Is sorcery genetic?

[Great cthulhu]

Can the power of sorcery be passed along generations Example: If your mother was a sorceress, could her power be in your genes?

My character's mother is a 20th level sorceress who lives in the nine hells, and im wondering if i could obtain a small fraction of her power.

[Laserlight]

Can the power of sorcery be passed along generations Example: If your mother was a sorceress, could her power be in your genes?

My character's mother is a 20th level sorceress who lives in the nine hells, and im wondering if i could obtain a small fraction of her power.

See ”dragonblood” sorcery source

[Sicarius Victis]

My character's mother is a 20th level sorceress who lives in the nine hells, and im wondering if i could obtain a small fraction of her power.

Long answer: Sorcery can be genetic, as inherited magic from a bloodline. For example, that's the main origin of Draconic Sorcerers. While it can be true, though, that doesn't mean it has to be true. It depends on the specific origin of the Sorcerer in question. If the mother's power came from a bloodline, then it's reasonable that your character can inherit power. If the power came from something specific to the mother, though, such as a specific event, then not necessarily. At that point, it's all up to the DM.

At the same time, even if the power was originally inherited, sorcerous power is often known for skipping generations, and typically only a few individuals actually manifest some form of inherited power, so it's also perfectly possible that your character couldn't use any of that power.

Short answer: Just ask your DM.

[SharkForce]

it's fairly vague, but at least some origins imply the power comes from your ancestry. given that a person descended from dragons, for example, can become a draconic sorcerer, it is reasonable to presume that someone descended from someone descended from a dragon likewise could potentially qualify.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I find it an entirely reasonable bit of fluff. Sorcery in D&D has frequently been linked to having a weird ancestor somewhere down the line.

[Talamare]

Vast majority of Sorcery is genetic and/or unexplained

From a different topic with actual examples from the book



If your Father had Dragon in his blood, then you would have Sorcerer powers. Regardless of if you're timid or not.
If you're born on a magical leyline... Sorcerer Powers!
If you were randomly touched by a Demon or a Fae at birth... Sorcerer Powers!
If for no reason at all, magic decides to infuse into you... Sorcerer Powers!
If a God randomly chose you... Sorcerer Powers!
If you were a God or some other Divine being in a previous life... Sorcerer Powers!
If the stars aligned when you were born... Sorcerer Powers!
If you had Sorcerer Powers and became Reincarnated... Sorcerer Powers!
If a alchemist randomly kidnaps you, performs experiments and you end up with Sorcerer Powers... Sorcerer Powers!
If you had a near death experience... Sorcerer Powers!

[Jaelommiss]

Sorcery tends to be heritable. Whether or not that is genetic will depend on the scientific basis that the game world is built upon.

I've always found that worlds feel more fantastic when they discard modern science in favour of viewpoints that have been disproven in the real world. Throw away germ theory and, yes, you can in fact get sick from foul odours. Throw away Mendelian inheritance and suddenly D&D cross-racial fertility seems far more reasonable. Making magic function on symbolic properties rather than physics can be fun, too. Perhaps the sorcerous bloodline only occurs in the eldest heir (bastard child plot hooks, anyone?). Or perhaps a deity of magic was the third born of his parents before ascending, and so all wild magic sorcerers are also the third child. Dragons do not fly by some wretched twisting of the square-cube rule, but because their wings symbolize air and flight and magic just makes it work for them. Vampires do not suffer from photophobia, but are harmed by the life and hope that the sun symbolizes.

[Alatar]

It's probably a recessive gene, like red hair.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I see a bunch of plotlines if it is inhertable. Perhaps the village elders wwtched the PC who hid her powers while growing up. One day when the hoard rolled into town to pillage the PC unleashed her powers on their leader to save her family.

Oops though, magic is not trusted in stickville and our PC was allowed to flee instead of being burned at the stake since she saved the day.

[Millstone85]

A couple PHB quotes regarding draconic bloodlines.
Some draconic bloodlines produce exactly one sorcerer in every generation, but in other lines of descent every individual is a sorcerer.
Your innate magic comes from draconic magic that was mingled with your blood or that of your ancestors. Most often, sorcerers with this origin trace their descent back to a mighty sorcerer of ancient times who made a bargain with a dragon or who might even have claimed a dragon parent. Some of these bloodlines are well established in the world, but most are obscure. Any given sorcerer could be the first of a new bloodline, as a result of a pact or some other exceptional circumstance.

