Refluffing the Clockwork Soul Sorcerer

[Psyren]

So mechanically, I really like the Clockwork Soul Sorcerer from Tasha's. But I found the default fluff for it (Mechanus/Modrons/Inevitables, and gears/mathematical formulae/clocks) to be a bit limiting, especially for a class that focuses on Charisma rather than Intelligence.

I chatted with my DM about it and we hit on an idea that leverages the Great Wheel cosmology; after all, in that basic framework, there are four other planes that are made of strong Law and Order - Celestia, Baator, Arcadia and Acheron. None are as strongly committed to pure Order as Mechanus is of course, but I thought "those planes are probably Lawful enough to spawn an order-infused sorcerous origin." My DM agreed, but wants me to flesh out the concept a bit, and that brings me here.

What I'm looking for help with:


Renaming suggestions for the subclass as a whole to get it away from being "clockwork."
Renaming suggestions for the Clockwork Magic (bonus spells) and Clockwork Cavalcade (subclass capstone ultimate) features.
Suggestions for the Manifestations of Order feature (the thematic visual stuff) that fit the subclass, but that aren't construct- or clock-themed.
Construct (or even thematic non-construct) suggestions for Clockwork Cavalcade's appearance that aren't the typical "robot/automaton" or "Modron March" theme.
Race suggestions that fit with the reimagined fluff's broader scope. (Tiefling and Aasimar seem like more logical fits for this subclass now for instance, say if I were descended from a Devil or Archon - those being outsiders that are almost as lawful as any Modron or Inevitable.)


So far the most I've landed on is something like "Contracted Soul" where my sorcerer is descended from, say, a contract devil, and instead of glowing geometric shapes overlaying his body I get neat and punctilious handwriting, like the fine print of a contract. That's as far as I got though, so I'm definitely open to suggestions! Also, if there's anything else I missed that you would change to make this fit better, please let me know.

[Nidgit]

It kind of depends on what kind of flavor you want, doesn't it?

One option could be to lean into a lawyer aesthetic, which could mean scales of justice or the sound of a gavel as Manifestations and a small army of ethereal paralegals as your Cavalcade. You'd want to specifically focus on the agreements between parties as something you're intrinsically connected to.

The "Lawful" aspect of the Clockwork Soul aren't really focused on societal laws, though, not without some major refluffing. It's all about predictability and order, which is why machinery is used as a proxy for something with no free will. You could look to other machines for inspiration, like a loom for a Wheel of Time vibe, or you could go the absolutely insane route and be a future Matrix manifestation. Maybe you're the product of some mad inventor's primitive Turing machine, or maybe you're an Agent Smith sent back in time, Terminator style, to totally screw with your DM.

[Corlindale]

I don't think you neccessarily have to limit yourself to the Lawful theme. I think all of the abilities could be refluffed as having to do with Time or Probability or similar. The powers that negate (dis) advantage could be fluffed as manipulating the timestream to prevent alternative futures, and the restoration/dispelling field capstone could be refluffed as a time reversal field that shifts creatures and objects back to the time before theyhad been damaged or hexed. Most of the bonus spells could be similarly refluffed. Even summon construct could be fluffed as a spell that pulls a gizmo from the distant future to aid you.

EDIT: Origin as a whole could be refluffed/renamed as Timeless or Eternal, so your bloodline is related to an ancient race of beings that exist outside of the normal timestream. Your magic displays could be your character seeming to grow back and forth between old and young, of brifly flickering in and out of existence.

[Salmon343]

I don't think you neccessarily have to limit yourself to the Lawful theme. I think all of the abilities could be refluffed as having to do with Time or Probability or similar. The powers that negate (dis) advantage could be fluffed as manipulating the timestream to prevent alternative futures, and the restoration/dispelling field capstone could be refluffed as a time reversal field that shifts creatures and objects back to the time before theyhad been damaged or hexed. Most of the bonus spells could be similarly refluffed. Even summon construct could be fluffed as a spell that pulls a gizmo from the distant future to aid you.

