Sorcerer build help
Saeba
Member Posts: 6
Hi, I am new to BG:EE and after considering this for a long time, I decided to go with a Sorcerer.
Unfortunately I have no idea what kind of abilities should I go for and after reading around, it seems there's quite a bit of a confusion on this subject.
Could anyone clarify this please or better yet tell exactly what abilities, skills I need for this class?
Thanks
Unfortunately I have no idea what kind of abilities should I go for and after reading around, it seems there's quite a bit of a confusion on this subject.
Could anyone clarify this please or better yet tell exactly what abilities, skills I need for this class?
Thanks
0
Comments
For proficiencies I'd put a point in darts since they get 3 apr, but you won't be doing much damage from weapons anyway.
Your important choices are in what spells you pick. At low levels I would get Sleep and Web for disabling purposes and some protective spells such as Shield and Mirror Image. When you get mid/high level spells start thinking about damage (but also remember you get wands for many of these spells) and maybe some summoning spells like Spider Spawn. Don't bother with Magic Missile until you can fire at least three missiles (i.e. level 5).
Also take into account your party members - are you the only arcane caster? Is there a specialist arcane caster in your party who doesn't have access to a certain school?
Sleep, Invisibility, Glitterdust, Greater Malison - must have spells.
This gives you plenty of room to max out dexterity for ranged attacks and armor class, and to hit 16 constitution for maximized health benefits (only warrior classes benefit from more than that much constitution). Since you'll doubtlessly have attribute points left over, you might consider a high charisma for effective leadership. After that, wisdom can help you in the sequel with Wish spells, or you can give yourself an above-average strength to carry more crap.
Stats:
Str: Whatever you'd like. Dex: Max Con: 16 is the most you need, some people shoot for 18 for a certain magic item in High Hedge. Int: 9-10 is the most you need. If you are going to use the same character in BG2 (whenever it is released), get a 15 in it. Wis: It doesn't matter in BG1. Cha: Also doesn't matter, although I usually try to get it high because I have my Sorc talk to most people and you can get better reactions/rewards with a high charisma party face.
I usually shoot for as my 'minimums' (90 points isn't super hard to get):
Str:14 Dex:18 Con:16 Int:15 Wis:10 Cha:17
Proficiencies:
You will either go darts or slings at level one. Slings have better magical options currently in BG1, but Darts give you a much higher attack total and allow you to annoy enemies better and steal Nearly Dead enemy kills a bit better. It won't matter much either way as you are going to stink with anything but your spells, so take whatever you like the idea of your character using.
You will gain another proficiency at level six. Again, it's not going to make or break your character because you either blow things up with spells, or run away trying to get an angle to shoot/slow/protect during your next action. I usually put a point into Quarterstaff at this level just because, but it's not like I get a huge bonus out of it.
Spells:
*General rule of thumb is don't take anything you will out level eventually, as there isn't any (legit) respec option in Baldur's Gate. This makes it tougher on newer players as it requires a bit more understanding of the spell system, but basically any spells that say things like 'effects up to X HD or level X', AC setting spells (Things like Armor, Ghost Armor, etc.. as you won't have any problem with AC past around level 4-5), or low level versions of spells you will get better versions of later on (like Minor Sequencer), and don't take Touch spells (Ghoul Touch, Vampiric Touch, Shocking Hands, etc..) as your THAC0 (To Hit) is so piss-poor, you'll almost always miss. These are usually good indicators to stay away from.
This won't be everything, but here's the spells in BG1 I'd say to make sure you get first:
L1- Magic Missle, Spook, Protection from Evil
L2- Mirror Image, Melf's Acid Arrow
L3- Skull Trap, Remove Magic
L4- Stoneskin, Greater Malison
Caveat: If you don't give a damn about BG2 and just want to make the best BG1 character you can, feel free to ignore my 'keep away from those spells' (but seriously, never take Touch spells) and go ahead and take things like Sleep as it will make you stronger in BG1.
Side-note: Pairing up with another arcane caster to become truly dominant.
Sorcerer's are stupidly powerful, but having another arcane caster in your party just makes them even stronger. Taking another mage like Neera, Edwin, dual-classed Imoen, etc.. covers many gaps in your spell repertoire and allows your Sorc to focus on doing what (s)he does best: Making things 'splode.
Taking a Mage along and having them use Sleep, Haste, Slow, Dispel Magic, Summon Monsters, Identify, Cloudkill, and other good spells you won't have the depth (or need) to cast yourself will make the party much more powerful. It also never hurts to have two guys throwing skull traps or magic missles at enemies.
A slight equipment spoiler/easter egg:
Don't read if you don't want any spoilers. It's not a 'You just ruined the game for me,' one, but it's something that will turn a spell caster from good to great quickly in the game.
Okay so I should max out dex and con. I am confused about Intelligence though, in the character creation menu it says "a Sorcerer's prime requisite is Intelligence". And Wisdom.. unless it's for the sequel I guess I don't need it?
And since I like questing and having good dialogues, which attributes should I raise and how much?
