Beginner's guide to playing a sorcerer
Sorcerers are devastating killers, summoners of demons, animators of the dead, and otherwise generally fun people! If this sort of life sounds appealing, you've come to the right place! If you want to become skilled in these arts, it is not just like flipping open a book and slamming it over the head of your foe. Rather, you can study our arcane arts, study them again, and with enough practice, all these powers can also be yours.
Overview of Sorcery
It must be confessed that sorcerers are grouped as one of the four pure spell-casting classes in Elanthia, although we do not consider these other classes equal to us nor our peers. In strict and boring terms, the class might be described as a unique hybrid of spiritual and elemental magic; but most importantly we are the only ones with knowledge of many arcane secrets and sorcery. While we sorcerers have an array of utility spells and skills we might bother to bless the world with (in cases of utter boredom), we need only lift a finger to slay our enemies in combat, perhaps by slow dismemberment or an instantaneous implosion. In awe of this power, we are outcast as mere necromancers and demon summoners; these accusations are not precisely wrong, although such parlor tricks are more for our entertainment than anything else. So long as being accused of criminality for such sleights of hand does not bother you, read on friend…
What it means to be a sorcerer
Although it isn't too difficult to encapsulate sorcery with some general terminology, these words are lost on those who do not understand their meaning. It should come as no surprise that many of the extant essays in these archives focus specifically on our subtle art. These range from the essays of Lord High Priest Bleeds (his work on True Evil is a modern classic) to the more recent insights of Silvean Rashere. Yet, offering a synopsis of our class to a heathen is not overly complex.
Sorcery is the study of the true essence of the world: its manifestation; its power; its forms. We do not shy in fear from undead beings nor those entities from other planes; we summon them or destroy them at will. Indeed, it would be foolish—if not paramount to utter stupidity—to claim any knowledge of the world without studying such things. In our endeavors, we can find slaves and friend alike (both of which will surely assist us). In consequence of such discoveries, we can thoroughly comprehend nature and employ our knowledge methodically, exploiting its nuances to our own advantage.
While we are pleased with your interest to join our prestigious ranks, we request that you take a little of your precious time to review our simplistic and modest advice concerning our profession.
Character creation and skills
To become a powerful sorcerer, first you need to use your imagination. How do you envision yourself as a sorcerer? In what specific ways are you powerful? Although you are unlikely to admit it in-game, your sorcerer will have weaknesses, too; which ones can you accept or play off best? Below is a guide to this process, with a slight over-emphasis on mechanics while always striving to offer each player their fair range of options.
Racial Selection
Historically in Elanthia, sorcery was largely discovered and developed by the dark elves—specifically the Faendryl—which came to prominence particularly during the Undead War. Mechanically, dark elves have an advantage, as the CS for sorcerous warding spells are influenced by both Aura and Wisdom statistical bonuses, which are the highest for this race. Thus, from both a roleplaying and mechanical perspective, it is not overly surprising that a plurality, if not a majority, of sorcerers are indeed dark elves.
However, there are many other facets to the decision, and it must be stressed that any race can make a good sorcerer. The advantage in CS is an important factor, but certainly not the only one. For example, unlike many forms of attack, CS and maneuver spell power are not penalized for low spirit (although other unrelated penalties still apply); as there are methods to trade spirit for mana, such as the class-specific sacrifice as well as the Sign of Wracking from the Council of Light, races with high spirit regeneration have a different advantage. An important point to note here is that aura bonus and spirit regeneration are anti-correlated racial properties; that is, typically the higher a race's aura bonus, the lower their spirit regeneration (see the image to the right). All other things being equal, it is not possible to have a high bonus to CS and a good spirit regeneration; the exception is forest gnomes, partly from their wisdom bonus (which has no correlation with spirit regeneration).
