Help me optimize a wild magic sorcerer

[Klorox]

I've been out of 5e for a while and will be creating a wild magic sorcerer for a game soon.

I'd like suggestions on feats and stuff because the last time I made a new character, I only had access to a couple of books and I know a whole lot more stuff has been released since then. I even heard there's a feat that will give me a metamagic option!

So, how can I best make myself a less-than-optimal sorcerer bloodline?

[heavyfuel]

Before anything else, how does your DM rule the following:

- How often are you rolling on the Wild Magic Surge table? It's explicitly up to the DM, so you could almost never roll for it.

- If you do roll, and roll a 1, does the Surge happen in tandem with the Spell, or instead of it?

[Klorox]

Before anything else, how does your DM rule the following:

- How often are you rolling on the Wild Magic Surge table? It's explicitly up to the DM, so you could almost never roll for it.

- If you do roll, and roll a 1, does the Surge happen in tandem with the Spell, or instead of it?

The DM has told me that he'd really like to lean into the wild surges, so he'd roll "almost every time"

He also told me that he'd think about making wild surges more common, so if I cast a spell and there's no surge, the next time I cast I'd get a surge on a 1 or 2 on 1d20. If I didn't get a surge, the next time I'd get a surge on a 1-3 on 1d20 and so on, until I got a surge which would reset the 1d20 roll.

As for your second question, I believe we will have the spell plus the surge, but I'm not sure.

[Mastikator]

If you can convince the DM to give you the reins of wild magic surge then you can use Tides of Chaos to basically have the equivalent of 1 inspiration point per spell slot +1 (assuming you use it between casting spells). That is already very good IMO. Just stand 20 feet away from your allies when you cast a spell, and have absorb elements.

A good argument for why you should be in charge of wild magic surge and not the DM is because they already have a ton on their plate.

(also wild magic surge happens immediately after a leveled spell is cast)

[Klorox]

If you can convince the DM to give you the reins of wild magic surge then you can use Tides of Chaos to basically have the equivalent of 1 inspiration point per spell slot +1 (assuming you use it between casting spells). That is already very good IMO. Just stand 20 feet away from your allies when you cast a spell, and have absorb elements.

A good argument for why you should be in charge of wild magic surge and not the DM is because they already have a ton on their plate.

(also wild magic surge happens immediately after a leveled spell is cast)

I'm away from my books, but what do you mean by the "the DM giving me reins of wild magic surge"?

[Mastikator]

I'm away from my books, but what do you mean by the "the DM giving me reins of wild magic surge"?

It's up to the DM when you roll for wild magic surge. Wild magic surge has two effects, a) risk of triggering effect and b) tides of chaos is reset on long rest OR rolling for wild magic surge.

Wild magic surge important text
"Once per turn, the DM can have you roll a d20 immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. If you roll a 1, roll on the Wild Magic Surge table to create a magical effect."

This is additional bookkeeping for the DM. This bookkeeping IMO belongs to the player, just ask the DM "hey can I be in charge of when I can roll a d20 for wild magic".

The goal here is this part of Tides of chaos
"Any time before you regain the use of this feature, the DM can have you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. You then regain the use of this feature."

AKA if you're rolling a d20 for wild magic surge you can now use tides of chaos again.

[Rashagar]

Going Halfling and taking the racial feat Bountiful Luck always seemed like a fun continuation of the flavour of wild magic.

Alternatively, feats or racial choices that give you expanded spells known are always useful for sorcerers. (Eg. for feats, Fey Touched, Shadow Touched, Telepathic etc.)

The feat that gives you more metamagic options is called Metamagic Adept, it also gives you 2 extra sorcery points per day to play around with.

There's also a feat called Eldritch Adept which lets you pick an invocation from the warlock which can be used to get Silent Image or Disguise Self at will.

There's a metamagic option called Transmute Spell which lets you change the damage type of a spell, so you could have fireball do acid damage or electricity damage etc. You could just for fun randomise the element you change the spell to, so your fireball could be flavoured like a super-powered chaos bolt.

There's some really fun looking new spells, eg. vortex warp which could be flavoured to lean into wild magic, and one called Nathair's Mischief which flavourfully fits really well too. (It looks quite good but a little less reliable than some other spells).

But it's always so hard to pick sorcerer spells known. (For me at least). I'm not sure I'd call the above optimal but just to give you an idea of some of the newer stuff that might take your fancy.

[Khrysaes]

I like chaos bolt, and the aforementioned mischief spell.

Some other thematic spells are silvery barbs and fortunes favor.

If you can go halfling for bountiful luck, a good optiom would be mark of healing halfling to get some healing spells on your list.

Also, pairing well with the healing halfling. 1 Life cleric, twilight cleric, or peace cleric are strong dips for medium armor, shields, and some extra spells of 1st level.

