I've noticed some griping about the Storm Sorcery subclass from Xanathar's, particularly how it doesn't have an expanded spell list like many other subclasses do now. But I'm not a fan of the subclasses that give the sorcerer two specific 1st-level spells, two specific 2nd-level spells, and so on until they get 5th-level spells—and then get no more distinctive elements for five character levels. At least, those subclasses aren't nearly as interesting to me as the Divine Soul sorcerer or the UA Psionic Soul sorcerer who get expanded spell options throughout their level progression, right up to 9th-level spells. So I decided to create my own Storm Soul subclass.
Hopefully the design makes the themes clear, but I'll lay out what I intended so you can tell me if I hit the mark. Let me know what works, and how you would change it to make it more fun for everyone involved.
Features
At 1st level, the Storm Soul gets three features that all use the same resource: the Storm Surge die, which scales by class level just like the Psionic Energy die (or what was called the Psionic Talent die in UA). One of the features is social, one is for movement/exploration, and one is for spellcasting (mostly combat).
Thunderous Presence allows the Storm Soul to create a somewhat impressive effect to justify a bonus to Intimidation checks.
Propelled by the Elements is a twist on the UA version of the Psi Warrior's Psi-Powered Leap. This allows you to jump, swim, or fly farther depending on how well you roll.
Calm Before the Storm is like the Psionic Soul's Psionic Sorcery, but also grants access to a tempest-themed spell from another class at the price of having to forget one of your sorcerer spells for a while. Several of the spells are limited so that the Storm Soul can only use powers related to tempests.
With Sky Strike at 6th level, the Storm Soul gets a spell damage boost that fits somewhere between the Draconic sorcerer's Elemental Affinity and the Psionic Soul's Psychic Strike, with some extra flavor to make the Storm Soul less subtle.
At 14th level, the Storm Soul gets mobility improvements that complement Propelled by the Elements. One of the options is borrowed from the UA Sea Sorcery (see Shifting Form), and the others are borrowed from the Psionic Soul's Mind Over Body (or the Aberrant Mind's Revelation in Flesh).
At 18th level, the Sentinel Squall is similar to the Psionic Soul's Psychic Aura, but with two options about which kind of damage/effect to create.
Themes / Concept
If it's not clear from the features, this subclass has to compensate for its vulnerabilities (no bonus resistances, AC, HP, or healing) with its mobility, its broader spell selection, and hopefully avoiding some fights through intimidation.
Fortunately, a lot of the tempest-themed spells, including the damage and summoning spells, have a control element: they add barriers to the battlefield, create difficult terrain, reduce enemies' movement speed, knock them prone, restrain them, shove them around, pull them in, and so on. The Storm Soul is a subclass for a tactical player who looks forward to using their environment and allies to full effect to stay alive. Having a Storm Soul in the party should prompt DMs to come up with creative environmental challenges and opportunities.
The result is that Storm Souls will constantly depend on the special abilities that set them apart from other characters. They'll do a lot more jumping, swimming, and flying than other characters. They'll use tempest-themed spells out of necessity even at early levels; at 6th level they'll lean even harder on cold/lightning/thunder damage; and they'll continue using tempest-themed spells even at later levels if the campaign gets that far. (In the late game, the tempest-themed spells will even encourage them to visit famously stormy planes.)
Finally, the Storm Surge die reflects the themes of the character: like the weather, this subclass's powers have a significant element of unpredictability. Your powers might dramatically fail at an important moment, or they might crash upon your enemies with unexpected strength. If you roll the dice, you might accidentally take the wind out of your sails, or you might find your second wind.
Ideas for Storm Soul Characters
One way to compensate for the Storm Soul's vulnerabilities is at character creation. Chapter 1 of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything allows you to pick different ability scores to increase than archetypal characters of that race usually get, which will allow players to pick thematically appropriate races that otherwise would impose some hardships on a sorcerer.
With that in mind, some solid choices from a thematic and mechanical standpoint are tritons (Volo's, p. 115), tieflings of Levistus (Mordenkainen's, p. 22), half-elves of aquatic elf or wood elf descent (Sword Coast, p. 116), sea elves (Mordenkainen's, p. 62), water genasi (Elemental Evil, p. 10) and wood elves (PHB, p. 24). If your DM allows it, an aarakocra (Elemental Evil, p. 5) is a great choice. It's not hard to imagine an eladrin (Mordenkainen's, p. 61) as a Storm Soul with powerful mood swings. Aasimar (Volo's, p. 105) would make potent Storm Souls, but you need to explain where your character is coming from. Aasimar canonically serve Aerdrie Faenya, Kord, and Anhur, despite none of those gods being lawful good or from Mount Celestia; they could easily serve other gods of the Tempest domain. If you happen to be in the Eberron setting, the obvious choice is a Mark of Storm half-elf (Rising from the Last War, p. 50).
