My wife digs wild mages, even though they aren't quite as wild as the 2nd edition version. She's kind of an anomaly; her first version of D&D ever was 3.5, and yet somehow playing 2nd after a few years of 3.5 and 4th made it instantly, and lastingly, her favorite version of the game.
Nothing particularly wild has actually happened as of yet, since she hasn't had much time playing a wild mage on account of how our group's scheduling has worked out, but just the possibility that she might accidentally become a sheep or suddenly regain loads of spent power keeps her giddy.
Nothing wild for my Sorcerer 2/Warlock 2 yet. Though I haven't had many surges happen. I think it only has happened twice so far. First time let me See Invisibility but that didn't help at the time and second time I created a Fog Cloud right ontop of our group (leaving the enemies outside it) which was sort of helpful since we were almost dying.
I did play one in the last campaign I am a player in and the are a lot of fun, but pure numbers wise they are sadly worse then the alternatives.
The biggest offender for that is the Wild Magic Surge. Which in theory is extremely powerful and the class is balanced around "what if you get it". How ever I went sessions without seeing it proc to then get a feather beard. We changed that surges to happen when using Tides of Chaos, on a1 and a 20 with a 20 restoring sorcery points as well, but even then they where so rare that they need some other kind of rework to be more part of the class and not like a weird item you got at lvl3 and just kept. I personally would add just more effects ( there is a great 1000 effects list out there) and probably add that it also happens after x number of spells ( getting lower with level possibly) and giving them an ability to purposefully create a a surge with x charges a day. Because let's face it if you are playing a wild magic sorcerer you want weird shit to happen.
I managed to roll a 7 and 8, witch is "you cast fireball centered on yourself" 4 out of 4 times. I killed myself and half the team more times than the DM. My sorcerer is now a phoenix sorcerer instead.
I managed to roll a 7 and 8, witch is "you cast fireball centered on yourself" 4 out of 4 times. I killed myself and half the team more times than the DM. My sorcerer is now a phoenix sorcerer instead.
Weirdly enough my Wild Magic Sorcerer with -1 in Dex did never fail a single dex check on explosion.
I haven't played one yet but I am next month for a one we are doing for my birthday. I am well known in my group to have the worst rolls by a long shot. My record is 11 ones in a session (My character nearly went blind). So we thought it would be funny to see what happened when you put me and wild magic together. I am looking forward to it haha.
But my character is going to be a bit messed up. I like playing stupid characters sometimes. Particularly non-traditional race and class combos. So I am going to be playing a Wild Magic Sorcerer Goliath who gained his magic powers from eating a Wizard......he isn't going to have a high INT score to explain things haha.
One of the players in a mini-campaign I ran played a Wild Magic sorcerer. Her character believed that he had gained his powers from a coconut that fell on his head; since then he carries it around all the time, fearing that losing it would cause his powers to be lost. Anyway, during an encounter the Wild Surge feature was activated for 10 consecutive rounds, resulting in an enormous blue sheep, surrounded by floating jellyfish, and jolting a few guards. When asked if he was OK all he could say was "blaaaah"! :P
I have an Aarakocra Sorcerer, who is somewhat of a bonkers bird thanks to her wild magic and a traumatic experience. My DM has changed up what triggers it a few times which keeps me on my toes, the main one being when she is under great emotional stress. We pretty don't use the d20 on spell of 1st level or higher. The Tides of Chaos is down to my choice, if I want to keep using it more wild magic will happen. Recently it was tweaked that using Bend Luck will cause it, probably due to we had an encounter where I used it several times to save others on vital rolls.
Thanks to her surges my Aarakocra is now 4 inches shorter, 2 years old and bright blue. She's a lot of fun to play :D
My sorcerer cast fireball on himself in the first encounter, failed his dex save and was turned into a pile of ash.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My name, is Balthazaar Cage! Savior of Ravenscrest, defender of the light, reincarnated chosen one of the gods, rightful ruler of all that can be seen and half of that which is unseen. If that's to long you may simply refer to me as "Sorcerer Supreme."
I play a wild magic sorcerer called Wyn who is now level 10. I find using tides of Chaos triggers my surges regularly, and the upside is you get it back after the surge.
The first game i had a surge in the first encounter and turned into a potted plant, this has now happened several times and inspired the group to call him "the cactus" as that was agreed what his form would be.
Surges can be awesome, just ask Strahd. In an encounter with him i gained the use of teleport which really upset the DM. I find surges create more awesome moments than bad generally. It's not uncommon for me to end up with a chain of surge effects. To my recollection i think teleport, cabin lighting and ethereal music were the best combo so far.
