Here is what I consider a good spell pick order for a generic IA sorcerer in a context where :

- You are not willing to abuse certain specific effects;
- The sorcerer will be handling pretty much everything by themselves (only arcane caster of the group).

If these conditions are false, then it becomes obvious some spells need to change.

The order of the spells is specified implicitly and the spells should land in the repertoire at the right time in terms of level ups and the stage of the game you find yourself in.

It is as follows :

1 : Magic Missile, Identify, Shield, Armor and Chromatic Orb;

2 : Melf’s Acid Arrow, Knock, Mirror Image, Blur, and Resist Fear

3 : Haste, Flame Arrow, Protection from Fire, Remove Magic and Lightning Bolt;

4 : Emotion, Stoneskin, Greater Malison, Spirit Armor and Improved Invisibility;

5 : Animate Dead, Breach, Spell Immunity, Lower Resistance and Cone of Cold;

6 : Improved Haste, Protection from Magic Energy, Protection from Magical Weapons, Giant Strength and Chain Lightning;

7 : Summon Monster V, Ruby Ray of Reversal, Limited Wish, Spell Turning and Protection from the Elements;

8 : Summon Monster VI, Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting, Foreknowledge, Protection from Energy and Pierce Shield;

9 : Wish, Recast Vital Energy, Chain Contingency, Time Stop and Summon Monster VII.

High level abilities : Summon Planetar, Improved Alacrity, Dragon’s Breath, Extra 6th Spell Slot, Energy Blades, Extra 7th Spell Slot, Extra 8th Spell Slot, Comet


I hope this proves to be helpful to some people Have a nice day !

Thank you very much. Some spells can be different depending on playing style though.

For example, I would prefer:

Melf's Minute Meteors over Haste (haste is useful early game but can be left to another mage to cast, unless the sorcerer is the lone wizard of the group.)

Vampiric touch over Lightning Bolt.

Ray of Fragmentation over Spirit Armor.

Protection From Electricity over Cone of Cold. (not a big deal)

Disrupt Undead over Protection From the Elements (you will have the 8th level Protection From Energy)

Absolute Immunity over Time Stop.

These are all good contenders for their respective spell levels

I haven't played for a long time, but I imagine picking Giant Strength early would be more beneficial, before the party has many other (and better) ways to improve strength, no?

It certainly might With a secondary arcane caster in the party I do something like IH, GS, PFMW, CL, PFME. With a necromancer's support I do Summon Monster IV, IH, PFMW, CL, PFME. The presence of Jaheira could warrant no GS as well. Really love these minotaurs .

The thing is that with the hypothesis of the sorcerer being the only arcane caster in the group, the early pressure on the memorized slots will lean towards improved haste systematically over a lower level giant strength (which gets better with levels until 20). So in that case I'd rather have the option of PFME for these little moments it will come in handy on top of the prebuffed improved haste !

With a Berseker - Mage or Fighter/Mage or Necromancer or whatever in addition to the sorcerer, the situational PFME can be handled by them as well as some IH support, so GS becomes obvious to me as well yes

From my experience, GS remains relevant until the end game as there is always 1-2 fighters that benefit from it even though there's stuff like belts and the hammer of Thor to improve strength. Maybe Valygar ended up with only 22 strength from the fire giant strength belt, maybe the risk breaker or kensai wants to use slashing weapons against an amber golem instead of the hammer of Thor or Phosphorus, maybe you know your righteous magic cleric will get dispelled for sure, etc. And there's its usage on summons (for example swanmays) when you really need to go hard on the opponents.

That's a good list. I'd make the following changes for my style:

1 : Identify -> Llarloch's minor drain

2 : Knock -> Aganazzars scorcher

3 : Haste, Lightning Bolt --> Slow, Vampiric touch

4 : Spirit Armor --> Polymorph Other (the ultimate golem slayer).

5 : Animate Dead --> Sunfire

7 : Summon Monster V, Protection from the Elements --> Mordenkainen's Sword, Primastic Spray

Pekkae, you play without standard haste? I consider it to be mandatory at initial stages of the game ofc it will become (almost) useless at some point, but that boost to movement and APR is just too good.

Well, I usually play the start (pre-spellhold) with numerous casters, so someone always has it. That's why I don't consider it a must have for a sorceror.

I understand that this is besides the point a little bit.

If forced to play with only a single arcane caster throughout the game, then haste becomes almost a must. Or it's too good to leave out, it makes a bigger dent than vampiric touch (which has a little bit of limited use).

Pekkae your choices are very worthy spells. I was just wondering about Slow...what do you manage to get out of it ? I think the flail of ages affects Rakshasas, but they would not be affected by a level 3 spell. Minor golems re-cast haste very quickly when slowed. I would like to know how you put it to good use

Yea, I guess the most useful ones are sort of about what kind of approaches / tactics one uses =).

I find slow to be super useful; it's not for big fights that much but mostly in "annoying small fights". I use it all the time against at least

- Shadows
- Wraiths
- Spiders
- Yuan-Ti's
- Werewolves
- Undead
- Minotaurs
- etc.

At least partially some the above are resistant/immune but all in all I find it very worthy addon in so many different fights.

In "bigger" fights the GM+Emortion+Slow combination is very handy in chapters 2-3.