D&D 5E Is the major thing that's disappointing about Sorcerers is the lack of sorcery point options?

[Greg K]

I know that the 2nd least satisfying class after the Ranger, has been the Sorcerer.

Myself, I have been more disappointed with the Cleric, Monk, and Sorcerer from a flavor/mechanics perspective than the Ranger (which is not to say I have not been disappointed with the Ranger. My dislike for the Cleric extends through ever edition with the exception of the 2e Priests of Specific Mythoi/Specialty Priests. The Monk has just been plain disappointing conceptually mechanically throughout every edition, in my opinion (in 3e we replaced it with a variant of the OA Shaman).
As for the Sorcerer, I dislike it for the same reason that I dislike the 4e Sorcerer and the Pathfinder Sorcerer- I don't find manifesting characteristics of a character's draconic heritage or celestial heritage such as wings interesting in the least and the Wild mage even less so. It has no place in the campaigns that I run which is a shame, because I like the idea of magic in the blood granting casting and not needing a spellbook.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'm curious what's disappointing about the monk?

 

[Inchoroi]

I would love it if someone played a Wild Magic Sorcerer, because I think it's awesome.

If someone did, I'd see if they'd be amenable to a couple changes.

1. Wild Magic Surge

The DM doesn't decide when you roll for a wild magic surge. You roll any time you cast a non-cantrip spell. The target number for your d20 roll is equal to or below the spell's level. The stronger the spell, the most likely it is you'll be having a wild magic surge.

2. Tides of Chaos

I don't really have a problem with this at all. It's supposed to be chaotic, and I'd be fine with people using it every round, if need be. Then again, I like randomness (including random stats!). I'd make it a player choice, however. To regain it, the player chooses to roll on the Wild Surge table, and what happens happens.



By that same token, here's what the Sorcerer needs, IMO, beyond the above for the Wild Magic Sorcerer:

1. More Bloodlines. God, more bloodlines. What were they thinking making only two...

Corollary: Each Bloodline needs Bloodline specific Metamagic options.

2. More Metamagic Options. I'm a little too loopy to dream them up right now.

3. More spells. This is not only more spells for all classes, but each Bloodline should have a set of spells that they get added to the ones they know. For Wild Magic Sorcerer, of course, it's completely random. They roll on a chart for the random spells.

 

[Blue]

Elemental Affinity
Starting at 6th level, when you cast a spell that deals damage of a type listed on the draconic ancestry table, you can opt to transform the spell's damage type to that of the type associated with your draconic ancestry. If it is already that type of damage, you can instead add your Charisma modifier to one damage roll of that spell. At the same time, you can spend 1 sorcery point to gain resistance to that damage type for 1 hour.

I'd change that a little bit. Having the ability to cast a full range of elements to seek out vulnerabilities, and to change all to a favored type that you've taken a feat that lets you cut through resistance and up damage seems a bit too widespread to be thematic.

I'd rather it let you permanently pick up to three other damage types, and if you cast a spell they MUST change to your picked damage type. So there are plenty of spells since four different damage types will feed it, and you still have some other damage types if you want. (This is in addition to what it does now.)

Would that work for you?

 

[Hussar]

I think part of the issue lies with how people create characters. One approach is to take a concept and then shop around to find the best Class that fits that concept. The other way picks the Class first and then tries to shoehorn that Class into a concept.

5e doesn't work very well for the second style. The classes lack so much niche protection that it's almost always better to start with the concept because invariably there is a class that will better fit your concept.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I wouldn't even bother with having the sorcerer research absorb elements, I'd just tell them it is on their spell list. Honestly, I'm a little surprised it isn't on their list already because, as you say, it is a thematic ability.

I actually wouldn't let wizards have access to non-PHB spells either without spell research. Everything in EE Player's Companion, the Book of Lost Spells, or the AD&D Tome of Magic--all of that is potentially fair game, but not something you can just pick by default on level-up. You either research it or you find it in treasure, at my table.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

3.) Go play 7th Sea, learn some Porte Magic, and watch as the idea of tearing open the very fabric of something like The Weave is very Sorcerer in application. Again, these are people Made Of Magic, I cannot stress enough how their casting should be LEAPS AND BOUNDS AHEAD of any other Arcane Spellcaster, at a cost of some sort. Metamagic is supposed to fulfill that ideal, I suppose, but the lack of spell support just makes that fail on every level.

Might be an interesting variant to allow sorcerers to burn HP as sorcery points. Reduces your HP maximum and your current HP on a 1:1 basis with sorcery points. HP maximum gets restored at a rate of, say, your CHA modifier points per day.

That means that a "made of magic" sorcerer can pull off the rare impressive nova at the possible cost of his own life. He's made of magic and he literally used himself up!

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

3. More spells. This is not only more spells for all classes, but each Bloodline should have a set of spells that they get added to the ones they know. For Wild Magic Sorcerer, of course, it's completely random. They roll on a chart for the random spells.

I actually did this at my table, from the time the UA Storm Sorcerer came out (introducing sorcerer domain spells) up until SCAG came out with the revised Storm Sorcerer (nixing domain spells).

Observation: it was quite fun, and even "lame" spells like Jump that you would normally never learn or prepare turn out to be surprisingly cool when you have them anyway and then you happen to find a use for them. (Killing vampires stuck to the ceiling, in the Wild Paladorc's case.)

You could potentially have the Wild Sorc reroll every full moon or every day, but in my variant I just had him roll once (two random spells per spell level from off the sorcerer list).

My dragon sorcs had two dragon-themed (majestic and/or empire-building) spells per spell level like Command, Suggestion, Sending, and Fear. Stuff I want all dragons to have access to.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I'd change that a little bit. Having the ability to cast a full range of elements to seek out vulnerabilities, and to change all to a favored type that you've taken a feat that lets you cut through resistance and up damage seems a bit too widespread to be thematic.

Where do you get the "up damage" part? A Black Dragon Sorcerer gets no damage bonus to Acidball, in the text I wrote. Hence the word "instead."

I'd rather it let you permanently pick up to three other damage types, and if you cast a spell they MUST change to your picked damage type. So there are plenty of spells since four different damage types will feed it, and you still have some other damage types if you want. (This is in addition to what it does now.)

Would that work for you?

"Must" instead of "may" wouldn't be that big of a turnoff, although presumably in that case you'd put the damage bonus back in place. After all, the whole point of being a Black Dragon Sorcerer would be "to spew acid indiscriminately all over everything, all the time."

 

[doctorbadwolf]

That's fair enough, different table, different playstyles. I allow any of the spells from the PHB or EE to be chosen. The primary reason why I wouldn't require a sorcerer to research it is that they don't seem like a research class, they learn new spells and ways of casting them while levelling, I don't really think that spell research makes sense for the class.

I assume they learn new spells by practicing and pushing the limits of what they can do. Makes sense they could do so methodically enough to be able to see absorb elements, and go, "I bet I could do that..." and spend some time in training mode to figure it out, just like a fighter (not class, generic term) could do with a maneuver, in a system built to let ppl learn manuevers instead of locking hem into a single class.

Dont call it research, but it serves the same purpose, and totally makes sense for the class.