Sorcerer Revised

Disclaimer: This revision is meant to flesh out the sorcerer, any suggestions on the way to play your sorcerer can be ingored. This is not meant to condone interparty violence, character cowardice or other ‘that guy’ attitudes. If the mechanics are not agreeable with you, please share your opinion.

Out of all the classes in Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition, I think that sorcerers are one of the most underdeveloped classes in D&D. Imagine being born or stumbling into abilities beyond mortal notions and still outperforming a wizard at level one. They do not even truly have a good footing for independence away from the wizard. To help flesh-out this class, I am going to revise both its flavor and function to adequately compare to the wizard.

Narrative

To start, the flavor comes before the function in revisions. To pinpoint the narrative of the sorcerers, I have taken two different analogs from current day stories that may provide insight into the sorcerers. Psychics and superheroes both fit the same archetype of a sorcerer. This archetype is split into three different themes which I have titled: the ordinary, the control, and the theme.

The ordinary starts most sorcerers out in an odd space. Just as Peter Parker was an ordinary reporter before he was bitten by a radioactive spider, a sorcerer may be an ordinary peasant who happened to be near a magical event. What this means for their narrative is a lack of training. While a wizard may toil in their studies knowing what harm they may have to cause, and the warlock goes far out of their way to get a hint of that magical energy, the sorcerer just wakes up one day the ability to kill almost anyone they know. Sorcerers can become one of the most human classes in the game as they have to deal with newfound powers.

The control adds struggle to the life of a sorcerer. The lack of, or too much, control over the magic sorcerers have is what sorcerers must deal with. Imagine having a gun with the safety off wherever you go, at the slightest thought, death may be brought to anyone. This requires a level of daily control that may be exuded or ignored by sorcerers. Dealing with this goes one step further with…

The theme adds the last element to a sorcerer. Just as a superhero sticks to a theme so should a sorcerer. A sorcerers bloodline should have more control over spells than what is originally given.

Mechanics

Spells

Sorcerers lack some very desirable traits that other spellcasters have, variety. Their maximum spells known is 15, in comparison, wizards, clerics, and druids can have 25 prepared at a time with 50 or more known and bards can know up to 22 spells. This mechanical descision was made back in their original conception where they had spontanious casting and a higher amount of spell slots. To bring versatility to the sorcerer I decided that they should have something which works with theme and control. This combination is made in a sorcerer spell list.

The spell list has different rules from a normal spell list. Sorcerers gain two spells instead one at 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level. These spells are not restricted by the sorcerer's spell list, but tend to stick inside of it unless another class would have a spell that would fit in the bloodlines theme. These spells can be replaced at the next level up, but must be from a sorcerer spell list (unless if they are getting a cleric spell from divine soul). Lists are provided below.

Divine Soul

A divine soul sorcerer must choose what affinty they keep with their alignment. In such a way their spells must also reflect their affinity. The first spell at first level comes from their affinity and is there to provide the grounds for the next spells.

Good

1st: Cure Wounds, Bless, Charm Person

3rd: Lesser Restoration, Spiritual Weapon

5th: Beacon of Hope, Revivify

7th: Death Ward, Guardian of Faith

9th: Mass Cure wounds, Commune

Evil

1st: Inflict Wounds, Bane, Charm Person

3rd: Blindness/Deafness, Spiritual Weapon

5th: Animate Dead, Revivify

7th: Sickening Radiance, Guardian of Faith

9th: Negative Energy Flood, Commune

Law

1st: Bless, Chromatic Orb, Charm Person

3rd: Zone of Truth, Spiritual Weapon

5th: Glyph of Warding, Revivify

7th: Banishment, Guardian of Faith

9th: Planar Binding, Commune

Chaos

1st: Bane, Chaos Bolt, Charm Person

3rd: Crown of Madness, Spiritual Weapon

5th: Enemies Abound, Revivify

7th: Freedom of Movement, Guardian of Faith

9th: Awaken, Commune

Neutral

1st: Protection from Evil and Good, Sanctuary, Charm Person

3rd: Calm Emotions, Spiritual Weapon

5th: Magic Circle, Revivify

7th: Private Sanctum, Guardian of Faith

9th: Dispel Evil and Good, Commune

Draconic Bloodline

The draconic bloodlines each have their own spell list. I tried to make each fit the dragon to the best of my ability, but they are neumorous and complex. The main focuses were on breath type, secondary breath for metallic, and personality.