[Melphizard]

Wild magic sorcerers lean on the DM as other posters have expressed. I think the subclass is a lot of fun; however, mechanically the subclass doesn't excel in a whole lot. Main part of optimizing your sorcerer will be within the spell choices and combat tactics employed. You're not a Booyahg (though your DM may permit it) so you can be a bit more controlled with when your wild magic kicks in. That said, your party will likely treat anywhere within 20ft. of you as the splash zone, especially at low levels when you have a 2% chance to obliterate yourself.

[ImproperJustice]

There is a wild magic build floating around that I plan on using.

It involves variant human with Telekinetic and then picking up spell sniper for thorn whip.

Then the goal is to create unpleasant zone effects like Grease, Web, Sleet Storm, Wall of Fire, etc and then use Thorn Whip or TK shover to push / pull people into the control areas.

Subtle Spell helps avoid counter-spells, and avoid effects from surges that impact casting.

Careful spell lets you drop an effect on allies to better capture more foes.

Quicken spell later can help you cast and then whip somebody into the negative zone.

Mobility spells like Misty Step, Vortex Warp, and possibly Scatter lets you rearrange foes where you need them.

Scatter combined with Far Spell gives you a 60’ radius to grab 5 enemies / allies and deposit them in a danger zone or maneuver allies to pin already hampered foes in place.

A lot of surges will also help you create zones you can use as well.

[CTurbo]

I like the Wild Magic Sorcerer. Tides of Chaos and Bend Luck are solid features. Spell Bombardment at level 18 is possibly the worst subclass capstone in the game though so I'd jump ship after Sorc 17 and take 3 levels in something else assuming it gets that high. Warlock, Bard, and Wizard would be the 3 main choices to me unless you want Action Surge from Fighter.

Feats?
Metamagic Adept
Ritual Caster(Wiz)
Lucky
Alert
Really anything that gives you more spells.

Race? Anything that gives you even more spells. Tiefling for example. Half-Elf, Vhuman, and Yuan-Ti are strong choices.

[Khrysaes]

Wild magic sorcerers lean on the DM as other posters have expressed. I think the subclass is a lot of fun; however, mechanically the subclass doesn't excel in a whole lot. Main part of optimizing your sorcerer will be within the spell choices and combat tactics employed. You're not a Booyahg (though your DM may permit it) so you can be a bit more controlled with when your wild magic kicks in. That said, your party will likely treat anywhere within 20ft. of you as the splash zone, especially at low levels when you have a 2% chance to obliterate yourself.

When my group and I first got Volo's and read about the Booyahg Booyahg Booyahgs, we immediately had three people want to play one, just because it happened every spell. It was... chaotic. The Booyahg ended up summoning a unicorn that helped win a fight, then immediately proceeded to piss it off and tpk them.

[Monster Manuel]

More than any other Sorcerer subclass, the Wild Magic sorcerer might actually want to be close to the enemy, and not safely behind their own melee shield-wall. A lot of the "bad" results on the wild magic surge table are bad for the people in the immediate vicinity of the sorcerer, and if you're toe-to-toe with the bad guys, 4d10 lightning damage or a 1d10 HP drain to everyone around you is actually a really good thing. Even the dreaded TPK fireball is pretty good when you've got Absorb Elements to mitigate the damage to yourself, and you just fried the entire wolf pack that was mobbing you.

I highly recommend some clever shenanigans to let you tank a bit. Dip a level of cleric for armor and shield, invest in the Warcaster feat, make sure you've learned Shield, etc. Prioritize Con more than you might for another caster. I built a mountian dwarf wild magic sorc with armor and a boatload of HP that was fun to play for a one-shot. His battle cry was "Back off, everybody, I'm gonna do somethin' stupid"

It's certainly not the only play style that works for Wild Magic, but it's something to consider.

As an aside, I'd love it if the rules were tweaked to allow to roll for a wild surge whenever the player wanted, with the caveat that the DM can call for wild surge checks whenever THEY want to as well. It takes away the DM-controlled element that makes the subclass so inconsistent, while still avoiding the encounter-killing surge the DM or party don't want.

[sithlordnergal]

Important questions:

1) Does your DM allow Multiclassing?

2) Does your DM allow Hexblade?

If the answer to both of those questions is "Yes", then take a single level of Hexblade. It'll net you AC, some decent spells and cantrips, and a really bonus action ability that makes your attack spells even stronger.

Next, you need a focus. Wild Mages actually make excellent blasters, especially if the DM lets you constantly refresh your Tides of Chaos. You basically get advantage every time you cast an attacking spell, like Chaos Bolt. Take some AoE's, but focus your spells on things like Scorching Ray, Chaos Bolt, Chromatic Orb, ect.

For feats, you'll want the one that gives you Metamagic for sure. Its basically two extra Sorcery Points. Snag Resilient Wisdom as well, its pretty darn handy.

[Klorox]

First of all, thank you, everyone, for your suggestions. They’re really appreciated! I felt like, after checking some guides out there, that choosing wild magic was a fun, but sun-optimal choice. Now you’re all making me rethink that second point.
There is a wild magic build floating around that I plan on using.

It involves variant human with Telekinetic and then picking up spell sniper for thorn whip.

