Shattered Kingdoms

Nope, definitely not refuting your nonsense claims of griffon sorc superiority with facts related to the game mechanics necessary for successful play. Totally relying on personal attacks to undermine your questionable credibility as a reliable source of intel for a newb looking for advice on sorc races. Jeeze, you got me so bad. I think I'll buy stock in an Aloe Vera provider now.

Griffons do get extra stat points, so if you were permanently polymorphed as a sprite or something, via wand or scroll, that would be an interesting, if annoying build.

And what areas exactly can a griffon sorc explore without a charm? An unaffiliated griffon sorc will die to any high level NPC that is a melee class and has a weapon. Or to a naked barb NPC. Your confusion might be related to your delusions about the HP pool of sorcerers. I recall you thinking your human sorc would survive four voodoos or something.

Who here has actually rolled a griffon sorc other than OA?

I know the_me and Threnody have both played them in the past, the latter more extensively than the former. Other than that, you don't see them like ever. I've played 3 myself, 1 to age death and the other two until I just couldn't deal with how subpar it was mechanically, making it nearly impossible to back rp effectively.

A griffon sorcerer absolutely can mop up on melee NPCs. Just not boss NPCs. Toughness, low carry weight, max STR and DEX via GS and haste, armor, MI and, if necessary, SA and you're golden. Don't underestimate toughness or griffon claw damage output even w/o enhanced damage. When the NPCs miss their bashes, acid blast or color spray. Particularly strong non-boss NPCs with good weapons may require help from Lathron.

I am glad you understand the sprite point. If you think about why a strictly PvE sorcerer would ever need EQ it is to ward off NPC spells (since griffons resist gas breath). So to facilitate this build you roll a griffon and get a tiny ~20 lb. MR suit for when you want to use EQ then use a scroll for sprite mode. You can base your trains around optimizing for both griffon and sprite mode. The only indisputable train allotment is to max mana. I also would max HP and in no case would I put a stat higher than the lower of griffon or sprite racial max (generally lower). I would have no large equipment, all medium for griffon mode, with no need for a weapon or shield or even large container. This can all be accomplished with easy to get, easy to replace equipment.

You could also pull this off with a deep-elf polymorph secondary build.

I personally would not train art very much if at all. No more than 6 at the absolute maximum and probably just 3 or 0. High art really only has value for PvP.

All of this is mostly academic as a sorcerer can do a vast amount of exploring invisible and ethereal. A griffon can hang with most of the ethereal non-boss NPCs he may encounter.

As an additional reason not to listen to styles about griffon sorcs:

They don't resist gas, and haven't resisted gas for a number of years.

I would also recommend training at least nine art if not maxing it, since enchanting is apparently affected by art and you can enchant for stats now anyway. However, if your main goal is exploring, I'd suggest maxing mana first.

They are not immune.

It's a waste to get that much art for a PvE character. Even for the enchanting benefit.

Could you please clarify on why a griffon polymorphed into a sprite is useful? What is the relative concentration cost of polymorphing via a scroll? On my last character I made it up to Expert I think but I never used Scribe or figured it out.

Regarding exploring/hoarding: I have sporadic play times and found in other MUDs that if I'm put in the situation where I'm in a group/clan/cabal/faction/etc I tend to let my mates down. Often I have to quit with very little notice. Essentially I have to play SK as if it's a viable game for single-player so I'm choosing a class that I understand is self-reliant. Since I'm new to SK exploring sounds like fun. I enjoy reading descriptions and figuring out puzzles. I don't keep equipment I can't use, and I don't know why people do that in general except for ego.

And, last couple times I've logged in SK has had only 8-12 players, so... yeah.