Sorcerer for First Baldur's Gate

RobertMcDuck

Hello again.

I've never really tried out sorcerer for the first baldur's gate, and I wanted to do a playthrough with a good aligned party. Sorcerer is one of my favorit classes in Baldur's Gate II, I know they are powerful and all, but they have a very slow spell progression. Is a sorcerer a good choice for the first baldur's gate? Really don't want to start a game, then restart because of the bad class choice if it would turn out that sorcerer won't be effective.

EDIT: Also, what is the level cap of a sorcerer?

SionIV

1.) They do get new spell levels one level later than the mage, but it is only a one level difference. A mage learn level 2 spells at level 3, a Sorcerer will learn them at level 4. They are always one level behind, which doesn't make a huge difference. The cap in BG:EE is 160 000 experience, so you can reach level 10. The mage gets his level 5 spells at level 9, the Sorcerer at level 10, so you'll still be able to get the same level of spells as the mage.

2.) The Sorcerer have more spells than the mage, which makes up for the higher level needed to learn a new level of spells.

3.) They are very Powerful in Baldur's Gate, because you'll be able to pick spells that are hard to find normally, or spells that you first find later on in the game.

4.) Sorcerer is not a bad class choice. The thing with the Sorcerer is that depending on your knowledge and the spells you pick, he is either mediocre, or very powerful.

5.) You'll want to find a topic on what spells to pick, if you're not experienced with Arcane Casters, so you don't end up regretting certain choices. Some spells are very powerful early on in the game, but not really worth it in BG2:EE. So you have to ask yourself if it's worth making BG:EE easier, when you pick a spell that won't be useful in BG2:EE. A good example of this is the Sleep spell, which is the most powerful Arcane Spell in BG:EE, but the enemy is too high level in BG2:EE for it to be useful.

6.) The Sorcerer use the same progression table as the mage.

http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php/Baldur's_Gate:_Progression_Charts

RobertMcDuck

Haha, I've played this game for very long, I know exactly how to play my sorcerer I just wanted to see if the sorcerer will be a good choice, thank you for the info, much appreciated indeed!

SionIV

RobertMcDuck said:

Haha, I've played this game for very long, I know exactly how to play my sorcerer I just wanted to see if the sorcerer will be a good choice, thank you for the info, much appreciated indeed!

The Sorcerer is the strongest caster in BG:EE.

RobertMcDuck

Reading on the experience tables (for some reason the playithardcore page won't load) it says that level 10 requires 250,000 Exp, and level 9 requires 135,000 exp. Is this correct?

SionIV

RobertMcDuck said:

Reading on the experience tables (for some reason the playithardcore page won't load) it says that level 10 requires 250,000 Exp, and level 9 requires 135,000 exp. Is this correct?

You are correct, I must have been really tired to miss that. Only Rogues, Bards and Druids get to level 10 in BG:EE. The Mage/Sorcerer only get to level 9, so the Sorcerer won't be able to learn level 5 spells. It isn't that much of a loss, as the most important spells for you will be on level 2, 3 and 4.

RobertMcDuck

Yea I always remember that I couldn't cast level 5 spells, but that's about it. However, will I get 1 or 2 spell choices for level 4?

SionIV

RobertMcDuck said:

Yea I always remember that I couldn't cast level 5 spells, but that's about it. However, will I get 1 or 2 spell choices for level 4?

According to Playithardcore, you'll get the following :

Level 1 - 6/5
Level 2 - 6/4
Level 3 - 6/3
Level 4 - 4/2

So you'll have 2 spell choices for level 4.

RobertMcDuck

Sounds manageable! Thanks for all the help!

SionIV

RobertMcDuck said:

Sounds manageable! Thanks for all the help!

It's part of what makes this forum so good, people are always up for helping out.

Gallowglass

Yeah, go for it, @RobertMcDuck.

I've done a full-saga run with a Good-aligned Sorcerer, and she was a powerhouse in BG1ee almost as much as in BG2ee. Just a matter of picking good spell choices.

I don't recommend Sorcerer to beginners because getting the spell selection wrong is irremediable, but you're not remotely a beginner and presumably know what early spells are still useful later.

Archaos

The Sorcerer is probably the best class in the game.
No need for scrolls, no need for memorization, no need for high INT (or CHA as in 3E).

The only real downside (except the -1 spell progression) is that when you pick spells, that's it.

Not recommended for beginners. But if you know what you're doing, you're a mobile nuker.

RobertMcDuck

Yes, I've solod entire Baldur's Gate 2 with a sorcerer, so I know what I'm doing hehe I also solod the Black pits for Baldur's Gate 2 with it, helluva challenge though!