Can we talk about the Wild Magic Sorcerer?

[SpectreCatcher]

I'm going to be starting a new game with a friend of my that wants to try his hand at being a DM. I have most recently been playing a Barbarian and want to try my hand at something a bit different. I have decided to go with the Wild Magic Sorcerer and I am curious about any experiences that you all have had playing one or playing with one in your game. I have already had a conversation with my friend and he is absolutely into the idea and will be asking to me roll on the Wild Surge table pretty often as he likes the idea of adding some chaos to the mix, which is something that I know can really make or break that class. Would love to hear about your experiences!. :smallsmile:

[Vogie]

I'm going to be starting a new game with a friend of my that wants to try his hand at being a DM. I have most recently been playing a Barbarian and want to try my hand at something a bit different. I have decided to go with the Wild Magic Sorcerer and I am curious about any experiences that you all have had playing one or playing with one in your game. I have already had a conversation with my friend and he is absolutely into the idea and will be asking to me roll on the Wild Surge table pretty often as he likes the idea of adding some chaos to the mix, which is something that I know can really make or break that class. Would love to hear about your experiences!. :smallsmile:

That class I've seen played 2 ways:

As a Rincewind-esque caster who isn't aware that they are the cause of the chaos and mayhem - The PC thinks they're just really unlucky and/or haunted. Subtle spell is a key metamagic pickup, as they play to "accidentally" launch spells.
An actual Chaosmancer, who leans into the concept, slinging as many dice as possible by using and refreshing Tides of Chaos whenever possible. Quickened or Distant metamagic are good to grab, as the PC seems to chaotically break the expectations of the surrounding audience. You can further include things like the lucky feat or heightened/empowered metamagics to make improbably impactful encounters.

[Keravath]

The archetype is very thematic. Lots of chaos, random spell effects. With a cooperative DM and frequent use of Tides of Chaos you can have random spell effects occur on almost every casting.

When casting a normal spell the odds are 1/20 of a surge. If you have used your tides of chaos, the surge can always occur.

However, these effects say the following ... Wild Magic Surge: "the DM can have you roll a d20" and Tides of Chaos: "the DM can have you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table"

It is at the sole discretion of the DM whether wild magic surges will ever happen ... both these rules state "can" ... not must.

One more comment :) ... although extremely chaotic and usually sort of fun for the player ... other players in the party can have quite an opposite view.

The typical joke is usually "watch out for that random fireball!" ... except that when it happens (and I have seen fireballs rolled up twice on the wild surge table ... the other players don't usually take it well). In one case, the random fireball went off in the corner of a largish room and only caught one party members along with the caster ... everyone saved ... some damage taken and we were able to win the combat anyway. In the second example, it wasn't so pretty. The entire party got engulfed. Several failed and fell to the ground making death saves. I can't recall whether it turned into a TPK or not but it was close and the party was winning the fight before being blasted by their own side. There were a lot of unhappy players.

Random death doesn't appeal to everyone so you might want to check with the rest of the party before bringing a wild magic sorcerer ... and chat with the DM to make sure they don't have any concerns.

[Man_Over_Game]

Wild Mage really depends on the DM to really get the most out of it. Most people would prefer strategy over random chance when it comes to the outcomes of a battle.

It's not always "fun" for the random fireball to make the battle a breeze, and it's not always "fun" to have a random fireball end your entire party. A good DM can plausibly mitigate the extreme case of shooting a random fireball at low levels, either through backup or some other case.

Since most of the Wild Surge options are beneficial, it's hard to tell what the "actual" level of play is for the characters. If you increase the difficulty and use milestones (players earn EXP based off of missions rather than the level of things you kill), the game may continue to be a challenge with no benefit, while putting the party in a precarious situation when the Wild Surge doesn't go your way.

Or, put in another way, Wild Magic makes the game either a breeze or hell incarnate, and it makes that "sweet spot" for consistent challenge to be much harder to hit.

I think an easy fix would be to just allow a single reroll on the Wild Surge table per day. Once per day, the player can reroll what came up.

[Grod_The_Giant]

LRandom death doesn't appeal to everyone so you might want to check with the rest of the party before bringing a wild magic sorcerer
Very much this.

[sophontteks]

Take absorb elements at level 1 just in case you fireball yourself. You can swap it out later.

The DM is going to be too busy to tell you when to roll. Instead of reminding him every time you cast a spell, just establish some ground rules and take it off his hands. Roll every time you cast a spell, or roll every spell after using tides are both good options.

Assuming you've established with the DM that you will be rolling often, wild sorcerers are a competitive pick. They can constantly give themselves advantage, which is really stellar. Bend luck is also a great ability. Reducing the enemy's save by 1d4 after they roll is very strong.

