Help me make the worst possible Sorcerer build
joluv
Member Posts: 2,137
I know there have been plenty of threads about optimizing spell choices for Sorcerers, but what would be the worst possible spell list (for you)? I know my first pick would be Infravision, but I don't even know what my second pick would be. I want to hold off on Find Familiar until after I've fought Nimbul. While it's tempting to adopt the greedy strategy of just picking the most useless spell available whenever I get the chance, I think it's important to plan this out properly. I want to make sure that my spells are not just junk but redundant junk
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@kcwise I think the Ring of Folly Feebleminds you. That would certainly make for a useless sorcerer, but it wouldn't make for a very satisfying gameplay experience.
Level 1
-Infravison
-Protection from Petrification (maybe 5 times this will be useful)
-Grease (not utterly useless, but with a pathetic save modifier, and party unfriendly)
-Find Familiar (only need to cast it twice in the whole series)
-Sleep (talk it as your last 1st level pick - you'll be level 7 and any tough enemy will be immune by then)
Level 2
-Detect Evil
-Know Alignment
-Vocalise (so you can always get off an Infravision when you really need it)
-Knock (thief's job)
-Resist Fear (cleric's job)
Level 3
-Clairvoyance (I actually like this one, but you only need it once per map - not 6 potential castings per rest)
-Protection from Fire (there are soon many other ways to get better resistence)
-Protection from Cold (as above, but with even fewer enemies that make it necessary)
-Strength (potions everywhere)
-Hold Undead (most tough undead will save)
Level 4
-Remove Curse
-Farsight (thief's job)
-Wizard Eye (thief's job)
-Monster Summoning (40% chance of getting not just one, but TWO 4HD monsters!!)
-Enchanted Weapon (this can be a handy spell - but if its your last pick, you be level 23 and covered in +3 hitting' sticks)
Level 5
-Protection From Acid
-Protection From Electricity
-Phantom Blade (because your 1APR primary spell caster should absolutely be wading into combat!)
-Animate Dead (cleric's job)
-Conjure Lesser (any) Elemental (druid's job)
Level 6
-Conjure (any) Elemental (make sure it's the exact same element as at level 5)
-Stone to Flesh
-Carrion Summons
-Call Wyvern (the key is to cram in as many mediocre summons as possible)
-Disintegrate (love destroying loot)
Level 7
-Protection from the Elements (because you can't be bothered to click the four spells you already payed for)
-Summon Djinni
-Summon Efreeti (summon cap, shmummon cap)
-Limited Wish (if Wisdom is low)
-Mantle (not useless at all, unless you also take...)
Level 8
-Improved Mantle (... This! Because duplication is the bomb.)
It gets tough now as most spells are fairly boss, but maybe...
-Symbol, Death
-Symbol, Fear
-Protection from Energy (nicely compliments the 47 protection spells you already have)
-Maze (so you can forget about that nasty vampire until you decide to rest)
Level 9
-Absolute Immunity (collect the whole set!)
-Freedom (You will probably get chance to cast it... once or twice)
-Power Word: Kill (because you were really worried about that guy with the 59HP)
-Energy Drain (seriously... what the hell is this doing in 9th level?)
-Imprisonment (ok, so its a deadly spell, but no loots for you)
Also, if you can, leave a text message instead.
I was kind of thinking of solo, though. If I put a deliberately useless character in a group, he would just get... deliberately used less. One possibility for a solo run would be avoiding any spell that can do damage.
Just rolled a ToB sorcerer with pick for me. Spells are:
L1
Armour
Chromatic Orb
Colour Spray
Identify
Magic Missile
L2
Agannazar's Scorcher
Blur
Melf's Acid Arrow
Mirror Image
Power Word: Sleep
L3
Fireball
Haste
Lightning Bolt
Remove Magic
L4
Confusion
Improved Invisibility
Spider Spawn
Stoneskin
L5
Breach
Domination
Monster Summoning III
Shadow Door
L6
Chain Lightning
Pierce Magic
True Sight
L7
Prismatic Spray
Spell Sequencer
L8
Improved Mantle
Actually... not that bad.
I like the idea above that the traditionally abusable sequencers etc. are useless if there are no abusable spells you can put in there, so let's try to make that work. Likewise, with high stats, we can't lean on bad wishes to screw up for us, we just need really bad spells. So...
(one strategy I rejected was getting lots of spell-removal and save-reduction, as we have no/few offensive spells, but that might re-inforce wand usage, which is likely how we do most damage)
