Sorcerer versus Wild Mage: which is most fun?
Thrasymachus
Member Posts: 903
Which class do you think is more fun, the sorcerer or wild mage? And why?
I find these two classes to be the most appealing for single-class arcane casters (though I'm also fond of illusionists and dragon disciples).
The sorcerer has the convenience of being able to cast anything he knows without preparation, and can cast many spells per day. However, he can only know a limited number of spells (though items and scrolls can compensate partially for that).
The wild mage gets the extra spell/day of a specialist mage but with no restricted school, and so can learn every spell there is, and cast those spells pretty frequently. Wild surges generally seem fun ... except when they get you killed (which, admittedly, is rare). A bit of unpredictability can be fun! (Especially the fifth time one wanders out of Candlekeep...)
Thoughts?
I find these two classes to be the most appealing for single-class arcane casters (though I'm also fond of illusionists and dragon disciples).
The sorcerer has the convenience of being able to cast anything he knows without preparation, and can cast many spells per day. However, he can only know a limited number of spells (though items and scrolls can compensate partially for that).
The wild mage gets the extra spell/day of a specialist mage but with no restricted school, and so can learn every spell there is, and cast those spells pretty frequently. Wild surges generally seem fun ... except when they get you killed (which, admittedly, is rare). A bit of unpredictability can be fun! (Especially the fifth time one wanders out of Candlekeep...)
Thoughts?
1
Comments
Wild mages remove an element of control, that keeps every play-through interesting, no matter how much meta-knowledge you have. Control freaks probably won't enjoy it (same people who constantly oppose efforts to having a PnP accurate Berserker implemented), and power-gamers won't because by definition, they are also control-freaks.
The Wild mage exists for people who just want to have fun with the game, because short of constantly reloading, it CANNOT be power-gamed.
Nothing is more fun than having a cow falling down from the sky to save you against the big bad wolf.
if fun by power sorc
It could be pointed out though that control freaks or power gamers or whatever else they might be called in all likelihood have as much fun with their setups as the people who laugh while reloading after summoning a pit fiend.
Sorcerer lags pretty behind when compared, until you hit lvl 4 you still have only a few lvl 1 spells you can cast over and over. But you can make a sorcerer fun with a concept:like a fire sorcerer, or enchanter sorcerer, etc. Or you can go random sorcerer:you roll dice to pick spells at lvl ups. You roll d20 and get 7, you pick the 7th spell in the list:this will force you to get creative with some spells and can be fun and challenging. Here's a thread I made about my sorcerer: (sadly, he died in a battle after he had lvl 3 spells)
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/19254/mutant-sorcerer/p1
Sorceres are more "realiable" than the Wild Mage, but in the end not as versatile as a mage, if you have a good enough selection of spells, you can prepare your mage for every fight, Sorcerers don't really gain enough spells for that, I suppose how fun a sorcerer is depends on the rest of the party, they might just end up throwing buffs around if your party relies on fighters more or you can end up just throwing death everywhere if the sorcerer is the person dealing out the damage.
There's lots of factors making either one annoying or fun...
This also leaves open the option that wild mage can level faster than a sorc due to spell scribing, gain the normal wizard's variety of spells as well as the bonus spell slots of being a specialist.
(If you modify dual restrictions or shadowkeeper) Last but not least you can also dual class from the wild mage for fun options in BGEE with no loss of real power, and in BG2 are still able to cast higher level spells even as a weaker dual class.
I'm not a 'power gamer' myself (I like avengers and blades), but I do like classes are at least competent (hence I'm no fan of wizard slayers, shape shifters, or beast masters).
On the strength of that, I think that Wild Mages are hands down the most fun as they have that random element that can end up in dropping a Cow on your enemy (or yourself). There is endless fun that can be had with wild surges or attempting to cast spells well above your ability and accidentally summoning Demons. It would seem to me hands down that Wild mages are more fun because of that alone.
Sorcerers on the other hand are simply wizards with more uses of spells and fewer spells to choose from. I don't see much that is more 'Fun' about a Sorcerer than a wizard unless you are power gaming (though I could be wrong on that front). They both seem 'fun' to me. but neither has the hilarity of the wild surges which would be the 'Fun' part to me.
It's worth noting I also played with not one but TWO wild mages in my party for a bit (charname and Neera) and that gets to be a bit much. Having them both get "roll four more times and take all effects" at the same time... well... suffice to say things didn't end well for anyone within half a mile.
That aside, everything else you said sounds right to me.
I bet many people here that talk about Sorcerer, lack of fun and powergaming have no clue of what it means to play a no-reload playthrough (not to talk about a solo, Insane, with mods to increase the difficulty, etc).
Just with that you will have PLENTY of unpredictable stuff to deal with.
Wild Mages are for people that don't care to reload, so yeah... That's easier than any Sorcerer no-reload run.
And no, in my point of view, not more funny.
A better and more thorough analysis can be read here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/258273-baldurs-gate-ii-shadows-of-amn/56397083. Be a powergamer, a winner, a cheese-lord right now! Delete your sorcerer and start a wild mage! Hell, through the Dewomers you can cast scribed spells that are normally unusuable at your lower than required level, like summoning the air elemental in irenicus dungeon!
Were this PnP, it would be a much tougher choice to be a sorcerer or not, since then you'd have a literally nearly limitless supply of spells/effects to choose from, while a sorcerer is stuck with but a handful of important effects (and 1 of their 1st level spells MUST be read magic, or they can never cast spells using scrolls, removing one of their back-up options, should they run out of daily slots.).
I personally find the Wild mage the most fun, simply because it removes an element of control that keeps every playthrough different. Where as the sorcerer only has 1 real spell build, unless you're RPing and focusing around particular types of spells, instead of covering your all your bases.