The Sorcerous Revolution

Sorcerers are natural conduits of the Weave. Whether it be a Sorcerer touched by the magics of the Shadowfell, or tethered to the raw essence of magic itself, a well trained Sorcerer might as well be an aspect of nature itself.

The nature of a Sorcerer's Magic has been, and continues to be, difficult to comprehend, but contained within this codex is the next step towards understanding.

Changes

The changes described here represent a total overhaul to Sorcery Points, and the features directly connected to Sorcery Points. The following is a brief summary of each change being introduced as part of this document:

• A Sorcerer's maximum Sorcery Point Pool is now capped at half their Sorcerer Level (rounded down), instead of their full Sorcerer Level
• A Sorcerer's Sorcery Points recover on a Short Rest instead of a Long Rest
• The Flexible Casting feature has been slightly rebalanced to generally increase the cost of creating spell slots
• Metamagics can be changed at the end of a Long Rest.
• A few additional Metamagic Options have been provided for Sorcerers to prepare: Hardy Spell, and Precise Spell
• Each Sorcerous Origin now gains two unique Metamagics, one at level 3, one at level 17
• The Divine Soul Origin gains a new level 6 feature because its previous level 6 feature was too similar to the metamagic it received; the previous feature has been removed
• The Level 20 Capstone Sorcerous Restoration now restores Sorcery Points whenever the Sorcerer rolls Initiative

Any Sorcerer features not mentioned in this document are left unaltered.

Level 2: Font of Magic

At 2nd level, you tap into a deep wellspring of magic within yourself. This wellspring is represented by sorcery points, which allow you to create a variety of magical effects.

Sorcery Points

You initially have 2 sorcery points, and as you level up, starting at level 4, the maximum number of Sorcery Points you have is equal to half your Sorcerer Level (rounded down). You recover these points at the end of a Short or Long Rest.

Flexible Casting

You can use your sorcery points to gain additional spell slots, or sacrifice spell slots to gain additional sorcery points. You learn other ways to use your sorcery points as you reach higher levels.

Creating Spell Slots. You can transform unexpended sorcery points into one spell slot as a bonus action on your turn. The created spell slots vanish at the end of a long rest. The Creating Spell Slots table shows the cost of creating a spell slot of a given level. You can create spell slots no higher in level than 5th. You may not create another spell slot in this manner until any previously created spell slot has been used up.

Creating Spell Slots

Spell Slot Level	Sorcery Point Cost
1st	2
2nd	4
3rd	6
4th	8
5th	10

Converting a Spell Slot to Sorcery Points. As a bonus action on your turn, you can expend one spell slot and gain a number of sorcery points equal to the slot's level.

Level 3: Metamagic

At 3rd level, you gain the ability to twist your spells to suit your needs. You learn two Metamagic Options of your choice from the following list. At the end of a Long Rest, you may swap one of the metamagics you have learned with a new one. At level 10, and again at level 17, you learn one additional metamagic.

You can use only one Metamagic option on a spell when you cast it, unless otherwise noted.

Variant: Metamagic as a Study of Magic

Some Sorcerers come to access their ability to alter the properties of their spells as a consequence of deep study into the nature of the Weave. If you are such a Sorcerer, instead of having a fixed number of metamagics you learn, the number you learn is instead equal to your Intelligence Modifier plus one (minimum of two).

This also replaces the additional Metamagics that may be learned at levels 10 and 17.

Level 3: Additional Metamagic Options

In addition to the Metamagic Options provided in the Player's Handbook, the following Metamagic Options become available for you to prepare:

Hardy Spell

When you cast a spell that can be countered or dispeled, you may spend three sorcery points to fortify the spell against such effects. Any spell or effect that attempts to Counter or Dispel your spell will force the origin of that effect to make a Spellcasting Ability Check (or Charisma, if they do not have a Spellcasting Ability) with a DC equal to 10 + the level of the spell + your Charisma Modifier in order to successfully end the spell.

If the effect already requires a Spellcasting check, this check replaces that check if the DC is higher.

