The Downside to throwing all the coolest spells is, of course, that the monsters take it personally, and they'd really love to get their hands on you for just a second or two... occasionally, they do, and so the Sorceror has to be concerned with defense, especially at the very start of the game. The best defense, later in the game, is often a good offense: Once you start throwing the high-end spells around, namely Stone Curse, Chain Lightning, Flame Wave, and the occasional dose of Elemental, all you have to worry about is buying Mana.
It behooves the Sorcerer to invest in Strength, to allow the use of better armor, and Vitality, to serve as a cushion against those nasty close encounters. Don't go crazy with Vitality, however: Basically, you need to survive long enough to get your hands on some of those Mana Shield scrolls from the Witch - or better yet, a book of Mana Shield. If you can manage to throw a Mana Shield Spell before every significant chunk of adventuring, you're Magic Points then function as Hit Points. If you've been pouring earned Experience Points into Magic early in the game, it can really pay off later on due to the Mana Shield. From then, on you can just buy potions of Full Mana, utilizing them as both health and magic power. Though you'll burn mana like crazy, you can, in effect, be replenishing both health and magical power for the price of a full Mana dose, and that's a bargain.
One final note on the Mana Shield: Since it wears off when you employ the Town Portal Spell or travel between levels, and you're generally going to be casting it from a scroll, try not to use it unless you're going to be staying a while at that level. Clean house before you start taking goodies back to Tristram.
Sorcerer Maximum Ability Totals
Strength - 45
Magic - 250
Dexterity - 85
Vitality - 80
