Wizard VS Sorcerer - difference? :-D

[Swimfan]

My first playthrough needs to be a unique character/magic user (that's tradition with me and RPGs).

Can someone who played both (and I mean played bc. we all know that this game isn't 100% 5e) tell me what the difference is? I tried to look it up but even then it wasn't really clear to me (most explanations were really long-winded and based on traditional pen&paper D&D).

I played Wizard through EA once and I like that he can refresh some spell slots and (based on his subclass) make it so that my team doesn't take damage from AoEs (which is cool but not a must because I could plan around friendly fire if I had to). On the other hand I NEVER learned a spell from spell scrolls because what I was given naturally always felt good enough and Larian apparently nerfed that mechanic before I even started playing (originall you could learn spells from all scrolls and now you have much more limited options which def. seems more "balanced").

I saw that there is a big discussion that "Wizard is now the worst" and "Sorcerers are great" but what do I gain if I give up spell-slot-recovery/AoE protection/scroll-learning (which I'm not planning on using anyways?!) and play a sorcerer instead?

Edit: Your answers are amazing! Thanks a lot! I'll start with a sorcerer for my first playthrough (I have Gale as a Wizard as backup anyways). That being said:
-> Is there a subclass you can recommend so far?
-> What is the difference between the "sources" of your magic you can select at character creation? (I remember one could be by dragon sorcerer or something?!)

[ExcaliburV]

Simplifying it as much as possible, wizards are best at utility and sorcerers are best at blasting.

Elaborating a little, due to being able to scribe scrolls wizards are able to have a much wider spell list for any given situation. They have a big bag of tricks they can always reach into if something specific needs to be done, or some enemy weakness needs to be exploited.

Sorcerers have far less versatility, only able to take what spells they gain on level up, but with metamagic, they're able to amplify their spells and get more out of them than normal. For example, a sorcerer could use quicken spell to turn a spell that's normally a standard action into a bonus action, allowing two spells a round (with Larian's homebrew anyhow). They can also use twinned spell to duplicate the cast of any single-target spell on another target. This could be used on buffs, like being able to haste two characters at once, or damage spells, like being able to twin firebolt so you have two blasts instead of one.

[SomewhereBeyond]

wizard=more spells known, sorc = more casts per turn. Also sorc charisma based, which is way better than intelligence. In my opinion, sorc is best caster in the game. double haste or hold person or even double fireball is just awesome :)

[Ronin Gamer]

wizards have on average the most spell slots and the best ability to learn the most spells and swap them in and out easier. I call them the "key masters" as they have the most possible keys to the most problematic locks that needs spells to get you out of problems.

Sorcerers don't get quite as many spell slots and can only learn what spells they get access to at level ups. They do however have the ability to manipulate those spells to do things a wizard can't do, like twin spelling a normally single target spell to hit two targets that turn.

The reason so many people say wizards are great utility is because they can cast a large potential number of spells to lock down enemies, buff allies, and do a number of other things. Sorcerer players tend to focus more on damage spells, but you can certainly build a utility/supportive sorcerer too. The ability to manipulate those spells is pretty helpful, but since they have less over all slots a number of people seem to focus them as attackers, but having something like haste and being able to twin that on two of your team mates instead of just one is a good boost.

Also Wizards main stat is Int and is the only class that focuses on that stat, so any skill checks tied to Int are good to have a Wizard around for if you can. Sorcerer is Charisma, something other classes can specialize, but if you want to have a spell caster with a bonus to persuasion, intimidate, or deception a sorcerer isn't too bad a pick.

I'm a bit more partial to Wizard simply for their amount of spells and what they can do to get you out of a jam. Sorcerers aren't bad at that, they just can't learn a near as many spells and can't freely swap them around, so you have to be more careful with picking spells and accept the consequences of your choices.

