Mutant Sorcerer
lunar
Member Posts: 3,460
Since my latest charname bit the dust at lvl 5 (I tend to play no-reload approach) I wanted to create a new character, and went for sorcerer. I have never ever played sorcerer before, but I wanted to spice things up. I know which spells are the best for my playstyle, and choosing them would be boring.
So I decided to go for a random sorc. I think my sorc as a mutant from x-men series:he has great powers but does not know what power he will have:it's all random. Spells are very alike mutant powers shown in the series:A sorcerer with right spells can turn invisible, create illusions, can launch bursts of fire, can charm/dominate enemy minds, etc.
This sorcerer does not choose spells at lvl ups, I roll a dice and the resulting number indicates the spell in the order of the list to be chosen. This way, every lvl up is exciting and thrilling, I can get good spells, I can get spells I am not used to, or I can get crap spells. Once I roll a dice, it can not be changed. So he can become a very powerful omega lvl mutant, or a laughing stock with feeble and useless powers. (I always pity those mutants with pathetic powers in x-men series, maybe I'll play as one.)
There are a few very crappy spells for sorcerers. Infravision, detect evil, clairvoyance, remove curse, etc. These would be horrible picks. But we will see. My first lvl picks were very good:Charm person and magic missile:two excellent spells! So my sorc starts as an aspiring telepath to dominate weaker enemies and with telekinetic powers to hurt bad guys. We will see how he will evolve. Yeah, he will evolve and mutate throughout his adventure, gaining new, mysterious and totally random powers!
Will he blast enemies with lightning and rain down violent storms of death like Storm? (Lightning bolt+Ice Storm) Will he have a powerful optic blast like Cyclops? (Aganazar's scorcher!) Will he prove to be a master of metals like Magneto and easily deflect all missiles thrown at him? (Protection from missiles) Will he be able to turn his body into adamantine and be super resilient like Colossus? (Stoneskin) Or will we be able to enter the minds of enemies and turn them around or disable them like the powerful Prof. X? (Dire charm, Hold Person, Confusion) I have xp-cap remover so he can get 5th lvl spells as well, maybe do an Ice man and freeze enemies to death via Cone of Cold? Or be the creepy guy that can make the dead walk? (Animate Dead)
Heh, I have so much fun just imagining! What do you think? ^^
So I decided to go for a random sorc. I think my sorc as a mutant from x-men series:he has great powers but does not know what power he will have:it's all random. Spells are very alike mutant powers shown in the series:A sorcerer with right spells can turn invisible, create illusions, can launch bursts of fire, can charm/dominate enemy minds, etc.
This sorcerer does not choose spells at lvl ups, I roll a dice and the resulting number indicates the spell in the order of the list to be chosen. This way, every lvl up is exciting and thrilling, I can get good spells, I can get spells I am not used to, or I can get crap spells. Once I roll a dice, it can not be changed. So he can become a very powerful omega lvl mutant, or a laughing stock with feeble and useless powers. (I always pity those mutants with pathetic powers in x-men series, maybe I'll play as one.)
There are a few very crappy spells for sorcerers. Infravision, detect evil, clairvoyance, remove curse, etc. These would be horrible picks. But we will see. My first lvl picks were very good:Charm person and magic missile:two excellent spells! So my sorc starts as an aspiring telepath to dominate weaker enemies and with telekinetic powers to hurt bad guys. We will see how he will evolve. Yeah, he will evolve and mutate throughout his adventure, gaining new, mysterious and totally random powers!
Will he blast enemies with lightning and rain down violent storms of death like Storm? (Lightning bolt+Ice Storm) Will he have a powerful optic blast like Cyclops? (Aganazar's scorcher!) Will he prove to be a master of metals like Magneto and easily deflect all missiles thrown at him? (Protection from missiles) Will he be able to turn his body into adamantine and be super resilient like Colossus? (Stoneskin) Or will we be able to enter the minds of enemies and turn them around or disable them like the powerful Prof. X? (Dire charm, Hold Person, Confusion) I have xp-cap remover so he can get 5th lvl spells as well, maybe do an Ice man and freeze enemies to death via Cone of Cold? Or be the creepy guy that can make the dead walk? (Animate Dead)
Heh, I have so much fun just imagining! What do you think? ^^
17
Comments
Like, "Oh, well, so-and-so resisted this, so now it's time to do that..."
Otherwise, it seems fun. Let us know how your Mutant evolves...
Using such varied abilities as.
Scorching Ray, Weather Control, Telekenisis and sometimes fireball, Ironbody, Pyrotechnics.
I'm very much in favor of adding Random elements to the games. Once you've played BG a number of times you get to know where everything and everyone can be found and the feeling of newness and wonder gets lost. Soon it eventually becomes too much of a bore sometimes to continue with a party, and a new one gets rolled up. Approaches like what you're doing start to restore some of the exciting uncertainty to the game again while waiting for a truly new adventure like BG3. I think your quote "This way, every lvl up is exciting and thrilling" says it all.