Precise Spell

When you make an Attack Roll as part of casting a spell, you may spend 2 Sorcery Points to give yourself Advantage on that Attack Roll.

Level 3: Origin Metamagic

At 3rd level, you automatically know a metamagic exclusive to your Sorcerous Origin. The metamagics learned as part of your Sorcerous Origin do not count against the number of metamagics you have otherwise learned from this class, and they cannot be changed at the end of a long rest.

At level 17, you learn an additional metamagic exclusive to your Sorcerous Origin.

Wild Metamagic: Chaotic Spell

Whenever you cast a spell, you may spend 1 Sorcery Point to randomize all damage types of the spell. For each damage type the spell deals, roll a d10. The result determines the new damage type, based on the table below. Slashing, Piercing, and Bludgeoning Damage are unaffected.

If the resulting damage type is the same as it originally was, you must roll again, and each damage die associated with that type also gains a +1 bonus.

Chaotic Spell Damage Type

d10	Damage Type	d10	Damage Type
1	Fire	6	Thunder
2	Cold	7	Radiant
3	Acid	8	Necrotic
4	Lightning	9	Psychic
5	Poison	10	Force

Draconic Metamagic: Ancestral Spell

Whenever you cast a spell that deals damage of the type associated with your Draconic Origin, you may spend 1 Sorcery Point. Any damage of that type rolled for that spell may be rerolled once if it rolls a 2 or lower. You must use the new roll.

Shadow Metamagic: Subversive Spell

Whenever you cast a spell that deals Necrotic or Psychic damage, you may spend 1 Sorcery Point to increase the die size of that damage. d4s become d6s, d6→d8, d8→d10, d10→d12. d12s are unaffected.

Divine Soul Metamagic: Empowered Healing Spell

Whenever you cast a spell that causes healing, you may spend 1 Sorcery Point to empower it. You may reroll any of the dice rolled to determine healing. You must use the new rolls.

You can use Empowered Healing Spell even if you've already used a different Metamagic during the casting of this spell.

Storm Metamagic: Thunderous Spell

Whenever you cast a spell that deals Lightning or Thunder damage, you may spend 1 Sorcery Point. All Lightning or Thunder damage dice that roll below their average value are treated as though they instead rolled their average value (rounded down).

Level 6: Divine Soul Sorcerous Origin Feature: Aura of Restoration

Whenever you or an ally within 30 feet of you restores hit points, you may spend 1 Sorcery Point to add a bonus to that healing equal to your Charisma Modifier. This feature may only be used once per turn.

Level 10: Metamagic

At level 10, you gain the ability to learn one additional metamagic.

Level 17: Metamagic

At level 17, you gain the ability to learn one additional metamagic.

Level 17: Origin Metamagic

At level 17, you automatically know a metamagic exclusive to your Sorcerous Origin. The metamagics learned as part of your Sorcerous Origin do not count against the number of metamagics you have otherwise learned from this class, and they cannot be changed at the end of a long rest.

Wild Metamagic: Chained Spell

Whenever you cast a spell that targets only a single creature, you may spend Sorcery Points equal to the spell's level. The spell will be cast two additional times, targeting up to two additional random targets within the casting range of the spell, as though the original target were the origin. If you are targeted as one of these random targets, the spell will chain one final time to up to three additional random targets, with you as the origin.

No creature may be targeted more than once by a spell affected by this metamagic.

Draconic Metamagic: Mastered Spell

Whenever you cast a spell that deals damage associated with your Draconic Ancestry, you may spend 1 Sorcery Point, and all damage of that type associated with the spell will ignore Resistance or Immunity to that damage type. If a target has vulnerability to that damage type, that target takes 3x damage instead of 2x damage.

Shadow Metamagic: Sinister Spell

Whenever you cast a spell, you may spend 8 Sorcery Points to force all targets of the spell to automatically fail their first Saving Throws to resist the spell.

