D&D (2024) Sorcerers getting Chaos Bolt automatically

[Nightfly]

I was one of the few people who preferred the 5e playtest implementation, and hated the final 5e implementation.

I wasn't around for the 5e playtest, but I don't get the impression that's a view that only a few people have.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Breaking the rules doesn't make them seem magical to me. Ymmv of course.

Huh. Interesting. None of what I described sounds like it would feel more innately magical than a wizard with a spellbook?

WHat about magic that isn’t spells, like you pick a [thing] which can be telekinesis, light and dark manipulation, or something else, and you can just do it at-will, basically better than almost anyone else? Like in ways that spells are too constrained and specific for.

Yeah I'm seeing alot of push back on this. They want this spell to be to the Sorcerer's Eldritch Blast, but they are underestimating how disliked the Wild Sorcerer is by a good chunk of the fans, because TPKs its triggered, to messing up dmplans by some surge that wrecks a balanced encounter, etc...

I don't hate it, I just recognize it needs experienced dms and players so ut does wreck a game single handly which means it has no place in a PHB, it belongs suplimental material. I like the flavour, its just not new player friendly at all.

Yep. Pure magic is appealing, even Chaos I guess I can see the appeal, but the base of the class should just be “person who has a direct line inside them to the weave (or whatever). Like, they just channel unalloyed magic. Directly. And no one else can.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I will add, I think the Sorcerer should have risks they can take, and maaaaaybe even things that can force them to save vs losing control in some way.

The Sorcerer should be able to risk losing control and blowing up in order to go absolutely bat crap nova, or casting two spells together, or concentrating on two spells, or temporarily splitting yourself into two yous that are both casting spells and whatever but every round your soul is trying to pull you back together and it hurts.

Because you are not a mage. You are magic. You are a living conduit for the fundemental power of the multiverse.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Maybe sorcerers should have auras, or be able to decrease damage taken, or something. I feel like they should be creatures of magic, not creatures that learned magic. They should feel magical.

We could use dead sorcerers' body parts to make magic items.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This so much. IME "can I play a wildmagic sorcerer" is distressingly close to the nails on chalkboard equivalent of what "can I play a kender" back in the day when choosing to shift responsibility for the fallout by voicing the question itself was an indication that problems were almost certain to follow.

I hear what you're saying, but can I play a kender wild magic sorcerer?

I promise it'll be memorable.

 

[James Gasik]

I really like wild mages, but I fully understand not every group does, so I'm both excited that Sorcerers might get better, and that they might make wild magic less DM-reliant. At the same time, making it the "default" for Sorcerers is problematic for groups who don't care for Wild Magic, so I hope that's not the case.

 

[Charlaquin]

They indicated that somehow subclasses will change how the spell works, so at least by 3rd level I doubt that happens.

I quite like the idea that all sorcerers start out with “wild magic” but learn to control it better over time as they come into their bloodline.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think the problem is that it's the class a lot of people never play. WotC is trying to change that, which is likely bad news for current fans of the class.

I would definitely tell them this.

I think the random magical effects in Dungeon Crawl Classics are probably more appropriate than the current wild magic surges. Your fireball should be randomly surging from shooting off fireworks to destroying everything within a mile's radius, not spraying the battlefield with butterflies.

I haven’t played DCC and don’t know what their random magical effects are like, but I have always felt that wild magic surges should be more like wild metamagic, altering the effect of your intended spell in some unpredictable way, rather than a completely random and unrelated effect. Make the AoE bigger, smaller, or a different shape, the duration longer or shorter, the damage greater or lesser, that kind of thing, instead of bizarre nonsense like summoning flumphs or growing facial hair made of feathers.

 

[Incenjucar]

There's a place for the randomly-pulsating style of wild magic and the comedic wacky nonsense style, but they shouldn't be forced together.

 

[Charlaquin]

I'd really like to see sorcerers have powers based on planar origin. Dragons etc. are Material Origin, Elemental Origin, Outer Planar Origin, Fey, and Shadow, and then sub-options for each subclass there based on the specifics.

That would fit really well with the whole bloodline thing too.