Has anyone ever tried to homebrew the playtest version of Sorcerer?

[MustacheManny]

I recently heard about how different the sorcerer was in the playtest materials back in 2013/12 and the whole transformation and half-caster thing looks amazing! You'd have to make sure that the willpower/sorcery points plus the transformation points even out to around the level of an eldritch knight, but the mechanics of using one resource to gain another is really interesting. Has anyone tried to make a way for it to work? Or come up with other subclasses besides the draconic bloodline?

[PhantomSoul]

I hadn't heard of it at all! I'll be looking into it...

The document I found said "Do not distribute" so I'll skip putting a direct link, but here are some threads discussing the class:

https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/class-forums/sorcerer/82170-what-did-people-think-of-the-playtest-sorcerer
https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/4md22c/homebrew_playtest_sorcerer/

[MustacheManny]

I hadn't heard of it at all! I'll be looking into it...

The document I found said "Do not distribute" so I'll skip putting a direct link, but here are some threads discussing the class:

https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/class-forums/sorcerer/82170-what-did-people-think-of-the-playtest-sorcerer
https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/4md22c/homebrew_playtest_sorcerer/

I didn't post it either for that reason, but it's easy enough to find. The idea of the shadowfell bloodline going more dex based instead of strength is a fun idea. Taking on celestial attributes through the favored soul bloodline and some light healing or buffs with it, there are so many ideas that would make that class so unique!

[jaappleton]

Never tried it.

But it’s always a wild ride to go back and see the early playtest material.

[RSP]

Never tried it.

But it’s always a wild ride to go back and see the early playtest material.

I hadn’t seen it before, but it’s interesting to see how everything evolved. First thing that jumped out to me: “very flavorful with each of the (now) Spellcasting classes having different powers”, but then you go, “yeah I see why they decided to just make all of these “spells”.

[jaappleton]

I hadn’t seen it before, but it’s interesting to see how everything evolved. First thing that jumped out to me: “very flavorful with each of the (now) Spellcasting classes having different powers”, but then you go, “yeah I see why they decided to just make all of these “spells”.

Wizards got a d4 HD, Warlocks a d6 and Sorcs a d8.

I recall one playtest, it was one of the final ones before release, where the Paladin could choose Radiant or Necrotic energy when they used Smite.

At one point all knowledge checks were Lore oriented. Forbidden lore, magical lore, hobbyist lore, etc. And it was DMs discretion to say what lore would be applicable to what you were trying to find out.

......Almost got a whole different game.

Back to the topic at hand; I do wish classes got a bit more unique things to really differentiate them. I hadn’t seen this particular playtest before and while a little rough, because it’s such an early draft of the edition, it looks fun.

I believe this was back when they thought about recapturing the very early editions of D&D, back when Wizards were lucky to live to third level.

[carnomancy]

The fact that we got the current iteration of the sorcerer instead of the idea in the playtest saddens me. It's hard to know exactly how it would have turned out with only five levels of the class being written, but mutating as you used up your magic is a way better implementation of bloodline magic than what we ended up getting. I'll always like a point based casting system better than a slot based one, but that's just a result of me having cut my teeth in 3rd edition.

[Amnestic]

I haven't deep dived its mechanics but I did find https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/8snsy0/the_sorcerer_transformed_a_new_class_inspired_by/ this on the homebrew reddit which seems to be based off/"inspired by" the concept of the playtest sorc.

[Bloodcloud]

I like it, and think they should have gone in that direction more or less.

Sorcerer get spell points, making them distinct from other casters. Lean into the bloodline, make some tanky/melee bloodlines, some casty bloodline like the cleric domains. Tanky bloodline get abilities to stand in melee and fuel the stronger ones with spell points. Casty ones get extra thematic spell known. Metamagics are feats, open to all casters. Hell, get some sorcerer exclusive spells that reflect the whole "magic from within" and function as a sort of class features.

Dragon sorcerer should have a breath weapon, damnit! And claws!