5E [GUIDE] Playing Dice with the Universe: A Slant Guide to Wild-Magic Sorcerer

[tuxedoraptor]

advice: Don't ever write a guide if you use the word dorf or elfieboots, because I felt like vomiting after I saw dorf, the guide is unreadable as well, please use correct terms as well, I mean no insult or harm to you as a person.
Only telling you that guides should be professionally written and constructed.

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

Thank you, tuxedoraptor, for your deeply considered and constructive critique. The time that you devoted to understanding the project of this piece and the decisions I made to effect the desired tone and style is manifest. I will take your "reccomend"-ations regarding spelling into consideration, and I hope your Tim Conway-induced nausea soon abates.

 

[Lejaun]

Any secrets as to how to get more chances of Wild Surges to go off that the average person might not think of?

 

[famousringo]

Any secrets as to how to get more chances of Wild Surges to go off that the average person might not think of?

Well, there's really only three ways:

1) Use Tides of Chaos at every opportunity
2) Cast lots of spells
3) Beg your DM to give you more surges

That last one really counts. Make sure your DM understands how Tides of Chaos works and that you actually want more surges. He may think he's doing you a favour by reducing the chaos when you really just want to unleash it.

Edit: And as the guide mentions throughout, one of the ways to maximize 1) is to cast spells with attack rolls you can burn Tides of Chaos on. So throw Firebolts instead of Acid Splashes, Ice Knife instead of Magic Missile.

 

[ScuroNotte]

Any secrets as to how to get more chances of Wild Surges to go off that the average person might not think of?

Our DM increases odds the higher the spell level is. Usually half of spell cast, rounded up. IE 5th level spell, a roll of 3 or less causes a surge

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

Well, there's really only three ways:

1) Use Tides of Chaos at every opportunity
2) Cast lots of spells
3) Beg your DM to give you more surges

Yep, these are the keys. Getting the DM to house rule is the only way to affect the d20 roll directly, so it's the most powerful option, though perhaps the hardest to get done.

Using tides of chaos as often as possible allows you to skip the d20 roll to get directly to surges, but it still requires the DM to play along. Use tides of chaos on saves, or with spells or cantrips that require an attack roll--with quickened spell, you can cast the cantrip and then a surge-triggering spell on the same turn.

Casting lots of spells is fairly obvious. Remember that reaction spells (shield, counterspell) give you a chance to trigger surges on other characters' turns as well.

 

[Lejaun]

Wild Mages need another outlet to garner more surges. Shame there wasn't a spell or something of the like that would make a required roll.

 

[OB1]

New Feat: Wildstyle Prerequisite: you must have the Tides of Chaos Class feature. Description: You release wild magic when using your sorcery points, whenever you use a sorcery point roll in the magic surge table. Additionally when casting a spell, roll a d20, if the number is equal to or less than the spell level, roll on the surge table. Finally, you can use a bonus action to recharge tides of Chaos, when you do so, you also surge.

 

[mellored]

Well, there's really only three ways:

1) Use Tides of Chaos at every opportunity
2) Cast lots of spells
3) Beg your DM to give you more surges

4) don't die. Armor, con, and friendly life cleric / bard / paladin. Paticularly since your surges are all centered on you, and you want to be near enemies.

 

[RulesJD]

Just always use Tides of Chaos on your Initiative roll.

 

[MacMind]

Just always use Tides of Chaos on your Initiative roll.

Is this even possible with Tides of Chaos? Is an initiative roll considered an ability check?

Yet another who has registered here as a new user. Thanks for a fantastic guide Cognomen.

 

[RulesJD]

Is this even possible with Tides of Chaos? Is an initiative roll considered an ability check?

Yet another who has registered here as a new user. Thanks for a fantastic guide Cognomen.

It is a Dexterity check. So anything that affects dexterity checks, affects Initiative rolls. Hex, Champion Fighter/Bard class abilities, etc. It's also why I always pick up Guidance. So long as I have 6 seconds before combat I can get a mini-Alert feat and add 1d4 to my initiative roll.

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

Thanks, MacMind.

RulesJD, I can honestly say that I had never thought of using it on the initiative roll. Great suggestion.

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

I've just pushed a long-overdue second edition of the guide. I had hoped to get it done last weekend, but I'm pretty glad with the forum roll-back that I didn't. There are bound to be some formatting and spacing issues; I'll endeavor to straighten them out as soon as I can.

