Alternate Sorc Idea

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TarkisFlux
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Alternate Sorc Idea

Post by TarkisFlux »

This is a different direction than the Frank/Sulin sorc, and I figured I'd toss it out. Since the big issue of sorcerers is their limited utility, I'm not sure this would help them be anything other than the 'challenge' class they are right now.

If anyone cares about the thought process behind the change, it's here:
The thread in IMHO about sources got me thinking about what sources of magic I think are actually in the various incarnations of 3.x, and I can't really identify any. You can say there's an arcane, divine, and self (psionic, martial, whatever) source, but these aren't particularly solid. They've got the exact same effects on different lists, powered by supposedly different sources, which dilutes any sort of reason for having different sources to begin with.

So, by fiat, there's one source, and different classes access it through different means. Clerics let their gods funnel it to them, druids work with nature to providing it for them, wizards do some obscure crazy shit to make it work, and bards do it with music. They're all using a different lense to see the source of magic, work it in different ways, and so get slightly different effects out of it. Not the sorcerer though. The sorcerer (or sourcerer, if I wanted to steal from Pratchet) actually taps the source directly, naturally, and so can potentially generate any magical effect imaginable. They're just learning how to do it as they go along, because there isn't a guide or training for the path they walk.

Ok, thematic changes. None. Sorcerers have been flavored as the natural casters of the world. They're billed as the lazy mage, the class that just spontaneously learns unstable new things and spends their adolescence learning to control their new powers. And we never hear about this bit of flavor again. They're given no class abilities that actually follow the written flavor. Tweaking them so that they actually carried some of that flavor would be nice, and could increase their overall utility in a different way. Which is what I think this does.
If I'm not changing it here, it's unchanged from core.

Skills: add UMD. Maybe others.

Skill points per level: 4 + int. They don't spend all day with their noses in books like a wizard, they have time to learn other shit.

Bonus Feat: at 1st level, sorcerers can choose Item Master or Magical Apptitude (Tome skill feats, use something appropriate if you're not using those) as a bonus feat. They get this bonus feat in place of a familiar. Additionally, all sorcerers gain Eschew Materials as a bonus feat.

Spells known: A sorcerer knows every spell on his class list, but they do not use the Sorcerer class list in core or any other class list. Each sorcerer builds their own spell list, starting at level 1 by selecting a number of spells as shown on their spells known table. They may select these spells from any spell list they want, or select a custom or created spell that is allowed by the DM. These reflect the powers that a sorcerer has already developed and mastered. It does not reflect the powers they are still developing.

A sorcerer also selects the spells that they will learn when they gain a level. These spells are not added to their class lists yet, but they do have access to them, as described in the spells per day section. Each time a sorcerer gains a level, these spells are officially added to their class list and they select the spells that they will master at next level.

A sorcerer can unlearn a spell anytime they gain a new level. They may replace the lost spell with any spell of the same level. New spells learned this way are not mastered, and suffer the same casting limitations as any other spell that they are still mastering.

Spell casting: A sorcerer can cast any spell on his class list using any spell slot of the same, or higher level. If they wish to modify a spell with a metamagic feat, the spell does not require an increased casting time but does use a higher level slot.

A sorcerer can attempt to cast the spells that they are currently mastering, but success with these spells is not guaranteed. The sorcerer must succeed on a DC 11+(spell level x 2) caster level check, or the spell behaves other than it is supposed to upon completion. Sorcerers know when their spells are not controlled properly, and can choose to dismiss the effect before it finishes, or roll on a hypothetical table to see how the spell is altered (50% bad, 50% beneficial, similar to some of the old 2E wild mage stuff).

Spells per day: At odd levels other than 1 and 19, a sorcerer will begin mastering a new spell level and not have spell slots to power it with. So we need to add a 2* to those levels. These slots can only be used to power

What I think this does:
  • Boosts spells known at all levels, but maybe not by enough. Does this in a way that returns some of the base flavor, without reference to any dragon blood bullshit.
  • Gives them new spell levels at the same levels as wizards are learning them. They're only 50/50 likely to get them off in the regular way, and they're inherently unstable (but potentially awesome).
  • Both helps them and screws them on spell lists. They can cherry pick whatever spells they want from anywhere in the game or make up any effect they want (and that the DM will approve), but they really really need UMD to get back any sort of broader utility. I don't know if they're getting more than they're giving up on this one....
Criticisms? Thoughts?
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Post by Bigode »

Needing UMD isn't a meaningful disadvantage. And consider this.
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TarkisFlux
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Post by TarkisFlux »

Needing UMD isn't a disadvantage once you hit mid levels, but it does limit your options at low levels. A party with a sorc with this sort of custom class list can't reliably use wizard spell completion items, and would have a much harder time picking up scrolls or wands to fill in ability gaps.

