MoonSong
Rules-lawyering drama queen but not a munchkin
A thought experiment.
What would be the effect on balance if sorcerer's got Arcane Recovery (call it "Sorcerous Recovery" but make it work identically to Arcane recovery), Metamagic costs no Sorcery Points, and they in fact didn't have Sorcery Points at all. For the moment, pretend that class abilities that cost sorcery points are either free (if they cost 1 sorcery point) or can be used, say, 1/short rest or Cha mod per day for the more expensive ones.
Now they have the same number of spell slots as wizards, subclasses that are similar to wizards (I might give the overall subclass power edge to wizards, but it doesn't stand out as huge), and a class feature that gives them 2 to 4 special abilities they can apply to their spells.
How would the balance feel on that?
The wizard still feels superior. He still has Ritual Casting -which the Sorcerer can't take without essentially giving up what it means to be a sorcerer*- more spells prepared than the sorcerer can know and a bigger spell list that save for certain exceptions -like enhance ability- is a superset of the sorcerer's. At high levels the wizard outright gets at-will 1st and second level spells.
This is why -for myself- variant human divine soul is the only really viable pure sorcerer build. Two additional spells known and access to stuff like silence, curse, and antimagic field do make a huge difference. You don't even have to be a healer, wasting a 6th level ability can be a downer, but since it costs sorcery points I consider it a fair price for having actual utility. Maybe if I could stand being a blaster I would feel better about Dragon Sorcerer, but overall I consider the ability to Nova spectacularly a bug not a feature, and a terrible design choice all around. Like look I've just spent all of my daily resources in order to avoid being a liability for this one combat, now I go back to being a hindrance to the party for the rest of the day, hurrah being a sorcerer is awesome -_-.
* Yeah, look how much magic incarnate I am, I paid a feat to be stuck with an inferior version of what non-magical people can use for free.
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