How can a lousy 3 lifepath Sorcerer avoid fainting from tax all of the time?
I ran a BW game with a Summoner and a Faith slinger. It was great.
But if I ever want to play a Sorcerer it seems as if even the weakest spell has a chance of zonking me. An Ob 4 spell is a stretch.
Any experience from veteran BW spell-slingers?
A Sorcerer’s Forte is possibly the fastest advancing stat in the entire game. Rejoice!
A 3LP sorcerer is young and should have enough Physical pts to get a Forte 4 or more. That should cover you easily for even an Ob 4 spell. You might lose some to Tax, but you won’t pass out from a single failed test.
With the worst of luck, you’re casting 1 spell per day before needing to rest. Ever play a 1st level wizard in D&D? 
In all seriousness, I’ve yet to see it be a problem for any Sorcerers.
Do not forget Artha, The Great Equalizer.
The Sorcerer-(wannabe*) of our 3LP game only have Ob.1-2 spells (I think). Young sorcerers should probably do as everyone else and gauge their Obstacles.
Yea! I figured as much, never having read any complaints about it. Judicious Artha work, etc. keeps the character functional. No hacking, drifting, or freakish tactics like trying to buy Gray shade Forte during burning.
A sorcerer requires realistic spell selection and casting habits to match his Forte. You can really fuck yourself up if you overreach. If you stay just within your means, you’ll advance very quickly.
As far as I can tell the best thing for a sorcerer to do is to limit themselves. Sure - you can get some pretty amazing sorcery scores in 3 LPs.
Assuming you’re using the very simple: City Born -> Neophyte Sorcerer -> Sorcerer, you have 9 Mental pool, an 17 Physical pool, and you can have B5 Forte pretty easily.
Now, if you’re going to be casting White Fire, The Fear, Persuasion, and some other pretty powerful spells, you’re going to start feeling the sickness pretty quickly. So don’t.
Binding might be one of the neatest spells in the game (locking up spears, armour, swords, and so on, ends conflict quickly. and has other mundane uses). Shards is a nice spell for simply dealing wounds, not as good as most other combat spells, but nothing to sneeze at. Wyrd Light is likely a better choice than Mage Light for lighting tunnels, and again, cheap.
All of these are Ob 2, and therefore, nice for your Forte. You wont advance your Forte or Sorcery with them (or, they’ll be routine tests), but they’re the kind of thing your sorcerer casts most of the time. Save The Fear for when things get bad. You only cast it once, save your friends, and then they save you. You’re a hero, and the image of the mage stands before a group so all can see him, spitting the final syllables of his spell, the orcish army turning to flee, as he collapses to the ground from exhaustion is just cooler.