Good Sorcerer Spells? (with a twist)

[User3]

Okay, I'm playing a Sorcerer in a core-only game, and putting together a spell list. The twist? I'm playing a Beguiler in a different campaign, and want to minimize overlap between the two lists. If a spell is on the Beguiler list, I would rather not take it, if there are other good options. I'm making an exception for metamagiced stuff like Extended Daze, that the Beguiler wouldn't cast the normal version of.

The party is me, a fighter, a barbarian, a monk, and a bard. Yeah, I know. But I'd like to make us as non-terrible as possible.

Character is a halfling sorc with high dex and cha, moderate con and int, low wis, very low str. I'm contemplating the following progression (not going very far because it's a PbP campaign; if we start to level quickly, I'll post a longer progression):

Level 1: Enlarge Person, Grease, Daze, Prestidigitation, Ghost Sound, Read Magic
Feat: Extend Spell (for Daze)

Level 2: some worthless cantrip. (Mage Hand?)

Level 3: This is where I'm having some trouble. Should I take Mage Armor, for the Monk and myself? Ray of Enfeeblement to debuff? Is Reduce Person worth it as a personal buff? Being 1'3" and 5 lbs could be useful.

Feat: no idea. Improved Initiative, maybe? Sculpt Spell would be good if I can talk the DM into it (see below).

Level 4: not sure what to do here, either, mostly because Beguiler has, like, all the good ones. If circumstances warrant, Web, but if they don't, Shatter? False Life? Or should I just cave in and pick up Glitterdust/Invis/whatever? Should I even avoid taking See Invis AND Glitterdust? Incidentally, how good is Alter Self if I don't want to use it as a long term NA buff? How does Alter Self even work these days, anyway (or should I just not even ask)?

Level 5: same deal, and I get another 1st level spell.

Level 6: almost certainly Haste. No idea on the feat.

Non-core spells that I could reasonably talk the DM into would be great--he wanted to start us off core-only for simplicity, but minor additions later are at least possible (especially by levels 3-4, which are where I'm starting to worry). I'm much less familiar with what's good outside of core, so recommendations there would be great, and the more information you can give about each spell, the better.

[Judging__Eagle]

Pfft, just make sure your illusion spell DCs are insane then just pick up the Shadow Conjuration/Evocation line of spells.

I mean, seriously; Spell Focus (Illusion) and Greater Spell Focus (Illusion) being useful to three schools of spells. Plus, with the Shadow line of spells you don't need to pick up tons of evocation/conjuration spells for your limited spells known list.

Personally, I'd play a wizard or archivist though; I'd rather just have no restrictions and have the same casting capacity per day via Scribe Scroll.


As for Alter self.... what humanoid forms are you limited to?

Troglodyte's a good one if you're in Core for AC; Crucians out of the MiniHB are better if you have that book.

Also, take a look at the Forest Gnome for hiding (in forests ideally) or look at the Skulk out of the Fined Folio for even, actually for ridiculously high racial bonuses to hide and move silently.

I'd choose Ray of Enfeeblement over Mage armour; monk's are worthless as it is as a class and +4 more AC really won't help them that much; throwing a Protection Against X on the already High AC fighter or a bigger con boost on a really tough barbarian beats wasting any time buffing the monk.

[RandomCasualty]

I honestly never really found the shadow series of spells to be all that great. They seemed rather crappy to me, just because you're giving your foes an extra save.

[User3]

Plus the Beguiler is already pumping Illusion DCs like crazy, and will almost certainly take at least a couple shadow spells (likely evocation and greater conjuration).

I don't really need a whole bunch of weak evocations at all, honestly (especially with that many melee people), and, unlike the Beguiler, I can just take the conjurations I want.

"Really high AC fighter" is probably a misnomer. Right now, he doesn't have any armor at all (?). I think he spent all his cash on a double scimitar or something. Hopefully he will survive long enough to change that.

The advantage of Mage Armor is that it's hours/level--I won't actually be wasting any time with it, just 1st level slots. I may pick it up at level 5.

Ray of Enfeeblement seems solid with my high Dex, so I'll probably take it at level 3.

More help on level 2 slots would be nice. I don't want to run around as a troggie or anything, so Alter Self is probably out.