D&D (2024) Sorcerers getting Chaos Bolt automatically

[Kobold Avenger]

I think the thing for the sorcerer is that they should be able to do some extra things, based on how they're innately magical. But what that is might be harder to define.

I guess they could make Chaos Bolt into a cantrip, if it's up the Sorcerer's signature now, now that Eldritch Blast is without a doubt the Warlock's signature.

 

[Minigiant]

I think an elemental subclass would be a smart move. Older folks may roll their eyes, but being able to push the PHB across the table to a new player and say "yes, you can play Elsa from Frozen" would be a big deal for far more new players than I think many people realize. I've had to field that question at least three times.

If there was 6 subclasses per class, elementalist would one for my wishlist for sorcerer.

To me,sorcerers feel a lot like sorcerers in the Dresden Files series. Practitioners of raw magic who are naturally tied to an aspect of magic. Some get ghosts. Some get light. Some get metals. And some lucky butts get FIRE or LIGHTNING!

You are born under the fire sign in the calendar and have red hair? Well your blood is filled with fire and your foes will BURN! "Yes my PC is named Bernard but his friends and enemies call him Burny"

 

[Azzy]

I'm really confused how well this system is going to work. Do they literally mean that "Bard" and "Sorcerer" will be in the spells' names, or just in a tag? Because if it's in the name, that could get pretty unwieldy a few years in, when there are likely dozens of such spells.

It sound to me like a tag, i.e. "Chaos Bolt (Sorcerer)" and "Searing Smite (Paladin)".

 

[doctorbadwolf]

It would help to actually solidify the fiction behind the magic used by the classes a bit, even if that definition only lasted the edition, or was specifically one of multiple scenarios instead of a disconnected hodge podge of vague ideas to support mechanics.

For example, if sorcerers are using monster magic, monster magic should work in a similar fashion. If they are tapping into the same energy as wizards but with force of personality instead of magi-science, they should be more about oomph. If they shape chaos, they should be about variability and maybe be able to add chaos to the magic of others, etc.

The only degree to which I agree with this is that it could make it so sorcerers do something interesting with cantrips, but otherwise I don’t really want all sorcerers to be the same thing, or all be tied to the same type of thing.

Innate magic should have myriad forms and sources, and level 1 sorcerer should have more cantrips than anyone else or metamagic or something like that to reflect that they are just an absolute font of magic right off the bat, and discovering why or unlocking your “true power” is then part of developing that wellspring of power.

 

[Zaukrie]

Maybe sorcerers should have auras, or be able to decrease damage taken, or something. I feel like they should be creatures of magic, not creatures that learned magic. They should feel magical.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Maybe sorcerers should have auras, or be able to decrease damage taken, or something. I feel like they should be creatures of magic, not creatures that learned magic. They should feel magical.

To me, best way to go for that is to make them break the rules. Upcast cantrips by spending a sorcery point as a base feature, pick a meta-magic to have atwill from low level, and again at 5, 11, 17.

And then look at stuff like auras for the subclass. Dragonfear, a storm, fire that harms and heals, etc.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I wonder if wizards will automatically get magic missile, since the other two mage classes are getting a signature zapping spell.

What I would like in terms of wild surges, is that your surge gets triggered when you cast a spell with the highest-level spell slot you have. I also want different tables for each subclass, so dragon sorcerers have something dragon-related happening, storm sorcerers getting storm stuff happening, shadow sorcerers getting gloom and doom stuff happening, etc. I also think the tables for non-wild magic sorcerers don't need to be that big. Twenty options are fine.

 

[Zaukrie]

To me, best way to go for that is to make them break the rules. Upcast cantrips by spending a sorcery point as a base feature, pick a meta-magic to have atwill from low level, and again at 5, 11, 17.

And then look at stuff like auras for the subclass. Dragonfear, a storm, fire that harms and heals, etc.

Breaking the rules doesn't make them seem magical to me. Ymmv of course.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

God I hope not. Wild Magic is just about my least favorite thing in 5e.

Okay, how does that make anything harder, though. It just means that sorcerous magic manifest as magic first, and your ancestry starts changing you as you develop your magic.

Yeah I'm seeing alot of push back on this. They want this spell to be to the Sorcerer's Eldritch Blast, but they are underestimating how disliked the Wild Sorcerer is by a good chunk of the fans, because TPKs its triggered, to messing up dmplans by some surge that wrecks a balanced encounter, etc...

I don't hate it, I just recognize it needs experienced dms and players so ut does wreck a game single handly which means it has no place in a PHB, it belongs suplimental material. I like the flavour, its just not new player friendly at all.

 

[tetrasodium]

Yeah I'm seeing alot of push back on this. They want this spell to be to the Sorcerer's Eldritch Blast, but they are underestimating how disliked the Wild Sorcerer is by a good chunk of the fans, because TPKs its triggered, to messing up dmplans by some surge that wrecks a balanced encounter, etc...

I don't hate it, I just recognize it needs experienced dms and players so ut does wreck a game single handly which means it has no place in a PHB, it belongs suplimental material. I like the flavour, its just not new player friendly at all.

This so much. IME "can I play a wildmagic sorcerer" is distressingly close to the nails on chalkboard equivalent of what "can I play a kender" back in the day when choosing to shift responsibility for the fallout by voicing the question itself was an indication that problems were almost certain to follow.