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

Wizard is a studied mage, while the sorc has it in his blood.
wizards can learn from scrolls, sorcs get less spells, but the get metamagics like twin spell, quicken spell etc
Sorc is way better for multiclassing, as he shares his main casting stat with warlocks, bards and palas. Cha can also be useful for most chars, while int is pretty much useless, except for wizards in many peoples eyes.

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

Originally posted by Ronin Gamer:

Sorcerers don't get quite as many spell slots

All fullcasters excepts warlocks in 5e have the same number of spellslots. Did you mean known spells?

[ExcaliburV]

Originally posted by Dαятн Wαfflεmαncεя:

Originally posted by Ronin Gamer:

Sorcerers don't get quite as many spell slots

All fullcasters excepts warlocks in 5e have the same number of spellslots. Did you mean known spells?

Arguably they get fewer spell slots because wizards have arcane recovery. Yeah, sorcs can get spell slots back with sorcery points, but for the most part those points are gonna be spent on metamagics.

[Ronin Gamer]

Originally posted by Dαятн Wαfflεmαncεя:

Originally posted by Ronin Gamer:

Sorcerers don't get quite as many spell slots

All fullcasters excepts warlocks in 5e have the same number of spellslots. Did you mean known spells?

Been awhile since I've played a Sorc in BG3, I was under the impression they had a slightly lower spell slot count compared to Wizards, thought that was the whole point in their ability to use points to restore their spell slots, since they have slightly less.

No it would seem I misremembered that aspect. They do have equal spell slot counts as both full casters. My bad. Miscalculation on my part.

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

Originally posted by ExcaliburV:

Originally posted by Dαятн Wαfflεmαncεя:

All fullcasters excepts warlocks in 5e have the same number of spellslots. Did you mean known spells?

Arguably they get fewer spell slots because wizards have arcane recovery. Yeah, sorcs can get spell slots back with sorcery points, but for the most part those points are gonna be spent on metamagics.

I dunno...sorc can potentially recover 2 level 5 slots and still have 6 sorc points left for 3 lvl1 or 2 level 3 slots, while wizard get 10 spelllevel worth of slots once per day on level 20.
not even talking about the 4 sorc points a level 20 sorc can recover on a short rest.
Looks to me sorc can potentially have more spellslots then a wizard, unless I'm overlooking something for the wizard (which isn't impossible, as I always never play wizard...int sucks ass :P)
And not even talking about coffeelock, as I usually don't multiclass...:P

[Swimfan]

Jeez guys, I don't know what to say, thank you so much :-) This was really insightful.

Now I know for a fact that I really want to play a Sorcerer main first because he/she can then do charisma checks (as my group leader) and my "first traditional playthrough" I mentioned meant a "glass canon magician" so sorcerer fits the bill perfectly for that. Experimentation and utility is nice but
a) I got Gale for that if need be and
b) the first playthrough will be overwhelming enough

That said with all the subclasses of sorcerer listed so far ... do any of them strike you experts as especially "fun"/"strong"? (based on 5e since we of course don't know what Larian will do with them)

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

Originally posted by Swimfan:

That said with all the subclasses of sorcerer listed so far ... do any of them strike you experts as especially "fun"/"strong"? (based on 5e since we of course don't know what Larian will do with them)

There are many fans of storm sorc out there, and with all the wet effects and throwing water at enemies, it certainly has a point.
Wildmagic is wonderfully chaotic, and you haven't played d&d until a wild magic sorc accidentally fireballed your party xD
I personally am somewhat of a fan of draconic bloodline. The "free magearmor" + extra hp from draconic resilience is really nice and more importantly saves one of the limited known spells you'll have to live with as a sorcerer.
Though I usually don't take fire ancestry, as fire is one of the most resisted damage types. I usually go for acid or cold.

