Sorcerer blues

[LilithsThrall]

Channel Demon becomes a feat
Counterspell works like a magic parry - the Sorcerer parries spells much as he would parry a weapon, but it has a seperate base parry bonus
Counterspell feats are feats which enhance his ability to parry magic. Counterspell feats enhance the ability to parry magic - they allow for stuff like parrying an attack targetted at someone else or parrying as a free action. As with regular feats, the more powerful counterspell feats will have prereqs.
Spells and PP are handled as per my earlier post - a d20 is rolled against a target number, etc. etc.
Sorcerers don't learn spells, they learn styles. Access to a style enables access to every spell in that style (basic, advanced, and major) - there is, however, a world of difference between having access to a spell (and thus being able to cast that spell) and being able to cast it safely (see earlier referencing the removal of pp).
feats gained as a class ability are chosen from a specific list.
The Sorcerer can summon beings (which kind depending on which styles of magic he learns) at 7th level. There are no hard restrictions on how powerful a being he can summon. However, the ability to control that being is a seperate matter. A Sorcerer who attempts to summon too great an entity may find that he, the Sorcerer, is now the creature's snack. Thus, wise Sorcerers will stick to summoning beings which are about equal to them in power. Certain counterspell feats might help the Sorcerer control entities he summons (bribes, such as virgin souls may also help).
Sense the Supernatural is a vague sense (rather a "all is not right here" kind of thing) whose source can't be pinned down without a great deal of effort, it does, however, have a substantial (mile?) range. It can sense magic, sorcerers, and demons. It requires a spot roll

1 Style 1, Scholar, Background, Knowledge is Power,
2 Feat
3 Iron Will
4 counterspell Feat
5 Sense the Supernatural (this )
6 Counterspell Feat
7 Style 2
8 Feat
9 Counterspell Feat
10 Thaumaturgy
11 Feat
12 +4 vs. Terror ("Hardened Soul")
13 Style 3
14 Master Words and Signs
15 Feat
16
17 Great Thaumaturgy
18
19
20 Immortality

 

[sidkfjjteidlkkf]

The Sorcerer in our group was killed last night by his own party. I guess there may not be a Sorcerer in this group again..

The Cimmerian Barbarian (Kellok) started it.. the others finished it. They determined he was dealing with Demons and Necromancy.

 

[Vortigern]

PVP is usually something I tend to frown on in a tabletop game...

That said, if your sorcerer really was dealing with demons/necromancy and not being too shy about it... well... in the hyborian age it sounds fairly IC. Discreetness and sensitivity to one's companions are essential to a sorcerer.

If he wasn't actually doing such, or let us say at least not giving the appearance of such, well... I'd have a talk with the instigating cimmerian about IC / OOC.

Not much can be said without knowing the situation however.

 

[Hervé]

John Pare' wrote:

The Sorcerer in our group was killed last night by his own party.

I guess the guy should have known better than to deal with black arts in presence of a cimmerian!

 

[Clovenhoof]

Aw, too bad I didn't see this thread earlier.
Now I just read the first page and this one, but chime in anyway.

The problem with the Scholar is not that the class is underpowered, but that it contains several traps and caveats you need to avoid. Sorcerer builds are ruined very easily. For example, you may be tempted to take Necromancy as early as possible (level 4 or so), and then you're stuck with a Style that you can't get any Advanced Spells in until level 8 or 12 or so. Not good. If you don't plan your scholar build in advance, you can very easily get to a point where you don't qualify for ANY new spell at all and have to take skill points instead.

Apart from that, Scholars/Sorcs are not underpowered. Certainly not in 1e/AE, where you can keep exploding in the middle of enemy crowds and get unlimited PP refills. That has been nerfed in 2e, but I think the regular Advanced Spells are dangerous enough.

It has been mentioned before but I say it again: Dread Serpent is easily the deadliest spell in the game. It requires a Will Save, which is bad for most classes, and if you fail the Save, you die. That's much deadlier than typical D&D death effects, which go against Fort and come at later levels anyway. And as we're about it, lowlevel D&D wizards are also rather useless, who can fire two or three magic missiles a day and then they're burned out.

Again, this isn't D&D. Magic is totally different in Conan, as the other uses have pointed out several times. If you need mages who stop the time to cast fireballs and teleport away to be happy, you need to play D&D.

Here's a post I wrote a few months back (AE rules) that might give you some hints:

Sorcerer - Howto

 

[Sir Hackalot]

I really hate to be a grouch here, but Prestidigitation isn't available to a Sorcerer until fifth level without either cherry picking the race or multiclassing with either Thief or Temptress. Cursing is underwhelming until Greater Ill-fortune (which means 6th level) - even then, its not all that great (with the single exception of Gelid Bones). Hypnotism starts to run out of steam around 8th level - which means that many of those great spells you spent your few spell slots on soon become mostly useless. Nature has some neat abilities, but you shouldn't have to spend exp to be effective - exp shouldn't be a resource.
And, again, alchemy costs far too much and herbalism requires a quest across several countries to find the plants (although at higher levels, if you have the seeds, you can use Sorcerous Garden, that isn't available to low level Sorcerers).
So, at low levels, playing a Sorcerer is akin to playing a 1st edition low level Wizard. Joy.

What I'd like to see is a Sorcerer who, at low levels, has easy, affordable access to the alchemical items and herbal stuff (the alchemical stuff should be cheap for them, its the knowledge of how to put it together into a finished product that makes the finished product expensive - the herbal stuff might be available through the knowledge of how to build a garden) and a few truly useful spells. At high levels, they should be capable of a few truly epic spells and many truly useful spells (nothing particularly flashy with the exception of Necromancy and Summoning) and, perhaps, some more powerful alchemy items (stuff that is -exceedingly- rare for non-Sorcerers). Also, sleight of hand should be a class skill and there might be some feats built off of sleight of hand.

Just curious, what background have you picked out for your scholar charcacter? If you pick lay priest or acolyte than maybe the temple or organization that you work for could help you out.

 

[kintire]

I see Sir Hackalot went for Necromancy early...

 

[Krushnak]

*Ba Dum Tish*

 

[VincentDarlage]

I really hate to be a grouch here, but Prestidigitation isn't available to a Sorcerer until fifth level without either cherry picking the race or multiclassing with either Thief or Temptress.

Not entirely true. If one's Intelligence is higher than 11, then the Intelligence bonus points can be used for ANY skill as if it were a class skill. All you need is a sorcerer with a 12+ Intelligence and you can have Prestidigitation at 1st level.

 

[Spectator]

Vincent, I have been playing Conan since 04, can you please tell me where the INT = class skill, I guess I never read the book, after you tell me that!

 

[Clovenhoof]

It's right at the beginning of the Skills chapter, in the second paragraph.

"The bonus skill points from high Intelligence may be spent on any skill without penalty. In effect, all skills are treated as class skills for the various skill points gained through having a high Intelligence."

An excellent rule, I might add. =)

 

[VincentDarlage]

Yes, it is a good rule. Not only is it in the main book, I mention this feature in some of the supplements also (because it is an important rule); for example, one can find a mention of this rule in Hyboria's Finest on page 57.

Outside of scholars, this rule also makes the intelligent soldier much better than a stupid one since soldiers have so few class skill points on their own.

Intelligence isn't a throw-away skill by any means in this game, regardless of class.