GameBanshee Forums

Ok, I know that there is a thread about the sorcerer's spell selection around, but the advice I need is a different one.

People suggest spells for a solo sorcerer most of the time and as far as I'm concerned, soloin' is quite boring...

I have a tank heavy party most of the time, as I never understood why someone would choose a Bounty Hounter over a Fighter-Thief for exemple... The fighter-thief has much more Hp, better offensive hla, can still use crazy things like Carsomyr via UAI; only with a far better THACO and a lot more attack per round.

So my sorcerer is designed to help my fighter's type fellows in combat.

So far, i'm in Chapter 3 SOA, as a 12 lvl sorcerer. Here is my selection:

Level 1 spells: Magic Missile, Chromatic orb and the rest really doesn't matter... as nobody use em:laugh:

Level 2 spells: Mirror Image (of course), Melf Acid Arrow (poor spell all around, but the only level 2 dmg spell and help against trolls sometimes), Remove Fear (useful and long lasting spell for a party), Web and Glitterdust. Note that I don't need knock as I use at least one thief.

Level 3 spells: Fireball, haste, slow (nothing to argue so far, at least in my point of view ), Flame Arrow (yes over mmm, I'm a sorcerer, not a Fighter-Mage, so poor THACO and even if it's good at disturbin' a mage while he's trying to cast a spell, I have many way to deal with spellcasters...) and i'm thinking about remove magic as my last spell, which is not available right now.

Level 4 spells: Emotion, Stoneskin, Greater Malison. 2 spells left, I'm thinking about Minor sequencer and maybe Polymorph other, but I'm not that sure, because I don't like the level 4 spell pool...

Level 5 spells: Chaos, Sunfire for now. I'm thinking of Breach for sure, animate dead is out of question as I always have a cleric, and so is Cloudkill (plenty of wands...). That leaves me with 2 spells left to choose, maybe Lower Resist and Spell Immunity, is Cone of cold usefull btw?

Level 6 spells: Improved haste so far, but what's next? I know I want protection from magical energy, as it is a great spell for my fighters and it last a long time too. Truesight maybe as I don't have an Inquisitor all the time and for the last two spells, maybe Mislead even if i'm not a fan of the spell and Pierce magic, or maybe Power word silence / deathspell ?

Level 7 spells: here is a level I always have a tough time choosing. I'm thinking of Project Image, Mass Invisibility, Protection from the elements, Ruby Ray and an offensive spell between Delayed fireball and Finger of Death.

Level 8 spells: ADHW, Spell trigger, Simmulacrum, Protection from Energy (in this case, maybe no lvl7 protection from elements?) and Improved Mantle.

Level 9 spells: Chain Contingency, Timestop, Wish, Spellstrike and the last one maybe Imprisonment, as I have spell trap from the staff of magi.

In short, I need help mostly for my lvl 6 and 7 spells

People play a bounty hunter for the role playing aspect, I prefer powerfull chars but I also like to role play so I select classes I can roleplay that are naturally powerfull like the ranger or Paladin.
fighter/thief is better, but, running around with carsomyr with that char spoils the atmosphere for some, includeing myself/


some advice for you all of it IMHO. if you like a particular spell and can use it well don't let anyone discourage you from it.

for level 1 get spook, use it with greater mallison, they have to save @ -10 penalty. great for dragons and other nasty things you need disabled asap.

level 2 blur and mirror image

level 3: skull trap is like fireball but better; no cap IIRC and magic dmg not fire ..... harder to resist.

level 4 Don't bother with polymorph other a fire shield red or blue would serve you better in case you need to go melee late get improved invisibility

Level 5 if you get emotion don't get chaos both do essentially the same thing
I prefer emotion so I don't have to chase them down

feeble mind is great at this level, lower restitance and breach are must.
cone of cold is good as a last resort type of spell since almost nobody has decent resists to cold

level 6 get mislead only if you don't/can't get the level 5 shadow door, you need some type of escaping spell. true sight is esssential you need at least one source of it. planetars can do it for you but I would'nt reccomend relying only on planetars for TS

death spell is a waste since enemies never summon anything dangerous anyway just useless fodder you can ignore till after the fight.

protection from magic weapons can buy you 4 rounds since almost nobody carries regular non-enchanted equipment. (get this)


Level 7 : you a need warding whip period. it's alot better than ruby ray.
finger of death is average, though I can't really reccomend it as most of the time they will make the save.

