It depends on the campaign and your preferred style of play. There's a lot of ways to compare how both classes operate. I will admit now that I am biased toward sorcerors.
CANTRIPS: The sorceror starts with more, but the wizard ultimately makes cantrips of higher level spells.
CONCENTRATION: The sorceror WINS handsdown on CON saving throws for concentration, because CON is their secondary ability proficiency, whereas wizards have WIS. We're talking an entire +6 to concentration saving throws at the highest levels. Nothing to sneeze at.
SAVES: Some of the most dangerous spells/effects use WIS saving throws. Wizards WIN here because they have proficiency, unlike the sorceror who is vulnerable without naturally high wisdom.
METAMAGIC: Casting a 1 action spell as a bonus action CANNOT be overstated. Subtle spell can make you counterspell proof and a covert magical/mental assassin. Quicken a Hold person, then autocrit with an Empowered firebolt to the face, anyone?
SCHOOLS: More options than metamagic, but generally subtler, more conditional effects.
MATERIAL COMPONENTS AND RITUALS: Sorcerors use an arcane focus for (free) material components. A wizard won't be making so much as a fireFART without some sulphur and bat guano available. My sorcerer just needs his crystal ring. It's kind of a HUGE deal if your DM is adamant about spell preparation. WIN! Of course, Ritual Casting is HUUUUGER, actually, and is a definite WIN for the Wizard.
VERSATILITY: If you want to strictly be a spell caster, the Wizard absolutely wins in terms of versatility, because they can switch up spells day to day. HOWEVER, when it comes to MULTICLASSING, the Sorcerer is absolutely the most versatile caster class to take, as Charisma synergizes with far more classes than intelligence. So there's two different types of versatility to consider.
***Don't stress yourself out trying to make a Wizorcerer. It's totally not worth it.***
***Dragonborns are actually not the best for either class, but make better sorcerers between the two.***
CONCLUSION: It all comes back to how you like to play. I, for one, LOVE a spellcaster who can take some hits, hold concentration and EVEN do work with a weapon when the spells run out or aren't an option. As such, I play an Eladrin Wild Magic Sorceror/Eldritch Knight Fighter. It gives me the feeling of a solid warrior who uses magic entirely intuitively, I don't need to use the INT for the fighter spells, and even after the fireballs run out, there's no lack of booming/green flame blades, shocking grasps (my guy punches, lol), and firebolts to follow. And yes, I'm totally fine with never learning a 6+ level spell (he'll be level 10/10 ultimately). He'll still get a 6th and 7th level slot, which sounds to me like 13 extra sorcery points to blast off a nonstop barrage of well-placed 0-5 level spells, of which there are many game winners, while still putting two sharpshooter arrows in faces each turn. But that's how I like to play.
Aside from being so multi-class friendly, you'll likely find the Sorcerer to be the slightly beefier, blastier badass at lower levels and probably more engaging for shorter or one-shot campaigns.
On the other hand, if you're willing to focus strictly on being a spellcaster, you're okay with being squishy and quickly running out of combat options early on, and are committed to longer campaigns that will throw a wider variety of nuanced situations at you, AND you want to be able to enjoy ALL of the awesomeness of all the available higher level spells, then Wizard is probably the class that will bring you more joy. And before anyone has anything snarky to say, yes, I'm saying that a high-level pure Wizard is more successful than a high-level pure Sorcerer in most instances, at least as far as 5e rules go.
It depends on the campaign and your preferred style of play. There's a lot of ways to compare how both classes operate. I will admit now that I am biased toward sorcerors.
And I'm biased against thread necromancy, but on the off-chance anyone is interested in this largely settled issue...
CANTRIPS: The sorceror starts with more, but the wizard ultimately makes cantrips of higher level spells.
The Sorcerer gets +1 cantrip known in exchange for wizards being able to hot-swap their cantrips 1 at a time when they long rest (assuming you use the TCE rules, which I will assume for this entire post).
CONCENTRATION: The sorceror WINS handsdown on CON saving throws for concentration, because CON is their secondary ability proficiency, whereas wizards have WIS. We're talking an entire +6 to concentration saving throws at the highest levels. Nothing to sneeze at.
SAVES: Some of the most dangerous spells/effects use WIS saving throws. Wizards WIN here because they have proficiency, unlike the sorceror who is vulnerable without naturally high wisdom.