Also very legitimate choices: air genasi (Elemental Evil, p. 9), winged tieflings (Sword Coast, p. 118), and dragonborn (bronze, silver, blue, or white). A goliath would also make a cool choice, especially in the Exandria setting, where there are goliath stormborn (Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 133). Mechanically, the idea of a tortle Storm Soul isn't shabby, but that would be a somewhat unusual personality for a tortle. If you're in the Eberron setting, a swiftstride Shifter (Rising from the Last War, p. 34) or a changeling (p. 17) could make sense. In the Ravnica setting (p. 20), perhaps a Simic hybrid Storm Soul could be engineered with the Manta Glide or Underwater Adaptation.
Less common races with interesting movement bonuses: a grung (One Grung Above), a green merfolk (Plane Shift: Ixalan), an Emeria Creed merfolk (Plane Shift: Zendikar), or a siren (Plane Shift: Ixalan) Storm Soul could all be fun to play.
Players should keep in mind that a Storm Soul has more dependence on physical ability scores and physical skills than other sorcerers do.
How far you jump with Propelled by the Elements depends on both your Strength score and Constitution modifier. If there are any obstacles, you'll need to make a Strength (Athletics) check. If you land in difficult terrain you'll need to make a Dexterity ([Tooltip Not Found]) check to avoid falling prone.
Swimming in rough waters requires Athletics, Propelled by the Elements partly uses your Constitution modifier to extend your swim speed, and holding your breath requires a Constitution check.
You don't get any extra hit points from your subclass, so skimping on Constitution may leave you unable to take hits.
You don't get any AC bonus from your subclass, so skimping on Dexterity may make you a relatively easy target. You also may want proficiency in Acrobatics to avoid being grappled, because if you get pinned down you will have a bad day.
It's easy to imagine a Storm Soul multiclassing as a paladin, like an Oath of the Open Sea paladin. Or a warlock with a Genie or Fathomless patron. Or perhaps a College of Valor bard. It's conceivable that a player could multiclass as a Rune Knight, thematically favoring the Cloud, Frost, and Storm Runes. It's harder to invent a thematic reason for a two-level dip as an Evocation Wizard, but Sculpt Spells would be worth it.
Anyway, in addition to letting me know what works and how you would change the subclass to make it more fun for everyone involved, I'd also be interested to hear how you would play this subclass: what kind of character you would create, how you would roleplay it, what tactics you would most likely use given your experience. And for the DMs, I'd like to hear in what settings/adventures this subclass would be most or least appropriate, what items you would want to give this character (or withhold because it would break your game too much), or how you would challenge a character of this subclass.
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I've noticed some griping about the Storm Sorcery subclass from Xanathar's, particularly how it doesn't have an expanded spell list like many other subclasses do now. But I'm not a fan of the subclasses that give the sorcerer two specific 1st-level spells, two specific 2nd-level spells, and so on until they get 5th-level spells—and then get no more distinctive elements for five character levels. At least, those subclasses aren't nearly as interesting to me as the Divine Soul sorcerer or the UA Psionic Soul sorcerer who get expanded spell options throughout their level progression, right up to 9th-level spells. So I decided to create my own Storm Soul subclass.
Hopefully the design makes the themes clear, but I'll lay out what I intended so you can tell me if I hit the mark. Let me know what works, and how you would change it to make it more fun for everyone involved.
Features
At 1st level, the Storm Soul gets three features that all use the same resource: the Storm Surge die, which scales by class level just like the Psionic Energy die (or what was called the Psionic Talent die in UA). One of the features is social, one is for movement/exploration, and one is for spellcasting (mostly combat).
With Sky Strike at 6th level, the Storm Soul gets a spell damage boost that fits somewhere between the Draconic sorcerer's Elemental Affinity and the Psionic Soul's Psychic Strike, with some extra flavor to make the Storm Soul less subtle.
At 14th level, the Storm Soul gets mobility improvements that complement Propelled by the Elements. One of the options is borrowed from the UA Sea Sorcery (see Shifting Form), and the others are borrowed from the Psionic Soul's Mind Over Body (or the Aberrant Mind's Revelation in Flesh).
At 18th level, the Sentinel Squall is similar to the Psionic Soul's Psychic Aura, but with two options about which kind of damage/effect to create.
