solo sorcerer spell list

Remove all ads!

I need help whith my solo sorcerer spell list.

Level 1
Magic Missile
Spook
Shild
Chromatic Orb
Burning Hands

Level 2
Mirror Image
Blur
Web?
Glitterdust?
Melf's Acid Arrow?
Do I need Knock here?

Level 3
Remove Magic
Skull Trap
Flame Arrow
Slow ?
Melf's Minute Meteors ?
or should i take Hast for the summons?

Level 4
Stoneskin
Greater Malison
Minor Sequencer
Wizard Eye
Spirit Armor ?
Maybe Teleport Field here?

Level 5
Breach
Lower Resistance
Animate Death
Spell Immunity
Sunfire ?

Level 6
True Sight
Protection from Magical weapons
Mislead
Contingecy
Death Spell ?
or maybe Chain Lightning?

Level 7
Project Image
Mordenkainen's Sword
Spell Sequencer
Ruby Ray of Reversal
And here I really dont know what I should chose:
Finger or Death ?
Limited Wish ?
Improved Invisibility ?
Delayed Fireball?

Level 8
Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting
Spell Trigger
Power Word Blind
Simulacrum

Level 9
Chain Contingency
Wish
Time Stop
Shapechange ?

 

Your list looks fine to me but I never use any of the armour spells as stoneskin, blur (for the saving throw bonus), and mirror image do well enough for me.

Personally I would not use chain lightening over death spell, but chain lightening is good for interupting enemy spell casters.

What about friends for a level 1 pick? I always use horror over spook.

 

Ah! "My" subject!
I've been writing a "Level based guide for a sorcerer" and intend to submit it to SP when it's done.

Here are my (current) recommendations for a solo sorcerer:


Level 1:
- Magic Missile
- Identify
- Friends
- Protection From Evil
- Spook

Level 2:
- Mirror Image
- Knock
- Web
9 Melf's Acid Arrow
11 Resist Fear

Level 3:
- Melf's Minute Meteors
- Skull Trap
9 Haste
11 Flame Arrow
22 Remove Magic

Level 4:
8 Spider Spawn
9 Stoneskin
11 Polymorph Self
13 Farsight
23 Greater Malison

Level 5:
10 Spell Immunity
11 Breach
13 Lower Resistance
15 Animate Dead
23 Sunfire

Level 6:
12 Mislead
13 Death Spell
15 True Sight
21 Contingency
30 Protection from Magic Energy

Level 7:
14 Project Image
15 Mordenkainen's Sword
17 Mass Invisibility
22 Spell Sequencer
31 Finger of Death (I don't like this spell)

Level 8:
16 Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting
17 Pierce Shield
19 Spell Trigger
23 Power Word Blind

Level 9:
18 Time Stop
19 Chain Contingency
20 Wish (only with Wisdom 18)
25 Shapechange

Let's finish with just a few notes on the spell selections:
- Haste, Farsight and Mass Invisibility are there to make your summons better.
- Spider Spawn will get you through many tough spots until you get Skeleton Warriors at level 15.
- Spell Immunity is the spell that will let you handle some extremely difficult encounters and also avoid getting killed by some traps.
- Your basic attack routine will involve Project Image + Animate Dead + Farsight + Mass Invisibility + Haste.
- You need the Baldurdash fix for Mass Invisibility or else skip this spell, it's not that important.

 

if you solo, knock is fairy essential.
Also, if you solo, improved invisibility is better, it bestows 4 ac bonus, unlike other invisibility spells.
Vampiric touch would save you lots of trouble, because it gives you about 30 extra hitpoints (normally).

Also, level 9 Imprisonment is great.
Protection from Energy(8) is better, than Protection from Magic Energy(6).

Consider Dispel Magic, for your Project Images(get rid of them when you need) and meteors (so you'd become invisible with Staff of Magi).

Cone of Cold is pretty good against Fire Giants, too.

 

@Kulyok
Improved Invisibility with the intention of using it on yourself is wasted. You're not supposed to be hit. Instead you use Mirror Image, Stoneskin and Mislead.
Using it on summons is ok.

