What Actually is a Sorcerer?

preview_player
Показать описание
Sorcerers have a real identity problem in D&D 5E. From common misconceptions about their origin, to subclasses that don't advance the already broad theming, sorcerers often feel out of place.

Here's my thoughts on making them work creatively.

#dnd #dnd5e #sorcerer #worldbuilding
Рекомендации по теме
Комментарии
Автор

Oh wow. "Lycanthrope who mistakenly believes they're a child of the tides" is immediately going into my overstuffed character ideas folder, I love it.

trappleton
Автор

I see them as magical mutants, so their origin works on superhero logic (just magic radiation instead of regular radiation). A shame there isn't a radioactive one yet, it would drive the point home much better.

Ditidos
Автор

Want to your fighter to multiclass into dragon blood sorcerer? Why not take a look at Siegfried the dragonslayer? He bathed in the dragons blood, which made his skin invulnerable, and ingested a little bit, which caused him to understand birds.
Talk with your DM, and if they give the green light, go slay a dragon.
Alternatively, you can plan with your DM, that your character has latent sorcerous powers inside them. They have the potential, it just hasn't manifested. So maybe contact with a Power related to your latent abilities, or a very stressfull Situation, like a near death experience, for example, is what it needed for you to unlock this potential.

derskalde
Автор

I see Sorcerers like Mutants in Marvel, sure it can be passed down but one could also be the first to have that x-gene. Sorcerers as psionics would have the benefit that the matamagic would feel more fitting, sure, but overall I would say it reduces class identity, since then the class starts to feel much more cerebral and thus more similar to the Wizard.

Drudenfusz
Автор

I've always defined sorcerers as "Innate casters", their defining trait being that the magic they use comes from within, as opposed to wizards, that learns spells by being taught or studying magic. The reason as to how they gained their powers, whether by bloodline or other means, was just flavour text, or an explanation.

InfectedSean
Автор

I personally like the idea that the difference between the arcane classes lies in how they interact with magic.

Wizards can't see, smell or taste magic, they observe the world around them and notice the effects of magic. They then study those effects, build foci and other tools that allow them to interact with magic and eventually create a spell to replicate the observed effect or at least something derived from what they observed. They are basically scientists.

Warlock gain magic through their pact, and Bards ... well, Bards are weird.

Meanwile, sorcerers DO see, hear, feel, smell, and taste magic. They can see the Weave, see how magic flows and interacts with the world. But there is a problem. What they see is too much for a mortal mind, and that's where sublcasses, and the limited spell selection, come into play. They are filters. A lense through which sorcerers view magic, meant to protect them. How do they acquire that filter? Completely up to the player. Maybe the God(dess) of Magic created a benevolent saveguard? Maybe some Being noticed the budding sorcerer, and gave a helping hand? Maybe the sorcerer likes dragons, and subconsciously called out to a scaly protector, thus gaining some draconic traits in the process?

nagido
Автор

The way I see it is that wizard's devote time and effort to learn magic, warlocks get given access to magic by powerful entities, and sorcerer's are magic innately. In the same way that there are academics who study mathematics(wizards), there are academics who make a name by piggybacking on others work(warlock), and there are occasionally people who can just do incredibly complex mathematical equations in their heads (sorcerers).

iremainteague
Автор

Sorcery based on Constitution instead of Charisma is my favorite idea for D&D. I usually do tie all spellcasters to bloodlines such as warlocks giving rise to sorcerers, sorcerers to wizards, wizards to bards, divine casters to mystics, etc. But always let the players come up with their own origins if they want.

Dunybrook
Автор

In my little hobby project, Sorcerer Subclasses are called Awakenings to avoid the perception of needing to be related to a Bloodline. The only requirement for a Sorcerer is that they own their own Magic. No one can take it away, they simply have magic that awakens in their being. There is one fringe case in my system, The Iconoclast Sorcerer, or "Kaiju" sorcerer, who harbors a powerful entity within their system that they draw on and transform into but that entity is not likely to with hold its power when it counts since it dies if its host dies.

pwnyboy
Автор

Great video, G! I've always thought of the distinction between arcane casters (Wizards, Sorcerers, Bards, and Warlocks) this way. When they cast spells, they're doing the same thing - using metaphysical linguistics, somatic geometry, and material catalysts to bend and reshape the foundational laws of nature. However, they come to their knowledge in very different ways. Here's how I see it.

Wizards are the hardworking disciplinarians who hunker down, do their homework, and grow in power fueled by love of the subject matter. They're the consummate good students who may not be rich or talented, but they get there because they refuse to give up.

Warlocks fast-track their understanding, doing an end-run around the hard work by learning short-cuts from otherwordly entities in exchange for something. I think of them as the rich kids who can afford private lessons and high-end tutors, being able to avoid the traditional education system altogether...for a price.

Bards to me are like the kids who figured out math because they took piano lessons. Their art gave them insight into the larger patterns underlying reality and they were able to make intuitive leaps into the knowledge. Think about the kid in your math class who ALWAYS got the right answer but could never show their work. They just always said it FELT right.

