A beginner's guide to playing a sorcerer
Sorcerers are one of the four pure spell-casting classes in GemStone. The class is a hybrid of spiritual and elemental magic, and the only one with access to the Sorcerer Base circle. While sorcerers have an array of utility spells and skills, they mainly focus on slaying their enemies in combat, most often via warding spells, although a few maneuver spells and bolt spells are also available. Thematically, much of sorcery is tied in with necromancy and demonology.
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. 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.
It is probably most pertinent to select the character's race based more on how the character will be roleplayed than the mechanics. However, the racial selection can be influenced by their respective bonuses, and certainly the statistics should be selected in accordance with the racial selection.
Statistics
There is a general guide on statistics for new players which is worth reading for the general points. However, more can be stated as is particular to sorcery.
(Hold over note from previous section: Although sorcerers pale in comparison to wizards in their ability to cast bolt spells, they are reasonably as good at hurling bolts as the other pure classes. As bolt AS is affected by Dexterity, this can also play a small, but not irrelevant role, in racial selection.)
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
- The Art of Roleplaying in GemStone IV (guide)
- Player Guide Contest
References
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