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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 9320396" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p>I am not keen on moving away from the 2014 version of 5e, so I wouldn't want any major changes to any class, and I would prefer changes to be in the form of additional options (subclasses, feats, spells).</p><p></p><p>That said, I only think the Sorcerer suffers from two things: (1) too few known spells for a full spellcasting class, (2) not enough differentiations from the Wizard or other casters.</p><p></p><p>These are things that could have been solved long ago simply by leveraging subclass design, and have each subclass grant <strong>bonus known spells</strong> (similar to the Cleric's domains) and <strong>strong unique abilities</strong>, but WotC stubbornly refused to do it in an attempt to defend their original PHB subclasses, which they kept saying the would become less attractive, so they ended up keeping the whole Sorcerer class less attractive as a result. And no, I don't think WotC will get it right in the 2024 version, I think a lot of fans will praise whatever WotC does, and WotC will use the trick of buffing every character a bit, but I also think the Sorcerer will still end up being an underdeveloped class compared to others.</p><p></p><p>If wanting to touch the base class mechanics, and looking at more dramatic changes, at that point instead of worrying too much about the number of known spells, I would want to seriously build around the idea that a Sorcerer could be a great improviser and manipulator of magic. The seed of this idea already exists in the Sorcerer not having to memorize spell (which in practice is a moot point in 5e since she often knows less spell than a Wizard of the same level can memorize, but was the original concept of the 3e Sorcerer) and in metamagic.</p><p></p><p>There's a lot of people insisting that Wizards (and maybe others) should be granted metamagic as well, rendering the Sorcerer even less unique and attractive as a character choice. This is only a by-product of the culture of "Wizards are the most awesome thing and should be able to do <em>everything</em>" (perhaps except healing, because tradition). I don't like these very conservative ideas, and I would actually go the opposite direction and frame the Wizard as a spellcaster who <em>cannot</em> deviate from their formulas or change almost anything about the spells they cast. OK to keep all the variables of spellcasting that are already available to every caster (upscaling spells to higher levels for example), but no more flexibility than that, as if a Wizard learns <em>precise formulas</em> but is not allowed to improvise.</p><p></p><p>If the Wizard class, which is the main contender of the Sorcerer, is kept in check like that, then the Sorcerer could be made the ultimate master of spells flexibility: she knows few, but can change a lot more on the fly. More metamagic effects (either from the core class, from subclasses, or from a Sorcerer-only feat) is an easy addition. Removing the double cost for switching between spell slots and metamagic is also an easy fix. A more dramatic change could be to replace known spells with known <em>spells types</em>, so that for example a Sorcerer at any given level knows a fixed number of spell types or themes ("lightning spells", "speed spells", "undead animation spells") and can cast all spells of that type of available level. This would be a very big design effort because it would have to be done in conjunction with a categorization of existing spells <em>and</em> it would work well only if the whole list of spells in the game is balanced in terms of different spell types, which in general is really not (e.g. there are a lot more fire spells than any other kind).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 9320396, member: 1465"] I am not keen on moving away from the 2014 version of 5e, so I wouldn't want any major changes to any class, and I would prefer changes to be in the form of additional options (subclasses, feats, spells). That said, I only think the Sorcerer suffers from two things: (1) too few known spells for a full spellcasting class, (2) not enough differentiations from the Wizard or other casters. These are things that could have been solved long ago simply by leveraging subclass design, and have each subclass grant [B]bonus known spells[/B] (similar to the Cleric's domains) and [B]strong unique abilities[/B], but WotC stubbornly refused to do it in an attempt to defend their original PHB subclasses, which they kept saying the would become less attractive, so they ended up keeping the whole Sorcerer class less attractive as a result. And no, I don't think WotC will get it right in the 2024 version, I think a lot of fans will praise whatever WotC does, and WotC will use the trick of buffing every character a bit, but I also think the Sorcerer will still end up being an underdeveloped class compared to others. If wanting to touch the base class mechanics, and looking at more dramatic changes, at that point instead of worrying too much about the number of known spells, I would want to seriously build around the idea that a Sorcerer could be a great improviser and manipulator of magic. The seed of this idea already exists in the Sorcerer not having to memorize spell (which in practice is a moot point in 5e since she often knows less spell than a Wizard of the same level can memorize, but was the original concept of the 3e Sorcerer) and in metamagic. There's a lot of people insisting that Wizards (and maybe others) should be granted metamagic as well, rendering the Sorcerer even less unique and attractive as a character choice. This is only a by-product of the culture of "Wizards are the most awesome thing and should be able to do [I]everything[/I]" (perhaps except healing, because tradition). I don't like these very conservative ideas, and I would actually go the opposite direction and frame the Wizard as a spellcaster who [I]cannot[/I] deviate from their formulas or change almost anything about the spells they cast. OK to keep all the variables of spellcasting that are already available to every caster (upscaling spells to higher levels for example), but no more flexibility than that, as if a Wizard learns [I]precise formulas[/I] but is not allowed to improvise. If the Wizard class, which is the main contender of the Sorcerer, is kept in check like that, then the Sorcerer could be made the ultimate master of spells flexibility: she knows few, but can change a lot more on the fly. More metamagic effects (either from the core class, from subclasses, or from a Sorcerer-only feat) is an easy addition. Removing the double cost for switching between spell slots and metamagic is also an easy fix. A more dramatic change could be to replace known spells with known [I]spells types[/I], so that for example a Sorcerer at any given level knows a fixed number of spell types or themes ("lightning spells", "speed spells", "undead animation spells") and can cast all spells of that type of available level. This would be a very big design effort because it would have to be done in conjunction with a categorization of existing spells [I]and[/I] it would work well only if the whole list of spells in the game is balanced in terms of different spell types, which in general is really not (e.g. there are a lot more fire spells than any other kind). [/QUOTE]
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