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My first ever D&D character was a wild magic sorcerer, in an adventure league style system. He had to be retired as he was exiled from his adventuring guild for fireballing himself inside an NPC’s home after casting suggestion in a dialogue scene, resulting in an entire town burning down. This event became a major historical event in the lore of the world. 11/10 best subclass in D&D.
A homebrew I saw for Wild Magic was from D20's Unsleeping City. For the d20 roll to check for a Wild Magic Surge, the target number increases by 1 for each subsequent Surge that doesn't happen. So, you start out RAW, where you only surge on a 1. If you don't surge, your next check causes a surge on a 1 or 2. If that doesn't surge, your next check causes a surge on a 1-3, and so on. Then, once the check causes a surge, the target number resets back to 1 and you start again. It really fits the flavor of the subclass, since the wild magic energy keeps building up over time until it is unleashed.
A version of the Wild Magic Surge I've really enjoyed in the past is similar, except that instead of it increasing every time the surge doesn't happen, it increases with every levelled spell you cast. Basically, it turns the surge into a check where the DC 1 equals 1 + the levels of spells you've cast, and it resets once the surge goes off. It makes it feel like the more powerful magic you cast is riskier, but unless you stick to cantrips, every spell adds to the risk. So for example, let's say you cast a 1st level spell and you haven't casted any spells yet. As long as you roll above a 1, you're safe. Then you cast a 4th level spell. Now you have to roll above a 5 or the surge goes off. It's just a flat d20 roll, so if you somehow manage to cast 20 levels of spells without it having gone off, you guarantee a wild magic surge. It makes it the surges more likely to happen than just increasing by 1 every turn, but keeps the same idea you said about it building up over time.
Clockwork soul sorcerer is insane with armor of agathys. Since you can get it and your ability allows you to reduce incoming damage, you can guarantee several triggers from AoA and thus deal massive damage to your attackers while staying healthy
@@MarcWagner75 oh ofc! Okay, that's wicked; I'd bump them to A tier then, probably didn't give their spell list enough credit as wall of force is also very good
Clockwork Soul is easy S-tier because of the Clockwork Magic feature alone. By level 9, it gives you TEN extra spells known, each of which you can swap out for pretty much any abjuration or transmutation spell. Keep in mind, level 9 sorcerers only get ten spells known as a whole, so this one feature literally doubles their list!
If Silvery Barbs isn't available, then I'd rate Clockwork Soul above Aberrant Mind. There are simply far more good abjuration and transmutation spells available. Armor of Agathys plus Bastion of Law makes the sorcerer phenomenally tanky. "Hey, you hit me! Eat thirty cold damage. No, my AoA didn't go away, you didn't even get to the temporary hit points yet. Go ahead and hit me again."
Just to see how crazy it is, here is a potential list of spells that clockwork souls get IN ADDITION to their regular choices: 1st: Armor of Agathys / Shield 2nd: Aid / Levitate 3rd: Counterspell / Haste 4th: Banishment / Polymorph 5th: Animate Objects / Wall of Force
@@benjaminpierce9996 Yeah! 6th level AoA might be a bit too expensive imo, but if you can get the damage off 3 or 4 times then that's almost certainly worth it. Silvery Barbs is permabanned at my table for a reason. It's too good to the point of limiting choice due to how much better it is than nearly every other option. A choice between a longsword, a scimitar, and a Holy Avenger isn't really much of a choice at all
A step in the right direction lol, to me it’s S tier, but hey I didn’t make this content, thanks DnDShorts! Sorcerer is my favorite class and two of my players are either straight or multi classes into this, so this will be helpful for my party
Im sorry but I also still disagree. Abjuration and transmutation are absolutely fantastic spell lists for sure. But the reason why clockwork souls are S tier is simply bc they’re a sorcerer with 25 spells instead of 15. They (and aberrant minds ofc) get more spells than bards and especially clockwork souls have a distinctly better spell list. I agree that the features are mid which is super sad. And it’s also sad that the defining advantage they hold over all other subclasses except aberrant minds is the number of spells. Yes Tasha’s was a power surge. We can be mad about it and I am. Bc I love divine souls. But until that is corrected clockwork souls are S tier
17:35 Rob the GM from VLDL has a great home brew rule for wild surges. If a wild surge check fails, meaning the wild surge doesn't happen, the dice threshold increases by one for the next wild surge check. Once the wild surge happens, the threshold resets back to 1. So you start at the 1 threshold, and if the you roll, say, a 7 on the first check then the threshold goes up to a 2 on the next wild surge check. If you roll above a 2 on that next check, the threshold increases to a 3, and so on until the wild surge happens. This way, the odds of wild surging aren't fixed at 1/20, and more wild surges occur, but it does mean you have to always track where the trigger threshold is.
Brennan did that for the season they had a wild magic sorcerer. It seems super fun, and I plan on offering it anytime someone wants to play that subclass.
I’m currently a fan of the Divine Soul Sorcerer. I made mine a Protector Aasimar. Party: Can you be the healer? Me: Sure! **fight starts** Me, first round: LEROYYY JENKINS!!!
@@meepthewizard1240YES! I also enjoy Twin Spell buffing my teammates. Shield of Faith two allies… Warding Bond two allies?! ☠️ (maybe if we have a second healer, lol) *Oh, and also Twin Guiding Bolt.
I could heal my party... But I could also cast distant inflict wounds! Or distant spirit guardians for 30 foot radius slow and damage! An evil combo you could do if you have telepathy is subtle spell command and use telepathy to speak the command (since they still hear the command) and in that case. My favourite is "Betray" Not to mention the insanity of stuff like twinned guiding bolt (there are more. But I'm only talking about up to 3rd level)
I have a Wild Magic Sorc in the campaign I am currently running, and we have a system that we have found nets *just* the right amount of surges for it to be fun without it happening to often to take the shine away from the feature: - We started a dice countdown on the first session his character was introduced, on a d8. The player never knows the current number on the d8. Whenever the sorc casts a levelled spell, I roll a d8 behind the screen and subtract the amount from the countdown die's total. When the countdown reaches 0, a surge triggers (for instance, the die could be sitting on a 5, and if I roll a 3, it goes down to a 2 on the countdown. Next time I roll, say I roll a 6 for instance, the countdown will finish and a surge will trigger, and then the countdown is reset on the d8, with the remainder being subtracted, in this instance, back to 5 on the d8. If the sorc uses their highest level spell slot, the dice roll is treated as an 8 instantly, so it will guarantee a surge. It's caused some very fun moments so far, and the surges trigger just often enough for him and the rest of the table to have fun with the subclass. Would love to hear how you fellow DMs rule how often the surge triggers!
Maybe kinda similar but my friend and I decided that each time the surge wasn’t hit the threshold would go up by one. So first spell if I don’t hit the nat 1, it can be 1 or 2 the next time and so on. Made for a lot more puckering if you didn’t hit one by your last slot (and of course I got the fireball centered on self result)
My method is pretty simple: roll the d20 every time you cast a leveled spell. If you roll equal to or lower than the _level of the spell you cast,_ trigger a surge. when Tides of Chaos is on the recharge, roll with disadvantage. (also doubles always trigger a surge when you're rolling with disadvantage). More frequent surges, without compromising on the ~utterly random chaos!~
My DM homebrewed every single sorcerer to have the same type of expanded spell list as Abberant Mind and Clockwork Soul just to that it didnt feel like the other options were less good. My favourite one he did was making Divine Soul Sorcerers get to pick a Cleric Domain spell list to get access to. It makes so much sense, and fixes up the imbalance between old and new sorcerer subclasses
@@flameofmage1099 I KNOW RIGHT! He was particularly proud of wild magic's spell list, which included spells with similar effects to the wild magic surge table, like polymorph, misty step, gust of wind, etc.
@@BlackQueenA1825 Yea, the flavour of having a Domain spell list is so cool. Makes different divine souls seem vastly different, plus you can swap them out for other Cleric spells like with Aberrant and Clockwork.
Clockwork Soul is absolutely the best sorcerer subclass. Abjuration and transmutation are both really good schools to choose spells from, honestly better than what the Aberrant mind gets. And do you know what they also get and Aberrant Mind does not? Wall of Force and Greater Restoration. With just the extra spells, you are nigh wizard-level in terms of power. And on top of everything, you are incredibly hard to take down, especially if you multiclass for armor proficiencies, as well as the nice synergy of Armor of Agathys and Bastion of Law, so it lasts much longer, thus dealing a lot more damage.
For Wild Magic Surge, I know a DM who has Wild Magic sorcerers roll a d10 instead of a d20 every time they cast a spell. If the roll is greater than the level of the spell, you don't roll on the Wild Magic table, and if the roll is less than the spell level, you do roll on the Wild Magic table. If the roll is equal to the spell level you can choose if you roll on the Wild Magic table; if you choose to roll then you don't have to roll the d10 when you cast your next spell, and if you choose not to then you automatically have to roll on the Wild Magic Table the next time you cast a spell. I got the perfect ad break at 1:57. "Finally, at level 18-" "I can turn _anything_ into pillow!" (Pillowmancer subclass when?) And another one at 10:57. "14th level gives you-" "Red licorice or black licorice?!"
I think you are underselling the clockwork soul a little, it’s features might be defensive in nature but that spell has some heavy hitters like Aid, Dispel magic, summon constructs and Wall of force should be by far more than enough to reach the same level as aberrant mind.
yeah I think I'd drop them in A tier on reflection, imho they're definitely not aberrant level but y'all have pointed out some great interactions I hadn't ever thought of for them!
I really think the clockwork soul is THE most powerful sorcerer out there. Transmutation and abjurarion from almost any spell list? This is HUGE. This is better than anything aberrant mind has tô offer.
@@tiagolorenzotube we could argue back forth but I think the spells clockwork souls are about even with aberrant minds psionic sorcery with its free spell casting, lower cost than converting sorcery points into spell slots and subtle casting them so much you don’t need material components unless they are consumed.
@@AtelierGodnot mention the trouble of counter spelling those psionic spells due to their subtlety and getting it at lvl 6 is huge, but you could also take the subtle spell meta magic with any sorcerer, which isn’t as good as the aberrant minds feature, but it’s close. I still prefer clockwork, definitely agree they are both equally superior to the other sub classes
You didn't take into account for clockwork soul that with restore balance + heightened spell creatures that have advantage on saving throws against spells can have disadvantage because you get rid of the advantage using the feature you don't grant it disadvantage
love sorcerers, playing a clockwork soul rn and it's really good if you're going for a more supportive build. also, lunar sorcerer learns all the spells, which adds to the complexity but also the versatility of the subclass. hopefully all of the subclasses get a spell list to keep up with the newer ones.
