.
I really wasn't able to really fix the feat selection advice. The order is clearly: Maximize first, Empower second (due to SLAs), and then it depends...
Heighten is eventually needed, and should be taken at least before you get electric loop as an SLA (this can be conveniently level 15 if you love maximized fireballs).
Quicken should be taken for a warforged before level 12. Some players insist that fleshlings should always take it as well.
Spell penetration seems to depend on how important various enemies are. Evil outsiders seem out of fashion, but drow seem to be big lately. Can't recommend how or where you should spend for spell pen.
Spell focus? Another one I need information on (epic seems to have changed its importance).
At least I removed the toughness feat (hints for new players: it was required for years. Any build that recommends it [unless also including epic toughness] is probably out of date).
I also removed a mention of taking perform on a non-bard. Can a non-bard do anything with perform? It looks like it is there "just in case" you want to take a level in bard, but there are so many things wrong with that line of thinking to be longer than this whole post.
Looks like drow are back (mainly due to enhancements allowing charisma increases instead of dexterity). I suspect that for many builds, they may even have an edge on humans. I suspect I should point this out a bit better (+3 charisma over humans, but humans can easily crank the charisma up during a spellcraft boost. Also humans can (almost always) increase the CR of one school of magic by +1, thus limiting the advantage. Still, it is far better than before (by "back" I mean from what I've heard from the "dwarves and drow" days. I started with f2p so I can't remember drow being strong sorcs.)
I am also not clear at all about epic (20+ level) play. It looks like some sort of spell focus feat is needed to get anywhere with the wizard epic destiny (not formally required, but I've been locked out of the DC school bonus options and it isn't clear why). Any build requirements for epic play should be noted, and how well reconstruction deals with epic levels of hit points.
I really wasn't able to really fix the feat selection advice. The order is clearly: Maximize first, Empower second (due to SLAs), and then it depends...
Heighten is eventually needed, and should be taken at least before you get electric loop as an SLA (this can be conveniently level 15 if you love maximized fireballs).
Quicken should be taken for a warforged before level 12. Some players insist that fleshlings should always take it as well.
Spell penetration seems to depend on how important various enemies are. Evil outsiders seem out of fashion, but drow seem to be big lately. Can't recommend how or where you should spend for spell pen.
Spell focus? Another one I need information on (epic seems to have changed its importance).
At least I removed the toughness feat (hints for new players: it was required for years. Any build that recommends it [unless also including epic toughness] is probably out of date).
I also removed a mention of taking perform on a non-bard. Can a non-bard do anything with perform? It looks like it is there "just in case" you want to take a level in bard, but there are so many things wrong with that line of thinking to be longer than this whole post.