Guía Sorccerer Spells 1

A Quick Guide to Sorcerer Spell Selection
By Dazaras
My introduction is a bit on the long side, don’t feel bad about skipping straight to the spell ratings.
Introduction
Spell Ratings
0-Level Sorcerer Spells (Cantrips)
1st-Level Sorcerer Spells
2nd-Level Sorcerer Spells
3rd-Level Sorcerer Spells
4th-Level Sorcerer Spells
Introduction
This is my take on spell selection for sorcerers. A sorcerer must be more selective in
choosing spells than a wizard, due to limited spells known. This is not necessarily all bad though, if
you take the time to pick the right spells (and supplement them with minor scrolls and wands) you
can easily have all the right spells for any adventure and never have to go through the hassle of
preparing spells ahead of time or recording them in your spellbook. Does this mean that sorcerers
are as good as wizards? Not according to the optimizers on forums I read, but it does mean that the
objective difference is small enough that if you’re like me and have way more fun playing the
sorcerer you’re probably better off mechanically too. If you’re looking for advice on the other
aspects of playing a sorcerer (races, skills, feats, etc.) take a look here: A Quick Guide to Pathfinder
Sorcerers: Gods Don't Need Spellbooks
Lots of people have guides for sorcerer spells, and even more for wizard spells (most of which
are applicable to sorcerers). In particular I use Treantmonk’s guide to Wizards (“Being a God”) which
has very good advice on the uses of most spells on the sorcerer/wizard list as well as which ones you
should ignore completely (there are quite a few). Although this guide is enormously useful, there
are a few fundamental differences in a sorcerer’s approach to picking spells which you should keep in
mind when attempting to use this or any other guide that was originally designed for wizards. These
differences are best outlined in this excerpt taken from a sorcerer’s guide I found on the WOTC
forums (it was written for the 3.5 era but is still relevant):
“Pick Spells that have a wide range of use:
The key is to pick spells that do many jobs. Consider for a moment the Expeditious retreat
spell. The job of this spell is to increase your movement rate. This is actually a very useful
spell for wizards, and receives a recommendation in my guide. However, it does one job, and
although it does that job well, it still only does one job.
Now consider the spell mount. Mount can also give you an improved movement rating. It
can also give improved movement to a party member, or can move an unconscious PC or NPC.
It provides carrying capacity, has utility use, heck, in a jiffy you can conjure a mount in front of
you to provide cover (oh- that’s cold).
If the sorcerer is looking for a first level spell to increase movement the choice is obvious.
Expeditious retreat increases movement, but that is all it does. Mount is the spell that
performs more functions, and therefore should get preference.
This is how you must evaluate every spell. After you determine what the spell’s primary
purpose is, ask what else that spell will do for you.
Summoning, Shadow spells, Illusions, walls, polymorphs – these spells are the kings of
multi-use.
Pick spells that are not redundant with your current list
It is no secret that I love fog spells. Check my conjuration spell evaluations for wizards and I
salivate over Fog Cloud, Stinking cloud, Solid fog, etc. However, for a Sorcerer I would NEVER
take more than one of these spells. Stinking cloud and Solid fog may have some different
jobs, but some of their jobs are the same – and that is a waste.
Once you’ve determined that your spell choice has several uses (as per the first tip), then the
second step is to make sure that those uses are conspicuously missing from your current
grimoire of spells.
I also love summoning – another poorly kept secret. However, if you took Summon Monster
I, you probably shouldn’t even be considering Summon Monster II – unless you can think of
multiple unique uses the new spell brings to your tool belt. Versatility is power, but
redundancy is the opposite of versatility.
Cover your bases: Buff/Debuff/Battlefield Control/Blast/Utility

If you love to buff, by all means take Haste to your spell list. However, before you add
Greater Heroism and Mass Enlarge to your spell list, you should think again.
It’s OK to give priority to one of the primary jobs of a spellcaster. I would be loathe, for
example, to tell someone they shouldn’t give Battlefield Control a certain amount of
priority....
However, with your limited selection of spells you need to cover your bases.
Buff/Debuff/Battlefield Control/Blast/Utility: do you have them all? What’s missing? What’s
weak? These are questions you need to ask yourself. If you are a really good buffer, then
your next spell should probably increase your versatility.
Of course, the BESTEST way to achieve this involves my favourite two words when it comes to
spell selection: Multi-Threat. Why Blast when you can blast with a debuff added on for fun?
Multi threat allows you to cover more bases with less spells – the more threats – the bigger
the bargain. It’s even possible to multi-threat BUFFS. No kidding.
Remember – Specialization is for Wizards, not sorcerers

Specialization is a two-sided coin. Illusion is a great school of magic, but when you fight the
creature with blindsight it can cramp your style. Enchantment can be a one-spell battle
finisher, but immunity to mind-affecting spells can make your Enchanter into a commoner
with a staff real quickly. Negative energy debuffs are wicked – but fighting undead they are
worse than useless.
What saving throw do your spells target? What immunities can thwart them? You need to
spread out the threat of your spells, and keeping a wide variety of schools represented can
be of great help in doing this. Enchantment often targets Will. Necromancy often targets
Fortitude. Evocation often targets Ref. Ensure you have the tool for the job beforehand.
Never pick a spell that would be just as good in a wand

Remember that lower level spells that don’t have effectiveness dependant on caster level
may be just as good in a wand. A first level wand is a dirt cheap 750 gp – truly a bargain (that’s
15gp per spell). Remember that first tip where we compare Expeditious retreat and mount?
Well – I would point out that a wand of mount still gives a 2 hr duration. This will still cover
many of the jobs that the mount spell can provide (perhaps not the utility for long voyages).
That should make you consider whether you actually want to use a spell known for mount – or
spend a small amount of gold for 50 castings of the same spell.
A wand version of Summon Monster I however provides an unacceptable duration (unless
you pay the big money for a higher caster level – which makes the wand overpriced). Looking
at how the wand functions vs. A casting from your character is paramount...
While achieving the above – don’t forget to pick good spells

There are so many considerations above you can get lost in them and forget the most
important thing of all – if the spell sucks – it doesn’t matter if it is multi-threat and covers the
right saving throw, and increases your versatility at suckitude. If a spell is just bad – don’t
even consider how it fits into the other tips. Narrow your search to the good spells, and then
refine your selections. It may seem like obvious advice (and it is) – but there is so much to
remember, you can forget the most important thing of all very easily.”
Treantmonk’s Guide very much helps with the last tip by categorizing spells by usefulness, but it
doesn’t much help with the others. That is exactly where this guide comes in. Treantmonk’s guide
organizes spells by school and color codes them by usefulness. While this is probably very useful for
wizards, I think a better system for sorcerers would be to organize them by usefulness and color them
by use (Buff/Debuff/Control/Blast/Utility). I intend this guide to be as much for my own reference as
anyone else’s. Rankings mostly align with Treantmonk’s guide, where applicable. I’ve changed a few
I disagreed with, but for the most part I agree with him.
Assumption 1: You have access to NPC spellcasters if you need a spell cast and scrolls are readily
purchasable.
Assumption 2: All Paizo rules are allowed, but no 3.5 rules, houserules or unofficial errata. I do make
note in several places where variations from this assumption might change ratings.
Assumption 3: You are playing in a relatively generic campaign. An aquatic campaign, an undead
campaign or any other significant variation will change some of the recommendations dramatically.
Assumption 4: You have taken the Arcane Bloodline. This isn’t that important, except that there are
several bloodlines that add effects to spells, usually changing those spell ratings.
Assumption 5: You have read Treantmonk’s guide; most of his commentary is at least as useful as
mine, and probably more thought out. It’s not necessary, but you might want to check it out.
Key: Buff Best: get as many of these as you can. The only reason to not take
Debuff one of these is if it overlaps with another one. These are the spells
that I think every sorcerer should have, regardless of specialization.
Control
Good: Solid spells. Take them when you run out of ‘best’ spells or
Blast/Save or Lose you need to fill a specific niche.
Utility Okay: Useful spells. Take them when you’ve run out of ‘best’
Multithreat spells AND need to fill a specific niche, or maybe if you feel that
niche is really important for your character.
Scroll: This spell falls into one of the above categories for wizards,
but works best in a scroll, wand or staff for sorcerers. A lot of “cast
once per day” spells go here since sorcerers can’t do that like wizards
can.
Spell Ratings
0Level Sorcerer Spells (Cantrips)
Best spells
Detect Magic: This was one of the best cantrips in 3.5, before you could use it to identify magic items. In
pathfinder it is mandatory in all but name. I suppose if someone else in your party has it you don’t need
it, but it is still a good spell.
Prestidigitation: You can do a lot with this spell, surprisingly. Don’t underestimate unlimited minor
magical effects. Not to mention the shame of being a sorcerer who can’t conjure an army of whirlwinds
to clean a house.
Good spells
Acid Splash: If you pick up this spell, make sure to buy a flask of Acid for 10gp. Using it as a focus for the
spell increases the damage by 1. This makes it comparable to a crossbow bolt: slightly less average
damage, but generally more accurate since you’re targeting touch AC.