So a sorcerer could be the literal descendant of a dragon, which suggests genes (though dragon genetics must be really weird).

But it can also be that a "sorcerer" (I would have said warlock) of ancient times made a pact with a dragon, and now the magic shows up again in ways as strange as "exactly one sorcerer in every generation".

[Knaight]

My character's mother is a 20th level sorceress who lives in the nine hells, and im wondering if i could obtain a small fraction of her power.

Sure. Multiclass to sorcerer and there's your small fraction right there. If you want a smaller fraction there's always the Magic Initiate feat. If this is an argument for why you should get free mechanical power because of character backstory though, it's thoroughly unconvincing.

[Lombra]

Ask your DM?

[Pex]

If you want it to be for your character, and the DM is cool with the concept perhaps integrating it into the campaign.

Not meaning to sound snarky, but you don't need something written in a book to describe your character. You need the book for the rules on the game mechanics of how your character functions, but everything else - origin, personality, why he exists, motivations, the fluff/flavor text is up to you. If the book says otherwise in that matter, ignore the book. If your sorcerer powers are genetic, then they're genetic.

As another example, even though the Celestial Warlock is now an official published class, that does not forbid anyone from playing a Fiendish Warlock and having his Patron be a Gold Dragon, the Phoenix, a Fire Deity, or any Patron that is not-Fiend. You can play the character as Saint Seymour Goode Acolyte Of Ilmater.

It can be hard to learn to separate the fluff from the mechanics.

[Temperjoke]

I mean, technically, just making your character a Tiefling is enough to represent your heritage, judging from the fact that she lives in the Nine Hells. As for character class, if she's 20th level, then it's feasible that your character could be a warlock, making a Fiend Pact with her, after all if she's living in the Hells then she's likely willing to negotiate for power. You could inherit a spark of magic from her, and make your character a sorcerer, inheriting magical potential is a common origin for sorcerers.

If you are asking to just be given a bunch of powers without leveling, then no. You should probably talk to your DM regarding your character, though, your character having such a powerful mother might not match up with the campaign.

[Spore]

It's probably a recessive gene, like red hair.

Take your filthy science and logic out of my fantasy games!

[intermedial]

It's a worldbuilding question, really.

In my world, the first mortal spellcasters were wild magic sorcerers. Non-player sorcerers don't get to decide what spells they develop, so for most of prehistory this was just how magic worked. Some cultures thought sorcerers were cursed, and some thought they were a gift from the gods, and some thought they were dragon-blooded. All of these turned out to be true -- hence shadow sorcerers, favoured souls, and dragon sorcerers. The dragon sorcerers were the first "bloodlines" that emerged: not only could these families reliably produce sorcerers, but the spells that these families developed were passed on through the generations. Druidic magic emerged next, and as more coherent religions began to emerge so did divine magic -- along with pact magic.

Actual wizardry has risen and fallen over the centuries, and it's a discipline that is only now emerging again as works of old are rediscovered. Great empires had traditions of it, but it lives and dies on having enough scholars and infrastructure to support colleges of magic necessary to train young wizards.

Even still, there remain a significant portion of the population that carry dormant sorcerous potential. Unfortunately for these individuals, their life-force is extremely valuable due to the amount of magical energy that can be pulled from them, so evil magic users who need lots of power for a dark ritual seek out dormant or low-level sorcerers for ritual sacrifices.

[Contrast]

Can the power of sorcery be passed along generations Example: If your mother was a sorceress, could her power be in your genes?

Sorcery is magic. The route through which magic manifests itself is often tied to bloodlines. You will note the draconic one is in fact called as such.


My character's mother is a 20th level sorceress who lives in the nine hells, and im wondering if i could obtain a small fraction of her power.

If you want to obtain the powers of sorcery you can achieve this by taking levels in sorc or taking magic initiate or one of the other spell casting feats. Please don't go to your DM asking for freebies :smallwink:

[Blacky the Blackball]

I would suggest that it has a "genetic" element (the scare quotes are because heritability, bloodlines, and hybrids in D&D don't work like real world genetics), but also requires environmental factors.

For example the descendent of a magical bloodline might be born a sorcerer if they are born (or maybe conceived) at a particularly auspicious time or place, but if born/conceived at another time or place they wouldn't be. Similarly, someone without the bloodline wouldn't be a sorcerer even if they were born in that time and place.