These are the same thing - Concentration is a kind of save. Sorcerers do indeed win, as Con is a more important save for casters than Wis.
METAMAGIC: Casting an instantaneous spell as a bonus action CANNOT be overstated. Subtle spell can make you counterspell proof and a covert magical/mental assassin. Quicken a Hold person, then autocrit with an Empowered firebolt to the face, anyone?
Subtle Spell generally can't make you counterspell-proof because it leaves the M component in place and visible. Quickened Hold Person + Empowered Fire Bolt won't result in an "autocrit" per se simply because you're clearly implying this is being done at a 5' distance, which means you'll need to make a flat attack roll, with Advantage from paralysis and Disadvantage from making a ranged attack within 5' cancelling each other out, and if your hit lands, then and only then will it autocrit and you'll be allowed to potentially Empower it. Note that a critting Firebolt rolls up to 8 dice of damage and Empower will let you re-roll up to 5 of them, forcing you to keep the new rolls, even if lower. As a general rule, the best two metamagics to pick up are Quickened and Twinned, which is absolutely true for Firebolt as well. The problem with metamagic is the same one with Battle Master maneuvers: you have no reason not to grab the metamagics you want most first, so when you get more later, you by definition care a lot less. Well, that and easily running out of sorcery points.
SCHOOLS: More options than metamagic, but generally subtler, more conditional effects.
I have no idea what this means. Are you comparing wizard subclasses to sorcerer metamagic? That makes no sense. The wizard version of sorcery points is Arcane Recovery (basically their version of Font of Magic) + late-level Spell Mastery (and then Signature Spells, which, like Sorcerous Restoration, is a garbage capstone); they otherwise get no native access to anything like metamagic.
MATERIAL COMPONENTS AND RITUALS: Sorcerors use an arcane focus for (free) material components. A wizard won't be making so much as a fireFART without some sulphur and bat guano available. My sorcerer just needs his crystal ring. It's kind of a HUGE deal if your DM is adamant about spell preparation. WIN! Of course, Ritual Casting is HUUUUGER, actually, and is a definite WIN for the Wizard.
Massively false. Who told you wizards can't use arcane foci? Just plain wrong. Wizards are also the second best ritual casters in the game, behind Tomelocks, because not only are they ritual casters, they don't need to have a spell prepared to cast it ritually. In a sense, this is what they get instead of metamagic: not needing to even prepare ritual spells for any reason.
VERSATILITY: If you want to strictly be a spell caster, the Wizard absolutely wins in terms of versatility, because they can switch up spells day to day. HOWEVER, when it comes to MULTICLASSING, the Sorcerer is absolutely the most versatile caster class to take, as Charisma synergizes with far more classes than intelligence. So there's two different types of versatility to consider.
***Don't stress yourself out trying to make a Wizorcerer. It's totally not worth it.***
***Dragonborns are actually not the best for either class, but make better sorcerers between the two.***
Yes, Sorlocks are awesome and Sorcadins are ok, with Wizard/Artificers being far more similar to the latter. However, Sorcerer isn't the most versatile caster class to take from a multiclassing perspective - Warlock is, because it plays so extremely nicely with everything else. A Lockadin, Sorlock, or Bardlock is fairly challenging to get wrong.
CONCLUSION: It all comes back to how you like to play. I, for one, LOVE a spellcaster who can take some hits, hold concentration and EVEN do work with a weapon when the spells run out or aren't an option. As such, I play an Eladrin Wild Magic Sorceror/Eldritch Knight Fighter.
You... you said in your post not to make a wizorcerer and then functionally made a wizorcerer? Wh.... why? As you said in your post, it'd be a lot easier to make a Sorcadin for the same goal, or you could make a Wizard/Artificer (which also gets you Con proficiency, decent armor, etc).
It gives me the feeling of a solid warrior who uses magic entirely intuitively, I don't need to use the INT for the fighter spells,
I mean, you do, but there are certainly spells where you can avoid having your SAM come up.
and even after the fireballs run out, there's no lack of booming/green flame blades, shocking grasps (my guy punches, lol), and firebolts to follow.
Sure, but without Hexlock, Battle Smith Artificer, or Shillelagh, you have severe accuracy problems due to being so MAD - you need probably Dex but could be Str for Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade and CHA or INT for the other cantrips depending on which class you got them from. We also shouldn't ignore the fact that your slot progression is slowed - multiclassing into Eldritch Knight means your EK levels are nerfed from 1/3 rounding up to 1/3 rounding down, for slow count.
