Greetings everyone. I have been enjoying 5e since it came out and had the pleasure of both being a player and a DM over the turn. And through the part, I have been noticing basic aspects of the 5e sorcerer that limits them in ways that has not been present in older editions. In particular, the limited spell list and the economy of their sorcerer point conversion system. That as a result, makes them non-flexible. Because the trade is simply that bad.
As such, with the help of my fellow players, I thought up a simple alteration to the flexible casting mechanic, that gives sorcerers the stamina and flexibility we love them for. Along with giving them access to the wizard spell list, like the sorcerers of old.
SPELL CHOICE
When you learn a new spell list upon achieving a relevant level, as shown in the Spells Known column of the Sorcerer Table. You may pick any spell from the sorcerer or the wizard list. As long as the wizard spell is not prefixed by the name of a wizard, such as Mordekainen's, Bigby's and so forth.
FLEXIBLE CASTING
You can use your sorcery points to gain additional spell slots, or sacrifice spell slots to gain additional sorcery points. You learn other ways to use your sorcery points as you reach higher levels.
Creating Spell Slots.
You can transform expended sorcery points, as shown in the Sorcery Points column of the Sorcerer Table, into one spell slot as a bonus action on your turn.The Creating Spell Slots table shows the cost of creating a spell slot of a given level. You can create spell slots no higher in level than 5th.
Creating Spell Slots
Converting a Spell Slot to Sorcery Points.
As a bonus action on your turn, you can expend one spell slot and gain a number of sorcery points equal to the slot's level, +1 if the slot is of 3rd level or above.
We now have a sorcerer capable of using their baseline sorcery points into spell slots in a much more useful way than before. Along with being able to convert a slot into a slightly more favorable amount of points to use for Metamagic and class features. As they would have access to the wizard spell list, they will be able to make choices such as controlling the environment, rather than merely blast.
Example
[sblock]A 10th level sorcerer encounters fights early in the day where they finds himself out of 2nd level slots. As such, they convert 3 of their sorcery points into a 2nd level slot and a 1st level slot. Giving them baseline ammunition. Later they decide they need at least one big trick for the day. So they convert their last 7 points into a 5th level slot. Leaving them with 3 total. Then, they decide they want some Metamagic options, so they convert one of their three 4th level slots into 5 sorcery points.[/sblock]
Afterword
[sblock]It was my experience observing, that sorcerers never employed their flexible casting mechanic, due to the bad economy. As a result, a sorcerer effectively had the same amount of spells as any other full range caster, but much fewer to choose from for their limited spells they can know. Making different sorcerers end up homogenized due to their spell choices being so similar. A 10th level sorcerer being able to create a 4th and 3rd spell slot from their base 10 points does not seem to break anything. Neither does the beneficial trade for 1st and 2nd level slots. Due to how these two levels are balanced in power. Also, it resurrects the idea of a sorcerer knowing fewer spells, but being able to cast them more often.
As doing either of these things leaves you with a sorcerer that either has to trade other slots for Metamagic, or can fire lots of low level spells, of which they will likely not know many total, and then has to trade high level slots for points, testing has left it feeling like a reasonable balance choice.[/sblock]
One of the inspirations for this redesign was a line in the sorcerer description from the players handbook:
Whatever their goals, sorcerers are every bit as useful to an adventuring party as wizards, making up for a comparative lack of breadth in their magical knowledge with enormous flexibility in using the spells they know.
As one does, I would deeply treasure your insight, thought and feedback upon this endeavor.
As such, with the help of my fellow players, I thought up a simple alteration to the flexible casting mechanic, that gives sorcerers the stamina and flexibility we love them for. Along with giving them access to the wizard spell list, like the sorcerers of old.
SPELL CHOICE
When you learn a new spell list upon achieving a relevant level, as shown in the Spells Known column of the Sorcerer Table. You may pick any spell from the sorcerer or the wizard list. As long as the wizard spell is not prefixed by the name of a wizard, such as Mordekainen's, Bigby's and so forth.
FLEXIBLE CASTING
You can use your sorcery points to gain additional spell slots, or sacrifice spell slots to gain additional sorcery points. You learn other ways to use your sorcery points as you reach higher levels.
Creating Spell Slots.
You can transform expended sorcery points, as shown in the Sorcery Points column of the Sorcerer Table, into one spell slot as a bonus action on your turn.The Creating Spell Slots table shows the cost of creating a spell slot of a given level. You can create spell slots no higher in level than 5th.
Creating Spell Slots
Sorcery point Cost
1st1
2nd2
3rd4
4th5
5th7
Converting a Spell Slot to Sorcery Points.
As a bonus action on your turn, you can expend one spell slot and gain a number of sorcery points equal to the slot's level, +1 if the slot is of 3rd level or above.
We now have a sorcerer capable of using their baseline sorcery points into spell slots in a much more useful way than before. Along with being able to convert a slot into a slightly more favorable amount of points to use for Metamagic and class features. As they would have access to the wizard spell list, they will be able to make choices such as controlling the environment, rather than merely blast.
Example
[sblock]A 10th level sorcerer encounters fights early in the day where they finds himself out of 2nd level slots. As such, they convert 3 of their sorcery points into a 2nd level slot and a 1st level slot. Giving them baseline ammunition. Later they decide they need at least one big trick for the day. So they convert their last 7 points into a 5th level slot. Leaving them with 3 total. Then, they decide they want some Metamagic options, so they convert one of their three 4th level slots into 5 sorcery points.[/sblock]
Afterword
[sblock]It was my experience observing, that sorcerers never employed their flexible casting mechanic, due to the bad economy. As a result, a sorcerer effectively had the same amount of spells as any other full range caster, but much fewer to choose from for their limited spells they can know. Making different sorcerers end up homogenized due to their spell choices being so similar. A 10th level sorcerer being able to create a 4th and 3rd spell slot from their base 10 points does not seem to break anything. Neither does the beneficial trade for 1st and 2nd level slots. Due to how these two levels are balanced in power. Also, it resurrects the idea of a sorcerer knowing fewer spells, but being able to cast them more often.
As doing either of these things leaves you with a sorcerer that either has to trade other slots for Metamagic, or can fire lots of low level spells, of which they will likely not know many total, and then has to trade high level slots for points, testing has left it feeling like a reasonable balance choice.[/sblock]
One of the inspirations for this redesign was a line in the sorcerer description from the players handbook:
Whatever their goals, sorcerers are every bit as useful to an adventuring party as wizards, making up for a comparative lack of breadth in their magical knowledge with enormous flexibility in using the spells they know.
As one does, I would deeply treasure your insight, thought and feedback upon this endeavor.
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