D&D 5E Do you feel like the "Sorcerer" is really lacking in options?

[Riley37]

I'm guessing that the PHB design team wanted to give enough margin that a player with a sorceror PC could have an interesting time trying various metamagics on various spells, and find some good combos; while not putting, directly into the PHB, anything which would make the game stop being fun for all the other players. Since the PHB is written with the goal that even a first-time DM and first-time player can use it, they had to be cautious about that margin.

My goal would not be "design the classes so that a 5th level Wizard, 5th level Warlock and 5th level Sorceror are equal in power". My goal would be "design the classes so that a 5th level Wizard, 5th level Warlock and 5th level Sorceror are all fun to play, even if there's one of each in a PC party".

If one PC is outshining the other across the board... then the DM can figure out a way to address that. I would much rather trust DMs to adjust and house-rule as needed, than build constraints into the PHB which prevent comparison issues from ever arising at any table. If a first-time TRPGer is playing a Wizard, and a player with two decades of practice at min-maxing is playing a Sorceror, there's one set of balance issues; if you have those same two players at a table and the newbie plays Sor and the min-maxing veteran plays Wiz, then *they will still have balance issues*, no matter what's written in the class descriptions in the PHB.

 

[Grimstaff]

I made my own homebrew Sorcerer to give it a little more of a Sword & Sorcery feel, dragon/wild sorcerers just seem a little too campy for me. I'd also like to see more unique, Sorcerer-only spells in the future, to further differentiate them from Wiz/Warlocks.

http://beyondtheblackgate.blogspot.com/2015/03/new-5e-sorcerous-origin-tainted-soul.html

 

[Valetudo]

I feel that the sorcerer is lacking subclass options. I feel the class design itself is just fine.

 

[famousringo]

I made my own homebrew Sorcerer to give it a little more of a Sword & Sorcery feel, dragon/wild sorcerers just seem a little too campy for me. I'd also like to see more unique, Sorcerer-only spells in the future, to further differentiate them from Wiz/Warlocks.

http://beyondtheblackgate.blogspot.com/2015/03/new-5e-sorcerous-origin-tainted-soul.html

Unique class spells are a good idea. Perhaps something in the vein of Chromatic Orb. Allow you to do whatever element damage so they can fit with any dragon type, or just provide more versatility so that you don't feel so compelled to spend precious known spells on getting a varied blasting arsenal. (Even Chromatic Orb is problematic at level 1, as I wasn't able to start with a 50GP diamond.)

Minigiant is right that sorcerer's selection isn't too terrible, at least not in the early spell levels, but the limited spells known make the list feel smaller as it becomes essential to focus on only the very best spells. A handful of very versatile sorcerer-exclusive spells could add a lot of flavour and take some of the pressure off.

I also like the idea of each sorcerer subclass adding a set of spells to the sorcerer's list, as with cleric domains and warlock patrons.

 

[77IM]

I'm reading what sounds like a lot of "Oberoni fallacy" on this thread. "Sorcerer doesn't need more options, because you can make more options yourself! Here is the elementalist option everyone always mentions!"

To me, it's pretty clear that people want more sorcerer subclasses, and that a lot of popular and in-genre character concepts can't be represented by the PHB sorcerer without substantial reskinning/homebrewing. Since I think the core rules should support all the popular and in-genre character concepts without substantial reskinning/homebrewing, I'd say yes, the sorcerer needs more options.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I stand by this. The wizard's spell list is more expansive and includes more varied effects. The wizard has subclasses with more subtle effects than the dragon and wild mage. Yeah, sorcs get silent spell, that's pretty minor in the feel of the class when it comes to the effects you can produce.

I'm considering allowing sorcs to choose freely from the wizard list when selecting their 15.

 

[sithramir]

Quicken spell needs a boost since you can only cast a spell and a cantrip with it in a round.

Twin spell is nice but its only spells that target one creature so you can't twin a lot of the sorcerers spells.

I think the metamagics are too limited and the poster who gave the additional options earlier in the thread had a great idea. More options like that and the sorcerer is good but not really more powerful with added options

 

[TwoSix]

I'm reading what sounds like a lot of "Oberoni fallacy" on this thread. "Sorcerer doesn't need more options, because you can make more options yourself! Here is the elementalist option everyone always mentions!"

You'd be surprised as to how many people around here consider the Oberoni fallacy not only a positive, but an integral part of their playstyle.

Not me personally, I'd like to see at least 3-4 more sorcerer subclasses. Sorcery points seem like something you can really do a lot with, in terms of modifications.

 

[Sunseeker]

I'm reading what sounds like a lot of "Oberoni fallacy" on this thread. "Sorcerer doesn't need more options, because you can make more options yourself! Here is the elementalist option everyone always mentions!"

Never heard this term before, have some xp for teaching me new things!

 

[famousringo]

Quicken spell needs a boost since you can only cast a spell and a cantrip with it in a round.

Twin spell is nice but its only spells that target one creature so you can't twin a lot of the sorcerers spells.

I think the metamagics are too limited and the poster who gave the additional options earlier in the thread had a great idea. More options like that and the sorcerer is good but not really more powerful with added options

Quicken comes into its own at high levels, when can trip damage can get pretty substantial or you can fireball and throw a sunray on the same round. It's potentially really handy if you want to do something like Dash or Dodge on your round, or if you're martial multiclass you can throw a spell and still get a full attack. It's great.

Twin is also great. Two Greater Invisibilities, two Disintegrates, even twin cantrips at high level could be totally worth burning a level 1 spell slot.

Distant, Careful, and Extended spell are all really weak, though. Even if sorcerers got them for free, I doubt they'd actually get used very often.