Don't bother with delayed blast fireball it sucks.

good spells include Mordenkeinen's sword, and power word stun. Both of these are better than mass invisibility as the level 4 improved invisibility is enough.

project image is of course the most overpowered spell of the game, you need that one. If you get what I mentioned above, and still have room, then summon Hakeshar is a good antimage summon.

level 8 this will probably be hotly contested...... drop similarcum; project image is better since it gets your full level therefore the level 9 spells as well.
Restoring a similarcum via scroll does nothing to restore the spells from the missing 1/3rd of levels just hp's ---> useless.

power word blind would be my first choice to replace the simmy, if not maze or pierce shield.

level 9 swap Imprisonment for Shapechange other than that your fine.

edit : missed level 3: melf's minute meteors and skull trap are critical from this level. Also don't underestimate melf's arrow it's great as a last resort for distrupting mages

I like role playing too you know never tried a multi classed thief with carsomyr btw, hehe.

As for your suggestions, I don't like Skull traps, they seem buggy as they don't trigger. As for mass invisibility, I don't agree. I like the spell alot, one shot and all your party is invisible, way better than waste like 6 lvl 4 spells... For the rest, some nice suggestions. Thank you!

I suggest:

Level 1 spells: Magic Missile, Chromatic orb, Protection from Evil (Protects you from summoned demons, and gives bonuses against evil creatures), Protection from Petrification (Works against most Beholder rays, yay!) and Identify.

Level 2 spells: A few of either; Mirror Image, Melf's Acid Arrow, Remove Fear, Web, Ray of Enfeeblement, Strength or Vocalize.

Level 3 spells: Skull Trap (or Fireball, but not both), Haste, Flame Arrow... And instead of Slow and Remove Magic I suggest Melf's Minute Meteors (Will damage almost any monster, even if only by small amounts, and the spell gives you quite a few missiles each time to make up for that) and either a Protection from Elements spell or Spell Thrust, as often your higher level spells will be otherwise occupied.

Level 4 spells: Emotion (Maybe), Stoneskin, Greater Malison, and either a Fireshield, Ice Storm (For hitting their back ranks) or Improved invisibility, to get your Sorcerer set up for particularly difficult battles (Works well with Sunfire, too).

Level 5 spells: Chaos, Sunfire, Breach and maybe Cone of Cold. Lower Magic Resistance however, is a must have. It removes Lvlx1 +5% magic resistance with each hit, which means you can often kill stronger monsters with rather weak spells that they'd usually be immune to.

Level 6 spells: Improved haste, Protection from Magical Energy, Death Spell - definately (as it instantly kills all summoned monsters and a good many weaker ones too) Summon Nishruu is another I often use for its magical invulnerability and related properties, and probably True Sight too, unless you have a Priest or 'nother Mage who knows it.

Level 7 spells: Project Image, Mass Invisibility (really good against them pesky Mind Flayers), Protection from Elements, Ruby Ray (or Khelben's Warding Whip), and Delayed Fireball instead of Finger of Death, as any other Mages or Priests should learn it instead.

Level 8 spells: Abi-Dalzim's, Simmulacrum, Improved Mantle, Pierce shield (Can never have too many) or Spell Trigger.

Level 9 spells: Chain Contingency, Timestop, Spellstrike and Wail of the Banshee (Although this can become pretty useless in TOB unless set up right). Meteor Strike is also good, if that's the kind of thing you're into.

Edit: Ah, and as Jedi Saurus mentioned the level 6 spell Mislead is great for escaping from ambushes.