I share the love for Divine Soul and Shadow (super flavorful and interesting subclasses) and salute your mention of the tanky hill dwarf-Draconic sorcerer combo.
Now that’s a hot take on Clockwork Sorcerer, I’ve seen a lot of other D&D’tubers treat it like the sorcerer version of Twilight clerics and Bearbarians. Just far and away the strongest subclass.
What I love about Lunar Sorcery is the amount of spells you have. Because Lunar Embodiment gives you spells that you *learn*, you can swap them for another spell in sorcerer's spell list as you level up. In the end, you will have more spells prepared than a Wizard character. Very versatile!
about the lunar sorcerer: you always know all spells added, not only the one in your current moon phase. and with the variant rules you can swap them when you level up since they count as sorcerer spells for you. this is better than the abberant mind sorcerer spell list because you have no restrictions
I was looking for this comment! People keep misunderstanding the lunar Sorocer and their spells. The subclass does still have a few issues in my opinion. But, having that much spells let you be much more versatile then the other Subclasses.
@@Rashagar yes. the subclass says: ' Each of these spells counts as a sorcerer spell for you...'. and the rules for sorcerer in general say: '...when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the sorcerer spells you know and replace it with another spell from the sorcerer spell list'. so RAW you should be able to change them (one spell per level up).
The way my table does magic is every time you cast a leveled spell you roll a d100. If you roll equal to or less than ten times the spell's level you surge. So if you cast Misty Step and roll a 20 or lower you surge. This fun because you surge way more often and its great flavor!
Clockwork soul is straight up better then abbarant mind sorcerer, and here is why: as a sorcerer, you have plenty of offensive options, but you generally lack the spells known for versatility. Clockwork soul straight up gives you wall of force, but the school of abjuration and transmutation build you a really strong core. level 1 shield/mage armor (absorb elements is also solid) level 2 pass without trace/spike growth are 2 of the best spells in the game that the sorcerer doesn't have access to. level 3 counterspell/dispell magic level 4 polymorph & death ward level 5 wall of force and animate object If you pick this setup, you can pick the most offensive basic sorcerer spells and you will still have all the support and control spells available that you might want. Just compare this version of the sorcerer to the wizard. It has some of the best wizard spells and can prepare more spells then the wizard can during almost the entire game.
My DM let my character, a fighter, brew random potions that I could use whenever and it worked exactly like a wild magic surge. It was very fun to use and it led to a fun moment where I coated my blade in one of the potions and it COMPLETELY HEALED the ghouls we were fighting. Safe to say, I only used the potions on me after that
Clockwork Soul in B tier is criminal imo 😂 the spells available for swapping alone make them one of the best "God Mages" in 5e. Treantmonk did a video on it and its insanely good
Clockwork is easyest the best sorcerer subclass. You forgot that your 10 bonus spells are from the best schools, so you would already want them. Moreover has the best lev 5 spell in the game - wall of force - and access to armor of agathys, transmute rock, aid
Clockwork Soul getting B-tier is crazy! It's like the superior twin to the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer when they both came out together at the same time! It gets the same "expanded spell list" but with better schools of magic, and those spells come automatically "prepared" instead of having to take them like other sorcerer subclasses! Not only that, but sorcerer's weakest point is their defenses, which is what clockwork soul's subclasses address! Easy SSS+ tier!!!
1000% agree. I can see the argument for Aberrant mind being the better of the two, but that's the only other Sorc subclass that is even close. And I think Clockwork is one of the best subclasses in the entire 5e. All their features are useful, clockwork magic might be the single best subclass feature in the entire game from a power aspect. The spells known and getting access to many GREAT spells the sorcerer base doesn't get is S tier by itself. AoA, Aid, Greater Restoration, Summon Construct, WALL OF FORCE! Oh, I could wax poetically for pages about the awesomeness of a clockwork. I really REALLY want to play one, just happens that the group I play with is pretty much always exclusively not optimized spell casters so I usually go marshal just to balance the party, and I like playing martials too.
We did a homebrew of wild magic where you’d reroll the ones on the wild magic table. The more you rolled, the worse you’re next nonmagic roll would be. I ended up sealing the material plain from all of the other realms.
Dude, you're killing me smalls. Clockwork is easily a top 2 sorcerer subclass. The Transmutation/Abjuration schools are the best overall schools to pull from. Allowing Sorcerers to not only double their spells known for a large portion of the life of the PC, but you can pick absolute banger spells for all 10 spells in the clockwork magic feature. Including amazing spell choices the Sorc doesn't normally get including Aid, Armor of Agathys, Greater Restoration, and WALL of FORCE! Putting others such as Shield, Enlarge/Reduce, Fly, etc. for the rest allows you to pick all the other juicy spells for your normal picks. Combine possibly the juiciest spell list known to any Sorcerer with Meta Magic?! legit endless possibilities. Restore Balance is a great feature for supporting your allies and landing a critical spell. Yeah, bastion of law is meh, but that's really the only "bad" feature of the subclass, but you can stack it with AoA for a nasty combo. You say you wished there was something offensive for the subclass, which the Aberrant mind doesn't really get either, but you're already a Sorcerer, offense has never been your issue. If you got fireball, that covers your offense most of the time 🤣. Also, extended spell plus upcasting Aid sleep, apply bastion of Law and an upcasted AoA, you are the beefiest spellcaster possible. All that said, nothing but love man, just a friendly (but strong lol) disagree from me. Love your vids. Take care
Clockwork is definitely the strongest subclass of Sorcerer, with only Aberrant Mind being anywhere near it. Almost every single feature is super powerful (if you use AoA, every single one), they get twice the spells of other Sorcerers and choose them from some of the best schools. It's bonkers and putting in B tier sounds almost like ragebaiting lmao. Well played.
Lunar gets extra spells they can swap out to. Also, you literally get to have a lunatic character. Like imagine your who character is just the lunatic cultist from terraria
@@DeadpastBrightfuture Lunar can not swap out spells the way Clockwork can. Lunar has 3 lists of 5 spells, they can have 1 at a time, and only one list is good. They get 5 spells less than Clockwork and it's a set list, you can't pick whatever spells you want from particular schools. Significantly worse in that regard.
With my current Wild Magic sorcerer, we homebrewed a ton. The DM made a full 100 result chart and #66 featured a subchart for even worse consequences. We call it Execute Order 66. Also, anytime a leveled spell is cast, I roll a D8 to see if I surge with an escalating chance. Hit 1 for the first time, hit 1+2 for the second time, etc. and then it resets after a successful surge. It's awesome and brings a ton of craziness to our campaign.
My wild magic homebrew rule is when you cast a levelled spell roll 1d10, the surge happens if the result is equal to or less than the spell's level. This means surges occur more often but not all the time which can get very cumbersome, higher level spells have higher chance to surge. And any time you do surge you regain Tides of Chaos.
Easy way to step up storm sorcerers power, slap two levels tempest cleric on it, now all your lightning and thunder magic can be maximised, slap transmute metamagic and at lv7 (2cleric/5sorcerer) you can cast fireball at lv4 transmute it and maximise it for a free 54 damage every short rest
My first bg3 play through was exactly this. Filthy a storm sorcerer with high ac, high mobility and can dish out huge damage each short rest with lightning bolts. Wouldn't run it on my own dnd campaigns because it's too powerful for my playgroup.
Lunar sorcerer isn’t good because of its abilities it’s good because it has access to 15 extra spells that you can change on a level up because they are sorcerer spells and raw you can change sorcerer spells on a level up. Also you have access to all 15 at a time the only thing that the ability says that affects with spells is what 1st level spell you can free cast, and what schools of magic get discounted.
A Tempest cleric and storm sorcerer multiclass is actually quite a strong build, since the cleric channel divinity allows you to get max damage on any lighting or thunder damage you do
Is it really that strong tho? You only need to be a sorc to get spells like lightning bolt, arguably another sorcerer subclass would be a better pick as storm sorcerers themselves are mediocre at best. Almost everything good from that build comes from the tempest cleric or simply just being a sorcerer. Not to mention that their magic ability modifier is on different stats it’s somewhat hard to optimise that build.
Transmute that Fireball is what I'm hearing. Sorc and cleric also make the best tank. Obviously shield spell and magearmor, but clamping sturdiness at the base of a towershield with mold earth for 3/4 cover for +5 ac and another +2 if your cleric pulls out a buckler. Also, cleric for bane to make a party Tank. Then, magearmor transmute lightning Fireball
I love the idea of a Shadow Magic Sorcerer and a Blind Fighting Fighter. Two character that might have vastly different personalities, but travel together because of their fighting synergy. Maybe that could be a video? Exploring duos of classes or builds that have a strong or unique synergy. I could imagine a pair of characters that are twins with the same build (whatever that may be) that just bounces off itself endlessly.
Its hard to agree on Wild Magic being meh when mathematically, it's beneficiary. Precisely 3 of the 50 options rolled on Surge Table are very bad - self Fireball, turning into a plant and Polymorphing yourself. About 5-10 of those 50 are fluff (like growing a feather beard, balding etc) but the remaining ones are almost strictly positive. And even in case of 3 bad options, there are ways to circumvent the circumstances: Self-Fireball damage can be reduced by Absorb Elements and Tides of Chaos, gaining resistance and advantage. It also procs another Surge, which is mathematically unlikely to Fireball you again. Self-Polymorph turns you into a sheep with 1 health. Polymorph ends if the form's HP is reduced to 0 so a feeble punch from your fellow backliner will bring you back in action. You can also run off a 10 foot fall and do it to yourself to spare your teammates the Action. Potted plant can work to your advantage, considering enemies can't tell if its still you or not. A plant is smaller than a person, so if you stay behind cover (and you should be, d6 hit die), you remain behind cover and reduce in size, potentially gaining full cover. 3 negative results are worth risking for around 35+ positive ones which can provide spell effects at full duration at no spell slot or concentration cost
For Wild Magic, I like the way Jacob from XP To Level 3 did it. Each time a surge doesn't happen the threshold increases by 1, resetting when it goes off.
