D&D 5E Stabby McSorcererpants! A question about conversion

[Piratecat]

Last night we converted one of my 21st lvl epic 4e campaigns to 5e. I converted the 4e wild magic sorcerer directly to a 5e wild magic sorcerer, as you'd probably expect. Annnnd... it didn't feel right. The PC in 4e was far more martial, using daggers to slash people in combat while his spells carried him around the battlefield. In 5e, the sorcerer is much more of a 3e spellcaster, no martial and a crap-ton of spellpower.

So the question is, what in your opinion is the best conversion for capturing the feel? A martial bard? Eldritch knight with a Dex build? Spellthief? Warlock with the blade pact? I'dd love opinions, suggestions and general commentary.

 

[TwoSix]

If the character was using the spells mostly for mobility and utility instead of blasting, I'd say something like a fey-pact warlock would be more appropriate. You might need a little bit of house-ruling, though. Maybe a higher-level invocation for an at-will misty step? If you're converting from level 21, I'm assuming the characters are least in the teen levels for 5e?

 

[GameDoc]

You might consider spell thief and choose spells that replicate the way the character was using magic in 4e. You might also consider an elemental monk. One of the abilities allows for flight.

 

[Boarstorm]

Multi-classing might also be a way to go.

Say... Wild Sorcerer/Rogue (Assassin). Or maybe a dex-based fighter with duelist, etc.

 

[DogBackward]

I don't really get the problem... you'd be just as good with your "melee basic attack" in 5th edition as you would have been in 4th. What, specifically, do you not have the ability to do now that you did before?

 

[Piratecat]

We're converting from lvl 21 4e to lvl 15 5e.

Feypact warlock (house-ruled to make it feel more wild magicy, but that's easy) is an interesting possibility. Is a pact-blade warlock who doesn't rely on spamming eldritch blast a realistic possibility?

Boarstorm, I haven't messed around yet with multiclassing, but I'm wary of ending up with a mediocre hero due to losing casting AND sneak attack through multiclassing. I welcome opinions on that. The elemental monk is one idea, although the player seems disinterested; he played a monk in our last campaign, and probably wants something different. And to be fair, I'd have to do a fair amount of house ruling to get it to feel right (he's a high charisma, high dex character and that's intrinsic to the personality/character concept.) I think a dex-based eldritch knight might work.

Dogbackward, things that are adding to the disconnect include no armor allowed and doing all the damage through spells instead of attacks. The 5e wild magic sorcerer is a cool class, but it definitely feels like a wizard, and that's not what the 4e class felt like to us. And sure, he could take a feat for light armor, but I'd rather find a less kludgy solution.

 

[wedgeski]

It's interesting to hear your dude's wild mage felt significantly martial in nature...I've played one to mid-Paragon and he was always about the spell blasting.

 

[TwoSix]

We're converting from lvl 21 4e to lvl 15 5e.

Feypact warlock (house-ruled to make it feel more wild magicy, but that's easy) is an interesting possibility. Is a pact-blade warlock who doesn't rely on spamming eldritch blast a realistic possibility?

Yea, I think so. If you're dual wielding, you'll be getting just as many attacks as eldritch blast, and the character can take the invocation where the pact blade does Dex AND Cha mod in damage. Much of the complaint about the pact blade is that taking it doesn't make the blade the automatically superior option, but it's not an inferior option if you take the supporting invocations.

Note: I'm not sure if the character was originally a dual-wielder or not, but it's usually a good idea if you're going Dex, although maybe a dip into a martial class to grab the Two-Weapon fighting feature might be appropriate. Allowing the character to have a pair of daggers as a pact blade also seems like a useful house-rule that certainly wouldn't stray into overpowered territory.

 

[Piratecat]

It really did. He concentrated on spells that allowed him to fly through multiple enemies, damaging each; jump from one spot to another, blasting both locations; and the like. It makes for an interesting challenge in getting the conversion right.

And don't even talk to me about converting the wilden shaman...

 

[Boarstorm]

I still feel like the truest conversion is going to be a finesse-based eldritch knight 3/wild sorcerer 12. Almost full spellcasting, armor, attack rolls at the same level as the rest of the party (most likely).

Now, you'd have to house rule the EK to use Cha instead of Int, and focus on a spell selection that fits the right feel, but I think it could work.

If you're dead set against using the multiclassing rules, I'd probably go with the house-ruled fey warlock. Starting at a higher level means that you skip all the parts where the pact of the blade 'lock falls behind and can start him with the invocations he needs to shine.