After much debating with myself and weighing the pros and cons, I finally came up with a spell list for an aspiring solo Sorcerer. This Sorcerer was designed to be able to survive both SoA AND ToB easily. Comments, suggestions and criticisms will be appreciated and evaluated.

Observant people will notice that I left out Breach, this is not an oversight. Breach mostly removes protections that hinder fighters, but not against spells. If you still feel uncomfortable about not having Breach, feel free to replace Sunfire with Breach instead.

You may also notice that there is no Dispel Magic or Remove Magic, this is because... well, think about it, if your Sorcerer is incapacitated, you cannot rescue yourself anyway. True, you can store it in a Contingency, but it is much better to ensure that nothing bad happens in the first place. Remove Magic is also kind of useless when you fight against high-level opponents, you might as well use other spells which are sure-fires.

The <font color="lime">(7)</font> tags indicate the level at which you get the spell.

<font size="5">Solo Sorcerer Spell List</font>
--------

Level 1

• <font color="red">Magic Missile</font><font color="lime">(7)</font>
  Urm... no explanation needed.
• <font color="white">Identify</font><font color="lime">(7)</font>
  Why pay the merchants/temples? Sureeee, you will have loads of money since you are soloing, but going to a merchant/temple is troublesome and besides, you usually tend to want to identify on the spot. Glasses of Identification is not sufficient, you may need to identify more than three items at a time, especially when you want to sell magical items in bulk.
• <font color="red">Spook</font><font color="lime">(7)</font>
  Reaching a total of -6 to saving throw penalty, this spell is potent even towards the end of ToB. Useful for scaring away select targets.
• <font color="cyan">Protection from Petrification</font><font color="lime">(7)</font>
  Until you get the Cloak of Mirroring, this spell will protect your Mage from becoming a stone statue.
• <font color="red">Chromatic Orb</font><font color="lime">(7)</font>
  Acid damage when your Sorcerer is level 12, and a chance to instantly kill the target.

Level 2

• <font color="red">Melf's Acid Arrow</font><font color="lime">(7)</font>
  This spell will finish off Trolls and as you level up, deals a lot of damage.
• <font color="white">Knock</font><font color="lime">(7)</font>No Thieves.
• <font color="cyan">Mirror Image</font><font color="lime">(7)</font>
  Since you are soloing, you have no super strong tanks to rely on, so you will need to minimise hits on yourself.
• <font color="cyan">Resist Fear</font><font color="lime">(9)</font>
  A scared Sorcerer... is a dead Sorcerer... ...
• <font color="red">Web</font><font color="lime">(11)</font>
  If you have the Ring of Free Action, blast the very area beneath your feet with 6 Webs and laugh as your enemies struggle to move. Proceed to kill them at your leisure.

Level 3

• <font color="red">Melf's Minute Meteors</font><font color="lime">(7)</font>
  You can hit anything with this spell! A few rounds of this and a Ring of the Ram, and you can kill Demi-Liches too.
• <font color="red">Skull Trap</font><font color="lime">(7)</font>Bombard an area with as many Skull Traps as you can, booyah nearby enemies and lead them to the trapped area. Snigger as the 'mines' wreck havoc on their lives.
• <font color="red">Slow</font><font color="lime">(9)</font>
  A slow-moving target, is an easy target.
• <font color="red">Flame Arrow</font><font color="lime">(11)</font>
  This is an extremely painful spell to enemies that are not immuned to fire. Pack three of these into a Spell Sequencer for maximum carnage.
• <font color="red">Lightning Bolt</font><font color="lime">(22)</font>
  Use this to replace Flame Arrow when facing Fire-Immuned enemies.

Level 4

• <font color="cyan">Stoneskin</font><font color="lime">(8)</font>
  No explanation needed.
• <font color="red">Greater Malison</font><font color="lime">(9)</font>Lowers enemies saving throws by 4, very important if you want most of your spells to do their best.
• <font color="red">Emotion</font><font color="lime">(11)</font>
  Rock-a-by-babies, on the cold ground. As I kill them, they don't make a sound. ;)
• <font color="red">Spider Spawn</font><font color="lime">(13)</font>
  Spider Spawn + Web = Good combo
• <font color="white">Minor Spell Sequencer</font><font color="lime">(23)</font>
  Useful for storing spells like 2 Webs, or Magic Missiles, or Melf's Acid Arrows, etc... ...

