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

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

You're welcome, Mike, and thanks for the kind words!

For everyone who's interested, I just found the time to add in and format the last few sections of the guide. There is still work to be done on multiclassing and the things we have already talked about in the comments, but the shape of the guide is now more or less in place.

 

[Shadai]

I registered just to say how epic I thought this guide was

 

[Darkwing Duck]

You can't build strategies around pure randomness.

When it comes right down to it,

No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy

Strategy, in this context is a battle plan, and talk about strategy is a distraction. What is needed is _tactics_ and the heart of tactics is all about thinking fast on one's feet. The appropriate argument for Wild Mages comes in two parts, a.) Does Wild Magic inject enough chaos into a combat to overwhelm the GM (and, therefore, the ability for the enemy to respond appropriately? b.) Does fighting beside a Wild Mage give the PCs enough experience to respond appropriately when the plan goes sideways? At the core, this is all about training the players to have their PCs turn on a dime and take advantage of the fact that there are more players' minds sitting at the table than there are GMs' minds. That's the appropriate argument. The response to that argument is uncertain.

 

[mellored]

Re: potted plant: You can't take bonus actions while incapacitated.
"anything that deprives you of your ability to take actions also prevents you from taking a bonus action." PHB 189

Also seems excessively colorful. Though that's probably fitting.

Otherwise i agree with the assessments.

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

Thanks for the correction, mellored. I'll touch up the guide this weekend, if I can find time.

DW, I'm not going to say that you're wrong, but that strikes me as a very realpolitik conception of the game. I prefer to collaborate with the DM to create a story, even as PCs are fighting monsters and/or NPCs, rather than antagonize the DM him- or herself.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

DW, I'm not going to say that you're wrong, but that strikes me as a very realpolitik conception of the game. I prefer to collaborate with the DM to create a story, even as PCs are fighting monsters and/or NPCs, rather than antagonize the DM him- or herself.

That's a reasonable position to take and is my default position. However,
I feel that, as a "roleplaying game," there are times to emphasize the "roleplaying" and other times to emphasize the "game".
As a "game," there are times when I enjoy matching wits with the GM, just as I would enjoy matching wits with the person (who is in the role of the GM) in poker, chess, etc. I don't view that as antagonistic because we're all sitting around collaborating to have fun even when we are in a battle of wits.
One of the fun things about being a DM is setting problems in front of a party and watching them figure out a solution you never expected and maintaining their personas while they did it. Mind you, my GM has been working professionally in military intelligence for decades. He's also a published (as in "by a publishing company" (Del Rey, if I remember correctly), not self-published) novelist and a die hard military history buff. His wife (who runs a PC) has a degree in theater. Also, we play only once a month and he takes advantage of that time to set up each session. Matching wits with him (while approaching the problem as my character), while scrambling to work as a team, is a joy.

 

[Philoponus]

Hi Cognomen,

Thank you so much for this guide. My only experience with DnD has been Pathfinder, and while numbers on variables on numbers appeals to a certain part of my brain, I'm very attracted to 5e for roleplaying purposes due to the streamlined ruleset and the porous boundary between RPing and game mechanics. I was immediately drawn toward the WMS, and your guide has provided the perfect reference. It's good that you emphasize FUN as the true parameter to be optimized, and given that I have a very good relationship with my DM and the rest of my group, I think we're all going to really enjoy having my WMS in the party.

One minor option that might be worth noting in your guide:

If you choose to play a human WMS (as I have for RP purposes) with the variant traits, picking Magic Initiate as your free feat with the Warlock spell list provides you with Eldritch Blast and a once-per-rest Hex. You also get one other cantrip from a list highly overlapping with the Sorcerer's, giving you wiggle room if you want to choose cantrips with utility/RP value (I *insist* on having Control Flames); I went with Blade Ward.

Thanks again.

 

[choryukami]

Here is my entire opinion of Wild Magic - Loads of fun. I have a paladin/sorcerer and I realized that the extra AC would be useless and the extra hp is ok but underwhelming and most the dragon abilities just aren't interesting enough. And I wanted Tides of Chaos to use on my melee attacks and risk wild surging in melee range with baddies. I've had a few lucky break with this like dealing necrotic and lightning damage to everyone around me and confusing the enemies. Having lots of slots mixes well with paladin, who can smite much better with them. Funny thing is this guy is a Dragonborn, but he's a Wild Magic Sorcerer and not a Dragon Sorcerer. Other than that Sorc and Pal mix really well, since I can Quicken Fireball then use a full attack, or Quickened Haste, run 60 ft and do three attacks. God help them if I get quickened spells for a minute.

 

[mellored]

Because I suspect the Wild Mage can't support a minmaxed build. Not at this time; more support to leverage its few true advantages is needed.

Wild Mage is difficult to mix/max own, but you can defiantly min/max it with the party.

Surges are, from the charop perspective, simply something you endure to get real power.

Disagree.

Surges are extremely powerful, but very difficult to use. They're free spells that cost no action to cast, and come with advantage. It's just their random nature that makes them difficult to utilize. It's kinda like optimizing crits, except they are actually worth it.

To maximize the upside, you want to roll as many spells as possible, use your free advantage as much as possible, and be in melee since most spells are centered on you.

To minimize the downside, you need to survive in melee, and saves against your own spells. Favor Dex/Con more then Cha, Resilent Dex, Inspiring Leader, MC for armor, be a dwarf for armor, or gnome for saves, ect...

Also there's a lot of party op.
Paladin with sentinel does adds to your safety and saves.
Life clerics keeps anyone alive.
Ranged attackers (fighter/ranger/warlock) won't be in your spell range.
Lore bards can use both cutting words and inspire you to save.


The only major downside is the surge is DM dependent.

 

[ScuroNotte]

Sure, obviously it's not free, but it's not that expensive either. Think of it like giving everyone in your party +5 on their casting stat (+2.5 DC) in exchange for 1 sorcery point per four spells they cast (more precisely, for every four targets they cast a spell on). The reason it's cheap is because you get to see the die roll before you decide to Bend Luck. Say your buddy casts Hold Monster with DC 16 and you believe the enemy has Wisdom +5. Obviously if the enemy rolls a 1 or a 5 you're not going to use it; if he rolls a 18 or 19 he beats the spell DC already; but if he rolls a 12 or 13 he is on the edge of making his save, so you Bend Luck, and it is like your buddy had DC 18-19 all along. It's a capability which you don't pay for unless you use it.

I think Bend Luck would have been better if it scaled with Sorcerer levels