The question which are in proper balance - twinned or all the others? If twinned is so good that it is a must take in 5e that suggests to me that it is, in fact, the overpowered out of balance metamagic. As such much as we all like it (because it is so good) it needs to be toned down - maybe not all the way to the UA version. Between the 2 versions it looks (imnsho) like they want to eliminate (as much as possible) the ability to caste 2 leveled spells in a round (and potentially 3 spells overall - a quickened cantrip and a twinned leveled spell). Since most of my sorcerors are multiclass PCs with a limited number of sorceror levels (and hence sorcery points) metamagics that cost more than 1 point are not ideal for them and so I seldom take twinned I’m not aghast at having my favorite metamagic nerfed.
I'd be perfectly fine with Twinned Spell simply being limited to cantrips only, alongside a wording tweak to "only affects a single target" so there's no more ambiguity and hopefully far fewer questions about it.
This would mean it'd still be possible to cast a cantrip three times in a turn by twinning and quickening, but that's expensive at three sorcery points so it's far from a no-brainer. You could also do four in a turn with Sorcery Incarnate active, but again there are more powerful things you could do with those kind of resources so I don't think it would be OP.
On the other hand, twinning levelled spells can feel great; I've used inflict wounds (via Shadow Touched) to absolutely ruin enemies next to me, but I wouldn't call it an overpowered use for the cost. If it were possible to find a way to have it still scale without the current potential exploits then I'd be onboard with that as well.
I do wonder if it'd be enough to just tweak the wording to "only affects a single target" and exclude concentration spells?
While that seems like a reasonable compromise to me we will have to wait and see how the questionnaire results and their final adjustments actually work out.
My thoughts on this is that the sorc should have been moved away from Charisna to become our first Constitution caster.
Their magic comes from their lineage and is an innate thing. Think this would have opened up Sorc to being a more interesting roleplay class as they could pick any stat as their secondary and would allow for some interesting multiclassing.
I vote for twinned spell being renamed echoing spell.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
My thoughts on this is that the sorc should have been moved away from Charisna to become our first Constitution caster.
Their magic comes from their lineage and is an innate thing. Think this would have opened up Sorc to being a more interesting roleplay class as they could pick any stat as their secondary and would allow for some interesting multiclassing.
I wanted to second this. In 5E and the UA a sorcerer feels like a Wizard without a spellbook or a Bard without an instrument. A sorcerer casting with Constitution would provide uniqueness. High health with a low Hit Dice. It would have the best concentration save. It would pair well with a Fighter or Barbarian multiclass for role-playing. It could also incorporate Blood Hunter style "sacrifice health for some effect" such as "Expend a Sorcerer Hit Dice (d6) to regain 1 Sorcerery Point. You take necrotic damage equal to the roll. This damage can’t be reduced in any way."
And the Draconic Soul subclass's +1 HP each level would feel even more like a Sorcerer. It would pair well with someone who wants to attack and cast.
I just realized another consequence if Sorcerers move to casting with Constitution. Monsters with high Constitution (Dragons and Giants) are capable of being powerful Sorcerers. I feel this is thematically appropriate as they draw their magic not from their social ability (Charisma) but from their raw internal power (Constitution).
For the CON based have multiple opinions, why a Sorcerer cannot be weak?, if its magic comes from faerie origin. Remember that the Draconic is merely a subclass, but does not implies all the origins are from healthy powerful creatures. In the other hand, I like about improving concentration.
Also I wonder why a Sorcerer cannot be a INT or WIS caster. As casting is usually associated to mental status (get CHA as one) instead physical ones, but why the power is associated to CHA when it is supposed to be to an origin. The Warlock now can choose casting ability, maybe the Sorcerer should too.
Making Sorcerer a Constitution caster would require a major rethink of the entire class as you'd end up making them a strange "tank" caster; it would make a lot more sense for a half-caster type class but we're not likely to see anything that radical in a new Player's Handbook.
It would also make them a lot less score dependent; currently Sorcerers want to balance Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma (usually prioritising Charisma, though I've built sorcerers who don't reach +5 CHA till tier 4), with CON casting they'd be pretty much single attribute dependent, maybe taking Dexterity for defence (though if they can add armour proficiency somehow that's still a better option). I think if we're going to have a "Constitution caster" it makes more sense to make it sub-class specific; it could be an interesting feature for Draconic Sorcerer, although it coming in at 3rd-level is a strange time to do it (requires the player to plan for it or they could end up making themselves weaker).