Daze: At level 1, you have maybe 5 first level spells per day. This is probably the most useful thing you
can do with your standard actions to avoid running out (edging out firing a crossbow and, by a narrower
margin, acid splash). You won’t be using it after a couple levels though.
Dancing Lights: Since cantrips are unlimited cast, the shorter duration versus Light doesn’t really inhibit
the usefulness of this spell. All the same, I’d prefer to not have to recast a spell every 60 seconds.
Light: You might be tempted to cast this on your staff so you can be like Gandalf. A better idea is to cast
it on a small pebble so you can chuck it into dark corners and levitate it ahead of you with
prestidigitation.
Ghost Sound: This is an incredibly useful spell. Who cares if it’s just sound if you direct it to come from
an area the target can’t see? Combine with silent image for a 2nd level spell effect. Note that this is
pretty much the only illusion spell that allows a save just for hearing it.
Okay spells
Resistance: This isn’t very useful unless you cast it every minute that you might enter combat, which
will likely annoy the other players. Resistance bonuses are common, so it won’t be useful for very long.
Detect Poison: This spell doesn’t help unless you know that someone is trying to poison you. It doesn’t
really help against creatures with poisoned weapons or natural attacks. But hey, it’s unlimited cast, if
you’re really paranoid you can easily cast it on everything that you eat or drink.
Read Magic: Not nearly as important for a sorcerer as for a wizard. Still useful for reading scrolls, but
you can do that with a Spellcraft check.
Ray of Frost: A Flask of Liquid Ice as a focus increases the damage of this spell by 1, but costs 40 gold.
Acid Splash is pretty much the same thing but cheaper and ignores spell resistance.
Spark: Replaces the need for flint and steel. Also lets you light things on fire from a short distance,
which I’m sure allows more uses for the creative (and destructive).
Mage Hand: Better telekinesis than prestidigitation, which could come in handy if your guard has a key
ring that weighs between 2 and 5 lbs.
Mending: Repair objects. Since it’s at will you can repair lots of damage. Unfortunately it has a casting
time of 10 minutes. If you have any archer buddies, they’ll appreciate you repairing their arrows, if
only because it’s such a pain to keep track of them.
Message: Short range communication via whispers. You have to be able to see the targets when you
cast the spell, but they can then move away, as long as they stay within 100 feet or so.
Open/Close: Handy for triggering trapped doors and chests if it takes more than 5lbs of force to open
them.
1stLevel Sorcerer Spells
Best spells
Mount: Remember how we discussed picking versatile spells? This one takes the cake. Use it for
increased speed, cover, trapfinding, and anything else you can think of. Makes a great wand, but at
really low levels you might want this when you can’t afford a wand, and it’s good enough that you might
just pick it up anyway. Phantom Steed is better for travel, so when you get that keep this as a wand. I
occasionally see people claim that the horse won’t attack your enemies, but I don’t see anything that
would make this the case. It is a conjuration(summoning) spell, so I would assume it would act just like
any other summoned creature, which I generally portray as attacking the caster’s enemies without fear
of death even if the caster can’t directly order them.
Color Spray: This gets my vote for number one level 1 spell at low levels. In pathfinder a level 1
sorcerer has 7+con mod hp instead of 4+con mod, this makes the prospect of moving near enemies to
cast spells on them slightly less daunting, as you might not get taken out in one blow. Don’t get
overconfident though, you’re still the squishiest character. Above level 4 this swiftly drops to useless,
but it remains useful longer than Sleep.
Silent Image: This spell depends on creativity, and creativity depends on what your DM will let you get
away with. If your DM will let you get away with it, you can probably do it with this spell. Note that the
chance of not needing a saving throw means this spell could work in a wand, if you can’t afford a spot on
your spells known list.
Vanish: Invisibility for up to 5 rounds. In combat, this is often just as good as invisibility the 2nd level
spell. At first or second level the duration isn’t quite long enough, so don’t take this right away.
Good spells
Protection from Chaos/Evil/Good/Law: The bonuses to AC and saves are nice, but there are better
spells for that. The kicker of this spell is the ability to make someone completely immune to mental
control, even after they’ve been hit by such a spell. Just make sure you keep your own will save up,
because you probably won’t be able to cast this on yourself if you need it. Also makes a good wand, but
loses facility against summoned creatures with spell resistance.
Floating Disk: The default use of this spell makes you not reliant on the barbarian to carry your loot,
which could be useful if your party has trouble with sharing. The way I read this spell, it looks like you
can direct it to move your speed as a move action. If you have a character in the party who relies
heavily on full attacks (such as a monk or rogue) you could easily net them one or more additional full
attacks by essentially giving them your move action. Since they’re three feet off the ground, you might
very well be giving them a +1 bonus on attacks for fighting from high ground to boot.
Grease: This spell is great. You’re instantly the best in the party at tripping AND disarming, and you can
make yourself or an ally basically un-grapple-able. Keep it around at higher levels to save allies from
grapples. A wand of this is unlikely to trip or disarm, but still hinders movement and helps grappled
allies.
Mage Armor: This is great to cast at the start of the day until you can afford bracers of armor +5.
Considering those cost 25000 gp it could be a while. Any druids or monks in the party will appreciate
you throwing this their way as well. A wand of this has too short a duration to use continuously, but
could still be up for several encounters.
Magic Missile: Doesn’t do great damage, but sometimes this is the only spell that can hit something.
It’s nice to have around as a backup-backup. A good choice to pick up later in the game.
Enlarge Person: Your fighter will love you forever. Reach is just that wonderful for melee. You want to
be on his good side. Works just as well in a wand, except if you cast this too often it might get
expensive.
Feather Fall: I got it because I’m paranoid, but most of the time Levitate will work just as well. A ring of
feather falling will also save you a spell known if you’re not particularly fond of your party. Thanks to
gustavo iglesias for the suggestion of using this spell to test for and expend a level of a spell turning
spell on your enemy as a swift action.
Okay spells
Shield: The duration of this spell means you’ll have to cast it in combat. It’s not worth an action unless
you’re being actively attacked, which means you either need to find a new BSF or buff him more. I
recommend you skip this since you’ll be getting better defensive buffs next level. Works just as well
from a wand.
Obscuring Mist: I don’t like this spell. It’s harder for your enemies to find you (allowing you to cast
spells that don’t require line of sight, like summoning spells), but if they come in after you this’ll hurt
your allies just as much. I’d say Vanish is flat out better. No reduced functionality if cast from a wand.
Summon Monster I: Summoning spells are great in general, but at low levels this has negligible
duration. Even if it did not, Mount is a conjuration(summoning) spell as well, only it lasts for 2 hours
and a horse is significantly tougher than every creature on this list (although it doesn’t hit as much, with
an attack bonus 3 less than most of these creatures). If you do end up picking it up, the best critter on
the list is the Eagle with three natural attacks and a fly speed of 80.
Charm Person: You fight humanoids a lot in most campaigns, but Color Spray targets the same save and
affects more than one creature. This is useful out of combat if no one in the party is good with
diplomacy, although in this case you might consider investing a few ranks in it since your charisma will
go a long way. Note that if cast in a fight the target probably gets a +5 on its save, and even if it fails its
course of action is not well defined. Depending on your DM, it may still interfere with your attacks
against its allies, attack your allies, or worst of all, if it trusts its allies judgement more than yours it may
continue to attack you at no penalty. This makes it primarily useful out of combat.
Sleep: You’ll want to replace this spell long before you get to 4th level. Color Spray is better from level
2 onward and isn’t much worse at level 1, so you should seriously consider picking it over this one.
Burning Hands: Color Spray is better unless you’re fighting creatures with immunity to mind affecting
spells. If, for example, you’re in an undead-heavy campaign you might consider this. Alternatively, if
you play a human tattooed sorcerer you can start the game with Varisian Tattoo and Spell Specialization
and deal 4d4 damage with this spell, which will take out most creatures with CR less than 1. This is an
acceptable route if you’re aiming to build a blaster. The reason this is orange is the level of focus
necessary to optimize it.
Hydraulic Push: Bull rush a target using your caster level + primary ability score. I am given to
understand that after around level 5 the tougher enemies will have more than 50% chance of resisting
this, but it will still be useful on flimsier enemies. Use it to push enemies back into your ongoing area
spells once they’ve escaped, escape a grapple, near a cliff, lots of uses. The limiting factor is that you
probably won’t be able to push your target more than one or two squares.
Illusion of Calm: Don’t provoke opportunity attacks from anything unless an opponent hits you AND
makes a save. It’s not a bad effect; the question is whether you want to spend an action to cast it.
Vanish is probably more useful.
Cause Fear: I tend to avoid spells with an HD cap, as a general rule. You’ll want to replace them when
their usefulness runs out, and you only have so many spell swaps in your career. If your DM is more
generous with retraining spells, this is more viable, but Color Spray is still better.
Air Bubble: Water Breathing mini. Added utility if anyone in the party uses firearms. A wand could
work, but you can likely hold your breath longer than the 1 minute that the spell would last. You could
try holding your breath as long as you could before casting this spell for an extension. No verbal
component probably makes it easier to cast underwater.
Expeditious Retreat: Mount is generally more useful. In the short term this is just as good from a wand.