The good thing with Dispel Magic is that you can get trid of negative effects on your party and there's not much point in that when soloing. Getting Dispel only to get rid of your own Project Images doesn't seem that efficient.

Remove Magic however fits perfectly for soloing since it strips enemies of their protections/buffs.

Vampiric Touch is indeed a nice way of healing yourself. I just don't want to take it instead of any of the other 3rd level spells.

Protection from Magic Energy (level 6) gives 100% protection vs Abi Dalzim's (plus MM and Skull Trap). Protection from Energy (level 8) does not do that.

Cone of Cold might be good against Fire Giants but Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting is better. More importantly which 5th level spell are you going to exchange for Cone of Cold. The only reasonable would IMO be swap out Sunfire at level 23.

 

First thx you all very much
@ Earl Grey, do I really need Resist Fear ? because Blur or Glitterdust would also be very nice.
And do i need Polymorph Self at level 4? because i really like Minor Sequencer.
And dont I need Protection from Magical Weapon at level 6?
About Simulacrum i think its a really nice spell because you can cast Lesser Restoration on it.
So maybe i chose Ruby Ray of Reversal instead of a Finger of Death. And Simulacrum instead of Pierce Shield?

[ February 08, 2005, 15:16: Message edited by: hamtaro23 ]

 

@Earl Gray:
Your AC can go down to -23, and that makes a difference. That's why I use improved invisibility.

Protection from Energy+your belt gives you all the protection from skull traps and such you need,

As for dispel magic: that's my style of playing, I generally have 12 clones (4 project images and 2 silmulacra each), they shapeshift, for me it's important to be in control.

5 level spells I use are: cone of cold, sunfire, lower magic resistance, spell immunity and breach. Other 5 level spells... let's say, I don't use them anymore.

Edit: That was me, Kulyok, it's just I use my husband's notebook and, therefore, his log. Sorry.


BTW, another great spell is Improved haste. Imagine 6+ improved hasted planetars...

 

Go read my posts in:

http://www.sorcerers.net/community/threads/kloroxs-sorcerers-spell-list-please-comment.22944/

More advice than anyone could possibly need.

 

I find that these threads tend to just go 'round and 'round, but I'll ante up at least. Earl Grey's list is as close to perfect as you can get for a solo sorc; he's probably the only person around here who has soloed one more than me. I agree with him 100% about Improved Invisibility. Getting your armor class to -23 is a mere novelty when you solo a sorcerer--it looks good on paper, but there is absolutely no point in the game where that extra AC is helpful compared to all the other things you can do as a sorcerer.

Also, you do need resist fear. It may be more important in a party game, but you still don't want to be running around terrified by demons. Ugh. Save glitterdust for group play (where it is a great spell). You don't need blur for the same reason that you don't need Improved Invisibilty. The AC bonus is not better than having access to resist fear.

The only spell on Earl Grey's list that I would drop is the one he doesn't like anyway. Ditch finger of death. Almost any replacement will be an upgrade, including your suggestion.

Anyway, my 2 bits. It's really all a bunch of over-planning, since you can solo even a very inefficient sorc.

 

@Eric Xanthus
Good comments and thanks for the support!

About Improved Invisibility - let's point out that Mislead gives you the benefits of Improved Invisibility and more. Of course you can't cast Mislead on your summons which is why I think Mass Invisibility (which is "mass improved invisibility") is a good spell.

I really don't like to recommend Finger of Death, but since it's taken as the last 7th level spell at level 31 and there's not much good left it's in there for two reasons.
1. I left out Chromatic Orb, a spell which many players like (although overrated IMHO). FoD is Chromatic Orb on steroids.
2. Some people like to take their chances and hope for the instant death effect. Now they can.

For those who don't like FoD I can recommend Delayed Blast Fireball, but it's no big deal whatever you chose instead.

@hamtaro23
Polymorph Self:
The only reason you want this spell is that you can turn into a 100% MR Mustard Jelly. If you don't think that will be helpful then Minor Sequencer is a very good alternative.