Because bend luck is expensive, and you will be using it a lot, try to avoid expensive metamagics. Empower is going to be really good for you.

[CTurbo]

I agree that you should check with your group to see what they think.

The Wild Sorcerer will seem weak if you're not using Tides of Chaos often, but it's an extremely strong ability. You want to use it as often as possible, and while you do want to roll the Wild Surge table often, you're not going to want to do it TOO much because it will become tedious.

[DrownsInCancer]

Besides the fireball/grease being centered on yourself, age or deage on the wild magic table. You'll get either a very wacky, comedic effect or something geniuinely helpful, like +2 to AC, resistance to all damage, regain 2d10 hitpoints. It has it's risks but more than not, you'll get something weird or good. And I really want to see a dragonborn grow a beard of feathers.

[ImproperJustice]

I just started one, and my GM reversed his position on Tides of Chaos and decided it is a long rest ability and it should maybe only refresh once a day, if at all.....

Although I think he is starting to realize that I will never, ever surge without it, since at the end of the last session he asked me: “I thought you would be surging more often, why haven’t you?”

Me: Because I only have a 5% per casting chance unless you let Tides of Chaos refresh.....

I think the lightbulb started to go off, so we will see how next session goes.

Not complaining though. The character has a fun back story, and being a halfling lets me do some luck bending, and I used the Sorceror luck bending to make some enemies fail some crucial saves.

[sophontteks]

I just started one, and my GM reversed his position on Tides of Chaos and decided it is a long rest ability and it should maybe only refresh once a day, if at all.....

Although I think he is starting to realize that I will never, ever surge without it, since at the end of the last session he asked me: “I thought you would be surging more often, why haven’t you?”

Me: Because I only have a 5% per casting chance unless you let Tides of Chaos refresh.....

I think the lightbulb started to go off, so we will see how next session goes.

Not complaining though. The character has a fun back story, and being a halfling lets me do some luck bending, and I used the Sorceror luck bending to make some enemies fail some crucial saves.

Wow, I would immediatly ask if I could change archtypes if my DM did that. It wouldn't even be rude. It seems genuine that they don't want a wild sorcerer, and the player shouldn't be forced to play without an archtype.

[Bloodcloud]

My suggestion is always roll the D20, auto surge if you use metamagic or get your concentration broken, no rolling surge on carefull spell or subtle spell.

[ImproperJustice]

Wow, I would immediatly ask if I could change archtypes if my DM did that. It wouldn't even be rude. It seems genuine that they don't want a wild sorcerer, and the player shouldn't be forced to play without an archtype.

I appreciate the input, but we have been gaming together for almost two decades.
He is a pretty open minded and overall a great GM.
I think he felt a defensive gut reaction to what he thought was a powerful ability, mostly because no one has ever played a Wild Sorc at his table before.
I know him well enough that if he is already asking why I am not surging more after two sessions, that he will adjust and handle it the right way.
Or we may go with a house rule suggestion that lets Wild Sorcerors use Nahul’s Reckless Dweomer in place of Tides of Chaos once per short rest, or spend SP equal to the level of spell you are trying for.

[ad_hoc]

Tides of Chaos is amazing.

You want to be using it as often as possible. Not just for advantage but for your surges that are more good than bad.

That will probably involve using attack roll spells so you can use it then surge. So lots of Chaos Bolts or Chromatic Orbs.

[Nhorianscum]

I'm going to be starting a new game with a friend of my that wants to try his hand at being a DM. I have most recently been playing a Barbarian and want to try my hand at something a bit different. I have decided to go with the Wild Magic Sorcerer and I am curious about any experiences that you all have had playing one or playing with one in your game. I have already had a conversation with my friend and he is absolutely into the idea and will be asking to me roll on the Wild Surge table pretty often as he likes the idea of adding some chaos to the mix, which is something that I know can really make or break that class. Would love to hear about your experiences!. :smallsmile:

I've not played but have DMed for this subclass. It's a blast for everyone involved and a strong BC caster.

Play far backline or far frontline (with a way to optimize this) to maximize the good and minimize the bad bad wild magic rolls. Spam wild magic as hard as you possibly can.

Have a blast.

[Trustypeaches]

Just work out with your DM when you will be rolling for Wild Surge, or circumstances where you might auto-wild surge.

[TrueFullmetal]

Well, I'm running a campaign with a paladin with one level in Wild Magic, and it sure is funny with this little Tiefling.

He's blue.

Considering he used to date an Archfey who wanted revenge on him, that was pretty lucky.

Now he's not going to die.