Snapdragon Fireworks: Does piddly damage, but allows you to keep damaging targets every round. If
you apply metamagic feats like Dazing Spell this can be useful, but that’s a 4th level spell slot and only
stuns a single target for one round.
Touch of the Sea: Grant target swim speed of 30ft. Circumstantial unless you play in an aquatic
campaign. Can get the benefit for 10 rounds with a wand, which might be all you need.
True Strike: Although this spell is meant to be used on attack rolls (and you can certainly use it that way,
if you really, really need to hit something) it can also be applied to combat maneuvers. You probably
aren’t very good at combat maneuvers, but it’s hard to fail with a +20 on the check, especially at low
levels.
Scrolls, wands or staffs
Endure Elements: You’ll know if you need this spell or not, usually. A wand will get you the most bang
for your buck, since you can cast it on the whole party every day. If you’re playing in a desert or arctic
campaign, this might not be financially viable, but you still don’t have spell slots to spare on this spell.
Comprehend Languages: This is a perfect scroll candidate. You won’t need it until you need it.
Detect Secret Doors: It only lasts a minute, so you can only use it when you already know there’s a
secret door nearby.
Detect Undead: Usually you know when you face undead. If your campaign features prominently
undead that disguise themselves as the living I can see taking this spell.
Identify: Only marginally more useful than Detect Magic. Just hire someone to cast this spell if you
need it, which you probably won’t.
Infernal Healing: Seriously? A sorcerer can have a healing spell? What’s with that? If you don’t have
the Use Magic Device skill you probably want this as a wand, and even if you do it’s better for out of
combat healing than Cure Light Wounds if you don’t mind the evil fluff. If your DM allows select 3.5
spells, like mine, try and get Lesser Vigor instead; those spells are some of my favorite 3.5 spells that
didn’t make it into Pathfinder.
Disguise Self: If you need to do short-term espionage, this spell is potentially useful. A hat of disguise
is really cheap and allows you to have the same benefits all day long.
2ndLevel Sorcerer Spells
Best spells
Glitterdust: The double-duty nature of this spell basically makes it mandatory for Sorcerers. The save
every round means the targets will likely recover before the end of the duration, but if your save DC is
high enough it should buy your party enough time to do plenty of damage.
Invisibility: Turn invisible. Summon Monsters. Buff party. ???. Win fight. The moderate duration
might even let you stay invisible for multiple fights. Naturally if you took vanish this drops in priority,
but you’ll probably want to get it eventually to cast on the party scout.
Mirror Image: Sorcerers probably want to pick up the more versatile defensive buffs like levitate and
invisibility first, making this one redundant despite its effectiveness. Pick it up later because it only
increases in usefulness with levels. There aren’t that many great 2nd level spells anyway.
Levitate: Treantmonk says this is trumped by fly, but I disagree. Levitate has all the defensive and
utility advantages of fly at a lower (and much less valuable) level. The only additional use I can think of
for fly would be getting the fighter to a flying enemy, but SMIII can do that just fine with a Dire Bat.
Good spells
Create Pit: Creates a small pit that will be very difficult to escape from if the target doesn’t have any
ranks in climb. Although the pit will not be especially deep, it threatens a pretty big area.
Mount, Communal: In addition to no one in your party needing horses, this can also be used as a very
effective battlefield control. Horses provide cover, block enemy movement and at least try to attack
enemies, although they’ll probably not be too effective at it. My favorite nickname for this spell is
“wall of horseflesh”.
Stone Call: Deal 2d6 damage (no save) and create difficult terrain in a 40ft radius! The size of the effect
is the seller for me. A good candidate for the Dazing Spell feat.
Web: The anchor points could be a problem if you want to cast this spell in a wide open area, but
usually won’t be. Enemies stuck in the web are immobilized, and the area is difficult terrain and blocks
line of sight pretty well, making this an all around useful battlefield control spell.
Burning Gaze: The gaze attack is a terrible use of your standard action, so why is this spell green? If you
have a familiar you can have the spell affect it instead of you, allowing it to contribute something
meaningful to the fight every round. Dazing Spell makes your familiar downright dangerous.
Hideous Laughter: Single target save or lose, although it allows a second saving throw after a round. It
has no hit dice limit, but a few caveats that make using this spell on non-humanoid targets a pain.
Oppressive Boredom: Allows more saves than Hideous Laughter, but affects any creature type.
Burning Arc: A blast spell, but one that hits multiple targets and still does half damage on a successful
reflex save. Almost like a hybrid of fireball and scorching ray, in a way that isn’t flattering to the latter.
Flaming Sphere: Buffed from 3.5, I like it now. Despite Treantmonk’s dislike of blasts I prefer to keep a
few on hand, generally one per spell level. Burning Arc does more damage up front, but Flaming
Sphere keeps on giving round after round, so the choice between the two really depends on how long
you expect combat to last.
Haunting Mists: Basically a Fog Cloud spell that imposes the shaken condition while enemies are inside
(and some minor wis damage). Despite being illusory, even if a target succeeds on its will save, they
still can’t see through the mist. The 20 foot range is a bit limiting, so be warned.
Minor Image: Personally, I have just as many 1st level spells that I want as 2nd level spells, so I prefer this
over Silent Image. If you have Ghost Sound, it interacts with Silent Image to imitate this spell, but doing
so requires two standard actions. I also feel like the concentration+2 duration gives this spell extra
usefulness over Silent Image.
Blindness/Deafness: Blind is a great status infliction, but you won’t usually care about the duration past
a few rounds and Glitterdust hits many targets, making it the spell of choice here.
Okay spells
Protection from Evil, Communal: This will usually last the whole combat, but requires you to touch all of
your allies. It’s a whole level lower than Magic Circle Against Evil. You might want to pick up Magic
Circle Against Evil in order to prepare for eventually casting the Planar Binding line of spells, in which
case you should skip this.
Dust of Twilight: Kind of a reverse glitterdust, but fatigues instead of blinds and doesn’t reveal invisible
creatures. Generally weak on its own, but one of the few spells that fatigues targets that stacks with
itself. Cast it twice to apply the debilitating exhausted condition! The only downside is the saving
throws. Minor utility if you need to dispel light sources, if you have darkvision for example or need to
make an escape. This would be green, except that the enemies most vulnerable to fatigue are also the
ones most likely to make their fort save.
Summon Monster II: I find it interesting that you can summon a light horse for 1 round per level with
this spell, while you can summon basically the same thing for 2 hours per level with Mount, a level 1
spell. Nevertheless, there are several ok options here and horses are probably the worst choice. Small
Earth Elementals have good to-hit and damage against grounded enemies, while Mud Elementals can
entangle and immobilize. I much prefer Communal Mount just for sheer battlefield control.
Nevertheless, this spell has some good grapplers like the Giant Frog.
Detect Thoughts: “I know your secret!” – this usually works, although the helpfulness of the result
varies.
Darkness: If everyone in your party has darkvision, this spell can effectively be mass invisibility.
Otherwise don’t bother.
Scorching Ray: Requires a touch attack for unevenly-scaling damage against a single target. Burning Arc
is pretty much strictly better.
Command Undead: If you fight a lot of undead this spell can have them following you around attacking
your enemies for days. Mandatory for any would-be necromancer, but circumstantial for anyone else.
False Life: Gives you less hp than cure moderate wounds, but does so preemptively, which is good
because you’re squishy. The other defensive spells at this level help you get hit less often, which is
better, but this one can be cast before combat.
Limp Lash: Take one creature out of the fight with no save. The only downside is that you must keep
one hand on the magical whip created by the spell or else it ends. The phrasing of this spell is odd, and
I worry I may be misinterpreting it.
Alter Self: Get darkvision, scent or a swim speed, or make yourself small to buff AC. Can also be used
for a disguise. The 1 minute/level duration is a drag. A Greater Hat of Disguise gives you this benefit all
day long, when you can afford the 12000gp price tag.
Codespeak: Speak in code with your allies. Because this spell grants the targets the ability to speak the
language, it would appear that you can use it to talk to creatures with whom you don’t share a language
or that don’t speak a language at all, like summoned celestial animals.
Darkvision: There are magic items that do this. Useful if you need darkvision all day long for some
reason, otherwise I recommend getting Alter Self or a torch.
Pyrotechnics: This spell gets rave reviews, but I’ve had trouble figuring out how you’re supposed to get
a fire source near an enemy without wasting a standard action. My best plan is Flaming Sphere. The
radius of the blinding effect is trouble, since you won’t be able to place it strategically.
Staggering Fall: At first glance, this looks like a skip-able spell. However, the immediate action casting
time gives it a niche. Combine it with Grease or a trip-happy fighter for a free chance at staggering the
target. I’m not really sure if it’s supposed to allow a fort save or a will save.
Whispering Wind: Range is limited, although better than Message. The big restriction is that it can only
target an area instead of a creature.
Resist Energy: Makes a great scroll, even though caster level is a factor. Although this spell is
circumstantial, it’s a circumstance that comes up a lot. I recommend getting a scroll of Communal Resist
Energy at caster level 7, as it affects the whole party and is cheaper than two or more scrolls of Resist
Energy at caster level 7.
Gust of Wind: Blows away fog spells, which can be deadly. Maybe keep a scroll of this handy, not
common enough for a wand.
Knock: If you don’t have a rogue or you want to make him feel useless, this makes a great wand.
