So many people have already mentioned the extremely limited spells known, the limited spell list (no find familiar, no summons, and very few walls), the limitations of meta-magic (most are only applicable on a couple of spells and have very little actual impact on the game), and others.
However, another point that always gets under my skin that I think a lot of people forget about is that Sorcerer does not get Ritual Casting at all. So, never mind that Wizards can already prepare more spells than Sorcerers can know, Wizards also learn more spells simply through leveling that can be used as ritual spells without ever having them prepared, having zero impact whatsoever on their ability to cast other spells. There are very few Sorcerers that will ever select Detect Magic, Comprehend Languages, Water Breathing, or Water Walk because they simply can't afford the spells known to pick up these circumstantial utility spells. Never mind that Sorcerers don't even have the option of learning Alarm, Find Familiar, Identify (there are DM's that don't like short rest identification), Tenser's Floating Disk, Unseen Servant, Augury, Leomund's Tiny Hut, Phantom Steed, Divination, or Rary's Telepathic Bond, to name the major ones.
Even if Sorcerers could learn all of these spells AND were willing to spell their very limited spells known slots on one or two, they would still have to spend a spell slot to cast any of them because Sorcerers are the only full caster without Ritual Casting. Bards, Clerics, Druids, and Wizards all get Ritual Casting. Wizards, on top of simply having Ritual Casting, don't have to sacrifice any spells prepared in order to cast spells as rituals AND they learn enough spells simply through leveling that they can pick up nearly every ritual spell they could possibly want with absolutely zero impact to their other capabilities.
Because of this, ritual spells essentially become additional class features for Wizards which, in my opinion, simply exaggerates the imbalance between Wizards and Sorcerers that already exists from all of the other points that have been mentioned to extreme levels.
So many people have already mentioned the extremely limited spells known, the limited spell list (no find familiar, no summons, and very few walls), the limitations of meta-magic (most are only applicable on a couple of spells and have very little actual impact on the game), and others.
However, another point that always gets under my skin that I think a lot of people forget about is that Sorcerer does not get Ritual Casting at all. So, never mind that Wizards can already prepare more spells than Sorcerers can know, Wizards also learn more spells simply through leveling that can be used as ritual spells without ever having them prepared, having zero impact whatsoever on their ability to cast other spells. There are very few Sorcerers that will ever select Detect Magic, Comprehend Languages, Water Breathing, or Water Walk because they simply can't afford the spells known to pick up these circumstantial utility spells. Never mind that Sorcerers don't even have the option of learning Alarm, Find Familiar, Identify (there are DM's that don't like short rest identification), Tenser's Floating Disk, Unseen Servant, Augury, Leomund's Tiny Hut, Phantom Steed, Divination, or Rary's Telepathic Bond, to name the major ones.
Even if Sorcerers could learn all of these spells AND were willing to spell their very limited spells known slots on one or two, they would still have to spend a spell slot to cast any of them because Sorcerers are the only full caster without Ritual Casting. Bards, Clerics, Druids, and Wizards all get Ritual Casting. Wizards, on top of simply having Ritual Casting, don't have to sacrifice any spells prepared in order to cast spells as rituals AND they learn enough spells simply through leveling that they can pick up nearly every ritual spell they could possibly want with absolutely zero impact to their other capabilities.
Because of this, ritual spells essentially become additional class features for Wizards which, in my opinion, simply exaggerates the imbalance between Wizards and Sorcerers that already exists from all of the other points that have been mentioned to extreme levels.
The magic of Sorcerers being essentially birthrights, it makes sense that they do not have ritual magic. A sorcerer can still gain that ability through a feat though (Ritual Caster: Sorcerer).
What I do not understand is why Warlocks do not get ritual casting. Even Pact of the Tome warlocks do not get rituals without taking a feat.