Then the goal is to create unpleasant zone effects like Grease, Web, Sleet Storm, Wall of Fire, etc and then use Thorn Whip or TK shover to push / pull people into the control areas.

Subtle Spell helps avoid counter-spells, and avoid effects from surges that impact casting.

Careful spell lets you drop an effect on allies to better capture more foes.

Quicken spell later can help you cast and then whip somebody into the negative zone.

Mobility spells like Misty Step, Vortex Warp, and possibly Scatter lets you rearrange foes where you need them.

Scatter combined with Far Spell gives you a 60’ radius to grab 5 enemies / allies and deposit them in a danger zone or maneuver allies to pin already hampered foes in place.

A lot of surges will also help you create zones you can use as well.
I’d love to see the whole thing mapped out!


More than any other Sorcerer subclass, the Wild Magic sorcerer might actually want to be close to the enemy, and not safely behind their own melee shield-wall. A lot of the "bad" results on the wild magic surge table are bad for the people in the immediate vicinity of the sorcerer, and if you're toe-to-toe with the bad guys, 4d10 lightning damage or a 1d10 HP drain to everyone around you is actually a really good thing. Even the dreaded TPK fireball is pretty good when you've got Absorb Elements to mitigate the damage to yourself, and you just fried the entire wolf pack that was mobbing you.

I highly recommend some clever shenanigans to let you tank a bit. Dip a level of cleric for armor and shield, invest in the Warcaster feat, make sure you've learned Shield, etc. Prioritize Con more than you might for another caster. I built a mountian dwarf wild magic sorc with armor and a boatload of HP that was fun to play for a one-shot. His battle cry was "Back off, everybody, I'm gonna do somethin' stupid"

It's certainly not the only play style that works for Wild Magic, but it's something to consider.

As an aside, I'd love it if the rules were tweaked to allow to roll for a wild surge whenever the player wanted, with the caveat that the DM can call for wild surge checks whenever THEY want to as well. It takes away the DM-controlled element that makes the subclass so inconsistent, while still avoiding the encounter-killing surge the DM or party don't want.

I might do a dip for a better AC, but if I go, it’ll either be hexblade or fighter. I’m going to steer clear of cleric. I honestly can’t see a very wise wild magic sorcerer working for me, and I plan on completely dumping WIS. If I really value AC I’d probably just go with a mountain dwarf or hobgoblin though.


Important questions:

1) Does your DM allow Multiclassing?

2) Does your DM allow Hexblade?

If the answer to both of those questions is "Yes", then take a single level of Hexblade. It'll net you AC, some decent spells and cantrips, and a really bonus action ability that makes your attack spells even stronger.

Next, you need a focus. Wild Mages actually make excellent blasters, especially if the DM lets you constantly refresh your Tides of Chaos. You basically get advantage every time you cast an attacking spell, like Chaos Bolt. Take some AoE's, but focus your spells on things like Scorching Ray, Chaos Bolt, Chromatic Orb, ect.

For feats, you'll want the one that gives you Metamagic for sure. Its basically two extra Sorcery Points. Snag Resilient Wisdom as well, its pretty darn handy.

Yes

Yes

I see a hexblade dip as a very mechanically sound option. Heck, it might even be too good.

My biggest problem has always been making it work from a RP sense.

So, if someone can convince me, and in turn my DM, why anybody would make a pact, but only for one level, and make that work in a RP sense, I might go for it.

[sithlordnergal]

Yes

Yes

I see a hexblade dip as a very mechanically sound option. Heck, it might even be too good.

My biggest problem has always been making it work from a RP sense.

So, if someone can convince me, and in turn my DM, why anybody would make a pact, but only for one level, and make that work in a RP sense, I might go for it.

Well, I'd suggest going two levels for the Invocations. As for the RP stuff, you have some options:

This isn't actually a proper pact, you're actually stealing power from your patron without them knowing. You don't want to take too much power or you'll be discovered and the patron will likely take their revenge. Hence you only want to take 1 to 2 levels. Take too many Warlock levels and you'll earn the wrath of your "patron"

This one is a class by class basis, but you could connect your Patron to your other class. For example, a Hexblade/Paladin could have a Holy Avenger as their Patron, and said Holy Avenger demands those that draw power from it either start as or become a Paladin to prove their worth.

It technically doesn't even need to be a sword. You could have made a pact with any sentient magical item, like a Professor Orb. It contains the personality of a scholar that wants to study Wild Magic, and making a Pact with you allows it to closely monitor you...but since it is only interested in Wild Magic it only gives you just enough power to be bound with you, and demands you develop your Wild Magic further for it to study.

EDIT: Heck, you could have made a "pact" with a Feywild Shard, taking power from it to give yourself a small magic boost, similar to a wizard using a special tome, but it corrupts your magic and turns you into a Wild Magic Sorcerer. Cause its an item that literally has you roll on the Wild Magic Table for using it. Wild Magic Sorcerers are probably one of the easiest classes to justify RP wise because their whole back ground is basically "Weird magic stuff happened to me at some point in my life, and now when I sneeze wrong I turn into a potted plant"