Make Whole: The main advantage over mending is that this can repair broken magic items. You can
probably just hire someone to cast this for you if you need it.
Rope Trick: If you really need it, get a wand or staff of this with caster level 8. Make the other
characters chip in. You can’t really afford to put this on your spells known list.
3rdLevel Sorcerer Spells
Best spells
Phantom Steed: A significant improvement over a mundane mount, this spell gradually improves as
you gain levels. Eventually it will be able to fly all day at speed 100, eclipsing all forms of transport
short of teleportation. Be careful about using them in combat, since their low defenses and hp will get
them killed pretty quick.
Stinking Cloud: Nauseated is one of the best debuffs short of stunned or unconscious. Any creature
that fails their save will be unable to contribute to the fight in any meaningful way for 1d4+1 rounds.
Summon Monster III: The cheetah/leopard are my favorites for combat, with their good natural attacks,
AC and pounce and rake abilities. Dire Bats have large size, a fly speed, blindsense and more hp.
Lantern Archons attack touch AC, ignore DR and have truespeech and a couple useful SLAs. Crocodile
has a nasty grapple. Pretty much all the Summon Monster spells from here on are worth taking.
Usually you get some respectable damage in, but at worst they absorb a few hits that otherwise would
have gone to the party. Most of them also have some good utility too, covering all the spell-like
abilities of all the creatures you can summon with a single spell is a good deal for a sorcerer. Much of
my advice on summon spells matches Professor Q’s advice in the summoning section of his Wizard
Guide, so if summoning is your thing I urge you to check there so I don’t have to copy paste everything.
Haste: It may be a buff, but it does so much damage you’ll feel like it’s a blast. If you have less than
three martial characters in the party, consider summoning something before casting this to get more
bang for your buck.
Slow: Not quite as good as nauseated, but still gives your team the edge. It also lasts longer, targets
will and doesn’t risk targeting allies, making it not entirely redundant with Stinking Cloud.
Paragon Surge: I have preemptively banned this spell from all games that I DM. I definitely don’t want
to start another thread arguing about this, there are too many of those and my feelings are set.
Good spells
Dispel Magic: Nerfed from 3.5. I have to say that I like how they changed these spells, although it
means this isn’t the powerhouse it once was. This spell is still useful for dispelling annoying area
affects or other spells, although it’s not a sure thing.
Magic Circle against Chaos/Evil/Good/Law: Good for the same reasons Protection from Evil is good,
except now it applies to your whole party. This spell is also useful for Planar Binding later on, if you’re
interested in that.
Aqueous Orb: Does a little bit of damage and swallows up targets until they save against the spell.
Then you can turn the orb around and swallow them up again. It doesn’t last long enough for most
enemies to risk drowning. You can move the target around a bit, which could be used to move enemies
back into other ongoing spells like Stinking Cloud.
Mad Monkeys: This spell will deal a consistent 2d6 damage every round (no attack roll), attempt a
disarm, and potentially nauseate and deafen a single target. They take up a 10ft by 10ft area and move
as you direct. With Augment Summoning their distraction DC is 16, which is good when you first get this
spell but doesn’t scale. This spell is very competitive with SMIII for in-combat usage.
Sleet Storm: Hinders movement as well as vision. Seems a bit underwhelming at this level.
Chain of Perdition: Make one of a variety of combat maneuvers each round. You can already do some
of these with lower level spells, but this falls into the category of spells that keep on giving every
round.
Heatstroke: as Ray of Exhaustion but also deals 1d4 nonlethal damage. Creatures wearing armor of any
sort (or heavy clothing) get a -4 on the save. There don’t seem to be any downsides, although it is a
[fire] effect so perhaps it doesn’t work on creatures immune to fire?
Major Image: I value the addition of thermal illusions a little more than Treantmonk. Your enemies
don’t get a save against the spell unless they interact with it, and they’re that much less likely to
interact with it if it looks like it’s on fire. Remember that you should really only have one of these
image spells.
Ray of Exhaustion: Exhausted is a pretty good debuff, but the seller here is they’re still fatigued if they
make the save.
Burrow: The ability to travel through the ground is very useful. Probably not as good as Fly for a
defensive buff, since the hole stays open for one round. On the other hand, that makes it a better
utility, since the target can take others with them.
Fly: Treantmonk ranks this spell very highly, but I’d like to point out that you get most of the utility of
this spell from levitate, and summoning a Dire Bat with SMIII can give you short-term mobility if, for
example, you need to get the BSF next to a flying enemy. Overland Flight obviates the need to cast this
on yourself, which you might be getting soon since fly probably is your 3rd or 4th choice spell at best.
This is still a good spell, you just have to weigh your options to decide if it is worth it, especially with so
many other good spells at this level.
Shifting Sand: Interfere with movement and potentially knock enemies prone. The advantage of this
over another movement-inhibiting spell is that you can move the area, along with any entangled or
prone creature in it, as a move action. The penalty to acrobatics could come in handy if you use this
near difficult terrain or in conjunction with a grease spell.
Shrink Item: I played D&D for years without paying any attention to this spell. It’s a lot better than it
sounds. Carry around siege weapons, boats and small barricades in your pockets. Make sleight of hand
checks to hide objects all but assured.
Okay spells
Ablative Sphere: +8 AC and reflex and improved evasion while your sphere is up. If it isn’t up then
either they spent actions (probably more than one) hacking away at it or it just protected you from a
nasty area effect. Not a bad deal. That said you might be better off with Mirror Image and a summoned
monster or two.
Tiny Hut: Can be used as a camp spell, but is also useful in combat because of the one-way viewing
nature of the hemisphere. Doesn’t stop anything from passing through though, so of questionable
value
Clairaudience/Clairvoyance: Lets you see what’s around the corner.
Deep Slumber: Once again, I tend to avoid spells with HD caps.
Heroism: +2 to attack rolls, saves and skill checks, but only affects a single target. Haste is better in
general (even on a single target), but this stacks with it.
Rage: Lasts for 1 round per level without concentrating, so don’t bother concentrating in combat. Not
as good a buff as Haste, but gives morale bonuses which stack with just about everything.
Suggestion: A fun spell for the creative. Enchanting enthusiasts may pick this up, but most sorcerers
will pass.
Fireball: Does pretty good damage in a large area. A good blast spell if your allies don’t like to flank
enemies or various other ways in which they can sabotage area spells, since you’ll likely be buffing or
debuffing on the first round or two.
Force Punch: Requires a melee touch attack, but does ok force damage and pushes the target a
significant distance. This is nice, because if you’re close enough to use this spell you want the target to
end up far away from you. You can also use this to push enemies back into ongoing area effects. I think
Aqueous Orb is better in general, but this can affect incorporeal creatures.
Wind Wall: Blocks all normal-sized ranged attacks, small creatures and gasses. Seems circumstantial,
but you fight archers a lot.
Displacement: Mirror image, invisibility and levitate are all defensive buffs that are probably higher on
your priority list than this. This one is good, but consider carefully how many defensive buffs you really
need. This one can better affect your party.
Halt Undead: Three intelligent undead save or lose. Unintelligent undead just lose. Good if you fight
undead frequently. Consider Command Undead, which has a similar effect against only one target but
lasts a whole lot longer.
Vampiric Touch: Damage an enemy and gain temp hp with no save. Seems like a good deal, except that
it requires you getting up close and personal with said enemy, which isn’t so great.
Darkvision, Communal: If your party spends a great deal of time in the dark and some members don’t
have darkvision, you might want to consider this spell instead of a light source.
Magic Weapon, Greater: This spell lasts all day long. That said, dedicated martial characters will
probably have an enhancement bonus on their primary weapon, with which this does not stack. Monks
will appreciate this spell, but they can get enhancement bonuses through other means. This limits the
usefulness of this spell.
Monstrous Physique I: You can get +3 AC, darkvision, scent and a variety of movement modes while
retaining your spellcasting. It’s not glamorous, but it has utility.
Tongues: I don’t recommend this spell for every campaign, since SMIII can summon a lantern archon
with truespeech, but if your setting has many languages and you often go on diplomacy missions I can
see this spell as useful. If the creatures you are diplomacizing would not appreciate a lantern archon
intermediary, then consider this spell. If you only occasionally participate in diplomacy missions, a
scroll may serve your needs just fine.
Undead Anatomy I: This would be a fantastic spell, except that you’re not allowed to take the form of
anything with a template with a polymorph spell. I’m convinced that the intention of this spell was to
allow the basic templates that make creatures undead like zombie, skeleton and vampire since it lists
zombies and skeletons among the example forms you can adopt in the spell. Nevertheless, by RAW
this is a mediocre spell.
Communal Resist Energy: If you get a scroll or two of this at caster level 7, you’re set for any dragons
that might poke their noses your way.
Water Breathing: Nice if you’re in an aquatic campaign, otherwise leave it to the prepared casters.
4thLevel Sorcerer Spells
Best spells
Summon Monster IV: Tons of great and deadly creatures here: Lions are an upgraded cat, which are
always good for dpr. Hound archons have cool perks. Mephits have a variety of SLAs you can make use
of. Much of my advice on summon spells matches Professor Q’s advice in the summoning section of his
Wizard Guide, so if summoning is your thing I urge you to check there so I don’t have to copy paste
everything.
