Solo Sorcerer Spell List. Comments welcome.

[Dundee Slaytern]

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 (7) tags indicate the level at which you get the spell.

Solo Sorcerer Spell List
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Level 1

• Magic Missile(7)
  Urm... no explanation needed.
• Identify(7)
  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.
• Spook(7)
  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.
• Protection from Petrification(7)
  Until you get the Cloak of Mirroring, this spell will protect your Mage from becoming a stone statue.
• Chromatic Orb(7)
  Acid damage when your Sorcerer is level 12, and a chance to instantly kill the target.

Level 2

• Melf's Acid Arrow(7)
  This spell will finish off Trolls and as you level up, deals a lot of damage.
• Knock(7)No Thieves.
• Mirror Image(7)
  Since you are soloing, you have no super strong tanks to rely on, so you will need to minimise hits on yourself.
• Resist Fear(9)
  A scared Sorcerer... is a dead Sorcerer... ...
• Web(11)
  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

• Melf's Minute Meteors(7)
  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.
• Skull Trap(7)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.
• Slow(9)
  A slow-moving target, is an easy target.
• Flame Arrow(11)
  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.
• Lightning Bolt(22)
  Use this to replace Flame Arrow when facing Fire-Immuned enemies.

Level 4

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

Level 5

• Sunfire(10)
  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.
• Lower Resistance(11)No explanation needed.
• Spell Immunity(13)
  The ultimate Sorcerer defense when used properly, Evocation and Abjuration will be your most common chosen schools to be immune from.
• Animate Dead(15)
  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.
• Feeblemind(28)
  Very potent against Dragons and useful when you need to neutralise a single powerful target.

Level 6

• Death Spell(12)
  Death Fog may be persistent, but Death Spell affects non-summons as well.
• Mislead(13)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.
• True Sight(15)
  Peek-a-boo! I see you!
• Protection from Magical Weapons(21)
  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.
• Contingency(30)
  Great for storing protection spells so that you can concentrate on casting an offensive spell instead.

Level 7

• Spell Sequencer(14)
  3 Flame Arrows, 3 Lightning Bolts, a Greater Malison + Emotion + Slow combo, etc... the fun you can have with a Spell Sequencer is good.
• Khelben's Warding Whip(15)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.
• Ruby Ray of Reversal(17)
  Removes Spell Traps, enough said.
• Finger of Death(22)
  Nasty spell, especially if you cast Greater Malison first. Good against Dragons too.
• Project Image(31)
  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

• Spell Trigger(16)
  Same story with Spell Sequencer.
• Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting(17)Once you get this spell, 75% of your kills will be because of this spell. It is that powerful.
• Symbol Stun(19)
  Same story with Skull Traps, only you get to whack them while they are stunned.
• Protection from Energy(23)
  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

• Time Stop(18)
  Once you get this spell, your Sorcerer will attain Nirvana.
• Chain Contingency(19)The ultimate cheesy spell. Pack 3 ADHWs in this and watch your enemies dehydrate to death instantly before your very eyes.
• Spellstrike(20)
  Spell protections? What spell protections?
• Wish(25)
  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 ]

[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:
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

[Talthyr Malkaviel]

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.

[Dundee Slaytern]

quote:

---

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:
Looking good.

2nd level:
Knock
Detect Invisibility
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

3rd level:
Dispel Magic
Why do you want Dispel Magic?

4th level:
Looking good.

5th level:
Cone of Cold
Be careful of using Cone of Cold, the spell destroys loot.

6th level:
Chain Lightning
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.

7th level:
Prismatic Spray
Same as Cone of Cold, you run a risk of destroying loot, I would prefer Project Image because that means free extra spells.

8th level:
Looking good.

9th level:
Meteor Storm
Trust me on this, replace this with Wish, or the last battle in ToB will be nigh-on impossible.

---

[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.

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 ]

[Fuzzy Animal]

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!!!!!!!!

[Mitro Jellywadder]

quote:

---

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 ]

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I agree with the Spellstrike though.

[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?

[Mitro Jellywadder]

quote:

---

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?

---

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.

[Barloc]

Cone of Cold destroys loot?