D&D 5E 4E Storm Sorcerer Player in a 5E world

[A Murder of Crows]

Hey all.

First, some history. Feel free to TL;DR this part.

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So, a LONG time ago (8ish years?) i played in a 4E game with some local friends. I spent a few weeks on my character, hammering out things with my DM and getting set for my first play. I was intrigued by everything 4E had to offer me and i loved how different each class of spell caster seemed.

I have a history of playing games like Palladium and RoleMaster, and my love of magic users pretty much dictates that i'll be using some form of non-physical character (i don't even like using creatures in M:TG).

I made a genasi storm sorc, and the character was incredible. It had been the first time in many years that i had played, and it was the first new character i was instantly attached to. it was also the first time i felt that i actually *LIKED* tabletop D&D. Before this character, my previous love was a witch specializing in Telekinesis in Palladium, circa 1999ish.

anyway, time went on, and i only got to play the storm sorc two or 3 times. the group switched campaigns for a few months but some of the players derailed that so badly that the campaign completely ended. The GM moved to another state and that was the end.

Flash forward to a few weeks ago and I get invited to play with some of that group again, only now they are all playing 5E. They all have a nasty taste in their mouths from 4E and no one has a desire to play, let alone run, a 4E game.

No big deal, right? I'll just have some help getting my storm sorc translated into 5E. Except nothing fits exactly. in fact, even the rules for sorcs seem totally different. Wait, i now *SHARE* a spell list set with the Wizard class? All my neat feats are gone? what the hell????

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I'm one of those kinds of players that like to think out mechanics before a character build, looking for solid combinations that sound fun or interesting or powerful. I have been guilty of min-max optimization tactics before, as well as looking at interesting builds for inspiration.

I want my characters to be mechanically different, not just in how they are played, but in what they can do. To clarify, I want my character class to be different not because i choose different options from another class, but because i have different options from those other classes/characters.

So far, everything i've read about 5E has left me feeling like a sorc without a system so to speak. The spell lists i've seen don't do anything for me, and the metamagic concept seems okay but doesn't really make up for all the mechanics and options i feel i've lost, especially with the limiting of the amount of spells a sorc can have off the spell list and the fact the list is shared with other classes. The closest has been a SorLock multi-class character, and even that just doesn't really seem "right" to me.



I need help. I want to play in this game, and i want to have fun, but it seems like those 2 goals are directly opposed to each other with how i like to build and play characters. So, i turn to this community for guidance in helping me find a build from start to end while also trying to scratch the following itches:

1. Non-Religious based Magic User, preferably a striker/damage type (as opposed to utility/control type) or a user of psionics/mental based abilities (Storm Sorc or Telepathy/telekinesis based)
2. MANY MANY MANY interesting/powerful mechanics, combos, synergy, nova potential, etc. I've seen some ideas which help a great deal but i'm really looking for all sorts of options here.
3. Uniqueness based on class. I don't want to be a sorc in 5E because they seem like a more limited Wizard that can mod on the fly instead of their own type of magic user. Yeah, i get the differences but considering the backstory for sorcs, you'd think that they COULD learn SOME of the same spells, but that they'd have some innate power and spells completely of their own.

I'm willing to look at any books/resources, any house rules, any conversion options, anything at all to make something awesome happen.

I've included my 4E character here just in case it helps someone in helping me

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[Blue]

Thanks for the guidelines - reading the begining of the post I was worried it was going to be "I want to play a character based around a certain set of mechanics that aren't in this roleplaying game" which often leads to disappointment. But you seem a lot more open than that, looking more for the spirit of what you had in an interesting and unique way.

I want my characters to be mechanically different, not just in how they are played, but in what they can do. To clarify, I want my character class to be different not because i choose different options from another class, but because i have different options from those other classes/characters.

...

1. Non-Religious based Magic User, preferably a striker/damage type (as opposed to utility/control type) or a user of psionics/mental based abilities (Storm Sorc or Telepathy/telekinesis based)
2. MANY MANY MANY interesting/powerful mechanics, combos, synergy, nova potential, etc. I've seen some ideas which help a great deal but i'm really looking for all sorts of options here.
3. Uniqueness based on class. I don't want to be a sorc in 5E because they seem like a more limited Wizard that can mod on the fly instead of their own type of magic user. Yeah, i get the differences but considering the backstory for sorcs, you'd think that they COULD learn SOME of the same spells, but that they'd have some innate power and spells completely of their own.

The sorcerer can be a good striker, but aren't "unique/special" in that regard. They make better buffers (since with Concentration, buffing is much more restricted in 5e than other editions and being able to Twin a single target buff is very powerful.) They also work well in multiclasses - the paladin/sorc is a commonly spoken power build. But it doesn't sound like it meets your criteria.

The non-divine spellcaster that's the hands down the most different from any other caster is the Warlock.

Warlocks can be powerful strikers. They get back spell slots on a short rest instead of a long one, and also get a variety of invocations.

Instead of trying to describe them, there are a number of good guides that do a great job talking about them to see if it's what you want. Here's the master list of guides: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...of-D-amp-D-Class-Build-Guides-the-Wiki-Thread

As a side note, don't write off Wizard as "the generic" that everyone plays. They have an awesome spell list, and some of their school powers really stand out. Divination's Portent ability at 2nd is something almost impossible to replicate elsewhere.

 

[A Murder of Crows]

Hey Blue, thanks for the reply!

I'll give that list of guides a look through. My GM and I had a chat about things and did a comparison of my 4e character vs his thematic attempt to recreate the character in 5e. I also did a lot of reading on sorcs and it seems that the issues aren't just in my imagination. i found a long list of houserules and nearly all the sorc ones tried to solve issues by adding access to more spells unique to the sorc, giving a few more spell slots (it seems silly to me that a sorc, having magic in the blood, would have a lot less possible spells at their fingertips than anyone short of a wizard or divine caster), or recovering some sorc points for a minor rest.

The spells added were often thematic to the bloodline (so more thunder/lightning keyword spell options for storm, but also other elemental based).

I'm going to look at the Warlocks and Sorcs again, and also an MC between the 2 since that seemed to be the big thing everyone liked.

Do you happen to know if there is a tool similar to the WotC 4e compendium and character builder that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

 

[Yunru]

I personally use MPMB's character sheet.

 

[gyor]

In practice I think you'd find Storm sorcerer very unique in practice. Between the metamagic fears and features unique to the storm sorcerer it's very different feeling, especially if you have XGTE.

I especially like Thunder Step, Choas Bolt, Storm Sphere for it.

For races it seems your not constrained so I suggest Tiefling subraces, Shadar Kai, or Eladarin from MTOFs or from the recent UAs Changeling, Kalashtar, Envoy Warforged, Simic Hybrid, Centaur (Centaur so that you can be a flying mount for a small character), from VGTM Aasimar and Triton. High Elf with the Fey Teleportation feat that Grant's +1 Charisma or Intelligence, Misty step as a spell known, and 1 free use per long/short rest, and the Sylvan language. Drow is an interesting chose, access to Rapier allows you to gish abit and gives the character more of a pirate feel, charisma based racial spells, 120 dark vision and the Drow High Magic feat.

Pick the right race and it can change the play style of class.