Sorcerer

Sorcerers create magic the way a poet creates poems, with inborn talent honed by practice. They have no books, no mentors, no theories⁠—just raw power that they direct at will.

Some sorcerers claim that the blood of dragons courses through their veins. That claim may even be true in some cases⁠—it is common knowledge that certain powerful dragons can take humanoid form and even have humanoid lovers, and it’s difficult to prove that a given sorcerer does not have a dragon ancestor. It’s true that sorcerers often have striking good looks, usually with a touch of the exotic that hints at an unusual heritage. Others hold that the claim is either an unsubstantiated boast on the part of certain sorcerers or envious gossip on the part of those who lack the sorcerer’s gift.

Adventures: The typical sorcerer adventures in order to improve his abilities. Only by testing his limits can he expand them. A sorcerer’s power is inborn—part of his soul. Developing this power is a quest in itself for many sorcerers, regardless of how they wish to use their power.

Some good sorcerers are driven by the need to prove themselves. Marked as different by their power, they seek to win a place in society and to prove themselves to others. Evil sorcerers, however, also feel themselves set apart from others⁠—apart and above. They adventure to gain power over those they look down upon.

Characteristics: Sorcerers cast spells through innate power rather than through careful training and study. Their magic is intuitive rather than logical. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire powerful spells more slowly than wizards, but they can cast spells more often and have no need to select and prepare their spells ahead of time. Sorcerers do not specialize in certain schools of magic the way wizards sometimes do.

Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they don’t have the background of arcane knowledge than most wizards have. However, they do have more time to learn fighting skills, and they are proficient with simple weapons.

Alignment: For a sorcerer, magic is an intuitive art, not a science. Sorcery favors the free, chaotic, creative spirit over the disciplined mind, so sorcerers tend slightly toward chaos over law.

Religion: Some sorcerers favor gods with the Magic or Spell domains, while others with darker natures may prefer gods with Chaos, Death, or Destruction domains. However, many sorcerers follow some other deity, or none at all. (Most sorcerers are self-taught, with no master to induct them into a religion).

Background: Sorcerers develop rudimentary powers at puberty. Their first spells are incomplete, spontaneous, uncontrolled, and sometimes dangerous. A household with a budding sorcerer in it may be troubled by strange sounds or lights, which can create the impression that the place is haunted. Eventually, the young sorcerer understands the power that he has been wielding unintentionally. From that point on, he can begin practicing and improving his powers.

Sometimes a sorcerer is fortunate enough to come under the care of an older, more experienced sorcerer, someone who can help him understand and use his new powers. More often, however, sorcerers are on their own, feared by erstwhile friends and misunderstood by family.

Sorcerers have no sense of identity as a group. Unlike wizards, they gain little by sharing their knowledge and have no strong incentive to work together.

Races: Most sorcerers are humans or half-elves, but the innate talent for sorcery is unpredictable, and it can show up in any of the common races.

Arcane spellcasters from savage lands or from among the brutal humanoids are more likely to be sorcerers than wizards. Kobolds are especially likely to take up this path, and they are fierce, if inarticulate, proponents of the “blood of the dragons” theory.

Other Classes: Sorcerers find that they have the most in common with members of other largely self-taught classes, such as druids and rogues. They sometimes find themselves at odds with members of the more disciplined classes, such as paladins and monks. Since they cast the same spells as wizards but do so in a different way, they sometimes find themselves in competition with wizards.

Role: A sorcerer tends to define his role based on his spell selection. A sorcerer who focuses on damage-dealing spells becomes a center of the party’s offensive power. Another may rely on more subtle magics, such as charms and illusions, and thus take a quieter role. A party with a sorcerer should strongly consider including a second spellcaster, such as a bard, cleric, druid, or even a wizard, to make up for the sorcerer’s lack of versatility. Since a sorcerer often has a powerful presence that gives him a way with people, he may serve as the “face” for an adventuring party, negotiating, bargaining, and speaking for others. The sorcerer’s spells often help him sway others or gain information, so he makes an excellent spy or diplomat for an adventuring party.

Game Rule Information

Sorcerers have the following game statistics.

Abilities: Charisma determines how powerful a spell a sorcerer can cast, how many spells he can cast per day, and how hard those spells are to resist (see Spells). Like a wizard, a sorcerer benefits from high Dexterity and Constitution scores.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d4.

Class Skills

The sorcerer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the sorcerer.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Sorcerers are proficient with all simple weapons. They are not proficient with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a sorcerer’s arcane gestures, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail.