Currently playing a Wild Magic Sorcerer. My DM and I changed the text in Wild Magic Surge and Tides of Chaos from "Your DM can choose" to read "You roll". It looks like this is how they're going about it in One D&D as well, and it makes the class insanely fun. Plus it lets me know generally when a surge is coming, so I can step 20 feet away from the party before casting a spell.
Correction, Aberrant Mind Sorcerers pick their bonus spells from the Enchantment and Divination lists *for Sorcerers, Warlocks and Wizards*, so Command isn't actually on the list of spells you can pick, as it's only on the list for Clerics and Paladins.
I had a wild mage & trickster cleric multiclass in my most recent 5e game [me as GM]; I ran it it so she had to roll a d20 with *every* level 1 or higher sorcerer spell, so, she usually got a wild magic surge every few fights for a while. I also let her use tides of chaos pretty reliably -- mostly because rolling on the surge table is fun, and often whatever comes up complicates things enough to keep tides of chaos from being too powerful an ability really. She learned to be careful with it early on when a use of it lead to her casting levitate at a very inopportune time or somesuch thing. Later in the game, she found a cursed magic amulet that, whenever she wore it, bypassed the 1 in 20 chance to be a d% roll on the surge table, and made her sorcerer cantrips also cause a wild magic surge ^^ Things got very chaotic, very quickly, but, having *every single sorcerer spell* come with a random side effect ended up being really fun for the end of that campaign. In the last fight of the campaign she ended up levitating, dripping grease, with a big feather beard, and a few other things that just left her characer looking a complete mess by the end. The whole table loved it and joked about her like, ascending to be an aatar of her chaotic trickster luck deity.
Man I wish Storm Sorcerer was better because they're so cool! I think it would really help to give them more mobility options so they can more reliably pull out of danger after exploding. Let the player feel like they’re riding the winds of their own storms! I know their first level feature is meant to do that, but that feature is meant to help you run away when the enemy has already closed in. The feature should be focused on getting you far away enough to avoid damage at all.
I came up with the following additions to make the draconic bloodline more competitive without being overpowered: 1) Elemental Affinity - spells that deal your draconic ancestor's damage type also ignore resistance, and your own resistance becomes permanent at 10th level. 2) Dragon Wings - these are now spectral (precedent: divine soul) to avoid damaging your clothing. 3) Draconic Presence - the first use is now free (precedent: aberrant mind/clockwork soul). This should also apply to the shadow sorcerer's Umbral Form.
Fun Fact! Storm sorcerers are highly prized in a ships crew in the forgotten realms and many captain their own ships. I ran a high seas adventure and i asked if somebody could please play one and my friend told me that they had been meaning to play one for a while. THEY NEVER PLAYED ONE. The party did this out of spite and they're my best friends.
Tbh id probably put the clockwork sorcerer as an S tier. I say this mainly due to AoA, the 6 lvl feature, and it's meta magic. Just using this combo an sacrificing spell slots along with cantrips your smashing, and one of the best sorcerer's period when it comes to utilizing meta magic an spell slots
Getting Wall of Force on Clockwork soul, which you can cast subtle to avoid Counterspell is alone more powerful than all other Subclass features; how is this Subclass in B Tier?
Shadow Sorcerer is the class I'm multiclassing in on my Grave Cleric in a reskinned ancient Rome campaign. I'm a Tabaxi cleric of Anubis with a very neutral way of looking at death as its an inevitability for all. I wear a mask of Anubis at all times, so literally a cat wearing a canine mask. As I dip into shadow sorcerer I'll reskin the hound to be a jackal akin to Anubis. Mixing the channel divinity to impose vulnerability on the next damage applied to a creature with my own ability to resist death through shadow sorcerer as well as max healing on any downed ally and a bonus action 30ft range use of.. that stabilizing cantrip the name of which escapes me at the moment, this character is a master of that line between life and death. I run mostly necrotic spells, giving up guiding bolt for inflict wounds and the planned setup combo is to have an ally cast Hold Person on an enemy that I can then run up to (aided by tabaxi movement if needed) to then apply vulnerability to them with my action and quicken inflict wounds at max level for a guaranteed critical hit. With a 4th level slot, that's 6d10 doubled to 12d10 from the crit with that damage being doubled once rolled. That's 24-240 potential damage and I can pull it off at level 8.
Clockwork soul getting done super dirty. Clockwork magic gives access to 10 extra spells, from a list that includes many of the best spells for their level in the game, many of which sorcerers don't get access to normally. Plus, even though the abilities are pretty defensive, they are all strong. I'd take getting rid of disadvantage on party members rolls over telepathically linking to a party member for a few minutes every time. I'd take an HP shield that stacks with temp HP and can be handed to other party members over a few free uses of subtle casting for a few spells most times.
I have a couple players that Love playing Wild Magic Sorcerer, and the chaos that comes from it is a delight! To spice it up, I selected a handful of Wild Magic Rollers online, and would roll the die to see which would be used (or even the Official one) and watch chaos happen, Per Spellcast using Tides of Chaos! Would also need to roll the Targets for these effects sometimes. The most unfortunate person to be affected by these so far was a Skeleton NPC. He was forcibly blurting out Crimes he never commited, and at one point caused the party to be visited by a Future Self of the skeleton, who somehow ended up being a lich... If you got a player going for the Chaos of Wild Magic, indulge them! Your world may break, but thats part of the fun
I have been going over the concept for my first sorcerer for a while. and scoured your playlists for this video after watching fighter, druid and barbarian. and now it is here! impeccable timing sir - humble request for a paladin tier list ?
Very niche use for grappler, if you have a dragon problem. Moon druid lvl 10 with an enlarge potion and a belt of hill giant strength can shapeshift into an air-elemental, make two grapple checks a turn (one for each attack)and if he succeeds drag a dragon to the floor. (Legendary save doesn't work because its a contested role)Then your party can go balistic on the creature. If he wastes his action to get free its worth it and you do the same thing next turn. Haste spell helps too. You also have resistence to slash/bludgening/piercing so he won't cut through your 80 HP that quick. If its a green dragon use heroes feast and it should be a walk in the park
my first pg was a wild magic sorcerer... oh boy what a roller coaster was that campaign, i never feared something as much as hearing him say "could you please roll a d100?" ... yeah, for those who are shocked, I homebrewed the subclass by asking him to not let me roll the d20 and, whenever he wanted to spice things up, just say to roll on the table
Clockwork is easily S tier, Aberrant Mind's features are pretty god awful by comparison. The two should be nowhere near each other, with Aberrant Mind belonging in B or C tier at best, being carried by its expanded spell list feature. Spell list wise, Clockwork can replace its spells with things like Armor of Agathys, Absorb Elements, Shield, Enhance Ability, Blink, Haste, Counterspell, Banishment, Animate Objects, Planar Binding, and somehow also make spelljamming helms. Condom spells are super annoying to fit into most sorcerer builds, but this feature basically gives you access to the best ones without them counting towards your spells known. Aberrant Mind has... hex? Silvery barbs, gift of gab, catnap, psychic lance, legend lore? Most of the better spells for the schools listed are already on the sorcerer list. The list they give is good, but the existing options for those schools/classes are underwhelming by comparison. Restore Balance is objectively a more useful feature than token limited telepathy in combat. How often does telepathy come up compared to you know, just regularly talking to someone? There are RP applications sure, but there's a half feat that basically does the same thing, but with a free casting of detect thoughts and a charisma boost. Psionic Sorcery is kinda pointless since subtle spell exists, as a basic feature for ALL sorcerers. Choosing anything at 1st or 4th level other than metamagic adept is insane with that feat doubling your known metamagic options. Psychic Defenses either a) rarely comes up, or b) makes you slightly better off than your average elf player. Bastion of Law is not a standout feature that will typically come up, but on a barbarian it pays dividends after resistance, and more importantly doesn't need a reaction to reduce the damage. Revelations in Flesh is basically pointless, because all of these features provide the same benefits as 3rd level and lower spells, with misty step or any racial teleport being better than the ooze feature, and see invisibility being objectively better than the sensory tendrils. Trance of Order by comparison is a god tier 14th level ability, because attack spells deal more damage to single target enemies, period. If you are just fighting the one boss and only have AOE, it's a waste to do a fireball as opposed to like a 3rd level scorching ray. This ability is SSS tier if you are multiclassed in a pseudo martial/gish, because while its only online at 20th or whatever, on a padlock or sorcadin this is godlike to have. For a full caster it might seem boring, but the fact that it only costs 5sp to use again is insanely good, and gives it more flexibility in use. Comparing Warping Explosion which has been nerfed to the ground from the UA and basically pointless as a strength saving throw, Clockwork Cavalcade is easily the better of the two.
19:44 Add a skill called Chaos Control, where you gain the ability to fully negate your Wild Magic results an amount of times equal to your Sorcerer level divided by 2 per long rest
Having played like four Wild Mages and DM’d for one, Wild Magic Sorcerer is so much flippin’ fun. Considering it is my favorite Sorcerer Subclass, I strived to see Surges as often as possible. Which has caused UNTOLD amounts of chaos. I have seen: Four modrons summoned in a row. Two back to back fireballs. A potted plant twice, which gave the sorceress a craving for sunlight. And a session where my player surged fifteen times.
My personal homebrew for wild magic surge: after every spell roll d20. If roll less or equal to spell level - roll the surge. If roll higher than spell level, but less or euql to your sorcerer level - you can deside to release or hold the surge. After using tides of chaos - simply roll 2 d20 on next roll for surge, take lesser result. Ofc DM can force you to roll d100 any time without d20 check. *So DM don't have to trace anything about your subclass.* And finally some balance for iconic TPK - wild surge fireball damage now (your_sorc_level)*d6 instead of permanent 8d6. So it does't oneshot you (and party) from full hp (on average), but it become funny one on higher levels. spell level for counterspelling this fireball increases to 4 at lvl 11 and to 5 at lvl 16. So expierenced wild magic sorcerer can make surroundings realy hot.
Fun Story, I played a Wild Magic Sorcerer in a campaign where we went up against a powerful vampire coven at the end. During the battle, after dealing massive damage with a Fireball spell while standing on the roof of the vampire mansion, I roll on the Wild Magic table and turned into a potted plant, that was then dropped from the roof down to the ground. One of the funniest moments I ever got to see as a player!
Alternative option I thought of for Wild Magic surge is that you roll the d20 to see if a surge happens after every leveled spell and if the die shows a value equal or lower than the level of spell cast then a surge happens. This keeps it from being too chaotic, but also increases in chance the stronger the magic you cast, and later when you roll 2 dice per surge and pick your poison, you are able to get it to happen a lot more due to casting higher level spells.
if I remember correctly, Lunar Sorc actually knows all of the moon phase spells all the time, it's just the free casting of one of them that is determined by your current phase.
