Baldur's Gate 3 has been upon us for a full month, but Dungeons & Dragons has been here for decades - and the new game has only served to reignite the 23-year-old war between Wizards and Sorcerers.
Magic users have taken various forms over the course of D&D history, but the basics of how Wizards and Sorcerers work in fifth edition - the ruleset Baldur's Gate 3 is based on - were really established in the tabletop game's third edition, originally released back in 2000.
3E rules established Wizards as book-learned magicians who mastered the arcane arts through years of careful study, while Sorcerers were those who had a more innate grasp of magic. Even today in 5E, Wizards are able to learn basically any spell in the game if they've got the opportunity to copy it to their spellbooks, but they have to prepare the spells they want to use before going out to adventure each day. Sorcerers, meanwhile, can only learn a limited number of spells, but they can cast whatever they know whenever they want.
These two takes on spellcasting - careful planning versus wild versatility - have meant that Wizards and Sorcerers have been at odds for years, and it seems all it takes for this cold war to reignite is a single viral tweet. One Baldur's Gate 3 player made a joke about their Sorcerer's character's response to Wizard party member Gale, and that was all it took for Twitter's mages to spiral into endless debate.
Sorcerer > Wizard. Period.August 31, 2023
I make this point every single time it comes up: Sorcerer is better than Wizard narratively, Wizard is better than Sorcerer mechanically.August 31, 2023
Yeah, you may get more spells than me but I can alter the properties of the ones I know.August 31, 2023
Story wise I love Sorcerors. Mechanically, Wizards are just... better at spellcasting because there's nothing a Sorceror can do that a Wizard can't do but better.The only thing Sorcerors have on Wizards in 5e is: they can restore spell slots mid combat.September 1, 2023
I think sorcerers are cooler. You got the whole "infinite power" thing going onAugust 31, 2023
Those are just a few examples, but if you drop into the replies under that original tweet it Just. Doesn't. End. Sorcerers and Wizards going at while Warlocks - and a fair few melee classes - give us 'um, actually' remarks about why they're the real best choice. Normally you have to wait for a particularly ornery group of tabletop enthusiasts to coalesce at your local hobby shop to enjoy this style of fireworks.
You all should really just be playing Clerics instead anyway.