Confusion: Really good against large numbers of enemies. Although there is a 25% chance for an
affected creature to act normally, enemies who are attacked automatically attack back. Thus, only a
few of them need to attack each other before the whole group dissolves into chaos. This spell is fully
deserving of its name.
Good spells
Black Tentacles: No save, no spell resistance. This spell wins fights against casters. Be sure to pick up
some tanglefoot bags as an optional material component and reroll if you fail to affect a creature. Still,
as you gain levels, more and more creatures will have too high a CMD to be affected by this. The
grapple checks of summoned monsters scales much better, but this affects an area and doesn’t require
higher level spells.
Dimension Door: Ever wished you could just be somewhere else nearby without having to go through
all the trouble of walking there? This spell is the king of tactical teleportation. 400ft+40ft/level is a
very long distance on the tactical scale. Avoid AoOs, escape pit traps, cross chasms, the uses are
endless! I really wish you could use this to escape grapples, but the concentration check is just going to
be too hard (in my home campaigns this is remedied with house rules).
Arcane Eye: Much of the divination school is about finding out what’s around the next corner. This spell
will let you find out what’s around ALL THE CORNERS!
Phantom Chariot: A higher level replacement for Phantom Steed, this spell can carry the whole party
with a single casting. It’s also a bit fancier, if your sorcerer is the vain type (no shame in that). Not as
useful in combat, although Phantom Steeds can be killed just as easily.
Phantom Steed, Communal: Just like Phantom Chariot, except the riders have more individual mobility
and it doesn’t last as long.
Ball Lightning: Like flaming sphere except with multiple orbs and electricity damage, and some targets
get a -4 to save. Definitely worth the level increase. This spell is amazing with Dazing Spell applied.
Dragon’s Breath: This spell does plain damage, and the area isn’t as good as some 3rd level spells. The
redeeming feature is that you can choose the damage type, as well as between line or cone spreads.
Resilient Sphere: Remove a single target, allied or not, from the fight. Seems circumstantial as
anything other than a save-or-lose. At this level a solid save-or-lose isn’t too bad though.
Wall of Ice: The first solid wall spell. Even when broken through it still does damage to creatures who
pass through it. It can also be placed at any angle, even horizontal, for bridging gaps and the like.
Pretty good wall spell all around. Wall of Stone is better, of course, but it’s a level higher. Watch out
for the reflex save enemies get to disrupt this.
Telekinetic Charge: You get an ally to where they need to be and they get a free attack to boot. This is
great to get a melee ally next to an enemy who’s out of reach. The short range means you’ll be within
45ft or so, although you can apply the Reach Spell feat to dramatically increase the utility of this spell.
Shadow Conjuration: Enemies who succeed on their saves will laugh at the piddly effects of this spell.
On the other hand, conjuration has many useful utility spells which work just fine on your allies
(Grease, Mage Armor, Mount, Summon Monster III, Phantom Steed, just to name a few). If you don’t
mind being a little inefficient with your spell levels, you can cover all those spells with just this one!
Enervation: Target gains 1d4 negative levels, no save. Comparable with ray of exhaustion, except the
negative levels stack. I nab this for a single target and Confusion for many targets. Good synergy. Note
that the negative levels impose a penalty to saves, which makes this a great precursor to a more
dangerous spell.
Boneshatter: Like Ray of Exhaustion that deals 1d6 damage per caster level. It also doesn’t require an
attack roll. I think it’s worth one level higher slot.
Elemental Body I: If your DM allows you to cast in this form, it is great, otherwise it’s not. I’d say yes, it
doesn’t hurt to ask. It’s not terrible for utility anyway.
Stone Shape: Exactly what it says on the tin. Shape a moderate amount of stone into almost any
desired shape. Almost as good as Wall of Stone in areas made of stone, with the added utility of being
able to carve through stone walls. Enough different that I wouldn’t shy away from getting both of them.
Okay spells
Scrying: If you’re into divination, this is a standard. Otherwise you can get the same effect with a
Crystal Ball or by hiring a wizard.
Charm Monster: If you like this, retrain Charm Person. You don’t need both. Like Charm Person, this
spell suffers from some ambiguity as to what exactly the target will do.
Geas, Lesser: If you want to force someone to do something, this is sort of useful.
Ice Storm: Does some damage and inhibits some movement. Not quite what I would expect from a
spell at this level.
Hallucinatory Terrain: Reshape a huge area of the battlefield to your liking. Unfortunately the extent to
which you can reshape the battlefield is limited to natural terrain, and enemies get a save to ignore it.
Luckily this still includes things like chasms and hedges for cover and other ways to control the
battlefield. In addition to the huge area, this spell has a duration of 2 hours per level, which could
come in handy.
Shocking Image: As mirror image, but the images do 2d6 electricity damage when destroyed with a
melee attack. The damage is a nice disincentive to attack you, but since it doesn’t affect ranged attacks
and you should be doing your best to stay out of melee, this isn’t quite worth the level increase. This
spell might be better as a 7th level spell with Dazing applied to it, but it’s still a bit high level for the
effect.
Animate Dead: Wizards can prepare this spell when they have bodies to reanimate, sorcerers don’t
have that luxury. Doesn’t mean you can’t take this spell, it just hurts more.
False Life, Greater: As with false life, a mediocre self buff, but long lasting and not terrible. If you have
Empower Spell you can apply it to False Life for more or less the same effect, or you can swap it out for
another spell. Do NOT spend spells known for both of them.
Darkvision, Greater: In an underdark campaign, this will give you longer range darkvision than most
other people you’ll meet, which is a distinct advantage. Incredibly circumstantial elsewhere.
Firefall: The damage is kind of wimpy, but the area is massive and it also blinds creatures. As with
Pyrotechnics, the thing I’m worried about with this spell is avoiding being blinded myself.
Enlarge Person, Mass: If you only have one BSF obviously don’t get this. If you have three BSFs then
this spell starts to look appealing.
Ride the Waves: All day swim speed and water breathing. Castable on anyone. This spell trumps all the
similar spells, but is still much better in an aquatic campaign.
Dimensional Anchor: Use it to stop teleporting enemies from escaping. Also used to keep teleporting
enemies contained when using Planar Binding spells.
Best spells
Planar Binding, Lesser: kind of like a summoning spell, only you have to take some time to set it up and
it lasts for 1 day per level. Oh, and the creature might come back for revenge. They’re only up to 6HD
so it shouldn’t be a problem if they come after you, but all the same, use this with caution if you have a
dick for a DM. Sorcerers’ high charisma makes this spell easier for them than for wizards. The HD limit
makes this spell of little use in combat, but you can gain access to such a wide variety of useful abilities
that it’s worth taking anyway. Note that you need a magic circle spell to pull this off, and a dimensional
anchor spell to stop teleporting creatures, so if you don’t have access to these spells you should skip
this spell, as awesome as it is. Hopefully someone in your party can cast them, otherwise you might
have to buy scrolls or even pick them up as spells known if you plan on casting this often.
Wall of Stone: Walls are the least of the things you can make with this fantastic spell. Entrap creatures
in stone for what is effectively a mass save or lose that targets reflex. This in itself is enough of a
reason to take this spell. The only downside is that it has to be anchored in existing stone, meaning
that there are some places this spell won’t work.
Magic Jar: Take over enemies’ bodies and make them attack each other. Explore areas that you
wouldn’t otherwise be allowed in. There are several quite deadly uses for this spell.
Overland Flight: Final nail in the coffin of Fly for me since the arcane bloodline grants this spell for free.
You still might want this spell even if you don’t have that bloodline. You might still want Fly to cast on
other people though. Casting Haste at the beginning of combat (you do that, right?) will leave you with
plenty of movement speed.
Good spells
Stoneskin, Communal: Cheaper than its predecessor, you should still save this spell for hard fights. If it
were me, I’d make my party pay for their own material components.
Summon Monster V: Dire Lion is the new cat, which is still the best damage dealer, although the Babau
gives it a run for its money if you can get sneak attack. Anklyosaurus and Large Earth Elemental have
good combat maneuvers. If you look at lower level lists you can summon 1d4+1 lantern archons for
~7d6 damage per round against creatures with low touch AC. Much of my advice on summon spells
matches Professor Q’s advice in the summoning section of his Wizard Guide, so if summoning is your
thing I urge you to check there so I don’t have to copy paste everything.
Teleport: If someone else can cast this, let them. Otherwise you’re probably going to need to get it,
despite the infrequency of its probable use.
Dominate Person: If you like enchantment, this spell is your first taste of the powerful dominate
effects. The long duration means you’ll have your thrall for a good length of time. Avoid giving orders
that contradict the subject’s nature, if you can. If your DM’s idea of ‘actions against its nature’ is
everything you tell it to do, you should give this spell a pass.
Icy Prison: A single target save or lose that targets reflex, which does minimal damage and entangles
the target even if they succeed on their save. It has a long duration unless the target or an ally spends
actions to free it. The damage is minor, but occurs every round with no save, so it can add up.