Themes / Concept
If it's not clear from the features, this subclass has to compensate for its vulnerabilities (no bonus resistances, AC, HP, or healing) with its mobility, its broader spell selection, and hopefully avoiding some fights through intimidation.
Fortunately, a lot of the tempest-themed spells, including the damage and summoning spells, have a control element: they add barriers to the battlefield, create difficult terrain, reduce enemies' movement speed, knock them prone, restrain them, shove them around, pull them in, and so on. The Storm Soul is a subclass for a tactical player who looks forward to using their environment and allies to full effect to stay alive. Having a Storm Soul in the party should prompt DMs to come up with creative environmental challenges and opportunities.
The result is that Storm Souls will constantly depend on the special abilities that set them apart from other characters. They'll do a lot more jumping, swimming, and flying than other characters. They'll use tempest-themed spells out of necessity even at early levels; at 6th level they'll lean even harder on cold/lightning/thunder damage; and they'll continue using tempest-themed spells even at later levels if the campaign gets that far. (In the late game, the tempest-themed spells will even encourage them to visit famously stormy planes.)
Finally, the Storm Surge die reflects the themes of the character: like the weather, this subclass's powers have a significant element of unpredictability. Your powers might dramatically fail at an important moment, or they might crash upon your enemies with unexpected strength. If you roll the dice, you might accidentally take the wind out of your sails, or you might find your second wind.
Ideas for Storm Soul Characters
One way to compensate for the Storm Soul's vulnerabilities is at character creation. Chapter 1 of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything allows you to pick different ability scores to increase than archetypal characters of that race usually get, which will allow players to pick thematically appropriate races that otherwise would impose some hardships on a sorcerer.
With that in mind, some solid choices from a thematic and mechanical standpoint are tritons (Volo's, p. 115), tieflings of Levistus (Mordenkainen's, p. 22), half-elves of aquatic elf or wood elf descent (Sword Coast, p. 116), sea elves (Mordenkainen's, p. 62), water genasi (Elemental Evil, p. 10) and wood elves (PHB, p. 24). If your DM allows it, an aarakocra (Elemental Evil, p. 5) is a great choice. It's not hard to imagine an eladrin (Mordenkainen's, p. 61) as a Storm Soul with powerful mood swings.
Aasimar (Volo's, p. 105) would make potent Storm Souls, but you need to explain where your character is coming from. Aasimar canonically serve Aerdrie Faenya, Kord, and Anhur, despite none of those gods being lawful good or from Mount Celestia; they could easily serve other gods of the Tempest domain.
If you happen to be in the Eberron setting, the obvious choice is a Mark of Storm half-elf (Rising from the Last War, p. 50).
Also very legitimate choices: air genasi (Elemental Evil, p. 9), winged tieflings (Sword Coast, p. 118), and dragonborn (bronze, silver, blue, or white). A goliath would also make a cool choice, especially in the Exandria setting, where there are goliath stormborn (Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, p. 133). Mechanically, the idea of a tortle Storm Soul isn't shabby, but that would be a somewhat unusual personality for a tortle.
If you're in the Eberron setting, a swiftstride Shifter (Rising from the Last War, p. 34) or a changeling (p. 17) could make sense.
In the Ravnica setting (p. 20), perhaps a Simic hybrid Storm Soul could be engineered with the Manta Glide or Underwater Adaptation.
Less common races with interesting movement bonuses: a grung (One Grung Above), a green merfolk (Plane Shift: Ixalan), an Emeria Creed merfolk (Plane Shift: Zendikar), or a siren (Plane Shift: Ixalan) Storm Soul could all be fun to play.
Players should keep in mind that a Storm Soul has more dependence on physical ability scores and physical skills than other sorcerers do.
It's easy to imagine a Storm Soul multiclassing as a paladin, like an Oath of the Open Sea paladin. Or a warlock with a Genie or Fathomless patron. Or perhaps a College of Valor bard. It's conceivable that a player could multiclass as a Rune Knight, thematically favoring the Cloud, Frost, and Storm Runes. It's harder to invent a thematic reason for a two-level dip as an Evocation Wizard, but Sculpt Spells would be worth it.
Anyway, in addition to letting me know what works and how you would change the subclass to make it more fun for everyone involved, I'd also be interested to hear how you would play this subclass: what kind of character you would create, how you would roleplay it, what tactics you would most likely use given your experience. And for the DMs, I'd like to hear in what settings/adventures this subclass would be most or least appropriate, what items you would want to give this character (or withhold because it would break your game too much), or how you would challenge a character of this subclass.