Sorcerer

Sorcerers create magic the way a poet creates poems, with inborn talent honed by practice. They have no books, no mentors, no theories—just raw power that they direct at will. Some sorcerers claim that the blood of dragons courses through their veins. That claim may even be true in some cases—it is common knowledge that certain powerful dragons can take humanoid form and even have humanoid lovers, and it’s difficult to prove that a given sorcerer does not have a dragon ancestor. It’s true that sorcerers often have striking good looks, usually with a touch of the exotic that hints at an unusual heritage. Others hold that the claim is either an unsubstantiated boast on the part of certain sorcerers or envious gossip on the part of those who lack the sorcerer’s gift. 

Homeland: Because of the rumors of a draconic heritage, many sorcerers come from the land of dragons - Tez. Many magic users flock to this kingdom because the god Tirek, who was known for his spellcasting, made his home there before disappearing. Other kingdoms to find sorcerers are Arcoti and Teikoku for these kingdoms’ magical universities and guilds.

Adventures: The typical sorcerer adventures in order to improve his abilities. Only by testing his limits can he expand them. A sorcerer’s power is inborn — part of his soul. Developing this power is a quest in itself for many sorcerers, regardless of how they wish to use their power. Some good sorcerers are driven by the need to prove themselves. Marked as different by their power, they seek to win a place in society and to prove themselves to others. Evil sorcerers, however, also feel themselves set apart from others — apart and above. They adventure to gain power over those they look down upon.

Characteristics: Sorcerers cast spells through innate power rather than through careful training and study. Their magic is intuitive rather than logical. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire powerful spells more slowly than wizards, but they can cast spells more often and have no need to select and prepare their spells ahead of time. Sorcerers do not specialize in certain schools of magic the way wizards sometimes do. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they don’t have the background of arcane knowledge that most wizards have. However, they do have more time to learn fighting skills, and they are proficient with simple weapons. 

Alignment: For a sorcerer, magic is an intuitive art, not a science. Sorcery favors the free, chaotic, creative spirit over the disciplined mind, so sorcerers tend slightly toward chaos over law. 

Background: Sorcerers develop rudimentary powers at puberty. Their first spells are incomplete, spontaneous, uncontrolled, and sometimes dangerous. A household with a budding sorcerer in it may be troubled by strange sounds or lights, which can create the impression that the place is haunted. Eventually, the young sorcerer understands the power that he has been wielding unintentionally. From that point on, he can begin practicing and improving his powers. Sometimes a sorcerer is fortunate enough to come under the care of an older, more experienced sorcerer, someone who can help him understand and use his new powers. More often, however, sorcerers are on their own, feared by erstwhile friends and misunderstood by family. Sorcerers have no sense of identity as a group. Unlike wizards, they gain little by sharing their knowledge and have no strong incentive to work together. 

Other Classes: Sorcerers find that they have the most in common with members of other largely self-taught classes, such as druids and rogues. They sometimes find themselves at odds with members of the more disciplined classes, such as paladins and monks. Since they cast the same spells as wizards but do so in a different way, they sometimes find themselves in competition with wizards. 

Role: A sorcerer tends to define his role based on his spell selection. A sorcerer who focuses on damage-dealing spells becomes a center of the party’s offensive power. Others may rely on more subtle magics, such as charms and illusions, and thus take a quieter role. A party with a sorcerer should strongly consider including a second spellcaster, such as a bard, cleric, druid, or even a wizard, to make up for the sorcerer’s lack of versatility. Since a sorcerer often has a powerful presence that gives him a way with people, he may serve as the “face” for an adventuring party, negotiating, bargaining, and speaking for others. The sorcerer’s spells often help him sway others or gain information, so he makes an excellent spy or diplomat for an adventuring party. 

Abilities: Charisma determines how powerful a spell a sorcerer can cast, how many spells he can cast per day, and how hard those spells are to resist (see Spells, below). Like a wizard, a sorcerer benefits from high Dexterity and Constitution scores. 

Alignment: Any. 

Hit Die: d4. 

Class Skills: The sorcerer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int). Skills are detailed in your character sheet. 

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4. 

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier. 

