Sorcerer - Archetypes

Duncehack Edition

Part 2

Skipping the preamble because this is Part 2 of the Sorcerer redesign.

See Part 1 if any of the introductory stuff matters to you.

Obligatory Natural Crit Plug

http://www.naturalcrit.com/

Someone else made a thing that lets me make homebrews without having to post them on pastebin or something. They deserve a lot of credit for that.

Obligatory /tg/ Plug

The feedback I got from various Anons on this helped me build it into something that wasn't bad and stupid.

I love you all in a way only abused spouse can possibly understand.

What if I think these are too much?

Then the changes are really simple.

• Use expanded spell lists per bloodline.
• Draconic gets their damage resistance for free.
• Elementalist (Pyromancer) gets some form of safety net (The idea I went with is they can centre the 10ft. radius of their 1st level feature on a target of their spells).
• Divine Soul Empowered Healing has an increased radius.
• Storm gets some form of improved safety net (The idea I went with is that lightning damage from their features force a Str. save vs. lost reaction, the thunder damage is Con. save vs. prone).
• Wild Magic's Spell Bombardment feature causes all dice to explode, not just one.

Sorcerous Origins

Draconic Bloodline

Your innate magic comes from draconic magic that was mingled with your blood or that of your ancestors. Most often, sorcerers with this origin trace their descent back to a mighty sorcerer of ancient times who made a bargain with a dragon or who might even have claimed a dragon parent. Some of these bloodlines are well established in the world, but most are obscure. Any given sorcerer could be the first of a new bloodline, as a result of a pact or some other exceptional circumstance.

Draconic Resillience

As magic flows through your body, it causes physical traits of your dragon ancestors to emerge. At 1st level, your hit point maximum increases by 1 and increases by 1 again whenever you gain a level in this class.

Additionally, parts of your skin are covered by a thin sheen of dragon-like scales. When you aren't wearing armor, your AC equals 13 + your Dexterity modifier.

You also gain a set of retractable draconic claws that deal 1d4 + Your Strength modifier slashing damage.

Draconic Ancestry

At 1st level you get a dragon type as an ancestor.

You can speak, read and write Draconic and you double your proficiency bonus whenever you make a Charisma based roll when interacting with Dragons.

Draconic Ancestry

Dragon	Damage Type
Black/Copper	Acid
Blue/Bronze	Lightning
Brass/Gold/Red	Fire
Green	Poison
Silver/Wite	Cold

Birthright Spells

You gain a small list of spells as Birthright spells, based on your Draconic Ancestry. They do not count towards your known spells.

Regardless of your lineage, you gain an extra 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th level spell of your choice from the Sorcerer spell list. These do not count against your known spells. These spells may be from any classes' spell list provided they have a damage component that deals your Draconic Ancestry's damage type.

The spells become available to you when you gain spell slots of the appropriate level.

Elemental Affinity

Starting at 6th level, when you cast a spell that deals damage of the type associated with your draconic ancestry, you can add your Charisma modifier to one damage roll of that spell.

You also gain resistance to the damage type.

Draconic Features

At 6th level, you gain the ability to sprout a pair of dragon wings from your back, gaining a flying speed equal to your current speed. You can create these wings as a bonus action on your turn. They last until you dismiss them as a bonus action on your turn.

You can't manifest your wings while wearing armor unless the armor is made to accommodate them, and clothing not made to accommodate your wings might be destroyed when you manifest them.

In addition, you can manifest a prehensile tail. You can manipulate objects upto a range of 10 ft with it. The tail can only move a weight of up to your Strength score in pounds. The tail can be used to make weapon attacks, but only if the weapon has the light property.

Draconic Presence

Beginning at 14th level, you can channel the dread presence of your dragon ancestor, causing those around you to become awestruck or frightened.

As an action, you can draw on this power and exude an aura of awe or fear (your choice) to a distance of 60 feet.

For 1 minute, each hostile creature that starts its turn in this aura must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed (if you chose awe) or frightened (if you chose fear) until the aura ends.

