While there have definitely been differences between what we got and what the final version is shaping up to be; lets just say many of the threads and posts made by people who are absolutely sure XYZ is happening may or may not be looking rather..foolish by the release of the PHB.
At this point I'm also super curious as to how the final product turned out. My hope is that regardless of which way they decided to go on certain things, that the robustness of the game (it's really, really hard to break the game currently, even when I've been trying) stays just as tough and allows for the versatility that I have been able to utilize so far.
I don't want to doubt you then, though I'm having trouble picturing how it could be the case. I guess that is the difference between having watched the whole trilogy and only having watched the first ten minutes of the prequel.
So the most obvious way to get that from here that I can see is to be a wild sorcerer, and leave the actual origin of the powers a blank slate. The mechanics of a wild sorcerer would seem to support this, as it is unpredictable -- just the way not-completely-understsood access to powers beyond human comprehension should be!
I'm not sure the wild magic is the best for this, In the past I found it annoyingly hard to ignore, random here and there all the time was always distracting.
And I don't think 5e's backstory will be "mandatory" (basic is core, anything you add on after that is opt-in, so you want to take the sorcerer's mechanics and drop the story, and I believe that will be fine). So it looks like the 5e sorcerer isn't a bad fit so far...
It depends, it would be easy to ignore if it was mostly fluff, but if it is a lot of "in your face" fluff+ mechanics combo it won't. But I need to see to know or believe, if opting out is goign to be giving up the main source of power that is just crippling yourself. (As far as I remember sorcery points are the one thing sorcerers received in compensation for handling over their schtick to wizards, but if that is tied to monsturos transformation or unnescessary risking the party I don't see how one can opt out beyond not using it). And I'm not comfortable reskining right and left, I'd rather have it been more neutral from the beginning.
I'm not sure I agree. The 4e sorcerers that I've seen haven't referenced bloodline at all, and 4e mechanics were so decoupled from flavor that it's hard to see much of any enforced fluff on the powers. Pathfinder would seem to be a different story, but I've got less experience there.
In 4e case "the bloodlines" were the dragon, wild, cosmic and tempest magic, and they were awfully charged in flavour, the most obvious case was wild magic, it was very random and unpredictable, it was really hard to ignore. If you are into it, it is awesome, but I don't feel comfortable with that level of madness, it clashes with the view I have of my characters.
I don't know how the 5e sorcerer can't fit this? Wild sorcerers don't have to be dangerous lunatics, they can easily be people just trying (and occasionally failing) to understand their dangerous powers, people haunted by an arcane curse, people with a strange something else about them that is a little uncontrolled and dangerous. It's not clear how transformative dragon sorcerers are going to be in the final release, either -- maybe they'll be fine, too, from a mechanical perspective.
I need to wait and see, but the more I need to work against mechanics and flavor the less useful the class will be to me.
It sounds like maybe you're looking for a mechanics-only spellcasting class that has no story attached, and that seems entirely possible within 5e's system, but I don't think "classes" are the place to find it. A 5e class is a story-based archetype from the looks of it, a group of powers with a role and meaning in the world, not just a naked mechanical skeleton. But I imagine that there will be the capacity to strip that out without much complication -- there's a unified spell progression that you can pretty much slap some a la carte class abilities onto and call it good, from the sounds of it.
In a home group, of course. But without a stable group having to homebrew is a heavy hindrance.
Sadly, the news has moved me from super excited for next week to apathetic.
I want to see the full Basic rules, not just character gen.
Chargen will be the first step. But the more we get close to launch the more I lose enthusiasm.