As for changes, I have done a thoroughgoing review and rethink of the entire guide, with the most extreme changes occurring in the spells section, finished the portion on multiclassing, and brought it up to date with SCAG cantrips and some notable UA contributions. I also converted all the black ratings to green, since it was reported to me that the black was disappearing in some background schemes.

As always, thanks for reading!

 

[Corran21]

Paladin – The natural paring if you want to make a melee-oriented sorcerer. You are no more multiple-attribute dependent than a single-class paladin, but there is a trade-off to consider. If you start as a sorcerer, you do not get heavy-armor proficiency for multiclassing into paladin, even though you must have at least 13 Str. If you start paladin, you lose the sorcerer's proficiency in Con saves. Whichever route you go, what you get from paladin is weapon and armor proficiencies, a healing feature and evil radar, an expanded spell list including bless and healing, and divine smite, which you can pump sorcerer spell slots into for frequent burst damage—though that won't trigger wild-magic surges, obviously. If you keep going beyond level two, you get divine health, channel divinity, oath spells and features, an extra attack, and, at six paladin levels, aura of protection. It's the rare class that rewards you at almost every level, and as a half-caster, it doesn't completely stunt your spell-slot acquisition.

Maybe it's worth mentioning how the ancient's lvl 7 aura of warding can play well with wild magic, especially since it is not the only reason to go that high with paladin (you mentioned most of the reasons up to 6, apart perhaps that the few extra hp would help you be closer to enemies for better wild magic effects).

 

[mellored]

Maybe it's worth mentioning how the ancient's lvl 7 aura of warding can play well with wild magic, especially since it is not the only reason to go that high with paladin (you mentioned most of the reasons up to 6, apart perhaps that the few extra hp would help you be closer to enemies for better wild magic effects).

Depending on your level, you might be sacrificing controlled chaos.

Also, very few of your bursts will get you with elemental damage.

 

[Ted Bacalso]

I'm new to D&D 5e and the WMS. Noob question: Can you use Tides of Chaos and have a Wild Magic Surge on the same spell, on the same turn?

For example: I cast Scorching Ray, then I use Tides of Chaos to gain advantage on one of my rays of fire. After I'm done with Scorching Ray, the DM can have me roll on the Surge table immediately. I think I'm stretching the rules, but I wanted someone else's opinion on the matter.

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

I'm new to D&D 5e and the WMS. Noob question: Can you use Tides of Chaos and have a Wild Magic Surge on the same spell, on the same turn?

For example: I cast Scorching Ray, then I use Tides of Chaos to gain advantage on one of my rays of fire. After I'm done with Scorching Ray, the DM can have me roll on the Surge table immediately. I think I'm stretching the rules, but I wanted someone else's opinion on the matter.

Totally within the rules, though, as always, it's the DM's opinion that matters most.

 

[Ted Bacalso]

Totally within the rules, though, as always, it's the DM's opinion that matters most.

So does that mean, assuming the DM is willing, that there is a slight possibility of Surging twice in 1 turn? Let's use my previous example. After I'm done casting Scorching Ray and the DM makes me roll on the Surge table, can the DM have me roll a d20, and if I roll a 1, I roll on the Surge table once again? Because I'm not sure if the descriptions of "Wild Magic Surge" and "Tides of Chaos" in the PHB are mutually exclusive or not.

WILD MAGIC SURGE
... Immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher, the DM can have you roll a d20. If you roll a 1, roll on the Wild Magic Surge table to create a random magical effect.

TIDES OF CHAOS
... Any time before you regain the use of this feature, the DM can have you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. You then regain the use of this feature.

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

No, not if your table uses the errata, which are available free from WotC and can be found with a quick search.

Wild Magic Surge (p. 103). A surge can happen once per turn. If a surge effect is a spell, it’s too wild to be affected by Metamagic. If it normally requires concentration, it doesn’t require concentration in this case; the spell lasts for its full duration.

This gives us a lot of the small details of surges which aren't addressed in the PHB proper, including that they are limited to once per turn. Even if you cast two spells on one turn (using fighter's action surge, or casting one with your action and one with your reaction), you can still only get one wild-magic surge.

For the portions of the two features that you quoted, it is at the DM's discretion if they overlap and how. He or she might have you roll after your spell, and if you don't trigger a wild-magic surge, then decide to give you a surge anyway and recharge tides of chaos. As a DM myself, I wouldn't play it that way, but it is viable under the rules as written.