The unfortunate thing about the Wild Magic Sorcerer is that it is just too DM dependent as a class. I have played as, played with and DM'd for Wild magic sorcerers with varying degrees of success each time. As the class is written the simple fact is that it just does not compete with the draconic sorcerer. Wild magic happens very infrequently... SO infrequently that the principle mechanic of the subclass seems lackluster. This combined with the cool, but sadly small, table of random effects listed in the players handbook make a class which should be full of mystery strangely formulaic. The class is great and I would encourage anyone interested in the class to try it out, but at the same time I would encourage you to talk w/ your DM about experimenting with it. Try out some of the expanded tables you can find on the Internet ( I personally enjoy V2 of The Net Libram of Random Magical Effects By Orrex). Also, see if your DM is willing to increase the frequency of the effects.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't branch out much when it comes to D&D. Most of the characters I have played have been Rangers. However, I just joined a new campaign, who was in need of an arcane user. I decided on a wild magic Sorcerer. I'm super excited to use wild magic surge. Our first game is tomorrow, and I am having a difficult time containing my excitement!
When 5E came out, I created a Wild Magic Sorcerer. I discussed with my DM, before we even started our campaign, that perhaps the Wild Surge would become less frequent as my Sorcerer became more experienced. As we played, session after session, it became very apparent that A) In the early levels, you are just not casting that many spells in each session. Cantrips, yes, but not too many spells to trigger the surge and B) The 5% chance of a surge each time you cast a spell just does not seem to come up much. That being said, I have not been unhappy at all with the play of the character. I think it might disrupt the group too much if it happened more often. I did age my character by 10 full years (so he became a pudgy, bald, half elf) and I managed to cast Grease in the middle of a battle with a Roper which resulted in myself and two other PCs collapsing in the battle. It has been just enough to create some memorable stories, but not enough for the rest of the PCs to leave me home. Anyway, my DM and I decided early on that I roll on the surge table every single time...those 1s do not come up as often as you might think!
I'd love to see the old wild magic spells come back for the wild mage. - You basically tried to channel your wild magic to cast any other spell, and then ride the consequences of that! - it would always trigger a wild surge... (but the wild surge table was different in those days)
the old spells:
Nahal's Reckless Dweomer is a 1st-level spell only available to wild mages. The caster chooses a spell from a list of spells known to them and rolls an effect from the wild surge table with a bonus equal to their level. (the wild surge table in this instance had a lot of you cast the spell, at full potential, 1/2 potential, maximum, doubled as well as the standard wild surges) -
Chaos shield This spell adds +15 on caster wild surge rolls. If Nahal's Reckless Dweomer is cast, shield bonus stacks with wild mage level bonus for the duration of the spell (again this was for the old wild surge table)
and Improved Chaos shield that gave +25 to the wild surge roll.
Chaos Bolt 1st-level evocation Casting Time: 1 action Range: 120 feet Components: V, S Duration: Instantaneous You hurl an undulating, warbling mass of chaotic energy at one creature in range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 2d8 damage. Choose one of the d8s. The number it rolled determines the type of damage, as shown below.
d8 Damage Type 1 Acid 2 Cold 3 Fire 4 Force 5 Lightning 6 Poison 7 Psychic 8 Thunder
If you roll the same number on both d8s, the chaotic energy leaps from the target to a different creature of your choice within 30 feet of it. Make a new attack roll against the new target, and make a new damage roll, which could cause the chaotic energy to leap again. A creature can be targeted only once by this mass of chaotic energy.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, each target takes extra damage of the type rolled. The extra damage equals 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.
Really loving it for its level. No idea if it's actually good, never tested it, but it sounds amazing. Throwing out crackling, unstable energy that forms into a jagged bolt of frost - or an arcing blast of deadly lightning. And it has a 12.5% chance to chain to another target.
Point being, seems awesomely Wild and fitting for a Wild Mage. I've never played one, but if I did I'd have to beg the DM to allow this.
VillainTheory...I saw that spell too and thought it really has a lot of flavor. I think it fits into this discussion about how often the Sorcerer has to roll on the Surge Table. A spell like this would allow more opportunity for the chaos to happen and at the very least some unpredictable damage types each time it is cast.
Chaos Bolt 1st-level evocation Casting Time: 1 action Range: 120 feet Components: V, S Duration: Instantaneous You hurl an undulating, warbling mass of chaotic energy at one creature in range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 2d8 damage. Choose one of the d8s. The number it rolled determines the type of damage, as shown below.
d8 Damage Type 1 Acid 2 Cold 3 Fire 4 Force 5 Lightning 6 Poison 7 Psychic 8 Thunder
If you roll the same number on both d8s, the chaotic energy leaps from the target to a different creature of your choice within 30 feet of it. Make a new attack roll against the new target, and make a new damage roll, which could cause the chaotic energy to leap again. A creature can be targeted only once by this mass of chaotic energy.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, each target takes extra damage of the type rolled. The extra damage equals 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.