A creature that succeeds on this saving throw is immune to your aura for 24 hours.

On every successive turn, they can reroll the save. Any creature that passes becomes immune to your charm/fear aura for 24 hours.

You have one free usage of this feature that you regain after a long rest. Further uses cost 5 sorcery points.

Draconic Ascendancy

Beginning at 18th level, your draconic lineage becomes more pronounced.

While your draconic features feature is active, you gain 10 ft. of blindsight (or an extra 5 ft. if you already have access to blindsight).

Your Elemental Affinity gives you immunity to your damage type.

Your Draconic Presence feature regains the usage of its free cast after a short or long rest.

Draconic Resilience

Added the claws as a ribbon and as a tool for the gish sorcerers I've built rules for.

Why Birthright Magic?

Draconic Bloodline Sorcerers were set up for failure from the get-go. If you're not sure what I mean:

Copper and Black dragonborn don't get melf's acid arrow.

I added these missing spells to the base Sorcerer spell list, but I kept the idea of the bloodline spells.

Generally speaking: the Chromatic dragons have straightforward spells already available on the (updated) Sorcerer spell list, while Metallics have eclectic (but thematically appropriate) spells from all over.

Elemental Affinity resistance is free?

In the grand scheme of things, resistance is actually pretty 'cheap' as far as a feature goes.

Draconic Features

Moved this down from 14th level because 5th level onward is when flight, and counters to it, become more common.

The prehensile tail thing is just a ribbon.

Draconic Presence

It was an 18th level feature that is only marginally better than the Conquest Paladin's 3rd level feature.

Also, in my honest opinion, it's on par with the Warlock 14th level features in terms of power, hence it being moved earlier.

Removed concentration because that was a bit arbitrary, added the line about the cost because 5 sorc points is really steep for what it does.

Draconic Ascendancy

An actual Capstone. Basically just making the bloodline features more powerful right at the end of the game.

Elementalist Sorcerer Notes

The original Pyromancer writeup functions like the caster equivalent to a Champion Fighter. Which is a nice niche to keep.

Anyway, upped its damage numbers and scaling across the archetype. Also changed the way the 1st/14th level features target because otherwise it's way too risky to use. Added a ribbon at 6th.

Elementalist

Your innate magic manifests in an element. You are your fire, you are your frost, you are your lightning, and they are you.

Elemental Birthright

At 1st level you may pick a damage type from the following: Fire, Cold, Acid, Poison, Lightning, Thunder, Radiant, Necrotic, Psychic or 'Physical' (a combination of Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing - all your features will inflict whichever is appropriate for the spell cast).

When you pick your category, you may pick spells freely from any class's spell list provided they have a damage component that matches your element.

Elemental Heart

At 1st level, whenever you start casting a spell of 1st level or higher that deals your damage type, you can cause creatures of your choice that you can see within 10 feet of either you or one of your spell targets (your choice, targets of your spells may be chosen by this effect) to suffer that damage type equal to your sorcerer level + the spell slot level used.

You also add your Charisma Modifier to spells and Elementalist features that inflict your damage type.

Flows in the Veins

At 6th level, you gain resistance, and ignore resistance, to your damage type.

In addition, you learn 2 extra spells. These spells do not count towards your spells known.

Elemental Flesh

At 6th level, your chosen element begins to manifest physically. You may call forth or dismiss these manifestations with a bonus action. The manifestations are mostly cosmetic, your skin takes on the appearance and texture of your chosen element and your hair shines with a light appropriate to it.

While active, you radiate 30 ft. of bright light and a further 30 ft. of dim light. In addition, Enemies that attempt to grapple you suffer damage equal to your Charisma modifier in your damage type. You also do not suffer the effects of extreme environmental conditions, such as heat or cold.

While active, your unarmed attacks also deal 1d4 + Your Strength modifier in your damage type.

Elemental Rebuke

At 14th level, when you are hit by an attack, you can use your reaction to deal your sorcerer level + your Charisma modifier in your damage type to the attacker.

In addition, you learn 2 extra spells. These spells do not count towards your spells known.

