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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 6561882" data-attributes="member: 1465">For my tastes, this would work fine as a custom subclass in someone's game, but it would suck to see it in a published product.Bonus damage and defense are always useful but don't build up very strongly towards the concept, and wings and fear (which are about half of the whole subclass) are simply out of concept completely. At which point, what really makes you an &quot;elemental sorcerer&quot; is the selection of spells, but that's available to all, no matter the subclass.What makes for a very good subclass in general, is as many unique abilities as you can design. That will really give some meaning to playing a character of that subclass... We have many good examples from Battlemaster's superiority dice, to combat wildshape forms for the Circle of the Moon druid, to the Wild Mage itself. Those are great because you can't get them unless you belong to that one subclass, and they aren't just a numerical boost, they are something that change your strategies or even your role in the party.So if they design and sell us an elemental sorcerer subclass, it better be a good and interesting design. For a start, some ability to directly control the raw elements? How about a water sorcerer who can breathe underwater, walk on water, control a body of water? Flight and levitate plus controlling winds for an air sorcerer, and maybe snuffing the air out of your lungs. Moving/sculpting the earth or passing through/meld with it for an earth sorcerer. (Fire sorcerer is indeed more difficult to make 'different' since fire is mostly just destructive)Secondarily, some abilities derived from a higher affinity to the chosen element. More difficult to figure out, but maybe some transmutation ability from water, resilience from earth, and divination from air.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 6561882, member: 1465"] For my tastes, this would work fine as a custom subclass in someone's game, but it would suck to see it in a published product. Bonus damage and defense are always useful but don't build up very strongly towards the concept, and wings and fear (which are about half of the whole subclass) are simply out of concept completely. At which point, what really makes you an "elemental sorcerer" is the selection of spells, but that's available to all, no matter the subclass. What makes for a very good subclass in general, is as many [I]unique[/I] abilities as you can design. That will really give some meaning to playing a character of that subclass... We have many good examples from Battlemaster's superiority dice, to combat wildshape forms for the Circle of the Moon druid, to the Wild Mage itself. Those are great because you can't get them unless you belong to that one subclass, and they aren't just a numerical boost, they are something that change your strategies or even your role in the party. So if they design and sell us an elemental sorcerer subclass, it better be a good and interesting design. For a start, some ability to directly control the raw elements? How about a water sorcerer who can breathe underwater, walk on water, control a body of water? Flight and levitate plus controlling winds for an air sorcerer, and maybe snuffing the air out of your lungs. Moving/sculpting the earth or passing through/meld with it for an earth sorcerer. (Fire sorcerer is indeed more difficult to make 'different' since fire is mostly just destructive) Secondarily, some abilities derived from a higher affinity to the chosen element. More difficult to figure out, but maybe some transmutation ability from water, resilience from earth, and divination from air. [/QUOTE]

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