Level 1
1 Infravision (a given)
2 Identify (only saves money)
3 Chill touch (must enter melee to do poor damage)
4 Find familiar (5th level now, so extra hp less useful, and familiar vulnerable)
5 Friends (we have such a high charisma, this will do little)
Level 2
1 Strength (we already have more than this will give)
2 Know alignment
3 Detect evil
4 Vocalize (if everything we learn is useless...)
5 Invisibility (contentious, but will duplicate a lot)
Level 3
1 Non-detection
2 Clairvoyance
3 Detect Illusion (can be useful, but will duplicate at higher levels)
4 Invisibility 10' Radius (without a party)
5 Hold Undead (may be useful!)
Level 4
1 Remove Curse (generally, need can be avoided)
2 Minor Sequencer
3 Improved invisibility
4 Farsight (can already scout invisible)
5 Enchanted Weapon (level 23, we should be past this by now - and melee again?)
Level 5
1 Oracle
2 Shadow door (gain invisibility effect at levels 2/3/4/5 simultaneously)
3 Protection from electricity (duplicated by enough items and potions, rarely needed)
4 Phantom blade
5 Protection from normal weapons (we made it to level 28, what normal weapons?!)
Level 6
1 Contingency
2 Stone to flesh (playing solo, dead before I can use it on myself)
3 True Sight (we already have the effect)
4 Mislead (enough invisibility already, but bonus image may be useful)
5 protection from magical weapons (4 rounds only, at level 30)
Level 7
1 Mass Invisibility
2 Spell Sequencer
3 Project Image (very limited use with poor spell list)
4 Control Undead (unlikely to affect any useful undead at this level)
5 Mantle (only 4 rounds)
Level 8
1 Spell trigger
2 Symbol: Fear (run away! so scary!)
3 Maze (touch spell, and they are coming back)
4 Improved mantle (4 rounds)
Level 9 (help, they are all good, never mind HLA spells taking these slots)
1 Freedom (cannot cast on self)
2 Chain Contingency
3 Energy Drain
4 Gate (it's a laugh, we don't have protection from evil, and somehow made level 25)
The heavily-redundant spells here are invisibility and detect-invisibility effects, and some defensive mantles that mostly have a very short duration. This does not look a lot of fun to play - especially if the PC stats are NOT the all 18s I predicted
-Replace Farsight with Spirit Armor, since Farsight lets you rely entirely on summons (the wand is a good example) for certain battles
-Make Enchanted Weapon your first 4th level pick, since you can't use any of the weapons, nor can you sell them
-Replace PFMW with Flesh to Stone, as PFMW is useful late game, and Flesh to Stone is not
-Replace Maze with Symbol: Death, as the former is more likely to remove an enemy from the battle
-Replace Gate with Power Word: Kill, because of the HP requirement
Also, unless we have a ban on clones using items (some consider it an exploit/cheesy/cheating/cheap, though I don't), then we need to get rid of Project Image and replace it with Sphere of Chaos, since clones can use Protection from Magic and Protection from Undead scrolls, plus lesser things like the Ring of the Ram, Horn of Blasting, and Efreeti Bottle. In fact, a Lawful Neutral sorcerer's ferret familiar can smuggle the Rift Device out of the Temple Sewers, and Project Image will let a sorcerer use the Rift Device SIX times per day without using scrolls, or even more, if we have the Ring of Wizardry, Circlet of Netheril, and/or the extra 7th-level spell HLA.
I would foresee relying heavily on wands and low-level scrolls until the sorcerer access to the 9th-level mage HLAs, namely, Dragon's Breath and Summon Planetar. After that, Charname would probably hoard the higher-level scrolls for the late-game fights.
Similarly, I preferred pfmw, together with all the mantles, over Flesh to Stone as, at best, it was a delaying tactic against the inevitable, and had a poor duration. Flesh to Stone will steal our loot if used on the wrong enemy, but again will actually kill things and score xp.
I could buy into the rest
Check *this* out:
1st
1-Reflect Image (only one image, not worth it against mobs)
2-Infravision
3-Chill touch (touch spell)
4-Grease (useless on its own)
5-Shocking grasp (touch spell)
2nd
1- detect evil (as if you didn't know who was already evil)
2-know aligment (if only it changed dialogue options...)
3-vocalize (it ain't bad, but you'll use two or three times throughout the whole game and its sequel)
4-ghoul touch (touch spell)
5-knock (take it as your last choice)
3rd
1-non-detection (you won't use it in BG, and it won't protect you from True sight in BG2)
2-Protection from cold (how many winter wolf combats are there in the game?three?)
3-clairvoyance (it is cool, but won't work indoors and an invisible thief can do the same)
4-spell thrust (unless you got SCS, it'll be useless in BG1)
5- (the other spells are actually good in their own way =D)
4th
1- Otyluke's sphere (it is tacticaly useful, but only against potential threats.)
2-Remove curse (Maybe you could try removing Irenicus' curse with that...)
3-contagion ( allows a saving throw, effects aren't good enough)
4- minor sequencer (with your lousy spell selection, it won't be much of a boost...)
5-teleport field (it helps you defensively, but you don't have the spells to back it up offensively)
5th
1-oracle (it won't stop dispel 6th level spells, such as project image, mislead etc)
2-protection from acid (it will help you at certain battles, but they're very few ones)
3-spell shield (it could have been useful if you had any protections...)
4-protection from electricity (it has its uses, seems like you'll be running out of useless spells as you progress)
5- phantom blade (good luck fighting a skeleton warrior in close combat)
If you've managed to survive soloing with those spells, then you deserve a prize!
Teleport Field is crazy. It completely wrecks the enemy's targeting and dramatically reduces their ability to hit you. It can even clear up mobs, open up pathways through tight areas that you'd otherwise have to fight through, or teleport an enemy into another room, or behind a wall. You can expect it to cut enemy melee attacks by 50%, and it prevents you from getting boxed in. That's nothing to sneeze at.
Oracle will reveal thieves. That prevents you from getting backstabbed. And not many enemies rely much on Mislead anyway, and I don't believe there's a single instance of a mage using Project Image in vanilla BG2.
Spell Shield blocks anti-magic rays and dragon spells. In SCS2, mages love Breach, and Spell Shield blocks it.