Wall of Force: This is the other wall spell of note at this level. Its uses are far more limited than Wall of
Stone, but it is virtually indestructible and does not require stone anchoring, making it worth
mentioning. I’ve seen several places where people have claimed that this wall can be placed
horizontally, but I don’t see it in the wording of the spell.
Mirage Arcana: This illusion will cover the whole battlefield. Create fortresses, chasms, battleships,
tanks, anything. If they fail their save, you decide what the battlefield looks like. This is a powerful
strategic tool. This spell has a duration of concentration + 1 hour per level.
Persistent Image: Like Major Image? Don’t like spending your standard actions concentrating on it?
This spell is for you!
Phantasmal Web: Kind of like Web that targets will mixed with Stinking Cloud, only it doesn’t affect
allies. It’s a bit high level for the number of saves it allows, and there are many good spells at this
level.
Baleful Polymorph: Save or lose that targets fort. Turning people into snails is pretty damn
entertaining.
Telekinesis: With this spell you can lift and move around heavy creatures and objects. Alternatively
you can expend the spell in one round to fling everything near you at something else within range. You
can also perform several combat maneuvers which I find to be unimpressive since they are easily
replicated by lower level spells you might already have, or summoned monsters. Overall this is a
strong spell.
Transmute Rock to Mud: Reduces landbound targets to 5ft movement speed. At this level, there are
plenty of enemies who can fly, so be wary about relying on this. On the other hand, there’s no saving
throw. I see no reason why the collapsing ceiling variation wouldn’t also impose the movement
penalties, since creatures of size large or smaller are likely hip deep. You can revert the mud to stone
and get the creatures in it stuck with either Transmute Mud to Rock or Dispel Magic. Frankly, I
recommend the latter. I hope my reasoning is obvious.
Okay spells
Wreath of Blades: Another spell that is more useful to cast on your familiar (if you have one) than on
yourself. This effectively gives you a 15ft by 15ft ongoing damage zone that you can move about at will.
Hungry Pit: This pit gets much deeper than it’s predecessors, and is even harder to climb out of. Even if
a target is good at climbing, it’ll take them multiple rounds to get out. The pit isn’t any wider than the
previous ones, which I view as a drawback.
Prying Eyes: An improved version of Arcane Eye, it just does the same thing only faster and longer.
Telepathic Bond: I don’t like this spell. Have everyone in the party invest a rank in linguistics for some
obscure language if enemies overhearing your plans is a problem. Otherwise there are a couple
distance communication spells I think would serve just as well, like Sending.
Hold Monster: Single target save or lose that targets will, only the target gets another save every round.
I’d be looking for something better at this level.
Cone of Cold: Fairly large area, but limited by being close to you. Pure blast.
Fire Snake: A pure blast with which you can avoid your allies.
Suffocation: a single target save or lose that targets fort. The advantage of this spell over baleful
polymorph is that this spell staggers the target for a round even if they succeed on their save. The
disadvantage is that it doesn’t affect creatures that don’t need to breathe. Also, not as funny as turning
people into snails.
Sending: Long distance communication that even works across planes (usually). If you really need to
contact someone, this is the spell to do it.
Waves of Fatigue: Fatigue isn’t that great a debuff, even when it’s applied en-mass with no saving
throw. I’d much rather throw something like Phantasmal Web at a group of enemies and see how many
fail their saves.
Polymorph: Recreate a variety of lower level shapeshifting spells, and also use them on others.
Turning the fighter into a large animal is more useful than turning yourself into a large animal.
Unfortunately the loss of the ability to use weapons is probably hurtful, making this a mediocre buff.
Still, plenty of utility options. I want to note that it makes sense to allow Monstrous Physique II, Vermin
Shape I and Undead Anatomy I to be recreated by this spell, since they were released after Polymorph
and are the same level as the other polymorph subschool spells Polymorph recreates. This would
increase the usefulness of this spell dramatically, as Monstrous Physique allows a large form with both
casting and equipment use. Treat this spell as green or even blue if your DM allows this.
Undead Anatomy II: The text of this spell convinces me even more that the creators of this spell
intended the caster to be able to take the form of creatures with the vampire template. The only form
that this spell allows that is vulnerable to sunlight is a bodak, and you gain very little benefit from this
form. Additionally, I don’t know of any other undead with the blood drain or shadowless abilities.
Nevertheless, by RAW the number of forms allowed by this spell is too limited to be of much use. You
DO get a +4 untyped bonus to saves against mind-affecting effects, disease, poison, sleep, and stunning
which saves this spell from being red.
Break Enchantment: An advanced version of Dispel Magic with a 1 minute casting time. It has its uses,
but they are few and far between. Hire a wizard to cast it when you need it or buy a scroll.
Life Bubble: Basically every environmental protection spell in one. Nice to have if you plan on going
into outer space or the bottom of the ocean.
Mage's Private Sanctum: No one can spy on you! This spell is great assuming people spy on you all the
time. Considering that’s unlikely, this spell is circumstantial.
False Vision: Unless your DM likes to have enemies scry you a lot skip this.
Planar Adaptation: Nice for exploring dangerous planes, but you don’t want it as a spell known unless
your campaign takes place on such a plane.
Permanency: A fantastic spell characterized by the infrequency with which you cast it. Hire a wizard.
Best spells
Planar Binding: Any experienced DM will be ready for the caster to try to break the game with this spell.
Don’t summon an Efreet for the wishes, it’s a trap (or, if not, can easily ruin the game). Still a great
spell without abusing it, treat it like a long-duration summoning spell with more utility options. There
are many creatures with fantastic spell like abilities and great combat stats which will contribute a lot to
the party. Guides have been written about this spell alone.
Summon Monster VI: Once again, the new cat, Dire Tiger, is the best damage dealer. In a surprise twist,
they’re also the best tank and grappler. If that’s not what you need, the huge earth elemental (also a
good tank) has greater bull rush, while Lillend Azatas have half power bardic performance and Succubi
have cool SLAs. Much of my advice on summon spells matches Professor Q’s advice in the summoning
section of his Wizard Guide, so if summoning is your thing I urge you to check there so I don’t have to
copy paste everything.
Contingency: A wonderful spell that allows you to effectively cast a spell as a free action on anyone’s
turn with a triggering condition. Limited to spells that target you, but that’s a large category. Mirror
Image, Invisibility, Dimension Door are all good options.
Programmed Image: This spell is almost broken, it’s so good. You can theoretically cast it an unlimited
number of times on off days and then bring any number of them into effect as a free action.
Good spells
Dispel Magic, Greater: Unlike Dispel Magic, this spell hasn’t been nerfed, and is still a great spell which
you should bring to any fight with a spellcaster.
Suggestion, Mass: Assuming your DM has a generous interpretation of what a ‘tempting’ suggestion is,
you can use this spell to great effect on a hoard of enemies. Otherwise, look elsewhere.
Chain Lightning: Does good damage to a large number of enemies without endangering your allies.
This is about as good as it gets for blasts, so if you like blasting start picking up metamagic feats and
putting them on this spell. Higher level blasts are not really worth using.
Forceful Hand: The first good Bigby’s hand spell. Unlike Interposing Hand (which is really just a
trumped up shield spell), this spell does something useful, namely push the target away fairly well, and
repeatedly for the duration.
Sirocco: Essentially an upgrade from Waves of Fatigue. Does mediocre damage and can knock enemies
prone, but automatically causes fatigue regardless of the saving throw. Unlike Waves of Fatigue, this
fatigue does stack with itself into exhaustion, and will do so with a single casting of the spell if they
remain in the area (or are forced back into it).
Form of the Dragon I: This is one of the few core polymorph spells that allows you to continue casting.
It also gives you some nice bonuses, including flight, darkvision, natural armor, increased con and
energy resistance. You won’t have the wizard’s problem with the spell component pouch merging with
your body unless you have an archetype that loses Eschew Materials.
Okay spells
Antimagic Field: You probably won’t see much use out of this spell unless you go Arcane Archer.
Greater Dispel Magic has some of the same functionality with less negative repercussions.
Battlemind Link: The short duration inhibits this otherwise useful spell. If you can predict when combat
will begin, you can use it to improve your chances of a good initiative score. If you have an allied
spellcaster you can use it to improve your odds on save-or-lose spells. If neither of these things are
true, you can cast it on your familiar and the BSF to give him a better chance of hitting.
True Seeing: You can see through most illusions. I think in most cases it would be more useful to cast
dispel magic or greater on them instead.
Cloak of Dreams: Circumstantially useful to cast on yourself. It doesn’t stop them from getting near
you, but it will make them regret it. Even better if you use it on your familiar.
Geas/Quest: Long casting time, long duration mind control. The long cast time limits the usefulness of
this spell.
Cold Ice Strike: Very original name. This is a swift action blast that actually isn’t terrible.
Contagious Flame: Scorching Ray that repeats for three rounds. I prefer Ball Lightning, but to each their
own. This doesn’t use up your move actions like Ball Lightning, which is a plus.
Freezing Sphere: Not as good a blast as Chain Lightning, generally, but notable for its effect on water. If
you plan on having many adventures that take place in aquatic environments, this spell is mandatory.
Mislead: Not very useful unless you concentrate on it, which means you won’t be casting other spells.