And yes, I'm totally fine with never learning a 6+ level spell (he'll be level 10/10 ultimately). He'll still get a 6th and 7th level slot, which sounds to me like 13 extra sorcery points to blast off a nonstop barrage of well-placed 0-5 level spells, of which there are many game winners, while still putting two sharpshooter arrows in faces each turn. But that's how I like to play.
Ok, so it was Dex, not Str, for the Blade cantrips. I for one don't believe for an instant you're simultaneously genuinely capable of landing Sharpshooter shots and Fire Bolt while also credibly champing punches to the face. That's just too much. Sorlock would do this a lot better and of course you could do it with Wizard/Artificer/EK/AT in some mix with Artificer as the only mandatory ingredient.
Aside from being so multi-class friendly, you'll likely find the Sorcerer to be the slightly beefier, blastier badass at lower levels and probably more engaging for shorter or one-shot campaigns.
If that's what you want, Abjurer, Diviner, and Bladesinger can all do a lot of work in a lower level one-shot.
On the other hand, if you're willing to focus strictly on being a spellcaster, you're okay with being squishy and quickly running out of combat options early on, and are committed to longer campaigns that will throw a wider variety of nuanced situations at you, AND you want to be able to enjoy ALL of the awesomeness of all the available higher level spells, then Wizard is probably the class that will bring you more joy.
Wizards aren't going to run out of combat options meaningfully earlier than Sorcerers will. Don't know where that's coming from.
I hope this helps you and anyone else! PLAY ON!
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It depends on the campaign and your preferred style of play. There's a lot of ways to compare how both classes operate. I will admit now that I am biased toward sorcerors.
CANTRIPS: The sorceror starts with more, but the wizard ultimately makes cantrips of higher level spells.
CONCENTRATION: The sorceror WINS handsdown on CON saving throws for concentration, because CON is their secondary ability proficiency, whereas wizards have WIS. We're talking an entire +6 to concentration saving throws at the highest levels. Nothing to sneeze at.
SAVES: Some of the most dangerous spells/effects use WIS saving throws. Wizards WIN here because they have proficiency, unlike the sorceror who is vulnerable without naturally high wisdom.
METAMAGIC: Casting a 1 action spell as a bonus action CANNOT be overstated. Subtle spell can make you counterspell proof and a covert magical/mental assassin. Quicken a Hold person, then autocrit with an Empowered firebolt to the face, anyone?
SCHOOLS: More options than metamagic, but generally subtler, more conditional effects.
MATERIAL COMPONENTS AND RITUALS: Sorcerors use an arcane focus for (free) material components. A wizard won't be making so much as a fireFART without some sulphur and bat guano available. My sorcerer just needs his crystal ring. It's kind of a HUGE deal if your DM is adamant about spell preparation. WIN! Of course, Ritual Casting is HUUUUGER, actually, and is a definite WIN for the Wizard.
VERSATILITY: If you want to strictly be a spell caster, the Wizard absolutely wins in terms of versatility, because they can switch up spells day to day. HOWEVER, when it comes to MULTICLASSING, the Sorcerer is absolutely the most versatile caster class to take, as Charisma synergizes with far more classes than intelligence. So there's two different types of versatility to consider.
***Don't stress yourself out trying to make a Wizorcerer. It's totally not worth it.***
***Dragonborns are actually not the best for either class, but make better sorcerers between the two.***
CONCLUSION: It all comes back to how you like to play. I, for one, LOVE a spellcaster who can take some hits, hold concentration and EVEN do work with a weapon when the spells run out or aren't an option. As such, I play an Eladrin Wild Magic Sorceror/Eldritch Knight Fighter. It gives me the feeling of a solid warrior who uses magic entirely intuitively, I don't need to use the INT for the fighter spells, and even after the fireballs run out, there's no lack of booming/green flame blades, shocking grasps (my guy punches, lol), and firebolts to follow. And yes, I'm totally fine with never learning a 6+ level spell (he'll be level 10/10 ultimately). He'll still get a 6th and 7th level slot, which sounds to me like 13 extra sorcery points to blast off a nonstop barrage of well-placed 0-5 level spells, of which there are many game winners, while still putting two sharpshooter arrows in faces each turn. But that's how I like to play.