Sorcerers being a dedicated Charisma full-caster still makes most sense to me; it's the ability score for "presence" and "willpower" which suit a mage with innate power just as much as it suits the more performative Bard, it also gives us a natural set of mental score based skills (I always enjoy a bit of Intimidation on a Sorcerer). Though I do wonder if they should gain a choice of scores like Warlocks have, at least between Charisma and Intelligence; we already have two full-casters with Wisdom (Cleric and Druid) but with Warlock gaining a choice of spellcasting scores we now have two Charisma full casters (Bard and Sorcerer) but only one Intelligence full caster (Wizard).
Has been testing Chaos Bolt spell. Well, it's not bad, 2d8 + 1d6 with a small but possible probability it could bounce, being in that case 4d8 + 2d6 party friendly multi-attack. The issue is having to look at a table each time you use it, at the end I was simply ignoring it. At the certain situation, it has about 25% (2/8) of being the damage type you want to deal, or about 7/8 to be the damage type you want to avoid, this using as reference 1 single weakness/resistance damage type. So:
1) Change it so you choose the damage type, like all other Sorcerer class granted spells, or
2) Change the Transmuted metamagic so you can change the damage type after rolling damage, like Empowered, or
3) Give it Force damage type, to be "neutral", or
4) Grant Magic Missile instead, as it is the Sorcerer signature 1st level attack spell that any Sorcerer must have.
Has been testing Chaos Bolt spell. Well, it's not bad, 2d8 + 1d6 with a small but possible probability it could bounce, being in that case 4d8 + 2d6 party friendly multi-attack. The issue is having to look at a table each time you use it, at the end I was simply ignoring it. At the certain situation, it has about 25% (2/8) of being the damage type you want to deal, or about 7/8 to be the damage type you want to avoid, this using as reference 1 single weakness/resistance damage type. So:
1) Change it so you choose the damage type, like all other Sorcerer class granted spells, or
2) Change the Transmuted metamagic so you can change the damage type after rolling damage, like Empowered, or
3) Give it Force damage type, to be "neutral", or
4) Grant Magic Missile instead, as it is the Sorcerer signature 1st level attack spell that any Sorcerer must have.
I wouldn't change chaos bolt itself; my main problem with it is that it suits a particular kind of sorcerer, namely wild magic or any other sorcerer that's intended to be a bit unpredictable. But for a Draconic Sorcerer that unpredictability is no good, as you want to be dealing a particular damage type, so I'd rather be able to swap for chromatic orb, even though that has no chance of jumping.
I don't personally have a problem with the randomness of chaos bolt on characters made to be a bit random; if you use it often enough you'll start to remember the table, it helps that they're in alphabetical order, so you really just need to remember it's the elemental types (acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, thunder) plus force and psychic.
And is magic missile really considered a signature Sorcerer spell? I don't think I've played one that used it, I've always thought of it more as a Wizard spell.
In my feedback I've asked for sub-class spell lists, but with the ability to swap (as Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul can), if they count sorcerous burst, chaos bolt etc. as part of that list as well then we could swap it out as we level up which I think would be the best way to handle it; let our sorcerers start out unpredictable and unfocused but then gain more control if they want to. I also think having those sub-class lists as a "class" feature could be a useful thing to build sub-class features upon, e.g- make Draconic's elemental affinity tied to the list, maybe have Wild Magic's list be spells that are more or less likely to trigger a surge etc., so the choice of spells on the list is important. I also just think sub-class spell lists are a good thing for new players, as it gives them some core spells not unlike a sample build.
Has been testing Chaos Bolt spell. Well, it's not bad, 2d8 + 1d6 with a small but possible probability it could bounce, being in that case 4d8 + 2d6 party friendly multi-attack. The issue is having to look at a table each time you use it, at the end I was simply ignoring it. At the certain situation, it has about 25% (2/8) of being the damage type you want to deal, or about 7/8 to be the damage type you want to avoid, this using as reference 1 single weakness/resistance damage type. So:
1) Change it so you choose the damage type, like all other Sorcerer class granted spells, or
2) Change the Transmuted metamagic so you can change the damage type after rolling damage, like Empowered, or
3) Give it Force damage type, to be "neutral", or
4) Grant Magic Missile instead, as it is the Sorcerer signature 1st level attack spell that any Sorcerer must have.
And is magic missile really considered a signature Sorcerer spell? I don't think I've played one that used it, I've always thought of it more as a Wizard spell.
It is. Any Sorcerer whichever its Charisma is can take full advantage of metamagic to maximize it.