Level 5

• <font color="red">Sunfire</font><font color="lime">(10)</font>
  Since you are soloing, you do not need to worry about hurting party members, so place 3 of these babies in a Spell Trigger and terrorise your enemies.
• <font color="red">Lower Resistance</font><font color="lime">(11)</font>No explanation needed.
• <font color="cyan">Spell Immunity</font><font color="lime">(13)</font>
  The ultimate Sorcerer defense when used properly, Evocation and Abjuration will be your most common chosen schools to be immune from.
• <font color="red">Animate Dead</font><font color="lime">(15)</font>
  Skeleton Warriors, lasts 8 hours, immuned to Normal weaponary, 95% Magic Resistance, immuned to Psionics... ah Hell, just trust me on this, this is a very good durable summon.
• <font color="red">Feeblemind</font><font color="lime">(28)</font>
  Very potent against Dragons and useful when you need to neutralise a single powerful target.

Level 6

• <font color="red">Death Spell</font><font color="lime">(12)</font>
  Death Fog may be persistent, but Death Spell affects non-summons as well.
• <font color="white">Mislead</font><font color="lime">(13)</font>This spell is very cheesy and will help ensure your Sorcerer lives a long and properous life. Use the Mislead trick to fully exploit this spell.
• <font color="white">True Sight</font><font color="lime">(15)</font>
  Peek-a-boo! I see you! ;)
• <font color="cyan">Protection from Magical Weapons</font><font color="lime">(21)</font>
  If you take the good path, you will gain immunity to Normal and +1 weapons in SoA. This spell ensures that in ToB, NO WEAPON can touch your Sorcerer as he/she casts his/her Time Stop. ;)
• <font color="white">Contingency</font><font color="lime">(30)</font>
  Great for storing protection spells so that you can concentrate on casting an offensive spell instead.

Level 7

• <font color="white">Spell Sequencer</font><font color="lime">(14)</font>
  3 Flame Arrows, 3 Lightning Bolts, a Greater Malison + Emotion + Slow combo, etc... the fun you can have with a Spell Sequencer is good.
• <font color="red">Khelben's Warding Whip</font><font color="lime">(15)</font>Lasting three rounds, this is very potent in helping you make sure an enemy Mage remains protectionless. It even has a chance to disrupt an enemy Mage from spell casting, a very nice spell.
• <font color="red">Ruby Ray of Reversal</font><font color="lime">(17)</font>
  Removes Spell Traps, enough said.
• <font color="red">Finger of Death</font><font color="lime">(22)</font>
  Nasty spell, especially if you cast Greater Malison first. Good against Dragons too.
• <font color="white">Project Image</font><font color="lime">(31)</font>
  Cast this spell, then make your illusion cast Mislead, your PI illusion can now wreck havoc on the enemy. This is a far better spell than Simulacrum, because the illusion is an exact copy of you, minus one level 7 spell. Simulacrums cannot cast level 7-9 spells, a PI illusion can.

Level 8

• <font color="white">Spell Trigger</font><font color="lime">(16)</font>
  Same story with Spell Sequencer.
• <font color="red">Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting</font><font color="lime">(17)</font>Once you get this spell, 75% of your kills will be because of this spell. It is that powerful.
• <font color="red">Symbol Stun</font><font color="lime">(19)</font>
  Same story with Skull Traps, only you get to whack them while they are stunned.
• <font color="cyan">Protection from Energy</font><font color="lime">(23)</font>
  Since you cannot wear armour, helmets and shield, your elemental resistances will be poor. This spell will help you to survive elemental attacks.

Level 9

• <font color="red">Time Stop</font><font color="lime">(18)</font>
  Once you get this spell, your Sorcerer will attain Nirvana. ;)
• <font color="white">Chain Contingency</font><font color="lime">(19)</font>The ultimate cheesy spell. Pack 3 ADHWs in this and watch your enemies dehydrate to death instantly before your very eyes.
• <font color="red">Spellstrike</font><font color="lime">(20)</font>
  Spell protections? What spell protections? ;)
• <font color="white">Wish</font><font color="lime">(25)</font>
  If you want to complete ToB, you need to have this spell, period.

I will be making a webpage for this list too. [img]smile.gif[/img] Look out for it soon in my signature in about 2 weeks.

[ 11-06-2001: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]</p>

This spell list looks very good and is similiar to my own especially the higher levels. What do you think of my (revised) choices.

1st level:
Magic Missle
Identify
Blind
Spook
Protection from petrification

2nd level:
Mirror Image
Knock
Melf's acid arrow
resist fear
detect invisibility

3rd level:
melf's minute meteors
skull trap
disple magic
slow
flame arrow

4th level:
stoneskin
greater malison
emotion
minor sequencer
wizard eye

5th level:
breach
lower resistance
spell immunity
animate dead
cone of cold

6th level:
contingency
death spell
true seeing
chain lightning
mislead

7th level:
spell sequencer
khelben's warding whip
ruby ray of reversal
prismatic spray
protection from the elements

8th level:
spell trigger
Protection from energy
abi-dalzims horrid wilting
simulacrum

9th level:
timestop
chain contingency
spell strike
meteor swarm

I agree with pretty much your whole list, mine is very similar, and I definitely agree about time stop, at my sorcerers current level I have the ability to stop time, then pelt my enemies with 5 Dragons breaths, which is quite nasty.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Fuzzy Animal:
This spell list looks very good and is similiar to my own especially the higher levels. What do you think of my (revised) choices.