Warlocks do get ritual casting. In fact, they get the best version of ritual casting of any class: Book of Ancient Secrets. And never take Ritual Caster: Sorcerer, that's a waste of a feat. Take RC: Bard or RC: Wizard, far more spell options.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Not disagreeing with you folks on this point. My Sorcerer will be asking our party Wizard to write down copies of Unseen Servant and Comprehend Languages (and Detect Magic for the heck of it) so she can try learning how to cast them "from the paper". It'll finally click at level 12, or maybe level 8? She mainly wants them for use back at the Glassblowers' Guild once she has her wild magic enough under control, but if we get ahold of Phantom Steed then it might be worth having the full Ritual Caster (Wizard) feat earlier in the campaign. Since that'd be a mount she won't have to feel bad about killing with Accidental Fireball... plus there's the added bonus that casting these wizard rituals won't trigger a wild magic surge (the feature specifically says "sorcerer spell")
(Her shtick is that spells 2nd-level or higher that she gains on level-up are ones she could conceivably make use of back at the workshop - so far she's got Enhance Ability, Enlarge/Reduce and Haste. She gains a spell as a known one after casting it as part of a Surge effect, so that's how she has Fireball and other pure-combat-useful ones.)
Sorcerer's great for interesting character concepts! And it's worth homebrewing an origin with origin spells to enable a particular concept. Has someone tried a Sorcerer concept/origin that would make sense to just have ritual casting, like maybe a special 10-minute trance to draw on the energy of whatever they have a special magical connection to? At least as an option for folks who want to make more use of the ritual spells on the Sorcerer list.
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So many people have already mentioned the extremely limited spells known, the limited spell list (no find familiar, no summons, and very few walls), the limitations of meta-magic (most are only applicable on a couple of spells and have very little actual impact on the game), and others.
However, another point that always gets under my skin that I think a lot of people forget about is that Sorcerer does not get Ritual Casting at all. So, never mind that Wizards can already prepare more spells than Sorcerers can know, Wizards also learn more spells simply through leveling that can be used as ritual spells without ever having them prepared, having zero impact whatsoever on their ability to cast other spells. There are very few Sorcerers that will ever select Detect Magic, Comprehend Languages, Water Breathing, or Water Walk because they simply can't afford the spells known to pick up these circumstantial utility spells. Never mind that Sorcerers don't even have the option of learning Alarm, Find Familiar, Identify (there are DM's that don't like short rest identification), Tenser's Floating Disk, Unseen Servant, Augury, Leomund's Tiny Hut, Phantom Steed, Divination, or Rary's Telepathic Bond, to name the major ones.
Even if Sorcerers could learn all of these spells AND were willing to spell their very limited spells known slots on one or two, they would still have to spend a spell slot to cast any of them because Sorcerers are the only full caster without Ritual Casting. Bards, Clerics, Druids, and Wizards all get Ritual Casting. Wizards, on top of simply having Ritual Casting, don't have to sacrifice any spells prepared in order to cast spells as rituals AND they learn enough spells simply through leveling that they can pick up nearly every ritual spell they could possibly want with absolutely zero impact to their other capabilities.
Because of this, ritual spells essentially become additional class features for Wizards which, in my opinion, simply exaggerates the imbalance between Wizards and Sorcerers that already exists from all of the other points that have been mentioned to extreme levels.
Warlocks do get ritual casting. In fact, they get the best version of ritual casting of any class: Book of Ancient Secrets. And never take Ritual Caster: Sorcerer, that's a waste of a feat. Take RC: Bard or RC: Wizard, far more spell options.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Not disagreeing with you folks on this point. My Sorcerer will be asking our party Wizard to write down copies of Unseen Servant and Comprehend Languages (and Detect Magic for the heck of it) so she can try learning how to cast them "from the paper". It'll finally click at level 12, or maybe level 8? She mainly wants them for use back at the Glassblowers' Guild once she has her wild magic enough under control, but if we get ahold of Phantom Steed then it might be worth having the full Ritual Caster (Wizard) feat earlier in the campaign. Since that'd be a mount she won't have to feel bad about killing with Accidental Fireball... plus there's the added bonus that casting these wizard rituals won't trigger a wild magic surge (the feature specifically says "sorcerer spell")
(Her shtick is that spells 2nd-level or higher that she gains on level-up are ones she could conceivably make use of back at the workshop - so far she's got Enhance Ability, Enlarge/Reduce and Haste. She gains a spell as a known one after casting it as part of a Surge effect, so that's how she has Fireball and other pure-combat-useful ones.)
Sorcerer's great for interesting character concepts! And it's worth homebrewing an origin with origin spells to enable a particular concept. Has someone tried a Sorcerer concept/origin that would make sense to just have ritual casting, like maybe a special 10-minute trance to draw on the energy of whatever they have a special magical connection to? At least as an option for folks who want to make more use of the ritual spells on the Sorcerer list.