Charm person is very useful for now, Tarnesh and Silke was charmed and were made easy. So close to a lvl up, IIRC sorcs do not choose a new lvl 1 spell at lvl 2, so I will wait the 3rd lvl ^^ Hope I won't get a crap ability like 'being able to see in the dark' (infravision)
I can also choose the odd colors for my mutant sorcerer's skin and hair. Those blue, green and weird color options never had made sense before, but a mutant can have weird skin/hair.
Does sorcs get to choose Dimension door? If I get that spell I will get blackish/dark blue skin and hair and go total Nightcrawler style! Popping all around the battlefield, it should be fun, I will just have to imagine 'bampf!' Sound effect. :-D teleport field may be used for thr same effect too, against enemies, and can even be pretty useful. (in vanilla it used to bypass MR and there was no saving throw, and multiple castings did stack, I wonder how it works in BG:EE)
My fire sorcerer will have access to burning hands, aganazar , fireball...
Ice sorcerer will have access to ice dagger, snowball etc...
It makes them interesting and unique, as well.
My absolute fav X-men character is Magneto, especially since my absolute fav actor Ian MacKellen has played him (close runner up is Patrick Stewart.)
Magneto (There's a reason that Magneto is considered the most powerful mutant next to Professor X or Phoenix):
1st level spells: Magic Missile (for magnetic hurling of every piece of metal he can sense in his environment.) He would have also had "Unseen Servant" from the original D&D. Shield and Mage Armor for magnetic repulsion of weapons and other metal-hurling mutants. Blind for metallic objects of all kinds flying at your eyes.
2nd level spells: Melf's Acid Arrows for more magnetically hurled projectitles. Mirror Image to simulate magnetically repelled metal items. Web to simulate magnetically held armored enemies, or even any enemy with any metal at all on their persons.
3rd level spell: Melf's Minute Meteors for still more magnetically hurled projectiles. Bigger, heavier ones now, with flammable fuels in them. Fireball and Flame Arrow for the same, with greater and lesser degrees of concentration or dispersion.
4th level spells: Stoneskin for magnetically repelled metal items. Lesser Sequencer for more Magic Missiling and Melf's Acid Arrowing.
5th level spells: Breach to dispel all of the similar 1st to 4th level magnetically based defenses that Magneto can cast. Phantom Blade.
6th level spells: Invisible Stalker (your own sword suddenly flies out of your hand and slits your throat), Death Spell (all low-level creatures and summonses in Magneto's sight are crushed by falling metal, flying metal, use your imagination here.) Protection from Normal Weapons, Protection from Magic Weapons.
7th level spells: Power Word Stun (the ground around your feet flies up and strikes/compresses you.) Finger of Death (A huge metal-containing object flies straight at you.), Spell Sequencer.
8th level spells: Maze (the ground rises around you impenetrably), Power Words of Blind, Stun (the ground, the ceiling, your own weapon, your own armor, your own allies, fly at you or your eyes), Black Blade of Disaster (a no-brainer for Magneto), Chain Contingency and Spell Trigger (for extra magnetic feats).
9th level spells: Meteor Swarm, Power Word: Kill
1st level spells: Charm Person, Sleep, Blind, Spook
2nd level spells: Invisibility, Mirror Image, Blur, Horror, Remove Fear
3rd level spells: Dire Charm, Haste, Slow, Web (or Hold Person), Remove Magic, Dispel Magic
4th level spells: Confusion, Improved Invisibility, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Polymorph Self (if he makes you believe it), Remove Curse, Minor Globe of Invulnerability
5th level spells: Dominate, Chaos, Lower Resistance, Spell Immunity (Xavier enters the minds of other spellcasters), Protections from Electricity, Acid, Normal Weapons, Monster Summonings. (Xavier is getting *very* versatile, since he has discovered that he can control reality, as far as you're concerned.)
6th level spells: Shadow variants of any evocation or summoning spell, Contingency, Improved Haste, MIslead
7th level spells: Mass Invisibility, Project Image, Limited Wish
8th level spells: Simulacrum, Any Power Word or Summon (if you fail your save against him)
9th level spells: Time Stop, Wish (not through a genie, but through his own forced interpretation of reality onto yours), Imprison (this would be the worst thing he could do to you - it would at least last until your body died), Freedom
I like it, IWD is a very elemental game, there are a lot of enemies resistant to fire and weak to cold and vice versa. Having an ice sorc would be 'cool' in some areas, but terrible in some others. It's like Diablo 2 sorceress all over again! :-)
@belgarathmth heh, glad to see another x-men fan! Your ideas are cool, too! I wish we had Trollish fortitude spell from IWD, it gave regeneration to the caster:strength spell, pro from missiles+normal weapons+trollish fortitude+tenser's and dual wield special adamantine +5 daggers and guess wich x-men you can have? :-))
I expect Baron Mordo or Mandarin could animate dead.
Personally, I always preferred the nonmutants... Juggernaut, fantastic four, the various aliens (do the Outsiders still exist? Blackbolt could have nuked just about anything... And nuke is the right word).