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Sorcerers are proficient with all simple weapons. They are not proficient with any type of armor or shield. Armor of any type interferes with a sorcerer’s arcane gestures, which can cause his spells with somatic components to fail. 

Spells: A sorcerer casts arcane spells (the same type of spells available to bards and wizards), which are drawn primarily from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, the way a wizard or a cleric must (see below). To learn or cast a spell, a sorcerer must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Cha 10 for 0-level spells, Cha 11 for 1st-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a sorcerer’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the sorcerer’s Charisma modifier. Like other spellcasters, a sorcerer can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given above. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score. A sorcerer’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A sorcerer begins play knowing four 0-level spells (also called cantrips) and two 1st-level spells of your choice. At each new sorcerer level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on the table above. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a sorcerer knows is not affected by his Charisma score; the numbers on the table are fixed.) These new spells can be common spells chosen from the sorcerer/wizard spell list, or they can be unusual spells that the sorcerer has gained some understanding of by study. For example, a sorcerer with a scroll or spellbook detailing an unusual sorcerer/wizard spell (one not on the sorcerer/wizard spell list) could select that spell as one of his new spells for attaining a new level, provided that it is of the right spell level. The sorcerer can’t use this method of spell acquisition to learn spells at a faster rate, however. Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered sorcerer level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a sorcerer can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the sorcerer “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level sorcerer spell the sorcerer can cast. For instance, upon reaching 4th-level, a sorcerer could trade in a single 0-level spell (two spell levels below the highest-level sorcerer spell he can cast, which is 2nd) for a different 0-level spell. At 6th level, he could trade in a single 0-level or 1st-level spell (since he now can cast 3rd-level sorcerer spells) for a different spell of the same level. A sorcerer may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level. Unlike a wizard or a cleric, a sorcerer need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his spells per day for that spell level. For example, at 1st level, the sorcerer Hennet can cast four 1st-level spells per day—three for being 1st level, plus one thanks to his Charisma score of 15 (see Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells). However, he knows only two 1st-level spells: magic missile and sleep (see Sorcerer Spells Known). Thus, on any given day, he can cast some combination of the two spells a total of four times. He does not have to decide ahead of time which spells he’ll cast.

Arcane spells and armor: Wizards and sorcerers do not know how to wear armor effectively. If desired, they can wear armor anyway (though they’ll be clumsy in it), or they can gain training in the proper use of armor (with the various Armor Proficiency feats—light, medium, and heavy—and the Shield Proficiency feat), or they can multiclass to add a class that grants them armor proficiency (see Multiclass Characters later in this chapter). Even if a wizard or sorcerer is wearing armor with which he or she is proficient, however, it might still interfere with spellcasting. Most characters have a difficult time casting arcane spells while wearing armor or carrying shields (see Arcane Spell Failure). The armor restricts the complicated gestures that a wizard or sorcerer must make while casting any spell that has a somatic component (most do). To find the arcane spell failure chance for a wizard or sorcerer wearing a certain type of armor, see Items. By contrast, bards not only know how to wear light armor effectively, but they can also ignore the arcane spell failure chance for such armor. However, they too wear heavier armor ineffectively and must either learn to wear heavier armor via the appropriate Armor Proficiency feat (medium or heavy) or add a class (such as fighter) that grants them such proficiency as a class feature. A bard wearing armor heavier than light or using any type of shield incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance, even if he becomes proficient with that armor. If a spell doesn’t have a somatic component, an arcane spellcaster can cast it with no problem while wearing armor. Such spells can also be cast even if the caster’s hands are bound or if he or she is grappling (although Concentration checks still apply normally). Also, the metamagic feat Still Spell allows a spellcaster to prepare or cast a spell at one spell level higher than normal without the somatic component. This also provides a way to cast a spell while wearing armor without risking arcane spell failure. See Feats for more about metamagic feats such as Still Spell.

