"Wild Magic" with a twist (Sorcerer Wild Magic)

[Brymja9711]

So recently I was asked by one of my players to come up with ways of making Wild Magic more interesting. Currently, in the PHP there is a 5% chance of a spell going wild, thus causing the sorcerer to roll on the chart. But what if a sorcerer could use more of their innate magical energy to cast more powerful spells? or cast more spells in general? Here is what I have so far:

Brainstorming ideas for wild magic

This concept of changing wild magic for the sorcerer makes for more interesting situations. Here are some ideas:
• Increasing the chance of a spell becoming wild magic by using a higher-level spell slot. For example, A 5th level Sorcerer with the Wild Magic archetype wishes to cast a magic missile at a spell slot higher that 3. The sorcerer thus attempts to cast the magic missile at 4th level, increasing the damage of the spell. In doing so, the sorcerer must roll a D20, on a 1-2, the spell goes wild, thus increasing the chance of rolling on the chart. If a spell is cast at a much higher spell slot, the chance of the spell going wild increases exponentially. The equation is as follows: spell level that is 1 higher Than the highest spell slot available = an increase of 1 on roll of wild magic chance. For every spell slot higher, doubles the chance. For example, the same 5th level sorcerer tries to cast the magic missile at 5th level, and now much roll a d20 with the chance being 1-4, and at 6th, the chance being 1-8, and so on.
• Attempting to cast another spell slot of a spell level that has already been spent. For example, a 5th level sorcerer attempting to cast another 3rd level spell must now roll a d20, with a 1-2 on that roll being wild magic. Every spell casted at the same level afterwards increases the chance of wild magic occurring. Per that same example, the 5th level sorcerer attempts another spell of 3rd level, and now must roll a d20 with a 1-4 chance of going wild. After each spell cast, the chance of the spell going wild doubles.

Let me know what you guys think. So far I just have more powerful spells, or spells being casted more often once the player has used all available slots before a rest. Not sure how this would work at lower levels, and if the increased chance of getting a wild magic effect should be lower if the player is, say, 1st level.

[micahaphone]

I am not personally a fan of that extra level of complexity and bookkeeping, and have this suggestion instead.



Next spell cast after using Tides of Magic guarantees a surge
Whenever you roll to check for a surge and you don't get a surge, expand the surge range by one. So the first spell of the day you need to roll a 1 to get a surge, and if you don't the next spell will surge on a 1 or a 2, if you don't the next leveled spell will surge on a 1-3, etc. This resets when you get a surge, and maybe on a long rest.



These changes don't encourage any playstyle changes, the chance is increased for low level characters, and you don't put further resource strain on the sorcerer player.

[RSP]

Or just “if you roll the spell slot level or lower on the d20, a surge occurs.” So casting a spell using a 3rd level slot means there’s a surge on 1-3 on the d20.

[CTurbo]

If you play a Wild Sorc with me, everytime you use Tides of Chaos, your next spell triggers a surge. When you roll on the surge table, you get your Tides of Chaos back.

Therefor Wild Sorcs are rolling on the surge table ALL THE TIME. It's fun.

[Greywander]

How closely do you want to stick to the vanilla game? Would you be interested in a homebrew option? I ask, because I've written up an entirely new magic system just for wild magic. I'd be happy to share it if you wanted to take a look.

Here's a short summary: This was meant to adapt a system similar to that of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay to D&D 5e (see Tzeentch's Curse).

There are no spell slots. To cast a spell, roll one to four spellcasting dice, adding the results together. If you beat the DC (usually dependent on spell level), then the spell casts successfully. If you fail the DC, the spell fizzles and you just wasted your action (and any costly components). So why not roll more dice? Because you trigger a wild magic surge if you roll doubles, triples, or quadruples.

Doubles trigger a minor surge, which is usually a temporary inconvenience. Since you don't have spell slots to recharge, these are why you need to rest periodically. Triples trigger a major surge, which is usually directly harmful and/or permanent. You might cast Fireball on yourself, or destroy your right arm instead of Misty Stepping to catch a fleeing gnoll (this actually happened). If you roll quadruples, you trigger a catastrophic surge, which typically range from "roll a new character" to "roll a new campaign". Oh, also, about 1/5 of the effects on each table are beneficial, so it's not all bad.

At 1st level, your spellcasting dice are d6s. These increase to d8s, d10s, and finally, d12s, at 5th, 11th, and 17th level, respectively. Not only does this make it easier to beat the spellcasting DC, but it also makes you less likely to roll doubles/etc. Still, you'll almost always need to roll three or four dice if you want to have realistic odds of casting your highest level spells, regardless of what level you're at.

I did playtest this a bit, but we didn't get past the low levels. What I noticed during the playtest, though, as well as what I expected just from how the math worked out, is that you'll see a lot more low level spells and a lot less high level spells. You can, in theory, cast an infinite number of spells (even 9th level spells!), but in practice you'll probably only see higher level spells when the PC is either desperate or being reckless. See my previous comment about losing my right arm while trying to cast a 2nd level spell.

Let me know if this sounds interesting, and I'll link the doc with the full rules. It includes three d100 tables for each type of surge, so those might be handy on their own.

[Brymja9711]

Greywander,

I actually like the idea of this homebrewed wild magic surge. I generally do a mix of vanilla and homebrew, but not to the extent of making the game broken. I thoroughly enjoy this idea, and I'm interested in what crazy and wild things will happen using this system. If it isn't too much trouble, I'd like to see the full rules about it.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Greywander]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g9G0MwlSF3E6HFDJizb6lUH2gjC4PFSiV63dMjciMW4/edit?usp=sharing

Done.

It's been a while since I worked on this, so I can't remember if the doc needs cleaning up but it looks okay (fixed a few typos just now). Feel free to use part or all of this, or to remix it into your own system. I'd love to hear back from you how it works out, since I only got to playtest it a little bit.

[Brymja9711]

Thanks Greywander!

I will definitely playtest this and let you know how it goes

[Eunuchorn]

In my game, Wild magic triggers any and every time a non-cantrip spell is cast. I really don’t understand the hate for it! I’m almost tempted to make it trigger on cantrips also. The sorc has to be a little choosier when they cast things and take their placement into account but wild Magic’s ability to change the storyline and add flavor to situations has proved wildly entertaining and fun for our group.