EDIT: Origin as a whole could be refluffed/renamed as Timeless or Eternal, so your bloodline is related to an ancient race of beings that exist outside of the normal timestream. Your magic displays could be your character seeming to grow back and forth between old and young, of brifly flickering in and out of existence.

Seconded! I actually have first hand experience of this - my DM let me refluff Clockwork Sorc into a Time Magic one, and it worked wonderfully. We made a few spell changes to get some chronomancy spells on there, but the only reason I made the effort is because the class features match a time theme so well.

[Abracadangit]

You swim amidst a sea of fantastic suggestions!

On top of the Time- and Order- themed ideas that are presented, I'd like to lean into the Probability- angle, brought up by Corlindale.

It's funny how often people homebrew zany ideas for something like a "Luckmancer" or something similar, when Clockwork Soul with some refluff works just as well. Any class where you're meddling directly with dice rolls and/or advantage/disadvantage mechanics is a good opportunity for luck manipulation fluff, and since Sorcerers are already Cha-based, you can lean into it and make a cool gambler mage, whose focus (assuming DM buy-in) can be something like a set of dice or a deck of cards, and whose magic can strum the threads of luck itself. When you use Restore Balance, you're really rolling your dice/drawing cards to augment/drain someone's luck using magic. Bastion of Law can either be fluffed as magic playing cards/dice taking the damage, or just as a sort of "probability shield" that redirects opponents' attacks away from the subject. Trance of Order has you go into a luckbending trance, where you can redirect luck on a whim for the duration.

More specific ideas:


Subclass Renames: Fortunate Soul, Auspicious Soul
Clockwork Magic Rename: Prospemancy, Luck Magic
Clockwork Cavalcade Rename: Jackpot (There's nothing in the default fluff for Clockwork Cavalcade that really necessitates the appearance of living creatures; you could just fluff it as a huge swirl of magical illusory dice/cards rewriting probability in a localized area)
Manifestations of Order: Oh man, all kinds of stuff. Spectral dice or cards floating around you all the time, the pupils of your eyes appearing as dice dots or card suits, occasional ghostly sounds of dice rolling or cards shuffling -- options are endless.
Modron/Construct Refluff: Again, I think rolling dice or shuffling cards replace the need for anything sentient in terms of fluff, and then when you cast Summon Construct as part of your bonus spells, instead of modrons, you can make playing card warriors (a la Alice in Wonderland) or "dice golems," which could be cool.
Race Suggestion: Tiefling seems like the natural choice for a gambler character, but this could work with pretty much anyone.


Conversely, if you like the idea of order as cosmic bureaucracy and as a sort of yin to chaos' yang, why not lean into that all the way with that most evocative (but also haunting) symbol of bureaucracy -- paperwork! This also ties in well with your "Contracted Soul" aesthetic. Lean into it all the way -- rather than just handwriting, have spectral forms appear which govern and shape your magic. Restore Balance has you summon a form to help/hinder your subject, Bastion of Law has phantom paperwork appear to shield the subject from attacks, Trance of Order can be you going into hyperbureaucrat mode, and so on.


Subclass Renames: Contracted Soul (I loved your idea! Great name.)
Clockwork Magic Rename: Bureaucramancy, Documagic
Clockwork Cavalcade Rename: Reorganization (Who needs modrons when your character can haughtily fill out a bunch of magic, cosmic paperwork that nullifies magic and repairs destruction)
Manifestations of Order: Spectral paperwork floating around, mysterious sounds of pens scribbling and papers shuffling.
Modron/Construct Refluff: Either ghostly bureaucrats or just swirling paperwork -- when you cast Summon Construct, you could summon a "paperwork golem," a golem made out of sentient documentation; I might steal that for myself for later, ha ha
Race Suggestion: Protector Aasimar: instead of luminous wings, you can summon a cloud of magic paperwork that floats you around! How wild is that.


Anyway, the sky's the limit, and you've already got a bunch of really good ideas in this thread before I got here. Let us know what you end up rolling with!

[Elric VIII]

I love doing this type of stuff. It's amazing how often it seems flavor is either an afterthought or just incongruous with a given class/subclass.