Of course, this means that the trait isn't reliable. It might skip some or many generations in an otherwise "sorcerous" family; and might appear "spontaneously" in a family whose bloodline has connections that no-one knew existed.

[Talamare]

Similarly, someone without the bloodline wouldn't be a sorcerer even if they were born in that time and place.

Of course, this means that the trait isn't reliable. It might skip some or many generations in an otherwise "sorcerous" family; and might appear "spontaneously" in a family whose bloodline has connections that no-one knew existed.
Actually, plenty of Sorcerer origins talk about being born in the correct time and place as a trigger to gaining sorcerer powers
Regardless of family history...

Basically Sorcerer powers are the most random, unexplained power in the DnD universe
You might as well say it's midichlorians in the sorcerer's blood.

[Tanarii]

Sure. 8th son of an 8th son of an 8th son.

[Aeson]

I agree with everyone who said that there is nothing saying that sorcery cannot be a heritable trait if you want it to be. It could also be a curse (or blessing, or both) on your family, or something that happens when people are born to people who have been exposed to a lot of magic (which could imply that the various types of spellcasters are more likely to have sorcerous children in much the same way that infants born to a mother who has certain kinds of illnesses or medical problems are more likely to have some of those same issues), etc.


Vast majority of Sorcery is genetic and/or unexplained
I'd say "unexplained" far more than "genetic." Modern genetics has very little to do with a setting where you can have a fiendish dragonblooded half-elven sorcer(er/ess) whose mother was an elf-maid and whose paternal grandparents are a dragon and a human-demon hybrid, especially if your hybrid ancestors (especially your half-dragon father) were born "naturally" of the unions which produced them rather than with the aid of some form of magic. I can see "magic did it" not being strictly necessary for certain kinds of hybrids (e.g. human-elf, human-demon) if in the particular setting the 'races' which lead to the hybrid character are all members of the same genus as, are subspecies of, or are just different races of humans in the setting, but 'natural' hybrids of humans and flying fire-breathing reptilian things is a bit too unrealistic for me to think that there is any way for it to occur which doesn't involve some form of "because magic," and I wouldn't suggest applying modern genetics in such a case.

[Dimers]

My character's mother is a 20th level sorceress who lives in the nine hells, and I'm wondering if i could obtain a small fraction of her power.

Absolutely. Make a warlock pact with her*, and she'll grant you a small fraction of her power.

* Presumably the Fiend patron. Or in this case, matron.

[Alatar]

Take your filthy science and logic out of my fantasy games!

Okay, no red hair for you.

[Socratov]

Sure. 8th son of an 8th son of an 8th son.

I often find myself disagreeing with you but this is not one of those times.

GNU Terry Pratchett

[Talamare]

'natural' hybrids of humans and flying fire-breathing reptilian things is a bit too unrealistic for me to think that there is any way for it to occur which doesn't involve some form of "because magic," and I wouldn't suggest applying modern genetics in such a case.
NSFW


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv1VWb6nLK0

[Unoriginal]

NSFW


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv1VWb6nLK0

Reminder that Tiamat is the most charismatic stated being in D&D.

[MxKit]

You should probably talk to your DM regarding your character, though, your character having such a powerful mother might not match up with the campaign.

This, and I'd say that talking to your DM for advice on how you might build the character you want to is a good idea anyway.

I agree that your best bets for your concept are going to be Fiend Warlock with your character's mother as their patron, or Divine Soul Sorcerer whose affinity (which doesn't have to match their alignment) is Evil.

If neither of those sound appealing to you, don't worry! You might still be able to do something. Like I said, talk to your DM. If you want your character to be a Sorcerer with a fiend/devil bloodline (even for just a dip!) but don't want to go with Divine Soul, ask your DM if you can refluff a different subclass. The Draconic Bloodline seems like it would be easiest for this; just say the damage type is fire, and ask if you can change "Draconic" and "when interacting with dragons" to "Infernal" and "when interacting with devils." Refluff so you still gain the 13 + Dex AC but don't have scales. Refluff the dragon wings to be devil wings. Bam, you're done. Again, you want to ask your DM first if you're allowed to do this, but since it's keeping 99% of the class the same and the change made isn't that likely to benefit you much more than what it already was, I'd personally allow it, so your DM might well allow it too.

(You could probably also refluff Wild Magic Sorcerer to have devil origins, it's just that Draconic seems to work best. For Wild Magic you could keep it exactly the same, though, and just say the sheer latent power of the abilities you inherited makes it hard for you to properly control them.)

