D&D General Wild Magic, Yea or Nay?

[Corinnguard]

Back when my party was playing Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, my DM designed his own % Wild Magic table for the party's Wild Magic Sorcerer. Every time our Wild Magic Sorcerer experienced a Wild Magic surge, we 'dreaded' what was about to happen next. Sometimes the Wild Magic surge resulted in a simple cosmetic change like everyone's wardrobe being changed into pirate or clown garb for a brief moment (thankfully!). Another time, all of our Wild Magic Sorcerer's fire spells got changed into cold spells (he was a bit of a pyromaniac.), which proved useful against some Hellwasps.

 

[aco175]

The idea is ok, but it needs to be faster in play. The player needs to be on the ball to not slow things down.

We did run the adventure series After Icespire Peak and it has a gnome grenade the PCs received. It had a big explosion, but since it was made by gnomes, and they are now bumbling inventors in the game, it also made you roll 3 times on the wand of wonder chart when it went off. The player rolled a few cool things such as a fireball and a lightning bolt. I forget what the silly thing was for the third. It was fine in this instance. Maybe since it was once in the game and rolling on the chart was a bit like drawing cards from the Deck of Many Things or such. I don't think the extra time checking and rolling would make each encounter better though.

 

[el-remmen]

None of the poll options quite express my opinion on the matter, which is that I really like the idea of wild magic, but I pretty much never like the execution. What I really want from wild magic is something more akin to wild meta-magic. Like, something goes wrong with the spell you were trying to cast, and it comes out different than you expected - maybe it does more or less damage than usual, maybe does a different type of damage, maybe it affects a bigger or smaller area, maybe it lasts a longer or shorter time, maybe it hits a different target, or just more targets, etc. Maybe there’s even a small side-effect not directly related to the spell you were trying to cast, but it should still ultimately feel like a mishap that resulted from your spell going awry, not like a completely random nonsense thing coincidentally happened at the same time as you cast your spell. “The fireball you were trying to cast had a larger radius than you expected and some of your allies got caught in the blast” feels like wild magic. “Your Charm Person charmed the wrong person” feels like wild magic. “Your chain lightning turned into some sort of chain frost bolt” feels like wild magic. “LOL, you’re a potted plant for the rest of your turn” feels stupid.

That’s exactly how my custom wild magic tables work. I can post them here if folks are interested.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I don't like the Sorcerer class in general, but wild magic is the only thing that I think saves it for me. To me... Sorcerers should either be half-casters or if they are full casters every single subclass should have additional wild magic effects connected to it because narratively in-world I feel they should be less powerful than the other spellcasters. I've never liked the idea that in-world and narratively most full caster classes actually have to do something to gain their magical power-- be a devoted servant of a god, being exceedingly prolific to work out the "science" behind accessing the magical weave (using precise vocal and somatic actions either out of a textbook or through an instrument), commit yourself to nature's bounty wholeheartedly and learn to draw its energies into you-- but the Sorcerer just gets to wake up in the morning at some point and do everything they can magically with no actual action on their part at just the same power level as all those other people. They get to Fast Pass themselves past everyone else.

To me that's just a poor story-- that all these other people look like chumps having to bang their heads against the wall working so hard to be able to access magic... meanwhile there's this other schmoe over here that just does it with no effort whatsoever. Nope, have never liked it. Which is why I've always felt that the person who doesn't have to do any work whatsoever to access magic (the Sorcerer) should either never be as powerful at it as the other classes... or every Sorcerer should have a negative aspect to counter their ease of accessing it, which for me would be wild magic. No matter what "power source" or "bloodline" you have that just opens up the weave to you... you can't use it without magical bleed occurring and wild magic effects happening at the same time. You can be as powerful as a Wizard (with the same spell slot chart as it)... but you have to deal with odd magical events happening every time you do (with the same positive or negative wild effects).

Of course, having said that... I don't ever actually force my opinion or disdain onto other people when I run games and I let them play Sorcerers as normal. And any slight irritation I feel towards the "concept" of the class I just swallow or ignore. Most of the time the players don't really get that deep into the narrative conceits of the classes and game anyway... where the differences would actually feel like they matter narratively. ALL the spellcasting classes end up getting played like they are all pretty much the same in the story regardless, because most players aren't as much of a "highbrow narrative a-hole" about it like I tend to be.

 

[DragonLancer]

It's fun but I wouldn't want multiple wild magic sorcerers at a single table. Half the time the effects are cool or add something to the encounter, The other half... oh, you summoned a 10' square swarm of butterflies.... next!

 

[sevenbastard]

None of the poll options quite express my opinion on the matter, which is that I really like the idea of wild magic, but I pretty much never like the execution.

That’s exactly how my custom wild magic tables work. I can post them here if folks are interested.

I'm in this camp. I also made custom wild magic tables that are similar to positive or negative meta magic effects and some random surges as well.

But also for my home brew game I lean into the wild magic sub class as the primary sorcerer. Sorcery is messy and dangerous, wizards are predictable. If some one wants to play another type of Sorcerer i will allow it but they still have to roll for a wild surge every spell.

 

[el-remmen]

It's fun but I wouldn't want multiple wild magic sorcerers at a single table. Half the time the effects are cool or add something to the encounter, The other half... oh, you summoned a 10' square swarm of butterflies.... next!

I have to admit that as much as I love it, there is something to this. I am joining a new game and mentioned to the (new) DM* that one of my character ideas was a Sorcerer Gnome who'd choose wild magic, he replied that someone else was thinking of making one, but he had no problem with me making one as well. I begged off and said I will make a different character because that is too much wildness.

* so proud that one of my players who had never played any TTRPG in late 2019 when we started this group, has run some one shots and is now starting his own campaign, but as a new DM, I especially think two wild mages at the same table would be too much.

 

[Basic Expert]

Wild magic as a zone or environmental feature is great. It can add fantastic theming and fun rebalancing to a dungeon.

Wild magic as a character shtick seems like it should be a thing as there are tons of literary examples of spellcasters that are barely in control of their magic. I didn't particularly like the execution in 2E. I'm not familiar enough with 5E's version to speak to it.

Any wild magic spellcaster that is a direct danger to the party is a hard sell for me. It requires the rest of the party to willingly take additional risks just to indulge one player's concept.

Generally, I think this probably works best as a comic relief NPC rather than as a PC concept in a D&D-type game. Other, more narrative systems, like Fate or DungeonWorld are probably better fits for this sort of thing rather than trying to bolt on some sort of randomization mechanics to D&D's very structured spellcasting.

 

[Charlaquin]

That’s exactly how my custom wild magic tables work. I can post them here if folks are interested.

I’d love to see them!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Meh. Not generally a fan. Mechanically I'm not a fan of random player mechanics; when a player makes a decision or uses an ability it's shouldn't be random what or if it works -- the outcome can be uncertain (attack roll, saving throw, etc) but the execution should not be.

It has its place I think in a certain style of game that'd I'd play for a one-off but wouldn't want to spend a long time in.