Sorcerer 101 - Part 2 (Spell Sources: Melee)

Welcome back! Last week, I gave a brief overview of what the sorcerer does. This week, I'm going to talk about one of the biggest features of the class: the spell source.

I'm going to talk about the melee-focused sources this week, and the ranged sources next week.


What is a Spell Source?

Flavor-wise, it's where your powers come from. When you pick your Spell Source, it defines the rest of your class features, key attributes, and even gives certain powers special benefits. It is the most important choice to make when you start building a sorcerer.


Cosmic Magic


The first spell source I'm going to talk about is called Cosmic Magic. As you can probably guess, this means you draw your powers from the cosmos; the stars, moon, and sun. This is one of the most fun sorcerer options, as it gives you several ways to play your class, and you can change them practically on the fly.

Cosmic Persistance: When not wearing heavy armor, you use your strength modifier for your armor class, in place of int or dex. This works well with the next feature...

Cosmic Power: All arcane powers you use gain a damage bonus equal to your strength modifier. This even works for non-sorcerer arcane powers. Very neat.

Soul of the Cosmic Cycle: Choose a "phase", those being the Sun, Moon, and Stars (in that order). When you end a short or extended rest, you get to choose one. The first time you're bloodied in an encounter, you move to the next one. When you use a daily arcane attack power, you can change to the next phase immediately after the power is resolved.

Now, why should you care? Well, each phase gives you special benefits. When in the phase of the Sun, all enemies around you take damage. When in the Moon phase, your AC goes up depending on how many enemies are surrounding you. If you're attacked in the phase of the Stars and missed, you get to teleport. You also gain resistances depending on which phase you're in. I know that the phase of the Stars has saved me more then once, and the phase-swaping in combat was loads of fun.


Dragon Magic


I have to be honest, Dragon Magic to me is the most boring of the spell-sources. It's not underpowered,  but I still find it a little lacking in the fun factor. That being said, Dragon sorcerers tend to have the highest AC, and can hold their own the best in melee combat.

Draconic Power: Like the cosmic sorcerer, you add your strength modifier to your arcane damage rolls. Nifty.

Draconic Resilience: When not wearing heavy armor, you use strength in place of int or dex for AC. Again, very nifty.

Dragon Soul: You gain resistance to your choice of acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder damage. This resistance scales with tier.

Scales of the Dragon: The first time you're bloodied in an encounter, you gain a small bonus to AC. Not game breaking, or not nearly as fun as the cosmic sorcerer, but nice.


Build Tips for Melee Sorcerers

As always with Sorcerers, charisma should be your highest stat. Your nest highest stat should be Str, and I would put some points in Dex. Why? Well, there's a feat called Dual-Implement Spellcaster you can get later on, which is a straight damage increase, and can get very nasty at later levels. All you need is a 13, which is very doable.

Aim for leather armor, or if you can swing it, hide. I see some builds go for a shield at low levels, but they always retrain it away later for that Dual-Implement magic I was telling you about. It's all up to you.

Also, it goes without saying, but look into a feat called Sorcerous Blade Channeling. It allows you to channel a few of your at-will spells into melee attacks, taking away the attack of opportunity, so long as you're using a dagger to attack. A must-have for the dagger-wielding sorcerer.



Next week, I'll talk about two of my favorite spell-sources: Storm and Wild sorcerers!

Sorcerer 101 - Part 1

Well, it's almost time for my new DnD campaign to launch, so I figured I'd kick it off by talking about my favorite class in 4th edition: the Sorcerer.

The Sorcerer is a striker, meaning that they focus on dealing damage as a top priority. They also have a few powers that are very good at controlling, but that isn't their main focus. If you just want to blow things up, preferably with fire, then a sorcerer is the class for you.

Let's start by talking about a few core elements to Sorcerer's in 4th Edition:

Your Place in Combat


Sorcerers have two places on the battlefield: either in the back, hurling lightning at bad things, or on the front lines in melee combat, stabbing things and channeling spells through their daggers. Your place depends heavily upon your build and other sorcerer class choice options.

Ranged sorcerers tend to favor the staff implement, though I have seen builds that use daggers. They tend to stick with either the Wild or Storm sorcerer power source, as they both have powers that help you keep enemies at bay.

While sorcerers can only wear cloth at first, it's very easy through feats to gain access to leather and even hide armor. Some sorcerers like to start off with a shield, and then later retrain it for Two-Weapon Defense, but I think that's a lot of hassle. The main build-goal with this type or sorcerer is to get your AC high, while still pumping up your damage.

Power Choices


Powers are very important, and there are always powers that are useful for everyone. For example, Chaos Bolt is a very useful spell for Chaos sorcerers, but targets Will, which is useful for all sorcerers. Here are some guidelines when it comes to choosing powers:

• If a power says "Can be used as a ranged basic attack", it has one main purpose: to be channeled in melee. With Sorcerous Blade Channeling, any of these attacks can become melee-ranged attacks, which takes away the attack of opporunity. However, it's a good idea to have at least one power like this, even if you're a ranged sorcerer, especially if you have a leader who can give you free ranged attacks.
• Many powers give you special perks for being of a certain spell-source, and sometimes these perks make the spell golden. I've had many laughs watching Chaos Bolt bounce around the battlefield.
• Don't be afraid to go for flavor. Focusing on acid spells, for example, can help you optimize later down the road. I once rolled a dragon sorcerer who multiclassed assassin focused on stealth and acid powers. The character was very cool, and could pump out the damage.

Next week, I'll talk about the next most important thing about sorcerers: Spell Source.