If a player is more mechanically inclined, the racial selection can be influenced by their respective bonuses, and certainly the statistics should be selected in accordance with the racial selection regardless. It should also be pointed out that races vary in many ways, such as their innate resistance to diseases and poisons, their natural encumbrance, maximum Hitpoints, different innate bonuses to TD, and so on; although these factors are certainly not irrelevant to sorcerers, they should not play a decisive role in character creation.
Below is a table of selected differences resulting from racial selection and possible offsets available to sorcerers.
| Racial bonus | Offset available from sorcery |
| Decay Timer | None. |
| Max Health | Desire not to be hit; high DS from buff spells; typically in stance guarded. Blood Burst (701) and Ensorcell (735). |
| Encumbrance Factor | Knowledge of Phase (704) and possibility to train further in Demonology. |
| Maneuver Bonus | None. |
| Target defense | Access to spiritual, elemental, and sorcerer TD buff spells. Knowledge of Corrupt Essence (703) and Limb Disruption (708). |
| Poison and Disease | Access to Disease Resistance (104), Poison Resistance (105), Undisease (113), and Unpoison (114). |
It is probably most pertinent to select the character's race based more on how the character will be roleplayed than the mechanics. To fully explore all the options here would be an exhaustive exercise, so instead a few superficial examples are offered. Choosing a dark elf will seem most natural and offer you many peers; however, dark elves as a whole are more commonly looked down upon by the broader society (whether for fear, distrust, or historical racism). Supposing one chose an elf instead, it should be pondered why an elf from another clan went about learning or acquiring an interest in the dark arts. Paradis halflings diverged from the other halfling clans specifically from their alliance with the Faendryl in the Undead War and the use of demons; although Icemule Trace, the town they founded, no longer outlaws demons, a compelling backstory may be elusive for such a case. A player may find some insight into choosing a suitable sorcerous persona of a given race by investigating the different cultures of races that interest him/her; however, since cultural selection has very few mechanical influences and is difficult to undo, actual setting of the culture is best left to a later date.
In summary, players should feel unrestricted in the racial selection of their sorcerer. Starting to build a general picture of your character in your mind will surely assist in some of the required decision-making processes at the beginning. Still, it is important to keep an open mind so that you can learn more about your character as you explore and interact with the world, because some of the most rewarding experiences are the ones which were not foreseen at the outset.
Statistics
There is a general guide on statistics for new players which is worth reading for its general points. Here the focus will naturally be the points of particular interest to sorcery.
Basic overview of statistics for sorcerers
Aura and Wisdom are the prime stats for sorcerers; although for some classes the prime stats are not always of the utmost important, these two statistics are extremely important for any sorcerer. One facet of their property as prime stats is that they are automatically added +10 each during stat assignment. They will also determine the base value for your starting mana, which is required to cast any spells—most of what a sorcerer can do! Aura is the stat important for elemental spheres of magic, and Wisdom the one for spiritual spheres of magic. Thus, the sorcerer's Casting strength for the sorcerer base circle takes the averaged bonus from these two stats. Their CS for spiritual spells is only determined by Wisdom bonus, where as the CS for elemental spells is only determined by Aura bonus; however, sorcerers do not learn many of these spells, and most of them are not nearly as powerful as what's available in the sorcerer base circle. A character's aura stat also determines how many spirit points they will have, which can be important depending on the society which is chosen (see below). Finally, these prime statistics are doubled in the calculation of Training points. Of course, because these are prime stats, it also means they have a high growth rate, thus it is possible to initially place these stats to lower values as they will increase rather quickly over time. However, setting these stats to lower values will also inhibit the character earlier in their career in terms of their training points and also CS; for a new player, it is probably a good idea to set these near their maximum of 100 (a setting of 90 before the +10).
Logic and Discipline are both important for their contribution to training points and how the affect a character's experience pool size and absorption rate.
Although Influence and Intuition are both mental stats, and thus contribute to a sorcerer's mental training points, they are otherwise not very important. Mid-range numbers can be comfortably set here, with favor to Intuition due to its boons for Magic Item Use, Arcane Symbols, Ensorcell (735) and Illusions.