Protection from Magical Weapon:
It's indeed a good alternative. The reason I do not pick it is that you're not supposed to be hit. With Mislead/Mirror Image/Stoneskin (and Spell Immunity: Divination) you should be pretty safe.

Simulacrum:
I consider casting restoration on a Simulacrum to be an exploit and therefor do not do that.

Yes, but you should take Ruby Ray at level 17. This means that you're taking Mass Invisibility at level 31. Good alternative if you like Simulacrum.


@StayC
I never have more than one Project Image active at a time as I consider that to be an exploit.

AFAIK Protection from Energy gives no protection against magic damage. Belt of Inertial Barrier gives 50% resistance to magic damage.

[ February 09, 2005, 19:23: Message edited by: Earl Grey ]

 

Well, fine, it all comes to personal preferences I think.

@ Earl Gray: after you solo with a sorcerer about 70 times and tried almost every combination possible, you don't care about any exploits anymore

@ hamtaro 23: the only time when you use
pierce shield (was my favourite about two years ago... no matter) is Demogorgon.

Lower MR is sufficient. As for Ruby Ray, you'll REALLY need it if you install Tactics. Otherwise, it's not that important.

 

Kulyok...do you know that the ONLY way to lower MR for liches, demi-liches, special bosses like Melyssan, Abazigal etc, is Pierce Shield? Trust me, if you know what you are talking about, you wouldn't say what you said...

 

I think--and this may get me into some trouble--that Kulyok misses out on a lot of the details of the game and spellcraft because she relies on exploiting enormous loopholes in the game. Why LR on Melissan (or anyone else, for that matter) when you can swarm her with 6 shapechanged clones? This is why some of her advice is not quite on target, but it's also why I said that there is room for mistakes with a sorcerer. You can take inferior spells and it's not really a waste because you don't need to use them anyway. But for people who don't want to use things like 6x shapechangers, a little more precision is required in spell selection.

Edited for gender-correct pronouns

[ February 09, 2005, 15:36: Message edited by: Eric Xanthus ]

 

Faraaz, why lower MR on liches/demiliches ? One Dragon Breath finishes a demilich without any trouble.

And Eric Xanthus, if you read carefully, you'll notice I'm a girl.

 

Sorry, I forgot. It's been fixed.

 

Thanks all again for the great help.
So i think i will try Earl Greys spell list. I think i will just chose Minor Spell Siquencer instead of Spider Spawn and instead Finger of Death I will chose Ruby Ray of Reversal. So instead of Pierce Shield i will chose Simulacrum.

 

Spider Spawn is the only summoning spell you have until level 15 (that's 1,875,000 xp) which is an awful long time. Personally I'd rather skip Stoneskin than Spider Spawn, it's that helpful, but what I recommend if you really want Minor Sequencer is this:
Level 4:
8 Spider Spawn
9 Stoneskin
11 Minor Sequencer
13 Farsight
23 Greater Malison

 

Hmm if Spider Spawn is really that usefull than i will skip Minor Sequncer.
And thanks again for your help.

 

Darn, still trying to find my list from that solo run.

I would say that essentially it's as Earl's, with a couple of modifications. At least 4 out five for each level was the same though I might have taken them in a different order.

I only did one run with a solo sorcerer as it *REALLY* is too easy once you reach reasonable levels. Which probably is 15 with that lovely skeleton upgrade

Once you get to project image at level 7, well, I had a rant about this spell before. It is clearly the most powerful spell in the game and completely unbalances everything.

Next challenge for Earl is to solo a sorcerer without using PI

 

Hmmm I've been away a while...

@Kulyok: Why would you want to lower MR? How about if you don't have lvl 9 spell slots to spare on Dragon's Breaths? What if they're tied up with Improved Alacrities, and Time Stops?? What I'm trying to say is, most times, you cannot afford a Dragon's Breath, and also...if you can lower MR for them, you can cast Greater Malison at them, which ensures your high level spells are most effective.

Also, the dude is soloing, so he can't have some tanks bash them up. Hence, it is IMPERATIVE that he have a means of lowering MR.

How do you think he is going to be able to beat Demogorgon, theoretically?