Xeviat
Dungeon Mistress, she/her
Hi everyone. As I alluded to in the poll results thread, I want to talk about Fighters, Rangers, and Sorcerers. I've done a lot of talking about Fighters and Rangers before, so how about I spend some effort on Sorcerers.
I like Sorcerers. A lot. I like the concept of them better than the concept of a Wizard, personally. I'd rather play a Sorcerer. I didn't get to be a player much in 3E, but my first character was a Sorcerer. I largely liked how they were handled then. More spells, less choices, but spontaneous choices, just felt cool. I wasn't a spell optimizer back then, so I didn't see the Wizard as better (minus their bonus feats, stupid wizards and their bonus feats). I largely liked how Sorcerers were handled in 4E (minus my dislike for a lack of shared spell lists). But with everyone getting spontaneous casting in 5E, the sorcerer doesn't feel different enough to me.
At first, I was fostering this idea as a DM's Guild thing. Maybe I'll put it up for free. I couldn't imagine charging for "my way" of doing PHB stuff. But, I really need some outside opinions to help shape my ideas. I want the sorcerer to feel like their magic is natural to them. I don't believe the current structure really does that. So, here are my ideas to change up the Sorcerer:
1) Remove Metamagic and reintroduce it most of them as feats.
2) Add a new bloodline ability at 10th level.
3) Switch the Sorcerer to Spell Points.
4) Allow Sorcery Points to be used as Spell Points or to push spells to higher levels than they're normally capable of (which could be combined with metamagic feats to mimic what they used to do, or to just make big booms or affect extra targets).
And then there's the main idea. I'm not sure if this idea would require altering the number of spells known a sorcerer has, or simply abandoning the dream of giving them Origin Spells. My idea involves giving each Origin 2 custom cantrips. These cantrips scale like normal, though possibly with sorcerer level instead of character level, but they can be augmented with spell points. At first, this would just be for increasing damage or adding targets (depending on the cantrip), but as the Sorcerer gained levels they would learn different shapes and modifications to these cantrips (requiring a minimum spell level/SP value before you could choose the options). They'd be things like:
1st level, 2 sp) Self-centered radius burst, self-centered cone
2nd level, 3 sp) Damage over time, pillar
3rd level, 5 sp) Ranged radius burst, self-centered line ...
And so forth. Yes, these would be mimicing when classic spells like burning hands, acid arrow, fireball, and lightning bolt come online, but they'd be modifications of the sorcerer's basic abilities. A white dragon sorcerer would have cold stuff, a black dragon would have acid stuff ... and so forth. To make these slightly different from spells, the range/size would scale with the number of SP spent. Something like this would of course force a sorcerer to be able to pierce energy resistances/immunities, but that seems like a sorcerous thing to do. Heck, I loved how Red Dragons in 4E could blast away your fire resistance: anything burns if you get it hot enough.
While I'm excited by this part of the idea, I'm concerned that it would just be spells by another name. It may feel different. It reminds me of the 3E Warlock with all their Eldritch Blast options (and it's really probably where the idea started to grow from). It could serve as a "simple spellcaster" too if designed right. A white dragon or cold sorcerer could have a cantrip for straight up damage and a cantrip for less damage and a slow effect. They could modify the sizes and ranges, choosing things like a cone of cold or more ranged focused choices, based on their vision for their character. A fey-oriented sorcerer could have sleep or charm effects that could be modified. Again, spells by another name, but the use of Spell Points and not strictly using the precise formulas of spells might make the sorcerer feel more unique.
They'd still have spells known, of course. These would represent their efforts at learning more control of their arcane power. Maybe a "generic" sorcerer could spend their "Channel Sorcery" options on learning more spells, giving them more rigid defined options rather than adding to their primary ability.
I think spell points would lend well to making sorcerers feel like their power was more inborn. Points feel like a reserve of power, like endurance. Spell Slots feel like compartmentalized features. The sorcerer can already expend spell slots to regenerate sorcery points: Just take out the middleman.
What do you think?
I like Sorcerers. A lot. I like the concept of them better than the concept of a Wizard, personally. I'd rather play a Sorcerer. I didn't get to be a player much in 3E, but my first character was a Sorcerer. I largely liked how they were handled then. More spells, less choices, but spontaneous choices, just felt cool. I wasn't a spell optimizer back then, so I didn't see the Wizard as better (minus their bonus feats, stupid wizards and their bonus feats). I largely liked how Sorcerers were handled in 4E (minus my dislike for a lack of shared spell lists). But with everyone getting spontaneous casting in 5E, the sorcerer doesn't feel different enough to me.
At first, I was fostering this idea as a DM's Guild thing. Maybe I'll put it up for free. I couldn't imagine charging for "my way" of doing PHB stuff. But, I really need some outside opinions to help shape my ideas. I want the sorcerer to feel like their magic is natural to them. I don't believe the current structure really does that. So, here are my ideas to change up the Sorcerer:
1) Remove Metamagic and reintroduce it most of them as feats.
2) Add a new bloodline ability at 10th level.
3) Switch the Sorcerer to Spell Points.
4) Allow Sorcery Points to be used as Spell Points or to push spells to higher levels than they're normally capable of (which could be combined with metamagic feats to mimic what they used to do, or to just make big booms or affect extra targets).
And then there's the main idea. I'm not sure if this idea would require altering the number of spells known a sorcerer has, or simply abandoning the dream of giving them Origin Spells. My idea involves giving each Origin 2 custom cantrips. These cantrips scale like normal, though possibly with sorcerer level instead of character level, but they can be augmented with spell points. At first, this would just be for increasing damage or adding targets (depending on the cantrip), but as the Sorcerer gained levels they would learn different shapes and modifications to these cantrips (requiring a minimum spell level/SP value before you could choose the options). They'd be things like:
1st level, 2 sp) Self-centered radius burst, self-centered cone
2nd level, 3 sp) Damage over time, pillar
3rd level, 5 sp) Ranged radius burst, self-centered line ...
And so forth. Yes, these would be mimicing when classic spells like burning hands, acid arrow, fireball, and lightning bolt come online, but they'd be modifications of the sorcerer's basic abilities. A white dragon sorcerer would have cold stuff, a black dragon would have acid stuff ... and so forth. To make these slightly different from spells, the range/size would scale with the number of SP spent. Something like this would of course force a sorcerer to be able to pierce energy resistances/immunities, but that seems like a sorcerous thing to do. Heck, I loved how Red Dragons in 4E could blast away your fire resistance: anything burns if you get it hot enough.
While I'm excited by this part of the idea, I'm concerned that it would just be spells by another name. It may feel different. It reminds me of the 3E Warlock with all their Eldritch Blast options (and it's really probably where the idea started to grow from). It could serve as a "simple spellcaster" too if designed right. A white dragon or cold sorcerer could have a cantrip for straight up damage and a cantrip for less damage and a slow effect. They could modify the sizes and ranges, choosing things like a cone of cold or more ranged focused choices, based on their vision for their character. A fey-oriented sorcerer could have sleep or charm effects that could be modified. Again, spells by another name, but the use of Spell Points and not strictly using the precise formulas of spells might make the sorcerer feel more unique.
They'd still have spells known, of course. These would represent their efforts at learning more control of their arcane power. Maybe a "generic" sorcerer could spend their "Channel Sorcery" options on learning more spells, giving them more rigid defined options rather than adding to their primary ability.
I think spell points would lend well to making sorcerers feel like their power was more inborn. Points feel like a reserve of power, like endurance. Spell Slots feel like compartmentalized features. The sorcerer can already expend spell slots to regenerate sorcery points: Just take out the middleman.
What do you think?