As to the other thing for consideration, I'd read it once before and then completely forgotten about it. The spell progression is very close to what I'm going for here, but looks better balanced. Thanks for reminding me it was out there :-).

Any thoughts on how a likely balanced spells table like that would combine with a mechanic that made new spells potentially unstable?
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Post by Bigode »

Unstable?
Hans Freyer, s.b.u.h. wrote:A manly, a bold tone prevails in history. He who has the grip has the booty.
Huston Smith wrote:Life gives us no view of the whole. We see only snatches here and there, (...)
brotherfrancis75 wrote:Perhaps you imagine that Ayn Rand is our friend? And the Mont Pelerin Society? No, those are but the more subtle versions of the Bolshevik Communist Revolution you imagine you reject. (...) FOX NEWS IS ALSO COMMUNIST!
LDSChristian wrote:True. I do wonder which is worse: killing so many people like Hitler did or denying Christ 3 times like Peter did.
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Post by TarkisFlux »

:rofl: I suppose I deserve that for asking the way I did. Let's rephrase and try it again...

Does anyone think that destabilizing a class's casting of it's newest and bestest is an especially bad idea? Since I'm talking about a randomly improved or diminished effect instead of the loss of an action and daily resources, I don't think it's an awful one.

Secondly, since randomness like this generally isn't in the player's favor would the beneficial/harmful ratio of effects need to be better than 50/50 to compensate?
Last edited by TarkisFlux on Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Bigode »

A chaos mage? Sure, but not instead of resources or actions.
Hans Freyer, s.b.u.h. wrote:A manly, a bold tone prevails in history. He who has the grip has the booty.
Huston Smith wrote:Life gives us no view of the whole. We see only snatches here and there, (...)
brotherfrancis75 wrote:Perhaps you imagine that Ayn Rand is our friend? And the Mont Pelerin Society? No, those are but the more subtle versions of the Bolshevik Communist Revolution you imagine you reject. (...) FOX NEWS IS ALSO COMMUNIST!
LDSChristian wrote:True. I do wonder which is worse: killing so many people like Hitler did or denying Christ 3 times like Peter did.
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Re: Alternate Sorc Idea

Post by CatharzGodfoot »

TarkisFlux wrote:...So we need to add a 2* to those levels. These slots can only be used to power

What I think this does:
...
Looks like part of your post was cut off.
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Re: Alternate Sorc Idea

Post by TarkisFlux »

Bigode wrote:A chaos mage? Sure, but not instead of resources or actions.
Yeah, and I'm seeing a fuzzy line here. Someone using an action to cast their shiny new spell and failing the CL check can choose to dump it and try again without wasting the attempt or go on with it and see what happens. If they go on with it, they get either a better or worse version of what they were trying to do (or maybe exactly what they wanted if the random mod is inapplicable). In both cases, they're spending an action, and if they don't do well they can choose to waste the action, saving the resource for another attempt, or continue using the resource for potentially diminished/increased effect. Diminished effect seems like a waste, and while math says it evens out with the beneficials over time, actual gameplay often doesn't work that way.

So does that count as wasting resources or actions? I'm not sure...

CatharzGodfoot wrote:
TarkisFlux almost wrote:...So we need to add a 2* to those levels. These slots can only be used to power the spell level acquired, and so can't be used to just boost castings of stable spells per day.
Looks like part of your post was cut off.
Huh. Missed that. I filled in the quote above, but it's not really relevant anymore. New plan is to just swipe the other spells per day list in its entirety, and tag any newly learned spells as 'unstable' for the duration of the level that they are acquired on. Spell slots can power whatever, and if a sorc really wants to stick with stable they have that option.
Last edited by TarkisFlux on Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Fectin: "Ant, what is best in life?"
Ant: "Ethically, a task well-completed for the good of the colony. Experientially, endorphins."
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