The last time I really tried to take a "stab"
(heh) at Sorcerers, it was for 4th Edition. At that time, all I came up with was a set of quotes from the Internet and notes for myself, not any finished product. (I think this was from 2011.)
http://old.disinfo.com/archive/pages/article/id762/pg1/
. . .
"Sorcery breaks no law of nature because there is no Natural Law, only the spontaneity of
natura naturans, the
tao. Sorcery violates laws which seek to chain this flow--priests, kings, hierophants, mystics, scientists & shopkeepers all brand the sorcerer enemy for threatening the power of their charade, the tensile strength of their illusory web."
. . .
"The tactics of ontological anarchism are rooted in this secret Art--the goals of ontological anarchism appear in its flowering. Chaos hexes its enemies & rewards its devotees . . . this strange yellowing pamphlet, pseudonymous & dust-stained, reveals all . . . send away for one split second of eternity."
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo5356659.html
The University of Chicago Press Books
Ethnographic Sorcery - Harry G. West
. . .
"According to the people of the Mueda plateau in northern Mozambique, sorcerers remake the world by asserting the authority of their own imaginative visions of it. While conducting research among these Muedans, anthropologist Harry G. West made a revealing discovery—for many of them, West’s efforts to elaborate an ethnographic vision of their world was itself a form of sorcery."
"THE SORCERER'S DILEMMA"
• NO REALITY CHECK: Wizards can check reality by referring back to books, and Warlocks can check reality by referring back to patrons, and bards can check reallity by referring back to training, and witches can check reality by referring back to their familiars; but the sorcerer's power comes entirely from within. When you combine that fact with Confirmation Bias, you usually get sorcerers who amplify their own mistakes: once they start going wrong, they keep going farther wrong in the same direction, because they have no external reference point to guide them back from the brink of madness.
• THAT MUCH POWER CREATES ITS OWN REALITY: Sorcerers cause things to conform to their wishes, and think more and more that, "It's true because I say so."
• YOU CAN'T HIDE: The use of arcane power leaves lingering impressions in the places where those powers are used; and those impressions include information about which spells were used, and what kind of source empowered them.
Sorcerers overpower reality. That is both their strength and their weakness: it lets them change reality, but it keeps them from appreciating the true nature of the changes they make.
( "If reality is whatever I say it is, why are those blamed peasants coming for me with torches and pitchforks? I never said they should do so!")
The essential difference between sorcerers and wizards is that the sorcerers "just made things happen":
whatever they really wanted to happen, happened. From this, it follows that most sorcerer powers are things that a sorcerer would really like to have happen, over and over again: the powers all have to be emblematic.
(Hence, few spells known.)
Sample, new (home-brew) 4th Ed. At-Will Attacks (which would have to be toned down to make them comparable to 5th Ed. Cantrips):
•
Bending Light ("The energy of your attack writhes and twists as a thing alive, absorbing your enemy's attention and reducing its damage against distant creatures.") Ranged 10 sq. (50 feet), one target, DEX save: 1d8 + CHA
radiant damage, and target takes a penalty to damage on its ranged and area attacks equal to your STR modifier until end of your next turn. (in 5th Ed., there is no "area" keyword for attacks)
•
Consternation ("You imbue your arcane magic with the baleful influence of cosmic aspects to impede your opponent's accuracy.") Ranged 10 sq. (50 feet), one target, WIS save: 1d8 + CHA
psychic damage, and the target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls and the save DC for DEX saves until end of your next turn. (originally for 4th Ed.: penalty to attacks vs. AC and Reflex)
•
Pummeling Peal ("Power swells within, and thunder blasts out from you to pummel those nearby.") Close blast 5 sq. (in 5th, it might be Renge "Self," 25 foot cube), each creature, DEX save: 1d6 + CHA
thunder damage. Extra for Storm sorcerers: The blast creates a zone filled with echoing thunder that lasts until the end of your next turn. Whenever an enemy ends its turn within the zone, that enemy takes
thunder damage equal to your Dexterity modifier.
•
Shakestaffe ("Inborn magic empowers both ends of your staff at the same time.") Range melee, one target, attack roll vs. AC. Requirement: must be wielding a staff. Primary attack: one target: 1[W] damage, and make a secondary attack against the same target: Secondary attack: CHA damage, and target takes a -2
power penalty to the next attack it makes against you before the end of your next turn.
Special: You can use this power in place of a melee basic attack.
Special: You may apply the extra damage from your Spell Source class feature to both the primary attack and the secondary attack.
(Yeah, the "extra damage from your Spell Source" was a 4th Ed. thing.)
•
Buckle the Land ("You warp one location so badly that creatures there are forced aside.") Range area 1 sq. (so a 5-foot cube) within 10 sq. (so 50 feet), each creature in area, CON save.
Effect: the area is difficult terrain until end of your next turn, and all grabbed ("restrained") conditions within the square end.
Hit: 1d6
force damage, and the target is ejected from the target area (subject to the usual restrictions such as resistance to forced movement).
Generally about 5th Ed. Sorcerers: A Favored Soul version would be good, but I would like to see some built-in differentiation based on which deity is being worshipped.
One nice advantage of the current sorcerer class is that it gets its Origin at 1st level, earlier than Bard get their Colleges or Druid get their Circles.
I'm afraid there is no room in the current sorcerer class for things such as cantrips (as, for example, my Pummeling Peal above) that give different results to sorcerers with different Origins, and I miss that from 4th Ed.