Really loving it for its level. No idea if it's actually good, never tested it, but it sounds amazing. Throwing out crackling, unstable energy that forms into a jagged bolt of frost - or an arcing blast of deadly lightning. And it has a 12.5% chance to chain to another target.
Point being, seems awesomely Wild and fitting for a Wild Mage. I've never played one, but if I did I'd have to beg the DM to allow this.
Once I played the wild mage, it was really fun. Share your experience!!!
My wife digs wild mages, even though they aren't quite as wild as the 2nd edition version. She's kind of an anomaly; her first version of D&D ever was 3.5, and yet somehow playing 2nd after a few years of 3.5 and 4th made it instantly, and lastingly, her favorite version of the game.
Nothing particularly wild has actually happened as of yet, since she hasn't had much time playing a wild mage on account of how our group's scheduling has worked out, but just the possibility that she might accidentally become a sheep or suddenly regain loads of spent power keeps her giddy.
Nothing wild for my Sorcerer 2/Warlock 2 yet. Though I haven't had many surges happen. I think it only has happened twice so far. First time let me See Invisibility but that didn't help at the time and second time I created a Fog Cloud right ontop of our group (leaving the enemies outside it) which was sort of helpful since we were almost dying.
I did play one in the last campaign I am a player in and the are a lot of fun, but pure numbers wise they are sadly worse then the alternatives.
The biggest offender for that is the Wild Magic Surge. Which in theory is extremely powerful and the class is balanced around "what if you get it". How ever I went sessions without seeing it proc to then get a feather beard. We changed that surges to happen when using Tides of Chaos, on a1 and a 20 with a 20 restoring sorcery points as well, but even then they where so rare that they need some other kind of rework to be more part of the class and not like a weird item you got at lvl3 and just kept. I personally would add just more effects ( there is a great 1000 effects list out there) and probably add that it also happens after x number of spells ( getting lower with level possibly) and giving them an ability to purposefully create a a surge with x charges a day. Because let's face it if you are playing a wild magic sorcerer you want weird shit to happen.
I managed to roll a 7 and 8, witch is "you cast fireball centered on yourself" 4 out of 4 times. I killed myself and half the team more times than the DM. My sorcerer is now a phoenix sorcerer instead.
As a DM, I would suggest also to improvise the surge... Like: on roll whatever-number-you-want, every character and npc is of size small.
I haven't played one yet but I am next month for a one we are doing for my birthday. I am well known in my group to have the worst rolls by a long shot. My record is 11 ones in a session (My character nearly went blind). So we thought it would be funny to see what happened when you put me and wild magic together. I am looking forward to it haha.
But my character is going to be a bit messed up. I like playing stupid characters sometimes. Particularly non-traditional race and class combos. So I am going to be playing a Wild Magic Sorcerer Goliath who gained his magic powers from eating a Wizard......he isn't going to have a high INT score to explain things haha.
"Toss a coin to your [Insert class here]"
One of the players in a mini-campaign I ran played a Wild Magic sorcerer. Her character believed that he had gained his powers from a coconut that fell on his head; since then he carries it around all the time, fearing that losing it would cause his powers to be lost. Anyway, during an encounter the Wild Surge feature was activated for 10 consecutive rounds, resulting in an enormous blue sheep, surrounded by floating jellyfish, and jolting a few guards. When asked if he was OK all he could say was "blaaaah"! :P
I have an Aarakocra Sorcerer, who is somewhat of a bonkers bird thanks to her wild magic and a traumatic experience. My DM has changed up what triggers it a few times which keeps me on my toes, the main one being when she is under great emotional stress. We pretty don't use the d20 on spell of 1st level or higher. The Tides of Chaos is down to my choice, if I want to keep using it more wild magic will happen. Recently it was tweaked that using Bend Luck will cause it, probably due to we had an encounter where I used it several times to save others on vital rolls.
Thanks to her surges my Aarakocra is now 4 inches shorter, 2 years old and bright blue. She's a lot of fun to play :D
My sorcerer cast fireball on himself in the first encounter, failed his dex save and was turned into a pile of ash.
My name, is Balthazaar Cage! Savior of Ravenscrest, defender of the light, reincarnated chosen one of the gods, rightful ruler of all that can be seen and half of that which is unseen. If that's to long you may simply refer to me as "Sorcerer Supreme."
