D&D 5E What are your thoughts on the DnD Next playtest sorcerer compared to the final 5e sorcerer?

[Frozen_Heart]

Yup.

A lot of ideas died and debate with ultratraditionalists didn't happen because many expected to see the ideas in modules and variants in the DMG. And this didn't happen.

Had we known the only new class would be the artificer and only feats and multiclassing would be major variants, people wouls have really fought for the playtest sorcerer.

Yeah early 5e seemed like it was going to be the perfect base to build on and watch it develop. Before Xanathar's everyone was saying 'just wait and be patient, you will see your favourite class soon.'

But it never got built on. All we got was random subclasses spammed out with no actual changes in gameplay or player options beyond that. And now we've had so many subclasses spammed out that it feels like we're getting into content bloat territory without actually getting any meaningful content. The worst of both worlds.

 

[dave2008]

I don't think so, but some people on these boards still have it. If you DM them they may send it to you. I think @dave2008 previously mentioned they had a copy.

@South by Southwest , I do have a bunch of the next playtest documents. If you DM me I can give you a link if I have the one with the sorcerer.

 

[Greg K]

Had we known the only new class would be the artificer and only feats and multiclassing would be major variants, people wouls have really fought for the playtest sorcerer.

Some people may have fought for the playtest sorcerer, but I would not have been one of them. Despite not being entirely happy with the 5e sorcerer, I will take it over the playtest Draconic Sorcerer and what I recall being discussed for other subclasses.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Some people may have fought for the playtest sorcerer, but I would not have been one of them. Despite not being entirely happy with the 5e sorcerer, I will take it over the playtest Draconic Sorcerer and what I recall being discussed for other subclasses.

What would you have thought about the playtest sorcerer being its own class, separate from the sorcerer?

 

[Minigiant]

Some people may have fought for the playtest sorcerer, but I would not have been one of them. Despite not being entirely happy with the 5e sorcerer, I will take it over the playtest Draconic Sorcerer and what I recall being discussed for other subclasses.

Well my preference would be somewhere in the middle. Rather than Metamagic, sorcerer's would have an origin form that sorcery points and spell slots could be fed into.

 

[Yaarel]

It's the reason we don't have an arcane gish class. In older editions the 'sorcerer thing' was spontaneous casting, while everyone else used vancian casting. When 5e came along all casters got spontaneous casting and so the sorcerer suddenly had no unique thing (metamagic being a feat for all caster back then).

So the playtest sorcerer was a half casting will point powered arcane gish, which gradually transformed into their bloodline as their will was exhausted. Giving it a completely unique set of themes and mechanics.

At the last minute it got switched to the sorcerer we have now (discount wizard with the metamagic feat duct taped to the side), and the arcane gish role got left empty.

I feel there needs to be at least two psionic classes: an innate full caster with normal 5e mechanics, and a separate class with experimental mechanics.

How would psionic fans feel if the psionic class that had experimental mechanics looked more like this transmogrifying Sorcerer gish concept?

 

[jmartkdr2]

I feel there needs to be at least two psionic classes: an innate full caster with normal 5e mechanics, and a separate class with experimental mechanics.

How would psionic fans feel if the psionic class that had experimental mechanics looked more like this transmogrifying Sorcerer gish concept?

I'm not sure that fits the psionic theme - psions aren't different in origin from 'normal' humans, they're just people with a specific kind of special ability.

Also, the sticking point for a lot of people is that psionics are not spellcasting. It needs to be something other than spellcasting, just as much as fighter maneuvers need to be something other than spellcasting.

 

[Yaarel]

I'm not sure that fits the psionic theme - psions aren't different in origin from 'normal' humans, they're just people with a specific kind of special ability.

Also, the sticking point for a lot of people is that psionics are not spellcasting. It needs to be something other than spellcasting, just as much as fighter maneuvers need to be something other than spellcasting.

For the normal mechanics Psion, 5e already has "psionic" spellcasters whose spellcasting is "innate", without components, and this is fine.

For the experimental psionic mechanics the "bloodline" transmogrifier could work, using a new "will points" mechanic. Psionics includes psychometabolism and many 3e psiwar gishes had body transformation builds.

One of the Fizbanes concepts is that the presence of a powerful dragon transforms its surrounding area making it more draconic. The bloodline could be a character under this kind of influence, and the influence might be psychometabolic by definition.

 

[jmartkdr2]

For the normal mechanics Psion, 5e already has "psionic" spellcasters whose spellcasting is "innate", without components, and this is fine.

For the experimental psionic mechanics the "bloodline" transmogrifier could work, using a new "will points" mechanic. Psionics includes psychometabolism and many 3e psiwar gishes had body transformation builds.

One of the Fizbanes concepts is that the presence of a powerful dragon transforms its surrounding area making it more draconic. The bloodline could be a character under this kind of influence, and the influence might be psychometabolic by definition.

If you define psionic powers as being dragon-based, I suppose? But that's not even remotely present in the traditional flavor of psionics.

Also, unless the new sorcerer doesn't cast spells by default, it still won't work.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Lots of things were different in the DnD Next playtest, with things like martials getting a variety of manoeuvres, to casting in armour still not being allowed as a holdout from earlier editions. However one of the biggest differences was the sorcerer, which was an entirely different class concept altogether.

We only saw the draconic sorcerer, and only up to level 5, but it has almost nothing in common with the final sorcerer which we got later on, appearing for only a single playtest packet and then vanishing again until the final release of 5e.

The class was an arcane half caster, with a d8 hit die, and proficiency in all weapons and armour. Rather than spell slots it used 'will points' similar to the variant rule in the DMG. What really set it apart was that it would gain the abilities of its subclass as it spent those will points, becoming more like its power source as the adventuring day progressed. So for draconic you would gain claws and scales after spending 3 and 10 willpower respectively, turning you more melee orientated over time.

Sadly we never got to see what the other subclasses would be, or what would happen past level 5. But I found the class concept fascinating, and not really alike to anything we have in game currently.

it was a cool idea, and everyone I spoke to thought it was a great class... but odd coming from the 4e elemental class, and 3e it being basically a 5e wizard.