If you’re a gnomish sorcerer (a pretty good combination) you can pick up the Effortless Trickery feat,
which makes this (and all illusion spells with a duration of concentration) much better. In any case,
Major Image will suffice often enough that I think this spell should do something more than it does.
Permanent Image: This has the advantage over the other illusion spells in that it stays put when you
walk away from it.
Shadow Walk: This spell allows you to travel very quickly over large distances. Naturally, you’ll only be
using this spell to get to places you haven’t been before since Teleport is much faster for getting
anywhere with which you are familiar. The spell is 5 times faster than travel by Phantom Steed, but you
can’t always predict where you’ll end up. It’s your call on if you want to pick up this spell or not, but I’d
say Phantom Steeds are fast enough that you’re unlikely to need this kind of speed.
Flesh to Stone: Standard single-target save-or-lose. Easier than many save-or-lose spells to recover the
target, if you were trying to take them alive. Baleful Polymorph is generally better, but is dispellable.
Undead Anatomy III: A diminutive undead would be a great choice. Unfortunately I’m not even sure
there are any diminutive undead without using a template. If your DM allows you to use templates
with this spell it gets a little better.
Analyze Dweomer: You can learn every spell or enchantment on a single creature or object per round.
The latter is an improvement on identifying magic items, while the former is probably not very useful.
If you’re casting this in preparation for a Greater Dispel Magic, why didn’t you just cast Greater Dispel
Magic? Does it really matter what spells you are dispelling?
Stone to Flesh: Chances are, at some point someone in the party is going to get petrified. When this
happens, you’ll probably want a scroll or two of this. Also good for capturing prisoners, and so on.
Best spells
Summon Monster VII: Tyrannosaurus is a beast, but all the good creatures on this list are gargantuan at
best. If you don’t have room, maybe summoning a couple Dire Tigers will be better. Much of my advice
on summon spells matches Professor Q’s advice in the summoning section of his Wizard Guide, so if
summoning is your thing I urge you to check there so I don’t have to copy paste everything.
Good spells
Spell Turning: It’s not hard to get around this spell if you know it’s up, but with a 10 minutes per level
duration you can often have it up before combat. It’s much harder to get around than invulnerability
spells in any case.
Mage's Magnificent Mansion: Once again, a once per day spell that appeals to wizards. It’s a bit high
level (read: pricey) for a scroll or staff, so weigh your options there. Perhaps consider investing in a
private demiplane.
Teleport, Greater: Pretty much the ultimate intraplanar transport spell. Takes the worry out of
Teleport. As with Teleport, if someone else can cast it let them. If you already have access to teleport,
don’t upgrade unless you can swap out Teleport, as you don’t need both and teleport will serve just as
well much of the time.
Grasping Hand: An obscenely strong hand made out of force grapples the target. This is fairly difficult
for the target to avoid, and anyone not very good at grappling will likely be occupied for the duration of
the spell. The spell doesn’t harm the target, so it can be used to take prisoners. If you have the room
for it, a summoned monster will be better at grappling.
Project Image: The spell I wish Mislead was, if you turn invisible while this spell is in effect it’s very
likely that your enemies won’t even know they’re fighting an illusion.
Waves of Exhaustion: Exhaustion isn’t as good a debuff at this level as it once was, but when you’re
applying it to everybody with no save it makes up for it. I like sirocco better as it’s a level lower and has
several effects, but it doesn’t work on creatures immune to fire.
Giant Form I: This spell can give you regeneration, which is pretty good. That’s about it.
Polymorph, Greater: Pretty good buff for the BSF with loads of utility as well. Once again, if your DM
allows this spell to cover the newer polymorph spells as well it gets even better.
Reverse Gravity: If you fight creatures that can’t fly, which I suppose does happen occasionally at this
level, this spell will render them immobile. If they have no ranged attacks, they’re basically sitting
ducks. Obviously, you should first focus your attention on any enemies that can fly or do have ranged
attacks. Also be mindful of any party member who has weak ranged attacks as this spell might trivialize
them. Also doesn’t work too well indoors. There are a lot of ifs with this spell, but if it works it’s
brilliant.
Okay spells
Banishment: dismissal mass. Circumstantially useful, but probably not worth the level increase. There
are better ways to lay waste a horde of demons at this level.
Hostile Juxtaposition, Greater: Trade places with enemies to make them take damage instead of you.
Better than the lesser version, since it works more than once, but you’re still likely to end up on the
wrong side of enemy lines.
Phase Door: You can walk through a wall. Woo. You probably already have spells that let you get to the
other side of the wall, but this one leaves the wall intact and doesn’t allow other creatures to follow
you unless you want them to. Has some synergy with the Flyby Attack feat, but it’s easy enough just to
ready an action to hit someone trying this tactic.
Plane Shift: The standard planar travel spell. As with teleport, if someone else can pick it up let them
do it. Unlike teleport, you are not guaranteed to need this even if no one else can pick it up. Many
campaigns never require the players to travel to other planes, and if they do, often there are portals or
NPC spellcasters available for that need. If you get a private demiplane, you’ll want this spell to get to
it.
Walk Through Space: You can teleport 30ft as a move action. You should be flying at a speed of 70+ft,
so the main use of this is to avoid attacks of opportunity. It also has the added benefit of allowing you
to escape from grapples, although you must cast it before you get grappled in order for it to be of use.
Arcane Sight, Greater: Essentially long range Detect Magic except you don’t need to concentrate and
you automatically get a feel for the spellcasting abilities of anyone you can see. If you can have this up
when entering battle with a spellcaster it will give you a distinct advantage.
Scrying, Greater: The ultimate scrying spell. Sorcerers who like scrying will want this. Other sorcerers
probably won’t notice what they’re missing.
Mage's Sword: 4d6+3 force damage every round for 1 round per level. The sword is basically
indestructible and doesn’t block movement or flank, meaning this is essentially an ongoing damage
spell. Said damage is a little low for this level of spell, even if it is force damage.
Shadow Conjuration, Greater: As Shadow Conjuration, but 60% real. However, note how many “best”
rated spells from levels 4 to 6 are conjuration(summoning) and conjuration(creation). Pretty much just
Wall of Stone and the various Summon Monster spells, all of which you should either already have or
have out-leveled. Major and Minor Creation provide some utility, but if that’s what you want why
didn’t you just take one of those spells?
Ethereal Jaunt: Being ethereal is great for walking through walls, but at this level you shouldn’t have
any trouble getting to the other side of a wall. Being ethereal means you can’t affect the material
plane, so this is otherwise an escape spell, of which you also have plenty.
Fly, Mass: Now the whole party can join in the fun! If the other members of the party already have
means of flying, obviously you should skip this spell. The extended duration makes it worth the level
increase.
Form of the Dragon II: You get some bonuses above the previous version, but you don’t really want to
be large if you can help it. I’d like to point out that by at least one interpretation of RAW you can turn
into a medium dragon with the same stat increases. This is likely not RAI, if only because the damage
from the natural attacks is for a large sized dragon.
Statue: You can turn into a statue of yourself and back as a free action, giving you 8 hardness and
perhaps the ability to infiltrate the bases of people who can’t remember how many statues they have.
Create Demiplane, Lesser: Private demiplanes are loads of fun, but you shouldn’t waste a spell known
on one when a scroll will work just fine. How many demiplanes do you need anyway?
Temporary Resurrection: this is a neat spell, and you might want to keep it on hand if you don’t have a
cleric. It’s easier to fight your way out of a dungeon if your BSF is up and about. If you DO have a cleric,
you might want to keep this around to use on him if he dies. Since the target is still considered a dead
body for the purposes of resurrection spells, he could then resurrect himself, which is somewhat
amusing. Note that it is not affected by caster level, so a scroll will work just as well as a spell, unless
you plan on your party getting killed a lot, which could get pricey.
Vision: The casting time of Legend Lore was not really a problem, so in many ways this spell is worse
than that one due to a chance of failure. You won’t want to cast this very often, so I’d just hire a wizard
to cast it if you can find one.
Planar Adaptation, Mass: Probably cheaper to get one of these than one scroll of Planar Adaptation for
each member of the party. It’ll last a bit longer too.
Limited Wish: Hideously expensive spell that is also fantastically powerful. You won’t need it often
enough to pick it up as a spell known, but having a scroll for emergencies isn’t a bad idea.
Best spells
Polymorph Any Object: This spell was broken in 3.5 and is broken now. It isn’t that hard to make a
change that qualifies for permanency while still providing good bonuses.
Good spells
Prismatic Wall: This wall can only be destroyed by a precise sequence of 7 spells. Good luck with that.
It can also be walked through, dealing 140 damage, killing, petrifying, driving insane and sending the
target to another plane. Good luck with that. With every other wall spell, your enemies have to decide
whether it’s easier to try to destroy the wall or to find a way around it; this spell makes it easy. Oh, and
you can pass through your own wall freely. Not a bad deal.
Maze: This isn’t exactly a save-or-lose, it’s more of a lose. It’s only single target, and may be
ineffective against creatures with high intelligence, but otherwise it effectively allows you to remove
one opponent from the fight until you’ve dealt with its allies and prepared for its reappearance.
Planar Binding, Greater: Good for all the same reasons Planar Binding is good. Once again, you can try
to break the game with this spell but it’s not a good idea. You can call creatures with challenge rating
more than your level with this spell, which makes it more dangerous unless your allies are with you and
prepared to deal with unruly monsters.