Divine Soul Metamagic: Maximized Healing Spell

Whenever you cast a spell that produces healing, you may spend 3 sorcery points to treat all dice rolled to determine healing as though they rolled their maximum values.

You can use Maximized Healing Spell even if you've already used a different metamagic with this spell.

Storm Metamagic: Tempestuous Spell

Whenever you cast a spell that deals Lightning or Thunder damage, you may spend up to 3 sorcery points. The Area of Effect of the spell increases by a factor equal to the number of points spent.

Level 20: Sorcerous Recovery

Whenever you roll initiative and have fewer than half your Sorcery Points remaining, you regain 2 Sorcery Points.

Credits

This supplement was written by Xirema. Unless you decide that these features are broken or poorly balanced, in which case you should instead attribute the creation of this supplement to Mike Mearls.

Changelog

Ver. 1.1

• Fixed wording mistake on Origin Metamagic Features

  Ver. 1.0

• Metamagics can be changed, one at a time, each long rest
• Hardy Spell cost increased to 3, from 2
• Thunderous Spell now takes the average (Rounded Down) instead of the average (Rounded Up)
• Chained Spell now only targets 2 creatures with its first effect, down from 3
• Mastered Spell cost reduced to 1, from 2
• Maximized Healing Spell can now be used with other Metamagics on the same spell
• The maximum number of points that can be spent on Tempestuous Spell has been reduced to 3, from 4

Ver. 0.1

• Initial Version

Notes

The Level 17 Origin Metamagics

My sense is that those metamagic options are probably way too strong. In particular, I want to keep an eye on the Wild Magic and Storm metamagics for that level, as those are definitely immediate candidates to have their effects dialed back.

Sorcery Points

The goal of this homebrew is to increase the use of Sorcery Points overall, with a modest improvement to Sorcerer's overall capabilities. My general sense is that the lack of Spell Diversity among Sorcerers, especially with mandatory "spell taxes" like Mage Armor, Haste, etc., is a severe flaw that makes Sorcerers unappealing to play as. I've seen a number of homebrews that try to fix this issue by giving each Origin their own Origin spells, and while I think that approach definitely solves that specific issue, the moment "Origin Metamagics" was suggested to me, it stood out as a much more novel improvement to the class identity.

However, it can be difficult to really appreciate the value of these new features if they're still extremely limited in their daily use. I wanted to let Sorcery Points recover on a Short Rest, but I feared that doing that while still giving them their normal Sorcery Point pool would simply be too powerful. So I cut the size of the pool in half, and modestly increased the costs of creating new spell slots.

Also, the maximum Sorcery Points a sorcerer has starts at 2 at level 2, stays at 2 until level 5, then becomes 3 at level 6, and then increases at a rate of Sorcery Points equal to half the sorcerer's level after that point. That isn't an oversight, it's simply a consequence of wanting to maintain the Flexible Casting feature at level 2, which would otherwise have to be introduced at level 4. But if I did this, there would be no reason to introduce Sorcery Points at level 2, as Metamagics aren't introduced until level 3, and even if I went with that, nearly all the metamagics would be unusuable, and Sorcerers wouldn't get any features at either level 2 or 3...

Basically, it was far more elegant to break the math at that level rather than break the design of offering defining class features at levels 2 & 3.

Flexible Casting

You might notice the new wording of this feature also patches out effective use as a Coffeelock. Sorry Coffeelocks! This isn't for you. Instead, I've allowed the base Sorcerer package to gain a lower-in-power version of the Coffeelock capabilities. Indeed, as written, a Sorcerer with this supplement recovers a spell slot, equal to 1/4 their level, every short rest—or a permutation of lower level spell slots akin to how Wizards recover on a single short rest.

This has the side effect that, if a party only takes a single short rest per day, this feature is strictly inferior to Arcane Recovery; but it can be used for however many short rests the Sorcerer takes in a day, potentially improving the efficacy of the feature beyond that of Arcane Recovery. And because Sorcery Points also have function beyond simply creating spell slots, this probably won't significantly increase the number of spells a sorcerer casts in a day.