@Mykra
Magic MIssile just isn't worth picking at the beginning as 1d4+1 damage is quite pitiful. For a sorc with aforementioned ring I would say it's justifiable as your level 3 pick. PfE can also be covered by a cleric. Vampiric touch doesn't require a hit roll either, though I still wouldn't take it.
Intelligence was not implemented correctly for the Arcane caster classes. It was supposed to be a requirement to cast a spell was having INT 10 + SPELL LEVEL (So, to cast Fireball, a third level spell, required 13 INT), but they dropped it and never changed the manual. Other than a chance to learn new spells (which a Sorcerer skips completely by using an alternate spell system), it really does nothing. As long as you have it as a 9 or better, you can cast spell scrolls and that's all you really need. I shoot for a 15 because if you take the Sorcerer into the sequels, there is a magic item that requires decent (but not great) INT to use.
Unlike Fallout and Arcanum, the dialogue trees aren't horribly impacted by your statistics. The biggest change you'll notice is based on NPC reaction, which is a random roll + parts of your charisma + parts of your reputation + parts of your alignment (and maybe some other things, I can't remember for 100% accuracy right now).
A prime example is in Candlekeep. The guardsman who asks for crossbow bolts will actually give you a Dagger +1 if your reaction roll is high enough. Hull, the guard who asks for his sword, will actually compliment you for being a good kid and give you a little different dialogue when you turn your sword in, instead of telling you to just take a hike.
Stuff like that.
I wouldn't agree, but that's probably personal play-style. Early on you don't use it for it's damage but use it for the ability to interrupt opposing spell casters and to finish off nearly dead enemies/Spooked runners. Granted, I'm playing with SCS on TuTu while I wait for BG:EE mods to catch up, but magic missile is a necessity for me to interrupt some early spellcasters (Bassilus, Mulahey, Silke...), allowing my party to kill them without getting demolished. As for Protection from Evil, I have 12 level one spell casts. It's much easier for me to cast 1-2 PfE's on my frontliners and allow my Clerics to carry other spells I can't cast, than to do it the other way around. HOWEVER, I will concede that it breaks my 'must have', and instead is a 'good to have, not required' as you pointed out. :P I find Missile and Spook (although I would easily take Sleep over Spook if I was just making the guy for BG1) to be my two most used level one spells anyways, so I'm fine with taking them at the start. YMMV.
I agree fully with Melf's Minute Meteors as I personally love them to death, but I just wanted to give him a list of what I considered 'must-haves' without going into spells I thought were good, and making it one of those sorcerer spell list debates. Even with my mancrush on MMM, I'd still take Skull Trap and Remove Magic before them.
Anyway, carry on! And thank you to the question-asker and the question-answerer!
In my opinion, Magic Missile is worth the spell slot. It's not the most damaging spell, but it's very versatile. No one (not even the big bad) is immune to Magic Missile!
Also, you should only take protection spells like Mirror Image and Stoneskin if you're not playing with a full party. If you've got five other group members to hold aggro for you, you can just stand in the back and cast shit without worrying about defensive spells.
"use it for the ability to interrupt opposing spell casters and to finish off nearly dead enemies/Spooked runners." -Mykra
Agree 100%.
And I wouldn't relay on a party instead of defensive spells. A couple of the later (Tosc) enconters involved stealthed enemies, and thier AI script causes them to prioritise spellcasters.
One key concept in Sorcerer spell selection is "avoid duplication". If you have 1 spell that does something you don't really need a second. So you wouldn't need reflected image *and* mirror image. One or the other, not both. Same with Skull trap and fireball which have similar effects (but work slightly differently). If in doubt read the spell descriptions.
This also applies party-wide as you don't need a spell that someone else can cast. Don't get protection from evil if you have a paladin who casts it for free or a priest who can cast the party-wide version. Same with protection from fear - a priest casts it as a level 1 spell.
Also, there are many wands that you can use to cover spells you miss. You never need to learn fireball as there are so many wands of fire, and wands of summoning are better than any of your summon spells.
The second key concept is scaling. Magic missile is good because it gets better the higher level you are as does spook, mirror image etc. That means these low-level spells continue to be good at higher levels. Skull trap scales with level better than fireball as fireball damage stops increasing after a certain point (in reality this point happens above the BG:EE level cap, but meh).
You will end up at level 9 with:
5 level 1 spells
4 level 2 spells
3 level 3 spells
2 level 4 spells
Thanks in advance
Thanks for the replies
See:
http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/stats.htm
[NB: only Dwarves, Halflings and Gnomes benefit from the Con-based saving throw bonuses]
BTW this is an *excellent* spoiler-free guide to Baldur;s Gate:
http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/bgguide.htm
BTW apart from Lore benefits, and having a minimum of 9 Int to be able to cast from scrolls, there's only much point (except perhaps to help with Mind Flayer attacks in BG2, where higher Int can be helpful) in putting points into Intelligence or Wisdom as a Sorcerer if intending to cast Wish in BG2, in which case you would probably want to put 18 into both.
So a Level 1 sorcerer, with 18 Con, could have 4+2 = 6 HP or 4+2+2 = 8 HP (if you go back once during character creation) or 4+2+2+2 = 10 HP (if you go back twice), etc.