Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Sorcerers: Favored Souls, Phoenix Sorcery, Sea Sorcery, & Stone Sorcery

Favored Soul (again), Phoenix Sorcery, Sea Sorcery, Earth Sorcery.

Could this be the start of Elementalists?

 

[Bawylie]

I don't know. I don't much like these but maybe because I don't much care for sorcerer.

After reading this I feel like reworking the entire class to a more elementalist style thing instead of alt-wizard.


-Brad

 

[Raunalyn]

To add to my thoughts from earlier...

For the Favored Soul...why don't they use Sorcery Points to trigger the Favored by the Gods ability? Is it that it's more powerful than the Wild Sorcerer's Bend Luck? Why not reduce it to 1d4 and make it like Bend Luck?

 

[MoonSong]

I'm not really happy with them.

Favored Soul.- I can live with it. Certainly not too bad, I just like the other version more. A solid white mage, and the open season on cleric spells certainly helps -Silence I'm looking at you-. I don't like othering effects even when they are positive. But Hey at least something I can use.

Phoenix. I don't think we needed this. Fire is already a dominant strategy, we didn't need another frie focused subclass. More so since this one rewards you for being and acting like a psychopath.

Water.- How does water relate with not having to eat, drink or sleep? The benefits are too complex otherwise.

Earth.- Ughh yet another "you are a monster"

 

[Caliban]

Personally, I think Favored Soul should be a warlock with a Celestial patron.

 

[ad_hoc]

I like them for the most part. The new favoured soul is much better designed than the old one so that's good.

I'm not big on the sea theme. We already have the Storm Sorcerer who specializes in lightning and thunder magic.

Why do we now have a sea sorcerer with lightning and cold?

I would prefer a different water theme and focusing on acid and poison. Giving Poison Spray a boost is a good idea.

 

[Li Shenron]

I like them all but I also don't understand why the designers aren't emphasising the Sorcerer's identity through its unique features i.e. metamagic and sorcery points. These could mechanically be wizards, clerics, warlock or even druid subclasses.

 

[Greg K]

This is, for the most part, the first time that I have liked the basic concept behind the Favored Soul in any edition since it does not change character into an angelic being with wings. However, I am not fond of Divine Magic giving free choice of cleric spells. If I run 5e, I will have to go through and tailor choices by deity domain or the type of being with the addition of spells communing with the parental being.
On the other hand, I think I would prefer the concept of divine blood watched over by the gods presented as a demi-god race: Hercules (demi-god fighter), Achilles (demi-god fighter), Perseus (demi-god fighter), Circe (demi-god sorcerer(ess))

As for the other bloodlines, I am not fond of them.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

I think making the earth bloodline a sword mage makes sense when you consider that many of the earth manipulation spells are fairly high level (wall of stone is 5th level, stone shape is 5th or 6th IIRC) so making an earth bender themed sorcerer isn't very viable without granting them a slew of spells (while the Elemental Evil player's guide added a few it seems they're staying away from referencing content that isn't in the PHB and those spells were kinda lame). Though I may be biased towards liking this since I love gish type classes and earth is my favourite element.

The Sea sorcerer is also very cool. The curse mechanic seems like great fun to play with and seems quite versatile. It does somewhat dictate your spell choices, but that seems to be a theme of the bloodlines. It's just extra noticeable with the sorcerer getting so few spells known.

I'm not surprised to see that they don't have the bonus spell list that the first few sorcerer UA articles did since it differs from what's in the PHB, but I am somewhat saddened to not see it here. Overall, I think these succeed as they make me want to play a class that I normally dump in favor of the wizard.

 

[Plaguescarred]

Interesting stuff Stone Sorcery has dwarf written all over it!


Yan
D&D Playtester

 

[Thurmas]

I'm disappointed in the Favored Soul. While I think the extra spells from the original UA Favored Soul could have a been a little powerful, limiting the spells to a single domain(deity) was very fitting. I dislike opening it to all the cleric spells. Plus, compared to the Sorcerer spell, I can't really see picking many cleric spells over the spells the Sorcerer already has access to. I also miss the weapon and armor proficiencies and especially I miss the wings. I thought that was the coolest aspect of the class. Holy Warrior that works toward his goal until finally earning his wings in the service of his deity. Between the two, I would still prefer the first Favored Soul UA.

The Phoenix Sorcerer is just ok. Interesting flavor, but kind of boring I think.

The Sea Sorcerer is interesting, I've always wanted more elemental types. I wish it was more ice/cold themed then adding the lightning aspects. Call it an Ice Sorcerer (jut name your character Elsa and be done with it). I think the biggest problem in this regard is the limited number of cold and lightning spells reduces its effectiveness. It would be better if it used cold and air/wind based spells, maybe with force damage related aspects.

I like the theme of the Earth Sorcerer the best of all of them. Some cool effects, although I don't really understand the addition of the smith spells and plenty of toughness and maneuverability. I think of the four this is the only one I'd be interested in playing.