Elemental Soul

At 18th level, you gain immunity to your damage type. You also treat immunity to your damage type as resistance.

In addition, you learn 2 extra spells. These spells do not count towards your spells known.

Wild Magic

Your innate magic comes from the wild forces of chaos that underlie the order of creation. You might have endured exposure to some form of raw magic, perhaps through a planar portal leading to Limbo, the Elemental Planes, or the mysterious Far Realm. Perhaps you were blessed by a powerful fey creature or marked by a demon. Or your magic could be a fluke of your birth, with no apparent cause or reason. However it came to be, this chaotic magic churns within you, waiting for any outlet.

Wild Magic Surge

When you cast a Sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher, the DM can make you roll a d20. If the result of that d20 roll is a 1, you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table.

Wild magic effects cannot be manipulated with metamagic, nor do they require concentration to maintain.

Tides of Chaos

Starting at 1st level, you can manipulate the forces of chance and chaos to gain advantage on one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw.

Once you do so, you must finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.

Any time before you regain the use of this feature, the DM can have you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher.

You then regain the use of this feature.

Birthright Magic: Manifest Chaos

At 1st level you can use a bonus action to force a Wild Magic Surge to happen a number of times equal to your Charisma Modifier (minimum 1).

This also refreshes your Tides of Chaos feature.

You regain usage of this feature on a short or long rest.

In Addition, You may spend Sorcery points to move up or down a result on the Wild Magic Surge table. For every Sorcery Point you spend, you can increase or decrease (your choice) the d100 result by 1. You cannot spend more Sorcery points than your Charisma modifier (minimum 1) on moving the result each Wild Magic Surge.

Bend Luck

Starting at 6th level, you have the ability to twist fate using your wild magic. When another creature you can see makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can use your reaction and spend 1 sorcery point to roll 1d4 and apply the number rolled as a bonus or penalty (your choice) to the creature's roll.

You can do so after the creature rolls but before any effects of the roll occur.

At 9th level, the die becomes a d6. At 12th, a d8; at 15th, a d10; and at 18th, a d12.

Controlled Chaos

At 14th level, you gain a modicum of control over the surges of your wild magic. Whenever you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table, you can roll twice and use either number.

In addition, you now regain the use of your Tides of Chaos feature after a short or long rest.

Spell Bombardment

At 18th level, when you roll damage for a spell and roll the maximum number of any of the damage dice, you can reroll those dice and add them to the total.

Why change Spell Bombardment?

Explain to me how the original works without looking it up...

Yeah, I can't either.

If you're wondering, it only lets you reroll one die, once per turn.

Manifest Chaos?

Wild Mages don't need more spells, they need more Surges.

The way I see it, a class kit feature shouldn't be completely at the whims of a DM, they've got enough to keep track of anyway.

So, the idea is simple: give the player a way to make it happen.

"Wouldn't that derail the game?"

Every DM bans the use of Wild Mage at their table anyway.

They're doing you a favour by the way, the original writeup was objectively the weakest of the Sorcerer archetypes.

I know I shouldn't just hold up the DM fiat sign and use that as an excuse, so I'll just state that the Wild Magic chart is why people pick this archetype.

I dunno, I'm just a guy on the internet. Not like I have a playtest team behind me to make sure I'm not overdoing it.

There's a joke in here about Wizards not having a playtest team either. I'm not going to say said joke. I believe it to be untrue. I am just going to remind you that SCAG exists.

Bend Luck scaling

Making up for the lack of ribbons.

"This still isn't enough Surges!"

Optional rule then for the DM who really wants that TPK due to self-targeting fireballs.

This is introduced at 1st level if you use it.

Unstable Being

Whenever you roll a 1 on any d20 roll, the DM can make you roll on the Wild Surge table, as your lapse of focus causes your chaotic energies to slip out.

This effect refreshes your Tides of Chaos feature.

Divine Soul

Sometimes the spark of magic that fuels a sorcerer comes from a divine source that glimmers within the soul. Having such a blessed soul is a sign that your innate magic might come from a distant but powerful familial connection to a divine being. Perhaps your ancestor was an angel, transformed into a mortal and sent to fight in a god's name.