1st level: http://www.plauder-smilies.de/happy/xyxthumbs.gif
<font color="lime">Looking good.</font>

2nd level:
Knock
Detect Invisibility
<font color="lime">Doh! I feel like an idiot! I forgot about Knock... I changed my list to include Knock, but I chose to replace Detect Invisibility. I will just bite the bullet until I get True Sight</font>

3rd level:
Dispel Magic
<font color="lime">Why do you want Dispel Magic?</font>

4th level: http://www.plauder-smilies.de/happy/xyxthumbs.gif
<font color="lime">Looking good.</font>

5th level:
Cone of Cold
<font color="lime">Be careful of using Cone of Cold, the spell destroys loot.</font>

6th level: http://www.plauder-smilies.de/happy/xyxthumbs.gif
Chain Lightning
<font color="lime">Looking good, and will work well. I personally will chose to replace Chain Lightning with Protection from Magical Weapons, but so long as you are extra careful, you should do fine as well.</font>

7th level:
Prismatic Spray
<font color="lime">Same as Cone of Cold, you run a risk of destroying loot, I would prefer Project Image because that means free extra spells.</font>

8th level: http://www.plauder-smilies.de/happy/xyxthumbs.gif
<font color="lime">Looking good.</font>

9th level:
Meteor Storm
<font color="lime">Trust me on this, replace this with Wish, or the last battle in ToB will be nigh-on impossible.</font><hr></blockquote>

If you're looking at high-level advancement, then as a Sorcerer it makes no sense to have Contingency or either of the Sequencers. Wait until you can get Spell Trigger and Chain Contingency, since you can only have 1 of each active at any time.

I still say don't pick Identify. Get Chromatic Orb, and once you reach level 12, it does unsaveable acid damage, which can replace Melf's as your Troll killer entirely.

Oh yeah, I was looking at the anti-mage spells, does it make sense to get Spellstrike when you have Khelben's AND Ruby Ray? There are only two protection spells of 9th level, Absolute Immunity and Spell Trap. Ruby Ray works on spell trap, Absolute Immunity lasts only four rounds and won't matter much to a solo Sorcerer, and Khelben's Warding Whip takes care of everything else! So really, the only spells you will need to defeat buffing or attack spellcasters number 3 in total: Breach, Khelben's, and Ruby Ray.

[ 11-04-2001: Message edited by: Kaleban ]</p>

Okay this is what I'm gonna do. For first level I think I will take chromatic orb instead of identify because it seems that monsters are always dropping those scrolls. I am going to take lightning bolt instead of dispel magic. Sunfire instead of breach. Feeblemind instead of cone of cold. Protection from magic weapons instead of chainlightning. Project image instead of prismatic spray. Symbol stun instead of simulacrum, and wish instead of meteor swarm. Now please tell me I'm good to go I'm getting squirrely!!!!!!!!

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Kaleban:
If you're looking at high-level advancement, then as a Sorcerer it makes no sense to have Contingency or either of the Sequencers. Wait until you can get Spell Trigger and Chain Contingency, since you can only have 1 of each active at any time.

You can have both a minor sequencer and a sequencer stored at the same time. You just can't have two of the same stored.


I still say don't pick Identify. Get Chromatic Orb, and once you reach level 12, it does unsaveable acid damage, which can replace Melf's as your Troll killer entirely.

Melf's arrows do 2d4 damage per round (after the initial 2d4). Not too bad at 15th level when the extra damage goes 5 rounds. Good spell disruptor.


11-04-2001: Message edited by: Kaleban ]<hr></blockquote>

I agree with the Spellstrike though.

Just one more question. Does the spider spawn/web combo work well against higher level opponents? What I really need to know is will it help out mid to late in the game?

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Fuzzy Animal:
Just one more question. Does the spider spawn/web combo work well against higher level opponents? What I really need to know is will it help out mid to late in the game?<hr></blockquote>

After 12th level it turns from a phase spider to a sword spider. A lot faster but still pretty
ineffective. Try polymorph other, unless you don't have many summoning spells. You might need the spiders for distractions.

I'd change your identify to protection from evil,
instead of chromatic orb. More useful in my opinion.

Cone of Cold destroys loot?