If that doesn't work for you, either, well, it's true that being a Tiefling basically immediately means that you're inheriting some magical power from a devilish ancestor. Any kind of Tiefling would do, and a lot of possibilities open up for you if your DM allows the Unearthed Arcana variants. If your DM will allow you, you can even ask if you can make a Tiefling character but in-game in-universe your character is just a human -- just with those starting ability score boosts and racial traits -- if you really picture your character as human.

Finally, you also have the option of taking feats to give this flavor. Magic Initiate would work best for you, but Ritual Caster could be good on top of that. If you are playing a Tiefling (or a human with Tiefling stats), even the Flames of Phlegethos feat might be flavorful for you.

Basically:

If you'd like to play a Warlock anyway, take Pact of the Fiend and just say your character is being gifted power by their mother, whether they made a deal with her or not, whether they know it or not.
If you'd like to play a Sorcerer anyway, either go with Divine Soul Sorcerer or ask your DM if you can take a refluffed version of Draconic or Wild Magic Sorcerer that fits your bloodline more.
If you want to play, for example, a GOO Warlock, take some dips in one of the above Sorcerer subclasses (they mesh really really well) to indicate your character's bloodline powers. If you really want to play a Storm Sorcerer, take at least a small dip into Fiend Warlock for similar reasons.
If you want your main class to be something else entirely, like a Fighter or Rogue or Bard, take some dips into one of the abovementioned things to indicate your character's bloodline powers.
If you absolutely do not want to play or even dip into Warlock or a Sorcerer, or want to play a Warlock or Sorcerer that doesn't fit your concept and you absolutely don't want to multiclass, play a Tiefling, take a magical feat or two, or both. I'd advise both.
Hell, you could play a Tiefling Tomelock with the Fiend Patron, with a small dip into Divine Soul Sorcerer and the Magic Initiate and Flames of Phlegethos feats if you really wanted. Combine it all!

But again, I would absolutely talk with your DM about all of this first. If your DM doesn't like the idea of your character's mother being a 20th level sorceress who lives in the nine hells in the first place, you might have to rethink everything. And of course if you want to refluff anything, whether subclass or race, or want to try to run UA material, you'll need to get your DM's okay.

[Guran]

If you want sorcery to be genetic and your DM agrees (which he should as it is only fluff and can help you flesh out your character and backstory) then sorcery is genetic.

[Malifice]

For God's sake. This place.

[Willie the Duck]

For God's sake. This place.

Could you be more specific?

[Naanomi]

I'd say "unexplained" far more than "genetic." Modern genetics has very little to do with a setting where you can have a fiendish dragonblooded half-elven sorcer(er/ess) whose mother was an elf-maid and whose paternal grandparents are a dragon and a human-demon hybrid, especially if your hybrid ancestors (especially your half-dragon father) were born "naturally" of the unions which produced them rather than with the aid of some form of magic. I can see "magic did it" not being strictly necessary for certain kinds of hybrids (e.g. human-elf, human-demon) if in the particular setting the 'races' which lead to the hybrid character are all members of the same genus as, are subspecies of, or are just different races of humans in the setting, but 'natural' hybrids of humans and flying fire-breathing reptilian things is a bit too unrealistic for me to think that there is any way for it to occur which doesn't involve some form of "because magic," and I wouldn't suggest applying modern genetics in such a case.
Classic DnD Cosmology doesn't have much use for terms like 'genus' and 'subspecies' in the scientific sense. Most mortal crossbreeds that are possible are because the Gods that made those races decided they were possible... which is why you can have a Half-Orc/Half-Human (Gruumsh is all for it, Humans don't have a creator-God to object) and Half-Elf/Half-Human (Hanali Celanil decided it was OK, though the story as to why varies a bit on the telling)... but no Half-Elf/Half-Orcs (Corellon... and maybe even Gruumsh... would never be for it). Magic/Psionics can override this to some degree as well, as in the case of athasian Half-Giants

Dragons (and Outsiders) are likely much more 'mystical' about the whole breeding process than even that, and they can crossbreed with nearly anything in creation

[LeonBH]

Technically, we don't know if sorcery is genetic (as in, passed on through the genes) even for Draconic Sorcerers. We know it is hereditary, as in it is passed on from parent to child over generations. But the mode of passing the powers down may have nothing to do with genes, and instead just happens... well, magically.

So, my answer is, we don't know if sorcery is genetic. But there's no reason it couldn't be.