And finally Sorcerers. You know that kid in your college math class that NEVER came to class but showed up for the test and aced it anyway? That's the sorcerer to me. The kid that was BORN thinking in equations and probabilities. He does calculus in his head the same way the rest of recite nursery rhymes, and can't understand why no one else gets it.

In my head canon, they're all doing the math, they just come by their ability to calculate in different ways. Does that make sense?

JediNiyte
Автор

I still want to play a situational (non-hereditary) Shadow Sorcerer, who has low Int & low Wis.
"I was walking back home, got the wrong turn & found myself in the Shadowfell. Since then, I got these wicked powers!"

That said, the bloodline related Sorcerery might be even a marker of title inheritance or something that helps someone to become a noble.

jgr
Автор

Sorcerers I find are best used as a result of magic manifesting from the character's environment that alters them biologically. You can spontaneously be born a Sorcerer of almost any type when influenced by the right circumstances, and can be made into a Sorcerer if you encounter something powerful later in life that thoroughly changes you to your core, like the radioactive spider bite from Spider-Man. Examples:
A Greyhawk Valley Elf was born with Shadow Sorcery on account of his people having historically been in close proximity to portals to the Shadowfell, it manifesting more as a matter of recessive traits becoming apparent in the bloodline. This led to immediate discrimination, seeing him as a threat to the people and an omen that the Shadowfell threats that drove them from their ancestral home have followed them into their last bastion. None of this was helped by the local Wizard King having outlawed Sorcerers in the name of public safety and imprisoning him for his own experiments into the Shadowfell's magic, before the elf escaped to the ancestral dark forest to plot his revenge.
A Realms High Elf of the Dalelands was a fraternal twin born with Phoenix Sorcery, having been said to "have inherited all the magic of her brother as well as her own" with no other explanation really being known aside from being from a distant line that claims exceptionally minor nobility of Myth Drannor. Her son, to his disappointment, was born with next to no natural magical ability, (the child's father being a very accomplished Druid could mean the magics were neutralized, she could be a magical siphon, ) but no one really knows for sure why and to their at-most-14-INT knowledge, there's not much any of them can do about it.
A Krynn Human goes on a madcap experiment and infuses himself with dragon blood in order to make himself a Draconian, instead merely manifesting draconic magic as it integrates into his body. This is seen as both a clear threat to the political balance if the process can be replicated to produce magical warriors and as such is condemned as an absolutely insane act that has no business being done.


How you differentiate them from Warlocks (who are also vague and misunderstood) is that they're the result of a normal person learning a method (intentionally or not) to harness an internal magical potential in their soul (may be granted for those that like a Fey/Fiend retracting Warlock powers on a whim, may be inherent if naturally self-confident and ambitious; NOT a barely-controllable font of endless power like Sorcerers have) in the same way great beings of immense ability force reality to bend to their natural state simply by existing; an Efreet causes flame to spontaneously appear to mirror its attunement with the Plane of Fire, an Archfey magically imposes obedience to their personal fey rules through innate Charm or Fear. This idea is rooted in its original 3.5e iteration of Warlocks being closer to what 5e would call an Innate Spellcaster, with at-will Invocation spell-like abilities that don't require components beyond the Action of effort to warp reality, instead of a Spontaneous/Spells Known caster with a set amount of stamina/control over magic in the form of Spell Slots. Will say up-front that this interpretation ignores the other 3.5e part that says that Warlocks explicitly come from magical bloodlines and are "born, not made, " before going on to say that like the Sorcerer they might just be the initial Pact-maker or a blameless conduit or tool of supernatural powers. This all being opposed to 5e that offers all Warlocks as merely knowledge-seekers: either CHA-based students of unorthodox teachers in exchange for unorthodox payment, despite patrons like GOO or Fathomless more likely than not having no clue that the character exists to teach; or CHA-based Clerics leading cults of praise for powerful beings and randomly being inspired by forbidden lore counting as a Pact. Example:

A Realms Human whose ancestry traces back to Zakhara, Land of Fate and home of Genies, took over a Pact with a Pit Fiend for the strength and knowledge to fake her death and leave the band of smugglers she was stuck with, hoping to make a new life as a musician that she dreamed of when she was a child. Per the terms of her contract, in exchange for further tutelage on how to wield her powers in the way that she wants (lightning instead of hellfire, illusions, charms, teleportation, levitation/flight, Tongues and True Polymorph. Basically, Fey/Bard magic), she must slay powerful creatures with either her Eldritch Blast or her Pact Weapon, damning them to Hell and servitude to her Patron. She does her best to only kill Evil creatures to do so, hoping it'll be some small recompense for selfishly taking life for personal gain and bringing more fiendish influence into the world.
During her practice of harnessing innate magic, independent study, and MANY instances of telepathic communication with fiends and later aberrations (up to and including face-tanking EIGHT Mind Flayer/Elder Brain Mind Blasts in under an hour), realized that the reason her Patron never revokes her power is that the magical potential isn't his to revoke, and taught herself to augment her magic with mere thought, willpower, and natural ability (Spell Sniper with Sorcerer spell list Shocking Grasp, Metamagic Adept for Distant + Subtle Spell, Synaptic Static). Any children she has will be influenced by the cacophony of powers she's dabbled in, as well as the magic of her Fey Wild Soul Barbarian husband, and will in order of likeliness be born as Tieflings, Wild Magic/Storm/Aberrant Mind Sorcerers, and/or capable of being taught to be Fiend/Fey/Genie Warlocks. Assuming it's not something barely related like a Divine Soul Sorcerer due to Torm being thankful for the safe return of his Planetar, completely unrelated like Shadow Sorcerer due to the mixing of Fiend and Fey, or nothing special at all because it all cancels into a soup of too much spice.

