Wild Magic House Rule Feedback Regarding Game Balance/Fun

[dmhelp]

I was considering a few changes to wild surges and wanted to see what people thought:

1. If a wild surge occurs, then your next leveled spell has a 1 in 20 chance of causing a surge (the release/reset).

2. If a wild surge does not occur with a leveled spell, then your next leveled spell is 5% more likely to cause a surge (the buildup, e.g. 1 -> 1-2 -> 1-3 -> 1-4 -> etc...).

3. After a roll on the Wild Magic Surge table, the DM can choose to replace that effect with a 1d4 surge roll. This increases the level of the spell cast by that many levels (to a maximum of level 13). This typically only happens with random surges, although it can happen with any surge at the DM's discretion.

4. After using Tides of Chaos, the player (instead of the DM) picks when the next automatic surge that resets Tides of Chaos happens (i.e. they could have it happen with the next leveled spell or save it for later).

Another possibility would be to just use #1-3 and skip #4.

[Vogie]

In our game with a WM Sorc, they settled on surging on a 1 or 20 on the Surge roll, and also surging whenever they rolled multiples on the damage die (as a nod to their favorite spell, Chaos Bolt)

[BloodSnake'sCha]

In our game we divided 100 by the total spell levels our wild sorcerer have(so it 3 level1 slots and 2 level2 slots it will be 100/7)

For every spell he cast he also roll a d100.
The target is 100/(total spell level) * spell levels that the sorcerer cast today.

So if cast a level 2 spell he will roll a d100, if the roll is 30 or lower he will surge.

If later this day he cast a level 1 spell he will roll a d100 and if he roll 45 or lower he will surge.

It means that he will 100% get a surge every day.

If the sorcerer get back a spell slot somehow(pearl of power, font of magic, warlock multiclass) he will just take down the target base on the slot he got. It can go negative.

So if the same sorcerer use his sorcery points to get a level1 slot he will not have a target of 30 to surge.

It is nice because as the day progress the sorcerer have a higher chance of a surge(also called by many the fun part of a wild sorcerer) and if the sorcerer have very bad luck he will have a guaranteed surge with his last slot (the target will be 100 or lower in a d100).

[NoxMiasma]

The main problem of the Wild Mage subclass is that Wild Surges only happen because the DM says so, and you do kinda want to have a Surge, both because it recharges Tides of Chaos, and because you only pick Wild Mage if you want a certain amount of randomness in your life. However, sometimes the DM forgets to trigger a surge, and you just have to sit there and twiddle your thumbs. What you suggest is one way to increase Surge frequency, but what I've done is suggesting a specific circumstance where you always roll to see if you surge. I had a fun character who, fluff-wise, was a Deaf wizard, but mechanically was a INT-variant Wild Mage, who rolled for a surge every time they cast with a verbal component. Another DM I know will, after a Wild Mage uses their Tides, flip a coin for every leveled spell - heads you surge, tails you don't, until a surge happens, which is a fun way of adding a little more chance to the subclass.

[Tanarii]

4. After using Tides of Chaos, the player (instead of the DM) picks when the next automatic surge that resets Tides of Chaos happens (i.e. they could have it happen with the next leveled spell or save it for later).

Just make it immediately or you lose it. No saving.

Edit: my mistake. Your way is basically the same as the current rule, just switching it to the player. That works fine. Players should want to roll most of the time, because rolling on the Wilde surge table is generally a benefit, in addition to recharging tides. But there are times you don't want it. Mostly of them are when you're casting a Subtle spell.