Spells: A sorcerer casts arcane spells (the same type of spells available to bards and wizards), which are drawn primarily from the sorcerer spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, the way a wizard or a cleric must (see below).

To learn or cast a spell, a sorcerer must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Cha 10 for 0-level spells, Cha 11 for 1st-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a sorcerer’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the sorcerer’s Charisma modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a sorcerer can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on the Sorcerer table above; each entry is a number (left-hand number) followed by a slash (/) and another number (right-hand number).

Left-Hand Number (Spells per Day): This is the number of spells per day a sorcerer can cast for that spell level. He receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score (see Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).

Right-Hand Number (Spells Known): This is the number of spells a sorcerer of a certain level actually knows at that level. (Yes, it is extremely limited. Choose wisely.) A sorcerer begins play knowing four 0-level spells (also called cantrips) of your choice. At most new sorcerer levels, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on the Sorcerer table. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a sorcerer knows is not affected by his Charisma score; the numbers to the right of the slashes on the Sorcerer table are fixed.)

These new spells can be common spells chosen from the sorcerer spell list, or they can be unusual spells that the sorcerer has gained some understanding of by study. For example, a sorcerer with a scroll or spellbook detailing an unusual sorcerer/wizard spell (one not on the sorcerer/wizard spell list in this book) could select that spell as one of his new spells for attaining a new level, provided that it is of the right spell level. The sorcerer can’t use this method of spell acquisition to learn spells at a faster rate, however.

Changing Known Spells: Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered sorcerer level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a sorcerer can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the sorcerer “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level sorcerer spell the sorcerer can cast. For instance, upon reaching 4th-level, a sorcerer could trade in a single 0-level spell (two spell levels below the highest-level sorcerer spell he can cast, which is 2nd) for a different 0-level spell. At 6th level, he could trade in a single 0-level or 1st-level spell (since he now can cast 3rd-level sorcerer spells) for a different spell of the same level. A sorcerer may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.

Preparing Spells: Unlike a wizard or a cleric, a sorcerer need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his spells per day for that spell level. For example, cross-referencing 1st level sorcerer with 1st level spells, one sees “3/2”. The first number is the number of 1st level spells that a 1st level sorcerer may cast daily, which is incremented as this hypothetical sorcerer has a Charisma of 15 as shown on the Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells table, so this sorcerer can cast four 1st-level spells per day. However, he knows only two 1st-level spells: magic missile and sleep as shown by the 2 to the right of the “/”. Thus, on any given day, he can cast some combination of the two spells a total of four times. He does not have to decide ahead of time which spells he’ll cast.

Familiar: A sorcerer can obtain a familiar. See Familiars for details.

Human Sorcerer Starting Package

Armor: None (speed 30 ft.).

Weapons: Shortspear (1d6, crit ×2, range inc. 20 ft., 3 lb., one-handed, piercing). Light crossbow (1d8, crit 19–20/×2, range inc. 80 ft., 4 lb., piercing).

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 3 + Int modifier.

Feat: Toughness.

Bonus Feat: Combat Casting.

Spells Known: 0-level spells⁠—​detect magic, ghost sound, light, read magic. 1st-level spells⁠—​magic missile, sleep.

Gear: Backpack with waterskin, one day’s trail rations, bedroll, sack, and flint and steel. Hooded lantern, 5 pints of oil. Spell component pouch. Case with 10 crossbow bolts.

Gold: 3d4 gp.

Source: Player’s Handbook (version 3.5), page 51.

Epic Sorcerer

These rules describe the advancement of this class beyond 20th level.

Hit Die: d4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Spells: The sorcerer’s caster level is equal to his or her class level. The sorcerer’s number of spells per day does not increase after 20th level. The sorcerer does not learn additional spells unless he or she selects the Spell Knowledge feat.

Familiar: The sorcerer’s familiar continues to increase in power as shown under Familiars at Epic Level.

Bonus Feats: The epic sorcerer gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic sorcerer bonus feats) every three levels after 20th.

Epic Sorcerer Bonus Feat List: Augmented Alchemy, Automatic Quicken Spell, Automatic Silent Spell, Automatic Still Spell, Energy Resistance, Enhance Spell, Epic Spell Focus, Epic Spell Penetration, Epic Spellcasting, Familiar Spell, Ignore Material Components, Improved Combat Casting, Improved Heighten Spell, Improved Metamagic, Improved Spell Capacity, Intensify Spell, Master Staff, Master Wand, Multispell, Permanent Emanation, Spell Knowledge, Spell Opportunity, Spell Stowaway.