[.Master Jiren, The Strongest]

I know people have already answered but heres my take on it.
I view the Wizard as the "utility caster". His objective is to learn as many spells from scrolls as possible, so that he has all the spells. Since you can long rest right before any given encounter this means you will always be able to prep for the encounter with whatever spells you need specific to what you're going to do. Wizards have many more options than Sorcerers, and not just because of scrolls, their spell list is also much wider in terms of non-combat spells.

Sorcerers on the other hand, are much more focused on damage, which is what most DnD players favor anyway as no one wants to be the side kick that just picks locks, people all want to be the biggest damage dealer and get those numbers up. So sorcerer is a much better class for most people. Not only does it have more offensive options between its subclass choices and its spell array, but its unique feature of sorcery points lets you duplicate spells or enhance your magic in ways no one else can to reach some of the most game breaking levels of damage in a single turn possible. In fact every build that has "biggest damage in one turn" always uses sorcerer specifically for the meta magic options, even the sniper warlock with 1200 ranged eldritch blasts still relies on sorcerer to pull it off.


Having said that, Gale is already a Wizard. Although if you pick a wizard yourself, then you'll never need to worry about prepping spells before a battle, you will have enough variety between two wizards to basically have every spell prepared at all times. But again most people dont care about that and just want to deal heavy damage, so Sorcerer is the most popular option. Oh, Sorcerer also has the coolest subclasses in the game. I mean come on, DRAGON SORCERER? Thats so crazy cool. Compare that to "Oh I can record transmutation spells for less gold". Wizards are totally beta by comparison to the gigachad Sorcerer.

Pick a Sorcerer and make Gale your nerdy side kick. Make sure to bully him too because he's awful.

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

Originally posted by .Master Jiren, The Strongest:

I know people have already answered but heres my take on it.
I view the Wizard as the "utility caster". His objective is to learn as many spells from scrolls as possible, so that he has all the spells. Since you can long rest right before any given encounter this means you will always be able to prep for the encounter with whatever spells you need specific to what you're going to do. Wizards have many more options than Sorcerers, and not just because of scrolls, their spell list is also much wider in terms of non-combat spells.

Sorcerers on the other hand, are much more focused on damage, which is what most DnD players favor anyway as no one wants to be the side kick that just picks locks, people all want to be the biggest damage dealer and get those numbers up. So sorcerer is a much better class for most people. Not only does it have more offensive options between its subclass choices and its spell array, but its unique feature of sorcery points lets you duplicate spells or enhance your magic in ways no one else can to reach some of the most game breaking levels of damage in a single turn possible. In fact every build that has "biggest damage in one turn" always uses sorcerer specifically for the meta magic options, even the sniper warlock with 1200 ranged eldritch blasts still relies on sorcerer to pull it off.


Having said that, Gale is already a Wizard. Although if you pick a wizard yourself, then you'll never need to worry about prepping spells before a battle, you will have enough variety between two wizards to basically have every spell prepared at all times. But again most people dont care about that and just want to deal heavy damage, so Sorcerer is the most popular option. Oh, Sorcerer also has the coolest subclasses in the game. I mean come on, DRAGON SORCERER? Thats so crazy cool. Compare that to "Oh I can record transmutation spells for less gold". Wizards are totally beta by comparison to the gigachad Sorcerer.

Pick a Sorcerer and make Gale your nerdy side kick. Make sure to bully him too because he's awful.

We don't have divine soul in BG3, but I played one on the tt...
Who needs healing hands, when you can distant spell cure wounds or twin it...
So, yes, while you are right, most ppl play sorc for dmg, he still can do so much more ^^

[Lord Adorable]

For when you absolutely, positively need to reduce an enemy to ash, Sorcerer.

Wizards can do that to a lesser degree but they can also conjure a solution to almost anything. In my experience a Wizard's power is only as limited as their creativity.

[sleeper]

you know wizard has access to some spells that can not be resisted even with 100% spell resist like that is possible.

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by sleeper:

you know wizard has access to some spells that can not be resisted even with 100% spell resist like that is possible.

Spell resist isn't a thing in this edition.