Aside from being so multi-class friendly, you'll likely find the Sorcerer to be the slightly beefier, blastier badass at lower levels and probably more engaging for shorter or one-shot campaigns.
On the other hand, if you're willing to focus strictly on being a spellcaster, you're okay with being squishy and quickly running out of combat options early on, and are committed to longer campaigns that will throw a wider variety of nuanced situations at you, AND you want to be able to enjoy ALL of the awesomeness of all the available higher level spells, then Wizard is probably the class that will bring you more joy. And before anyone has anything snarky to say, yes, I'm saying that a high-level pure Wizard is more successful than a high-level pure Sorcerer in most instances, at least as far as 5e rules go.
I hope this helps you and anyone else! PLAY ON!
And I'm biased against thread necromancy, but on the off-chance anyone is interested in this largely settled issue...
The Sorcerer gets +1 cantrip known in exchange for wizards being able to hot-swap their cantrips 1 at a time when they long rest (assuming you use the TCE rules, which I will assume for this entire post).
These are the same thing - Concentration is a kind of save. Sorcerers do indeed win, as Con is a more important save for casters than Wis.
Subtle Spell generally can't make you counterspell-proof because it leaves the M component in place and visible. Quickened Hold Person + Empowered Fire Bolt won't result in an "autocrit" per se simply because you're clearly implying this is being done at a 5' distance, which means you'll need to make a flat attack roll, with Advantage from paralysis and Disadvantage from making a ranged attack within 5' cancelling each other out, and if your hit lands, then and only then will it autocrit and you'll be allowed to potentially Empower it. Note that a critting Firebolt rolls up to 8 dice of damage and Empower will let you re-roll up to 5 of them, forcing you to keep the new rolls, even if lower. As a general rule, the best two metamagics to pick up are Quickened and Twinned, which is absolutely true for Firebolt as well. The problem with metamagic is the same one with Battle Master maneuvers: you have no reason not to grab the metamagics you want most first, so when you get more later, you by definition care a lot less. Well, that and easily running out of sorcery points.
I have no idea what this means. Are you comparing wizard subclasses to sorcerer metamagic? That makes no sense. The wizard version of sorcery points is Arcane Recovery (basically their version of Font of Magic) + late-level Spell Mastery (and then Signature Spells, which, like Sorcerous Restoration, is a garbage capstone); they otherwise get no native access to anything like metamagic.
Massively false. Who told you wizards can't use arcane foci? Just plain wrong. Wizards are also the second best ritual casters in the game, behind Tomelocks, because not only are they ritual casters, they don't need to have a spell prepared to cast it ritually. In a sense, this is what they get instead of metamagic: not needing to even prepare ritual spells for any reason.
Yes, Sorlocks are awesome and Sorcadins are ok, with Wizard/Artificers being far more similar to the latter. However, Sorcerer isn't the most versatile caster class to take from a multiclassing perspective - Warlock is, because it plays so extremely nicely with everything else. A Lockadin, Sorlock, or Bardlock is fairly challenging to get wrong.
You... you said in your post not to make a wizorcerer and then functionally made a wizorcerer? Wh.... why? As you said in your post, it'd be a lot easier to make a Sorcadin for the same goal, or you could make a Wizard/Artificer (which also gets you Con proficiency, decent armor, etc).
I mean, you do, but there are certainly spells where you can avoid having your SAM come up.
Sure, but without Hexlock, Battle Smith Artificer, or Shillelagh, you have severe accuracy problems due to being so MAD - you need probably Dex but could be Str for Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade and CHA or INT for the other cantrips depending on which class you got them from. We also shouldn't ignore the fact that your slot progression is slowed - multiclassing into Eldritch Knight means your EK levels are nerfed from 1/3 rounding up to 1/3 rounding down, for slow count.
Ok, so it was Dex, not Str, for the Blade cantrips. I for one don't believe for an instant you're simultaneously genuinely capable of landing Sharpshooter shots and Fire Bolt while also credibly champing punches to the face. That's just too much. Sorlock would do this a lot better and of course you could do it with Wizard/Artificer/EK/AT in some mix with Artificer as the only mandatory ingredient.
If that's what you want, Abjurer, Diviner, and Bladesinger can all do a lot of work in a lower level one-shot.
Wizards aren't going to run out of combat options meaningfully earlier than Sorcerers will. Don't know where that's coming from.