My first D&D Sorcerer was a Yuan-Ti Shadow Sorcerer when my party was nearing the end of Tomb of Annihilation. It was so much fun to play. Highly recommend it.
I took an amazing homebrew rule for Wild Magic from XP to Level 3. It says that if you don’t roll a 1 (or a 20 if your using the new playtest version) then you increase the threshold by 1, so the next time you roll, Wild Magic activates if it’s a 1-2. This range keeps growing with every leveled spell you cast until you have a Wild Magic surge, and then it resets. I’ve also thought about modifying this further by increasing the threshold by the level of the spell, so after casting Lightning Bolt, if you don’t roll a surge, the range goes from just 1 to 1-4. I also homebrewed an expanded spell list for Wild Magic, bc I honestly think it should be a standard for all sorcerers
In one of the campaign I'm playing (I'm the wild magic sorcerer), the GM allowed me to use the Wild Magic table like this, so she wouldn't have to remember to do the "On cast, roll a d20. Nat one is wild magic" thing: - After a leveled cast, automatically Wild Magic (This also applies to Tides of Chaos, essentially 2+ advantages per day) - roll 1d4 - Number rolled is the cooldown - Every leveled spell casted makes the cooldown go down by one If I were lucky enough, I coul have Wild Magic surge every other turn in battle, which is funny, very funny indeed. However, most of the time, I use it once, maybe twice, a session. Which is still a lot, but not as much as I'd like
Fun fact, Magical darkness is not a barrier for creatures with dark vision, the Darkness spell specifically specifies that things with dark vision can't see in it, however things like Shadow of Moil or anything else that gives magical darkness that isn't the darkness spell, does NOT stop dark vision from seeing in it.
I have so much fun with my WM Sorcerer player. The Feywild Shard puts him in control of some of the randomness, and I usually remember to call for the d20 if he doesn't use sorcery points. If not, he remembers. I played a Mountain Dwarf Divine Soul "cleric" with "cleric" points. It was a big above table metajoke, because he was hiding his arcane nature (and could do the medium armor thing). The players were in on it, so it was actually really fun.
What my table does for wild magic is after every levelled spell you roll a 1d20 starting at a DC of 1 and every time you beat it, the DC increases by 1. It's fun because you actively see the wild magic surge build up until you inevitably explode.
For wild magic I have the player roll a D10 when they cast a leveled spell and if the number is less than the level of spell casted they roll on the Surge table
Every Session 0 for me isn't figuring out what class I'll be, it's figuring out what kind of Sorcerer fits into the party and or Storyline. I just LOVE them! Unabashed Sorcerer Main for life!! 🧙♂🪄🔥
Another option i will add that i think Brennan uses for wild magic sorcerers: everytime you dont surge the dc for rolling a wild magic surge goes up by one. So if you dont roll a nat 1 to surge after a spell, the next check would make you surge on a 1 or a 2. This DC only resets when you surge, being unaffected by rests so it makes a wild magic surge inevitable without it being all the time. I find this works best because if surges become too frequent they lose their magic and your party just starts to get annoyed at you. It still should be infrequent i think just not statistically improbable
The way I rule wild magic is how D20 in Unsleeping City does. Roll the d20 and if it lands on 1, wild magic surge (WMS), next time, surge happens if you roll a 1-2, next time 1-2-3 etc until there is a surge, and then it resest to 1. I like this because is augments the chances of having a WMS, but also it's like the magic is accumulating, until it has to surge
I really like how Dimension 20 ran their Wild Magic Sorcerer. They had it to where the bottom number increased after each non-surge. So if the sorcerer didn’t roll a 1 after casting any spell, they then would have wild magic on a 1 & 2 (and the minimum being raised each time after the sorcerer avoided a wild magic surge). I loved this because it kept the balance but still made wild magic have a regular impact in the game.
Hear me out: Alucard from Hellsing is a shadow sorcerer with hexblade warlock levels. >Strength of the grave (You can't keep that mfer down), >hound of ill omen (baskerville), >teleporting (he jumps from place to place all the time), >Umbral form (Level 0 restriction) >eldritch blast (his guns) >fixation on 1v1s (hexblades curse) Alucard was a lv 20 character in a lv 5-10 campaign.
I'm playing a Lunar Sorcerer right now and you get the free 1st level spell casting starting at 1st level (per D&D Beyond). And since you learn ALL the spells on the lunar list, ,at first level I had a respectable spell list and a free casting of Shield each day. It makes my character pretty versatile. I'll see how it goes when I get to higher levels but I am looking forward to the reduced metamagic cost for certain spell schools based on the lunar cycle I'm in.
Lunar in B is crazy. Unless there was some update I didn't know about, you can basically use metamagic use sorcery points free of cost depending on the phase you choose. Being able to subtle spell a counterspell without losing any sorcery points is OP, and that's just one example.
I like the building rolls magic surge version. Like the Dimension 20 version. First Spell, it is a 1, if you succeed, next time it is a two and so on and so forth. Until you have a wild magic surge then you start back at one. On average you don't get past 4, but I like that it builds tension/anticipation and feels very much thematic and has a ton of roleplay potential of the character maintaining their control if just barely or getting over confident until it happens all over again.
As a full spellcaster class, the expanded spell list feature easily makes both Abberant Mind and Clockwork Soul an easy S tier. Build out you spell lists ahead of time and see just how big of a gap it puts between those two and every other subclass. Just game mechanics wise, it’s a no brainer. Flavor is free, and every class can be exactly what you want from a character. Divine Soul is easily third behind the two way tie for first place. After that, I think it’s everyone else depending on what you want.
Another thing not mentioned about Aberrant mind: psionic spells has better conversion rate than converting sorcery points into spell slots. In high level this means extra castings of 5th level spells compared with other subclasses. Considering that starting at 3rd level a single spell can potentially win a whole encounter, this is definitely great feature.
I just realized another boost to psionic sorcery. You technically don't burn a metamagic despite it using the features of subtle spell. Meaning functionally, you could layer two metamagics when normally you couldn't
As a person playing an Aarakocra Storm Sorceress on a pirate ship who’s best friend is a halfling Aberrant Mind sorcerer who rides on her back (separate player in the campaign) we are our DMs worst nightmare. Just this last session I revived an ally with Wither and Bloom while the halfling prepared his spells. And then the next turn I hit the boss with Storm Sphere (was already up) and Lightning Bolt in the same turn during a fly by so triggering Stormy Eruption as well followed immediately by the Halfling using font of magic for another 4th lv spell to Polymorph the cleric I just revived into a giant ape which is what the Druid did to himself the turn before. Needless to say we went from losing that fighting to winning in 6 seconds lol.
A homebrew my DM used for a player with wild magic had him roll for every leveled spell, but each success increased the wild threshold by one. So you cast a spell and roll a ten, no wild magic. The next time you cast a spell you need to beat a two, so one and so forth. Atop this, he could spend sorcery points to increase or reduce the wild magic threshold, at a 1 sorcery point for two threshold movement. Kept the party from hating the dude, but made plenty of wild stories based on some of the wild magic rolls.
I absolutely LOVE wild sorcery. I made my dreams come true in a campaign where I got a fireball in myself in one session (almost TPKed the group), and straight up the next session I evoked an unicorn (that saved our lives from a TPK) that character was awesome
Minding the hate on Storm sorcerer for a second-- you can make Wild Magic Sorcerer way more intuitive and chaotic, by adding onto the classic threshold increment rule. Let the player spend 1 sorcery point to do an additional (proficiency bonus) number of d6's whenever they roll for damage, this in turn raises the DC by an equal amount. You can be much more damaging, and letting them try to use their chaos to deal additional damage is very fun, and self sacrificing
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So... scrolls are .torrent files for spells? 🤔😵💫
I think th best way to implement Wilg surge, every spell an extra d20, "even" nothing happens, "odd" wild goes on.
bro, clockwork soul is THE best sorcerer subclass
nope not really free if you have to enter your info to get it for free, otherwise great content
Question: It seems like everyone on YT does t-shirts for merch, so when will you be releasing D&D shorts for yours?
My first ever D&D character was a wild magic sorcerer, in an adventure league style system. He had to be retired as he was exiled from his adventuring guild for fireballing himself inside an NPC’s home after casting suggestion in a dialogue scene, resulting in an entire town burning down.
This event became a major historical event in the lore of the world.
11/10 best subclass in D&D.
GLORIOUS!!!
An epic end to a wild magic sorcerer 🫡
A homebrew I saw for Wild Magic was from D20's Unsleeping City. For the d20 roll to check for a Wild Magic Surge, the target number increases by 1 for each subsequent Surge that doesn't happen.
So, you start out RAW, where you only surge on a 1. If you don't surge, your next check causes a surge on a 1 or 2. If that doesn't surge, your next check causes a surge on a 1-3, and so on. Then, once the check causes a surge, the target number resets back to 1 and you start again.
It really fits the flavor of the subclass, since the wild magic energy keeps building up over time until it is unleashed.
Thanks for describing what I was going to post. I don't think it's op but definitely more useful.
All hail the Vox Phantasma!
A version of the Wild Magic Surge I've really enjoyed in the past is similar, except that instead of it increasing every time the surge doesn't happen, it increases with every levelled spell you cast. Basically, it turns the surge into a check where the DC 1 equals 1 + the levels of spells you've cast, and it resets once the surge goes off. It makes it feel like the more powerful magic you cast is riskier, but unless you stick to cantrips, every spell adds to the risk.
So for example, let's say you cast a 1st level spell and you haven't casted any spells yet. As long as you roll above a 1, you're safe. Then you cast a 4th level spell. Now you have to roll above a 5 or the surge goes off. It's just a flat d20 roll, so if you somehow manage to cast 20 levels of spells without it having gone off, you guarantee a wild magic surge.
It makes it the surges more likely to happen than just increasing by 1 every turn, but keeps the same idea you said about it building up over time.
@@yetifrog I like that idea but it feels like it would be too much to try to keep track of
Clockwork soul sorcerer is insane with armor of agathys. Since you can get it and your ability allows you to reduce incoming damage, you can guarantee several triggers from AoA and thus deal massive damage to your attackers while staying healthy
never considered a warlock/clockwork multiclass but that interaction is really cool!!
@@DnDShortsthey don’t need to be Warlock. Armor of A can be trained into by a Clockwork Soul replacing a spell like Alarm.
@@MarcWagner75 oh ofc! Okay, that's wicked; I'd bump them to A tier then, probably didn't give their spell list enough credit as wall of force is also very good
@@MarcWagner75 exactly! It's insane the spells you can get as a clockwork soul sorcerer
It’s all about the added spells for Clockwork.
Wall of Force? On a Sorcerer? Bruh
Clockwork Soul is easy S-tier because of the Clockwork Magic feature alone. By level 9, it gives you TEN extra spells known, each of which you can swap out for pretty much any abjuration or transmutation spell. Keep in mind, level 9 sorcerers only get ten spells known as a whole, so this one feature literally doubles their list!
If Silvery Barbs isn't available, then I'd rate Clockwork Soul above Aberrant Mind. There are simply far more good abjuration and transmutation spells available. Armor of Agathys plus Bastion of Law makes the sorcerer phenomenally tanky.
"Hey, you hit me! Eat thirty cold damage. No, my AoA didn't go away, you didn't even get to the temporary hit points yet. Go ahead and hit me again."
Just to see how crazy it is, here is a potential list of spells that clockwork souls get IN ADDITION to their regular choices:
1st: Armor of Agathys / Shield
2nd: Aid / Levitate
3rd: Counterspell / Haste
4th: Banishment / Polymorph
5th: Animate Objects / Wall of Force
@@benjaminpierce9996 Yeah! 6th level AoA might be a bit too expensive imo, but if you can get the damage off 3 or 4 times then that's almost certainly worth it. Silvery Barbs is permabanned at my table for a reason. It's too good to the point of limiting choice due to how much better it is than nearly every other option. A choice between a longsword, a scimitar, and a Holy Avenger isn't really much of a choice at all
@@The_Indubitabler hot take: haste sucks
@@The_Indubitablerthats the same reason I ban Shield. Really, the game is better without the shield spell
y'all convinced me, I reckon I'd bump Clockwork to A tier thanks to some cool interactions with their flexible spell list!
you should pin this
A step in the right direction lol, to me it’s S tier, but hey I didn’t make this content, thanks DnDShorts! Sorcerer is my favorite class and two of my players are either straight or multi classes into this, so this will be helpful for my party
What about Pyromancy?
Im sorry but I also still disagree. Abjuration and transmutation are absolutely fantastic spell lists for sure. But the reason why clockwork souls are S tier is simply bc they’re a sorcerer with 25 spells instead of 15. They (and aberrant minds ofc) get more spells than bards and especially clockwork souls have a distinctly better spell list.
I agree that the features are mid which is super sad. And it’s also sad that the defining advantage they hold over all other subclasses except aberrant minds is the number of spells. Yes Tasha’s was a power surge. We can be mad about it and I am. Bc I love divine souls. But until that is corrected clockwork souls are S tier
Clockwork is the best sorc in the game ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
17:35 Rob the GM from VLDL has a great home brew rule for wild surges. If a wild surge check fails, meaning the wild surge doesn't happen, the dice threshold increases by one for the next wild surge check. Once the wild surge happens, the threshold resets back to 1. So you start at the 1 threshold, and if the you roll, say, a 7 on the first check then the threshold goes up to a 2 on the next wild surge check. If you roll above a 2 on that next check, the threshold increases to a 3, and so on until the wild surge happens. This way, the odds of wild surging aren't fixed at 1/20, and more wild surges occur, but it does mean you have to always track where the trigger threshold is.
THIS! I was just gunna comment this but you got there first good sir!
I thoroughly enjoy this method. Rob explained it as the magic bubbling up within you, eventually forcing itself out. I love that take
I’ve been playing with this homebrew in my game and it makes the subclass infinitely more fun
I utilize this rule in my campaign and it's way better than only crit fails. Truly ramps up the fun and chaos with Wild Magic.
Brennan did that for the season they had a wild magic sorcerer. It seems super fun, and I plan on offering it anytime someone wants to play that subclass.
I’m currently a fan of the Divine Soul Sorcerer. I made mine a Protector Aasimar.
Party: Can you be the healer?
Me: Sure!
**fight starts**
Me, first round: LEROYYY JENKINS!!!
Twin spell healing spells go crazy
@@meepthewizard1240YES! I also enjoy Twin Spell buffing my teammates. Shield of Faith two allies… Warding Bond two allies?! ☠️ (maybe if we have a second healer, lol)
*Oh, and also Twin Guiding Bolt.
@@LordBrittish Metamagic + revivify.
Quickened revivify.
Distant revivify.
_Twinned revivify._
I took metamagic adept feat at level..11 i think. It's been a wils combo
I could heal my party... But I could also cast distant inflict wounds! Or distant spirit guardians for 30 foot radius slow and damage! An evil combo you could do if you have telepathy is subtle spell command and use telepathy to speak the command (since they still hear the command) and in that case. My favourite is "Betray"
Not to mention the insanity of stuff like twinned guiding bolt (there are more. But I'm only talking about up to 3rd level)
I have a Wild Magic Sorc in the campaign I am currently running, and we have a system that we have found nets *just* the right amount of surges for it to be fun without it happening to often to take the shine away from the feature:
- We started a dice countdown on the first session his character was introduced, on a d8. The player never knows the current number on the d8. Whenever the sorc casts a levelled spell, I roll a d8 behind the screen and subtract the amount from the countdown die's total. When the countdown reaches 0, a surge triggers (for instance, the die could be sitting on a 5, and if I roll a 3, it goes down to a 2 on the countdown. Next time I roll, say I roll a 6 for instance, the countdown will finish and a surge will trigger, and then the countdown is reset on the d8, with the remainder being subtracted, in this instance, back to 5 on the d8. If the sorc uses their highest level spell slot, the dice roll is treated as an 8 instantly, so it will guarantee a surge.
It's caused some very fun moments so far, and the surges trigger just often enough for him and the rest of the table to have fun with the subclass.
Would love to hear how you fellow DMs rule how often the surge triggers!
Maybe kinda similar but my friend and I decided that each time the surge wasn’t hit the threshold would go up by one. So first spell if I don’t hit the nat 1, it can be 1 or 2 the next time and so on. Made for a lot more puckering if you didn’t hit one by your last slot (and of course I got the fireball centered on self result)
My method is pretty simple: roll the d20 every time you cast a leveled spell. If you roll equal to or lower than the _level of the spell you cast,_ trigger a surge. when Tides of Chaos is on the recharge, roll with disadvantage. (also doubles always trigger a surge when you're rolling with disadvantage). More frequent surges, without compromising on the ~utterly random chaos!~
My DM homebrewed every single sorcerer to have the same type of expanded spell list as Abberant Mind and Clockwork Soul just to that it didnt feel like the other options were less good. My favourite one he did was making Divine Soul Sorcerers get to pick a Cleric Domain spell list to get access to. It makes so much sense, and fixes up the imbalance between old and new sorcerer subclasses
This is amazing. The lack of expanded spell list is exactly why I chose Clockwork Soul over Divine Soul. I'd LOVE to play Divine Soul that way
Wait thats so cool though
@@flameofmage1099 I KNOW RIGHT! He was particularly proud of wild magic's spell list, which included spells with similar effects to the wild magic surge table, like polymorph, misty step, gust of wind, etc.
@@BlackQueenA1825 Yea, the flavour of having a Domain spell list is so cool. Makes different divine souls seem vastly different, plus you can swap them out for other Cleric spells like with Aberrant and Clockwork.
@@RaptorsVevo Chaos Bolt is a must here
Clockwork Soul is absolutely the best sorcerer subclass. Abjuration and transmutation are both really good schools to choose spells from, honestly better than what the Aberrant mind gets. And do you know what they also get and Aberrant Mind does not? Wall of Force and Greater Restoration. With just the extra spells, you are nigh wizard-level in terms of power. And on top of everything, you are incredibly hard to take down, especially if you multiclass for armor proficiencies, as well as the nice synergy of Armor of Agathys and Bastion of Law, so it lasts much longer, thus dealing a lot more damage.
I did this with fire shield and it was great
Honestly thinking of making a Clockwork Soul Tortle. High AC, high Con, healing and damage? I think I’m sold.
11:32 -- "New Moon is probably the best." -DnD Shorts, Twilight aficionado.
I do like advantage on my stealth though
Finally someone mentions the hill dwarf draconic sorcerer combo. I picked up on that one years ago but no one I saw on RUclips mentioned it.
For Wild Magic Surge, I know a DM who has Wild Magic sorcerers roll a d10 instead of a d20 every time they cast a spell. If the roll is greater than the level of the spell, you don't roll on the Wild Magic table, and if the roll is less than the spell level, you do roll on the Wild Magic table. If the roll is equal to the spell level you can choose if you roll on the Wild Magic table; if you choose to roll then you don't have to roll the d10 when you cast your next spell, and if you choose not to then you automatically have to roll on the Wild Magic Table the next time you cast a spell.
I got the perfect ad break at 1:57. "Finally, at level 18-" "I can turn _anything_ into pillow!" (Pillowmancer subclass when?)
And another one at 10:57. "14th level gives you-" "Red licorice or black licorice?!"
Pillowmancer sorcerer and Garlic Bread cleric
I think you are underselling the clockwork soul a little, it’s features might be defensive in nature but that spell has some heavy hitters like Aid, Dispel magic, summon constructs and Wall of force should be by far more than enough to reach the same level as aberrant mind.
yeah I think I'd drop them in A tier on reflection, imho they're definitely not aberrant level but y'all have pointed out some great interactions I hadn't ever thought of for them!
I really think the clockwork soul is THE most powerful sorcerer out there. Transmutation and abjurarion from almost any spell list? This is HUGE. This is better than anything aberrant mind has tô offer.
@@tiagolorenzotube we could argue back forth but I think the spells clockwork souls are about even with aberrant minds psionic sorcery with its free spell casting, lower cost than converting sorcery points into spell slots and subtle casting them so much you don’t need material components unless they are consumed.
@@AtelierGodnot mention the trouble of counter spelling those psionic spells due to their subtlety and getting it at lvl 6 is huge, but you could also take the subtle spell meta magic with any sorcerer, which isn’t as good as the aberrant minds feature, but it’s close. I still prefer clockwork, definitely agree they are both equally superior to the other sub classes
You didn't take into account for clockwork soul that with restore balance + heightened spell creatures that have advantage on saving throws against spells can have disadvantage because you get rid of the advantage using the feature you don't grant it disadvantage
love sorcerers, playing a clockwork soul rn and it's really good if you're going for a more supportive build. also, lunar sorcerer learns all the spells, which adds to the complexity but also the versatility of the subclass.
hopefully all of the subclasses get a spell list to keep up with the newer ones.
I share the love for Divine Soul and Shadow (super flavorful and interesting subclasses) and salute your mention of the tanky hill dwarf-Draconic sorcerer combo.
Now that’s a hot take on Clockwork Sorcerer, I’ve seen a lot of other D&D’tubers treat it like the sorcerer version of Twilight clerics and Bearbarians. Just far and away the strongest subclass.
What I love about Lunar Sorcery is the amount of spells you have. Because Lunar Embodiment gives you spells that you *learn*, you can swap them for another spell in sorcerer's spell list as you level up. In the end, you will have more spells prepared than a Wizard character. Very versatile!
about the lunar sorcerer: you always know all spells added, not only the one in your current moon phase. and with the variant rules you can swap them when you level up since they count as sorcerer spells for you. this is better than the abberant mind sorcerer spell list because you have no restrictions
I was looking for this comment! People keep misunderstanding the lunar Sorocer and their spells. The subclass does still have a few issues in my opinion. But, having that much spells let you be much more versatile then the other Subclasses.
My brain is very tired so just asking to be sure; you're saying you can tailor all of the lunar phase spell lists?
@@Rashagar yes. the subclass says: ' Each of these spells counts as a sorcerer spell for you...'. and the rules for sorcerer in general say: '...when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the sorcerer spells you know and replace it with another spell from the sorcerer spell list'.
so RAW you should be able to change them (one spell per level up).
That is really interesting, thanks for mentioning it!
Your ad at 5:20 was how I felt talking to Gale about his infliction.
Hahahah same!
The way my table does magic is every time you cast a leveled spell you roll a d100. If you roll equal to or less than ten times the spell's level you surge. So if you cast Misty Step and roll a 20 or lower you surge. This fun because you surge way more often and its great flavor!
Clockwork soul is straight up better then abbarant mind sorcerer, and here is why:
as a sorcerer, you have plenty of offensive options, but you generally lack the spells known for versatility.
Clockwork soul straight up gives you wall of force, but the school of abjuration and transmutation build you a really strong core.
level 1 shield/mage armor (absorb elements is also solid)
level 2 pass without trace/spike growth are 2 of the best spells in the game that the sorcerer doesn't have access to.
level 3 counterspell/dispell magic
level 4 polymorph & death ward
level 5 wall of force and animate object
If you pick this setup, you can pick the most offensive basic sorcerer spells and you will still have all the support and control spells available that you might want. Just compare this version of the sorcerer to the wizard. It has some of the best wizard spells and can prepare more spells then the wizard can during almost the entire game.
My DM let my character, a fighter, brew random potions that I could use whenever and it worked exactly like a wild magic surge. It was very fun to use and it led to a fun moment where I coated my blade in one of the potions and it COMPLETELY HEALED the ghouls we were fighting. Safe to say, I only used the potions on me after that
Clockwork Soul in B tier is criminal imo 😂 the spells available for swapping alone make them one of the best "God Mages" in 5e. Treantmonk did a video on it and its insanely good
Clockwork is easyest the best sorcerer subclass. You forgot that your 10 bonus spells are from the best schools, so you would already want them. Moreover has the best lev 5 spell in the game - wall of force - and access to armor of agathys, transmute rock, aid
There's some clips in this X-Men movie😂
Great video! Your shadow hound is very cute
Clockwork Soul getting B-tier is crazy! It's like the superior twin to the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer when they both came out together at the same time! It gets the same "expanded spell list" but with better schools of magic, and those spells come automatically "prepared" instead of having to take them like other sorcerer subclasses! Not only that, but sorcerer's weakest point is their defenses, which is what clockwork soul's subclasses address! Easy SSS+ tier!!!
1000% agree. I can see the argument for Aberrant mind being the better of the two, but that's the only other Sorc subclass that is even close. And I think Clockwork is one of the best subclasses in the entire 5e. All their features are useful, clockwork magic might be the single best subclass feature in the entire game from a power aspect. The spells known and getting access to many GREAT spells the sorcerer base doesn't get is S tier by itself. AoA, Aid, Greater Restoration, Summon Construct, WALL OF FORCE! Oh, I could wax poetically for pages about the awesomeness of a clockwork. I really REALLY want to play one, just happens that the group I play with is pretty much always exclusively not optimized spell casters so I usually go marshal just to balance the party, and I like playing martials too.
We did a homebrew of wild magic where you’d reroll the ones on the wild magic table. The more you rolled, the worse you’re next nonmagic roll would be. I ended up sealing the material plain from all of the other realms.
wait can you elaborate, I dont really understand how this works
Dude, you're killing me smalls. Clockwork is easily a top 2 sorcerer subclass. The Transmutation/Abjuration schools are the best overall schools to pull from. Allowing Sorcerers to not only double their spells known for a large portion of the life of the PC, but you can pick absolute banger spells for all 10 spells in the clockwork magic feature. Including amazing spell choices the Sorc doesn't normally get including Aid, Armor of Agathys, Greater Restoration, and WALL of FORCE! Putting others such as Shield, Enlarge/Reduce, Fly, etc. for the rest allows you to pick all the other juicy spells for your normal picks. Combine possibly the juiciest spell list known to any Sorcerer with Meta Magic?! legit endless possibilities. Restore Balance is a great feature for supporting your allies and landing a critical spell. Yeah, bastion of law is meh, but that's really the only "bad" feature of the subclass, but you can stack it with AoA for a nasty combo. You say you wished there was something offensive for the subclass, which the Aberrant mind doesn't really get either, but you're already a Sorcerer, offense has never been your issue. If you got fireball, that covers your offense most of the time 🤣. Also, extended spell plus upcasting Aid sleep, apply bastion of Law and an upcasted AoA, you are the beefiest spellcaster possible.
All that said, nothing but love man, just a friendly (but strong lol) disagree from me. Love your vids. Take care
Clockwork is definitely the strongest subclass of Sorcerer, with only Aberrant Mind being anywhere near it. Almost every single feature is super powerful (if you use AoA, every single one), they get twice the spells of other Sorcerers and choose them from some of the best schools. It's bonkers and putting in B tier sounds almost like ragebaiting lmao. Well played.
Lunar gets extra spells they can swap out to. Also, you literally get to have a lunatic character. Like imagine your who character is just the lunatic cultist from terraria
@@DeadpastBrightfuture Lunar can not swap out spells the way Clockwork can. Lunar has 3 lists of 5 spells, they can have 1 at a time, and only one list is good. They get 5 spells less than Clockwork and it's a set list, you can't pick whatever spells you want from particular schools. Significantly worse in that regard.
With my current Wild Magic sorcerer, we homebrewed a ton. The DM made a full 100 result chart and #66 featured a subchart for even worse consequences. We call it Execute Order 66. Also, anytime a leveled spell is cast, I roll a D8 to see if I surge with an escalating chance. Hit 1 for the first time, hit 1+2 for the second time, etc. and then it resets after a successful surge. It's awesome and brings a ton of craziness to our campaign.
Clockwork soul is easily top of S-tier
My wild magic homebrew rule is when you cast a levelled spell roll 1d10, the surge happens if the result is equal to or less than the spell's level. This means surges occur more often but not all the time which can get very cumbersome, higher level spells have higher chance to surge. And any time you do surge you regain Tides of Chaos.
I love these type of vids in which you rate the subclasses. Keep'em coming❤❤
In my Drkkenheim campaign, 1st encounter at 1st level, Wild mage rolls a surge and TPKs the party with the fireball.
That's so amazingly on-brand with the chaos of Drakkenheim, I kind of love it.
Haha
Easy way to step up storm sorcerers power, slap two levels tempest cleric on it, now all your lightning and thunder magic can be maximised, slap transmute metamagic and at lv7 (2cleric/5sorcerer) you can cast fireball at lv4 transmute it and maximise it for a free 54 damage every short rest
My first bg3 play through was exactly this. Filthy a storm sorcerer with high ac, high mobility and can dish out huge damage each short rest with lightning bolts. Wouldn't run it on my own dnd campaigns because it's too powerful for my playgroup.
Lunar sorcerer isn’t good because of its abilities it’s good because it has access to 15 extra spells that you can change on a level up because they are sorcerer spells and raw you can change sorcerer spells on a level up. Also you have access to all 15 at a time the only thing that the ability says that affects with spells is what 1st level spell you can free cast, and what schools of magic get discounted.
A Tempest cleric and storm sorcerer multiclass is actually quite a strong build, since the cleric channel divinity allows you to get max damage on any lighting or thunder damage you do
Is it really that strong tho?
You only need to be a sorc to get spells like lightning bolt, arguably another sorcerer subclass would be a better pick as storm sorcerers themselves are mediocre at best. Almost everything good from that build comes from the tempest cleric or simply just being a sorcerer. Not to mention that their magic ability modifier is on different stats it’s somewhat hard to optimise that build.
Transmute that Fireball is what I'm hearing.
Sorc and cleric also make the best tank.
Obviously shield spell and magearmor, but clamping sturdiness at the base of a towershield with mold earth for 3/4 cover for +5 ac and another +2 if your cleric pulls out a buckler.
Also, cleric for bane to make a party Tank.
Then, magearmor transmute lightning Fireball
I love the idea of a Shadow Magic Sorcerer and a Blind Fighting Fighter. Two character that might have vastly different personalities, but travel together because of their fighting synergy.
Maybe that could be a video? Exploring duos of classes or builds that have a strong or unique synergy.
I could imagine a pair of characters that are twins with the same build (whatever that may be) that just bounces off itself endlessly.
❤❤❤
Its hard to agree on Wild Magic being meh when mathematically, it's beneficiary.
Precisely 3 of the 50 options rolled on Surge Table are very bad - self Fireball, turning into a plant and Polymorphing yourself. About 5-10 of those 50 are fluff (like growing a feather beard, balding etc) but the remaining ones are almost strictly positive. And even in case of 3 bad options, there are ways to circumvent the circumstances:
Self-Fireball damage can be reduced by Absorb Elements and Tides of Chaos, gaining resistance and advantage. It also procs another Surge, which is mathematically unlikely to Fireball you again.
Self-Polymorph turns you into a sheep with 1 health. Polymorph ends if the form's HP is reduced to 0 so a feeble punch from your fellow backliner will bring you back in action. You can also run off a 10 foot fall and do it to yourself to spare your teammates the Action.
Potted plant can work to your advantage, considering enemies can't tell if its still you or not. A plant is smaller than a person, so if you stay behind cover (and you should be, d6 hit die), you remain behind cover and reduce in size, potentially gaining full cover.
3 negative results are worth risking for around 35+ positive ones which can provide spell effects at full duration at no spell slot or concentration cost
For Wild Magic, I like the way Jacob from XP To Level 3 did it. Each time a surge doesn't happen the threshold increases by 1, resetting when it goes off.
Currently playing a Wild Magic Sorcerer. My DM and I changed the text in Wild Magic Surge and Tides of Chaos from "Your DM can choose" to read "You roll". It looks like this is how they're going about it in One D&D as well, and it makes the class insanely fun. Plus it lets me know generally when a surge is coming, so I can step 20 feet away from the party before casting a spell.
I was just binging the other tier lists (for like the 3rd time) last night and now there is a new one today!
Clockwork Soul at B tier is a crime. It should be A at least.
Correction, Aberrant Mind Sorcerers pick their bonus spells from the Enchantment and Divination lists *for Sorcerers, Warlocks and Wizards*, so Command isn't actually on the list of spells you can pick, as it's only on the list for Clerics and Paladins.
I had a wild mage & trickster cleric multiclass in my most recent 5e game [me as GM]; I ran it it so she had to roll a d20 with *every* level 1 or higher sorcerer spell, so, she usually got a wild magic surge every few fights for a while. I also let her use tides of chaos pretty reliably -- mostly because rolling on the surge table is fun, and often whatever comes up complicates things enough to keep tides of chaos from being too powerful an ability really. She learned to be careful with it early on when a use of it lead to her casting levitate at a very inopportune time or somesuch thing.
Later in the game, she found a cursed magic amulet that, whenever she wore it, bypassed the 1 in 20 chance to be a d% roll on the surge table, and made her sorcerer cantrips also cause a wild magic surge ^^ Things got very chaotic, very quickly, but, having *every single sorcerer spell* come with a random side effect ended up being really fun for the end of that campaign.
In the last fight of the campaign she ended up levitating, dripping grease, with a big feather beard, and a few other things that just left her characer looking a complete mess by the end. The whole table loved it and joked about her like, ascending to be an aatar of her chaotic trickster luck deity.
Man I wish Storm Sorcerer was better because they're so cool! I think it would really help to give them more mobility options so they can more reliably pull out of danger after exploding. Let the player feel like they’re riding the winds of their own storms! I know their first level feature is meant to do that, but that feature is meant to help you run away when the enemy has already closed in. The feature should be focused on getting you far away enough to avoid damage at all.
I came up with the following additions to make the draconic bloodline more competitive without being overpowered:
1) Elemental Affinity - spells that deal your draconic ancestor's damage type also ignore resistance, and your own resistance becomes permanent at 10th level.
2) Dragon Wings - these are now spectral (precedent: divine soul) to avoid damaging your clothing.
3) Draconic Presence - the first use is now free (precedent: aberrant mind/clockwork soul). This should also apply to the shadow sorcerer's Umbral Form.
Fun Fact! Storm sorcerers are highly prized in a ships crew in the forgotten realms and many captain their own ships. I ran a high seas adventure and i asked if somebody could please play one and my friend told me that they had been meaning to play one for a while. THEY NEVER PLAYED ONE. The party did this out of spite and they're my best friends.
Tbh id probably put the clockwork sorcerer as an S tier. I say this mainly due to AoA, the 6 lvl feature, and it's meta magic. Just using this combo an sacrificing spell slots along with cantrips your smashing, and one of the best sorcerer's period when it comes to utilizing meta magic an spell slots
Getting Wall of Force on Clockwork soul, which you can cast subtle to avoid Counterspell is alone more powerful than all other Subclass features; how is this Subclass in B Tier?
It is also one of 2 Sorcerers that can get a summon, and Summon Construct is pretty good.
Access to armor of agathys as well. Between silvery barbs and restore balance, it is the ultimate nullifier
Shadow Sorcerer is the class I'm multiclassing in on my Grave Cleric in a reskinned ancient Rome campaign. I'm a Tabaxi cleric of Anubis with a very neutral way of looking at death as its an inevitability for all. I wear a mask of Anubis at all times, so literally a cat wearing a canine mask. As I dip into shadow sorcerer I'll reskin the hound to be a jackal akin to Anubis. Mixing the channel divinity to impose vulnerability on the next damage applied to a creature with my own ability to resist death through shadow sorcerer as well as max healing on any downed ally and a bonus action 30ft range use of.. that stabilizing cantrip the name of which escapes me at the moment, this character is a master of that line between life and death. I run mostly necrotic spells, giving up guiding bolt for inflict wounds and the planned setup combo is to have an ally cast Hold Person on an enemy that I can then run up to (aided by tabaxi movement if needed) to then apply vulnerability to them with my action and quicken inflict wounds at max level for a guaranteed critical hit. With a 4th level slot, that's 6d10 doubled to 12d10 from the crit with that damage being doubled once rolled. That's 24-240 potential damage and I can pull it off at level 8.
Clockwork soul getting done super dirty. Clockwork magic gives access to 10 extra spells, from a list that includes many of the best spells for their level in the game, many of which sorcerers don't get access to normally. Plus, even though the abilities are pretty defensive, they are all strong. I'd take getting rid of disadvantage on party members rolls over telepathically linking to a party member for a few minutes every time. I'd take an HP shield that stacks with temp HP and can be handed to other party members over a few free uses of subtle casting for a few spells most times.
Quickened Wall of Force in B tier is a travesty
I have a couple players that Love playing Wild Magic Sorcerer, and the chaos that comes from it is a delight! To spice it up, I selected a handful of Wild Magic Rollers online, and would roll the die to see which would be used (or even the Official one) and watch chaos happen, Per Spellcast using Tides of Chaos! Would also need to roll the Targets for these effects sometimes.
The most unfortunate person to be affected by these so far was a Skeleton NPC. He was forcibly blurting out Crimes he never commited, and at one point caused the party to be visited by a Future Self of the skeleton, who somehow ended up being a lich... If you got a player going for the Chaos of Wild Magic, indulge them! Your world may break, but thats part of the fun
My kobold draconic sorcerer is currently on his way to burn your house down, just thought I would warn you.
Charisma save to not fall to zero hitpoints is literally saying, "I'm too pretty to die!"
I have been going over the concept for my first sorcerer for a while. and scoured your playlists for this video after watching fighter, druid and barbarian. and now it is here! impeccable timing sir - humble request for a paladin tier list ?
Very niche use for grappler, if you have a dragon problem. Moon druid lvl 10 with an enlarge potion and a belt of hill giant strength can shapeshift into an air-elemental, make two grapple checks a turn (one for each attack)and if he succeeds drag a dragon to the floor. (Legendary save doesn't work because its a contested role)Then your party can go balistic on the creature. If he wastes his action to get free its worth it and you do the same thing next turn. Haste spell helps too. You also have resistence to slash/bludgening/piercing so he won't cut through your 80 HP that quick. If its a green dragon use heroes feast and it should be a walk in the park
What does this have to do with ranking Sorcerer subclasses? Did you comment on the wrong video?
The shadow sorcerer's shadow doggo sounds so cool here...except that ALL it can do is move towards the target and disappears as soon as they die.
I agree with Aberrant Mind in S tier.
I played a sorcerer with that subclass and it was so damn fun.
Honestly i would be scared of anyone who doesn't die a little inside if someone leaves the lid of the milk..
I am so glad you did another one of these! Awesome!!
my first pg was a wild magic sorcerer... oh boy what a roller coaster was that campaign, i never feared something as much as hearing him say "could you please roll a d100?" ... yeah, for those who are shocked, I homebrewed the subclass by asking him to not let me roll the d20 and, whenever he wanted to spice things up, just say to roll on the table
After your video on shadow magic I came up with a lvl1 rogue/shadow magic sorc idea.
Clockwork is easily S tier, Aberrant Mind's features are pretty god awful by comparison. The two should be nowhere near each other, with Aberrant Mind belonging in B or C tier at best, being carried by its expanded spell list feature.
Spell list wise, Clockwork can replace its spells with things like Armor of Agathys, Absorb Elements, Shield, Enhance Ability, Blink, Haste, Counterspell, Banishment, Animate Objects, Planar Binding, and somehow also make spelljamming helms. Condom spells are super annoying to fit into most sorcerer builds, but this feature basically gives you access to the best ones without them counting towards your spells known.
Aberrant Mind has... hex? Silvery barbs, gift of gab, catnap, psychic lance, legend lore? Most of the better spells for the schools listed are already on the sorcerer list. The list they give is good, but the existing options for those schools/classes are underwhelming by comparison.
Restore Balance is objectively a more useful feature than token limited telepathy in combat. How often does telepathy come up compared to you know, just regularly talking to someone? There are RP applications sure, but there's a half feat that basically does the same thing, but with a free casting of detect thoughts and a charisma boost.
Psionic Sorcery is kinda pointless since subtle spell exists, as a basic feature for ALL sorcerers. Choosing anything at 1st or 4th level other than metamagic adept is insane with that feat doubling your known metamagic options. Psychic Defenses either a) rarely comes up, or b) makes you slightly better off than your average elf player.
Bastion of Law is not a standout feature that will typically come up, but on a barbarian it pays dividends after resistance, and more importantly doesn't need a reaction to reduce the damage.
Revelations in Flesh is basically pointless, because all of these features provide the same benefits as 3rd level and lower spells, with misty step or any racial teleport being better than the ooze feature, and see invisibility being objectively better than the sensory tendrils.
Trance of Order by comparison is a god tier 14th level ability, because attack spells deal more damage to single target enemies, period. If you are just fighting the one boss and only have AOE, it's a waste to do a fireball as opposed to like a 3rd level scorching ray. This ability is SSS tier if you are multiclassed in a pseudo martial/gish, because while its only online at 20th or whatever, on a padlock or sorcadin this is godlike to have. For a full caster it might seem boring, but the fact that it only costs 5sp to use again is insanely good, and gives it more flexibility in use.
