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Kit idea: Wild Sorcerer, done right

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Several people have had the idea to adapt the Wild Mage kit to the Sorcerer class – i.e. to create a Wild Sorcerer kit.
(And at least one modder has actually implemented it.)

The way this is usually approached (including in that linked mod), is to simply let the Wild Sorcerer kit add the same abilities/properties to a Sorcerer, that the Wild Mage kit adds to a Mage – most importantly, Nahal's Reckless Dweomer.

I don't think that's a good approach to designing a "Wild Sorcerer", though.
Mages and Sorcerers work differently, and a kit should cater to it's base class'es design.

More specifically, the Sorcerer and the Wild Mage are two variations of the traditional Mage that actually solve some of the same problems of the Mage class, but in different ways, and they don't have good synergy:
  1. Both Sorcerer and Wild Mage "fix" the Mage's reliance on knowing ahead of time what spells they'll need the next day...
    • The Sorcerer does this by using a spontaneous casting mechanic.
    • The Wild Mage does this by giving access to Nahal's Reckless Dweomer.
  2. Both Sorcerer and Wild Mage "fix" the problem of Mages running out of spells too soon...
    • The Sorcerer does this by having a higher number of spell slots and spells-castable-per-day.
    • The Wild Mage does this by giving access to Nahal's Reckless Dweomer.
  3. The Sorcerer's class disadvantages destroy the Wild Mage's main selling-points...
    • The first thing that's special about Nahal's Reckless Dweomer, is that it allows the Wild Mage to cast high-level spells they learned from scrolls, but couldn't normally cast yet. Since the Sorcerer can't learn spells from scrolls, a Wild Sorcerer doesn't benefit from that at all.
    • The second thing that's great aboutNahal's Reckless Dweomer, is that it allows selecting from a much larger pool of spells than the normal casting mechanic: Instead of selecting only from the "memorized" spells, it allows you to select from all "learned" spells. This is, again, completely negated by Sorcerer's lack of spell scribing.
    In other words, Nahal's Reckless Dweomer doesn't add anything special to a Sorcerer: All it does, is to effectively increase the number of spells-castable-per-day, in a weird and cumbersome way. Might as well just modify the Sorcerer's spell progression table then, if that's what you want.


Here's a summary of what I would consider the "essence" of the Wild Mage kit – i.e. things that make the kit special, and should thus be preserved when designing a Wild Sorcerer kit:

  1. Is prone to wild surges.
  2. Learns to better control wild surges as he/she grows more experienced.
  3. Can (attempt to) cast higher-level spells than the base class could, at the same character level.
  4. Has more flexibility in choosing spells in-the-moment, than the base class.
  5. Is prone to random variations in spell power.


I've put some thought into how a Wild Sorcerer kit could be designed such that it synergizes with the Sorcerer base class, while satisfying those key features/goals.

Here's the kit summary I've come up with:
  1. Does not get the Nahal's Reckless Dweomer spell. (But continue reading...)
  2. Learns and casts spells the same way a normal Sorcerer does.
  3. All spells cast this way (i.e. from the normal spell toolbar), make a roll on the wild surge table as if they had been cast with Nahal's Reckless Dweomer.
    Remember that this means a 100% chance of causing a wild surge, with the caster's level added to the roll on the wild surge table. Yes, this is harsh. It means the Wild Sorcerer has no "safe" way to cast spells, other than from scrolls and innate abilities. But I think it would be really fun – and makes sense, lore-wise.
  4. Has a more favorable spell slot progression table.
    Maybe 2 spell levels higher, and +1 spell slot per level, compared to a normal Sorcerer. The exact numbers would need to be balanced with the help of playtesting. Note that this point was added not only to make up for the harsh penalty of the previous point, but also to carry over more of what makes the Wild Mage so special (see the previous spoiler box).
  5. Gets Chaos Shield and Improved Chaos Shield at the appropriate level.
    (Possibly as Innate abilities that start with 1 use per day, and get more uses on level-up.)
  6. Casting level randomly varies between -5 and +5, just like for a Wild Mage.
  7. Casting from scrolls and innates has only a 5% chance of causing a wild surge, just like for a Wild Mage.
What do you think?

Players who like Wild Mages: Do you think you'd enjoy this kit, too?
Modders: Would this even be feasible to implement?

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