Psionics are an odd beast, being perfectly fine as a non-magical parallel to magic, but due to the use of Power Points can sometimes come off as a weird INT-casting Monk, and due to its unaffected-by-magic nature easily falls into "Mewtwo Wars" if there isn't any other alternative to Mystic/Psionicist to counter them from being "better magic." That being said, I think they're the nice third point on the triangle:
Psionics are non-magical, a product of your biology (trained, untrained if prodigy), and based in mind-over-matter willpower (INT/very maybe CON if it's the "power nosebleed" type of psychic);
Sorcery is magical, a product of your biology (untrained or created), and based in harnessing the constant buildup of generating magical energy (CHA/CON);
Occultism is magical, not a product of your biology (soul power), and based in mind-over-matter willpower (INT/CHA, depends on patron/character).

BeaglzRok
Автор

I unfortunately don't have a group to play with:(

But I have created 12 different lvl 1 characters in case I found a group.

1 of them is a Chaotic Neutral Female Sea Elf Far Traveler background Storm Sorcerer. Her Father is a Tempest Domain Cleric & her Mother is a Swashbuckler Rogue. She was born during a massive Storm caused by Stronmaus and was influenced/changed by that storm. So her father helped teach her somewhat how to control/use that magic, SINCE he understood much of it being a Tempest Domain Cleric.

morrigankasa
Автор

I've always had a soft spot for sorcerers. The class has a built-in hook with tons of roleplay potential and flexibility to make as you'd like. Especially the unchosen nature of it. I love the idea of a sorcerer with a complicated/reluctant relationship to his/her power.

patricksullivan
Автор

Our problem with sorcerer is the fact its not a choice, you were just given this power for free while everyone else had to work for anything close.

Jadimatic
Автор

I really like the sorcerer-wizard dichotomy. Both are shapers and conjurers of the very same arcane magic. One calls upon something unique within himself, be it blood or his soul/essence, where the other had to study and practice to summon forth the same spell. The reverse is that while the sorcerer has some innate knowledge because it's like breathing for him to cast a spell, he is not as well versed and studied in it. The wizard has spent countless days reading texts, practicing the proper gestures, reciting the correct incantations, and gathering the needed materials to tap into the magic. The wizard is far more knowledgeable and varied, able to apply his knowledge and change up what he can cast while the sorcerer is limited. One is lucky to have been born with innate magic, the other has desired it and worked diligently for years to understand and shape the world with his will through magic. It's really cool. Don't sully it by reflavoring it as psionics, that's a disservice to both sorcerers and psionics.

sketchasaurrex
Автор

I'd say ranger is the class with least individually. They're basically just fighters with the outlander background.

armorclasshero
Автор

For all spellcasting classes, magic is something you do. And it's hard and that's why you have to pay a price, whether it's studying at the expense of everything else or entering in a form of service. Bards are the lucky ones because they get to study the efforts of everyone else and replicate through art. Others may have paid the price, but a price was paid nonetheless.

But for Sorcerers, magic is something you are. By virtue of that, it is therefore free. That's why I never felt like they belonged. If magic is free, why whould they be restrained at all? Why can't they be a full caster on top of being a full fighter? It's not like they are bogged down by studies or devotions. It just grows on its own along with you.

claude-alexandretrudeau
Автор

A thought I had, but that would require a significant amount of support, would be if each Sorcerer subclass included their own unique metamagic ability. This is absolute spitballing, but something like Draconic Sorcerers that can spend X Sorcery points to change any saving throw in their spell to a Charisma Saving Throw as they just bully the magic into you with Draconic Majesty. Shadow Sorcerers that can blow some Sorcery Points to turn themselves partially immaterial any time they cast a spell for a turn or two. Or a Storm Sorcerer one that lets them boost any spell that deals Lightning or Thunder damage.
So you can shape a greater identity to the subclass, as well as influence builds in subtle ways.

hartthorn
Автор

It's funny you mention Harry Potter as an example since he masters his innate magic through academic means, which kind of demonstrates why having Sorcerer be a dedicated class rather than just subs for Wizard/Cleric/Druid to represent people who do that kind of magic innately is goofy.
The 5E playtest Sorcerer actually managed to distinguish itself: It was a more martial half-caster that worked off of spell points and gained mutations based on their bloodline as you burned through your points. At the start of the day they were a caster with a bit of martial stuff, by the end of the day they had draconic claws, scales, wings, and breath but they were out of magic.

gabrielrussell