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I am hoping to get a little advice on selecting a caster type to take through the Kingmaker series. Typically I have always played tank types in most games I have played. I recently completed the HoTU and SoU series with a Paladin which I really enjoyed. I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to casters and looking for a "not too complicated" character to play. So...Wizard or Sorcerer? Im leaning towards a Sorcerer because I like the idea of being able to summon a pet. At the same time I would think the Wizard might have stronger casting powers?? I really have no idea. It looks like either class can be very strong if spec'd correctly.

So anyways, I would appreciate any suggestions. Maybe even a link or 2 for reference. I'll keep digging around and looking myself but hoping someone may be able to save me some time.

Thank you in advance.

I always play wizards, they are my favourite class. They do get to choose a familiar, from something as relatively 'useless' in combat as a bat, to the rather powerful Hellhound, or the ever versatile Pixie. They have a greater variety of spells than Sorcerers, and unlike the Sorcerer, a Wizard's amount of spells is intelligence-based. If you manage to take your wizard to a high level, or even to epic, you get access to pretty damn powerful spells that not much can beat. Some people say that only the Sorcerer can be turned into a killing machine, but you can focus a wizard on offensive spells just as easily. I recently managed to get my female elf wizard up to level 40, and aside from one mishap with a Balor, she's pretty damn much unstoppable and tends to have to save henchmen rather than being saved by them.

Drawbacks: aforementioned variety of spells. There are some spells you'll never use, depending on the mod you play. Wizards are proficient in club, dagger, light crossbow, heavy crossbow and quarterstaff, but not in armor or shields. Arcane spell failure plays a big role for them, so you'll be limited to wizard robes for protection, and the variety to choose from isn't nearly as great as the variety you get to choose armor from. If you want to avoid spell failure entirely, no armor at all.

Wizards tend to die quickly, especially at the lower levels. I can't compare them to Sorcerer because I never played one, but I've always had to take a tank henchman with me if I wanted to survive the first chapter of the OC with minimal reloading.

Melee fighting is also a bit icky with a wizard, especially at the lower levels. For me, that was one of the main challenges of the OC, SOU and HOTU. If you go the 'recommended' way while levelling up, all your points will go toward boosting your intelligence unless you spend them yourselves. Until you get your concentration up, you'll have to deal with spell failure due to concentration failure/break, if fighting in close quarters with your enemies. Additionally, since most of a wizard's feats/skills are geared toward spellcasting, you'll have to decide between sacrificing feats in order to gain a few fighter-related abilities and boosting your wizard-skills.

I'd imagine that Sorcerers share a lot of what I said up there with the Wizard class, but someone else will have to tell you about them.

It is nice that wiz and sorcs can change familiars as they level up so you can decide to have one that can tank a bit in the early levels (say the imp, hellhound and perhaps the panther).

I had my pal1/sorcxx take the pixie and it is pretty good. Have not needed to use any of the henchies in the OC yet (well I admit to only completing the first chapter and started the second chapter). Especially to scout (Improved Invisibility as a special ability at 5th level) and send in for kamikaze attacks LOL (basically land a sneak attack and then unsummon. rinse and repeat. sorc is in another room unseen by the enemy. Cheesy LOL but effective against the dire spiders. Once enemy is near death, have the sorc go in with one casting of fireball or magic missile to take all the xp). I heard pretty good things about the eyeball familiar once the PC reaches mid-levels.

One thing in the wiz favor is with the vast selection of spells in their repertoire, they can tank if they decide to do so with spells like Flame Weapon, Greater Magic Weapon, Ghostly Visage, Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace and Keen Edge plus other nifty spells. The sorc probably can't afford to add them to their spell repertoire to sacrifice the high damage spells.