We have the special case of Empower, with a minimum of rerolling 1 damage die, that is just how many Magic Missile uses. Combine upcasting + new twinned spell + empowering when required and we have a nice physical wear work round by round. With the new Twinned spell you can compute how to use the sorcery points to save some spell slots for other usages, and cast extra upcasted Magic Missiles, all of them empowered when required.
Well tested some more Chaos Bolt and the cantrip Sorcerous Burst. They are really nothing bad. Also they fit perfectly with the Empowered metamagic:
- Chaos Bolt: you can reroll low values to get both more damage and also increases the probability to get the same result in both d8 dice.
- Sorcerous Burst: in this case Empowered is nice, you double the probability to get a 6, and if in the extra rolls you get a 1-2, can use the remaining Empowered rerolls for them, allowing both increase the total damage, or even rolling a new 6, to continue rolling d6 dice. This scales nicely when you get extra d6 dice with levels, at the same time that you get more sorcery points to spend.
And you use Empowered after you roll the damage dice. So as you can change one metamagic per long rest, you could remove Empowered in towns and etc when no combat is expected. But on sessions you know there can be combats, get Empowered for sure for this usage.
Arcane Eruption it a completely broken spell, it will be one of my top negatives when the survey comes out. It is insanely powerful because you will be able to choose incapacitation > 60% of the time. The ability to do decent damage and AoE incapacitation is INSANE! Plus that incapacitation isn't linked to any standard condition like charm or fear which means basically no creatures will be immune to it. It's basically Fireball + a better version of Hypnotic Pattern at once. It makes including minions in a battle an utterly loosing tactic b/c they will just stand there incapacitated until dead...
Well damn I had read it as choose the die first but you are right that is insane, made more insane with how off balance the various options are.
Noticed that Incapacitated is underlined, maybe they left something, like the need to roll 1 in multiple dice, or that they will probably change it.
Probably will and should be change to something like restrained.
Yeah incapacitated is too strong, so is anything related for the type of spell it is; I think the obvious thing to do would be to move all the effects down one position and add something weaker at #6 like the new slowed condition.
I also think it's strange that you just get to pick any dice, it would make more sense if you got the effect of whichever number you rolled the most duplicates of, so if you roll a bunch of 1's you get the strongest condition, but a bunch of 6's (so already doing good damage) gives you the weaker one, to give the spell a kind of rubber banding effect if you roll well or poorly.
I also think it's strange that you just get to pick any dice, it would make more sense if you got the effect of whichever number you rolled the most duplicates of, so if you roll a bunch of 1's you get the strongest condition, but a bunch of 6's (so already doing good damage) gives you the weaker one, to give the spell a kind of rubber banding effect if you roll well or poorly.
And if it is chosen among all the repeated numbers? (Or change 6d6 -> 3d12, since each effect has two values, +1d12 for each 2 slots level above level 4.) That could leave a rare situation, almost never occurring, in which you do not get any repeated values, have no secondary effects, and more often you have one or two values repeated, with the first being no choice and the second (or more repetitions, something that would become more feasible if they use a higher level spell slot.)
Well tested some more Chaos Bolt and the cantrip Sorcerous Burst. They are really nothing bad. Also they fit perfectly with the Empowered metamagic:
- Chaos Bolt: you can reroll low values to get both more damage and also increases the probability to get the same result in both d8 dice.
- Sorcerous Burst: in this case Empowered is nice, you double the probability to get a 6, and if in the extra rolls you get a 1-2, can use the remaining Empowered rerolls for them, allowing both increase the total damage, or even rolling a new 6, to continue rolling d6 dice. This scales nicely when you get extra d6 dice with levels, at the same time that you get more sorcery points to spend.
And you use Empowered after you roll the damage dice. So as you can change one metamagic per long rest, you could remove Empowered in towns and etc when no combat is expected. But on sessions you know there can be combats, get Empowered for sure for this usage.
Why would you burn sorcerery points trying to reroll a d6 damage off a cantrip? It's like a trap cantrip and your doubling down on the trap by dumping sorcerery points into it.. to maybe get 2d6?
Remember, that you can't just compare the cantrip in a vaccum. Compare it to what you'd be doing with other cantrips (namely fire bolt) as well as remembering that you're only allowed 1 meta-magic per spell; which you'll need to keep free for the empowered. So, like, even if Mind Sliver deals less damage, I have the option to quicken it for some nasty combos with other spells while Sorcerous Burst I either have to keep it open for Empowered to have a chance of tapping into the new rolls or using another Metamagic and forsaking empowering it all together.
It really is a trap. Because with almost any other decent cantrip you're either dealing more consistent damage or gaining some other effect. I'd almost say that I'd rather invest levels/feats in warlock stuff to tap into EB or something instead of using SB if I REALLY needed damage
Remember, that you can't just compare the cantrip in a vaccum. Compare it to what you'd be doing with other cantrips (namely fire bolt) as well as remembering that you're only allowed 1 meta-magic per spell; which you'll need to keep free for the empowered. So, like, even if Mind Sliver deals less damage, I have the option to quicken it for some nasty combos with other spells while Sorcerous Burst I either have to keep it open for Empowered to have a chance of tapping into the new rolls or using another Metamagic and forsaking empowering it all together.
It really is a trap. Because with almost any other decent cantrip you're either dealing more consistent damage or gaining some other effect. I'd almost say that I'd rather invest levels/feats in warlock stuff to tap into EB or something instead of using SB if I REALLY needed damage
Small correction empower spell can be used in conjunction with another meta magic. It is the exception to the one meta magic per spell rule.
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The question which are in proper balance - twinned or all the others? If twinned is so good that it is a must take in 5e that suggests to me that it is, in fact, the overpowered out of balance metamagic. As such much as we all like it (because it is so good) it needs to be toned down - maybe not all the way to the UA version. Between the 2 versions it looks (imnsho) like they want to eliminate (as much as possible) the ability to caste 2 leveled spells in a round (and potentially 3 spells overall - a quickened cantrip and a twinned leveled spell). Since most of my sorcerors are multiclass PCs with a limited number of sorceror levels (and hence sorcery points) metamagics that cost more than 1 point are not ideal for them and so I seldom take twinned I’m not aghast at having my favorite metamagic nerfed.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I'd be perfectly fine with Twinned Spell simply being limited to cantrips only, alongside a wording tweak to "only affects a single target" so there's no more ambiguity and hopefully far fewer questions about it.
This would mean it'd still be possible to cast a cantrip three times in a turn by twinning and quickening, but that's expensive at three sorcery points so it's far from a no-brainer. You could also do four in a turn with Sorcery Incarnate active, but again there are more powerful things you could do with those kind of resources so I don't think it would be OP.
On the other hand, twinning levelled spells can feel great; I've used inflict wounds (via Shadow Touched) to absolutely ruin enemies next to me, but I wouldn't call it an overpowered use for the cost. If it were possible to find a way to have it still scale without the current potential exploits then I'd be onboard with that as well.
I do wonder if it'd be enough to just tweak the wording to "only affects a single target" and exclude concentration spells?
Characters: Bullette, Chortle, Dracarys Noir, Edward Merryspell, Habard Ashery, Legion, Peregrine
My Homebrew: Feats | Items | Monsters | Spells | Subclasses | Races
Guides: Creating Sub-Races Using Trait Options
WIP (feedback needed): Blood Mage, Chromatic Sorcerers, Summoner, Trickster Domain, Unlucky, Way of the Daoist (Drunken Master), Weapon Smith
Please don't reply to my posts unless you've read what they actually say.
While that seems like a reasonable compromise to me we will have to wait and see how the questionnaire results and their final adjustments actually work out.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
My thoughts on this is that the sorc should have been moved away from Charisna to become our first Constitution caster.
Their magic comes from their lineage and is an innate thing. Think this would have opened up Sorc to being a more interesting roleplay class as they could pick any stat as their secondary and would allow for some interesting multiclassing.
I vote for twinned spell being renamed echoing spell.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I wanted to second this. In 5E and the UA a sorcerer feels like a Wizard without a spellbook or a Bard without an instrument. A sorcerer casting with Constitution would provide uniqueness. High health with a low Hit Dice. It would have the best concentration save. It would pair well with a Fighter or Barbarian multiclass for role-playing. It could also incorporate Blood Hunter style "sacrifice health for some effect" such as "Expend a Sorcerer Hit Dice (d6) to regain 1 Sorcerery Point. You take necrotic damage equal to the roll. This damage can’t be reduced in any way."
And the Draconic Soul subclass's +1 HP each level would feel even more like a Sorcerer. It would pair well with someone who wants to attack and cast.
I just realized another consequence if Sorcerers move to casting with Constitution. Monsters with high Constitution (Dragons and Giants) are capable of being powerful Sorcerers. I feel this is thematically appropriate as they draw their magic not from their social ability (Charisma) but from their raw internal power (Constitution).
For the CON based have multiple opinions, why a Sorcerer cannot be weak?, if its magic comes from faerie origin. Remember that the Draconic is merely a subclass, but does not implies all the origins are from healthy powerful creatures. In the other hand, I like about improving concentration.
Also I wonder why a Sorcerer cannot be a INT or WIS caster. As casting is usually associated to mental status (get CHA as one) instead physical ones, but why the power is associated to CHA when it is supposed to be to an origin. The Warlock now can choose casting ability, maybe the Sorcerer should too.
Making Sorcerer a Constitution caster would require a major rethink of the entire class as you'd end up making them a strange "tank" caster; it would make a lot more sense for a half-caster type class but we're not likely to see anything that radical in a new Player's Handbook.
It would also make them a lot less score dependent; currently Sorcerers want to balance Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma (usually prioritising Charisma, though I've built sorcerers who don't reach +5 CHA till tier 4), with CON casting they'd be pretty much single attribute dependent, maybe taking Dexterity for defence (though if they can add armour proficiency somehow that's still a better option). I think if we're going to have a "Constitution caster" it makes more sense to make it sub-class specific; it could be an interesting feature for Draconic Sorcerer, although it coming in at 3rd-level is a strange time to do it (requires the player to plan for it or they could end up making themselves weaker).
Sorcerers being a dedicated Charisma full-caster still makes most sense to me; it's the ability score for "presence" and "willpower" which suit a mage with innate power just as much as it suits the more performative Bard, it also gives us a natural set of mental score based skills (I always enjoy a bit of Intimidation on a Sorcerer). Though I do wonder if they should gain a choice of scores like Warlocks have, at least between Charisma and Intelligence; we already have two full-casters with Wisdom (Cleric and Druid) but with Warlock gaining a choice of spellcasting scores we now have two Charisma full casters (Bard and Sorcerer) but only one Intelligence full caster (Wizard).
Characters: Bullette, Chortle, Dracarys Noir, Edward Merryspell, Habard Ashery, Legion, Peregrine
My Homebrew: Feats | Items | Monsters | Spells | Subclasses | Races
Guides: Creating Sub-Races Using Trait Options
WIP (feedback needed): Blood Mage, Chromatic Sorcerers, Summoner, Trickster Domain, Unlucky, Way of the Daoist (Drunken Master), Weapon Smith
Please don't reply to my posts unless you've read what they actually say.
Has been testing Chaos Bolt spell. Well, it's not bad, 2d8 + 1d6 with a small but possible probability it could bounce, being in that case 4d8 + 2d6 party friendly multi-attack. The issue is having to look at a table each time you use it, at the end I was simply ignoring it. At the certain situation, it has about 25% (2/8) of being the damage type you want to deal, or about 7/8 to be the damage type you want to avoid, this using as reference 1 single weakness/resistance damage type. So:
1) Change it so you choose the damage type, like all other Sorcerer class granted spells, or
2) Change the Transmuted metamagic so you can change the damage type after rolling damage, like Empowered, or
3) Give it Force damage type, to be "neutral", or
4) Grant Magic Missile instead, as it is the Sorcerer signature 1st level attack spell that any Sorcerer must have.
I wouldn't change chaos bolt itself; my main problem with it is that it suits a particular kind of sorcerer, namely wild magic or any other sorcerer that's intended to be a bit unpredictable. But for a Draconic Sorcerer that unpredictability is no good, as you want to be dealing a particular damage type, so I'd rather be able to swap for chromatic orb, even though that has no chance of jumping.
I don't personally have a problem with the randomness of chaos bolt on characters made to be a bit random; if you use it often enough you'll start to remember the table, it helps that they're in alphabetical order, so you really just need to remember it's the elemental types (acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, thunder) plus force and psychic.
And is magic missile really considered a signature Sorcerer spell? I don't think I've played one that used it, I've always thought of it more as a Wizard spell.
In my feedback I've asked for sub-class spell lists, but with the ability to swap (as Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul can), if they count sorcerous burst, chaos bolt etc. as part of that list as well then we could swap it out as we level up which I think would be the best way to handle it; let our sorcerers start out unpredictable and unfocused but then gain more control if they want to. I also think having those sub-class lists as a "class" feature could be a useful thing to build sub-class features upon, e.g- make Draconic's elemental affinity tied to the list, maybe have Wild Magic's list be spells that are more or less likely to trigger a surge etc., so the choice of spells on the list is important. I also just think sub-class spell lists are a good thing for new players, as it gives them some core spells not unlike a sample build.
