It doesn't work thematically IMO.
Wizards study arcane formulas, which doesn't lend itself to chaos. Your write the arcane pattern and say the words, and the thing happens. Do it again, repeat the results.
It would make more sense for a Cleric or Warlock tied to an entity of chaos.
That said, I would certainly allow it if someone wanted.
Which means the wizard would know what he is getting, even if others don't.I think the idea was that, like chaos theory, it is more highly advanced complex organization that requires a lot of math (and thus a high Int) to understand, and only appears chaotic to the uninitiated.
I still disagree with the premise, but I am pro fun.Wizards studying the fundamental forces of wild magic work in the same way as Scientist trying to observe theoretical particles at the CERN accelerator - they've done the mathematics and understand the formula of how wild magic behaves but actually harnessing the spark and predicting the effect remains an uncertain and risky task.
Just make Wild Magic is a fundamental force of the universe, manifesting 'the spark' all over the place in a random, unpredictable way which the Wild Mage attempts to capture
That would be a fun Wizard to play
I agree with you 100% here, though I think this outlook also illustrates one of the problems with the 5e subclass system. The proiblem is that the Sorcerer casts spells in a fundamentally different way than the Wizard, and the subclass-after-1st-level approach of the game can't really account for that.It can be whatever you want at your table, though you are obviously taking something from sorcerers. On the other hand, I think sorcerer should have always been a wizard subclass anyway.
Yeah, learning to be a regular Wizard and suddenly diving into something as esoteric and groundbreaking as Wild Magic at 3rd level seems a bit odd. At least the one good thing I can say about "School of Magic" subclasses is that they represent a choice of specialization.having subclasses from 1st level and at the universal class levels: 1,3,6,10,14 would make a great chassis to make wild "mage" good concept for all (half) casters.