Wall of Lava: A fairly sturdy wall spell that does decent amounts of damage to enemies near it and
massive damage to enemies attempting to pass through it. You can also cause it to erupt as a move
action every round for 10d6 damage plus 5d6 damage every round for 1d3 rounds. Unfortunately the
wall isn’t that big and causing it to erupt every round will soon make it run out.
Moment of Prescience: Get a fairly large bonus to one check you make at some point in the future. This
will probably be used on a saving throw, and makes it all but guaranteed. Use it when an enemy targets
you with a save-or-lose, then recast it after combat. In a pinch, you can use it on a skill check or one of
the other options, adding some valuable versatility, but doing so too often will burn through your spell
slots.
Clenched Fist: You would think you should be able to direct this spell to grapple a creature, but you
can’t. It has a pretty good hit bonus, but does hardly any damage. The stun uses the spells normal DC,
so I guess the advantage over another kind of save-or-lose is that this thing keeps trying every round.
I’m not impressed.
Sunburst: The damage is just a bonus, although it is pretty significant against undead. The massive area
blinding effect has the same feel as Pyrotechnics and Firefall but doesn’t require a source of fire.
Because of this I don’t have to worry about blinding myself or allies. Lovely.
Form of the Dragon III: +4 hp per level and +8 natural armor, but your huge size gives you -2 to AC and
makes it harder to avoid being near enemies. I’m not as big a fan of this spell as Treantmonk.
Okay spells
Dimensional Lock: Like dimensional anchor, except that it affects an area instead of a creature. Unless
you have some way of restraining the creature, it can just walk out of the area, which is relatively small.
This is for imprisoning creatures, not combat.
Seamantle: You gain improved cover, aquatic movement abilities and a variety of defenses against fire
effects. A decent defensive buff, especially if you’re fighting fire-users, but not as versatile as I would
like from an 8th level spell.
Summon Monster VIII: There isn’t really anything good here except elementals. Summoning creatures
from lower level lists might do you better. Much of my advice on summon spells matches Professor Q’s
advice in the summoning section of his Wizard Guide, so if summoning is your thing I urge you to check
there so I don’t have to copy paste everything.
Discern Location: So you know exactly where the target is. I feel like this should be a lower level than
Scrying, but it’s not. I’d recommend just using scrying or greater and trying to guess where the target is,
except that this spell overcomes more scry defenses.
Prediction of Failure: Holy crap! An offensive divination spell! Anyway, this spell is good because even
if the target succeeds on their save it’ll still probably last the whole combat. That’s a -4 on pretty much
everything, assuming they’re not immune to either of the conditions. Personally, I’d rather cast a
quickened enervation with my 8th level spell slot, but this spell has its uses. The spellblights aren’t
very good and are likely to be resisted by a spellcaster with high will.
Prying Eyes, Greater: Prying eyes with true seeing. Useful, but probably not enough so that you’d pick
this up. Not enough enemies will have illusions up before you enter the room.
Charm Monster, Mass: Make everything your friend! This is a bit high level for a pseudo-save-or-lose,
even a mass one.
Euphoric Tranquility: No save! Unfortunately the target can still interfere with combat, such as with aid
another actions to block attacks. This isn’t a given, and it may just wander around for the duration of
the spell.
Irresistible Dance: Why’s it called ‘Irresistible’ if it has a saving throw? I guess it still incapacitates them
for a round if they save, which puts it a step above other save-or-lose spells, but maybe not multiple
spell levels better. It only lasts for 1d4+1 rounds if the target fails their save, which makes me feel like
maze is better, especially since targets with high intelligence are likely to have high will. This spell has
the advantage of leaving them vulnerable for the duration, unlike maze which takes them away.
Polar Ray: Does ok damage and really minor dex damage with no saving throw, but only to one target.
Better to use Maze on them probably.
Shout, Greater: 10d6 sonic damage and a 1 round stun, deafness isn’t really important. The damage is
mediocre at this level, even if it is sonic damage, and the stun can be negated by a save. You’re
probably better off with Sunburst, which serves a similar purpose.
Telekinetic Sphere: There are lots more uses for this spell than for Resilient Sphere, such as taking
prisoners alive, floating safely through dangerous areas or protecting something else from collateral
damage. Whether any of these things are worth an 8th level spell slot is debatable.
Horrid Wilting: Precisely targeted spells are better than area effects. This is kind of like an upgrade
from Chain Lightning. On one hand it doesn’t have a damage type, but on the other hand it only affects
living creatures. I’m not entirely convinced this is worth two levels, but since it targets a different save
if you have both there’s very little that can resist them.
Undead Anatomy IV: As I, II and III but you can become incorporeal, which is a fantastic effect,
especially if your enemies don’t have ghost touch weapons or force effects. Also like I, II and III, the
viability of this spell is greatly reduced by the inability to use the Ghost template, by RAW. If your DM
allows the ghost template, which I’m still pretty sure is RAI, this spell is blue and is amazing.
Clone: The mage’s resurrection spell. Make sure your allies know, or even cast it on them to prevent
TPKs. If you have any gear that you can’t possibly live without, leave a copy with your clone so you can
use it to recover your original body.
Create Demiplane: Like the lesser version, a scroll works fine. None of the added abilities are
especially useful, except maybe the ‘bountiful’ or ‘structure’ variants, but the size is much larger.
Best spells
Mage's Disjunction: The most powerful incarnation of Dispel Magic, this spell is finally the great spell it
should have been in 3.5.
Time Stop: 1d4+1 rounds of buffing, summoning and battlefield control. What’s not to love?
Good spells
Prismatic Sphere: Remember how I said enemies have to make the choice whether to go around a
battlefield control spell or try to force their way through it? How about when I said Prismatic Wall made
the choice easy? Well this spell doesn’t give them much of a choice at all.
Overwhelming Presence: Pretty much Mass Hold Monster that has side effects for targets who save or
recover. Makes the latter spell look weak.
Icy Prison, Mass: A mass save-or-lose that targets reflex. The kicker is that the targets who save are
entangled. The area is a bit small for the level.
Astral Projection: Plane shifting with a twist. If you get killed you wake up back at your physical bodies.
Pretty cool, huh?
Energy Drain: A double-power Enervation. A bit redundant with Enervation, especially if you have the
Quicken Spell feat or other applicable metamagic, which you probably should. Even so, a powerful
debuff. Energy Drain + Quickened Enervation lays even the sturdiest foes low.
Suffocation, Mass: A mass save-or-die that targets fort, completing the trio. You only need the targets
to fail a single save to be incapacitated. Targets who save are staggered for a round.
Shapechange: Combine all of the polymorph spells into one and let you change between them as a free
action. Self only, unfortunately, but a very good self buff anyway. If your DM adds the newer
polymorph spells to the list this probably goes up to blue.
Okay spells
Freedom: If this spell can’t release the target from something, nothing can. Even so, this is only
circumstantially worth a 9th level slot.
Refuge: A contingent teleport. Useful, but way too high a level for the effect. It also costs 1500gp a
pop, which isn’t something you want to do very much.
Summon Monster IX: None of these monsters have good enough to-hit to reliably damage anything,
and none of them have particularly good combat maneuvers. Much of my advice on summon spells
matches Professor Q’s advice in the summoning section of his Wizard Guide, so if summoning is your
thing I urge you to check there so I don’t have to copy paste everything.
Foresight: You’re never flat-footed or surprised. Meh. Barbarians got this at level 2. Way too high
level for the effect.
Dominate Monster: A save-or-lose that causes the target to fight for your side instead. Depending on
your DM’s interpretation of the phrase “against their nature” this spell ranges from terrible to good.
Create Demiplane, Greater: The ultimate base-creating spell, the effects you can perform with this
spell are well above those of the first two versions. Not only is your demiplane bigger, but you can also
give everyone in the plane fast healing 2, enhance spellcasting, manipulate dirt and stone at will,
create permanent portals anywhere you want AND make time pass twice as fast, allowing for faster
recovery and non-combat time relative to the material plane. You’ll probably want to make this
permanent.
Gate: this spell can summon pretty much any creature, allowing you access to pretty much any
spell-like-abilities. It’s pretty pricey and should be saved for emergencies. Greater Planar Binding is
much cheaper and longer lasting, so you should use that if possible.
Soul Bind: There are lots of ways to keep someone from being resurrected in the short term, such as
not killing them. This is the only way to keep someone from being resurrected permanently. That said,
you might need to cast this once or twice ever, and so should never pick it up as a spell known.
Wish: The single most powerful spell in the game, and also the most costly. I highly recommend
keeping a scroll of this around for emergencies. If this spell can’t save you from a TPK then nothing
else will and your DM wants to start a new game. Arcane Bloodline sorcerers get this spell for free.

Guía Sorccerer Spells 1

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Guía Sorccerer Spells 1

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

A Quick Guide to Sorcerer Spell Selection

Cover your bases: Buff/Debuff/Battlefield Control/Blast/Utility

Remember – Specialization is for Wizards, not sorcerers

Never pick a spell that would be just as good in a wand

While achieving the above – don’t forget to pick good spells

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen