Okay, for full disclosure, I'm a 1st and 2nd Ed AD&D person now playing 5th Ed D&D after a long hiatus. So, please keep the snickering down to a minimum...
I know the parts on the sorcerer's spell list, allotted known spells, etc. What I'm fuzzy about (and looking over the PH has be NO HELP) is "how does THE CHARACTER go about getting new spells?" With Wizards, it's presumed they wander off to some library or wizard's guild, and the time and resources spent researching the spell and transcribing it into their spellbook allows them to learn how to cast the spell. Clerics and Warlocks does some process to contact their deity or patron, who then bestows them with the spell. The PH says that sorcerers don't do either routes, but it doesn't explain the mechanics about how they are supposed to go out and learn new spells. Do they hire someone to teach them? Does the player select the spell and it just pops in the character's head? Do they wake up with a mind splitting headache, and after a d20 roll, it's either a new spell or an aneurysm?
Bonus Question: What happens to a sorcerer that deliberately avoids trying to use their magic? The PH hinted at the magic trying to find a way to be cast, but didn't give any mechanics as far as what would happen or how it goes about it.
The reason I'm asking is that I'm trying to build a Wild Magic Sorcerer who is both an escaped slave (running for their life) and someone deathly afraid of his magic because of cultural reasons. (Also, despite being a runaway slave is illegal, knowing how to cast magic is illegal, and being a slave who can cast magic is illegal, being a runaway slave who can cast magic is almost certainly a death sentence.) I'd like to have a mechanic where my slave/sorcerer has to see someone cast a spell for him to learn it as an explanation why a slave who wasn't trying to learn magic knows magic. (And he gets a bonus if someone casts the spell on him. Imagine trying to learn fireball by convincing some mage to cast it at him.) But, I want to know the official mechanic is, so I can talk to my DM about it.
I also need to know what happens if he deliberately tries not to use his magic, what will happen. Since the rulers of his kingdom have made just the knowledge of magic illegal, and the state church pontifies that its use is akin to aligning oneself with demonic forces, my character should (at least for the first few levels) be deathly scared of using his powers, least some demon or devil rises out of the ground and drag him into an abyss. I want him to have to struggle with this, until he comes to the conclusion that "Maybe the people in charge of my kingdom liked about magic for some sort of reason..." And until he realizes that it's how he uses his magic and not the magic itself that determines if he's evil that he has a penalty for avoiding using it.
The short answer to all of this is to ask your DM. It's intentionally vague, i think, to allow players and DMs to fill in the blanks.
For what it's worth, i think of my sorcerers gaining new spells by having an idea and then practicing until it works. This is a lot like a wizard studying until they understand it, but something more like an athlete or a martial artist practicing a technique until it works. I've roleplayed a sorcerer figuring out a fireball by describing how he used prestidigitation to make little streaks of fire that popped at the end, for example. Next time he leveled up, he learned fireball.
Similarly, i think that the magic trying to escape is mostly flavor text, but you're welcome to work something out with your DM. Perhaps the likelihood of a wild surge occurring increases when they don't cast as often or something like that.
a) it's a natural ability passed on from family/cult/DNA. See firestarter movie. Goes with wild sorcerer. Over time take careful metamagic when you get control so you don't burn your friends.
b) You learn through a master. Talk to your DM about goals on finding NPC's that will teach you the ways while dodging the system that frowns upon such things.
c) Pick a diety or dragon that consciously or sub-consciously teaches you magic. In a dream. through a NPC form. etc. Does the dragon want you to be a champion?
d) The ghost of a past family member/friend/sorcerer trains you.
BONUS: I highly recommend the subtle metamagic in this case. A great way to be a stealth sorc and while the subtle spell is not useful in most DM games, it is very RP heavy in particular for you here. Read upon the metamagic and get anything that helps with illusions and trickery too. Charm, suggestion, the actor feat, etc. etc.
I tend to think of sorcerer spellcasting as being more of a spell-like ability packaged in a familiar spell which other spell casters can use or describe and which takes a spell slot in order to maintain a mechanical balance.
I like to think of a sorcerer being a conduit in which built up magic is trying to discharge and as the sorcerer levels up it practices ways to release that built up potential in moderately controlled ways. But you could also play it so that under emotional duress or if you are in danger, this build up comes bubbling up to the surface to be released haphazardly. Maybe throw a concentration check in there to prevent an unintentional spell from being cast and have the DC increase with each day/hour in which you have not cast a spell or used some form of magic.
That's the thing with Sorcerers, they just sort of feel like doing a thing, and poof, a thing happens. What actual justifications the player comes up with on how they gain spells is up to, well, the player. Given that magic comes to them naturally, I wouldn't sweat it too much with how they learn spells.
As far if they actively try not to use their powers, I'd use that as a character hook and work with your DM as to what exactly that means for your character.
Your sorcerer just gets new spells. Come up with your own mechanic. Perhaps they just fall into your brain like chilly knowledge in a dream as you level up. Perhaps you're whispered secrets on the wind or gain new arcane lore by watching patterns of leaves as they fall. It's up to you.
So if you only want to choose spells that you've seen cast, great, do that.
I mean, what if it IS evil, vile, despotic demons who are teaching your character arcane secrets? What if the pontificate had very, very good reasons to outlaw this kind of magic? What then? Personally I'd just revel in it. Let them come! You will smite their bodies and claim rulership over their defeated forms! Burn their cities! Take what you will from their vaults, for you are magic incarnate!
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Okay, for full disclosure, I'm a 1st and 2nd Ed AD&D person now playing 5th Ed D&D after a long hiatus. So, please keep the snickering down to a minimum...
I know the parts on the sorcerer's spell list, allotted known spells, etc. What I'm fuzzy about (and looking over the PH has be NO HELP) is "how does THE CHARACTER go about getting new spells?" With Wizards, it's presumed they wander off to some library or wizard's guild, and the time and resources spent researching the spell and transcribing it into their spellbook allows them to learn how to cast the spell. Clerics and Warlocks does some process to contact their deity or patron, who then bestows them with the spell. The PH says that sorcerers don't do either routes, but it doesn't explain the mechanics about how they are supposed to go out and learn new spells. Do they hire someone to teach them? Does the player select the spell and it just pops in the character's head? Do they wake up with a mind splitting headache, and after a d20 roll, it's either a new spell or an aneurysm?
Bonus Question: What happens to a sorcerer that deliberately avoids trying to use their magic? The PH hinted at the magic trying to find a way to be cast, but didn't give any mechanics as far as what would happen or how it goes about it.
The reason I'm asking is that I'm trying to build a Wild Magic Sorcerer who is both an escaped slave (running for their life) and someone deathly afraid of his magic because of cultural reasons. (Also, despite being a runaway slave is illegal, knowing how to cast magic is illegal, and being a slave who can cast magic is illegal, being a runaway slave who can cast magic is almost certainly a death sentence.) I'd like to have a mechanic where my slave/sorcerer has to see someone cast a spell for him to learn it as an explanation why a slave who wasn't trying to learn magic knows magic. (And he gets a bonus if someone casts the spell on him. Imagine trying to learn fireball by convincing some mage to cast it at him.) But, I want to know the official mechanic is, so I can talk to my DM about it.
I also need to know what happens if he deliberately tries not to use his magic, what will happen. Since the rulers of his kingdom have made just the knowledge of magic illegal, and the state church pontifies that its use is akin to aligning oneself with demonic forces, my character should (at least for the first few levels) be deathly scared of using his powers, least some demon or devil rises out of the ground and drag him into an abyss. I want him to have to struggle with this, until he comes to the conclusion that "Maybe the people in charge of my kingdom liked about magic for some sort of reason..." And until he realizes that it's how he uses his magic and not the magic itself that determines if he's evil that he has a penalty for avoiding using it.
The short answer to all of this is to ask your DM. It's intentionally vague, i think, to allow players and DMs to fill in the blanks.
For what it's worth, i think of my sorcerers gaining new spells by having an idea and then practicing until it works. This is a lot like a wizard studying until they understand it, but something more like an athlete or a martial artist practicing a technique until it works. I've roleplayed a sorcerer figuring out a fireball by describing how he used prestidigitation to make little streaks of fire that popped at the end, for example. Next time he leveled up, he learned fireball.
Similarly, i think that the magic trying to escape is mostly flavor text, but you're welcome to work something out with your DM. Perhaps the likelihood of a wild surge occurring increases when they don't cast as often or something like that.
How does sorcerer learn magic?
a) it's a natural ability passed on from family/cult/DNA. See firestarter movie. Goes with wild sorcerer. Over time take careful metamagic when you get control so you don't burn your friends.
b) You learn through a master. Talk to your DM about goals on finding NPC's that will teach you the ways while dodging the system that frowns upon such things.
c) Pick a diety or dragon that consciously or sub-consciously teaches you magic. In a dream. through a NPC form. etc. Does the dragon want you to be a champion?
d) The ghost of a past family member/friend/sorcerer trains you.
BONUS: I highly recommend the subtle metamagic in this case. A great way to be a stealth sorc and while the subtle spell is not useful in most DM games, it is very RP heavy in particular for you here. Read upon the metamagic and get anything that helps with illusions and trickery too. Charm, suggestion, the actor feat, etc. etc.
I tend to think of sorcerer spellcasting as being more of a spell-like ability packaged in a familiar spell which other spell casters can use or describe and which takes a spell slot in order to maintain a mechanical balance.
I like to think of a sorcerer being a conduit in which built up magic is trying to discharge and as the sorcerer levels up it practices ways to release that built up potential in moderately controlled ways. But you could also play it so that under emotional duress or if you are in danger, this build up comes bubbling up to the surface to be released haphazardly. Maybe throw a concentration check in there to prevent an unintentional spell from being cast and have the DC increase with each day/hour in which you have not cast a spell or used some form of magic.
That's the thing with Sorcerers, they just sort of feel like doing a thing, and poof, a thing happens. What actual justifications the player comes up with on how they gain spells is up to, well, the player. Given that magic comes to them naturally, I wouldn't sweat it too much with how they learn spells.
As far if they actively try not to use their powers, I'd use that as a character hook and work with your DM as to what exactly that means for your character.
Your sorcerer just gets new spells. Come up with your own mechanic. Perhaps they just fall into your brain like chilly knowledge in a dream as you level up. Perhaps you're whispered secrets on the wind or gain new arcane lore by watching patterns of leaves as they fall. It's up to you.
So if you only want to choose spells that you've seen cast, great, do that.
I mean, what if it IS evil, vile, despotic demons who are teaching your character arcane secrets? What if the pontificate had very, very good reasons to outlaw this kind of magic? What then? Personally I'd just revel in it. Let them come! You will smite their bodies and claim rulership over their defeated forms! Burn their cities! Take what you will from their vaults, for you are magic incarnate!