Talk:Sorcerer/@comment-69.35.195.247-20150213194014/@comment-142.254.101.158-20190722081258

Responding to above comment, I personally am not a fan of the "disable with saving throw" spells, partly due to playing too much 3.x/pathfinder where high level critters always make saves (fairly true in late SOA and in TOB). They are very effective in low level game but my need for that sort of spell is mostly met with the endless wands of fear you get plus the large number of random scrolls of those spells.

In a party, spellcasters have two functions - pre-battle (or pre-map) buffing and "oh crap" nova. The fighter types do most of the heavy lifting without need for anything but routine turn/level prebuffing but when a spike in offense is needed it is the casters that provide it.

Solo is another animal but a solo caster needs strong direct damage spells in every tier. Battlefield control still needs you to finish off the disabled critters before they recover and "dead" is the best status condition. That said, my playstyle does involve sometimes having to run around in circles while stuff chases you and either DoT spells or fast-cast direct damage effects (or sometimes physical weapons) finish the job. I get that others will win similar fights, especially vs trash monsters who still fail saves with disabling spells plus wading in with a staff.