My suggestion would be to not limit yourself to only one of the mentioned planes; represent yourself as a manifestation of the balancing cosmological force of law. This lends itself to a theme based less on clockwork and more on astrology and/or astronomy.



Name - Scion of Order

Clockwork Magic - Harmonizing Arcana: Your magic is drawn from the complex interplay of the cosmological planes and their equilibria. When you draw upon this power a manifestation of the cosmological balance traces itself around you as motes of light transcribing the planar balance.

Clockwork Cavalcade - Thaumaturgic Equilibration: You impose the overwhelming power of Law upon the world around you. A grand, spectral orrery of the cosmos appears in a 30-foot cube originating from you. As it weaves its complex pattern, disorder and chaos are reverted to perfect order.

[Abracadangit]

I love doing this type of stuff. It's amazing how often it seems flavor is either an afterthought or just incongruous with a given class/subclass.

This, times a thousand.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- there are so many mechanics in classes/subclasses that nobody likes, that people WOULD have liked if the flavor had matched. Like so many people don't like playing Alchemists because there's that one random effect ability, and it's not that players hate random effect abilities, it's that it doesn't jive with anyone's fantasy of playing an alchemist, so there it goes.

Flavor matters!

[Amechra]

This, times a thousand.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- there are so many mechanics in classes/subclasses that nobody likes, that people WOULD have liked if the flavor had matched. Like so many people don't like playing Alchemists because there's that one random effect ability, and it's not that players hate random effect abilities, it's that it doesn't jive with anyone's fantasy of playing an alchemist, so there it goes.

Flavor matters!

The bolded complaint has always kinda stood out to me, because it's only the "freebie" elixirs that you get at the end of each long rest that are random. If you spend 1st level spells, you always get what you want... so it's really just a roundabout way to give the Alchemist 6 extra 1st level spells known.

And I can kinda see what they were going for? "Roll randomly for what your potion does!" has a sort of "wacky inventor" vibe to it... which stands out against the overall backdrop of the Artificer.

...

The random subclass that I personally hate is the Spirits Bard, honestly, if only because you actively get less sure of what spirit power you're going to get as you level up, and because only a few of them have actual out-of-combat utility.

[Psyren]

@Corlindale - ...I didn't even consider the Time/Eternity Mage angle. Even with "clock" in the damn subclass' name! :smallsigh: It fits so well - thank you!!

@Nidgit - the gavels idea for the manifestations is brilliant, both the visuals and the sounds. I also like the "analog machines" idea like the loom, I'll look into more of those to get their sounds and visuals put into my manifestations.

@Abrcadangit - yes, a mage that smooths out Probability feels very fitting here. Kind of like a nega-Luckspinner from 3.5 :smallcool: And with that one I can definitely see this origin popping up amidst Halflings and Harengon, so double kudos for the racial ideas. The one downside I see is Summon Construct doesn't appear to be on the list for this subclass, unless I'm missing something?

@Elric VIII - the Astronomy / Cosmic Harmony angle feels brilliant as well. It's a form of math I could see relying a lot less on Intelligence and more on intuitive understanding of the self and one's place in the universe, which fits perfectly with Charisma for me and even lets some of the pre-existing Manifestations of Order feel like they work now. Kind of like the Sorcerer equivalent of a Stars Druid. I am definitely using this one at some point.

Thank you all - this was helpful beyond my expectations and I got some really fantastic ideas. Now I have the brand new problem of picking from among all these nifty suggestions where I only had one idea before :smallbiggrin: but that's a great problem to have. I'm open to further suggestions of course, but I'll show all these to my DM and see which one they think they can weave into the campaign most easily.

(P.S. @ Alchemist - to be fair, only your first elixir in a day is random and you have full control after that :smallsmile: I'm not the biggest 5e alchemist fan for other reasons but a little randomness at the beginning of the day isn't one of them.)

(P.P.S. @ Spirits Bard - while the table is random and thus annoying, remember that you can hold onto the effect indefinitely until you need it, so even if you get a combat one while you're out of combat or vice-versa, it's actually harder than you might think for it to go to "waste.")