I play a Draconic sorcerer in an Out of the Abyss game, so, spoilers.
Apparently the Underdark is littered with faerzress zones, which has basically turned my character into a Wild, Draconic Sorcerer.
Day one my character aged 4 years instantly.
I play a wild magic sorcerer called Wyn who is now level 10. I find using tides of Chaos triggers my surges regularly, and the upside is you get it back after the surge.
The first game i had a surge in the first encounter and turned into a potted plant, this has now happened several times and inspired the group to call him "the cactus" as that was agreed what his form would be.
Surges can be awesome, just ask Strahd. In an encounter with him i gained the use of teleport which really upset the DM. I find surges create more awesome moments than bad generally. It's not uncommon for me to end up with a chain of surge effects. To my recollection i think teleport, cabin lighting and ethereal music were the best combo so far.
The unfortunate thing about the Wild Magic Sorcerer is that it is just too DM dependent as a class. I have played as, played with and DM'd for Wild magic sorcerers with varying degrees of success each time. As the class is written the simple fact is that it just does not compete with the draconic sorcerer. Wild magic happens very infrequently... SO infrequently that the principle mechanic of the subclass seems lackluster. This combined with the cool, but sadly small, table of random effects listed in the players handbook make a class which should be full of mystery strangely formulaic. The class is great and I would encourage anyone interested in the class to try it out, but at the same time I would encourage you to talk w/ your DM about experimenting with it. Try out some of the expanded tables you can find on the Internet ( I personally enjoy V2 of The Net Libram of Random Magical Effects By Orrex). Also, see if your DM is willing to increase the frequency of the effects.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't branch out much when it comes to D&D. Most of the characters I have played have been Rangers. However, I just joined a new campaign, who was in need of an arcane user. I decided on a wild magic Sorcerer. I'm super excited to use wild magic surge. Our first game is tomorrow, and I am having a difficult time containing my excitement!
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?
When 5E came out, I created a Wild Magic Sorcerer. I discussed with my DM, before we even started our campaign, that perhaps the Wild Surge would become less frequent as my Sorcerer became more experienced. As we played, session after session, it became very apparent that A) In the early levels, you are just not casting that many spells in each session. Cantrips, yes, but not too many spells to trigger the surge and B) The 5% chance of a surge each time you cast a spell just does not seem to come up much. That being said, I have not been unhappy at all with the play of the character. I think it might disrupt the group too much if it happened more often. I did age my character by 10 full years (so he became a pudgy, bald, half elf) and I managed to cast Grease in the middle of a battle with a Roper which resulted in myself and two other PCs collapsing in the battle. It has been just enough to create some memorable stories, but not enough for the rest of the PCs to leave me home. Anyway, my DM and I decided early on that I roll on the surge table every single time...those 1s do not come up as often as you might think!
I'd love to see the old wild magic spells come back for the wild mage. - You basically tried to channel your wild magic to cast any other spell, and then ride the consequences of that!
- it would always trigger a wild surge... (but the wild surge table was different in those days)
the old spells:
Nahal's Reckless Dweomer is a 1st-level spell only available to wild mages. The caster chooses a spell from a list of spells known to them and rolls an effect from the wild surge table with a bonus equal to their level. (the wild surge table in this instance had a lot of you cast the spell, at full potential, 1/2 potential, maximum, doubled as well as the standard wild surges) -
Chaos shield This spell adds +15 on caster wild surge rolls. If Nahal's Reckless Dweomer is cast, shield bonus stacks with wild mage level bonus for the duration of the spell (again this was for the old wild surge table)
and Improved Chaos shield that gave +25 to the wild surge roll.
I agree, 8wGremlin, those sorts of spells are amazing - harnassing the chaos of your power. Have you seen the new UA spells? http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA-Starter-Spells.pdf
There's this little exclusive for Sorcerer:
Really loving it for its level. No idea if it's actually good, never tested it, but it sounds amazing. Throwing out crackling, unstable energy that forms into a jagged bolt of frost - or an arcing blast of deadly lightning. And it has a 12.5% chance to chain to another target.
Point being, seems awesomely Wild and fitting for a Wild Mage. I've never played one, but if I did I'd have to beg the DM to allow this.
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My homebrew: [Subclasses] [Races] [Feats] [Discussion Thread]
VillainTheory...I saw that spell too and thought it really has a lot of flavor. I think it fits into this discussion about how often the Sorcerer has to roll on the Surge Table. A spell like this would allow more opportunity for the chaos to happen and at the very least some unpredictable damage types each time it is cast.
A dwarf with a canoe on his back? What could go wrong?