The physical statistics, Constitution, Agility, Strength, and Dexterity generally play a lesser role for sorcerers. Their influence to training points is mostly irrelevant, because as discussed below in the Skills section, sorcerers will be converting most of their physical training points to mental training points. Agility contributes its bonus to the character's physical DS; even though sorcerers won't be planning to make many melee attacks, they can still expect to be attacked quite often, and sorcerers tend to survive by not being hit. Dexterity also contributes its bonus to a character's bolt AS, which while not the primary mode of attack for sorcery is a good supplemental offensive method; thus Dexterity should not usually be set too low. Strength and Constitution mainly affect a sorcerer's encumbrance, which while not critical is still useful; smaller races like halflings and gnomes are usually advised to set a high Strength stat because the growth rate is so poor they will almost never increase over time. Constitution also affects a character's starting and maximum Hitpoints, but sorcerers mostly survive by not being hit. Most of the physical stats can be set at low to mid-range values as long as the sorcerer is not optimizing for growth.
Setting the statistics
Obviously, a character cannot have perfect stats in everything at the outset. The racial selection has almost as much importance as the class selection of sorcerer for how to precisely set the stats. In particular, only race influences the statistical bonuses. All other things being equal, when a race's bonus is lower, it is more important to place a higher statistical value, and vice versa. Of course, if one selected a dark elf to maximize CS, perhaps the character should also have high Wisdom and Aura stats to not immediately negate this advantage.
Growth
(I don't want to say too much here, but it's probably a good idea to basically introduce the subject. We should probably fill out the table including racial modifiers on the main sorcerer page, too!)
Skill Selection
The selection of skills will vary somewhat by the type of path preferred by the player. Although it is possible to create a sorcerer that does not primarily rely on magic for their offensive capabilities, this is certainly not a typical approach to the profession, and its discussion will be left for more specific guides on mutant builds. As such, it is generally assumed that the sorcerer will use a runestaff along with spells for their defenses, and various spells for their offensive capabilities. For proficient runestaff use, a character should have a training including at least 8 Magical Skills per level. It is also typical that a sorcerer will quickly begin converting physical to mental Training points, so do not worry about this inevitability. When discussing the cost of skills (both in this article and in general), the values are quoted as the Physical/Mental training points required at each level this skill is trained—a reflection of the in-game and web-browser training systems.
Core Skills
Below are the core skills for any standard sorcerer (trained on a per-level basis):
| # | Cost | Skill | Reasoning |
| 1x | 8/0 | Physical Fitness | Necessary to firstly attain full Hitpoints and then as one of the few defenses available to sorcerers against maneuver attacks. |
| 2x | 0/24 | Spell Research | Learning new spells, increasing CS, and various increases to spells, such as AS, DS, TD, and general power. |
| 1x | 0/4 | Harness Power | Required to gain mana. This should normally be at exactly the character's level, then giving 3 mana per rank. |
| 1x | 0/2 | Arcane Symbols | A cheap magical skill, particularly useful with Scroll Infusion (714) to charge up unlocked scrolls. |
| 1x | 0/2 | Magic Item Use | A cheap magical skill, useful for using wands at low level among other uses, and useful with Scroll Infusion (714) to unlock unused scrolls for charging. |
| 1x | 0/3 | Elemental Mana Control | A cheap magical skill, giving benefits to a number of sorcerer spells, sharing mana, and access to mana spellup and mana pulse. It impacts the amount of mana needed to infuse scrolls and the ease animating the dead. |
| 1x | 0/3 | Spiritual Mana Control | Ibid |
| 8/38 | Total |
Note that only 7 magical skills per level are included here, but that the total number of training points allocated is not exhaustive.