Comparing Warping Explosion which has been nerfed to the ground from the UA and basically pointless as a strength saving throw, Clockwork Cavalcade is easily the better of the two.
I love how you start with the 2 opiest
Yep, there was massive power creep in Tasha's Cauldron.
He went in alphabetical order
19:44 Add a skill called Chaos Control, where you gain the ability to fully negate your Wild Magic results an amount of times equal to your Sorcerer level divided by 2 per long rest
I always look at role play flavor and honestly, in currently in love with my dragonic blood line sorcerer.
Having played like four Wild Mages and DM’d for one, Wild Magic Sorcerer is so much flippin’ fun.
Considering it is my favorite Sorcerer Subclass, I strived to see Surges as often as possible. Which has caused UNTOLD amounts of chaos.
I have seen:
Four modrons summoned in a row.
Two back to back fireballs.
A potted plant twice, which gave the sorceress a craving for sunlight.
And a session where my player surged fifteen times.
My personal homebrew for wild magic surge: after every spell roll d20. If roll less or equal to spell level - roll the surge. If roll higher than spell level, but less or euql to your sorcerer level - you can deside to release or hold the surge.
After using tides of chaos - simply roll 2 d20 on next roll for surge, take lesser result.
Ofc DM can force you to roll d100 any time without d20 check. *So DM don't have to trace anything about your subclass.*
And finally some balance for iconic TPK - wild surge fireball damage now (your_sorc_level)*d6 instead of permanent 8d6. So it does't oneshot you (and party) from full hp (on average), but it become funny one on higher levels. spell level for counterspelling this fireball increases to 4 at lvl 11 and to 5 at lvl 16.
So expierenced wild magic sorcerer can make surroundings realy hot.
Fun Story, I played a Wild Magic Sorcerer in a campaign where we went up against a powerful vampire coven at the end. During the battle, after dealing massive damage with a Fireball spell while standing on the roof of the vampire mansion, I roll on the Wild Magic table and turned into a potted plant, that was then dropped from the roof down to the ground. One of the funniest moments I ever got to see as a player!
Sorcerer is my favorite class, so I've been looking forward to this one!
Alternative option I thought of for Wild Magic surge is that you roll the d20 to see if a surge happens after every leveled spell and if the die shows a value equal or lower than the level of spell cast then a surge happens. This keeps it from being too chaotic, but also increases in chance the stronger the magic you cast, and later when you roll 2 dice per surge and pick your poison, you are able to get it to happen a lot more due to casting higher level spells.
if I remember correctly, Lunar Sorc actually knows all of the moon phase spells all the time, it's just the free casting of one of them that is determined by your current phase.
My first D&D Sorcerer was a Yuan-Ti Shadow Sorcerer when my party was nearing the end of Tomb of Annihilation. It was so much fun to play. Highly recommend it.
I took an amazing homebrew rule for Wild Magic from XP to Level 3. It says that if you don’t roll a 1 (or a 20 if your using the new playtest version) then you increase the threshold by 1, so the next time you roll, Wild Magic activates if it’s a 1-2. This range keeps growing with every leveled spell you cast until you have a Wild Magic surge, and then it resets. I’ve also thought about modifying this further by increasing the threshold by the level of the spell, so after casting Lightning Bolt, if you don’t roll a surge, the range goes from just 1 to 1-4.
I also homebrewed an expanded spell list for Wild Magic, bc I honestly think it should be a standard for all sorcerers
In one of the campaign I'm playing (I'm the wild magic sorcerer), the GM allowed me to use the Wild Magic table like this, so she wouldn't have to remember to do the "On cast, roll a d20. Nat one is wild magic" thing:
- After a leveled cast, automatically Wild Magic (This also applies to Tides of Chaos, essentially 2+ advantages per day)
- roll 1d4
- Number rolled is the cooldown
- Every leveled spell casted makes the cooldown go down by one
If I were lucky enough, I coul have Wild Magic surge every other turn in battle, which is funny, very funny indeed. However, most of the time, I use it once, maybe twice, a session. Which is still a lot, but not as much as I'd like
Fun fact, Magical darkness is not a barrier for creatures with dark vision, the Darkness spell specifically specifies that things with dark vision can't see in it, however things like
Shadow of Moil or anything else that gives magical darkness that isn't the darkness spell, does NOT stop dark vision from seeing in it.
I have so much fun with my WM Sorcerer player. The Feywild Shard puts him in control of some of the randomness, and I usually remember to call for the d20 if he doesn't use sorcery points. If not, he remembers.
I played a Mountain Dwarf Divine Soul "cleric" with "cleric" points. It was a big above table metajoke, because he was hiding his arcane nature (and could do the medium armor thing). The players were in on it, so it was actually really fun.
What my table does for wild magic is after every levelled spell you roll a 1d20 starting at a DC of 1 and every time you beat it, the DC increases by 1. It's fun because you actively see the wild magic surge build up until you inevitably explode.
For wild magic I have the player roll a D10 when they cast a leveled spell and if the number is less than the level of spell casted they roll on the Surge table
Every Session 0 for me isn't figuring out what class I'll be, it's figuring out what kind of Sorcerer fits into the party and or Storyline. I just LOVE them! Unabashed Sorcerer Main for life!! 🧙♂🪄🔥
Another option i will add that i think Brennan uses for wild magic sorcerers: everytime you dont surge the dc for rolling a wild magic surge goes up by one. So if you dont roll a nat 1 to surge after a spell, the next check would make you surge on a 1 or a 2. This DC only resets when you surge, being unaffected by rests so it makes a wild magic surge inevitable without it being all the time. I find this works best because if surges become too frequent they lose their magic and your party just starts to get annoyed at you. It still should be infrequent i think just not statistically improbable
The way I rule wild magic is how D20 in Unsleeping City does. Roll the d20 and if it lands on 1, wild magic surge (WMS), next time, surge happens if you roll a 1-2, next time 1-2-3 etc until there is a surge, and then it resest to 1.
I like this because is augments the chances of having a WMS, but also it's like the magic is accumulating, until it has to surge
I really like how Dimension 20 ran their Wild Magic Sorcerer. They had it to where the bottom number increased after each non-surge. So if the sorcerer didn’t roll a 1 after casting any spell, they then would have wild magic on a 1 & 2 (and the minimum being raised each time after the sorcerer avoided a wild magic surge). I loved this because it kept the balance but still made wild magic have a regular impact in the game.
Can confirm the fun of rolling on the WM surge table after EVERY. SINGLE. SPELL. Ended up making a custom table with higher stakes at late game.
Hear me out:
Alucard from Hellsing is a shadow sorcerer with hexblade warlock levels.
>Strength of the grave (You can't keep that mfer down),
>hound of ill omen (baskerville),
>teleporting (he jumps from place to place all the time),
>Umbral form (Level 0 restriction)
>eldritch blast (his guns)
>fixation on 1v1s (hexblades curse)
Alucard was a lv 20 character in a
lv 5-10 campaign.
I'm playing a Lunar Sorcerer right now and you get the free 1st level spell casting starting at 1st level (per D&D Beyond). And since you learn ALL the spells on the lunar list, ,at first level I had a respectable spell list and a free casting of Shield each day. It makes my character pretty versatile. I'll see how it goes when I get to higher levels but I am looking forward to the reduced metamagic cost for certain spell schools based on the lunar cycle I'm in.
Lunar in B is crazy. Unless there was some update I didn't know about, you can basically use metamagic use sorcery points free of cost depending on the phase you choose. Being able to subtle spell a counterspell without losing any sorcery points is OP, and that's just one example.
I like the building rolls magic surge version. Like the Dimension 20 version. First Spell, it is a 1, if you succeed, next time it is a two and so on and so forth. Until you have a wild magic surge then you start back at one. On average you don't get past 4, but I like that it builds tension/anticipation and feels very much thematic and has a ton of roleplay potential of the character maintaining their control if just barely or getting over confident until it happens all over again.
As a full spellcaster class, the expanded spell list feature easily makes both Abberant Mind and Clockwork Soul an easy S tier.
Build out you spell lists ahead of time and see just how big of a gap it puts between those two and every other subclass.
Just game mechanics wise, it’s a no brainer.
Flavor is free, and every class can be exactly what you want from a character.
Divine Soul is easily third behind the two way tie for first place. After that, I think it’s everyone else depending on what you want.
Another thing not mentioned about Aberrant mind: psionic spells has better conversion rate than converting sorcery points into spell slots. In high level this means extra castings of 5th level spells compared with other subclasses. Considering that starting at 3rd level a single spell can potentially win a whole encounter, this is definitely great feature.
I just realized another boost to psionic sorcery. You technically don't burn a metamagic despite it using the features of subtle spell.
Meaning functionally, you could layer two metamagics when normally you couldn't
As a person playing an Aarakocra Storm Sorceress on a pirate ship who’s best friend is a halfling Aberrant Mind sorcerer who rides on her back (separate player in the campaign) we are our DMs worst nightmare. Just this last session I revived an ally with Wither and Bloom while the halfling prepared his spells. And then the next turn I hit the boss with Storm Sphere (was already up) and Lightning Bolt in the same turn during a fly by so triggering Stormy Eruption as well followed immediately by the Halfling using font of magic for another 4th lv spell to Polymorph the cleric I just revived into a giant ape which is what the Druid did to himself the turn before. Needless to say we went from losing that fighting to winning in 6 seconds lol.
A homebrew my DM used for a player with wild magic had him roll for every leveled spell, but each success increased the wild threshold by one. So you cast a spell and roll a ten, no wild magic. The next time you cast a spell you need to beat a two, so one and so forth.
Atop this, he could spend sorcery points to increase or reduce the wild magic threshold, at a 1 sorcery point for two threshold movement. Kept the party from hating the dude, but made plenty of wild stories based on some of the wild magic rolls.
I absolutely LOVE wild sorcery. I made my dreams come true in a campaign where I got a fireball in myself in one session (almost TPKed the group), and straight up the next session I evoked an unicorn (that saved our lives from a TPK) that character was awesome
My favourite mod for Wild magic is the chances of surging increases by one every time you Don't surge
Minding the hate on Storm sorcerer for a second-- you can make Wild Magic Sorcerer way more intuitive and chaotic, by adding onto the classic threshold increment rule. Let the player spend 1 sorcery point to do an additional (proficiency bonus) number of d6's whenever they roll for damage, this in turn raises the DC by an equal amount. You can be much more damaging, and letting them try to use their chaos to deal additional damage is very fun, and self sacrificing