Hey all,
Can anyone recommend a good guide that describes the mechanics of the sorcerer? I’m not looking for a build guide but rather something that explains stuff like spell slots and sorcery points and what your choices are during level up (what learning new spells and forgetting old one does). I had some weird behaviour during level up from lvl 2 to 3 which I’m trying to understand…
TIA
You could look up the DnD 5e rules for Sorcerer, it’s made the same way.
Sorcerers have known spells which are all the spells they can cast, and they can cast them with spell slots. It takes a level 2 spell slot to cast a level 2 spell, but a level 1 spell can be cast with a level 1 or level 2 spell slot.
Sorcerers don’t prepare spells, they just know them, but they can swap one out at level up, plus they learn more with level ups.
Sorcery points are used for metamagic, which allows you to modify spells depending on what the metamagic is.
I haven’t played sorcerer in BG3 do I’m not sure if they add or change anything from base 5e, but checking the 5e info should be a start.
Thanks, this sounds pretty much how it is in the game.
I think my problem is with understanding the swapping at level up. As I was (trying) to describe in my other comment, during level up I learned a new spell “x”. Then I was trying to swap in spell “y” without “forgetting” another spell first, because the game let me do this. I thought that I gained a new spell slot so that’s why I didnt have to forget another spell, but after level up, spell “y” wasn’t available.
You get to do two things,
- Swap a known spell for a new one. Basically forgetting the old. This is optional and done once per level.
- Learn a new spell. This is mandatory and doesn’t require forgetting one.
I’m also not a D&D player so the rules were new to me as well, but yes you need to forget a spell to learn a new one.
Then you can’t use it but next time you level up you can re learn it (forgetting another one) or I believe also learning it as the new spell.
When you level up, you gain new spells and have the option of switching out an old spell. Some level 1 spells like sleep are great at low levels but become obsolete later on, so you may consider a different level 1 spell with more utility later in the game.
One of the common misunderstandings with 5e is that slots != spells. Slots mark how many spells at that level you can cast before long rest.
So if you have 5 known spells, 3 level 1 spell slots and a level 2 spell slot, all your spells could be level 1 spells.
Alternatively, you could have all level 2 spells and only be able to cast one of them once.
I hope this helps.
You are right, I’ve been playing some more today (and leveling up once more) and one thing I misunderstood was that I thought a spell slot is fixed to one specific spell. So once I figured out that this wasn’t the case, everything made a lot more sense (for example creating spell slots with sorcery points).
So thanks for confirming :)
Right. Some other editions and systems locked the slot to the spell like a bullet in a revolver. Once it’s loaded, there are no changes.
5e and thus BG3 are more free than that.
You can try reading through the 5e players handbook or googling whatever you aren’t understanding followed by 5e. For example “spellcasting 5e” will explain spell slots, ritual spells, learning new spells, and preparing spells in the easiest way they can. 5e means 5th edition and is the version of DND the game is based on.
Some other quick tips, most classes know a lot of spells but can’t prepare them all, you can change your prepared spells at any time outside combat. A ritual spell can be cast for free without using a spell slot outside of combat.
Can you describe what you didn’t understand from the level up?
Hey thanks for replying!
It was during level up from lvl2 to lvl3 where there were multiple choices I could make on different screens.
I can’t remember the exact wording, but on one screen I had to choose a new spell from multiple that were available and on the other screen, I had the option to forget and then learn another spell.
I chose spell “x” (don’t remember the name and currently don’t have access to the PC) on the first screen - and that spell was available after the level up was done. But on the second screen, the game let me learn a new spell without forgetting another which was issue number 1 that I didn’t understand. But also I don’t understand where the choice of spells comes from. I thought maybe on the second screen I have to learn the spell that I chose on the first screen so that I can use it in battle, but just for fun, I chose to learn a completely different spell (again, without selecting a spell to forget). But after the level up was done, I didn’t have that spell available anywhere…
So Sorcerors have a limited spell list and you are given the option to forget a spell you don’t like and exchange it for another when you level up.
This is to make up for not being able to have a big list of spells to pick from every day like wizards can.
The first screen was your standard learn new spells for your level, and the second was the forget spells you don’t like and learn something else one.
Sounds like you picked your spell, then immediately exchanged it on the next screen?
Don’t worry about it, eventually you’ll meet a character who can let you respec your character. Just going through the level ups again will let you pick the spells you want.
Thank you, makes sense! The only thing I don’t understand is that I didn’t choose a spell to forget, just chose one that I want to learn, and that one wasn’t available after level up.
But will check it out more carefully the next time I get to choose :)
Oh, so you picked a spell to exchange for but not a spell to forget? The game just registered that as you deciding not to forget a spell that level, and didn’t give you the exchange you picked.
You kept the spell you picked on the first screen right?
Edit: rereading I see you did! You’re all good then. Just use that second screen to ditch spells you don’t like and get better ones in future
Yes exactly like you described!
I just guess the game could have made it clearer, that if I didn’t choose to forget a spell, I won’t get the other one. I just kept the “forget slot” empty and there was still a checkmark on that screen like it was a valid choice.
You are allowed to swap out spells on a level up. Once you swap the spell you forgot it can’t be used unless you learn it again either through a swap or through gaining another spell (both happen when leveling up)
You also get to learn new spells with leveling up that don’t replace other spells. How often this is with sorcerer I forget, it might be a spell every level.
Thank you, I think I understand :) But not sure if this was a bug that the game let me add a new spell in the level up dialog without swapping one out.
As far as a guide goes, it won’t be perfect since it’s designed for the tabletop game so not every option will be the same, but you can get a good idea of things from RPGBOT
Awesome, will read that this evening, thanks!
Bear in mind many of the spells and options mentioned there won’t be in game. That’s covering everything in 5e.
High jacking this post a bit, any recommendations for the best cantrips for Sorcerers? It’s my first time playing a DnD game and it seems like they are all quite shit.
For some reason the fire one keeps missing or making low damage so now I’m mostly using the ice one. (Lvl4 atm).
Also is there a possibility to change them at some point?
Cantrips in D&D tend to be kind of shitty (ie miss often or do little damage) until your character has a high casting stat or high proficiency. Unless you get decent items, that’s probably going to happen at higher levels.
Leveled spells are often more effective, but burn spell slots, so you need to manage resources.
Indeed. But I’m getting the hang of it and also getting some items which means I will probably not need to use cantrips anymore
Nice! I just grabbed BG3, so I’m looking forward to trying it out.
Oh man you are in for a blast
Check if they say something about being an attack versus something like “DEX save”. Attack ones roll against armor class. The other ones use the targets save. If you know multiple it is worth having one be an attack and another against a save. This is because some heavily armored enemies may have had saving throws. This will come up WAY more often than varied damage resists or vulnerabilities.
That makes sense
I’ll look it up and maybe read a bit more on it. I’m sure it all is logical, I just don’t have all the info. In DOS 2 this was a bit more clear but like I said I haven’t played DnD before.
I also picked up some staff today that boosted my stats so that should help.
Thanks!!
Sorcs have spells known and casts per day. For example, at level 2, a typical sorc would know 4 cantrips (weaker spells with unlimited casts per day) and likely 4 level 1 spells (2 that you start with, 1 from your sorcerer subclass, and 1 that you gained from leveling up.) At this point, you only have 3 casts of level 1 spells per day.
At level 2, you will also have 2 sorcery points which can be used in different ways. You can use these points for metamagic, which improves your spell for in different ways, (for example, a twinned spell [which is one of the best uses of metamagic] will cost 1 sorcery point and allows you to essentially cast two of a same spell at once). So you could twin 2 of your three level 1 spells. You can also spend sorcery points to replenish your casts per day at the cost of spell level +1 . If you want to replenish a level 1 spell use, it costs 2 points. In the futute to replenish a level 2 slot, it costs 3 points, etc. You will gain sorcery points as you level up which will eventually get you more flexibility.
Anyway sorry for the long write up, i hope that explains the core of it. Just some siggestions though, your most important stat is your charisma and your spell save dc (this is what enemies need to beat to avoid your slell effects). Thus it is essential that you max out charisma as you need it to help most spells hit the enemy and affect them.
At the beginning, your crowd control spells won’t be as affective until your spell dc goes up a bit. Tbh you will likely feel underpowered compared to a fighter or melee class as they seem very strong this far. However, if you rest a lot, then sorcs can absolutely be powerful as you will be able to dish out a lot of spells in short succession with thinga like haste and twinned spells, especially when you hit level 5 or 6.