Threshold Skills
Some skills only need to be trained to achieve a certain threshold. Although in certain cases the thresholds may slowly increase with time, these are anyway basic skill levels that should be attained by every sorcerer.
| # | Cost | Skill | Reasoning |
| 0, 4 or 8 | 15/0 | Armor Use | No training to wear robes, 4 ranks for full leathers, or 8 ranks for double leathers (2% spell hindrance) . |
| 0-3 | 15/10 | Multi-Opponent Combat | Several ranks goes a long way for some crowd control spells. Also an ideal use for Adventurers Guild badges. |
| 10+ | 4/0 | Climbing | To get around the environs up to level 20-30. May depend on region. |
| 5+ | 3/0 | Swimming | To get around the environs up to level 20-30. May depend on region. |
| 10 | 0/3 | Perception | To get around the environs up to level 20-30. May depend on region. |
Additional training
The way to use the rest of the points will depend on the player.
| # | Cost | Skill | Reasoning |
| 2.5-3x | 0/32 | Spell Research | To increase Sorcerer Base CS, or learn more Minor Spiritual and/or Minor Elemental spells. |
| 2x | 9/3 | Spell Aiming | An "all or nothing" skill. Bolting (Fire Spirit (111), Web (118), Balefire (713)), Limb Disruption (708), Energy Maelstrom (710), Implosion (720). Cheap magical skill. |
| 1x | 0/3 | Perception | Creature maneuver defense, Illusions, Foraging, Popping boxes. |
| 1-2x | 0/6+ | Sorcerous Lore | 1 rank of Sorcerous Lore, Necromancy to unlock Blood Burst. Various benefits to sorcerer spells. |
| 2x | 0/4 | Arcane Symbols | Longer duration for buff spells from scroll invokes. Greater ease in unlocking scrolls with Infusion. Cheap magical skill. |
| 10-40 | 0/7 | Elemental Lore | Up to 10 ranks of each lore for Dark Catalyst (719) |
| 20+ | 0/7 | Summoning | Minor benefits early on to Curse (715). Unlock the bolt for Web. Increase targets and DF for Fire Spirit. Locate Person (116) benefits. |
Playing a sorcerer
Sorcery is unusual compared to other branches of magic in that it is laden with historical significance. There are "forbidden" magics in the various cultures of Elanthia, with much of sorcery regarded as "the dark arts." House Faendryl was exiled from the Elven Empire for summoning demons and imploding the fortress of Despana. Halflings learned magic from an Illistim elf who was exiled for dark magic, and not long after lost all of their ponies to the Ardenai sorcerers. The Human Turamzzyrian Empire banned magic of "sorcerous" nature, and built the Demonwall to keep out "black elven wizardry." Necromancers often invoke the wrath of religious authorities. These things are largely the province of disdained races, or restricted within certain contexts such as the military.
In other words, much of sorcery has a tenuous relationship with civilization, with some aspects more tolerated than others. Most towns will treat a demon in their jurisdiction, from casting Minor Summoning (725), as a crime which will get you arrested. Sorcerer Guild buildings are often located outside of towns for good reason. Nevertheless, it is up to you to abide by the laws of the lands, and show that their prejudices are hollow superstitions. Most sorcerers do not regard themselves as "evil", instead thinking of others as weak minded.
Many sorcerers have "dark" personalities, which is not surprising, given the cruelty of our spells. Others might have dubious sanity. However, this is not a license for wanton violence, which will quickly backfire on you. Sorcerers are often arrogant or intolerant, and will not look kindly on having their art abused. This is especially true given the history of power downtweaks of our spells due to abusers that are vividly remembered by older players. It is important to know how to properly use your magic, especially area of effect spells that can unintentionally kill other adventurers. These include the spells Energy Maelstrom (710), Implosion (720), and Evil Eye (717) when used with Eye Spy (707). You should avoid using the area wide versions of these spells in hunting grounds where other people are present, and not at all if you do not know how to end them early.
See Also
- Sorcerer (main article)
- New Players' Guide (a comprehensive beginner's guide for new players of any profession)
- Sorcerer Guild
- Whirlin's Sorcerer Guide
- Goat's Mutant Sorcerer Guide
- The Art of Roleplaying in GemStone IV (guide)
- Player Guide Contest
References
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