Black

1st: Command, Acid Puddle

3rd: Acid Arrow, Dragon's Breath

5th: Stinking Cloud, Fly

7th: Vitriolic Sphere, Elemental Bane

9th: Cloudkill, Contagion

Blue

1st: Witch Bolt, False Life

3rd: Dragon's Breath, Zone of Truth

5th: Lightning Bolt, Fly

7th: Stom Sphere, Elemental Bane

9th: Control Winds, Destructive wave

Brass

1st: Burning Hands, Sleep

3rd: Dragon's Breath, Enthrall

5th: Fireball, Fly

7th: Wall of Fire, Polymorph

9th: Telepathic Bond, Immolation

Bronze

1st: Witch Bolt, Fog Cloud

3rd: Dragon's Breath, Alter Self

5th: Lightning Bolt, Fly

7th: Storm Sphere, Polymorph

9th: Wall of Force, Control Winds

Copper

1st: Charm person, Acid Puddle

3rd: Acid Arrow, Dragon's Breath

5th: Slow, Fly

7th: Vitriolic Sphere, Polymorph

9th: Cloudkill, Mislead

Gold

1st: Burning Hands, Command

3rd: Dragon's Breath, Ray of Enfeeblement

5th: Fireball, Fly

7th: Wall of Fire, Polymorph

9th: Flame Strike, Dominate Person

Green

1st: Ray of Sickness, Cause Fear

3rd: Dragon's Breath, Suggestion

5th: Stinking Cloud, Fly

7th: Blight, Compulsion

9th: Contagion, Cloudkill

Red

1st: Burning Hands, Hellish Rebuke

3rd: Dragon's Breath, Scorching Ray

5th: Fireball, Fly

7th: Wall of Fire, Elemental Bane

9th: Immolation, Scrying

Silver

1st: Ice Knife, Disguise Self

3rd: Dragon's Breath, Hold Person

5th: Sleet Storm, Fly

7th: Ice Storm, Polymorph

9th: Cone of Cold, Hold Moster

White

1st: Ice Knife, Armor of Agathys

3rd: Dragon's Breath, Shatter

5th: Sleet Storm, Fly

7th: Ice Storm, Elemental Bane

9th: Cone of Cold, Antilife Shell

Shadow Magic

When observing the shadow sorcerer, three things come to mind: the dark, what lurks in the dark, and what the dark causes.

1st: Cause Fear, Sleep

3rd: Blindness/Deafness, Shadow Blade

5th: Phantom Steed, Hunger of Hadar

7th: Phantasmal Killer, Shadow of Moil

9th: Dream, Creation

Storm Sorcerer

Storm Sorcerers were made to channel the power of lightning, thunder, wind, and rain. All these spells reflect this. There are a ton of strom based spells. This made my job a bit harder, but I focused mainly on damage and movement.

1st: Thunderwave, Witchbolt

3rd: Warding Wind, Snilloc's Snowball Swarm

5th: Call Lightning, Lightning Bolt

7th: Ice Strom, Storm Sphere

9th: Control Winds, Far Step

Wild Magic

Wild magic sorcerers are made to fully press luck. In doing so, their spells should refelct this. They should start with spells that cause chaos and press the luck of others. The spells may also just have a wild effect to them. Raining daggers and turning into gas may not be luck based, but they show a wild side.

1st: Chaos Bolt, Bane

3rd: Cloud of Daggers, Crown of Madness

5th: Gaseous Form, Enemies abound

7th: Confusion, Stoneskin

9th: Animate Objects, Cloudkill

Arcane Focus

Just like psychics and superheroes, sorcerer spellcasting comes from within. With that in mind, spells without a gp cost are able to cast without materials or an arcane focus.

Tldr; Sorcerers should have more spells, but are controlled by the bloodline. Sorcerers should also be able to use their powers without an arcane focus.

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