Or your birth might align with an ancient prophecy, marking you as a servant of the gods or a chosen vessel of divine magic.

A Divine Soul, with a natural magnetism, is seen as a threat by some religious hierarchies. As an outsider who commands sacred power, a Divine Soul can undermine an existing order by claiming a direct tie to the divine.

In some cultures, only those who can claim the power of a Divine Soul may command religious power. In these lands, ecclesiastical positions are dominated by a few bloodlines and preserved over generations.

Birthright Spells: Divine Magic

You may take any spell from the Cleric list as if they were Sorcerer spells. They become Sorcerer spells for you. You cannot take any spell you don't have the spell slots for.

You also gain an extra cantrip of your choice from the cleric spell list.

You may choose between Law, Good, Chaos, Evil, or Neutrality for your bloodline, these determine the spells from your Birthright Magic feature. These spells become available to you when you gain spell slots of the appropriate level.

You also gain a 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th level spell of your choice from the Cleric spell list when you can access those spell slots. These don't count towards your known spells.

Favoured by the Gods

Starting at 1st level, divine power guards your destiny. If you fail a saving throw or miss with an attack roll, you can roll 2d4 and add it to the total, possibly changing the outcome. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Empowered healing

Starting at 6th level, the divine energy coursing through you can empower healing spells. Whenever you or an ally within 30 feet of you rolls dice to determine the number of hit points a spell restores, you can spend 1 sorcery point to reroll any number of those dice once, provided you aren't incapacitated. You can use this feature only once per turn.

Otherworldly Wings

Starting at 6th level, you can use a bonus action to manifest a pair of spectral wings from your back. While the wings are present, you have a flying speed of 30 feet. The wings last until you're incapacitated, you die, or you dismiss them as a bonus action.

The affinity you chose for your Divine Magic feature determines the appearance of the spectral wings: eagle wings for good or law, bat wings for evil or chaos, and dragonfly wings for neutrality.

They cannot be manifested if you're wearing armour unless that armour is made to accomodate the. Manifesting them with clothing not designed for them may destroy the clothing.

You may use a bonus action to focus energy into your otherworldly wings, causing them to radiate bright light for 30 ft. and dim light for a further 30 ft. You may dismiss the light with a bonus action.

Radiant Blood

At 6th Level, you have resistance to Radiant and Necrotic Damage.

Favour Earnt

At 14th level, you regain usage of your Favoured by the Gods feature whenever you use your Metamagic feature, or your Empowered Healing feature.

In addition, when a creature you can see within 30 ft fails a saving throw or miss an attack, you can use your Favoured by the Gods feature to add 2d4 to their roll.

Unearthly Recovery

At 18th level, you gain the ability to overcome grievous injuries. As a bonus action when you have fewer than half of your hit points remaining, you can regain a number of hit points equal to half your hit point maximum.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Design Notes

Divine Soul had the problem of having overly complicated wording for a simple idea (accessing Cleric spells) for the sake of some forced sense of flavour.

Most of the work here was trimming the fat so to speak.

Empowered Healing

Extended out the range to 30 ft. 5 was on the restrictive side.

Radiant Blood

This archetype is functionally the Draconic Bloodline with the serial numbers filed off when you think about it. The loss of resistances makes not sense in this light.

Otherworldly Wings

Copy and paste of the Dragon Ancestry feature.

Moved it to 6th. Gave it the light feature as a nice ribbon.

Unearthly Recovery on short rest?

At this level Champions get the Survivor feature where they just regenerate until they hit half health for free. We're in "Power Word: Kill is on enemy spell lists" territory at that level.

Mind the Formatting

I don't want to mess with it further in case I make it worse.

Shadow Magic

You are a creature of shadow, for your innate magic comes from the Shadowfell itself. You might trace your lineage to an entity from that place, or perhaps you were exposed to its fell energy and transformed by it.

The power of shadow magic casts a strange pall over your physical presence. The spark of life that sustains you is muffled, as if it struggles to remain viable against the dark energy that imbues your soul. At your option, you can pick from or roll on the Shadow Sorcerer Quirks table to create a quirk for your character.

Shadow Sorcerer Quirks

d6	Quirk
1	You are always icy cold to the touch.
2	When you are asleep, you don't appear to breathe (though you must still breathe to survive).
3	You barely bleed, even when badly injured.
4	Your heart beats once per minute. This event sometimes surprises you.
5	You have trouble remembering that living creatures and corpses should be treated differently.
6	You blinked. Once. Last week.

Eyes of the Dark

At 1st level, you get 120 feet of darkvision.

At 3rd level, you get darkness. It doesn't count against your known spells. You can cast it with a spell slot, or with 2 sorcery points. If you cast it with sorcery points, you can see through the darkness created by the spell.

Strength of the Grave

At 1st level, when you are reduced to 0hp, make a Charisma Save (DC = 5 + last Damage Taken). If you succeed you are reduced to 1hp instead. At 3rd level this also triggers the Reap Entropy feature. You can't use this feature if Radiant damage or a critical hit reduces you to 0.

You regain use of this feature after a long rest.

Birthright Magic: Reap Entropy

At 3rd level, when a creature inside an area covered by darkness created with your sorcery points is reduced to 0hp, or suffers a critical hit, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma Modifier and restore 1 sorcery point. These temporary hit points last until your next long rest.

Hound of Ill Omen

At 6th level you can use your bonus action and spend 3 sorcery points to call forth the 'hound' to harry a target within 120 feet. It's stat block is a Dire Wolf with the following provisions:

• Medium, not Large
• Monstrosity, not Beast
• Has Temporary hp = half your Sorcerer Level
• It can move through other creatures and objects, treating them as rough terrain. It suffers 5 force damage if it ends its turn inside something.
• At the start of its turn, the hound automatically knows its target's location. If the target was hidden, it is no longer hidden from the hound.

When summoned, the hound appears within 30 feet of you in an unoccupied space. You roll for its initiative.

Its turn can only be spent either chasing the target through the most direct route, or attacking the target. It can make opportunity attacks, but only against the target. If the hound is within 5 feet of the target, the target suffers disadvantage on spell saving throws against your spells. If the hound, or its target are reduced to 0 hp, or 5 minutes elapse after the hounds' summoning, it disappears. If the target is reduced to 0 while the hound is still active, you refund its sorcery point cost.

Whenever your Reap Entropy feature triggers, a Hound of Ill Omen may be summoned as a reaction, but may only target a creature within your Sorcery Point generated darkness spell.

Shadow Walk

At 14th level, when you're in dim light or darkness, you can use your bonus action to teleport 120 feet to another point in dim light or darkness.

When you use this feature inside darkness created by Sorcery Points, you may trigger Reap Entropy. This can be done a number of times equal to your Charisma Modifier (Minimum 1). You regain usage of this feature after a long rest.

Umbral Form

At 18th level, you can spend a bonus action and 6 sorcery point to transcend into a shadowy form - giving yourself:

• Resistance to all forms of damage except force and radiant
• The ability to move through solid objects and other creatures as if they were difficult terrain (suffering 5 force damage if you end your turn inside something)

You remain in this form for 1 minute. If you are incapacitated, reduced to 0 hp or you spend a bonus action to dismiss it early, the form ends.

While in your Umbral Form, the temporary hp and sorcery points gained from Reap Entropy are doubled.

Design Notes

I love this kit, so I'm biased here, it picked a narrow focus of utility (namely a supernatural, tireless hunter) and ran it to the hilt.

It's why there's no expanded spell list either, usage of the kit features should be reinforced.

And there's the problem.

The sorcery point cost for this kit is steep, and more to the point, you have to spend sorcery points for any of the kit features to matter making an already strained resource just that much more scarce.

So my solutions are simple: Generate/Refund sorcery points for aggressive use of the subclass kit.

I think sacrificing expanded spells for extra avenues of sorcery point generation is a fair trade all things considered.

Storm Magic

Your innate magic comes from the power of elemental air. Many with this power can trace their magic back to a near-death experience caused by the Great Rain, but perhaps you were born during a howling gale so powerful that folk still tell stories of it, or your lineage might include the influence of potent air creatures such as djinn. Whatever the case, the magic of the storm permeates your being.

Storm sorcerers are invaluable members of a ship's crew. Their magic allows them to exert control over wind and weather in their immediate area. Their abilities also prove useful in repelling attacks by sahuagin, pirates, and other waterborne threats.

Windspeaker

You can read, speak, and write Primordial (and therefore Aquan, Terran, Ignan and Auran)

Tempestuous Magic

Starting at 1st level, you can use a bonus action on your turn to cause whirling gusts of elemental air to briefly surround you, immediately before or after you cast a spell of 1st level or higher. Doing so allows you to fly up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.

Birthright Magic

You gain the following spells when you have the appropriate spell slots to use them. These do not count towards your known spells.

Level	Spells
Cantrip	Gust
1st	Fog Cloud	Zephyr Strike
2nd	Skywrite	Gust of Wind
3rd	Wind Wall	Call Lightning
4th	Control Water	Freedom of Movement
5th	Maelstrom	Control Winds
6th	Wind Walk
7th	Whirlwind
8th	Control Weather
9th	Storm of Vengeance

Heart of the Storm

At 6th level, you gain resistance to lightning and thunder damage. In addition, whenever you start casting a spell of that deals lightning or thunder damage, thunderous magic erupts from you. This eruption causes creatures of your choice that you can see within 10 feet of you to take lightning or thunder damage (choose each time this ability activates) equal your sorcerer level + the level of the spell slot used (cantrips count as having a spell slot level of 0).

Creatures that suffer lightning damage from this feature must make a Strength saving throw against your spell DC or be thrown 10 feet away, or lose their reactions until the beginning of their next turn (your choice).

Creatures that suffer thunder damage from this feature must made a Constitution saving throw against your spell DC or be thrown 10 feet away, or be knocked prone (your choice).

Storm Guide

At 6th level, you gain the ability to subtly control the weather around you.

If it is raining, you can use an action to cause the rain to stop falling in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on you. You can end this effect as a bonus action.

If it is windy, you can use a bonus action each round to choose the direction that the wind blows in a 100-foot-radius sphere centered on you. The wind blows in that direction until the end of your next turn. This feature doesn't alter the speed of the wind.

While raining, creatures have disadvantage to save against your lightning damage spells and effects, including from your Heart of the Storm and Storm's Fury features. In addition, the radius of your Heart of the Storm feature extends to 30 ft. if you use it for Lightning damage.

While windy, creatures have disadvantage to save against your thunder damage spells and effects, including from your Heart of the Storm and Storm's Fury features. In addition, the radius of your Heart of the Storm feature extends to 30 ft. if you use it for Thunder damage.

Storm's Fury

Starting at 14th level, when you are hit by a melee attack, you can use your reaction to deal lightning or thunder damage to the attacker. The damage equals your sorcerer level. The attacker must also make a Strength saving throw (for lightning) or a Constitution saving throw (for thunder) against your sorcerer spell save DC. On a failed save, is pushed in a straight line up to 20 feet away from you.

Wind Soul

At 18th level, you gain immunity to lightning and thunder damage.

You also gain a magical flying speed of 60 feet. As an action, you can reduce your flying speed to 30 feet for 1 hour and choose a number of creatures within 30 feet of you equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. The chosen creatures gain a magical flying speed of 30 feet for 1 hour. Once you reduce your flying speed in this way, you can't do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Design Notes

This archetype is the main argument for expanded spell lists in Sorcerer Archetypes. Almost all of the 'storm' flavoured spells are gated off to Druid.

The archetype as a whole was risky to use effectively. Rather than make it safer via range and targeting, like what I did to Elementalist, I instead opted for utility options to achieve that end - knocking prone and disabling reactions.

Upped the archetype damage across the board too.