5e Homebrew sorcerer buff- opinions? (Curse of Pages Spoilers)

[SpanielBear]

Hi all,

I currently run a 5e d&d campaign, that incorporates some Call of Cthulhu concepts. Most relevant to this discussion is that it includes a sanity tracker, from 100 to 0, with regular dread saves reducing it by 5/10/15 points depending on the scale of horror, and players restoring 1d10 on a long rest. So far this has worked quite well to make it feel like a resource that dwindles but not too precipitously. After around 13 sessions, players have roughly 80 San in the tank, and the sense of rising dread is ticking along nicely for a long-term campaign.

I promise this is relevant.

So, the players are two wizards, a druid, an artificer, a fighter and a sorcerer. The party has just hit level 5, and of all the players the Sorcerer is finding their class the least mechanically satisfying- too few sorcery points, no short rest restoration. The player has a big backstory moment coming up involving their bloodline, and I wanted to use that as an opportunity to give them a boost. They’re enjoying the campaign and character (or so they tell me!), so this would just be about helping flesh out the mechanics a little.

What I had in mind:

“Drawing upon the power in your bloodline, you can manipulate the crystal-weave of magic by connecting with a timeless, inhuman instinct that lurks beneath your waking thoughts.

You may spend sanity to gain sorcery points, at a 2-1 exchange- 2 sanity = 1 sorcery point. Sorcery points gained this way can only be used to fuel meta-magic, and cannot be exchanged for spell slots. You may only spend up to 10 sanity (for 5 additional points) per long rest.

These points exist in addition to the regular amount of points granted to your class, which can still be used as normal.”

What are peoples thoughts? Too much, too little, too overly complex? The idea is to let the player feel more like a sorcerer with their meta-magic shining, while keeping the horror aesthetic and not going too far with power creep. Feedback welcome!

[Saelethil]

I like it. I might allow the points to be spent on metamagic as SP (at a 2/1 cost) instead of needing to turn them into SP. This keeps it simple and more likely to be gambled with which I think is mechanically fitting for a sorcerer.

[Yakk]

The first time per day, you can spend San to fuel metamagic at 1:1 ratio.

The second time per day, it is 2:1 ratio.

The third time per day, it is 3:1 ratio.

Etc.

Spend as much as you want as often as you want.

Alternatively, dice are fun.

The first time, you get a 1d4 discount on metamagic for the same amount of San. The second time, 1d6.

Except these dice explode; on a max roll, you roll again and accumulate.

This gets to be spent on a single spell; any leftover San spent is wasted. No refunds! And if you run short, you have to fuel with metamagic ... or roll the next bigger die and accumulate.

It caps at 1d100 (1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12, 1d20, 1d100).

...

If you want to push further, allow you to try to cast a spell using pure sanity. The base cost is 2x the font of magic, and the spell can and must be enhanced with every metamagic you can legally apply to the spell. And the cost must be paid fully in san.

So if you have Subtle spell, Distance spell, Empowered and Quickened spell and you want to cast a San-fueled fireball, it costs:
5x2 = 14+cha bonus points. Suppose you have 18 cha -- so 18.

You roll d4=1, d6=1, d8=1, d10=10, d12=3 = 16, then d20 = 4 for 20 total.

Whew. Almost had to lose d100 sanity. And now your sanity-for-metamagic die is d100. Hope you don't need it again!

[SpanielBear]

Thanks so much for the feedback!

I like it. I might allow the points to be spent on metamagic as SP (at a 2/1 cost) instead of needing to turn them into SP. This keeps it simple and more likely to be gambled with which I think is mechanically fitting for a sorcerer.

Good shout on simplifying, that’s much more elegant.

The first time per day, you can spend San to fuel metamagic at 1:1 ratio.

The second time per day, it is 2:1 ratio.

The third time per day, it is 3:1 ratio.

Etc.

Spend as much as you want as often as you want.

Alternatively, dice are fun.

The first time, you get a 1d4 discount on metamagic for the same amount of San. The second time, 1d6.

Except these dice explode; on a max roll, you roll again and accumulate.

This gets to be spent on a single spell; any leftover San spent is wasted. No refunds! And if you run short, you have to fuel with metamagic ... or roll the next bigger die and accumulate.

It caps at 1d100 (1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12, 1d20, 1d100).

...

If you want to push further, allow you to try to cast a spell using pure sanity. The base cost is 2x the font of magic, and the spell can and must be enhanced with every metamagic you can legally apply to the spell. And the cost must be paid fully in san.

So if you have Subtle spell, Distance spell, Empowered and Quickened spell and you want to cast a San-fueled fireball, it costs:
5x2 = 14+cha bonus points. Suppose you have 18 cha -- so 18.

You roll d4=1, d6=1, d8=1, d10=10, d12=3 = 16, then d20 = 4 for 20 total.

Whew. Almost had to lose d100 sanity. And now your sanity-for-metamagic die is d100. Hope you don't need it again!

I’m a fan of exploding dice and I’d definitely use them elsewhere, but I think this is maybe a bit more book-keeping than needed- I don’t want to end up slowing the game down with the homebrew I add. Ditto with the sanity loss, the campaign is hopefully going to be a long running one so while I’m more than happy to let players suffer the consequences of their own actions, a possible death spiral into madness on one spell casting is a bit too much of a penalty. Thank you for the ideas though!

[Yakk]

The death spiral from casting a spell was intended as a "do not do this" sign ;) It comes from using sanity to emulate flexible casting.

Using the dice for normal metamagic, it is much more sane. Like, you quicken and haven't used it.

Roll 1d4. If you roll a 2 or 3, you lose 2 or 3 san. If you roll a 1, you have to roll 1d6 to get enough San to pay for the quicken (which is 2).

If you roll a 4, it explodes with another d4.

The state you have to keep track of is your current SAN die (starts at 1d4, upgrades by 1 every time you need it). And the randomness of how much SAN you burn is the gamble the sorcerer pays. The more they use it in a day, the bigger the risk, as the die size grows.

Hitting d100 is a "you just risked death to do this" state (even d20 is intentionally horrible).

The point is that "risking your sanity to boost your magic" shouldn't be accounting, it should feel like a risk. You aren't shaving away at your sanity in measured amounts, because that doesn't feel like "risking sanity to boost magic".

[SpanielBear]

Yeah, I do understand where you’re coming from, but while the character is going insane the player is definitely not. My players are fond of their characters and while they engage with the game fine, they tend to be cautious. If something is obviously a big risk, they won’t do it.

And the idea is to give the sorcerer player a feat/buff that they will use, because the sorcerer does fall behind the other casters in having ways to do the fun stuff they should be able to do. In a sense, I *want* it to be predictable because then the player can make the choice and not feel cheated by the outcome. There’s already the risk that they’ll encounter some reality-warping horror round the next corner, so they’re factoring in losing SAN from just regular gameplay.

If this was a one-shot or just a couple of CoC sessions, I’d absolutely be more swingy with the effects. It’s balancing the growing dread that makes Cthulhu such a fun backdrop with maintaining the pace of the campaign that is a bit of a juggling act.