Familiars: Familiars are magically linked to their masters. In some sense, the familiar and the master are practically one being. That’s why, for example, the master can cast a personal range spell on a familiar even though he can normally cast such a spell only on himself. A familiar is a normal animal that gains new powers and becomes a magical beast when summoned to service by a sorcerer or wizard. It retains the appearance, Hit Dice, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, skills, and feats of the normal animal it once was, but it is treated as a magical beast instead of an animal for the purpose of any effect that depends on its type. Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a familiar. Thus, a druid/sorcerer can’t use her animal companion as a familiar. A familiar also grants special abilities to its master (a sorcerer or wizard), as given on the table above. These special abilities apply only when the master and familiar are within 1 mile of each other. Levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars (such as sorcerer and wizard) stack for the purpose of determining any familiar abilities that depend on the master’s level.  

1: A raven familiar can speak one language of its master’s choice as a supernatural ability. 

2: Tiny viper.

Familiar Basics: Use the basic statistics for a creature of the familiar’s kind, as given in the Monster Manual, but make the following changes: 

Hit Dice: For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master’s character level or the familiar’s normal HD total, whichever is higher. 

Hit Points: The familiar has one-half the master’s total hit points (not including temporary hit points), rounded down, regardless of its actual Hit Dice. For example, at 2nd level, Hennet has 9 hit points, so his familiar has 4. 

Attacks: Use the master’s base attack bonus, as calculated from all his classes. Use the familiar’s Dexterity or Strength modifier, whichever is greater, to get the familiar’s melee attack bonus with natural weapons. Damage equals that of a normal creature of the familiar’s kind. 

Saving Throws: For each saving throw, use either the familiar’s base save bonus (Fortitude +2, Reflex +2, Will +0) or the master’s (as calculated from all his classes), whichever is better. The familiar uses its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any of the other bonuses that the master might have on saves (from magic items or feats, for example). 

Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master’s skill ranks, whichever are better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a familiar’s total skill modifiers, some skills (such as Craft) may remain beyond the familiar’s ability to use. Familiar Ability Descriptions: All familiars have special abilities (or impart abilities to their masters) depending on the master’s combined level in classes that grant familiars, as shown on the table above. The abilities given on the table are cumulative. 

Natural Armor Adj.: The number noted here is an improvement to the familiar’s existing natural armor bonus. It represents the preternatural toughness of a spellcaster’s familiar. 

Int: The familiar’s Intelligence score. Familiars are as smart as people, though not necessarily as smart as smart people. 

Alertness (Ex): The presence of the familiar sharpens its master’s senses. While a familiar is within arm’s reach, the master gains the Alertness feat. 

Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a familiar takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails. 

Share Spells: At the master’s option, he may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) he casts on himself also affect his familiar. The familiar must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit. If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the familiar if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the familiar again even if it returns to the master before the duration expires. Additionally, the master may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch range spell) instead of on himself. A master and his familiar can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the familiar’s type (magical beast). 

Empathic Link (Su): The master has an empathic link with his familiar out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The master cannot see through the familiar’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Because of the limited nature of the link, only general emotional content (such as fear, hunger, happiness, curiosity) can be communicated. Note that the low Intelligence of a low-level master’s familiar limits what the creature is able to communicate or understand, and even intelligent familiars see the world differently from humans, so misunderstandings are always possible. Because of this empathic link, the master has the same connection to an item or place that his familiar does. For instance, if his familiar has seen a room, the master can teleport into that room as if he has seen it too. 

Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If the master is 3rd level or higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the “toucher.” The familiar can then deliver the touch spell just as the master could. As usual, if the master casts another spell before the touch is delivered, the touch spell dissipates. 

Speak with Master (Ex): If the master is 5th level or higher, a familiar and the master can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand communication without magical help. 

Speak with Animals of Its Kind (Ex): If the master is 7th level or higher, a familiar can communicate with animals of approximately the same kind as itself (including dire varieties): bats with bats, rats with rodents, cats with felines, hawks and owls and ravens with birds, lizards and snakes with reptiles, toads with amphibians, weasels with similar creatures (weasels, minks, polecats, ermines, skunks, wolverines, and badgers). Such communication is limited by the intelligence of the conversing creatures. 

Spell Resistance (Ex): If the master is 11th level or higher, a familiar gains spell resistance equal to the master’s level + 5. To affect the familiar with a spell, another spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the familiar’s spell resistance. 

Scry on Familiar (Sp): If the master is 13th level or higher, he may scry on his familiar (as if casting the scrying spell) once per day.