Sorcerer Question

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Hello, I'm just about finished with the prologue, and my sorcerer is level 2. I leveled her up but I didn't get any new spells. I thought I got new spells every level. do I only get two spells of every spell level for the whole game? I'm really confused.

 

Quoting from DSimpsons FAQ :

 

I think you've misunderstood my question, I know that I can't cast 2nd level spells yet. My question was that I leveled up to level 2 and I didn't learn any new spells. I thought that at levels two and three I was going to get more first level spells. I wasn't prompted to select more spells and I don't know why.

 

Just to keep my response clear I believe you are talking about access to new spells rather than what I refer to as 'slots'.

New spells would mean that say you start with sleep and shield and a new spell could be magic missile.

New 'slots' would mean you go from 3 castings of any (of your a available selection) 1st level spells.

So my answer is on new spells and I believe almost every other level advancement you get new spells. at 4th level you get your 2nd level pick(s) and at 5th you get anther 2nd level pick and another 1st level pick. I can't remember if getting to level 2 you don't get anything but it sounds like it might be true. I doubt your game is bugged. I searched for a table but couldn't find. You might try to find the manual somewhere; yes this game is old enough that games came with paper manuals and someone might have recorded the info online. The only thing to make sure of is that your charisma is 11 or higher to cast 1st level spells but that should be irrelevant to getting new picks and just so you know charisma effects the DC (saving throw of enemy versus their spell) so you want to pump this as high as possible regardless of just getting access to spells (e.g. need 19 charisma for the 9th level spells).

 

Thank you for responding. I had figured that might be the case, but I wasn't sure.

 

Sorcerers don't learn any new spells at level 2. You learn one new spell of a new spell level every even level except level 2, and one new spell for old spell levels every odd level except level 1.

Sorcerers are supposed to lag behind a wizard casting-wise, and at character level 2 all wizards get is 1 extra casting of a level 1 spell. Thus, it doesn't make sense for a sorcerer to get an extra casting AND an extra spell.
You can basically blame whoever came up with the wizard spell progression who decided that wizards didn't get anything special at level 2, since the sorcerer spell progression follows from it.

 

The game manuals were included on the CD and installed with the game in my copy of the original without expansions, although I have MotB. Look in the game directory for a folder called "documentation".
It is also available on Sorcerer's Place .

According to page 74 of the PDF, you should have gotten one cantrip at level 2 and a first level spell at level 3.
A copy/paste screws up the formatting, and I'm too lazy to fix it properly.

Code:

Sorcerer Known Spells and Spells per Day
Sorcerer
Level
Base Spells per Day Spells Known
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 5 3 – – – – – – – –  4 2 – – – – – – – –
2 6 4 – – – – – – – –  5 2 – – – – – – – –
3 6 5 – – – – – – – –  5 3 – – – – – – – –
4 6 6 3 – – – – – – –  6 3 1 – – – – – – –
5 6 6 4 – – – – – – –  6 4 2 – – – – – – –
6 6 6 5 3 – – – – – –  7 4 2 1 – – – – – –
7 6 6 6 4 – – – – – –  7 5 3 2 – – – – – –
8 6 6 6 5 3 – – – – –  8 5 3 2 1 – – – – –
9 6 6 6 6 4 – – – – –  8 5 4 3 2 – – – – –
10 6 6 6 6 5 3 – – – – 9 5 4 3 2 1 – – – –
11 6 6 6 6 6 4 – – – – 9 5 5 4 3 2 – – – –
12 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 – – – 9 5 5 4 3 2 1 – – –
13 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 – – – 9 5 5 4 4 3 2 – – –
14 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 – – 9 5 5 4 4 3 2 1 – –
15 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 – – 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 2 – –
16 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 – 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 2 1 –
17 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 – 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 2 –
18 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 2 1
19 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 2
20 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 3

 

It's just a reprint from PHB. As far as I know, spell progression is the same as it is in P&P.

 

Sorcerer spells should unlock at level two, if the progression was applied strictly. They are supposed to pay for their large *number* of castable spells by acquiring new spell, and access to spell levels, later.
However, for level 1 they made an exception to sorcerer's progression table. You in fact got everything you should've got at level 2, at level 1 already. Because a lvl1 sorcerer without any access to spells is counter-intuitive.

 

Late to the party I know....

The table above is correct for both paper and IWD2, except that in IWD2 there are no level zero spells. So spells known won't change at level 2.

As a side note, IWD2 would have a better balance between sorcs and wizards if sorcs had less spells known.

 

*fewer

And that's not really the problem. The main problem is that there are too few spells to be learned in the first place and that wizards need a full rest in order to memorize spells. In PnP, playing a wizard means that you have a massive amount of spells in your spellbook and always a couple of empty spell slots that you can fill on short notice with what you need. Granted, there aren't really any time constraints in IWD2, but these are some of the main balancing factors in PnP.

Any way you look at it, IWD series is primarily a combat-oriented series, and unlike sorcerers, wizards largely shine outside of combat. If you take utility and spell availability out of the equation, the wizard drops from a T1 class to a low T2 class.

 

Dammit, Stannis.

You're right, IWD2 sorcs are not well balanced with wizards. Two fewer spells known per spell level would have meant interesting tradeoffs when picking spells known.

 

Like I said, that's not the solution. Balancing classes that are already well-designed by needlessly nerfing them generally only results in boring classes all around. Trust me, I've spent well over a decade patching up 3rd edition rules. I wouldn't even bother playing a sorcerer with only 1-3 different spells per level; There would be no upside to it.

 

I'm with Keneth, nerfing a class because they seem unbalanced usually isn't the best option. Though I'm not aware of how they are implemented in IWD I'd assume they follow close to what the PnP rulebook says.

 

My understanding is that the person who originally designed the sorcerer class for D&D 3E did nerf the class this way. Part of the reason was that it was a new mechanic and there was a fear that it would be too powerful. Classes back in 3E weren't entirely balanced anyway. In 5E, the spell progression for the sorcerer is the same as the wizard.

 

In 5E all the main spellcasting classes use the same spell-level progression tables - partially because of how the multiclassing tables work in 5E.

 

No one cares about 5E though. D&D stopped being relevant after 3E.

 

I like how multiclassing works in 5E. When I last played, I had a cleric/wizard. I didn't get a chance to really play him that much before I stopped playing regularly.

 

5E isn't a bad system, especially now that they've figured out that half the fun of playing is finding cool toys and put magic items back into the game. But like many games it requires finding a GM who isn't an arbitrary unfair horses rear end. Me = being frustrated because I thought I found a 5E game but now the GM says he's going to be arbitrary and unfair and that he's basically painted a target on my back already because he doesn't appreciate my trying to be friendly and helpful - I am "rules-lawyering" by trying to make suggestions to help people new to the system.

 

That's true. I played a few times at a local game store where they were running Adventurer's League. The last game left a bad taste in my mouth because the DM at the time pretty much decided to kill off the whole party. The adventure was just super hard and supposed reinforcements did not come. One of the players even called the DM out on that saying some NPC's were supposed to bring reinforcements, but the DM did nothing. On top of that, the DM didn't bother telling us about options we could do if we died at lower levels. Some time later, I ran my AL home game and got that adventure. It was then we realised how badly he screwed us over, not only on the adventure, but he didn't even tell us about opportunities to raise our characters, so we won't have to start at level 1 again.