Melf's minute meteors are excellent for Gambit imitation, he throws his 'cards' and they explode in the enemies faces. Later he can get a surprise for enemies who surround him with a big Sunfire blast too. Friends spell is good for him too, he sure can turn on the charm when he wants. Energy blades will be his ultimate trick.
Wolverine clone should also run with pro fire/cold and pro elements active all the time, he is just that tough and impervious to blasts of fire, etc.
Phantom blade/Black blade of disaster and other enchantment spells can make a slick Psylocke.
Chill touch/ghoul touch/vampiric touch spells can count as Rogue's deadly touch:her bare touch weakens and hurts enemies a lot, while strenghtening her.
Improved invisibility/Shadow door/Mislead active all the time can count fot Kitty Pride's intangibility..kinda. At least enemies can't target her with direct spells.
Shapechange is THE Mystique ability.
Heh, it is so fun to think about I can't control my inner x-men fanboy/geek ^^
Power words are just that: words. Not jubilee kinda thing IMHO. The blindness spell though, and deafness, sure.
Hmm, I'd argue mystique wouldn't use shapechange, since you gain all the abilities technically when you shapeshift via the spell. Polymorph self might be more accurate. She doesn't get others powers by looking like them, right?
Ghostly Visage, for one, makes any attack pass through you at damage reduction 5, though it won't do any better than that. But, for a low-level mutant...
Higher levels give even more theme mutant possibilities...
@DJKajuru, right on.
I think that Mystique would have some kind of access to shapechanging, but that her primary abilities would be Illusion and Alteration. Disguises of any kind have no in-practice use in D&D, unless you might use mirror image, invisibility, and the like as simulations.
Polymorph spells in D&D do in fact give extra abilities, and Mystique doesn't actually get any of that. Her only true power in X-men is her own martial ability and probably at least somewhat enhanced physical strength, plus the power of mistaken identity.
In our world, the power of mistaken identity is significant. In the D&D world, not so much. So, powers like project image and simulacrum might be more appropriate for Mystique.
Also, spells like charm person, friends, dire charm, confusion, chaos, and dominate would be good simulations (you do everything in your power to help her, since she has appeared to you as your best friend or ally.)
I vote for some kind of multi- or dual- class fighter (or rogue)/mage build.
EDIT: Corrected "marital" to "martial". LOL. I meant that Mystique has advanced martial ability for fighting, not that she has "marital" ability, but maybe she would have that, too, if Magneto were to propose.
@belgarathmth the more I think about it, the more I agree. I always thought Mystique's ability was organic, not just an illusion, so alteration school instead of illusion made sense in my head:-)
shut up and take my money!
I was surprised to find a wraith on the map, long long ago I've edited many areas myself with dltcep, and apparently I've added a wraith spawn on night time on this basilisk map, but have totally forgotten about it! Lol. Tough it lvl drained my fighter it gave additional 2k xp on kill, cool! (I've added restoration to the temple healing options in big temples like Song of the Morning)
Anyway, my new spell picks:
Protection from evil-meh. Can be very useful if Neera summons a demon, especially since I tend to favour minimal reload approach.
Larloch's minor drain-a new mutation that allows my sorc to drain the life force of his enemies. Can be used to heal his wounds, too.
Knock-So my mutie learned to use his mind powers to open intircate locks, kinda cool and nice to have since I plan to dual Imoen and this can be useful during awkvard mage only levels.
Ray of Enfeeblement-never used this spell before, although the duration is kinda a let down, it can be useful, since a sorc can cast so many of them. With Jaheira's doom spell, this can severely cripple tough foes with high str. Ogres and ogre berserkers may not be as tough when crippled with this spell. Also if an enemy wearing plate mail or other heavy armor is hit with the ray, he will be at severe disadvantage, all of a sudden he won't be able to carry his armor and walk fast.
Question:since I play scs, fighter enemies gulp str potions. Can I reduce their buffed up str scores with the ray of enfeeblement? A great counter for them, then. When the spell duration ends, will they revert back to original str or potion-based high str? Hmm..time for more experiments!
Lvl 6 needs a lot more xp, I really wonder what 3rd lvl spell my sorc will get. Vampiric touch/dire charm/hold person/slow would be great, concept wise, they will be upgrades to his existing abilities, kinda. Although I would LOVE if he could get some more damaging spells like MMMs or fireball, too! Fun!
EDIT: Oh, btw, about Wolverine, I often imagine healing spells cast on self in the game to be the best simulation of Wolverine's ability to self-generate. So, you could make divine casting part of his build, but you'd need to self-restrict that he can only memorize healing spells, and he can only cast them on himself. I guess there are a few of the non-healing ones that duplicate his powers - DuHM, for one. Remove Fear because nothing scares him. Resist Fire/Cold/Lighning. Fighter/Cleric sounds pretty good for him, except the cleric stuff wouldn't be coming from a god.
I'd just give a monk two rings of gax (eh, they'll fix the bug). Regeneration is pretty useful at that scale.