Sorcerer/Wizard as backup mage

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The “Sorcerer/Wizard” for Icewind Dale 2.

I did an experiment by multiclassing a Sorcerer with a Wizard, mainly it was because I wanted to have a Sorcerer with “better” spell choices, and a Wizard with “firepower”.

These tables are a comparison of the singles classes for Sorcerer, Wizard and Specialist Wizard, compared to the experimental Sorcerer/Wizard. They mainly compare the total number of spells known and the highest spell level known.

These tables assume the maximum character level achievable is 30. The Multiclassed character has 15 levels each of Sorcerer and Specialist Wizard. I would pick Diviner here, since they have only one missed school (Conjuration) which can be easily covered by the sorcerer class. It also assumes that the first level is sorcerer and every odd level up is sorcerer and the 2nd level is wizard and every even level up is wizard.

The tables only show the total number of spells castable during each rest period by level. I did not include the spell chart since it was redundant. I have included the highest spell level castable by class.

Of course the major drawback is that the highest spell level known is always lagging far behind a single classed character. This is to be expected since that will always happen with multi classed characters. This will obviously make such a character not “the main spell caster” of the party.

By the end of the table these characters are nearly as knowledgeable as their single classes compatriots by lacking only 9th level spells. At all times these characters have a number of spells almost the same as a specialist wizard. They are always better than a non-specialist wizard, but that has never been hard to achieve…

And at the top end they have even more spells than a sorcerer

Another way of achieving something like this would be to do 15 straight levels of sorcerer then 15 wizard, but that could cause problems for some races. Maybe 20 sorcerer and 10 wizard. After all it can be flexible.

Total Number of Spells castable per rest period.

The various "columns" stand for
Character Level
Total Sorcerer Spells
HSL = Highest Spell Level Known
Total Wizard Spells
HSL = Highest Spell Level Known
Total Specialist Wizard Spells
HSL = Highest Spell Level Known
"Experimental" Multi-Classed Sorcerer Wizard
HSL = Highest Spell Level Known

1....3....1....1....1....2....1....3....1
2....4.........2.........3.........5
3....5.........3....2....5....2....6
4....9....2....5.........7.........7
5....10........6....3....9....3....8
6....14...3....8.........11........10...2
7....16........10...4....14...4....14
8....20...4....12........16........16
9....22........14...5....19...5....17
10...26...5....16........21........19...3
11...28........18...6....24...6....23
12...32...6....20........26........25
13...34........22...7....29...7....27
14...38...7....24........31........30...4
15...40........26...8....24...8....24
16...44...8....28........36........36
17...46........30...9....39...9....38
18...50...9....32........41........41...5
19...52........34........43........45
20...54........36........45........47
21...55........38........47........49
22...55........38........47........52...6
23...56........38........47........56
24...56........38........47........58
25...57........39........48........60
26...57........39........48........63...7
27...58........40........49........67
28...59........40........49........69
29...60........41........50........71
30...61........41........50........74...8

HSL = Highest Spell Level Known
Multi-classed = Sorcerer/Wizard.

Sorry for the junk format. I just don't know how to make the forum do a table.

Cheers

 

Well, unless you play Heart of Fury mode, you aren't going to see anything beyond level 18 or so. Most parties of 5-6 members will average 16th level at the end.

Beyond that, your main flaw is considering merely spells known and spell level attained. Class level matters for a lot more than just that. Your ability to penetrate Spell Resistance is based primarily on your caster level. An 8/8 Sorc/Wiz has a 10% of penetrating the 26 spell resistance an equal level monk, smurf, or drow would have. A single class spellcaster would have a 50% chance of doing so.

Further, saves for spells are based partly on spell level involved. The DC is 10+caster's stat bonus+ spell level.

Finally, many spells scale with level. This is particularly true of evocation, but applies to some summons as well. A 16th level sorc does 10d6 with a fireball, while your split class guy only does 8d6. A single class character's stoneskin absorbs 150hp of damage, while the split class only handles 80hp.

Basically, its a very bad deal over all even without thinking about needing high charisma and high int to get bonus spells and better save DCs.

 

I found out something else related to this concept that is probably much more sensible. How do you get a specialist wizard to have access to all spell schools?

I made a Diviner since they only lose out on Evocation, one school that is, despite being the most useful. Then add 1 level of sorcerer and hey presto, you have full access to Evocation spells as a Wizard. This means that you can use, cast and write spells from the school that was previously not allowed. This makes the specialist wizards a reasonable choice now. I often wondered why in all the BG2 and IWD series games the opposition spell schools kept changing, but anyway...

Maybe this option makes more sense? Still just an experiment, and nothing beats a single classed character.

Cheers

 

Well, other than being a bug exploit, it makes sense.

The opposition schools keep changing because they aren't fixed in p&p. You can choose them. The designers, however, have to make these choices themselves because the balance is all off given the divergent spell options. If the game has hardly any divination spells, its less valuable than if the game has a large number of them or uses them extensively.