For buffing spells, even a low Cha Sorcerer should do ok. It's only when it comes to enemy DC saves and #/level of knowable spells that Cha comes into play. Some offensive spells bypass saves altogether, so you might try concentrating on those. Also you can raise your Cha by crafting a Cloak of Charisma if someone learns the Craft Wondrous Items feat and possesses an Eagle's Splendor scroll.

But if you have high Int, then multi-classing to Wizard is certainly a viable option. If your Spellcraft skill is high enough (boost it with Scholar Kits), you can scribe high-level arcane scrolls of spells you can't even know yet to your spellbook as a lvl 1 Wizard, then scribe those scrolls and use them if you pass a save vs your Use Magic Item skill. It's not 100% casting success guaranteed, but it still works.

Otherwise leveling up from scratch might be faster than dualling. You can just go to the Welcome Wench Inn and click on the book at the check-in counter. Then retire your Socerer and bring in a new PC to replace him.

OR you can hire an NPC to replace him instead. Piscella hangs out in Rufus and Burn'es Tower, and she will join you for 50 gold. She starts as a Wizard1/Sorcerer1 and has awesome stats (level her as a Sorceress, and use her Scribe feat as I mentioned earlier for casting buffing spells from scrolls). She can be dismissed and will rejoin later as well. If you are playing a Good party with > level 6 and have entered the Temple at least once, Rufus will join for a while as well iirc. Zaxis is a wandering lvl 5 Bard you might randomly meet on the road. He will join for free and makes a decent replacement for a Sorcerer. Finally, if you are quite far along in exploring the Temple, there are some good joinable NPC's in the temple itself or the Nodes that might be of interest. For example, Darley is a lvl 10 Soreress found in the Fire Node specializing in Magic Missile and heightened Charm spells. Very cool.

There are many other joinable NPCs as well, whch is part of what makes ToEE such a cool game.

Thanks for the swift and comprehsenive response!

I'm afraid I'm not fully up to speed with the ins and outs of the D&D system (despite all the games I've picked up here, the rules seem to change from game to game). Nonetheless you've given me some good food for thought here. I never considered that you could go back to the Inn and roll a new character n that there are so many hireable NPCs knocking about. Ignorance is certainly not bliss in this case so thanks for alleviating it!

The most critical thing low Charisma will affect is the level of spells you can learn. You can't cast any spell above 10 minus your Charisma. So, if you have 11 Charisma, you can cast level 1 spells. If you have less than 13 Charisma, you cannot cast level 3 or higher spells. The entire tiers of spells will be unavailable. Getting +1 Cha at level 5 can help.

I don't know what your Cha is at, maybe it's fine. I don't have personal experience multiclassing from Sorcerer to Wizard, but it sounds okay to me. Staring a new character also sounds fine, if you're only starting out.

And yeah, D&D games have been around for so long, they span across 2 (and a half) editions of D&D. The first one I played only had 16 colors!

More like 5 1/2 these days, and that's before you get into the even earlier versions of D&D that preceded AD&D 1E.

There are two major rulesets which computer games tend to use when using DND rules. History incoming: DND has gone through various "editions" over time. The first system was just called "dungeons and dragons", and was shortly followed by the "advanced dungeons and dragons" (ADND) system which enlarged upon it in many ways. The ADND system proved much more popular than its predecessor, and - technically - every DND ruleset you're likely to encounter is an edition of ADND, although the "advanced" part was later dropped as basic DND was no longer relevant.

As ADND was more popular, after a while an updated system, (A)DND second edition, was released which tidied things up and made them easier to use. Instead of a table comparing different types of weapons to different types of armour to calculate hit chances, you just had stats called THAC0 and Armour Class. That kind of thing. 2e was the most up to date iteration when the first major CRPGs using DND rules came out, and to the best of my knowledge there are no 1e computer games, and certainly none on DND. Most of the Infinity Engine games use 2e.

Between the publications of Baldur's Gate 2 and Icewind Dale 2 third edition DND was released. The new system focussed on unifying the classes and simplifying things, so you could mix and match levels of different classes as you wanted. In many ways, 3e DND is different enough to be considered a separate system, though it has areas which aren't changed much (spellcasting is still done on a spellslots-per-day basis, etc). Not long after, an update was released which rebalanced and improved the game, and became known colloquially as "DND 3.5". It's similar enough to 3e that understanding one ruleset will mean you can easily understand the other, though. NWN and IWD2 use 3e; ToEE and NWN2 use 3.5.

Finally, the current system of DND is fourth edition. It's never been that popular, however, being considered by many to be "too MMO-like", although appropriately the MMO Neverwinter uses it.

Summary: There are two systems of DND which games use depending on publication date, and they are only moderately related. Check whether the game you're playing is using the second or third edition rules (in ToEE's case, it's using 3e, or more accurately the slight rebalances of 3.5e). In addition, each game tends to modify the rules in minor ways, either due to engine limitations or more mysterious decisions by the developers. However, if you know which edition each game you're playing is you'll find a lot more consistency between the games of each edition.

My approach with these types of games has always been one in which I might not know the ins and outs of a system but there are certain core principals that apply - fighters need to be strong, rogues need agility, and so forth. My error here was not realising there is such a distinction between Mages and Sorcerers. The upshot of all your feedback suggests my Cha12 Sorcerer is not going to be viable from here on.

I think I will go back to one of my earlier saves (level 3 or 4 I tihnk) and then tag in a new, better designed, Mage or Sorcerer. The scalling levelling system should allow them to catch up to a reasonable level quite quickly. Apropos of nothing, are there any good farming spots in this game? ;P

Thanks all for the continued advice here - it's much appreciated.

There was a very early dungeon-crawl game (Commodore 64 era) called "Telenguard" made by TSR which used D&D rules. It sucked though, which is why I'm not surprised no-one remembers. Several clones of Telenguard were made by 3rd party publishers, which used the most eponymous parts of the AD&D system in all but name. The "Wizardry" series was quite similar to D&D in almost every aspect, but made spell-casting more fun by making the player memorize funky spell names that needed to be typed in properly or the spell fizzled.

@GoodOldBrow: You can always farm wandering monsters by camping in an area that is not considered "safe". Most wandering monsters are somewhat related to the location you are in. SO for example, if you camp directly outside the Temple entrance, you will get mostly undead and bandits. If you want spiders, try Deklo Grove, etc. Camping on the Wildlands Road or deep down in the dungeon can be fun if you are looking for more dangerous encounters. The road between Homlett and Emridy Meadows is frequented by some pretty tough hombres iirc.

Thanks again for all the help everyone. I have a new high charisma sorceress in place now and now that she has a few levels under her belt its just a lot more enjoyable! And fireball is so much handier in this than in, BG or Icewind Dale for example, what with the turn-based combat and the clear image of where will and will not be impacted.

Still a difficult game, mind. ;)