Characters: Bullette, Chortle, Dracarys Noir, Edward Merryspell, Habard Ashery, Legion, Peregrine
My Homebrew: Feats | Items | Monsters | Spells | Subclasses | Races
Guides: Creating Sub-Races Using Trait Options
WIP (feedback needed): Blood Mage, Chromatic Sorcerers, Summoner, Trickster Domain, Unlucky, Way of the Daoist (Drunken Master), Weapon Smith
Please don't reply to my posts unless you've read what they actually say.
It is. Any Sorcerer whichever its Charisma is can take full advantage of metamagic to maximize it.
We have the special case of Empower, with a minimum of rerolling 1 damage die, that is just how many Magic Missile uses. Combine upcasting + new twinned spell + empowering when required and we have a nice physical wear work round by round. With the new Twinned spell you can compute how to use the sorcery points to save some spell slots for other usages, and cast extra upcasted Magic Missiles, all of them empowered when required.
Well tested some more Chaos Bolt and the cantrip Sorcerous Burst. They are really nothing bad. Also they fit perfectly with the Empowered metamagic:
- Chaos Bolt: you can reroll low values to get both more damage and also increases the probability to get the same result in both d8 dice.
- Sorcerous Burst: in this case Empowered is nice, you double the probability to get a 6, and if in the extra rolls you get a 1-2, can use the remaining Empowered rerolls for them, allowing both increase the total damage, or even rolling a new 6, to continue rolling d6 dice. This scales nicely when you get extra d6 dice with levels, at the same time that you get more sorcery points to spend.
And you use Empowered after you roll the damage dice. So as you can change one metamagic per long rest, you could remove Empowered in towns and etc when no combat is expected. But on sessions you know there can be combats, get Empowered for sure for this usage.
Well damn I had read it as choose the die first but you are right that is insane, made more insane with how off balance the various options are.
Noticed that Incapacitated is underlined, maybe they left something, like the need to roll 1 in multiple dice, or that they will probably change it.
Probably will and should be change to something like restrained.
Yeah incapacitated is too strong, so is anything related for the type of spell it is; I think the obvious thing to do would be to move all the effects down one position and add something weaker at #6 like the new slowed condition.
I also think it's strange that you just get to pick any dice, it would make more sense if you got the effect of whichever number you rolled the most duplicates of, so if you roll a bunch of 1's you get the strongest condition, but a bunch of 6's (so already doing good damage) gives you the weaker one, to give the spell a kind of rubber banding effect if you roll well or poorly.
Characters: Bullette, Chortle, Dracarys Noir, Edward Merryspell, Habard Ashery, Legion, Peregrine
My Homebrew: Feats | Items | Monsters | Spells | Subclasses | Races
Guides: Creating Sub-Races Using Trait Options
WIP (feedback needed): Blood Mage, Chromatic Sorcerers, Summoner, Trickster Domain, Unlucky, Way of the Daoist (Drunken Master), Weapon Smith
Please don't reply to my posts unless you've read what they actually say.
And if it is chosen among all the repeated numbers? (Or change 6d6 -> 3d12, since each effect has two values, +1d12 for each 2 slots level above level 4.) That could leave a rare situation, almost never occurring, in which you do not get any repeated values, have no secondary effects, and more often you have one or two values repeated, with the first being no choice and the second (or more repetitions, something that would become more feasible if they use a higher level spell slot.)
Why would you burn sorcerery points trying to reroll a d6 damage off a cantrip? It's like a trap cantrip and your doubling down on the trap by dumping sorcerery points into it.. to maybe get 2d6?
Remember, that you can't just compare the cantrip in a vaccum. Compare it to what you'd be doing with other cantrips (namely fire bolt) as well as remembering that you're only allowed 1 meta-magic per spell; which you'll need to keep free for the empowered. So, like, even if Mind Sliver deals less damage, I have the option to quicken it for some nasty combos with other spells while Sorcerous Burst I either have to keep it open for Empowered to have a chance of tapping into the new rolls or using another Metamagic and forsaking empowering it all together.
It really is a trap. Because with almost any other decent cantrip you're either dealing more consistent damage or gaining some other effect. I'd almost say that I'd rather invest levels/feats in warlock stuff to tap into EB or something instead of using SB if I REALLY needed damage
Small correction empower spell can be used in conjunction with another meta magic. It is the exception to the one meta magic per spell rule.