Wild Sorceror

[GorogIrongut]

So I'm looking for some thoughts here. Playing a Wild Mage was one of my favourite go to's back in the day... because it was both fun and flavourful. That aside, the following are difficulties:
1. You're dependent very much on the DM's good will with Wild Magic Surges and thus Tides of Chaos. There's nowt you can do about this during character creation. I'm a believer that if you've got a friendly DM, you're sorted and that if you've got an unfriendly DM, the best way around it is to roleplay the heck out of your character so that they want to get on board with you. Either way, character creation shouldn't concern itself with this.
2. Sorcerors are a bit hobbled in this current edition. If you know how to play them, metamagic can make you phenomenally strong. That said, mistakes are swiftly and painfully punished. Combine this with a lack of skills and hp and things could get rough. Fortunately I've played more than a few Sorcerors and had a blast with them.
3. The way Sorcerors are set up, it's very difficult to be an unfocused caster. You tend to be very good at one thing and kind of good at another (Control, Damage, Support). As the Tides of Magic and Bend Luck tend to be more control/support focused, that starts to pigeon-hole you. Worse, Bend Luck uses up your precious Sorcery Points. Considering these are the fuel for your one advantage in Metamagic... it would be very easy to stab yourself in the foot with these if used poorly.

The two classes that I find share similarities are Divination Wizard and Bard which are both very good classes. But that is arguably because they don't suffer from the above.

Now, I'm not averse to multiclassing but this has to be predominantly a Wild Mage build. And I'm looking for a build through to 20. I can handle fun and crazy side of character backstory/roleplaying. I'm just curious what you would choose to do and play.

Thanks in advance.

[CTurbo]

My best advice is to have a chat with your DM and find out for sure how he intends on handling the Wild Surge table and Tides of Chaos.

The best(most fun) DMs will have their Wild Mages rolling the surge table all the time therefor resetting Tides of Chaos often.




I'd be tempted to stick with straight Sorcerer, but 2 levels of Diviner Wizard for Portent is awesome.

A 3 level Warlock dip is also very strong for short rest spell slot and invocations.

A 2 level Fighter dip is strong for added toughness and ACTION SURGE.

[Protolisk]

I know there is a guide out there dedicated to Wild Magic Sorcery. I played one as part of a small campaign where I started at level 5. By then, a self centered Fireball was more of a livable punishment rather than a instant death sentence.

When playing a WMS, the best way to go about it is to ration out the insanity, and also work with your DM. As written, the DM chooses when you get a surge, either by choosing when to roll a d20 after you cast a spell, or they can choose to instantly do one after you use Tides of Chaos. It is however a choice, and some DMs just choose to never do it. I know you said this, but it is important. Past about level 4, you want to surge. It's literally the whole point of the subclass to surge. Your DM needs to understand this. I always suggest DMs with WMS to consider removing the whole "The DM decides" business and just make it a flat d20 chance on all leveled spells, and a auto surge after a leveled spell cast after having used Tides of Chaos, all done on the player's side. Less work for the DM, and easier to remember if its in the hands of the player, the one who, you know, wants to surge.

However, in early levels, you never know when turning into a plant or self fire-balling you may result in instant death or TPK. So early on, don't go super into spamming surges, because it may just be that 2% chance to self fireball. Once the party has higher health and better Dex saves, this issue becomes less of a problem and more of a solution.

Most of the surges that grant benefits can do things like make you invulnerable, or mess with the area around you. At higher levels, you can make your living bomb nature work for you, but only if the bomb goes off near enemies. If you want to be more a help than a hindrance, that means you should be fairly close up to the front lines, within reason. Self cast fog cloud amidst the enemies means they need to leave the area, hopefully into an area your party has prepared for. Other nice bonuses like the pseudo chain lightning has a max range of 30 feet. Again, it works best when near an enemy.

You don't need to focus THAT much on a single niche. Yes, you have few spells known, but the surge table can grant benefits, rarely, that replace requirement of spells known. And there are many effects that recharge your resources (regaining expended spell slots or sorcery points). Due to this, you mostly just need one good damaging spell as a staple, Shield/Absorb Elements, and some kind of controlling spell like Web at lower levels, and from there, just grab what looks generally useful. But your metamagic should emphasize the "niche" you DO want, since you get so little.

Big issue though: when you least expect it, when your combat defining Haste is used, or you cast Sickening Radiance to bathe your enemies in radiation sickness, there is always the issue of becoming a plant, which incapacitates you, which means concentration is broken. So there goes your Haste, your buddy is now slow for a turn. The long lasting damage spells just went poof, and based on how your DM reads it "entering the area", you may have done little damage or even no damage. So be careful. At level 14 however this issue goes away as you will almost always have a better option due to having two rolls, pick and choose.

I am not a guru of Multiclassing so I can't speak on that.

So, general build advice? Find the spells that make you want to stay fairly close to the meat of the combat, but not TOO close. You are a living bomb, so think like it, and decide where the best location to be for a sentient explosive device to be. Slippery races like Goblins can make this work, darting in and out of melee range while casting spells. It may not be a +CHA race, but sorcerers should never sneeze at bonuses to their AC or HP, which is what Goblin can provide instead.

This is a pretty good guide to the general thought process and breaks down some of the ideas. (https://www.enworld.org/threads/guide-playing-dice-with-the-universe-a-slant-guide-to-wild-magic-sorcerer.468899/) It's a little condecending at times, and a little old so it doesn't include all the races and spells from, say Xanathar, but explains itself pretty well. It provides a good framework.

[tormund]

I think I'm right at the limit of thread inactivity here, but I have a question about the aforementioned Diviner 2/Sorceror X:

If I understand the multiclassing rules correctly, a Wizard/Sorceror MC has the same spell slots as a straight Wizard or Sorceror of the same character level, right? And, the PHB section on the wizard's spellbook says:


When you find a wizard spell of 1st level or higher, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a level for which you have spell slots and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it.

Does that mean a Wizard 2/Sorceror 3 (e.g.) would know sorceror spells up to level 2, but could copy a 3rd-level wizard spell into their spellbook?

[Theaitetos]

Does that mean a Wizard 2/Sorceror 3 (e.g.) would know sorceror spells up to level 2, but could copy a 3rd-level wizard spell into their spellbook?

No, you're limited to 1st-level wizard spells. You determine spells known/prepared as if you weren't a multiclass character.

[RSP]

I think I'm right at the limit of thread inactivity here, but I have a question about the aforementioned Diviner 2/Sorceror X:

If I understand the multiclassing rules correctly, a Wizard/Sorceror MC has the same spell slots as a straight Wizard or Sorceror of the same character level, right? And, the PHB section on the wizard's spellbook says:



Does that mean a Wizard 2/Sorceror 3 (e.g.) would know sorceror spells up to level 2, but could copy a 3rd-level wizard spell into their spellbook?

RAW, you can probably copy it, however, you wouldn’t be able to prepare it, as preparing spells as a Wizard is based solely off your Wizard levels, which in this instance is 2nd level, and a 2nd level Wizard is not capable of preparing 3rd-level spells.